becoming to be unbodied for before they were incorporated with the water and by consequence wonderfull spiritual penetrate even the glass it self or the lute and I believe that neither glass or lute can hold them 2. I took two viol glasses and put into them a just equal quantity of the Spaw water I put one of them into a skillet of warm water and just took the cold off from it than I put an equal quantity of the pouder of gals into each of those two viols and that water which was cold received no deeper tincture than the other as I could perceive 3. I filled two viol glasses with this water and stopt one of them very close with wax and the other I stopt not at all and at two dayes end they yielded a tincture with the pouder of gall little less than that which is newly taken out of the well but that less which was left unstopt How much it will loose this tincture by carrying far I do not know it were worth while to trie and thereby to be the better assured how much of its strength is wasted for according to the spending of its spirits the tincture fades 4. A glass of this water stood seven dayes close stopt with wax and than yielded a tincture with gall like to small beer 5. This water doth not coagulate milk as do the German Spaws and another Vitrioline Spring in the same moor which yieldeth a Vitrial of Iron upon evaporation as I said before Now the reason of this is not because it is not acide enough for it is far more acid than the water of the dropping Well which coagulates milk if it be boiled with it but because the acidity thereof is not permanent or fixed enough but so volatile as to evaporate before the milk boils 6. This water kils Worms and Frogs if they be put therein and such kinde of Creatures as these 7. It being evaporated leaves nothing at all of Vitrial behind but onely an insipid pouder of a darkish colour like unto which pouder will that blewish cream or skin which swims upon the said water after long standing be when it is dried Now note that the aforesaid skin swimmeth upon all such Mineral waters and as saith H ab Heer 's being put upon the fire is inflamed and yields a sulphureous odour It is also called by Hadrianus Mynsicht Anima vitrioli 8. I weighed this water I think exactly to a grain and it weighed neither heavier nor lighter than simple spring water 9. It is observed generally and I tooke especial notice of it that it is almost an infallible signe of an ensuing rain when glasses filled with this water continue not clear but are covered all over as it were with a mist contrary to what is observed in glasses full of simple common water Now the reason of this I conceive is from the Mineral subtile spirits giving as nitre doth activity to the coldness of the water whereby the glasses themselves become more cold and so cold as eminently and apparently to condense the humid vapours of the air with which it abound before the rain To these experiments and observations I shall add this observation also viz. that this Spaw water is strongest viz. with the Mineral spirits in Winters frost by reason of the earth being the more bound up and the said spirits being thereby kept from perspiration and weakest in rainy wet weather by reason the water sinks into the veins of the springs viz. those that lye nearest to the superficies of the earth for it cannot sink above ten feet deep though the rain be never so much Also this water is in Summer-time stronger in the morning than at noon because the coldness of the night doth somewhat bind the earth and the heat of the Sun openeth the same thereby making it the more easie for the Mineral spirits to evaporat out thereby To prevent the inconveniencies of rain it were to be wished that there were a very deep trench yet not so deep as to cut a sunder any of the veins through which the water passeth if any should lye within six eight or ten feet of the superficies of the earth as it is possible some may made round the well and bridges made over some places of the same for as by this means the rain would be carried away so also the water in the boggie ground adjoyning to it which may perhaps sink into the veins of the spring and corrupt the same would be dreyned away and the well by this means much improved for the ground about it is spongious and drinks in water apace the uppermost part thereof to the depth of a foot consisting of that hollow earth of which is made pete and turfe and that beneath it being sandy and also hollow CHAP. VIII Of the vertues of the Spaw-well to whom and in what cases profitable or hurtfull I Shall not stand here to reckon up all and the several vertues of Vitrial as not properly conducing to our present purpose because the varities of its operations depends upon the variety of the forms in which it is administred or used for the Salt thereof hath one operation the Colcothar another the corrosive spirit another and that subtile acide penetrating spirit which Theophrastus cals his great secret or Arcanum against the Epilepsie and other such symptomes because of its wonderfull penetrativenes leaving no part or places of the body unsearched another and with this hath the spirit of the Spaw water great affinity is therefore so much the more excellent as being so much the nearer to it Primum ens as Helmont calls it Now note by the way that although this spirit cannot be by it self extracted out of this water yet it may be extracted out of Vitrial yet by a very expert artist This water according to its first qualities cooles and moistens actually heats and dries potentially And by these four qualities the distempers of the body consisting in the excess either of heat cold driness or moisture are tempered every quality altering its contrary and reducing it into its natural temper And indeed it is worth taking notice of that in such cases a distemper will rather be altered by its contrary than increased by its like As for exemple if the distemper consists in heat the heat will be allayed by the coldness of the water and not be made more intense by the heat thereof although the heat continue longer than the coldness for the water is quickly warmed in the stomack and then the potential heat is reduced into act and continues and so on the contrary I mean If the water be taken regularly and cautiously or otherwise such happy success may not be expected Now according to other qualities viz. second third it cuts dissolves attenuates abstergeth viscous tartarous humours in the stomack messenterie hypochondries reins bladder c and evacuateth them by Urine as being indeed very diuretical and by consequence opens the
body to be wrought upon In cold dull bodies more may be taken than otherwise may In general let the proportion to be taken be such as may cause four six or seven stools without auy manifest inconveniency of the fewness or multiplicity thereof Note that in many bodies this water works very quickly and indeed too soon and in such a case my advise is that two or three glasses of the Spaw-water be first drunk for that will somewhat impede the sudden operations thereof cause it to continue longer in the body for the better performing of its operation therein before it pass through it Note also that after the full proportion is taken and in a good measure passed through the body four or six glasses of the Spaw-water may be drunk for the prevention of the excoriation of the bowels and fundament especially in hot cholerick bodies They that cannot drink this water by reason of its stinking odour and yet stand in great need of the effects thereof may boil it a little while till it hath lost its odour and then drink of it for although some vertue vanisheth with the odour thereof yet the greatest and most effectual vertues which are in the Salt and aforesaid subtile acidity thereof do yet continue as I have often tried or if they please put some Salt thereof into the Spaw-water and so drink it for indeed as I said before the chiefest vertue lies in the Salt The Salt also thereof being rightly made put into any common Spring-water doth in good measure perform the same effects The spirit of this salt is of excellent vertue if a drop or two thereof be put into every glass of the Spaw-water for it makes it far more penetrative and indeed far more effecutal against all distempers and diseases as the Dropsie Gravel Stone and suppression of Urine c. I advise that they that have any inflammation or excoriation in their bowels abstain altogether from the taking of this water because it will inflame them more also they that have Ulcers and inflammations in their kidnies and bladder and are troubled with a sharpness of Urine Such directions for exercise and diet as I have prescribed for the Spaw drinkers I prescribe also to Sulphur-water-drinkers for the general onely this liberty I grant them viz. that these may exercise less and feed a little more liberally than Spaw-drinkers This water used outwardly dissolves hard tumours cures old Ulcers the Scab the Itch the Scurff Leprosie and all such breakings out whatsoever if the parts ill affected be washed and bathed therewith for it dries consumes all corrupt humours in the habit of the body and prevents all putrefaction of humours in the same It being used by way of a warm Bath for the whole body is of the same efficacy as Paracelsus saith that his liquamen salis i. e. brine is of and that is to consume all humid distempers whether hot or cold as the Dropsy Gout hard tumours swellings of the legs Leprosy and the like also it makes the falean and reduceth them into a natural dry firm healthy habit of body but it must cautiously be done with the observing of such rules and directions as I prescribed for bathing in warm water as in Chapter the 4. I wish there were more conveniencies as fit vessels for bathing at this Well than are for I believe that after a time Baths with this water would grow more in use and become as famous as those hot Baths in Sommersetshire for many uses The spirit of the Salt rubbed into any parts swelled or pained onely cures them presently And as the waters themselves are outwardly used for cleansing and healing so also there is a kind of slimy bituminous mud below the Sulphur-well which will burn like Sulphur and is of great efficacy for mollifying digesting and resolving hard tumours and for corroborating weak infirm parts and allaying of pains and aches in the limbs of what nature so ever being outwardly applied As I am silent in particularizing cures yet one strange cure I cannot but mention viz. A certain youth came the last year to these waters from the more remore Northern parts having on each finger a horn covering the top thereof and also a horny substance on his wrests and face which with the inward and outward use of this Sulphur-water did in a little time being loosed thereby all fall off If such excrescenices may be loosened and made to fall off thereby then Attendite Cornigeri En vobis medelam CHAP. XVI Of the Dropping or Petrifying-well OVer against the Castle of Knaresborow the River Nide running betwixt ariseth a certain Spring in the manner of other Springs in a high ground which running a little way in an entire stream is at the brow of a descent by a dam of ragged stones divided into several trickling branches whereof some drop and some stream down partly over and partly through a jetting Rock and this Spring is of a petrifying nature for of it was the Rock from which it distils wholly made and is by it daily increased notwithstanding the cutting off great pieces from it This water also generates stones where it fals and likewise where it runs but not all the way it runs but near the place onely where it fell the reason of which I shall presently shew If any stick or piece of woodlye in it some weeks it will be can died over with a stony whitish crust the inward part of the wood continuing of the same nature as before But any soft spongie substance as moss leaves of trees c. into the which the water can enter will thereby in time become seemingly to be of a perfect stony nature and hardness Now the cause of this petrifying property is as Philosophers call it succus lapidescens i. e. a stony matter which is in its principiis solutis for indeed the principia soluta of all things whether animals vegetables metals or minerals are in a liquid form and are concreted by degrees by a natural heat separating from them all accidental humidities and fixing them into their proper species When the water with which this succus lapidescens is mixed is in part wasted by the Sun and air it doth then deposite it as being too heavy for it any longer to bear it And when that is deposited or fallen down it doth by a continued addition and concretion in time amount to a considerable stony mass For the better understanding the true nature and causes of this water I made these three experiments 1. I evaporated away the water and in the bottom was left a stony pouder very like to the pouder of the stones of the Rock 2. A pint of it weighs ten grains heavier than a pint of common Spring water 3. It coagulates milk if it be boiled therewith and the reason of this is because for the principiis solutis of all minerals nature hath provided some Sulphurious acidity for the better fermentation and
the other and after this manner is the nativity of nitre 2. The process of making artificial Vitrial is manifold I shall speak of onely two and they are these 1. Cast Sulphur into melted Copper and there let it burn till it cease to burn any more then presently cast the melted Copper into rain-water which will thereby become green This do so often till all the Copper be dissolved in the water then evaporate the water and you shall have a good Vitrial Note that it is an acid spirit in the sulphur which opens and resolves the esurine Salt in the Copper whereby the Copper it self is corroded and fit for dissolution in the water 2. Take Copperas stone which is a certain Sulphurious glittering Marcasite break to pieces a good quantity of them and lay them in air and rain upon sticks over wooden vessels and in a certain time the stones will be resolved by an acid spirit in the air and water and washed down into the said vessel with the rain-water which will thereby become green and yield upon evaporation a good green Vitrial and after this manner do we make our Vitrial or Copperas in England Now let it not seem strange to any one that there is such an acidity in water and air for whence else doth Iron and Copper being put into water or standing long in the air especially in a cold Cellar contract such a rust as they do Is not this rust from the aforesaid acid spirit viz. of the air and water resolving the erusine Salt in those metals and making it thereby more corrosive and more powerfull to corrode part of the metals themselves with which it is mixed per Minima And will not this rust being boiled in rain-water yield a Vitrial Ob. But some will object and say that this rust is caused not from the acidity but onely from the humidity of the air and water resolving thereby the said esurine Salt Sol. This I will solve with a relation of two experiments viz. 1. Take the above named Copperas stones broken to pieces weigh them exactly and lay them in a cold moist place but so that no rain come at them to wash away the Salt thereof as it is resolved by the acidity of the air and after some moneths they will by a certain magnetical power attract a certain saline humidity and fall into a black pouder which being well dried and then weighed will prove far more ponderous than before which implies that there is an addition of something else than a meer quality viz. the humidity of air and water 2. Take a pound of Salt of tartar make it red hot and weigh it exactly then put upon it two pints of rain-rain-water distilled and evaporate it then put on more and evaporate that also and then make the Salt red hot again and weigh it and you shall find it far heavier than before which is caused by the said Salts attracting to it self that occult acid saline spirit which was in the water and fixing of it into its own nature and not by assimilating the water it self which will never be converted into Salt any otherwise than as it contains a saline acid spirit which is the onely thing coagulable in it Ob. Some again will object although they do admit of this acid spirit in air and water say that in case the said acid spirit do corrode and dissolve the metals it doth not follow that there is any such esurine Salt in those metals as distinct from the pure mercurial or other Sulphureous part of them but say that it corrodes onely the said mercurial and Sulphureous part thereof as we see aqua fortis doth silver and mercury and aqua regia doth gold and so becomes coagulated into a saline nature and consistency Sol. The said acid spirit of the air and water can not corrode or putrifie the pure metalline part of metals for we see that mercurie is not corroded and reduced into a saline nature thereby and that gold doth never rust and that because it is purified from all the said acid saline principle and is not at all corroded but by an aqua regia and silver contracts but little rust and that according to the small quantity there is in it of the said Salt And for the superfluous embrionated Sulphur that neither can be corroded by the said acid spirit any otherwise than it contains in it that esurine Salt for if we put pure Sulphur extracted from Sulpbur vivum into aqua fortis it will not be corroded thereby much less then by the aciditie of air and water nay Theophrastus saith that if woods and cords be smeered over with an unctuous oyl which he prescribes to be made out of Sulphur they will be preserved from putrifaction for ever though they continue in the air water or earth and the truth is nothing can open and resolve Sulphur but oyl being of a like unctuous nature with ' it as I have oftentimes tried There must therefore be another corporeal Principle viz. of a consentaneous suitable and saline nature that is apt for to be corroded and resolved and to coagulate the said spirit 3. Vitrial is made artificial after this manner viz. Take an ounce of spirit of Sulphur or vitrial and put it into a gallon of rain-water stir them well together then put into this acid water half a pound of the filings of Iron or Copper and within a few hours the metal will attract the said acid spirit to it self be dissolved it self thereby and coagulate that This being done decant the water and calcine the said mixture in a crucible and being poudered put it into rain-water seething hot stirring them together and then all that being settled to the bottom that will settle powr off the clear green water and evaporate it and you will have a pure Vitrial Like unto this is the making of Vitrial by sprinkling a considerable quantity of distilled Vinegar upon the pouder of Steel or Copper and letting of them stand till the mixture grow very hot by fermentation and be again cooled and then putting it into rain-water seething hot and proceeding as in the foregoing process Almost after the same manner is Verdigrease made viz. by hanging plates of Copper or Brass over the hot vapours of Vinegar Now these three processes of making artificial vitrial being seriously considered will clearly illustrate the nativity of natural vitrial which is as I conceive after this manner viz by an acid subterraneal spirit whereof there is great quantity in some mines corroding the veins of Iron or rathe Copper which being thus resolved and opened are by the water that passeth through them dissolved after which this liquor is boyled to a Vitrial and thus is made the Vitrial in Dansick Hungarie c. Note that any of the said Vitrials if they be made out of Copper whether natural or artificial being distilled in a forceing furnace yield oyle and spirit and the Caput Mortuum
bituminous vapours Ob. What is the reason that seeing this water hath passed lately through the bituminous burnings as it appears by its fresh odour of the same should be cold and not hot as hot Baths are Sol. 1. It was the opinion of Fallopius that such kind of waters proceed from a remote fire but passing through narrow passages retain their full odour and tast which cannot be vanished by the way any otherwise than smoak through a Chimney or pipe although by the length of its passage it may loose its heat 2. Though the fire be near to the superficies of the earth where this water breaketh forth yet it is very probable that the coldness thereof may proceed from a mixture of a cold spring before the breaking forth thereof Neither let it seem strange to any that cold springs and hot may be so near together in the bowels of the earth for just above the head of this Sulphur-well there arise two cold Springs which meet and run down within a few feet of the head of the same And Mr. Jones in his treatise of Buck-stones Bath in Derbishire saith that the cold Springs and hot Springs are so near that a man may put one finger in the cold and another in the hot Having in some measure declared unto you the cause of this Sulphur-well viz. of its saltness bitterness and sulphurious odour I shall in the next place give an account of some experiments and observations which I made and they are these viz. 1. If Silver be put into this water it is thereby tinged first yellow and then black but Gold is not all discoloured thereby 2. If this water be a little boiled it looseth its tinging property and also stinking odour 3. It coagulates milk if it be boiled therewith 4. The distilled water thereof looseth its odour and doth not coagulate milk 5. If the water be boiled it will still coagulate milk though it looseth its odour 6. Seven gallons yield by evaporation a pound of Salt which though at first black I have made as white as snow 7. This Salt coagulates milk also 8. This water kills worms and such kind of creatures presently if they be put therein 9. I filled two Vial glasses with this water in wet weather and stopt the one but the other I left open The water in that which was stopt within an hour or two became white and thick and within two or three dayes deposited a white sediment and the sides of that glass were furred the water in the other glass altered not 10. I filled two Vial glasses in fair weather whereof the one I stopt but the other left open the water in neither of them turned colour any whit considerably onely a kind of a thin whitish matter after two or three dayes fell to the bottom the water continuing very clear The water of that glass which was stopt retained its odour most 11. A pint of this water weighs two scruples i. e. fourty grains more than a pint of common Spring-water Note that the reason of its tinging white metals is not from any bodily Sulphur or bitumen mixt with it for the substance of them will not mix with water but swim on it as in the Spring at Pitchford in Shropshire and in Avernia in France and in divers other places but from the vapours or the subtile atomes efluvia's thereof which are mixed with the water and in boiling are evaporated The reason of its coagulating property is from some occult acidity in the Salt thereof which to sense is not perceptible onely by effect Out of the Salt is drawn a very good spirit of excellent vertue as I shall declare in the next Chapter Before I conclude this Chapter it will be worth taking notice that about 240 yards above the head of this Sulphur-well is a bog of about twenty yards diameter in which I digged a mineral kind of substance like the finders of Iron but almost rotten being corroded with some acid spirits of which that bog is full as also other places This mineral substance being cast into the fire burns blew and smels like Sulphur It is in tast like Vitrial and out of it Vitrial may be drawn nay in time it will be almost all resolved into Vitrial For I washed it and set it in a Cellar for two or three dayes and it was covered over with a white sweeetish Vitrial which I dissolved in water and set the said substance in a Cellar again and it contracted the like I did as before still reiterating this work till it was almost all turned to Vitrial In the said bog I found three or four sorts of waters viz. a Sulphur and Vitrioline and of each two sorts This was done the last day of my abode there and therefore I had not time to make any further search onely some of that mineral substance I took with me with which I tried the aforesaid experiments If any Gentleman would be pleased to expend some costs in digging up this bog and erecting some new Wels there he would prove an acceptable benefactor to his Countrey and it may be some new kind of water might be discovered hereby having yet more vertues than any of the former Note that the stink of this Sulphur-well is perceived afar off especially in moist and cold weather CHAP. XV Of the vertues and uses of the Sulphur-well together with directions and cautious for the taking of it THe use of this water is either inward or outward It being taken inwardly incideth abstergeth attenuates and resolves viscous thick humours and irritates every vessel of the body to expel whatsoever humours are offensive in them It openeth and removes those strong and obstinate obstructions whether in men or women that would not yield to any other Medicine whatsoever It doth oftentimes evacuate by stool great lumps of viscous slimy matter which was certainly whilest it was in the body the cause of some great distemper oppressure gripings tensions c. and which could hardly any other way be removed It heateth and quickneth the stomack bowels liver spleen bloud veins nerves and indeed the wholy body in so much that it consumes crudities rectifieth all cold distempers in all parts of the body causeth a good digestion cures the Dropsie Spleen Scurvy Green sickness Gout Cramp Epilepsie head-ach Vertigo Kings evil and all such Symptomes as proceed either from crudities cold viscous slimy or corrupt humours which obstruct distemper the stomack Bowels Messentery Liver Veins Brain and Nerves and these though of long continuance It killeth worms infallibly Note that this water must be begun by degrees and the full proportion be taken not at once but at several times exercise intermediating as in the taking of the Spaw The full dose or quantity to be taken must be proportioned according to the constitution strength of the party his bearing of it as also the humour offending the predominancy of the distemper and the aptness of the
to the better understanding of them to premise something concerning the original of them in general and the rather because there have been great controversies betwixt the Stoicks and Peripatetickes about the causes of them Now the several opinions concerning the original of lasting Springs which are called Fontes perennes may be reduced to three heads for either they proceed from rain-water or they are generated in the bowels of the earth or else they must of necessity flow from the Sea through subterraneal channels If any shall object as some have done and say they may come from subterraneal lakes let me demand of them whether those sakes proceed not from some of the three former and whether they would not in time be exhausted if otherwise Arguments for the first opinion alleadgedand answered Arg. They that contend for the first opinion such as are Albertus Magnus Georgius Agricola c. Affirme that in those Countreys where there falls but little rain the Springs are few and small and that in winter time all Springs flow more plentifully than in summer and that by reason of the wetnes of the Season and what becomes say they of all the rain if it sinks not into the earth and there maintains Springs Sol 1. The Assertion concerning the increasing of Springs in winter is not universally true for St. Mugnus Well in York-shire as I was most credibly informed by the Woman that hath looked to it and been the keeper of it for these many years last past begins to rise high about May and to fall low about October besides divers more Springs which in several counties of this Nation are dryed up all the Winter and flow a new towards the Summer And Pliny makes mention of a certain Spring in Cydonia before Lesbon that flows onely at the Spring many more of this nature might be produced if there were occasion 2. If that were granted to be true which they say yet it doth not follow that rain is the material cause of Springs although at that time they break forth which were before dryed up for their drying up was not occasioned for want of rain to supply them but by reason of the dryness of the earth towards its superficies which attracts to it self and drinks in for the satisfaction of its drought the water of the Springs which it doth again let go when it hath drunk plentifully of the showers from Heaven Now that the dry earth will drink a great quantity of water you may see by the drying up of Rivers in a long drougth by the drynes of the earth although the Fountains which are the heads of those Rivers flow plentifully at the same time as some do although others some be dryed up And as for those Springs which break forth onely after great rain they are caused from the rain which is drunk up by some boggie spongious earth and is drained from thence or which is sunk into some caverne or hollow place near the superficies of the earth through some secret passage thither and there being collected in some considerable quantity imitates a Spring as long as it lasts 3. The gratest part of showers of rain falling upon high places run down from thence into plains and from plains through small channels or trenchs into Rivers and that rain which falls upon any place from whence it cannot in some such manner be conveyed away remains upon the superficies of the earth till it be exhaled by the Sun as we see in divers places besides it cannot be imagined that rain sinks so far into the earth as to supply Springs and that because it is generally observed by all that dig in the earth that rain wetts not the earth above ten feet deep And the reason hereof Seneca the Philosopher gives in his third Book Naturalium quaestionum chap. 7. Where he saith that when the earth is satiated with showers it then receives in no more and this we see by dayly experience Besides when wee dig a Well although it be in a soft place wee dig sometimes one two or three hundred feet deep before wee come at quick Springs and that the rain should sink so deep it is no way probable nay although there were hallow veins and chinks in the earth through which many would have it passe to a great depth for who cannot easily conceive that those veins and crannies which yet are not granted to be in every place where there are Springs are easily stopt with dust or dirt which the rain carryes with it when it is fallen on the earth or swelled up and contracted as we see they are in Summer time with rain after a long drougth Arguments for the second opinion Alleadged and answered Arg. They that contend for the second opinion such as Seneca c. affirme that Springs are generated cheifly of earth changed into water and that because all Elements are mutually transmutable into one the other And some as Aristotle and H. ab Heer 's that Springs are generated of the aire shut up in the earth and by the coldnes thereof condensed into water Sol 1. It is more probable according to reason and experience that by reason of the density of the earth water should more easily be converted into earth than the earth into water 2. It is to be wondred at that seeing that ten parts of air if not many more serve for the making of one part of water conteinable in the same space there should be so much space in the earth for the containing of so much air as serves for the making of such a quantity of water as springs dayly out of the earth Besides so much air being spent there would of necessity follow a vacuum for where should there be so many and great crannies or holes to let the air into the earth fast enough But if there were yet how is it possible that so much air can be corrupted in such a moment the whole Elementary air being of its owne nature most subtile and not being sufficient to make such abundance of water as all the Springs of the earth will amount to Now although this answer be according to the sence of common Philosophers and sufficient for the satisfaction of this objection yet Helmont will not admit of any such supposition viz. That air and water can at all be mutually transmuted into one the other It is true saith he that water can easily be turned into a vapour and the said vapour into water again but this vapour is nothing els materially and formally but a congeries of atomes of water sublimed air will not in cold or heat yeild water any more then it contains in it the vapour viz. of rarefied water For saith he if those two Elements were so mutually convertible one species must be transmuted into another and the air that is made out of water may be again reduced into the same numerical waterwhich it was before its rarefaction but this cannot be
unless you will grant that which all Philosophers deny viz. That A privatione ad habitum datur regressuc Lastly for the confirmation of his opinion he brings in an experiment viz. Air shut up in an Iron pipe of an ell long may be compressed by force that it will be conteined within the space of five fingers which when it expands it selfe drives out the pellet with which it was stopt at the one end with a sound like to that of a gun which would not be if the air thus compressed could have been turned into water by the coldnes of the Iron Arguments confirming the third opinion and objections made against it answered The third opinion is the most ancient of all and was held by Plato and Thales himselfe one of the first Philosophers in Greece and not so only but is also asserted in sacred writ viz. Eclesiastes chap. I. vers. 7. Where the wisest of men affirmes that all the Rivers run into the Sea and yet the Sea is not full unto the place from whence the Rivers come thither they return again The reason for the confirmation of this opinion are many but the chiefest are these two First because there is not any body besides the vast Ocean that can afford neer such an abundance of waters as spring from the earth Secondly because the Sea it selfe is not increased by that multitude of waters that flow dayly into it as it must of necessity be unless they did by occult cavities of the earth return to their Fountaines as is declared in the fore cited place by the wisest of Philosophers Neither is Aristotle's imputing the wasting of the Sea to the Sun and winds of any force to perswade to the contrary for although this kind of wasting may be granted in part yet if it should be according to his judgement his whole Element of water had bene long since consumed Obj. Seeing the Sea according to its situation is lower than springs for the course of water is downward how then doth the water thereof ascend so high as the heads of springs especially those in high Mountains and Hills Sol. I shall first shew after what manner it doth not ascend according to the opinion of some for there are divers opinions concerning the causes of its ascent 1. It is not forced upward by a spirit or breath that is in the water it selfe as Pliny and Vallesius supposed For if it should be granted that there were any such intrinsecal impulsive spirit or breath in waters as it can not rationally be for it is not observed that the Sea is moved any other way but by tempests sometimes and the Moon by way of tide yet that could not though assisted extrinsecally by strong winds blowing contrarily and that in an open Sea force them to the height of springs much lesse could it alone in subterraneal crooked channels 2. Neither doth the weight of the earth force it up as was the opinion of Bodinus and Thales For the earth seeing it is a solid and firme body doth not lye upon and presse the water but contrarily the water the earth Neither is the earth held up by the water but the water by the earth as you may see in all Rivers Lakes Pits and the water of the Sea it selfe when it is in channels of the earth For if they should not at any time be quite full as it sometimes happens the upper part alone proves empty which would not be if the waters were pressed by the earth but contrarily 3. Neither doth the weight of the Sea force it self up as was the opinion of Seneca who supposed that the greatest part of the water of the Sea is out of its place viz. above its place in the place of the air and so above the heads of springs towards which it forceth it selfe by its natural descent and so riseth up again as high as the level of the water from whence it came but he proves it not onely he asserts it But Doctor Jorden in his treatise of Baths being of the same opinion as touching the Seas being higher than the earth though he holds that the natural place of the waters is above the earth seemes to give some plausible account of it For saith he although neer the coasts it be depressed and lower than the shoare yet there is reason for that because it is terminated by the dry and solid body of the earth as wee see in a cup or bowle of water filled to the top wee may put in a great bulk of silver in pieces and yet the water will not run over but be heightened above the brims of the bowl the like saith he we may see in a drop of water put upon a table where the edges or extremities of the water being terminated by the dry substance of the table are depressed and lower than the midle like a halfe globe But take away the termination by moistening the table and the drop sinks even to an evennes And whereas we see saith he that Rivers run downward toward the Sea per declive it doth not prove the Sea to be lower than the Land but onely neer the shoar where it is thus terminated and in lieu of this it hath scope enough assigned it to fill up the Globe and so to be as high as the Land if not higher Now if I should graunt that the Sea were higher in the midle than the highest place of the Land yet it is very improbable that it should force it selfe to the tops of Mountains sooner than into Rivers which are far lower than the head of Springs and more open than the narrow channels and veines of the earth through which it must passe to the Springs And for that similitude of his concerning the termination of water by drynes it will not hold water nay it rather makes against him than for him for he saith that this termination is taken away by moisture Now let me demand of him or of those of his judgment whether or no many great Rivers terminated in the Sea be not a sufficient moisture for the taking away of the termination of the water made by the dryness of earth and so to make the globous Sea to sink to an evennes 4. And as the water is not elevated by any of the three foregoing wayes of impulse or forcing so neither is it by any of these two wayes of attraction viz. by the power of the Planets or by the earths sucking it in as a sponge doth water from beneath and sending it to higher places For the first there can be no such attractive vertue demonstrated and if there were it would as well and promiscously extend a like to Valleyes and low Countreyes where wee see few Fountains as well as to high Mountains and Hills from whence proceed the greatest Springs As to the second an attractive vertue if there were any such here attracts to this end that the subject wherein it is might consume retain or
enjoy what is attracted and over and above that none or at least not so much as would suffice for the making of Springs 5. Neither are there such veins in the earth through which the water should passe as cloth wine through crooked pipes or cranes which wine-coopers and Vintners use for the drawing of wine out of one vessel into an other through which the wine being once sucked runs continually till all be run forth For the veines in the bowels of the earth are not wholly and throughout full as of necessity they must be before water will ascend through them for preservation of its continuity and the avoyding of a vacuum 6. Neither is the water raised to the superficies of the earth by Helmonts sabulum or virgin-earth which he saith is a certain sand continued from the Center of the earth in divers places even to the superficies of the same and to the tops of some Mountains which sand hath in it a vitality and in which as in a vital abode and natural place the water whilest it remains is living and enjoyes common life and knows neither superiority or inferiority of place any otherwise than the bloud in the veines which flowes upward to the head and downward to the feet But moreover he adds that when this water is let out of its natural abode viz. the virgin earth as bloud out of a veine it then doth like a heavy thing hasten to its Center or iliad viz. the Sea Now for the confirming of this vitality in water he brings in this distich of the Poēt undas Spiritus intus alit vasti quoque marmoris aequor Mens agitat molem totam diffusa per artus And he further adds that the sea hath in it a kind of life because though the winds cease yet it hath its spontaneous motions and observes its tides according to certain observations that it hath of the course of the moon as if it would rise to meet her Now let us observe the weight of Helmonts arguments and that indeed is little or none as I conceive for first he doth not any way demonstrate that continuation of his virgin-earth from the Center to the superficies of the earth much less the vitality thereof Secondly for the vitality of water he onely quotes a poeticall fiction and thirdly for the spontaneous flowing of the sea it is noe more a demonstrative reason for the vitality thereof than the loadstones attracting Iron a reason of the vitality of the same 7 Neither is it rais'd upon that account of condensation rarefaction which the learned Docter Flud endeavours to demonstrate by the experiment of his weather-glass The air water saith he fill up all the cavities of the world so that in what hemispheare the air by reason of cold is condensed there the waters are rarefied and swell as may be seen in the weather-glass where the water is rarified and raised highest when the air is with cold most condensed as also in the swelling of springs in frosty-weather Now although this his experiment of the aforesaid glass doth prettily illustrate the busines of condensation and rarefaction in close vessels yet it doth not demonstrate sufficiently the raising of waters from the deep subterraneall channells to the superficies of the earth for it is apparent as I have shewed in the former part of this chapter that some springs swell more in summer than in winter Secondly if springs do rise higher in time of frost than in hot seasons it is onely either because some subterraneall vapours which could not evaporate by reason of the earth being constringed with cold are condensed into water and so make for the present some small addition to springs or because the subterraneall waters are rarified and swell by that heat which is occasioned through the aforesaid binding of the earth for we see by experience that springs are hotter in frosty weather than in summer And thirdly because the water of that weather-glass if it were open at the top as the veins of fountains are would not observe the nature of the season so as to rise or fall accordingly for that in a close glass it ariseth onely ad evitandum vacuum and now rather than nature should suffer a vacuum by the airs being condensed vapours and fumes would proceed out of the earth nay the next adjacent warm air would come in as a supply to prevent a vacuum sooner than water in the bowels of the earth could be rarified which would not in an open glass be raised at all though the weather were never so cold By these seven negatives it appears how the waters in the earth do not ascend I shall endeavour to demonstrate how they do ascend to the heads of Springs It is absurd to think being the same which Aristotle himself and his followers graunt that the waters should not be elevated from the bottom of Caverns to the heads of Springs after the same manner as water is elevated from the Sea to the midle region of the air Now this elevation is done by the force of heat resolving the water into vapours And if so why then may not the other be done after the same manner viz by heat Neither is it any matter whether that heat be above or beneath the waters if so be it forceth them into vapours and maketh them ascend as high as is requisite they should But it may be said that the middle region of the air is very cold and it is coldness that condenseth vapours into water but now the earth through which these vapours pass is warm as is agreed by most To this I answer that it is not necessary that there must be cold for the condensing of vapours into water it is sufficient if there be a more remiss degree of heat as you may see in the head of an alembick and the cover of a seething pot the interior superficies thereof being full of drops whilest they themselves are warm Now for the making of a vapour of any liquid matter heat is altogether and absolutely necessary according to the opinion of all and for much vapour there is much heat and a considerable proportion of humour required But seeing abundance of water comes from the Sea into the bowels of the earth the subterraneall heat which must be in like proportion being the chiefest cause of the generations of Springs is next and diligently to be inquired into Now that the earth is hot it is known by daylie experience And Lucilius Baldus saith that the earth being newly digged is hot smoketh and that out of deep wells is drawn warm water and especially in winter season by reason of the cold binding the earth and keeping in the heat but how this heat comes to be in the earth he speaks like a Stoick and saith it is in it as naturally as vitall heat is in animals But this opinion is not so probable as that of the Peripateticks who say that the earth is of
weighed impartially considered I suppose there are but few but will conclude that as all Springs proceed from the Sea through subterraneal channels and caverns so also are distilled up to the heads of Fountains by a subterraneal bituminous fire And as for those that are not yet satisfied let them consult with the treatise of our late and learned Countryman Mr. Thomas Lydyat entituled Disquisitio physiologica de origine fontium and there they shall find this opinion rationally discussed and solidly confirmed but if yet they shall be left vnsatisfied let them produce a more rational account of any other opinion that will hold water in all respects better than this of mine doth and I shall thanke him and embrace it And thus much for the original of Fountaines in general I shall now proceed to treat of the nature of Springs in particular CHAP. III Of the strange variety of Fountains and other Waters NAture hath not discovered her selfe so variously wonderful in any thing as in the Waters of Fountains Rivers c. Some of which strange waters I shall reckon up hat it may be the better conceived how variously subterranealls communicate their vertues to this Element Now the wonderfulnes of waters that I shall mention consists either in the strangeness of their colours tasts odours sounds weight observation of time effects 1. Srange Colours Athenaeus makes mention of a Lake of Babylonia that in Summer-time for some few dayes is red He also saith that the water of Borysthenes is blew in Summer-time Pausanus mentions a certain water at the Town Joppe and in Astyris that is yellow Cardanus speakes of a white water in the River Radera of Misena He also sayes there is a green water in the Mountain Carpatus He makes report of a black water in Allera a River of Saxonia Scaliger reports that the Fountain Job in Idumea changeth colours four times in a year 2. Srange Tasts Agricola makes mention of sweet water in Cardia neer Dascylus and Puteolana neer the cave called Syhill Aristotle relates of a water in Sicania of Sicilia which is used insteed of vinegar and pickle Rulandus also makes a report of a soure water in Mendick and Ponterbon Caesius speakes of a bitter and salt water in Palastina in which Fish can not live of the same tast is the sulphur Well in York-shire Caussinus saith that the River Hyspanis is as sweet as Honey in the beginning and acide at the end Pliny relates that in the country of the Troglodytae there is a Spring called Fons Solis i. e. the Fountaine of the Sun which alters its tast according to the rising and setting of the Sun Mutianus saith that the Fountain Diotecnosia in the Isle Andros hath the tast of Wine Salt waters in York-shire Spain Italy Sicilia and divers other places Nitrous water in Lâ—tiâ— of Macedonia and at Epsome and Scarborow c. Astringing waters as Alluminous and Vitrioline almost every where Corroding water is in the River Styx the water whereof being put into a Silver Copper or Iron vessell corrodes its way through the same Fat waters as they are tastable may be mentioned in this place and many of this sort saith Caesius are in Germany Italy Macedonia and other places 3. Strange Odours Pausanus saith that in Peloponnesus is a water that hath a very fragrant smell He also saith that in the Town of Elis the water of the River Aniger is of such a horrid smell that it kills both man and beast Aristotle makes mention of a water not far from the River Aridanus which is hot and sendeth forth such a stanch the nothing can drink of it and kills all birds that fly over it Caesius reports of Arethusa a River of Sicilia that it smells like dung at certain seasons The Sulphur-Well in York-shire smells like the scouring of a Gun that is very fowl 4 Strange Sounds Pliny makes mention of a Fountain of Zama in Affrica that makes mellodious sounds Vitruvins reports that a Fountain in Maguesia hath a tunable sound 5. Strange Weight and that either in relation to themselves as being heavy or light or to other things put into them Plutarch makes mention of a River called Pangeus a vessel of the water whereof weighs twice as heavy in Winter as in Summer Strabo saith that the water of the River Euleus is fifteen times lighter than any other water Seneca writes that in Syria there was a Lake called Asphalites in which no heavy thing could sink Caesius saith that the Lake Alcigonius in Lerna is of that nature that if any go into it to swim he should certainly be drowned Strabo writes that amongst the Indians in a mountainous Countrey there was a River called Silia on which nothing could swim which River saith Caussinus is an emblem of ambition because it will suffer nothing to be above it Some Rivers run over Lakes and will not mix with them as Marcie over Fucinus Addua over Larus and divers other there are of this nature Some Rivers run under the bottom of the Sea and will not mix with it as Lycus in Asia Erasinas in Argolica Atheneus saith that in Teno is a Fountain that will not mix with Wine but will fall alwayes beneath it 6. Strange observations of times Cardanus mentions a Spring called Fons Sabbaticus that flowes all the six dayes of the week but is dryed up the Sabbath day Caussinus relates that the Fountain Vmbria flowes onely against a time of famine Ovid writes that the water of Pheneus is unwholsome by night but wholsome by day Solinus reports that in Helesinâ Regione a Fountain otherwise still and quiet doth at the sound of a pipe rejoycingly exult and leap up Ovid saith that the Fountain of Jupiter Hammon is cold by day and hot by night 7. Strange effects The River Styx kills all them that drink of it as is agreed by all Historians Strabo writes that in Palestina the Lake Gardarenus makes the nails horns hair fall off from those beasts that drink thereof Pomponius Mela saith in Insula Fortunata is a water that makes them that drink of it to laugh to death Pompeius Festus reports that the Fountain Salmacis inclines men to venery Vitruvius relates that the Fountain Clitorius makes them that drink of it to abhor wine Ovid saith that the Fountain Lyncestis makes men drunk Pliny makes mention of a Fountain that makes men mad Pliny reports that the Dodonean Fountain will quench lighted torches but kindle those that are extinguished Heurnius saith that he saw amongst the Eugeneans a certain Fountain that would turn divers things to stone that were cast into it H. ab Heer 's and Doctor Jorden reckon up many of this nature whereof some will couvert things into stone in a short time and some in a longer and some onely crust over things as that dropping Well at Knaresborow unles it sinks into things as leaves mosse and all those it converts to a stoney
Springs and waters are found which are impregnated with the aforesaid four kinds of Ingredients 1. Of Metals Gold is said to be found mixed with Balneis Ficuncellensibus Fabariis Piperinis c. Silver in a certain Spring in Hungarie and in the Bath at Bol. c. Copper in the Bath of Saint Mary's in Flaminia in Thermis Cellensibus in Suevia and in many places in Germany c. Yron in Springs in Agro Lucensi in Asatia in Agro Calderiano and divers in England Lead in Lorayne whence a certain Bath there is called Balneum Plumbaceum Quick-silver in Serra Mordena in Spain near the village Almediea in a cave where they say are many wells infected therewith 2. Of Minerals Sulphur is said to be found in Thermis Puteolanis Aponitanis Badensibus in Helvetia and those at Knaresborow Antimony in Germany and in a certain Spring at Meldula as also in divers other purging waters Arsenick and Auripgimentum in the lake Avernus Bitumen in the wells at Baia Mutina and those at Knaresborow called the Sulphur-wells Salt in Balneis agri Pistoriensis Volaterrani and in the Sulphur-well at Knaresborow Nitre in Agro Puteolano of Campania in Aegypt and divers other places where the waters are very nitrous Allum in Balneis Agri Senensis Lucensis and in some Springs in the North of England Vitriol in agro Volaterrano and those Spaw-wells in Germany and these in England 3. Of Stones Plaister in a Spring of the Mountain Grotus in agro Pataviano Lime-stones in Springs of chalkie countries where the water sometimes runs forth white Marble in a Bath in agro Agnano 4. Of Earth Potters clay in a bath of the mountain Orthonus Rubrick or a certain red earth for so sometimes it signifies in aquis Calderiani◠Marle in Oaxes a river of Scythia c. But of all these by the way onely and for method sake and also for the better understanding of what is behind and indeed is the chiefest subject of this present treatise CHAP. VI Of the Original of Vitriol and the causes of Vitrioline waters or Spawes difference of them the one from the other and the reasons of their different operations IN the first place I shall give a description of Vitriol in which shall be declared the causes thereof and explain the terms thereof difficult and not obvious to every ones apprehension as being not usual in common natural Philosophy 〈◊〉 Vitrial therefore is but an esurine acid Salt of the embrionated Sulphur of Copper or Iron which attracting an acidity from air or water is thereby opened and resolved and then corrodes the parts of the said metals with which it is connate the body of which compound consisting of Pure Metal and superfluos Sulphur and Salt being thus opened is dissolved in water passing through the veins thereof And this water thus impregnated is boiled to a Vitrial The difficult terms hereof I thus explain 1. By embrionated Sulphur I understand a superfluous sulphur which is not the matter of the Metals but connate onely with them for the embrional conservation of them and after the perfection of the Metal is cast off in part by nature and more fully by the refiners fire Paracelsus explaines it by a familiar example of a Nut. A Nut saith he per se is onely the kernel which is not generated by it self but together with the shell and shales which are superfluous and serve onely for the embrional conservation of the Nut that is of it whilest it is in an Embrio or imperfect And here by the way note that as every Mineral Metal and vegetable hath its distinct Sulphur Embrionatum so every Sulphur Embrionatum is distinct from the true genuine thing generated with which it is connate as much as a form essence substance and corporality differ the one from the other and is but an impurity of its Embrio and as it were as Helmont calls it the secundine thereof 2. By esurine salt I understand in this place not the acid spirit of air water and subterraneal sulphurious vapours not yet coagulated or specificated which also are sometimes called an acid or esurine salt but a certain acid vapour applicable to all Metals and Minerals and connate with them in their principiis solutis and Embrioes and especially to those that abound with sulphur as Iron and Copper and with them congealed into a saline principle giving consistency to the compositum as sulphur doth coagulation and is by Hel-mont for want of another name called the esurine salt of an embrionated sulphur But any one may call it what he please if so be he understand it and is resolved and unloosed by an acid spirit conteined in air and water which spirit is indeed the seed of salt for in them viz in air and water are the seeds of all things in the former as being therein imagined as saith Sendivogius as in the male and in the latter as being afterward by a circulative motion cast forth into the same as into their sperm for he makes a subtile distinction betwixt seed and sperm wherein they are conserved taking not upon them the nature of any specifical salt untill they meet with some corporeal principles that are consentaneous to them and is when it meets with any saline corporeal principle in its resolving of it coagulated together with the same into a distinct species of salt viz into this or that according to the nature of the compositum where this solution and coagulation is made I shall for the better illustration of this nativity of salts briefly shew how two of the four said salts viz. Nitre and vitrial are made artificially because this artificial process is performed in imitation of the natural production of them 1. The process therefore of making nitre artificially is this viz. Sprinkle distilled vineger upon fat earth as fullers earth bole marle c. beaten small and let it stand for a few dayes in a cold place and you will see pure nitre produced from thence Or take any one of the aforesaid earths and beat it small and set it in a cold moist place for some weeks and you will see the same effect Now this latter way seems as much natural as artificial and indeed it is just in imitation of nature for we see that any fat earth if it be covered from rain and the Sun so as it spendeth not its strength in producing of hearbs and plants breedeth plenty of nitre Now note that in these kinds of fat earths there is at first observed no nitrous tast neither can there from thence be extracted any nitre but after they have continued a certain time in the cold air do by a certain magnetick power of a nitrous principle or saline unctuosity which is in them attract an acidity or rather acid spirit which opens the bodies of those fat earths and resolves the said saline unctuosity and is therewith coagulated for the solution of the one is the coagulation of
it succeeded ill This might be true but what then Might not those Physitians though otherwise knowing enough be ignorant of the right use of the waters themselves and of the preparations requisit for the taking of them with success Or might not they be willing to bring the Spaw out of credit because it might happily cure their patients too soon and thereby be prejudicial to them Or might not their patients be unwilling to drink the water regulary or disorder themselves in respect of diet exercise and the like Now whether either of these or all these might be the cause of the aforesaid unsuccesfulnes I cannot determine onely this I know that the use of Physick is not onely not unsafe but very necessary in the use of the waters nay and in many cases to be mixed with the waters themselves as in the next Chapter I shall more particularly give you to understand Three or four dayes before giving over the waters they must be abated by degrees as at the beginning increased by degrees After the ending of the waters immediatly even before you return from thence some such purging Physick will be necessary as may evacuate all the water that shall remain secretly in the body as oftentimes it doth and withall comfort and strengthen the stomack and Liver and moisten the bowels if there be any feaver of too great astriction of body afterwards Also a very spare diet will be very necessary for a moneth after for by this means nature will become master of the bodily infirmities all crudities being removed and prevented CHAP. X. Of particular directions and cautions in particular cases and of preventing and curing such accidents and symptomes which sometimes happen in the taking of the waters THey that have a very good digestion may in the afternoon about five or six hours after dinner take half the quantity which they did in the morning but with this caution that they eat a very light supper after it and as for those that have a very bad concoction let them altogether forbear it in the afternoon or at most drink but a glass for the diluting and better distributing of the chylus if already perfected If any shall drink of the water for the curing of an ague let them so observe the time for the taking of it that it may be all passed through them before the coming of the fit because otherwise nature will be distracted in her motions viz. evacuating the water by Urine and the morbifick humour by sweat And as for those that have a continual feaver let them forbear it altogether unless the humours be concocted and fit for evacution either by sweat or Urine as I have more at large declared in the fourth Chapter concerning the taking of cold water inwardly in case of a feaver My advise is that they that have very weak and cold stomacks should take the water a little warm'd first i. e. the cold being just taken off The truth is the coldness of the waters doth very little good at all unless it be to allay a very great heat and drought So great a quantity thereof as is usually taken cold must of necessity diminish the natural heat in cold constitutions A glass of cold water cast upon a fire though but small may make it burn the more strongly but if ten or twenty be cast upon it they if they do not quite extinguish it yet will so far check it that it will a long time labour under the destructive contrariety thereof And actual heat is far more suitable to nature if so be the vertue of the water is not dimished thereby as it is not as I have demonstrated by the second experiment in the foregoing Chapter far more effectual the potential heat thereof being sooner reduced into act without any checking or oppressing the natural heat The stomack being a nervous part and of exquisite sense must needs be offended with that which is actually cold This made the ancient Grecians and Romans drink most of their water and wine hot as we find in Salmuths collections The Lord Virulam wonders that calidum bibere is so much grown out of use If to drink an ordinary quantity of drink cold were not approved of by the Ancients with what face shall I commend the taking of gallons of cold water every morning for certain weeks together I do therefore seriously advise those that have cold and effeminate stomacks to take off the cold from the water before they drink it If upon the taking of the water it pass not through the body freely but is retained it is to be considered in what place of the body it is at a stand that accordingly some appropriated means may be administred for the evacuation of it For if it be retained in the belly or hypochondries which will appear by its rumbling wind tension oppressure a glyster will evacuate it if in the stomack which appears by a disposition to vomit hiera picra or Rhabarb will be convenient for the opening and cleansing thereof and making free passage for it from thence If it be retained in the habit of the body and veins which appears by oppressure and a chilness over the body without the aforesaid rumbling tension wind c. I approve of hiera picra with Jollap Mechoacan or the like hydragogal medicaments They that when they have taken the waters cannot evacuate them for want of exercise as being to feeble to stir much or walk and not having the conveniencies of horses may either drink all their proportion of water in the bed or take some part at the Well and then go to bed and there take the residue I have oftentimes observed that the water would freely pass through many when they were in bed but would not otherwise and the reason of it was as I conceived because the passages of their body were contracted by going into the air but more open by the warm'th of the bed Now for the rendering the water more effectual it will be necessary as is the course in Italy to make use of some specificks with the drinking of it H. ab Heer 's allowes of the decoction of Sanicle Pimpernel Scabions c. to be drunk in case of spitting of bloud inward Impostumes Ulcers Wounds and Infirmities of the breast and Lungs the benefit whereof he experienced by many years practise And why may not we do the like in several cases as to allow of a spoonfull or two of the juyce of Saxifrage or the like to be taken in the first glass in case of the stone or gravel or to take Turpentine pills or a bole with Turpentine and Cassia the night before and in case of very great obstructions dropsie and cold moist stomacks or the like to mix some Sugar of steel or steel wine with the first glass But note that in such cases they are to be taken half an hour or a whole hour before the taking of any more of the water
digesting them into perfection The chief vertues of this water are to allay acid gnawing and hot cholerick humours and to stop all fluxes proceeding from thence It is also good against burstness pissing of bloud all overflowings in women and strengthens the back They that take this water except in case of looseness must every other day take a glyster or some lenitive as Cassia Manna c. every other night in case it binds too much This water in many cases is better than the syrup of Coral and the pouder of the Rock or rather the pouder that remains upon evaporation maybe used for Coral for the truth is as is the opinion of many Philosophers that Coral is a certain vegetable fed and nourished with a succus lapidescens The proportion of the water to be taken is from half a pint to half a gallon according to the age constitution distemper and place of the distemper The quantity of the pouder is from ten grains to a dram according to the aforesaid considerations CHAP. XVII Of St. Mugnus Well WHether Magnus or Mugnus be the true and Original name of this Well I could never yet be ascertained It is usually called by the latter Now whether this Well was Sainted from its real vertues or onely supposed vertues attributed to it because first Sainted I will not stand now to dispute but I rather believe the former Dr. Dean will not have any greater vertues attributed to it than to common Springs allowing it onely a bare name and title It seems the Dr. was no Catholick or if he were St. Mugnus must not be his Intercessour Now the reason why he will ascribe no other than common vertues to this water is because as he saith it hath no mineral vertues and faculties I suppose he means perceptible But to this answer might easily be made viz. that waters oftentimes are impregnated with mineral vertues and spirits to although insensibly Who would have thought that the dropping-well would have yielded a stony pouder upon evaporation and coagulate milk Besides if upon experiment nothing could be found perceptible to sense in waters must we alwayes judge of things by sense and not sometimes by effects In many mineral waters the substance of minerales and metals is mixed in other some the gross perceptible vapours onely and in other some the subtile insensible spirits or rather atomes and effluvia's In this well the last onely and they are the effluvia's of either Lead or Tin mines as is the opinion of some Philosophers concerning such kind of Springs which being mixed with the water do not onely give activity to its coldness as do cold atomes of the Northen wind to rain congealing it into snow which will with much handling heat the hands and make them even to burn but also a kind of fermenting nature to it so that when the water hath a little entered into the pores of the body it causeth a kind of light fermentation amongst the humours and by consequence stirs up a heat in the habit of the body and withall draws out the natural heat into the same And this is apparent for if any one enter into this water to Bathe or wash himself and abide there but a quarter of an hour or little more he will as soon as he comes forth presently become very hot his body being all over red and so continue a long time although he walk in the cold air nay although he put not on his clothes Nay many times tender women who dare scarce wash their hands in cold water will adventure to go into it although it be colder than ordinary water with their linnen about them and when they become forth go to the next houses and lye in their wet linnen all night and towards morning begin to sweat and by this means are cured of many old aches in what part of the body soever they are and of swellings and hard tumours and agues and indeed many outward distempers and symptomes caused either by cold or hot humours the latter being cured by an actual coldness viz. if it be a bare distemper of heat only for which alteratiō onely will be sufficient the former by the heat of the body being drawn outward increased whereby humours offending are digested attenuated discussed or evaporated by sweat Also such distempers as are caused by too much chilness and tenderness are hereby recovered And upon this account it is that they that are very tender in their heads and wear many caps and subject to take cold upon every slight occasion are cured of this tenderness by washing their heads two or three times in a day in cold water for hereby the open pores which let in the cold through which the natural heat did too much transpire are closed and stopt Before any attempt the use of this cold Bath let them first consult with some able Physitian and if they please observe such directions for the ordering of themselves as I have given in the fourth Chapter concerning bathing in cold water This Well is square with a high wall about it and a howse adjoyning to it where people make themselves ready for bathing going immediatly out of it into the Bath This Spring riseth high about May and fals low about September Now if any shall not approve of my hypothesis concerning the nature of this Well let them tell me of one that is more rational and I shall not be ashamed to learn that which I am convinced I did not know or else let them embrace mine The reason inducing me to declare this of mine is because I know it is the unanimous consent of most sound Philosophers that waters running through Tin Lead and Silver mines or minerals of a cold nature may contract some imperceptible medicinal vertues from them and therefore H. ab Heer 's and Helmont say that many Medicinal Springs are called fontes acidi from their effects not sensible acid mineral tast and also because I know that this Countrey yields almost all manner of metals and minerals which an expert Artist assisted with a good purse would easily discover I believe that many other Springs of this nature might in that Countrey and other such mineral Countries be found out upon examination and triall Now for the conclusion of all let not any one judge me to be a Catholick by this my approbation of this Sainted Well for I am none and as none my self so neither do I hate those that are or those of any other heterodox judgement whatsoever Their living according to their own light and within the bounds of civility is a sufficient ground for me to exercise good will and love to them And as I do not out of any superstitious account attribute any medicinal vertues to this Sainted Well so neither do I do it out of any affectedness to contradict D. Deane's judgement The reason of my vindication of it is grounded upon some notable cures which I' have seen effected thereby And the Doctor himself acknowledgeth that it hath formerly been very much frequented by all sorts of infirm people if so then certainly not without some cause Now if it were but their faith in the water and strong imagination as some may say that cured them yet let them use this water or any lawfull means else that may exalt their imagination if that may promote their cures FINIS A TABLE of the Contents of this Treatise 1. THe place together with the Nature of the same where four Famous Medicinal Springs are discovered in Yorkshire pag. 1. 2. Of the Original of Springs in general pag. 2. 3. Of the strange variety of Fountains and other waters pag. 32. 4. Of the nature and vertues of simple waters pag. 39. 5. Of the several kinds of mixtures in mineral waters pag. 50. 6. Of the Original of Vitriol and the causes of Vitrioline waters or Spaws the difference of them the one from the other and the reasons of their different operations pag. 54. 7. Of the Spaw-wel near Knaresborow pag. 65. 8. Of the vertues of the Spaw-well to whom and in what cases profitable or burtfull pag. 71. 9. Of some general directions to be observed before in the time of and after taking of the waters pag. 81. 10. Of particular directions and cautions in particular cases and of preventing and curing such accidents and symptomes which sometimes happen in the taking of the waters pag. 89. 11. Of the necessity and manner of exercise in the use of the waters pag. 96. 12. Of the time of the year and day when the Spaw is chiefly to be taken pag. 97. 13. Of the Dyet to be observed by Spaw-drinkers pag. 100. 14. Of the Sulphur-well pag. 104. 15. Of the vertues and uses of the Sulphur-well together with directions and cautious for the taking of it pag. 112. 16. Of the Dropping or Petrifying-well pag. 117. 17. Of St. Mugnus Well pag. 119. FINIS