but is that which gives Vertue and must by consequence be united with the Centre thereof seeing Life always subsists in the Centre of every Body which cannot be touched any other way so as to be exhausted but by Fermentation and a violent Seperation which is an Exhalation of the Saline and Sulphurous Qualities thereof which is that Earth by which the said Element is Elementated which doth remain even in rain-Rain-water after all the Moisture is evaporated and this is that in this Element together with the Spiritual Life which nourishes Beings seeing the Element it selt is only as a Menstruum or Vehicle for conveying of the same to the Centre of the Earth where the Sperm is mixed and sublimed for Vegetation and therefore if the volatile Aquacity is in part evaporated then by consequence must the Menstruum become more sharp and powerful to act on Bodies and as it is more satisfied by the radical Union of the Grain so is that Liquor so produced more durable vertuous and agreeable to Constitutions either temperately hot or cold as will be shewn more at large in that Chapter that treats of Brewing And although some as I before cited ignorant in the Law of Nature do affirm That Decoction separates the volatile brisk and airy Life drawing their Argument from the groaning cracking or sighing of the Water in Decoction when alas this is nothing else but the crackling Serpent or wild Blass which is separated by the first Action of Decoction and then ceaseth and the Water concentrates into Parts more agreeable As for Example take Water and put it on the Fire and make it immediately to boyle and violently to evaporate in such a way that all the parts may be radically opened and then immediately damp or put the Fire quite out and this wild Gass shall only evaporate and the Water become free and quiet in its Decoction and is more powerful for the extracting Tinctures as also for the making Essential Oyles or indeed any use whatsoever let others say what they will to the contrary and the more especially where the Sulphurs that are to be extracted are of an hot and generous Nature as is plain in that of making Tea and Coffee or the Infusion of Sage and Sassafrass and many others in that 't is a general Custome to boy I their Waters twenty four hours and only open the Pipe to let forth the wild Gass which is purely Philosophical Observe that this Experiment is best made in such Vessels as have a blind Head and proper beck only for Evaporation And thus having in general run through what was promised in this Chapter we shall conclude the same with this positive Affirmation sc That Decoction and Fermentation are the two Pillars on which depends Exaltation and Perfection CHAP. II. In which we treat of the right way of Brewing Beer and Ale in general so as to make them the most Durable and Vertuous to Drink THE right way of Brewing is by a true and natural Preparation of the Menstruum or Liquor by which the Vertue is extracted from the Grain which can be no other way but by Decoction which must be so artificial as to separate the wild Gass as was touched at in the last Chapter That being the Grand and Fatal Enemy to Human Life and there is no Element in Nature so much abounding with the same as Water as is plainly manifest in this That rain-Rain-Water takes into its Womb all and every Gass that proceeds from other Elements which is the reason that those Places where Bogs abound and the Air hath not Power to penetrate the Body thereof so as to rarifie and enliven the same are so unhealthful and so often cause contagious Diseases for you must know the Motion Decoction and Rarification is the Life and Exaltation of Beings as hath been said as also the Purification thereof in that they separate heterogeneities and concatinate and ripen the homogeneous Qualities and seeing these are of such Universal Tendency in Nature why may not they be the same in Art For Decoction is here really necessary for without the same it is impossible to prepare our Food so as to make it generous agreable and healthful for our Bodies For as that Learned and profound Philosopher Bernard Trevisan saith in his Answer to Thomas of Bononia That Water which is Cold and Moist if it be well mixed with Vegetables assumes another Quality and in Decoction takes to it and puts on the Quality of the Thing wherewith it is throughly mixed And there can be no true Mixture of things of Different Textures but by Decoction and Fermentation but you are to observe That when I speak of Decoction I mean not one so violent as to evaporate the Compound but to ripen the same So then I shall come to explain what that Decoction is which best agrees with our Mind and is that upon which the whole End and Scope of our Intention is built sc a Seperation of the Wild and Unruly Gass which is the grand Enemy and fatal Destroyer of the Life of Man for reasons before rendred the manner how this is done hath been also already touches at therefore in preparing your Liquor in the Art of Brewing let the same be carefully observed For otherwise instead of having a wholesom and generous Liquor you have that which is destructive to the fermentative juices in us by its Stagnatizing quality and tho this hath been prevented by many in the Art of Brewing yet it hath been by accident the true Philosophy thereof being unconsidered For when the Wise and Prudent of this Nation have by experience found their Beer ill Brewed by making of them ill-disposed or by its soon souring or roping they have ordered that the same should be well boyled and then they have found a better effect by which boyling a separation of the Gass predicted hath been made and this might have been much more easily done and without a considerable diminution of the Liquor had but the true reason been understood sc by an immediate sudden quick and violent boyling and then an immediate damping of the Fire so that the Gass may evaporate which will be more in one half hour than by gentle simering in five or six hours for the Body of the Water is radically opened so as to let that freely pass out and then the Water attracts and receives in its place a vital and spiritual Life from the Air for there is no such thing as a Vacuum in Nature for if Nature should admit of this Beings would soon be annihilated But we se the contrary for Nature tends to the bettering of things and aims at her End rejoycing in the same as the Pismire doth and threfore is she not one moment Idle as Sandivogius truly says but many times she comes short of her end by meeting with obstructions in the way and therefore must it be the great business of Art to help her where she is deficient sc by
taking out of the way that which is offensive to her And that you may yet the better conceive why there should be such a Gass in Waters we shall give you the reason You may remember that I said before 't was the Menstruum of the World making one Globe together with the Earth and having its centre in the heart of the Sea and as Sandivogius saith hath one Axle-tree and Pole with the Earth by which all Courses and Fountains of Water issue forth and disperse themselves through the pores of the Earth so according to more or less do Springs arise and afterwards meeting together encrease and come to be Rivers and those return to the place whence they originally came Now as the Waters pass through the pores of the Earth and through narrow and strait places where Sand is they leave their saltness there and become fresh so that 't is a certain and Infallible Maxim in Philosophy That Water is purged by Sand now afterward as they pass on further they take into their Bodies more or less of the Nature of those things which they passed through and if they come through a place which is hot and Sulphurous and continually burning they are thereby made hot and thence Baths arise for as Sandivogius saith there are in the bowels of the Earth places in which Nature Delights and separates a sulphureous Mine where by the Central Fire 't is Kindled the Waters runing through these burning places according to the nearness or remoteness are more or less hot and so break forth into the superficies of the Earth and retain the tast of Sulphur as all Broath doth of the Flesh boyled in it After the same manner it is when Water passing through places where are Minerals as Copper Allum doth acquire the savour of them as also through all the other diversity of Vapors that the Earth abounds withall so there is no wonder why this Element should be impregnated with a wild Gass as before-said seing it passes through such diversities thereof in the Bowels of the Earth and as it comes to the superficies thereof in a more immediate degree or as it passes further through such places where it is again purged so doth it retain more or less of the aforesaid Gass and this is that which causes the great diversity of Waters so that some are harsh and rough others more mild others more slippery and friendly to Nature as such which passed through Alkalisated places or where abundance of Chalk abounds And 't is observable that some Waters shall wash with half the quantity of Soap as others will which proceeds from the richness of their Abstersive virtue and Salutiferous qualities in Nature and from a Spirituous Oleous and Saline Vapour that they are impregnated withal in the Bowels of the Earth and where is that Philosopher now born that can demonstrate to us how much with this or the other quality Nature hath impregnated the same seing she works invisibly any otherwise than by the effect produced in the use thereof or who dare presume to assert that he will shew us the exact number of times that Nature hath decocted or impregnated the said Waters with different moist vapours or how often it hath since its issuing forth received its purgation or how much it must be now decocted and purged to make them equally generous seing there is such great diversities of Waters as is plainly manifest some more friendly others more austere some more agreeable to one Texture some to another and tho it is still but Water yet doth it as much differ in some Cases as if compounded of different Textures being so unlike to one another for some waters are so prepared to our hands that little or no boyling will make excellent Beer others must have a considerable time of Decoction to ripen them or else they 'l not be fit to make Beer of we have an example of this by the Waters of Roterdam of which indifferent Beer is made as those that have travelled can testifie But a certain English Brewer upon the well-boyling of his Liquor in the first place before Mashing even to a considerable consumption made excellent Beer and Ale thereof which I by my own experience can testifie was little inferiour to that of England which is highly esteemed there Here the Vertue of Decoction was manifested even by that Water which proceeds from one of the finest Rivers in Europe for that it comes from the Rhine The manifest Difference of Waters may also be discerned in most Counties of England For for Example let six Sacks of Hartfordshire Malt which was made from one Grain at one and the same Time from the Cestern to the Kill be brewed in six different Places or with six different Waters and every one of these Beers shall be discernably different in Tast although the Grain was one yet doth this Difference issue forth by the diversity of Menstruums or Liquors Therefore I would have all our English Gentry Brewers and other House-keepers that brew their own Beer if they desire their Health not to hearken to Notional Theory or to such as are swelled up with the Poyson thereof like a Toad touched by a Spider ready to burst without the Antidote of Plantine but apply themselves to Experience the only sole Mistress of true Wisdom and in the first place let them by many Tryals prove the Nature of their Water first by a more short and afterwards by a longer Decoction But in all be sure that you separate the Wild Gass the Sword of Mankind and when they obtain a Liquor most Generous and agreeable to their Constitutions let them keep to the same for in this Case every Man is properly his own Judge and there is an Ancient Proverb in England That every Man at Thirty Years of Age is either a Fool or a Physician that is he must then know what best agrees with him Now for these alledged Reasons it is impossible for any Man to prescribe an infallible Rule in Brewing any more than those general ones here by me performed therefore I apply my self to the Judicious as my proper Judges to determinate the Cause depending and to Encourage and Receive Truth according as it is delivered God knows my Heart I write not for Notions sake nor for Vain Glory but for the sake of â—ruth and the Health and Prosperity of those the inhabitants of Britain whom I so highly esteem as my daily Labours may easily demonstrate in that I cannot chuse but cast my Mite into her great Treasuries of Wisdom c. But from the Digression to the Matter in Hand I say then That all Waters are more generous that are most endued with a salutiferous Saline oleous Life and do daily receive a Rarification from the friendly Archeius of Nature as also a fresh Influence from the Starry Powers But here by the way it must be observed That Waters are best to be taken when the Sun hath exhaled the
is no small part of Chymistry And if it should be so as he saith he must by consequence allow me one Consideration therein which is purely Natural and doth infallibly demonstrate the Office of Decoction which is That Silver is made by Nature of the same Seed and in the same Matrix as Gold is but Nature hath sooner done in Silver than in Gold and so hath she left it plae and wan and from thence will proceed a Medicine but for very few Diseases But when Nature hath by a through and longer Decoction brought it to the Maturity of Gold then doth it manifest a Tincture even a Rich and permanent Sulphur from whence may be made an Aurum Potabile curing all Diseases so that this still confirms That Tincture produces Sanity which is the conjunct Property of Health And this afore-cited Author's saying sc That the first step to the generating the Stone in the Bladder Gout and Consumptions and other Diseases is the drinking of Strong Hot Sharp Intoxieating Stale Liquors and Fiery prepared Drinks as Beer high boyled with Hops c. is a grand Mistake and really shews his Ignorance in true Philosophy for 't is not the Use of these that can cause one Diseasie Idea but the Abuse thereof so as to cause Surfeits or to over-power therewith the Natural Heat and suffocate the same And thus Food also performs the fame and indeed so doth the best of Medicines when taken in so large a Dose as to overpower the natural Strength therefore let the Vertnes of things be observed from the Temperate Use not the Abuse thereof For we see this proceeds not from the well-boyling of the Beer so much as from the wild Gass when not well boyled for we see no Men in England more healthy than the Country-Farmer who keeps a Cup of good brown Ale and a Toast and temperately will drink a Glass of Stout For my part no Man shall persuade me that any Liquors can be more wholesome to the English Constitutions than those of their own Climate amongst which good Beer is a principal one especially if it be but well and truly Brewed Fermented and kept in Age according as it hath Strength to hold its Body so that it is upon no Fret but drinks Brisk Sparkling with the Aireal Life and Richness of Spirit then and then only doth it retain all the Vertues belonging to good Beer even the Balsamick and Nourishing ones And though those that are troubled with the Stone or Gout may receive some effects of its Spiritual Action in its being too Brisk and Active for their Weak Crasy and Diseasy Body yet doth not this manifest that it should be the Author of this Disease any more than a good Medicine doth which being taken by the Diseased makes them for a Season the worse their Natures being too weak for its healthful Qualities for were it otherwise it would work the same effect on all for what is centrally destructive will certainly be always manifesting its Power for that which nourishes and hath Vertues so to do cannot at the same time poyson any other way than by that of a great Fire putting out a little one and yet doth Fire and Fire agree 'T is true we allow it may give Pain because 't is Active Brisk and Spiritual and will be doing some good Office as all pure Tinctures will but it being designed by the all-bounteous God for Food why should Men expect it generally to work the effect of a Medicine But however sometimes it may so fall out that it will work a greater than many a Medicine will and especially where Nature languisheth after it as she doth where the use thereof is with-held For we have seen in violent Burning Feavors when all seeming Hopes of means have failed that the Patient hath recovered by being admitted to drink moderately of Beer therefore in our Practice do we with-hold the Patient from nothing in Moderation It being clear to us that this Author is mistaken in the Original of Diseases as much as in the Grounds of those Arts which he seems to kerp at therefore in compassion to him for his better Information I advise him to look to our other Volumes for the Original of Diseases And leaving him there to consider his Mistakes I shall come to lay down what remains to be treated of for the Readers Information in this Chapter sc That Decoction is not only useful in the ripening and maturating of things but also that there are many degrees thereof for as that Learned Bernord Count Trevisan saith for example sake in the Art of Physick pure simple Fountain-Water by boyling in the first Decoction is joyned with the Flesh of a Chicken and thence in the first degree of Concoction we obtain a Broath a good and perfect Decoction the Humid Watry and Airy Parts of the Chicken being actually dissolved in the aforesaid Water though there be other Elements therein also actually But that it may be made a much more perfect Medicine and more generous for restoring Man's sick Body of the Chick is beat into a Mash with the said Water already altered into a Boyl'd Broath or with part of it and is distilled by a stronger Decoction whence a Broath and Decoction will be made much more Noble and Generous partaking of the whole Nature of the Chicken because by this second Decoction not only the moist Parts but the hot Parts that is its Aireal and Fiery Parts being melted into the Broath or Decoction are throughly mingled and dissolved and therefore the whole Vertue of the Chick is in such a Decoction extracted into the aforesaid Liquor So then Decoction doth not only ripen and make generous but also exalt things to their full Perfection and doth not in the least destroy their Balsamick Vertue as some ignorantly think for that consists in the Sulphurous and Saline Qualities for the Mercurial is twofold Volatile and more Fixed The Volatile consists only in a Moist Vapour interwoven with the aforesaid Gass by which 't is yet made abundantly more Volatile but the fixed is not easily to be touched by Menstruums or any other ways seeing 't is that of which the very Substance of the Texture of Bodies doth consist and though the Sulphurs may be extracted yet will the Corporality remain abundantly more Gross than before This was pointed sorth by the Famous and ever Worthly George Starkey when he said That the Central Body of Mercury is a Peerless Creature stooping to nought nought indeed but the Grand Vniversal Tinging Light which hath Power to transmute from a State of Corruption to that which is more permanent and lasting or more especially to that Grand Tincture and Divine Essence I mean the Magisterial Blood of Christ which is the Quintessence of Heaven and Earth and the Fulness of all the Glories thereof for that in him as the Apostle saith dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in him doth the fulness of the Power of
Vertues that must proceed there-from for Calx is too dry and by its great Heat will burn up many tender Growths as may be seen where 't is used in Gardens for it immediately burns up the very Root of the Flowers but after it hath layn to mellow and is fatted with the Sulphurons Quality then doth it wonderfully cause increase and better in the second or third Year than the first and why then may not Art prepare and imbibe these Calxes with a Sulphur fit for Nature to work in seeing this is all that she doth by length of Time Again in Dung that Rich and Profitable Soyl in that it abounds with such great Quantityes of Sulphurous and Excrementous Fatness yet the Urinous Spirits therein contained must be exhaled or drained away or else 't will prove as destructive to Young Growths as fresh Calx for Experience in my own Garden hath taught me that Dung new made hath destroyed and caused several famous Flowers to die perish and decay whenas that of Age hath caused them to increase in Largness and Beauty therefore do they in Holland let their Dung rot putrifie and corrupt and throughly die as being put in such Places where the Urinous Spirits may freely run therefrom And therefore seeing that it is the Sulphurous Saline and Balsamick Qualities which only nourish I advise That such may be searched after and used more generally and especially by such as will be curious in the Improvement of their Lands and if the Inhabitants will come to the Use of the Shells then let them also use the Acid Juice of Vegetables therewith or in place thereof Soot gently dryed on a Kill and they shall not fail of having that Increase which will abundantly outpay their Cost and Labour for by the Variation of the Grain you may yearly expect a Crop Also it is observable That Orchards and Vinyards so ordered as well as Fields will not only bring forth the Kernel into a Shrub but also yield the best Soyl for raising of Nurseries as also for dunging Orchards and Gardens for though Earth and Dung and Fat Sandy Mold mixt together is good yet not comparable to the Calx prepared as prescribed and feeing that Land which is proper for Corn Rie Barley Oats and Beans is also most proper for Orchards Why may we not improve that Wast Land of Divisions which are in Fields wherein the Land-mark is set and make the same of different Fruits that so those excellent Liquors of Cyder and Perry may as plentifully abound in England as Wines in many Foreign Parts or Orange-trees in Italy But here the Landlord may object and say This will not only encourage Thieves but also cause our Land to be trod and marred But in answer to this we say That the universality of Consent in the general Use thereof would make Fruit so common as not to be coveted with a thievish Eye And again a Law might be provided as a Punishment for any Offence or Breach of this kind Seeing it is so useful that this may serve well as a Fence for the Corn against many a bitter Storm And if the Trees are kept well pruned and not to spread their Dropings can be no ways detrimental to the Grain seeing we have seen Examples of the like Nature in Foreign Parts This may not seem unpracticable though strange to many but seeing Orchards Vineyards and their Improvements are treated of in their proper Place I shall omit it here and at present leave every Man with that Opinion which best pleases himself seeing our whole Drift and Degsin is only and alone to promote that which the great and noble Hearts might so encourage as to make Britain become the Glory of all the European Parts Nay I might have said the Garden of the World for Plenty and Riches being in it self so healthful and well-tempered a Climate but of this more at large in the other Volumes of our Historia nova de Britanniae Gloria interna Thesauro Celato now the Grains and Fruit being sown and ripened we shall come to touch at that whereby Art advances the same to a more prestant Vigour 'T is said in our Britannean Magazine of Wines That all Fruits must be gathered in dry Weather otherwise they 'll soon grow musty and rot And again all Fruits being taken from their Stems are to lye on Heaps to sweatand dry again and so they become more ripe and fit for the Press and will yield abundantly the more generous Liquors And again all Grain must receive an Internal Ferment by being malted or melted by a kindly wetting or yoting thereof and then lying in Heaps to heat and then flowered and constantly turned and 't is observable that the Fermentation must not be too violent lest it run to Beard and Husk and after all it must be Killed and Dryed in which Preparation all the superfluous Moisture is evaporated and its Substance rendred durable for otherwise 't would be subject to corrupt and change And seeing we have proceeded thus far in preparing and fitting the Grain by a fermentative Motion and the Action of Heat why may not the same be as really necessary in Decocting and Brewing of Beer Ale and other Liquors seeing that as we have said in the Preface is so really necessary in order to make them more generous and agreeable to Human Bodies But now seeing by the aforesaid Preparation that the Grain is not only fitted and prepared for the giving forth its nourishing Vertues but also in great measure exalted being separated from those crude raw and Phlegmatick Spirits which naturally adhere thereunto Therefore is there is a Defect in Beer Ale or other Liquors so that they putrifie rope sour and stink this proceeds not as a Defect from that of the Grain so much as of the Menstruum or Liquor sc Water by which the Vertues of the Grain or Malt are extracted that being the Menstruum of the World But as it is an Element and the Inferior Waters 't is lyable and subject to the Curse as all other things be and therefore hath Parts interwoven therewith which have not affinity with the essential Purity thereof For as the Philosophers say every thing carries its Life and Death about its own Neck And if so consequently its Corruptions which we can plainly demonstrate in and by Universal Principles that this Element is not Destitute tute of and much more in those Places where the Central Archeius or Fire of Nature doth not warm and stir it up into Activity by that living Spirit which rarifies and purifies the same for by Motion things attract what is homogeneous to them and are separated from their heterogeneityes wherefore Waters standing still soon stink and putrifie Why then should some of late fallaciously pretend to the contrary by endeavouring to make the World believe That Decoction or Rarification is that which destroys and evaporates the living Spirituality of the Waters No that is not so volatile
damp and cold Fog therefrom and their Bowels are warmed with the benevolent Rays warmed with the benevolent Rays thereof for to be sure what Nature does not in this Case Art must for this before-described Gass is not only evident in Water but also in most other concreted Beings You have an Example hereof in Wheat-Corn which is the wholsomest Grain in Europe and the Staff of Man's Life in that it hath received a permanent Maturation both from the Celestial and Central Sun for if it be eaten raw or the Flower thereof it causes Diseases but being fermented and baked the Heat sends forth this said Gass as is evident in that it becomes so Vertuous the like is to be seen in Syder yea even in Wines which are not to be ripened but by a Fermentation which is even a Sparkling foaming or as I may truly call it Nature 's violent Decoction even to an Exorbitancy and all this is in order to separate that which doth not centrally agree therewith sc the wild Gass which is evident in this That if a Barrel be then closed up it will burst in Pieces for it will make its way out But as soon as this is exhaled then the Action of Fermentation ceases but where it ceases before the said Gass is fully sent forth there it causes the Liquors soon to Fret Corrupt Rope and Sour as being diseased in itself wants an internal Sanity and the best Cure in this Case is Racking it off Now it is observable That what Decoction is wanting in the Separation of this Gass Fermentation doth compleat And I wonder why this late Writer should allow a Window in the Kill to let the gross Steams sullen Damps and stupifying Vapors as he calls them to pass freely away and to let in the Air when he doth not at the same time allow the same Benefit to Water which is the Element and Vehicle which conveys the same to other compounded Beings in the Act of Generation And though Nature hath been never so bounteous in ripening the same yet is it not fully separated there-from And Fire which is in the highest degree Hot and Dry that even that contains in it this wild moist Gass as we can easily demonstrate before Men of all Qualities now if what is here said is not sufficient to demonstrate the Nature and Effect of the said Gass then let such as desire to be better satisfied apply themselves to other Volumes as our Spagyrick Philosophy Asserted as also our Trifertes Saladini But however we shall add thus much seeing this new Moddler attributes all the unhealthful Qualities to proceed from well-boyl'd Beer and principally those of the Scurvy Stone and Gout yet we say on the contrary That these rather proceed from Beer not well boyled especially where this Gass is not fully evaporated for 't is from this and only this that they proceed For this Gass is Mineral and Excrementitious and hath in it such wrathful Qualities as stagmatise the vital Functions for it is endued with a Coagulative and Forming Quality and will make Stones or Excrements and sometimes takes on the Bodily Form of Arsnick or Poison it must be doing although Evil. We read in Aventius Annel Bavar lib. 7. Anno 1343. That above fifty Men with many Cows were turned into Stone Ortelius tels the same Story of whole Herds in Russia And Camerarius reports That in the Province of Chilo in Armenia at the blast of a South Wind which happens four Times in the Year whole Troops of Horse have been turned into Statues of Stone standing in the Warlike Posture as they were before And Ovid describes the Thracian Waters which make all things Marble and turn their Guts into Stones that take them inwardly Which in plain Terms are no other than this Gass which is plainly to be demonstrated in the Vrinous Classes though not so evidently in the Vinor one because the Calidum Innatum or warmth of the enriching drying Sulphur doth so dilate it that it is easily spent in Decoction and Fermentation But the Urinous and Mercurial Qualities do rather Increase and give Strength because the Vinor and Sulphurous Qualities which are there are so small as not to be able to put into Motion so as to work its way forth now as the Vinor and Vrinous are the two general Classes of Nature in that the very Spirit of the World which nourisheth all things is Vrinous so doth the Vinor contain the Vrinous though invisibly as the Vrinous doth the Vinor in the same Nature according as the hot and moist or cold and moist Qualities get predominancy and from hence it is very evident That this Spirit is the Original Cause of many Diseases and principally by its Volatility for that Diseases have their first Original in the Spirits and that this doth remain in Beer unboyl'd is evident in this Example-Take Wash prepared by the Distillers where neither Liquor nor Wort is boyled but hastened into a Fermentation and being put into the Still and suddenly made to boyl as they do the Beck of the Still being not immediately put into the Worm till this Gass is invisibly off for if it should it would cause it violently to boyle over and so foul the Worm or else force off the Head of the Still when as Beer well Boyled and Fermented having Age to boot may be stilled without this Observation and will yield by abundance the far more wholsom Spirit The same is done in Syder Wines and other Liquors so ordered and this is one Reason why French Brandy excels English Spirits Another Consideration which is a plain Proof that this Gass remains in Beer unboyled is the Paleness of its Colour which shews it rather to have the Moist Mercurial Quality predominant than the Sulphurous and Friendly one Friendly I say because Tincture shews Sulphur and Sanity because these are the Houses of Light and so chase away thousands and legions of the dark diseasie Ideas now Decoction only is that which manifests Tincture and by consequence the Health-making Vertue And I can compare white Beer to no other than Chyle or Posset which is only made by the first Action of the Stomach which should it remain so crude by a debility in Nature all Physicians would allow to be the Author of many Diseases but when the Central Fire is strong to make a true Concoction Digestion Circulation Fermentation and Separation then Tincture is brought unto it which by the help of the Vital Flame is exalted and so from thence the Animal Spirits elaborated then doth this Tincture manifest it self in the healthful Constitution when Diseases and Death are pale and wan And what egregious Nonsense is this even a Contradiction to the Laws of Nature to make as if that which is her first Intention should be That from whence Sanity should proceed and yet at the same time not to allow the degrees of Exaltation thereunto Our new Moddler saith That to make Malt with Judgment
Transmutation consist in that in him one Grain of Faith though no bigger than a Mustard-Seed is sufficient to Transmute and Change the vilest of Sinners into the best of Saints and by him shall all things be regenerated and created anew and redeemed to an Immortal State old things shall be done away and all things shall become new for do not the Scriptures say That he will create a new Heaven and a new Earth Now as a Christian I am bound in Duty to believe him to be the Imperial Panacea and Fulnese of all yet at the same Time seeing by him that all things were created we do allow that some Essential Vertue doth so remain in his created Works as if concatinated will produce a Panacea which by Mortals is not to be despised seeing it emblematically tipifies the inexpressible Glory of the Almighty Creator but of this more at large in our Ignis Astralis Adeptorum Therefore being omitted here we shall come yet farther to consider the Excellency of Decoction in this that if it is gentle after the first wild Gass nothing evaporates but the Cold and Flegmatick Nature so that the Sulphurous and Saline is ripened as is evident in this if that you make a strong Elixeration of Wort you may by a very gentle Evaporation bring it to a Sap very gumous wherein the chief Vertue of the Malt consists for if it is done gently you may at any time convert it into good and wholesome Beer again which is evident not only by our own Experience but also by that of the Famous Radolphus Glauber where he shews The Concentration of Beer and Wine for the benefit of Transportation and how the same by the Addition of Liquor may be reduced to its first State again and of equal Goodness And I say That this Sulphurous Gummosity is so manifest in the Elixeration of Malt and all other things whatsoever that even after a Fermentation that is suddenly forced and after the Distillation of its Spirit it will remain in very large Quantity in the Wash as may easily be demonstrated in the Evaporation of the same for there will remain a Gumous Extract very sweet and pleasant to Tast of many excellent Vertues being the Mummial Balsom of the Barley or Grain 'T was doubtless for this Reason that Glanber said The best part of the Malt was given to the Swine for herein is contained the Saluteferous and Friendly Vertue This being as the Body of the Chicken unto the Broath and is not united with the Menstruum or Liquor but by Decoction Neither is it Volatilized as is evident but by a more long and secret Fermentation and this is the reason why the English Spirits as now made are so unwholesome to the Body of Man they wanting the most Friendly Vertues being filled up in Place thereof with the destructive Gass the Liquor or Wort being not boyled it must remain therein For as the thrice Noble Helmont saith This Gass is not wanting even to common Water all things being subject to the Curse and so cursed Liquors produce cursed Effects But what cares the Distiller for that he himself drinks little thereof for he will go to a Glass of Sack or a Dish of French Brandy and he seeks for Quantityes and Profits from his Distillation to maintain the same this is the reason why we in our Art of waking Wines Brandy c. have commended well-brewed Beer as the true Basis on which the great Business of Distillation depends And we say That if the same be well fermented with our Sal Panaristos or some other Artificial Way 't will yield Quantity of Spirit sufficient considering the Qualityes that are so highly advanced 't is not the great Quantity of Spirits proceeding from new Beer which we esteem so much as we do the Vertues of those proceeding from the Old Let the new Moddler instance what he pleases for 't is generally agreed on by all the Ingenious That Decoction and Fermentation ripen and exalt all things and I make no Doubt but the learned Colledgiates will allow the same why then should not our Nobles Gentry c. be advertised in that wherein not only their own Health consists but also that of the whole Inhabitants For since so many new and ungrounded Inventions have been and more especially now of late how many thousands do there deplorably die away yea even to the Amazement of Physicians And I have but two things to place this on sc The immediate Hand of God's Judgment on the Nation for Sin or the Inhabitants neglecting the Means of their own Health by eating so much raw Fruits rare Flesh so called but rather raw and drinking new and unboyled Beer and poysonous Arsenical Spirits the very Bear Lyon Wolf Tyger Serpent Dragon nay the Basilisk to Man's Health We have an History That S. George killed the Dragon in Egypt from whence came the Honours Titles and Dignities to England and English Men and will you now let the like Egyptian Dragon inhabit your Houses and be harboured in your Bosome when he designs nothing else but your Lives Remember the Valour of your Ancients and let him be banished from your Land let your wise Magicians conjure him into the Black Sea his own Inhabitation and let there be a Law made upon Pain of Death that none shall harbour his Eggs for Fear of a Cockatrice Remember I say the good old way and the Health and Innocency of your Fathers who lived to a good old Age who perhaps never drank any thing else in their Lives but a Glass of well-brewed Beer or Ale which proved to them more profitable than any of these New and Late Inventions especially such as have no Ground in Truth But what says Solomon There is nothing new under the Sun what are have been and will be again so that New Truths are but the Reviving of the Old ones or a Discovery of that which hath ever been though not in general known for those that have known it have made a Secret thereof and being Envious and unwilling that their Fellow Creature should stand in equal Knowledg with them have reserved the same so that it hath died with them as is evident in that of Staining of Glass so as to bear the Fire Tyron-Purple and Transmutation of Metals c. to the great Disadvantage of Mankind for had it but been otherwise Gold might have been as plentiful as Dross Having thus run through the Theory of the Usefulness of Decoction and Fermentation I shall now come to the Practice thereof in the mode of Brewing c. But by the way I think it needful to touch how Waters may be in some Measure exalted to a more salutiferous and friendly Nature which may be of great Use to the Inhabitants especially where good Rivers and friendly Springs are not You may observe that we before hinted at the Nature of Waters now how they may be graduated and made alike is thus Seeing those
by any of the Violent Fires of the Chymists the which we do utterly detest but by the Knowledge of the Dalilah of Nature in her Fermentative Power but of this more at large in our several Volumes of the New History of Britain 's Internal Glory and Hidden Treasure But here to the matter in hand and we say That it is not only Arsmart which hath this Difference but also Wormwood Mugwort Clary Scarlea Vervine nay even Opium and Rhubarbe Scammony and almost all other Simples therefore are the Rules here predicted necessary to be considered by every Ingenious Person that so they may in this Case help themselves Now having touched at Signatures in general we think it convenient to give a Touch at those that are Homogeneous and stand nearest in Affinity each to other as Wheat-Corn doth to that of the Vine in general but the Vine hath several Variations of Signatures which produce the different Sorts of Wines both in Spain Germany and France c. as Sherry Canary Malago Rhemish White Wine Claret Rappadavia also Champaign Burgundy Frontineack Greek or Florence Wines c. Now the Herb Scarlea hath a Signature agreeing with that of the Muscadine Grape the Herb Clary with the Rhenish the White Currant Tree with the White and the Bramble with the Red therefore doth its Fruit being rightly mixed with good Pippen or Pearmain-Cyder make good Claret We could cite more of the like nature but we design to treat more largly thereof in the next Impression of our Britannean Magazine of Wines and our Intent here is not to fill these Sheets with Theory but to point forth that which may redound to considerable Advantage in Practice though indeed amongst others the right Knowledge of Signatures and how they are superiour in Quality or more agreeing is not the least For for Example although Clary hath a Signature with the Rhenish-Grape yet is its Quality of a more superior degree for its Essence is more concatinated than that of the Vine for a few Leaves thereof will relish other Juices with as much Taste as a whole Hogshed of the Vine's own Juice as is manifestly known to all Wine-Brewers and Distillers and therefore if you Design to make good Beer or Artificial Wines pleasant to tast like the Natural you must not over-dose the predominant Signature for then you give it an unsavory one therefore where we have prescribed in the Chapter of Artificial Wines in the Britannean Magazine the Juice or Water of Clary one part to half or equal Parts of that of another Texture there we mean the Juice or Water so artificially prepared as not to exceed the Tast of that which naturally proceeds from the Vine this is to be observed in all Liquors whatever And again Brandy as it is generally distilled from small Wines Lees sometimes pricked Wines or those going to decay variously mixed together and so fermented with Stum or some other artificial way being Distilled the Spirits come up friendly and with a pleasant Hogo and Balsamick Tast for the various Flavours are so mixed as to moderate each other for the same Reason given for Malt and Hops for many of them are sourish before Distilled and those moderate the exceeding lusceousness of others Now our Distillers and Artificial Rectifiers have various Phantasies in the Imitation of the Flavours of Brandy by rectifying from Bay Salt Bay Leaves others from Orrice Ginger Arsmart Pepper-Wort Pepper Clary and many others there being hardly a Distiller but hath a different way to that of another yet the exact Flavors to Artificial Brandy are wanting in this Land there being three things absolutely necessary before you can in any degree come near it that is To bereave it of Mr. Hogo or the ill Tangue and then to introduce the Tart and Rasberry Tast intermixed but here you must have a Body whose Textures is proper to work on for though we are able to perform much in this Case nay more than what we have hitherto seen and have mentioned the same in our Britannean Magazine of Wines yet let us be rightly understood For that those Spirits generally produced from Malt have two Grand Defects the one is 't is filled with the Wild Gass whence that Hogo or ill Tangue in great Measure proceeds The other is it wants that Balsam or Extract which is in the Wash and is given to the Swine to be dilated by a due Decoction and Fermentation into the Body thereof and then hath it something more substantial to work on and therefore have we mentioned and laid our Ground upon well-brewed Beer and then that Distilled and Rectified to as to be as free from Tast as Water only Fiery and Spirituous and thou may you thereinto introduce some Friendly Flavours which may be as agreeable to English Constitutions nay more than that of France because of its being produced from the Native Soyl and Climatory affinity Now in this Case to make Artificial Brandy we lay a greater Stress upon Cyder and Perry for that as we say there excellent Spirits may be thence produced for the making Artificial Brandy also from Artificial Wines and especially those that are brought to the Tast of the Natural ones much may also be performed on fine Goods sc the Spirit of Molasses and especially if you know the Nature Preparation and Office of Glauber's Sal Mirabilis Paracelsus's Sal Enixum or our Sal Panaristos which we have also there touched at in the Chapter treating of Artificial Brandy the which we shall hereafter more fully explain Thus we have intimated to you how you may fit your Signatures according to the Predominancy of the Quality of that you joyn it unto by adding smaller or larger Proportions and have not only touched at the Manuring of Land shewing by what 't is bettered but also shewing the Nature of Waters and the Separation of the Wild Gass and how Salt Waters are made Fresh together with the making of Waters more commodious for the use of Families as also the two different ways of Brewing so that you may chuse which you will as also having touched at things commodious thereunto we shall now come to speak of the Quintessence of Malt because therein consists many Mysteries not only for the Nourishment of Human Kinds but also for the restoring of Sick Ropy Sour and Decayed Beer to an Internal Sanity Now the Quintessence of Malt is the Vertue or purest Substance thereof extracted and seperated from all Impurities and therefore must it contain the Vertue of the whole and be very beneficial as is said for the use predicted therefore I wish the Preparation thereof were better known for the which that we may in some measure contribute our Mite we shall instance the same as follows there is one way which is the more excellent which is to dissolve the whole Body by the Volatile Spirit of our Sal Panaristos and then the Menstruum wholy seperated therefrom and so have you the
VI. In which we treat concerning the making of several Physical Drinks together with their Vse and Vertues Shewing the right way of Bottleing Beer AS to the Ways of making Physical Drinks they are varirious some being made from Herbs others by the Spirits thereof exalted others by their Essential Salts and their Essences exalted which indeed is the most superior Way but seeing that every Brewer and good Housewife cannot obtain these we shall prescribe such as be of more easie Preparation We see that Beer made from Cypress Cedar Sassafrax Wormwood Scurveygrass Elder Mint Balm c. are highly esteemed especially Purle and Scurvygrass here in England But here is one thing which I cannot omit which is this they take the Herbs at any Season with the Gross and more Vertuous part together and put these into Low Weak Sick Defective or Prick'd Beers and so the Tast of the Herb overpowering the same they think it sufficient the Pallats of the Drinkers being pleased not minding whether they answer the End desired sc the contributing something to the Health of their Drinkers which they cannot thus do seeing they want that Internal Sanity themselves which should perform the same Now seeing it is not only this but much more which might be said of the like Nature we shall recommend three things to the Consideration of every Honest Brewer whereby this Defect may in great Measure be Repaired and Supplyed The first is if you design to make any sort of Physical Beer let your Wort have a Sound Body well wrought and settle three Days and while it hath yet a more Invisible and Secret Fermentation Secondly that you only add in the Tops and choice Parts of such Herbs as are design'd for the same And thirdly That those Herbs lie not so long therein as that their Spiritual Qualities may be so much exhausted that their Terrene ones by the Beer or Liquor should be extracted therefore they ought to be well pounded and macerated and in a small Bag put into the Cask that so after their due Time which may be at the most twenty Days they may be taken out again These being observed you may make excellent Beer or Drinks fully answering the End of their Preparation Also instead of such Herbs as are naturally juicy you may add in the Juice thereof if Elder let it be about two Gallons to a Barrel of Strong Beer but if the Juices are Sâ—iptick Eitter or Astringent then will a smaller Quantity serve You may also have most excellent Physical Ales by adding the Spirits of the Concreats truly prepared about thirty or forty Drops more or less according to their Strength into a Glass of Beer The True Spirit of Salt is an excellent Preserver unto Human Bodies being taken ten or twelve Drops after the same manner It cures the Scurvey resists Putrifaction c. Also eight or ten Drops hereof being dropped into a Quart of New Beer makes it immediately tast Stâ—le and renders it drinkable But above all doth our Spiritus Odonâ—ugiasas perform this as you may see at large in the Britannean Magazine of Wines Now if you have a mind to have any other Variations in making divers Physical Ales then proceed thus Make a Syrrup of the Herb and put two or three Spoonfuls thereof into the Ale or Beer in Bottleing and a Spoonful or two of the Essence whether it be Oranges Lemons or Scurvygrass Cypress Wormwood Mint Balm or the like And if you practise this your Experience will prompt you beyond Words A Compound Physical Ale good against the Scurvy Dropsy and other Diseases OF Scurvy grass one Peck â„ž Water-Cresces twelve Handfuls Brooklime six handfuls English Rhubard six ounces Horse Radish four ounces Anniseeds and Carraway Seeds of each one ounce Sweet Fennel one ounce Sena one ounce Polipody of the Oak four ounces Raisins stoned and Lent Figs of each eight ounces New Ale five gallons make it S. A. A good way for the Bottling Beer IN the first Place take a little clear Water or else such as is truly impregnated with the Essence of any Herb and to every Quart thereof add half a pound of Mevis Sugar and having very gently boyled and scumed the same adding thereunto a few Cloves let it cool fit to put Barm thereto and being brought to work scum off the same again and while it is in a smiling condition put three spoonfuls thereof to each Bottle and then filling up the same cork fast down A sew Christals of Tartar also do well in Bottling Beer adding a few Drops of the Essence of Barly Essence of Wine or some other Essential Spirits Accept of this Courteous Reader until Opportunity shall admit us to oblige you with things of a more Sublime Nature Postscript IN this Treatise having spoke of Waters in general laying down Rules sufficient to inform any reasonable Man of their Nature and Preparation yet I think it may not be amiss to add a few Words as a Review of the whole that is how Waters are altered by the Accidental Qualities as well as by the Natural ones and from such things that superficially impregnate the Water with something contrary to its internal Texture that is it purges itself therefrom once peradventure in a Natural Day by its being ponderous it joyns with the earthy Qualities in the Water and so precipitates and washes away but however if it is constantly impregnated with such Heterogeneities It much alters the Purity of the Water and makes the Time very uncertain When we take it purged or when its Body is filled with the said Impurity and so one and the same Water shall variously alter in the manner of Decoction and Fermentation being taken at various Times You have an Example of this in Thames water a pure and sine River originally proceeding from a Spring being fed by the influx of many small Rivulents and so increased to such a magnitude as it is so navigable that it challenges many of the European Rivers appertaining unto the Metropolitan Cities but however it hath these Inconveniences as others have also for being near so great a City it receives the Common Shores and from its adjacent Banks various Excrementious Things as Dung Urin Fish-Bones Diers-Liquor Soap-boylers Drugs the Butchers Corruptions and many other Sulphurous Stinking and Slimy Things which wonderfully alter the Water so that sometimes especially if taken in the Time when it is not purged the Wort will not bear boyling but becomes thick and will not kindly Ferment and so drinks flubby unpleasant and shews the like Effects for it will soon Sour and corrupt so that many who use the Thames Water are afraid to boyl their Liquor or Wort sufficient because it will grow thick and this by them is generally observed but the reason thereof not conceived For other Times the Water being taken when it hath purged itself it may be boyled with the same Success as other Waters and the Beer or Ale will be