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-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-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-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-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
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
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
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-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
burns in the very cavities and caverns of them the cavities themselves consisting of a Bituminous matter For Bitumen and these things which are made of it being kindled burn in water by which also the said fire is cherished This you may see in Naphtha which is a kind of Bitumen for if you put but a drop thereof into water and put fire to it you will see it burn and continue burning so long that you would wonder at it which could not be unless it were fed by the moisture of the water which it did attract and transmutes into its own nature The like you may see in Champhir and other kind of Bitumen Pliny also affirms that these are some certain burnings in the earth which sometimes cast out Bitumen and are increased by raine And Fallopius saith that in the territories of Mutina is a short plat of ground out of which comes fire and smoke and the ground is all like dust which if you kindle you cannot quench again with water so that these kind of fires are perpetual and very long lasting in waters And hath it not been observed that a fiery Bituminous matter doth sometimes flow out of hot Springs Pliny makes mention that in the City Somosata of Comaganes a certain lake sent forth burning mud and Plato makes mention of the like concerning a Spring in Sicilia And Agricola reports another upon his credit Fallopius also saith that in many places where the earth is digged deep there are ashes and calcined stones which are the effects of fire and that in the territories of Modena Bolonia Florence and other places as in Italy c there are found Springs and several places casting out fire But as to Springs this happens onely where the bituminous matter is very near the Spring head and as high and where the veins are more open Now then the manner of Springs being caused by this Bituminous fire is this viz Seeing art doth for the most part imitate nature the thing is even the same in a hot Spring as in a distilling vessell or a seething pot covered with a lid onely there is this difference that to the bottom of these the fire is put on the out side but here the fire is within the cavern it self through which the water passeth and that either lying in the bottom or sticking to the sides thereof As therefore in these artificial vessels the water being by the heat of fire resolved into a vapour is forced upwards to the covers or heads thereof where by reason of some less degree of heat it is condensed into drops and returns to its self and into its own nature again So even after the same manner water in the caverns of the earth being heated by the Bituminous fire with which it is mixed is by the heat thereof forced into a great quantity of vapours which ascending through the cranines veins and fibres of the earth being there for the greatest part turned into water doth with the rest of the vapour yet very hot break forth in fountains viz very hot and very full of spirit so that it seems to boyle if the fountains be near to the caverns or onely warm if more remote And as these Springs differ in their heat according to their nearness or remoteness to their fire so also in their Bituminous odour and tast For as in distilled waters their Empyreuma vanisheth in length of time so in these in length of course So that these fountains which are very remote from this Bituminous fire are neither hot nor have any Bituminous odour And as by this natural distillation water is the best way procolated from its Sea saltness so also doth it become thereby less obnoxious to putrefaction For we know that distilled waters last longest Ob. It may be objected that if the matter preserving this fire were Bitumen then it would follow that almost the whole world should be Bitumen because ever since and before the memory of man these hot baths were and are like to continue for ever and therefore there must be that element for ever which must preserve that fire Sol. It doth not follow that there must at present be so much Bitumen as will maintain the fire so long for it is perpetually generated and as long as there shall be sic city and humidity in the earth there will be Bitumen generated And do not we see that metals are generated a new in the same places out of which they have formerly been digged Witness the profit which Fallopius saith the Duke of Florence hath by it and the testimony of learned Sendivogius who saith that there have been metals found in mountains where formerly there have been none If so then much more may sulphur and Bitumen be generated a new Ob. If it should be granted that Bitumen is generated a new yet if that were the aliment of the fire the fire would change its places because the Bitumen is consumed one part after another and so by consequence the baths would not be so equally hot as before the fire being by this means more remote from the fountains Sol. The flame is fed two ways either when the flame follows the matter as when the fire burns wood or when the matter follows the flame as in a lamp in which the oyle follows the flame not the flame the oyle and so it is in the earth and therefore the fire is always in one place Neither doth that withstand it which we see by experience in sulphur which is burnt part after part the fire following of it for you must know that in the earth where there is a great heat the Bitumen and Sulphur are melted and by this means follow the flame as I said before of Oil. Ob. If Bitumen feed the fire of these baths then the waters thereof would have the odour tast and colour of Bitumen but it appears that they have not Sol. Though all baths are heated by Bitumen yet some immediatly as those which do pass through the place where it burns these onely have the tast and odour of the same and some mediately as those that pass through places as rocks c. heated by Bitumen burning under them as was the opinion of Empedocles and Vitruvius Neither do I by this distinction contradict what I said before concerning the waters being distilled up by that fire onely which burned in the caverns and veins of the earth through which they pass for in this place I speak onely of the waters being heated this mediate heat not being sufficient to distill them to any considerable height Ob. It is very improbable that any subterraneal fire can burn within the bowels of the earth by reason of the want of air as we see in cupping glasses where as soon as they are applyed the fire goeth out besides the fuliginous vapours would recoil and choak the fire for there are few or no vents and exhalation seen Sol. There is not any such great want
of air in the earth nay there is such a plenty of it there that many learned Philosophers were nay Aristotle himself of opinion that all Springs were generated of subterraneal air 2. Air is not the aliment of fire for saith the Lord Bacon in his Treatise De vita morte Flamma non est aer accensus flame is not kindled air nay but unctuous vapours which arise from the matter that is burnt so that whereas without air fire goeth out and is extinguished the reason is because the fuliginous vapours wanting evaporation do recoil upon the fire and choak it Now this Bituminous fire is not being of a sulphureous nature very fuliginous and besides what smoak or sumes or vapours there come from it are subtile and penetrating and either evaporate through the superficies of the earth insensibly or incorporate themselves with some sutable subject that is in the earth or els are of themselves condensed into some unctuous matter adhearing to the sides of the caverns into which they are elevated So that according to the fuliginousness of vapours more or less recoiling the fire is more or less choaked Nay if we will believe Historians there have been burning Lamps closely shut up in glasses for fiftheen hundred years together in old sepulchres Now they burnt without air were not extinguished by reason the aliment of it was a Naphtha or Bituminous matter which was so pure that it bred no fuliginous vapours to choake the fire thereof 3. Where this fire is very great there is a great vent and exhalation but where but little little is the vent and insensible And in most places the fire is not great extensively but intensively because it is kept within a narrow compass as in small caverns and veins of the earth Q. How comes this Bitumen to be kindled in the earth Sol. It is agreed by all that are of the opinion that Bitumen is the matter of the subterraneal fire that hot and dry exhalations in the bowels of the earth being shut up and not finding any place to break forth are agitated attenuated rarified and so inflamed and being inflamed kindle the Bitumen Now lastly let no man wonder that there should be so great a force of fire conteined in the earth as to be sufficient for the generation of so many Springs that flow from thence daylie seeing Pliny and many other Philosophers wonder so much on the other side when they considered of the subterraneal fire and brake forth into an exclamation saying it is the greatest of all miracles that all things are not every day burnt up And cannot the burnings of the Aetnean Visuvian Nymphean mountains convince us a little of this But for the further confirmation of this opinion let us a little consider whence the winds proceed and what they are And are they not a hot and dry exhalation Now that this proceeds from and out of the earth most agree and that it entered not first into the earth is very probable For how can a hot dry light exhalation whose nature and property is to ascend descend into the earth in such a quantity as to cause such great and lasting winds as many times happen It must therefore be in the earth originally and be stirred up by some great heat in the same And what shall we think of the dry exhalation or spirit which is shut up in the caverns of the earth in great quantities and endeavouring to break forth through obstructed passages causeth great earth-quakes whereby Cities Towns and Countries have been overthrown to say nothing of those dreadfull noyses sometimes in the bowels of the earth Whence I say these great exhalations I say great because I confess that some little quantity of them may be caused by certain fermentations in the earth should be raised if not from some great heat of fire within the earth never any one yet could rationally determine And Caesius affirms that at a certain village called Tripergulus about an hundred and twenty years since after fiftteen dayes earthquake the earth opened and winds smoak and very great fires brake forth out of the same also pumice-stones and abundance of ashes in so much as they made a mountain and about that place were many hot Springs Also in Apulia is a hot bath called Tribulus where there is abundance of ashes and calcined stones and about the lake Lucrinus and Avernus are the same But if any should yet doubt that winds proceed from the earth or from the occult fires of the earth I shall make it yet further to appear by propounding to their consideration some observations concerning the Sea For it is observed that wind doth proceed from the Sea after a more apparent and violent manner than from the land and that more certain signes of an ensueing wind are taken from the Sea than from the land For when a calme Sea makes a murmuring noyse within it self it signifies that then the exhalations which is the matter of the wind are rising out of the earth and bottom of the Sea and this the fishes perceiving and being affraid of it especially Dolphins play above the water and the Sea-urchins fasten themselves to rocks the Sea a little swelling sheweth that the exhalation is endeavouring a vent then boyling sheweth that it hath penetrated to the superficies but as yet in a little quantity but then the eruptious of the exhalations following upon the waters mounted up aloft make wind and a tempest such as Marriners have often experience of when as they perceive that the wind blows from no other place but ariseth at themselves Now why waves or billows should preceed wind let any man if he can give any other reason Also I have been informed by some Marriners that a little before a great tempest there is seen a great quantity of an unctuous shineing matter floating on the top of the Sea and that this is an infallible signe of an ensuing storme The reason of this is because wind breaking forth out of the earth forceth up with it self that Bituminous matter from the place where it self was generated But now why winds should arise from the Sea more apparently than from the land is because there is more plenty of fire in the gulfes of the Sea for there it hath more aliment or fewel viz. Water which as I said before is the aliment of that Bituminous fire And whence are those great mountains of stones and minerals and those Islands which do sometimes arise up anew from the Sea but from a subterraneal fire which forceth them up from thence according to the judgement of learned Sendivogius and experienced Erker and those chasmes and gapings of the Sea Much more might be alleadged for the confirmation of this opinion as the manner of the generation of minerals and metals and many such like subterraneal operations which can not rationally be ascribed to any other cause than fire within the earth but all the premises being seriously
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
the evening the stomack is less laxated and languid than at noon and can therefore concoct a greater quantity of meat Yet the supper must not be very large neither greater than what the stomack can be well able perfectly to concoct before the next morning Let it be ready at six at least if not seven hours after dinner I advise that all whether it be at dinner or supper that they lerve with an appetite eat not half so much as the Spaw drinkers usually do indulging their pallates and gratifying their stomacks according to the measure of their appetites which many times is rather adventious or preternatural then natural I utterly disapprove of mixing of the Spaw water with either Wine or Beer but yet I allow of the drinking of a glass of it self at bed time for the corroborating and closing of the mouth of the stomack and suppressing of vapours which would otherwise disturb the brain from quiet sleep CHAP. XIV Of the Sulphur-well THis is called the Sulphur-well by reason of its Sulphurious odour although besides this it hath two other qualities viz. saltness and bitterness I shall in the first place endeavour to prove whence it contract its saltness and thereby I shall the better make to appear the cause of it stanch and bitterness Now because the Salt which this water yields upon evaporation is of the same nature with cannot be distinguished either in odour or tast the stanch being lost in the evaporation from common black Sea-salt I shall first declare what is the cause of the saltness of the Sea which is no other than that of this water And first I shall shew what is not the cause of it thereby confuting the opinion of many ancient Philosophers and their followers 1. The saleness of the Sea is not caused by the Suns exhaling the sweeter parts out of it as was the opinion of Aristotle for this supposeth that there was the same saltness in the Sea before but was not but upon this account manifested but this can not be for then why are not other waters as Rivers Ponds Lakes c. made saltish also by the Suns exhaling their sweeter vapours 2. The Sun doth not boil into the Sea by the vehemency of its heat that saline tast according to Pliny being almost of the aforesaid opinion for then why doth not the Sun work the same effect upon a Pond or Vessel of water on which it may work more vigorously by heating more vehemently viz. because it is less resisted by reason of the small quantity of water in them than on the Ocean 3. This saltnes is not caused as Scaliger would have it by rain mixt with hot dry and terrene exhalations for the rain it self would also then be saltish which indeed is most sweet and if it were saltish then why are not Pits Rivers c. which are many times filled with Rain-water saltish also Now the weakness of these opinions viz. the chiefest that have usually been embraced being detected I shall shew from whence very probably this saltness of the Sea may proceed We must therefore in the first place consider that the Sea is not simply saltish but saltish and bitter together that is it hath a tast made up of bitterness and saltness for which cause as saith our learned Countrey-man Mr. Lydyat in his disquisitio Physiologica de origine fontiam Chap. 9. de salsedine maris the Latines gave these two names to it viz. Mare quasi amarum Salum quasi salsum And this Aristotle himself consents to giving the reason of those two tasts in general and of them in the Sea in particular where he saith that all kinds of tasts arise from a kind of terreness more or less adust but bitterness from a terreness very much elaborated by a fiery heat in the burning bowels of the earth and saltness where that heat is somewhat remitted If so then let us consider whether there be not abundance of terrene adustness in the bowels of the earth and gulfs of the Sea where a bituminous fire is alwayes burning being fed by water as I declared more at large in the 2. Chap. viz. Of the original of Springs in general and that whether we may not probably conclude and especially because bitumen is bitter and very full of Salt that the burning of the bitumen together with the terreness therewith mixed in the gulfs of the Sea be not the cause of the saltness thereof Moreover that bitumen hath a great power to communicate to and beget a bitter and saltish tast in water is confirmed by that which Geographers write concerning the Lake of Palestina which is called in Greek {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. e. bituminous For say they the Lake is so bitter and saltish that no fishes can live therein and it is called in sacred writ the salt sea {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And Historians say of it that if a man be cast into it bound hand and foot he cannot be drown'd and the reason of this is the saltness thereof for we see that waters bear the greater burdens by how much the salter they are witness the difference betwixt the Sea and fresh Rivers and our boiling of brine till an Egg swim thereon and will not sink This being premised it will be easie to conclude from whence the saltness and bitterness of the Sulphur-well proceeds And as for the stinking odour thereof that I suppose is caused from the vapours of the burning bitumen and adust terreness mixt therewith which lye not far from the very head of the Well Ob. If there be the same reason for the saltness of this Spring as there is of the Sea then why is there not the same reason for the Sulphurious odour of the Sea as of this and why doth not the Sea receive and retain the same odour as this doth Sol. I do not deny but the same odour may be communicated to the Sea as to this water together with the saltness thereof but because the saltness thereof was communicated to it by degrees viz. from some certain gulfs of the Sea so also this odour for it cannot be rationally conceived that the whole Sea received all its Salt into it self at one time after a natural way and therefore being such a great body must become saltish by little and little even insensibly And accordingly the Sulphurious odour also is imparted to it insensibly and although the saltness may continue by reason that the Salt it self is of a fixed substance yet the odour being of a subtile volatile nature is exhaled by the Sun and so lost But now the case is far otherwise in the water of this Sulphur-well for this is at once fully impregnated with the said saltness and Sulphurious odour and immediatly passeth away through narrow channelsâ— and veins of the earth without any vanishing of the odour by means of the Sun or otherwise which it contracted from the
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