upon rash Undertakings in this kind these Ill consequencies may ensue First this Spaw-water containing in it a great quantity of Ocre or Terra Metallica for out of a Quart of this Spring-water I have got the best part of a Spoonful of an Earthy sediment which being drank with the Water although as I have proved by the Experiments on the Spaw it is not a simple Earth but containeth much of the Saâ—t of the Minera and of the Menstruum may endanger the Drinkers with Obstructions in the Capillary blood-vessels or in the Lacteals conveâ—ing it from the Intestines to the Blood And what may be the Result from Obstructions perverting the right use of the Spleen Liver or other viscera of the middle and lower Region I have above Par. 3. sec â— 3. sufficiently hinted But if the Sediment enter not the Lacteal vessels it must needs load the Intestines of these it being not Purgative that drink it without Physick or Advice Secondly Too frequent drinking of this Spaw and also of other Mineral waters in a large quantity and especially when not taken gradatim will relax the fibres of the Stomach extend the vessels and other membranous parts upon the Relaxation of the Stomachical fibres a loss of Appetite will ensue and upon the Extension of the blood-vessels Lympheducts and Membranous parts will follow Weariness Difficulty of Breathing and Increase of a Dropsie in them that are far gone besides otheâ— Distempers according to the Inclination and Habit of the body Thirdly This Water like most other Vitriolick will cause a Vertigo or light giddiness in the Head especially in them that unprepared drink it to the quantity of three or four Quarts at the first onset Not only a Vertigo but also a Lethargie Apoplexie or other Cephalick Distempers caused by an oppression of the Brain and stoppage of the Animal spirits may ensue the taking of a large quantity when neither faeces nor the restagnating water are carried off I shall therefore propose this Method to the Drinkers of this Spaw water for the avoiding of these Enormities yet shall not be Dogmatical but leave the Physician to direct his Patient according to the Indication of the Distemper and thereby directing his judgmen And First Purge off the Recremental sordes of the Stomach and Intestines but rather if the habit of body and strength will bear it begin with a Vomit Such as a Dose of Sal Vitrioli the Quantity is usual from One scruple to Four but may be increased or dâ—minished according to the condition of the Patient This Medicine I propose because it usually worketh both by Vomit and Siege and not only cleanseth the viscera of the Abdomer but also by its Stipticity will notably fortifie the membranous fibres of the Stomach against Relaxation that often ensueth upon drinking large Draughts of Water and also it will help to reduce the fibres to their proper state when too much extended and consequently are weak and unfit to embrace the Aliment taken in at the mouth The fibres of the Stomach and Intestines being well fortified will the better contain a large quantity of Water without Relaxation and by the Peristaltick motion of the Guts the Lacteal vessels will sooner imbibe the Water when their Orifices are scoured and like the little holes in a cleansed Strainer Yet other Catharticks accordiug to the particular case of the Patient may be requisite Secondly Then begin to drink of the Spaw-water They of an ordinary Constitution may begin with a Pint but they of a stronger with a Quart or three Pints and so increase each morning a Pint until they come gradatim unto four Quarts which may be the measure for a strong Constitution and as some few may exceed so many may fall short of it Thus may they continue in their Water-course for a Month and cease gradatim as they increased at first lest there should be left a distention of the fibres and membranes But withal observe That the Water must not be drank to its full Dose at once but rather with walking up the Hill or moderate Exercise after every full Draught that it may have time to searse through the Drinkers body especially until it begineth to shew it self by its Diuretick faculty For the sudden drinking of a large quantity will cause a distention of the Stomach with cruel Tormina or Gripings in the bowels Thlrdly In case the Water lieth long and heavy on the Stomach and Intestines and at last worketh off in a Diarrhe or loosness it signifieth the body to be unprepared and probably Obstructions in the â—esenteryor viscera which requireth a Preparation by some Deoppilative Pills or Medicine with convenient Solutives to carry off the feculent Matter But in these cases I cannot lay down any one Prescription general serving for particular Persons that according to their Distempers must have different Directions from their Physicians Fourthly Because of the great quantity of Ocre or Vitriolick Earth contained in this Spring water let the Drinkers hereof observe to take at least twice a week a Dose of Physick to carry off the filth of the water free the Stomach and Intestines from incrustation of the Earthy sediment and the vessels from Obstructions But the Water-drinkers must forbear the Spaw on the days he designeth for Purgation except he take such a small quantity of Pills c. on the over-night or very early in the morning only to keep his body from being Costive For which purpose Van Helmont recommendeth a Dose of Ruffy Pills the Dose may be from a Scruple to a Drachm taken three days together in the morning before drinking of the waters This he adviseth for the German-Spaw Pauhont and Savenir whose Mineral Ingredients are like this at Ilmington though not so highly impregnated as this new found Spaw Ruffy Pills may be of good use to purge off the filth of the viscera and also the sediment of the Water and being gentle in operation may be taken on the over-night or in the morning designed for drinking the Water But according to the Observations of Physitians undoubtedly the best method will be to compose Pills or Physick in such form that the Patient shall like best of Deoppilating Ingredients and Antiscorbutick or with such Specificks that may answer the Indication of Patients Distemper but yet with such purgative Ingredients that may make the body soluble to the number of three or four Stools and may be taken through the Water course Fifthly For a more speedy passage of this Water through the body let the Drinkers take a Glass or two of good White or Rhenish Wine about an hour or something longer time after the full Dose of Water is drank This is convenient but especially for them upon whose Stomachs and viscera the water lieth long and heavy and if the water lieth still lodged in the vessels and habit of body Catharticks and Diureticks may be helpful As the waters drank in a regular course will
halitus or Ocre And afterwards saith Vitriol is resolvable into three Principles Salt Sulphur and Ocre but the Saline principle is only owing to the Germination in Air. But had the Docter considered how that Vitriol is found under ground where we cannot suppose a free access of air if any at all he would not have been so positive in his assertion For the Hungarian and Cyprian blew Vitriol is digged up near the Copper-mines the English Roman and German Vitriol which last partaketh of a little Copper lie near to Iron stones All which without exposing to the air will from their Marcasites yield their distinct sorts of vitriol And what should hinder the germination of vitriol under ground seeing that vitriol is but a Compound body of an acid Salt and sulphureous Earth The sulphureous Earth is but the Ocre or Terra metallica that Mater ferri vel Veneris which receiveth the Acid and determineth the same according to the Power of the Semen latent in the Earth which may as well convert the Acid of the Earth as the Saline particles floating to and fro in the air As for the dissolution of the Pyrites in water I shall easily grant that much of its saline part may be thus resolved especially whilst it is near its first succulency but thence see no reason to lay its Original upon the Air neither could ever find any of these spirits flying off from mineral waters which the Doctor calleth ipsum metallum vegetans for if so then certainly there might be by the help of an Alembick and Receiver such a spirituous substance preserved from fresh Spring-water which none that ever I heard of could obtain T is true some steams will fly off from mineral water as by our sense of smelling may be perceived but these Aporrhea are but some particles winding off and are the effect of fermentation or heat yet cannot be collected retaining the full nature of the mineral ingredient All mixt bodies are subject to change by internal or external ferments and by the active agile parts and motion many vapours as in insensible transpiration may fly off and enter the pores of other bodies or perhaps put on a new form but never could be found an essential spirit of Mineral water But by spirit perhaps the Doctor might mean Ocre for he tells us c. 7. that Ocre doth evaporate from our Baths and that spirit which flyeth off is a Metal and elsewhere will not allow Ocre to be a sulphureous Earth but a meer Metal merum ferri metallum est Lâ—st de font med c. 2. because after burning in the fire it may be drawn by the Loadstone But Gilbertus hath proved that not only Iron but many other things will answer the operation of the Magnet Non ferrum tantùm magnes à magnete attrahitur volvitur magneticè sed ferreae venae omnes lapides etiam alii ut fissiles Rhenani Andegavenses nigri quibus pro tegulis utuntur aliorumque colorum substantiarum plurimi si praeparati fuerint tum omnis argilla glis saxaque nonnulla atque ut planiùs dicam omnis terra firmior modò pinguioribus humidis corruptelis defoedata non fuerit ut lutum coenum And a little after Omnia magnete attrahuntur solis ignibus praeparata à recrementitio humore liberata Gilb. de mag lib. c. 17. Not only Iron and a Magnet which is but a more pure minera of Iron or finer Iron-stone may be drawn by a Magnet but Stones white Earth Potters clay yea all firm Earth in case the Excrements and putrid moisture are purged off by fire T is true the Operation betwixt the Magnet and Iron is great and consequently by how much the more of metalline parts of Iron there are in a mineral Earth by so much the more conspicuous is the Magnetism yet simple Earth after Calcination will though in an inferior degree shew the like effect But this leading me to the enquiry of a new subject I shall return to my proposed matter in hand Du Glos observ on the Min. wat. of Fran. p. 8. rightly telleth us That the first Beings or Embryo's of Mineral Salts are nothing else but vapours or juices unconcrete wholly vapourable And pag. 9. The Embryonate Salt in the Chalk-stones is a stony juice which mixeth it self with waters that pass between the beds and interstices of the stones in the rocks but is not easily discern'd in the waters impregnated therewith The Seminary of Alum and Vitriol is also necessary in the substances whence these sorts of Salts are drawn Waters current in their chanâ—els meeting with and dissolving them become a proper menstruum to unlock the Mineral Kingdom and according to the dissolved minera so Waters differ in their qualities Upon the variety of Salts and Mineral Earths dependeth variety of Springs For there are four sorts of Salt commonly known to us according to Dr. Jorden and others viz. Alum Vitriol Nitre and common Salt which others and perhaps with as great reason reduce to three Alum Vitriol and common Salt which last may be again divided into Sal gemma or fossilis Fountain-salt and Sal Marine because these three sorts partake near of the same nature and work almost the like effects Only the Sea-salt being dissolved in water hath lost many of its sharp points and consequently is not so penetrating as Sal fossilis from mountains and rocks of which according to most of our modern Authors the saltness of the Sea doth take its original An affinity betwixt these Salts Monsieur Lemery hath observed who aâ—so in his Cour. Chym. Remar on Salt-peter giveth us this Experiment When Salt-peter is boiled a long time in water and over a great fire some part of the spirits fly away and there at last remains nothing but a Salt like unto Sea-salt or Sal Gemma which serves to prove that Salt-peter is only a Sal gemma fuller of spirits than the other And if so then Salt-peter may be ranked under the other and make no different species of Salt From these Salts with which waters may singly or joyntly be impregnated to which for ought we can tell species of Salt as yet unknown to us may be added preying upon divers Minerals must needs depend great variety of Mineral waters As for the Calcarious salt asserted by Dr. Lister I suppose it to be but a kind of Nitre which is centered upon the Lapis Calcarius mentioned by Falopius de Therm Aq. c. 8. and by the seminary principle thereof doth become a stony salt discernable enough by some clear but cold petrifying Springs The variety also of Earths as white red or yellow Marle Clay Chalk or other mineral Earths may cause great variety as to the weight colour sediment smell c. more especially when there is a complication of many in the same water PART II. NOw I shall proceed to Enquire what are the Ingredients of Ilmington-Spaw first taking notice of
its Colour which is far more pale then Rock-spring water With Syrup of Violets it would turn green like Alkalizate Liquors with that syrup with Galls to a Purple like Martial Vitrioline Waters for Cuprous Vitrioline with Galls turn muddy with a very little Purple or Black but of this more afterwards It s body being of a thick muddy consistence I weighed in a very dry Season a Pint of this spaw-Spaw-water against a Pint of ordinary Water but the Spaw exceeded near half a Drachm Another time after a wet Season and when the Ocre was fallen an old Pint pot of common pump-Pump-water weighing 18 Ounces did equalize and if either did turn the Scales the same quantity of the Spaw-water which may caution us from prefixing a determinate Weight to any Spring-water Variety in the Weight of Waters may appear by comparing That Salt spring water of Droit-wich with sweet springs yea to him that compareth the Waters of several sweet springs together For the Esurine salt many times being carried along with the water sliding through its secret Meanders or veins of the Earth of which part insinuateth it self into and part corroding occurrent bodies it fretteth off fragments such as fragmenta ferrea from Iron-stones and particles from ordinary stones which are carried along with the water and lie latent to the naked eye in its pores but by Distillation Evaporation c. will appear Whence of necessity followeth a great variety in weight according to the greater or less quantity of sabulum or fragments therein contained Then I proceeded to enquire after the Mineral with which this Spring was impregnated And first I took about half a pint of new milk upon which in a Porringer I poured this water fresh from the Spring-head but could not discern any coagulation yea for any thing did appear this mixture differed not from a mixture of milk and ordinary spring water After four miles carriage of the water when the reddish Ocre began to subside I poured upon warm milk from the cow a pretty quantity of this water and let it stand at least twelve hours but neither in this mixture nor in milk and this Spaw-water boiled together did any Coagulum appear Hence I began to suspect that its brackish taste was not from an acid Salt therefore on this spring-water I instilled some oyl of Tartar but upon the instillation and the standing of the water all night a very small curdling did ensue only the mixture looked more white than the Spaw-water it self which alteration of colour proceeded from the oyl of Tartar Whereupon I concluded that no Acid salt was here predominant yea rather as such scarce discernable in this Spring it being as I shall hereafter prove far nearer to an Alkali than to an Acid salt Upon an Oaken leaf bruised I poured a pintglass full of this Spring-water and immediately it inclined to a Purple colour I then try'd it with Galls and it turn'd first to a Purple but with an addition of more Galls to a black But desiring more exactness I caused one single grain of Galls finely powdered to be divided into twenty parts another grain into nineteen another into eighteen equal portions c. Upon tryal I found that the eighteenth part of a grain did something incline a pint of this water to a Purple colour as might be perceived in a chrystal glass set in a clear light but the sixteenth part of a grain put into a pint of water did presently cause a tincture plainly discernable and inclining to a purple but the eighth part of a grain fully turned a pint to a Purple much resembling in colour Syrup of Damask Roses mixed with ordinary Spring-water Afterwards the more Galls were added by so much the more it altered towards a black until it turned into a muddy inky Liquor Which Liquor by the instillation of spirit of Vitriol was cleared but by oyl of Tartar or spirit of Harts-horn was again muddied with spirit of Nitre oyl of Vitriol or Aqua fortis c. became clear again for what an Alkali muddieth an Acid again cleareth Now considering the small quantity of Galls with which a Pint of water was thus tinged I believe we may compare our new found Spaw in this particular with any of the English Medicinal waters yea with the German Spaws so much in request But it being sufficiently proved by the Learned Dr. Simpson in his Hydrologia Chymica that a solution of the Calx of Alum or of Alum-stones with the addition of Galls will turn to a deep Purple and from thence with more solution of Galls added becometh blackish and opacous almost like Ink. Upon which spirit of Vitriol being poured it becomes clear again with oyl of Tartar again muddied and with spirit of Vitriol of Nitre Aqua fortis c. reduced to its pristine clarity He also in his Hydrological Essays writeeth thus Not only Galls will strike a purple tincture with the Alum-salt got before the addition of Kelp and Urine dissolved in distilled or fresh spring-water but also the same may be done by other bodies whose texture of parts are congeneal as for example the inner part of the Oak the roots of Tormentile Avens Bistort Clove-gillyflowers and the flowers called Balaustia All which like Galls will strike a purple with water wherein the Alum salt is dissolved yea and will also become clear again by the instilling a few drops of oyl of vitriol and with the oyl of Tartar will become turbid and muddy c Hydr. Ess p. 132. I began to enquire farther into this Spaw upon consideration that a Purple colour and from thence a dark muddy liquor like Ink might be made with Galls from another Liquor than from a Vitriolick water or Solution And that Vitriol dissolved by an addition of Galls will strike a good black is evident from the ordinary way of making black writing Ink Whereupon I compared Aluminous waters and this Spring I made a Solution of Mineral Alum with fair wâ—ter which presently upon the instillation did curdle Milk but upon the mixture of Milk and this Spring water no Coagulation did ensue And that Alum consisteth chiefly of an Acid salt all-sufficient to coagulate milk is apparent by the mixture of a Solution of simple Alum salt with a Solution of salt of Tartar Wormwood or any Vegetable fixed Salt from whence will arise a turbid liquor with Coagulations in it which Coagula are caused by the mutual conflict of different Salts destroying each other until a Third and Neutral Salt result therefrom Besides Aluminous Springs are purgative witness the Scarbrough Spaw Epsom and Barnet Waters c. but this near Ilmington worketh most what by Urine Yea perhaps and truly I might conclude That this Spaw in respect of its mineral ingredients worketh not by Siedge I know it may be objected That some persons drinking of this water do thereupon find a loosness perhaps to the number of four or five stools or more To which
first it becomes a Mineral water which is whilst the Esurine Acid preyeth on the minera of Iron is hot but by long running through a Colander of earth or gravel loseth its heat and becometh almost a cold Spring Almost I said for by comparing the water of this Spaw with other ordinary Spring-water but especially with a Rock-spring a sensible warmth may be discerned And that the Effervescence is scarce over at the Spring-head may be gathered from the Sparkling of the Water in a glass like bottled Sider newly emptied and as I have it by good information doth much resemble the German Spaw-water sealed up in bottles and brought to Leyden and several places in the Low-countries I took about a Pint of Ilmington Spaw-water fresh from the Spring-head into which I let fall a few drops of Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium which made a white Coagulation dispersed through the whole body but so small that it was scarce discernable I then made a Solution of sal chalybis with fair water upon which I droped some oyl of Tartar and found a Coagulation in it exactly like the Spaw-water with oyl of Tartar The coagula in both by an addition of spirit of Vitriol were dispâ—rsed but by Alkali's were reduced c. Now it may be questioned How come Alkali Salts as oyl of Tartar c. to make these Coagulum's when as spirit of Vitriol or other Acids cause no Alteration Answ There are two sorts of ordinary Menstruums for Bodies Ordinary I say because I must except Paracclsus's Sal circulatum and Helmont's Liquor Alkahest the grand Solvents of Bodies into their first Principles First Menstruums impregnated with acid Spirits or Salts whether they be Natural Acids such as the Juice of Crabs the sowr juice of Plants the Acid of Marcasites of Iron Alum c. or Artificially made from natural Salts as spirit of Vitriol sp of Sulphur per campanam c. Secondly Menstruums endowed with Alkalizate Salts either fixed Alkali's as salt of Tartar Wormwood c. or volatile as spirit of Urine Harts-horn or of the horns and hoofs of Animals Sage c. Some add a Third sort of Menstruum viz. a vinous Spirit which is the common Menstruum for making of Tinctures and Extracts because it is apt to imbibe the sulphureous Principle from Compounds But for my part I take a vinous Spirit not as a distinct Menstruum from the two former For spirit of Wine is nothing but an oyl highly advanced by its volatile Salt with a small quantity of Phlegm The quantity of oyl is manifest by its inflammability for good rectified spirit of Wine once kindled will almost totally consume In Distillation the volatile Salt implexed in the sulphureous parts striving to get free doth tear and divide them until they be rarified into a Spirit to which is added a little phlegm for the better seperation of the Salts fermenting and exalting the oyl Now chiefly for its volatile Salt spirit of Wine is the Menstruum in making the Tinctures and Extracts of Senna Rhubarb Aloes Mirrh Saffron Hellebore and of all dry Roots Seeds Flowers Woods and Barks For by addition of volatile Salts the Extracts are stronger than when made with spirit of Wine only Having this premised I may return to the Question thus That upon the mixture of Acid and Alkalizate Salts they ferment and close together in a Neutral Salt as I have already intimated and forsake or rather thrust forth the Metalline Body dissolved and buoyed up in the Menstruum which with some of the Salts of the Liquor falls down to the bottom The Salts combined together and floating up and down in the Menstruum with some of the Mineral body as yet unprecipitated do represent these Coagula even as oyl of Tartar poured upon a solution of Vitriol made with fair Water causeth a separation of the Metalline and Colcotarine Parts subsiding to the bottom and Coagulums of the contrary Salts for a time buoyed up in the Menstruum So oyl of Tartar with Ilmington Water maketh a white Coagulum because it combineth with the Esurine Acid of the Water But the Curdling is very small because of the small quantity of Acid that doth free and as it were unsheath it self from the minera of Iron or is yet lodged in the pores of the Water and is not as yet fixed and joyned to the Alkalizate part of Iron To try what figure the Salt bore that was contained in this Water I took about two or three Gallons of the Water and evaporated it ad siccitatem At the bottom and sides of the vessel I found a redish white Powder which I dulcified with warm Water And there was left behind an insipid Earth like red Ocre or Colcotar The Water I filtred evaporated and then set to chrystallize which yeilded a Salt of an irregular figure it was of a palish colour but as to its operation answered vitriol of Iron It being asserted by some Authors but the Truth thereof I much question That many Mineral Waters will loose in Weight by carriage by loss of Spirits as They say or rather if at all I suppose by an Aporrhea Mineralis I filled a glass bottle with this Spaw-Water and stoped it up close at the Spring-head where I weighed it with an exact pair of Scales After four or five Miles carriage I tryed and found it continue the same weight After it had stood a day or two by examination I found the weight not at all diminished so that by this way nor by Distillation could I find any volatile spirits wherein the vertue of this Water consists The Bottle thus stoped I kept for a fortnight and then could perceive the Sediment just begin to fall to the bottom But in another Bottle carried with This and left open to the air I found great part of the Sediment fallen in twelve hours Which confirms my former Assertion viz. That not only Heat Motion by carriage c. but the Air also precipitates its Sediment Upon Tryal I found that the Water out of which the Ocre was fallen would not tinge with Galls but the Water kept close stoped for a fortnight did with Galls readily strike a Purple and so would more or less until the Terra Metallica was all fallen To sum up then that which hath been laid down I may say of this Spring as Helmont said of the German Spaws Pawhont and Saveâ—ir Distillavi aliquando serio Savenirium Pauhonteum sanè non tantum mineralium catalogum imo nil quicquam in iis offendi praeter Aquam fontanam vitriolum ferri Helm paradox Quar. de aq Spad So in this Spring the Acid Salt with which the Water is impregnated doth in its passage through the subterrestrial channels meet with a Minera of Iron which it partly dissolves and bringeth along by its Current to the Spring-head And by a Fermentation betwixt the Esurine Acid and the Metalline Parts of the Minera is made a vitriolum