this kind that came to my knowledge I shall add only by and by the Product of a more recent Tryal 2. As far as I have hitherto observ'd those Ferruginous Waters that are not heavier than common Water and in most Drinkers prove but diuretick afford but very little Caput Mortuum or dry Substance upon the total Evaporation of the Liquor whereas Mineral Waters that are purging and manifestly more ponderous in Specie than common Water leave upon Evaporation a considerable quantity of residence thô some far less than others 3. At once to explain and partly prove what I have been saying I shall here recite that from a pound of Barnet VVater which is known to be purgative slowly evaporated we obtain'd a Dram of VVhite Powder But from the like quantity of Tunbridge VVater we obtain'd but about one grain of Caput Mortuum And if I misremember not we had but about a grain and a half from 25. Ounces of the German Spaw Water 4. It may seem scarce credible to many that so small a quantity of matter of which perhaps not one half is Saline or Metalline the rest being teresstrial should impart a manifest vertue to so great a proportion of VVater But this difficulty did not much trouble me who have purposely made divers Experiments to discover how small a proportion of Mineral matter may suffice when dissolv'd to impregnate common VVater I remember I took one grain of Iron stone casually found near the Springs at Islington from which Mineral 't is probable those VVaters derive their vertue this being open'd by the fire and dissolv'd as far as it would be in a little Spirit of Salt we let fall a drop or two of the yellowish solution into a great proportion of Infusion of Galls to which it presently gave a deeper colour than Tunbridge Water or even the German Spaw VVater was wont to give here at London with the Powder of Galls So that we guess'd that if we had then had at hand a competent quantity of the infusion the remaining part of the Martial Solution would have been able to colour ten times a greater quantity of the Infusion than our Tryal was made upon This will be easily believ'd by him that shall consider an Experiment we afterwards made to the same purpose which was this VVe dissolv'd a half grain of a good Marcasite taken up not far from London in a small quantity of Spirit of Niter which for a certain Reason I made choice of thô other Acid Menstruums as Aqua-fortis and Spirit of Salt would have dissolved the Mineral This small solution we put into a pound of pretty high Tincture of Galls made by infusing them in common Water and finding as we expected that this mixture grew very dark we fill'd a Vial with it and emptying that Vial into a larger Glass we fill'd the same Vial three times with common Water to dilute it notwithstanding which this new mixture being put into one of our usual Glasses appeared of a colour much deeper than that which the Water of Tunbridge or the German Spaw had formerly given with the Powder of Galls So that probably if another Vial of common Water had been added it would yet have afforded a purple colour if not a deeper so that one part of dissolv'd Marcasite communicated a Tincture to 61440 sixty one thousand four hundred and forty parts of Infusion of Galls And that which makes this Experiment more considerable is that this small quantity of Marcasite was not it self all Martial or Metalline For from our English Marcasites as well as others I have obtain'd a pretty quantity of Sulphur like common Sulphur besides that they afford a not despicable quantity of Terrestrial Substance about whose nature I have not yet satisfy'd my self 5. I shall now add this reflexion that since the Marcasite impregnated so much Water with its corporeal Parts if I may so call them obtain'd by bare dissolution it seems highly probable that the same quantity of Liquor may be impregnated by a far less quantity of Mineral matter attenuated into a kind of Spirituous slate by being rais'd in the form of Fumes or exhalations and that imperfect or embryonated Iron may be so will scarce be deny'd by them that consider the way that I have in another Paper deliver'd to make Iron manifestly emit copious Fumes without the help of external Fire And if it be with some such Spirituous and volatile Exhalations that a Mineral Water as that of Tunbridge or of Islington is impregnated 't is not hard to conceive that they may easily lose their chief vertue by the avolation of most or many of their fugitive Parts upon their being remov'd to a distance from the Spring head And to make it probable that vitriolate Corpuscles may be made to ascend without losing their nature I shall here mention an Experiment that I devis'd to give some light in this matter I had often found by Tryal that a Spirit richly impregnated with volatiliz'd Sulphur would with vitriol whether in the form of a powder or a solution produce in a trice a very dark or blackish colour And guessing that in Mercury turn'd by the addition of Salt and Vitriol into corrosive sublimate many of the Vitriolate Corpuscles might ascend with the Mercurial ones I took such a Volatile Sulphureous Tincture as I have been mentioning which for this purpose ought to be deep and having dropt it upon good Sublimate I found it turn presently of a very opacous colour To show also that to make a great dilatation or dispersion of the Martial Corpuscles of an Ore or Mineral there needs no Spirit of Salt or the like distill'd Menstruum I procur'd from a copperas-work or place where vitriol is made by art some of the Liquor they imploy before they cast in Iron that being corroded by it it may increase the weight and give solidity and some other Qualities to the designed Vitriol Now thó this Liquor be made without any Chymical Menstruum barely by Rain or Snow-Water that impregnates it self with Saline or Metalline Particles in its passage through Beds of Marcasites that lye expos'd to the Sun and Air yet in this Water such numbers of Martial Corpuscles are dispers'd that having shaken four drops of it into 12 Ounces and a half of common Water this Liquor as I expected was thereby so impregnated that with powder of Galls it presently produc'd as deep a colour as good Tunbridge Water would have done So that supposing a drop of this Liquor to weigh about a grain as by some Tryals purposely made we found it to do it appears that one part of the vitriolate Water was able manifestly to impregnate 1500 Parts of common water And yet of these 4 drops or Grains of Vitriolate Liquor a considerable part may very probably be concluded from the way of its production to have been Rain Water as will easily be granted when I shall have added that to examine this supposition or
big exactly stop'd by which means I have them alwaies in readiness to mingle with the Mineral Water and alter the colour of it if Galls be able to do it almost in atrice whereas to draw the Tincture of Galls with Simple Water often takes up several hours and the tinging parts are much weakn'd by being diluted by the Menstruum If you would have a Tincture the Powder of Galls ty'd up close in a Ragg and with it hung in the Liquor makes the Infusion less muddy If you be in hast and have none of the Powder at hand you may scrape as much of a Gall-Apple as you need into the Mineral Water 2. I have observ'd those Parts of the Infusion of Galls especially it made by heat that produce the new Colour with Ferruginous Waters to be more apt to fly away than one would think the Infusion becoming often unfit to alter the Colour of the Martial Waters whilst yet it self appears sufficiently high colour'd Upon which account I choose to make a Tincture of Galls not long before I mind to use it And if I imploy dry Galls to take Powder that is not stale 3. 'T is no safe way and may be very erroneous that is usually taken in mixing Galls or their Infusion with the Water to be explor'd so carelesly as is wont to be done For those that are curious to make good Ink will easily believe that much of the deepness of the Colour depends upon the Proportion of Galls to the other Ingredient and accordingly that by putting a much greater or a much lesser quantity of Galls into such a quantity of the Mineral Water the resulting Colour may be more or less intense To obviate which inconvenience I take this course when the occasion deserves it I make my Infusion of Galls with a certain weight of the Powder in a determinate weight of Water As for instance I put about five gr of powder'd Galls to sleep for so many hours in an Ounce of Water But if I make use of the dry Powder then I am wont to put three or four grains into an Ounce of the Liquor to be examin'd which is a way far more certain than the Common wherein the Ingredients are aestimated but by Guess I have have mention'd various proportions of powder'd Galls to the same quantity of Liquor because I have observ'd that there is really a great inequality among the Mineral VVaters in which it may be put and I have found by Tryal that in an Ounce of the German Spaw a single grain of Powder would immediately produce a sufficiently deep purple colour 'T is an inconvenience that not only Galls but the other Drugs hereafter to be mention'd impart a high Tincture of their own to the common VVater they are infus'd in and therefore it were to be wish'd and is fit to be endeavour'd that we had some Drugg that without imparting a colour to the common VVater it impregnates would afford an Infusion fit to strike a blackish or a purple colour with Martial VVaters Though it be useful yet 't is not necessary to imploy Galls to produce a colour in the Mineral VVater propos'd For besides that 't is known that usually tho' not alwayes as I have try'd the same thing may be done but somewhat more faintly with Oaken Leaves we may successfully enough substitute for the same purpose some other astringent vegetables as dry'd Red-Rose Leaves the Peel and as we have try'd the Juice of Pomegranates and what I find to be a notable stiptick the blossoms of the same plant which are vulgarly call'd in the Shops Ballaustium To which may be added Myrobolans Logwood and some others that need not now be mention'd whose strong Infusions have yielded me a Tincture very dark and blackish with some Martial Liquors 6. In regard that the Galls or other Drugs to be infus'd in common VVater are not alwayes of the same goodness or strength 't is adviseable not so to trust to any determinate proportion of the Pigment to the VVater as not to take in the help of the Eye to judge by the Colour of the Tincture whether the Liquor be duely and not too much or too little impregnated 8. Whereas there is an intimation in the Close of this thirteenth Article of the present Sett of Titles that Animal Liquors may be imploy'd to produce new colours with Mineral VVaters I gave that hint not only because 't is usually observ'd in Martial VVaters such as those of Tunbridge the Spaw c. that the gross excrements of the lower belly are blacken'd by a commixture of their Metalline Parts but in Tunbridge VVaters particularly I have observ'd that after the drinking of larger doses of them the root of the tongue and perhaps some neighbouring parts would also acquire a dark colour by the operation of the transient Liquor Though the way of trying Mineral VVaters by the change of colours that Galls produce in them be useful and recommended by being easy cheap and expeditious yet I do not take it to be either of that extent or of that certainty that 't is vulgarly presum'd to be of For its main if not only considerable use is to discover by striking or not affording a black or blackish or at least a purple or a purplish colour with a Mineral Water to manifest the Liquor to be or not to be either of a vitriolate or a ferruginous nature But there are divers Metalline Ores and other Mineral Bodies which not participating of Iron will not by this way be discoverable and yet may strongly impregnate the VVater propos'd As for example to try whether if Arsenic were mingl'd with VVater Galls would discover it by producing with it a dark colour I put some of the Powder of them into a Decoction of arsenic but did not perceive that it gave the Liquor any deeper colour than it would have done to common VVater And as the extent of this explorer of VVaters is not very great so neither do I find the informations it gives us to be so certain as they are presum'd For if I much misremember not I long since found upon tryal purposely made that another Body of a Metalline nature and that did not partake of Iron would with infusion of Galls afford a very dark colour that might easily among ordinary Beholders pass for the colour produc'd by a Martial VVater and I do somewhat doubt whether so much as all Liquors impregnated with Iron will de discover'd to be so by the colour they afford with Galls for I have sometimes made such a Liquor with no Mineral Substance in it save steel or Iron but I did not find it would turn the Infusion of Galls either blackish or purple which made me suspect that these colours are afforded only by such Martial VVaters as have been wrought upon more or less by some Acid Salts or Fumes 9. Unto these things I shall add that I found that to be a mistake which is generally
SHORT MEMOIRS FOR THE Natural Experimental HISTORY OF Mineral Waters Addressed By way of Letter to a Friend By the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1684 5. Advertisement OF THE PUBLISHER I Find by some discourse I lately had with the Author that his design in drawing up his Memoirs being to set down what had occurr'd to him of his own Observation and Experiments he purposely forbore to consult the Authors that have professedly written upon Medical Waters he would by no means have it thought that he undervalued those Learned Writers that he forbâ—â—e to cite because he had them not at hand as well as because his design did not require he should transcribe from them And therefore he desires that his Readers should not be kept by any thing he has written from consulting other Writers that have treated of Mineral Waters especially the late Ingenious Exercitations of the Learned Doctor Lister De Fontibus Medicatis Angliae after mentioned by our Author and the curious little Tract of the French Mineral Waters that was brought our Author in English after his Memoirs were come to him from the Press publish'd by the Virtuosi of the famous Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris especially where they curiosly examine the Saline and earthly Residences of Waters which our Author has not done to the remains of our English Acidulae of which Liquors he had for the most part such incompetent quantities as concurr'd with another reason to discourag'd him from publishing his Tryals on them Yet I may safely say what he offers here to the Reader is far beyond any thing that has been publish'd in this kind for the Virtuosi as well as the Water-drinkers may reap no small benefit by the perusal of this learned Treatise as containing a great number both of useful Observations and unusual Experiments Advertisement THe Author of the following Papers had thoughts of reviewing and inlarging them before he parted with them and at least of an annexing Notes to several of those Titles of the historical Platform that are yet left untouch'd But besides his want of health and leisure he was by the supervening of some urgent occasions oblig'd abruptly enough to lay aside this work he was about and apply himself to others that concern'd him more than the Scrutiny of Mineral Waters could Wherefore considering that he had already made Annotations though but short ones upon most of the considerablest Titles or Topicks of inquiry enumerated in the Second and Principal Part of his Schemes above them he was content to give the ensuing writing unfinished as it was to the Solicitations of some Vertuosi who rather than tarry till he should have an opportunity which he knows not how long he shall want were desirous to take what they sound ready with all its imperfections Which pressingness of theirs he could not deny to be the more excusable on this occasion because the communicated writing is not pretended to be a full and methodical History of Mineral Waters but only a bundle of Short Memoirs contributed towards the compiling of such a Work These that they may be the more conveniently cited or referr'd to I thought sit to divide into six Sections where of the First is introductory and and contains some General Considerations about the Occasion the Subject and some other things relating to those Memoirs The Second contains only a set of Titles for the First Part of the proposed Work because urgent occasions kept me from making as I intended some Marginal Notes upon several of the particular Articles The third exhibits a Scheme of Titles for the Second Part of the propos'd work viz. The way of experimentally exploring portions of a Mineral Water sever'd from the Spring or Receptacle And because the Second Part is that which I mainly design'd I have referr'd to it two other Sections one which is the Fourth containing a Collection of Experiments and Observations relating to the usual way of examining Mineral Waters by Galls as a Specimen given on the 13th Title of larger Annotations on the Titles of the Second Part and the other consisting of less copious Annotations and sometimes much shorter Notes on divers other Articles of the same Second Part. To which Lastly is subjoyn'd the sixth Section consisting only of a Set of Articles referrable to the Medicinal use of Mineral Waters together with a Conclusion address'd to the ingenious Dr. that set me upon this Task In prosecuting of which I desire it may not be thought strange that I have not cited Authors that have written of Thermae or of Acidulae For in the disadvantageous Circumstances wherein I wrote I should have been kept from consulting them if I had had them at hand And I thought it enough for for me at that time to impart to my Friends what my own Experiments and Thoughts had furnish'd me with how little or mean soever that was Which Advertisement is therefore the more fit to be here given that I may not divert any from studying those more elaborate Pieces that have within no long time been publish'd by skilful Men and especially by the very learned Dr. Lister The most Material Heads contained in the foregoing Treatise 1. THE Advertisement to the Reader containing the Division Method and Scope of this present Treatise 2. The occasion of this Treatise and its importance page 1 2 3. That the best way of discovering the Qualities of Mineral Waters is a long and sufficient Experience 3 4. What may encourage us to undertake the Natural History of Mineral Waters 4 5. What things are fit to be taken notice of by him that would give an historical account of Mineral Waters 5 6 6. That the Author hath both qualified Practical and Speculative Physicians by this Treatise 7 7. What hindred the Author from illustrating all the sets of Titles with a kind of Rationale 8 8. Wherefore the Author hath proposed so many different inquiries about Mineral Waters 9 10 11 12 9. Vpon what account the Examin of the properties of Mineral Waters is of so great importance 13 14 10. That men should make search both after Subterraneal Springs and Wells and their operations upon Humane Bodies 15 16 11. Titles for the Natural History of a Mineral Water proposed considered as being gilt in its Channel or Receptacles being the first or Mineralogical part of the designed Work 17 12. Titles for the Natural History of a Mineral Water proposed consider'd as drawn out of the Spring or Receptacle being the Second or Physico Chymical part of the designed work 24 13. An Appendix containing Paralipomena and a Chaos of observations and Experiments 32 14. The powder of Galls fitter to produce a new colour in Mineral Waâ—â—â—â— than their infusion 33 15. The parts of the infusion of Galls that produce the new colour with ferruginous Waters are apt to fly away neither the tincture nor the
powder must be stale 34 35 16. The best way for producing of new colours with Mineral Waters is to make the infusion of Galls with a certain weight of the Powder in a determinate weight of Water 35 36 17. Oaken leaves dryed red Rose leaves the Juice the Peel of Pomegranates the Blossoms called commonly Callaustia and some other astringent vegetables may be substituted to Galls 38 18. The Eye must be Judge of the Impregnation of the Water by the infusion or Powder of Galls 37 19. The way of trying Mineral Waters by the change of colours that Galls produce in them is neither of that extent nor of that certainty 't is vulgarly presumed to be of 39 20. There are divers Metalline Oars and other Mineral Bodies which not particpating of Iron will not be discoverable by the infusion of Galls ib. 21. A Body of a Metalline Nature and not participating of Iron may with infusion of Galls afford a very dark colour 40 22. 'T is not certain if all the Liquors impregnated with Iron will be discovered to be so by the colour they afford with Galls ib. 23. That it is a mistake generally taken for granted viz. That the infusion of Galls will certainly discover by becoming black or Purple of a Mineral Water that is mix'd with it be to vitriolate 41 24. An odd kind of whitish Earth to be found in the Northern Countreys of England where there come divers Mineral Waters 42 25. Galls being cast into the solutions of several Metals produc'd no blackish colour except with the solution of Gold 44 26. A Sulphureous Liquor proclaiming notable changes of colours with several solutions of Metals ib. 27. 'T is fit if not necessary that the experimenter look upon the change of colours made by Galls both while'tis a producing and where'tis produced in a good light and with a heedful eye 46 28. That there may be a kind of Physiognogmy of natural Bodies as well as of Humane faces ib. 29. A way to vary the Shades and other Phoenomena of Colours produc'd with Mineral Liquors 47 30. Another way somewhat differing from the former 48 31. 'T is convenient to use besides Galls or Oaken-leaves for the producing of new Colours with Mineral Waters Red-Roses Balerustium Leolewood Brasil and other astringent Pigments 50 32. A way of making a Liquor which will turn black with a solution either of Martial or Capreous Vitriol 51. 33. Many Waters may partake of Sulphur without being taken notice of to do so 54 34. That Copper that hath been melted into a body may be so subtilised and disguised as to have a multitude of its metalline parts made ascend with others in the form of a transparent Liquor like common Water and yet by putting to it another substance as volatile and colourless as it self it will presently discover the Copper it contain'd by turning as blew as Saphire 55 35. Experiments discovering the inexistence of Arsenick in Water and somewhat of the nature of that dangerous Mineral 56 36. The deleterious nature of Arsenick consists not only or mainly in a transcendently Acid nor in a lixiviate causticle quality but in a corrosiveness sui generis ib. 37. An useful way for Water-drinkers of examining a Mineral Water suspected to contain Arsenick 60 38. Why the Author hath insisted so much upon the Thirteenth Article of the set of Titles 61 39. To what the knowledge of the degree of coldness in the Water especially if it be extraordinary may be useful 63 40. Divers ways of estimating the degrees of coldness and heat in the Water 64 41. The usefulness of the knowledge of the specifick gravity of a Mineral Water ib. 42. The difficulty of weighing exactly Liquors 67 43. The most exact way of measuring the weight of Waters 68 44. The determinate weights of most Mineral Waters and others about London as likewise of the German Spaw-water 69 45. How to discover the kind of Soil through which the Water hath passed 71 46. No difference observed between Mineral Waters and common Water look'd upon through good Microscopes 72 47. That the little Creatures we discover through magnifying Glasses in Water wherein Pepper has been infused are not inanimate concretions but really living creatures 73 48. Where the Scent of several Mineral Waters are best judged of 74 49. That there are some Springs of â—â—l Viny odour ib. 50. That men are apt to take all stinking Waters for sulphureous whereas sometimes they are bituminous tho the Spring may sometimes partake both of Sulphur and Bitumen 75 51. That there is a manifest difference in reference to transportation in such Ferruginous Waters as are lighter than common Water 76 52. how we may ghess at the Saltness of Waters 79 53. That it is not easy to discover the accidity of Liquors 81 54. By what waies we may know the predominancy of Acidity in the Salt proposed 85 55. How we may know the predominancy of an Alcaly in the Salt of a Mineral Water 86 56. Salt afforded by the famous Waters of Bourben in France found to be Alcalisate 88 57. Several ways of discovering Vitriol to be predominant in the Saline part of a Mineral Water ib. 56. What Salts our English waters are impregnated with and from what Salt the purgative vertue that is found in many of them as in Epsom Barnet and Acton Waters c. does proceed 90 57. That two Bodies which are neither of them Cathartick may by change of texture wrought in one another compose a third Body that is briskly purgative 92 58. How great an inequality may be sometimes met with in the proportion that the same quantity of two differing Mineral Waters bear to the Caput Mortuum they respectively afford 94 59. That a small quantity of matter of which perhaps not one half is Saline or Metalline the rest being terresstrial may impart a manifest vertue to a great proportion of Water 95 60. A Spirit richly impregnated with volatiliz'd Sulphur produceth with Vitriol in a trice whether in the form of a powder or solution a very dark or blackish colour 99 61. Titles for the natural History of a Mineral Water propos'd consider'd as a Medicine being the third part of the design'd work 102 62. A short discourse of the Author relating to this present Treatise 110 63. If the fall of Rains weakneth the Vertue of the Mineral Waters 6 113. Short Memoirs FOR THE Natural and Experimental HISTORY OF Particular Mineral Waters Address'd to his Learned Friend Dr. S. L SECT I. SO many years Sir have past since I had occasion to consider Mineral Waters and opportunity to make Tryals on them with any Application of Mind that tho' since that time some Virtuosi have been pleas'd publickly to declare that they found some directions they received from me not unuseful to the Examen of such Waters yet having sorgotten many of my past thoughts and lost on mislaid most of my Memorials about matters of fact relating to
I have not time to write an ample com ment upon it all yet I thought fit to illustrate most of its Particular Articles by such Notes as may either explicate the meaning of what is but briefly couch'd or deliver some of the practical ways of Tryal that I make use of on occasion of the Subject mention'd in the Title or Article whereto the Notes belong These being divers of them too large to be conveniently plac'd the Margin are all of them set down together after this Sett of Titles TITLE 1. Of the actual coldness or heat of the Mineral Water propos'd 2. Of the specific Gravity of the Mineral Water propos'd 3. Of the Transparency the Muddiness or the Opacity of the Mineral Water 4. Whether the Mineral Water will by slading for a competent time let fall of it self any Oker or other earthy substance especially tho' the Liquor be kept from the Air. 5. Whether any thing and if any thing what can be discover'd in the Mineral Water by the help of the best Microscopes adapted to view Liquors 6. Of the colour or colournes of the Mineral Water 7. Of the odour of the Mineral Water as Acetous Winy Sulphureous Bituminous c. 8. Of the tast of the Mineral Water as Acid Ferruginous Vitriolate Lixivial Sulphureous c. 9. Whether any change will be produc'd in the transparency colour odour or tast of the Mineral Water by its being taken up at the Spring-head or other Receptacle or remov'd to some distance by its being kept stop'd or unstop'd for a greater or lesser space of time and by its being much warm'd or refrigerated and also by naturally or artificially produc'd cold turn'd into Ice and thaw'd again 10. Of the thinness or viscosity of the Mineral Water 11. Whether the Mineral Water be more easy to be heated and cool'd and to be dilated and condens'd than common Water 12. Whether the Mineral Water will of it self putrify and if it will whether sooner or later than common Water and with what kind or degree of stink and other Phaenomena 13. Of the change of colours producible in the Mineral Water by astringent Drugs as Galls Pomgranate-peels Balaustium red Roses Myrobolans OakenLeaves c. as also by some Liquors or Juices of the Body 14. Whether any thing will be precipitated out of the Mineral Waters by Salts or Saline Liquors whether they be Acid as Spirit of Salt of Niter Aqua Fortis c. Or volatile Alcali's as strong Spirit of Urine Sal-armoniac c. Or Lixiviate Salts as Oyl of Tartar per deliquium fixt Niter c. 15. How to examine with evaporation whether the Mineral Water contain common Salt and if it do whether it contains but little or much 16. How to examine without evaporation whether the Mineral Water have any acidity tho' it be but very little 17. Of the Liquor or Liquors afforded by the Mineral Water by Destillation in Balneo and other wayes 18. Of the residence Cap. Mort. of the Mineral Water when the Liquor is totally evaporated or distill'd off and whether the Cap. Mort. be the same in quantity and quality if produc'd by either of those wayes 19. Whether the propos'd Water being in Glass-Vessels exactly luted together slowly and warily abstracted to a thickish substance This being reconjoin'd to the distill'd Liquor the Mineral Water will be redintegrated and have again the same Texture and Qualities it had at first 20. Whether a Glass-full of the Mineral Water being Hermetically seal'd and boil'd in common Water deep enough to keep it always cover'd will have its Texture so alter'd as to suffer an observable change in any of its manifest Qualities And if it do in what Qualities and to what degree of alteration 21. Of the proportion of the dry Cap. Mort. to the Mineral Water that affords it 22. Of the division of the Cap. Mort. into saline and terrestrial and other parts not dissoluble in Water in case it contain both or more sorts 23. Of the proportion of the Saline part of the Cap. Mort. to the Terrestrial 24. Of the fixity or volatility of the Saline part in strong fires 25. Whether the Saline part will shoot into Crystals or no and if it will what figure the grains will be of and if it will not whether being combin'd with a Salt that will as purify'd Sea-Salt Peter c. it will then chrystallize and if it do into what figures it will shoot especially if any of them be reducible to those of any species of Salt known to us 26. To examine whether the Saline part be ex praedominio acid alcalizate or adiaphorous 27. Of the observables in the Terestrial portion of the Cap. Mort. as besides its quantity in reference to the Saline its colour odour volatility or fixity in a strong fire it s being soluble or not dissoluble by divers Menstruum's as Spirit of Vinegar Spirit of Urine Oyl of Tartar c. 28. Whether and if any thing how much the mineral waters Earth looses by strong and lasting Ignition What changes of colour c. it thereby receives whether it be capable of Vitrification perse and what colour if any it will impart to fine and well powder'd Venice glass if they be exactly mix'd and flux'd into a Transparent Glass 29. Of the Oeconomical and Mechanical uses of the Mineral Water as in Brewing Baking VVashing of Linnen Tanning of Leather or Dying of Cloth Callico's Silks c as these may assist in discovering the Ingredients and Qualities of the Liquor propos'd 30. Of the imitation of Natural Medicinal Waters by Chymical and other artificial wayes as that may help the Physician to guess at the quality and quantity of the Ingredients that impregnate the Natural Water propos'd An Appendix Containing 1. PAralipomena or things directly belonging to the History and pretermitted in it 2. A Chaos of Observations and Experiments remotely or indirectly referable either to one or more of the foregoing Titles or to the common Subject of them all SECT IV. Experimental Remarks upon the usual way of examining Mineral Waters by the help of Galls Deliver'd by way of Larger Annotations upon the XIII Article of the II. Part. SInce the change of colour that Mineral Waters produce in the Infusion or Tincture of Galls is the most usual way that many Physicians and the almost only that some of them endeavour to discover or examine Mineral Waters by it may be worth while in this place to set down some remarks that I have made about this way of probation the rather because it may mutatis mutandis be not unusefully apply'd to the exploring the Quality's of Mineral Waters by Colorations tho' made with other Materials than Galls First then it may be observ'd that one need not make an Infusion or Tncture of Galls in common Water to try if by their means a new colour will be produc'd For I am wont to beat them to Powder and keep them in a Glass not too
compar'd together I also practis'd another way somewhat differing from this as the main part of which we prepar'd white Paper by rubbing well upon it with a hares foot or some such thing some idoneous Powders especially that of vitriol whereof for this purpose English seem'd the best lightly calcin'd in a gentle heat till it became of a grayish colour and friable between the Fingers By this means 't was easy to make the Paper fit for our turn For the finer parts having lodg'd themselves in its Pores without much discolouring it when the supersluous dust was struck off it became capable of affording a variety of Colours or rather shades some deeper and some fainter when I let fall on it some drops of differing Martial Liquors But of the Examen of the Materia medica by the changes of colour produc'd in it or by it more is said in another Paper and therefore instead of transferring that hither I shall here briefly intimate that divers variations of colour may be made either by infusing or otherwise mixing as I have sometimes done something in the Mineral Water before the tinging stuff be put to it or by putting somewhat in the Infusion or Powder of Galls before it be mix'd with the Mineral Water or else by dropping fit Liquors such as Spirit of Salt sirst and then Spirit of Urine or Oyl of Tartar into the Blackish or Purple Mixture of Galls and the Medicinal Water to be examin'd For by these means diverse variations of colours may be observ'd which together with some other wayes that I have made use of to multiply them I have not now leisure to set down 3. It is not convenient to confine ones self to the use either of Galls or Oaken Leaves but to make use also of Red Roses Balaustium Log-wood Brasil and other astringent vegetable Pigments For though some of these give a deeper Tincture than Galls yet by the diversity of colours produc'd by them in Mineral Waters an attentive Beholder may as was lately intimated where I mention'd diversity of Lights and Shades discover some things that he would not be informed of or receive any hints of by the help of Galls of Oaken Leaves alone Nay I would not have our experimenter imploy none but vegetable substances about his colorations but sometimes make use of Animal ones and more often of Minerals Since by this means he may much diversify his Tryals and increase the number of Phaenomena some of which he may probably find instructive Besides astringent Plants I have found and sometimes devis'd other substances that will turn black as well as Galls with vitriolated Water and that not only with those that are richly impregnated with Iron but also with those wherein Copper alone abounds as in Roman vitriol And tho' for certain reasons I must not now set down a way I have to discover in a trice both these vitriols without any Liquor or Tangible Body yet I shall subjoin as a kind of Succedaneum that may suffice for the present occasion the way of making a Liquor that will presently turn black with a solution either of Martial or Cupreous vitriol Take equal parts of pure Salt of Tartar and either Flowers of Sulphur or at least Sulphur finely powder'd and good Sal-armoniac reduce the first and the last to powder separately melt the Sulphur over a gentle fire and by degrees put to it the Salt of Tartar stirring them well to make them incorporate and grow red or reddish Then put this mixture pulveriz'd into a Glass Retort or a cucurbite and pour on it the Sal-Armoniac dissolv'd in fair Water and closing well the Junctures distill all in sand by degrees of a moderate fire shifting the receiver once or twice because the Liquors will be differingly ting'd and strong and that which ascends last may bring over but very little of the Sulphur whose volatile Tincture is yet the main thing we aim at in this operation 4. I do not despair but that he who were able to make a skilful use of the several Drugs and other Body's Vegetable Animal and Mineral that may produce new colours in or with Mineral Waters or in some cases with the substances that impregnate them may by their means be also inabled to discover the presence or inexistence of divers other Minerals some of them salubrious or at least safe and some others either hurtfull or at least dangerous that are not taken notice of by those that content themselves to imploy Galls and Oaken Leaves in the exploration of the Waters they examine For some of these Liquors contain Salts that having not corroded either Martial or Cupreous Ores or Marcasites do not betray themselves by producing either an Inky or a fainter degree of Blackness or else a Purple with the Drugs made use of to change their Colours Ofthese Salts I have met with more than one sort which may be more properly take notice of when we consider the Mineral Water and its contents 12. I think it likewise very possible that industrious men should find wayes to discover by the help of the change of colours whether Orpiment or native Arsenick or the like poisonous Minerals do so impregnate the Water propos'd as to make it very hurtful or dangerous thô not absolutely pernicious And as for Sulphur there may be several Waters that partake of it without being taken notice of to do so For I remember that I have sometimes purposely made a Liquor that was limpid and colourless like Spring Water and which would totally fly up even with a gentle heat and yet this Liquor was richly impregnated with a Mineral Sulphur as I convinc'd several virtuosi by manifest and ocular proofs So that if Sulphur chanc'd to be combin'd with any Salt or Mineral of those many subterraneal ones that nature hath hid from us that can suppress or disguise its peculiar odour the Water may be considerably and yet unobservedly impregnated with it And yet 't is like this may easily be discover'd by the change of colour producible in such a Sulphureous Liquor by vitriolate Bodies and other appropriate additaments Which may be thought the more probable because thô the Spirit lately describ'd be very transparent and totally volatile in the form of a Liquor sometimes pale enough yet common English Vitriol as also that of Danzick which is Venereal will presently turn it of a black or very dark colour And to add here something more difficult to be perform'd I have devis'd a way which I elsewhere deliver whereby it may appear that even Copper that hath been melted into a Body may be so subtiliz'd and disguis'd as to have a multitude of its metalline Parts made to ascend with others in the form of a Transparent Liquor like common Water And yet by putting to it a little of another substance as volatile and colourless as it self it would presently disclose the Copper it contain'd by turning blew as a Saphire 13. Because Arsenic is
long standing a pretty quantity of Terrestrial substance that look'd almost like yellow Oke◠and perhaps was of great affinity to it in nature 3. That clause in the Article thô the Liquor be kept from the Air was therefore set down because I had found by Tryals that some Liquors by being expos'd to the free Air would have copious and sometimes surprizing substances separated from them as if the Air contain'd some Precipitating Salts fit to work on the Liquors so as to make in them such notable separations Notes on the Fifth Title V. An accidental weakness I had in my eyes when I had the best opportunity to endeavour satisfying my self about this Inquiry forc'd me to leave the prosecution of it to others Only two things I shall take notice of on this occasion One is that having caus'd one that had young Eyes and was accustom'd to make use of such Microscopes as are mention'd in the Article to look upon some Mineral Waters through them he said he could discern no difference between them and common Water Notwithstanding which the Tryal ought to be repeated by various persons on several Waters with differing Engyscopes and in differing Lights and other circumstances The other is that whereas it is by divers learned men objected against the goodness of these magnifying Glasses we now make use of to look on Liquors that the little Bodies that the ingenious Mr. Lewenhoeck and since him divers other Virtuosi have observ'd in Water wherein Pepper has been infus'd are not as he pretends living creatures but little inanimate concretions that are casually form'd and carry'd to and fro in the Liquor To convince these Doubters of whose number I was my self at first inclin'd to be I devis'd the following experiment Having laid upon the magnifying Glass a part of a drop of Water wherein I could see store of these little Animals frisking up and down we put to the Liquor with a bristle or some such very slender thing part of a drop of Spirit of Salt which as was expected presently kill'd these little tender creatures and depriving them of their Animal Motion left them to be carry'd so slowly to and fro in the Liquor as to make it visible that they were then dead and had been before alive Notes on the Seventh Title VII 1. The Odours of divers Mineral Waters are best judg'd of at the Spring head or other Receptacle whence some of them being remov'd scarce afford any Odour at all perceptible by us men 2. Perhaps the Sulphureous scent that is sometimes perceiv'd in Tunbridge and some other Waters in their sources may in part proceed from loose Exhalations that casually happen to be mingled with the Waters but do not constantly belong to it 3. The winy odour is mention'd among others Because I am credibly inform'd that in France there is a Mineral Spring if not more or less than one that has such a smell 4. I mention the Bituminous Odour distinctly from the Sulphureous because men are too apt to confound them and take all stinking Mineral Waters for Sulphureous whereas divers are manifestly Bituminous as may be gather'd to omit other signs not only from their proper odours but from more or fewer drops of Petroleum or a kind of course Naphtha that are found swimming upon the Water 5. I think it also not unlikely that sometimes a Spring may partake both of Sulphur and Bitumen mingl'd together by the Subterraneal Heat since I have found that I could easily enough melt and incorporate these two substances here above ground Notes on Ninth Title IX 1. This is an almost necessary Article because many Persons that drink Mineral Waters cannot well either for want of strength or conveniency repair immediately to the Spring head but are oblig'd to drink them in their Beds or their Lodgings and perhaps to have them transported to a great distance or even to another country 2. Many Purging Waters are found to retain their Laxative vertue and that perhaps for a considerable time thô they be transported to places distant from those they rise in 3. In such Ferruginous Waters as are lighter than common Water I found a manifest difference in reference to transportation For most of them even such as will bear removing have something of freshness and quickness at the Spring head perhaps from some Spirituous and Fugitive Exhalations that there arise with them but presently vanish that they have not any where else And some do not only lose this briskness by being remov'd thô in vessels well stop'd but they lose also the power of producing with the powder of Galls a Purple colour as I found by Tryal purposely made in more than one of these Mineral Waters which to prevent fraud I sent for to the Springs themselves by servants of my own For thô these carryed their Glass Bottles along with them and had no other Errand there but to fill and stop them carefully yet by being transported less than one league I found them so alter'd that they would no longer make a Purplish colour with powder'd Galls but a deep reddish one whereas the German Spaw Waters did almost alwayes here in London afford me with the same Powder of Galls a rich Purple Colour And Tunbridge Waters afforded me the like but not so deep a one when I receiv'd them at London very well stopt 4. This last clause was not to be omitted because the exact or negligent closing of the vessels wherein such Waters are transported is a circumstance of great moment For more than once I receiv'd at London Waters sent me from Tunbridge by Physicians themselves who us'd at least a moderate care in putting them up which yet would by no means afford with Galls a purplish Colour And I found that even the German Spaw-Water would almost presently lose its capacity of being made Purple by Galls if it were considerably heated 5. But the same Spaw-Water being in Summer time kept all night in an open Vessel did the next morning till it was late if not till Noon retain a disposition to be made Purple by the admixture of Galls but that disposition it lost before the next day Notes on the Fifteenth Title XV. 1. Because it often happens that men have not the leisure and the conveniency totally to evaporate the proposed Mineral Water it may be an useful thing to be able without evaporation to discover whether it contain any common Salt and if it do to make some estimate how copiously or sparingly the Liquor is impregnated with it This might easily be done with nicety enough if I were not by very just Reasons restrain'd for a while from communicating that way of examining the saltness and freshness of Waters of which I did by the Kings command show his Majesty some proofs whereof mention was presently after made in the printed Gazets But till it be free for me to impart that way to the publick I shall only intimate that some guess may be made