them as to cut away the surface of the earth about a mineral Fountain standing water abiding all Winter in these deep Trenches by sinking down through the softned earth makes passage into the current of the Spaw then every showre of Rain in the Summer will find the same crevices and clifts to descend into it If this may suffice to get this fault mended I shall be glad Anno 1668. being mostly concern'd to look well to my self against the threatnings of my former distemper I visited Scarbrough during mine abode there First I took notice what Doctor Witty says pag. 151. that after he had exhaled the water from the body of the minerals it would not unite with other waters but lie all at the bottom undissolved By this trial of his I was certain that in that body of Minerals there must be other things containd than his 4 or 5 principles for Allom Nitre Salt and Vitriol of Iron are amicable to water and without any force dissolvable in it neither may it be supposed that the fire in exhaling the Water can alter the texture of Salts so as to hinder their dissolution for the more Salts are calcined the more speedily do they imbibe the Water as thirsting for it as Ice doth therefore easily melt in Water because it proceeded from it for the same reason Salts must do so likewise If any one doubt of this let him try the Lord Blay's Experiment that learned Frenchman viz. calcine Sea-Salt deliquiate it then distill all that will come over repeat this process and you will find that all the Salt is turned into Water as devoid of all saltness as is distilled Rain Water Next thing I observed was these words of his pag. 13. Nor can the principles be separated further than I have already expressed namely by putting Gall to the Water notwithstanding many ingenious Gentlemen have endeavoured it I wish those he means had applied their wits about the usefulness of Experimental Philosophy as the Honourable Boyle has done and then their endeavours would have succeeded here and to higher purposes than the separating the principles of Scarbrough Spaw where the difficulty lay that obstructed the separation I cannot apprehend for fire alone is an instrument sufficient to effect it This substance if I may so call it being as subtile as the light must penetrate through the centre of every pore of the mixed Water and because of its property to ascend upward it doth incessantly disquiet the lodge of heterogeneals during this restless Motion like things do occur with like and their Nature is to unite after this manner as I conceive it comes to pass that ignis segregat heterogenea congregat homogenea by no other artifice did I extract out of the Spaw Water a pure nitroaluminous Salt and a large quantity of feces apart both which I then shewed to the Honourable Lord Faulconbridge who can remember what I said then to his Lordship of it At this time I could not be certain but that much of the Sand which settled to the bottom in the Preparation came through the carelesness of the Porter that brought me the Water and therefore I could not come to a positive determination by this Experiment only I wrote to Mr. Simpson wishing him to forbear publishing any thing concerning Scarbrough Spaw till he had spoke with me because I had made a tryal what was contained in it his answer was my advice came too late for his Book was in the Press so far was I from having a hand in the framing his Book as Dr. Witty was made to believe by the report of others This Year 1669. I returned thither and though I dropt Oleum Salis tinctured with Gold in every other Glass hoping thereby to cleanse off the sordes of the Spaw yet after a fortnights drinking it gave me a fit of the Stone which from the time Mr. Holiard cured me I had not felt before I brought the Water home with me that I might be sure that nothing extraneous to the Spaw might interrupt a critical Analysis thereof the product confirmed my first Experiment which I made at Scarbrough all the materials that can be found in it are three first Raments of Stone secondly a Nitroaluminous Salt and thirdly a gleeb of Allom their proportions are thus of the Stone-powder one Ounce and three Drams of the Nitroaluminous Salt one Ounce and six Drams of the Blew-Clay which is the gleeb of Allom three Drams the active principles and the caput mortuum are equal so that if Dr. Witty's tryal be true that five Quarts of Water give one Ounce of the body of Mineral as he calls it you take half an Ounce of Stone and Clay into your Bowels every such quantity you drink Here you see a cause as I observed before why this Body of Minerals would not dissolve in Water namely the Stone and Clay by the heat of the Fire while he exhal'd the Water dry from them become more compacted together with the Salts than when they were in the Fountain whereas when these Salts are separated from their dross they melt as easily as Snow in Water You will say how comes it about that there is so much Filth in Scarbrough Water as you speak of For answer take notice Dr. Witty tells you that the Spaw which is a quick Spring cometh out at the foot of an exceeding high Clift all the Stone and Earth that maketh up this Mountain is big belly'd with Nitre Allom-Stone here and there mingled in it after the Spring has run through this high Hill the Spaw is brought forth which is fair and clear to look to I cannot but compare it to an Harlot of whom it is said She eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have done no wickedness This hungry esurine Water after she has devoured Stone in a large quantity as if that were not sufficient for to grate her Teeth upon she hath swallowed both Cup and Liquor of the Allom. Because I have dealt with her as Aesop dealt with the Boy that had eaten the Figs made her vomit them up again whosoever is angry with me for doing so I must bear it If any of her friends think I do bely her let them for their satisfaction first answer this Query From what cause is it after you have drunk a Month of it then if not before it takes a Resty Jadish fit will neither go backward nor forward A Noble Lord complained to me that the Water dealt thus with him his Lordship having drunk it with success about a Month it then swell'd him at stomack two or three last days and would neither work by Urine nor Stool though he took his usual Physick with it as formerly the Scotch Pill which is an Extract of Aloes I advis'd him to take one Dram and half of the pure Essence with the Spaw Water by the help of this and the said Pill he had plentiful Evacuations in that Afternoon thus being quitted
LICENSED Roger L'Estrange Feb. 21. 1669. SCARBROVGH SPAW SPAGYRICALLY ANATOMIZED BY Geo. Tonstall Doctor of Physick LONDON Printed by J. M. for the Author MDCLXX PREFACE Nulla rosa nascitur sine spinis DOctor Witty in his Epistle to the Reader complains that Mr. Simpson by giving him the trouble of answering his Book hath interrupted his design of a Latine Copy upon the subject of this Spaw which he thought should have seen the light this year I would not willingly hinder any good work let this little therefore that I have writ but serve only as an Appendix to his third Volume and I shall clothe it in like fashion far be it from me to espouse the quarrel of either of them I profess my self a friend to both for if I should not walk uniformly betwixt Dr. Witty's Library and Mr. Simpson's Laboratory I might suspect my self a lame Physician Hippocrates and Helmont I declare are the two great lights that rule in my Hemisphere Galen's method of Physick may justly be named rational so far as he writes after the old man his Masters Copy I dare not speak further for him I hope in this Tract my writing is so candid that it may be observ'd what I have said is not ad personam but ad rem And that I have not concern'd my self in any word which Dr. Witty has been pleas'd to say in his two Books but only what was necessary to take notice of me defendendo It is but one Position that I have affirm'd upon the whole subject if it be daubed up with untemper'd Mortar let who will pull it down but if its foundation be built upon mechanical demonstration it must stand firmer than Hercules Pillar by the Process that I have taken the material principles which I assert to be in this Spaw are presented to our senses these are infallible judges positis omnibus requisitis of their objects Dr. Witty's failure was in that he left off where he should have begun after he had observ'd what is most conspicuous about the Spaw and tryed that the Gall tinctured the water of a dark purple colour contents himself with fair probabilities for affirming his five principles and then pag. 15. leaves it to others to try Experiments and make what new discoveries they can What unexpected things hath Anatomy discovered in the body of man these late years to derogate a tittle from the honour of these happy improvements of knowledge were to speak against the light and to bark against the Moon yet why must the usefulness of this noble Art be confined to the Animal Kingdom only The grounds of Anatomy in the vegetable and mineral Kingdom laid down by Tachenius doth neerly conduce to the discovery of the Nature Cause and Cure of diseases if I know any thing The little desection that I have made of Scarbrough's Diana gives the cause why one crys great is D. of S. and another at the same time decrys it as much the general account for this confused noise is because as the liquor is commendable so the dregs are insufferable the Essence of it fit for the Cup of a Prince the caput mortuum which is Sand and Clay fit for nothing but the Brick-layers Trowel Hence it doth follow that those who are weak in their digestive faculties and strong in their distributive these may find good by drinking this Water and no harm by the sordid feces due care being taken but those who are weak in both will experience the contrary To all those that have a petrifying character seminated in them I say of Scarbrough water Procul Ite cito abite nunquam redite SCARBROVGH SPAW SPAGYRICALLY ANATOMIZED BEfore I enter into this Discourse I am necessitated to remove an Objection lest I stumble on the Threshold Says my honoured Patient Last Year you perswaded me that Scarbrough Water was to be preferred before Knaisbrough this Year you are of a contrary opinion and therefore I know not how to trust you I answer first excusively you may note hereby that I am not pertinacious conviction of an errour will work in me conversion to the truth Again I did commend to you no worse thing than that which I took my self 'twere to be wished that all Physicians were bound with this Girdle Secondly directly for your particular trouble Gravel and Stone in the Kidneys I did prefer the Nitre at Scarbrough before the Vitriol of Knaisbrough Appello Coronam if that be not a more noble principle than this yet must it be understood only caeteris paribus Here my mistake was incurable until I got opportunity to sift Scarbrough Water in the Fire the best Microscope could not have shown me what lay in the bowels of it only Spagyrick Anatomy made the Dirt appear to open view For satisfaction to others who may censure my wandring from Knaisbrough to rise from wavering in opinion take this plain Narrative Anno Domini 1666. the famous fortunate Chyrurgeon Mr. Thomas Holiard of London may this man be blessed in his deed cut me for the Stone which weighed four Ounces and a half Six weeks after I was able to take Journey the Doctor there my friend told me his doubt that Vitrioline Waters were too sharp for me to drink because of my green wound so lately healed notwithstanding I resolv'd for Knaisbrough remembring Mr. Stones case which his Father related to me long since which was this after his Son was cut a large Stone taken out of his Bladder the wound did not perfectly heal notwithstanding he had all the help that London could afford for about three Months time at last Sir Theod. Mayrne did advise him to Knaisbrough Water he had not drunk it fifteen days till he was perfectly healed for which great Cure done by it he did frequent that Spaw for many years after this Water I mixed with white Wine which brought away by Urine abundance of mucous matter Helmont the Prince of Reason sets down the cause hereof in these words ubi custodes malè se habent continuò plorant partem proprii alimenti quod sibi assimilare debebat I was glad to see that this Spaw cleansed the Bladder from that glutenous stuff which if let alone would undoubtedly have laid a foundation for another Stone Sandy Gravel which few or none are exempted from falling amongst it and mixing with it must in continuance gather to a hard substance too great to pass away I wish all those that shall receive like mercy with me would use the like means to prevent a relapse of that formidable Disease the Stone Anno Dom. 1667. I returned thither again the season proved wet during which time the Spaw proved very weak of the mineral this discouraged me from drinking much of it I then blamed the great Ditch about the Fountain as the cause of impoverishing the Spaw of its principle for I judge it was as rational to pare an Apple and to peel the Bark off a Tree and hereby not indemnifie
of his oppression he meddled no farther with the Water This Dr. Witty hath carefully observed and therefore adviseth thus pag. 211. If any man finds that after benefit once had by the Waters he begins to decline again in his health as that his appetite or concoction decay or the Waters pass not so well as formerly but cause distention either in the Belly or the Veins and so bring on a difficulty of breathing or pain in the head or the like it is then time wholly to desist and to proceed no farther This is honestly spoken but is this the manner of other Waters when they are fitly suited to a Chronical Distemper and the Patient find once benefit by them do they produce in him afterwards such evils as these or rather the longer they are drunk till the Cure be wrought the nearer the Patient is carried to his desired end Is there not therefore a sting in the tail of scarbrough-Scarbrough-Water are not the Stone-feces plaistered upon the inner Coat of the Bowels disturbing their peristaltick Motion and obstructing the attraction of the lacteal Veins the cause of all those evils This Query thus answered for further satisfaction proceed after this manner First Take a large quantity of the clear Spaw Water in case you fear any Sand may be taken up with it put all through a Woolen Cloth boil it till half be consumed clear off that Liquor then see how much Sand you find at the bottom which is nothing else but part of the nitrous Rock which the Water has dissolv'd exhale that Liquor lower to the thickness of Oyl then pour it forth into a wooden Vessel set it by in the cold and the Nitre and Allom settles into crystals when that Liquor will cast forth no more of these then exhale the liquor dry put Water to it and filter it and you will find more Stone-Powder in the Paper exhale this Water perfectly dry then burn it in a Crucible dissolve it with Water and filter it there will you have the blew Clay which is nothing else but the gleeb of the Allom If you please to proceed further dissolve the first Crystals exhale and filter so often till the Crystals be pure and white so will be separated more sandy Clay By all this that I have said and proved to those that will trust their own eyes I affirm this as my Position viz. The Nature of Scarbrough Spaw is petrifying First I shall prove it by the Authority which to Dr. Witty is instar omnium of Kircher lib. 8. p. 46. Quaeritur quid propriè sit succus lapidificus dico esse Saxum nitrosum aquâ eliquat◠his whole Chapter de Origine Succi petrifici doth make manifest this truth as if it were written with the Sun-beams Secondly by Experiment I made it visible that the Spaw is mostly nothing else but the nitrous Stone melted in Water besides the Allom-stone that is imbibed in it There is a famous petrifying Water at the Bridge-end of Knaisbrough West-ward known by the name of Dropping-well a Stillicidium of a nitrous Rock I sent for a Quart of this Water which was very clear and distill'd it in a Glass Retort which gave a Dram wanting ten Grains of pure white Nitre and Stone by this 't is observable that Scarbrough Spaw because of the Allom juice joined with the Nitre has corroded and imbibed more Stone than this notorious petrifying Water at Knaisbrough I would not be here mis-understood as if I did from hence infer that Scarbrough Spaw is more petrifying than this Water which will set a stony Crust upon a Loaf or piece of Wood after it has lain in it a few hours this manifest token of petrifaction Scarbrough Water is not charged with The reason of the difference I apprehend to be thus viz. the alkali of the Allom in Scarbrough Water hath in part imbib'd the acidity of the Nitre and therefore it cannot so penetrate the Wood put in it as to leave a crust of Stone upon its superficies which the other Water having Nitre alone in it will do That Allom is an Alkali Salt is plain from its saponary property this the Dyers have experienced Again when Allom is put in a Crucible over the fire it burns to a light porous Cinder Vacua esse alcalium corpora demonstravit Tachenius Nitre on the contrary doth flux in the Fire into a hard compact body whereby it is evident that in Nitre the acid hath the predominium in Allom the Alcali and therefore Scarbrough Water cannot manifest its petrifying property by putting Wood into it and crusting it over as the other Water doth yet he that will affirm that Scarbrough Water hath no such occult quality in it must first prove that it carries no Stone Powder in the Bowels of it which is manifestly false Thirdly By the Aporrhoea Spiritus lapidifici there are found on the Clift neer the Spaw Muscle-shells and such like things petrified to a stony substance one of these was shown to Dr. Witty this year but he accused the Sea for petrifying it if so what befel Lot's Wife judicially is not so great a miracle as that it is not our lot naturally to be turned into Pillars of Salt that eat so much of Sea-Salt daily again when the Earth of the Cliff falleth down by dashes of Rain upon the Sands as soon as the watery moisture is exhaled from it it doth petrifie Dr. Witty tells you of a lump of Earth thus petrified that will load two Carts which because it was of a redish Colour and hard he mistook it for Iron Fourthly by the effects the Spaw produceth primarily in those that are inclinable to the Stone I wish Scarbrough Spaw had given me no just occasion to complain of it in this particular besides what happened to me there as I said I was no sooner come home from thence but another sharp fit tormented me for two days that I am not alone in this accusation may be gathered from Dr. Witty's Book if such complainings as these had not been vulgarly spoken I suppose so wise a man as he would not have started this Objection against the Spaw pag. 150. Another says he never had a sit of the Stone till drinking of these Waters though few of his Family have escaped that Disease is not this a shrewd sign of its petrifying nature his Parenthesis doth not invalidate it for multae sunt in potentia quae nunquà m reducuntur in actum but take his answer to this Objection Even just so a Light is brought into a dark Room by which a Thief is discovered therefore Light is ill for a Thief by the same consequence that Scarbrough Spaw is ill for the Stone An Objection of this weight must not be answered so lightly we that have been afflicted with this Distemper cannot be affected with ginglings when they tend to our mischief But to answer The Thief is in the Spaw the Water was not such a dark Room where the
Thief has lain hid so long but if a Light had been brought in by a Chymist this Thief might have been discovered before this time and then Nephritick men would have been aware of it I grant by reason of abundance of Nitre in the Water it will force out stony Gravel in the Kidneys when any is there but I am certain also because of the plenty of Stone filings that are in it the Water will occasion the breeding of Stones in the Kidneys where pro tempore there are none ask those that have quitted themselves of the Stones they voided by drinking the Water if after they returned home fits have not come on them more frequently and sharply than before they drank of Scarbrough-Spaw I protest to the world both as to my self Relations and Patients I have found it so to shew the disserence betwixt Scarbrough and Knaisbrough Water as to this petrifying property I shall mention a remarkable Observation of Mr. Henry Proctor of Farnly I had the relation of it from his own mouth when we were together this Gentleman was brought very low in an Hectick Fever and sadly troubled with shortness of breath he consulted with Dr. Henry Poor for Cure but found no Remedy he then applied himself to Dr. Neal who prepared his body and advised him to drink Knaisbrough Water which caused him cough up several Stones daily till he was perfectly cured He does enjoy his health very well ever since using those Waters once a year afterward he married and now is Father of two Children if this Patient had been sent to Scarbrough-Spaw what had become of him let others judge as the Disease of the Stone doth immediately proceed from a petrisick spirit the cause sine quâ non so Jaundise and the Gout have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from it hence it doth follow that secondarily these two Distempers are dangerously exalted in bodies that are inclinable to them by drinking this Spaw for evidence of this truth I shall give instances First the Lord Erwin went from his House at Temple-Newsam to Scarbrough upon what other account than to divert himself there with the company of his friends I know not after he had drunk the Water and was returned home presently the Jaundise seizes on him of which Disease he shortly died though Dr. Taylor used all means for his remedy now this I say all sweet Spaws in the World have a property common to them that they are of a deopilating nature and though they may not suit to every Disease yet for the removing of grand Obstructions the cause of most Diseases they are generally the best and mostly the last advice of all Physicians what reason then can be given why this Honourable Lord by drinking Scarbrough Spaw Water had not the Obstructions of his Gall opened but contrarily brought into this irrecoverable Disease that kill'd him I say what reason else if not this Scarbrough Water did petrifie that Sulphurous Saline humour in the Vesica bilaria into Stones too great to pass through the porus Dr. Witty blamed his too liberal drinking of wine with it as he said to my self this year but what harm could that do more than to increase Choler which humour unpetrified is most easily purged away of all others That Stones do as usually concrete in the Gall as in the Kidneys in men as well as in beasts who doth question I was present many years since at a Physick Lecture in London when the Professor in the Discourse of the Jaundise brought forth three or four little Stones of Gall wrapt up in his Handkerchif to shew them to the other Doctors there relating that a Gentlewoman of the City afflicted with that Disease after many fruitless attempts made by him for her Cure at last was put to it to give her a Dose of sharp working Physick which quitted her of those Stones whereby she forthwith recovered if any object that suppose the Gall be petrified yet it cannot cause death in so short a time as this Lord took his Disease and died in it For answer let him consult Helmont with Syloius and there is enough to satisfie him that the second fermentation made by the succus pancreaticus and the Gall are as necessary for the preservation of life as the first fermentation is that 's in the Stomack though in an Oxe Gall there is often found a great Stone notwithstanding the beast keeps health and liking till the Butcher slaughter him yet then there is abundance of liquid choler besides in his Vesica bilaria sufficient to perform fermentation I shall mention but two other instances of this year in our Town An Alderman whose Father some years since died of the Jaundice but himself was never troubled with it till after his coming from Scarbrough Water then did the Symptoms of this Disease appear only it did not manifest it self either by Vrine or by Colour of his body which gave me a great cause of suspicion that the water had petrified the Gall with Chalibeat and other Icterical drinks by slow degrees he recovered A Merchant's Wife with Child for company of her Husband came to Scarbrough Dr. Witty in his Book approving the Water safe for such she desired to drink of it upon her return home a tormenting pain seized on her right side for mitigation of this extream dolour and prevention of a Feaver Phlebotomy was thrice ordered then an Antimonial Vomit yet so obdurated was the Gall by the petrifying property of Scarbrough Water as I suspected that none other sign appeared of the Jaundice but a return of her pain three or four times over at length a ternary spirit of Wine Nitre and Mercury elixerated dissolved the congealed Choler and then did the Disease shine forth in its saffron colour after three recidivations she was pluckt out of the Jaws of death beyond the hopes of all her friends and is now well delivered of a lusty Boy Let it be here observed that I practise according to conscience and let those She-Tatlers who when they have done mumbling over their Beads come to a Feast and there mutter hard speeches against me for dealing so severely with this Patient take notice that it is my principle when I see my duty to pursue it to the hazard of my credit with such as them and though I be singular in this point from the most of my Brethren whose wisdom it is to secure themselves from an evil report by doing nothing in a doubtful case yet I have not so learned Christ The Maxim is true quod unicum est non deliberandum est and the resolution is Christian Let us quit our selves like men of Art and Integrity and let the Lord do what seemeth him good Pardon this digression Reader Dr. Witty gives an instance pag. 180. of a Knight and his Lady in Lincolnshire by drinking the Water at home for the Scurvy both of them took the Jaundice which they recovered not from till Christmas following
he blames the distance of place from the Fountain for this fault of the Water but all that can be charged upon drinking at a distance is that it may diminish the good and increase the bad qualities of the Water which are innate The Gouts inveterate malice is known to arise from a petrifying property of its acid Spirit hence 't is said Tollere nodosam nescit medicina podagram If losers may have leave to speak I shall mention how Scarbrough water dealt with me as to this Distemper which all my life long I never felt the least touch on before no sooner was an usual Stone slipped into the Bladder from the left Kidney of which I have spoke but immediately ictu oculi a Thunder-bolt from the right Kidney darted into the joint of the great Toe which caused me to go limping a fortnight after Thus have my Reins tryed what is that water of Scarbrough Spaw That I am not alone neither in this accusation hear Dr. Witty pag. 149. Others drinking without due preparation as was necessary peradventure to save some petty charge have fallen into the Gout the water contracting heat for want of speedy passage being thrown by nature upon the weak Joints have hence inferred that these Waters cause the Gout Answer These Gentlemen without peradventure may be supposed to have neglected that which is judged necessary for them to do before they drink Water yet I do aver no Spaw in the world has less need of preparatives and more need of Purgers than this of Scarbrough it was never observed by me that any at the first morning draught of this Water wanted a speedy passage by the back door Though I cannot approve of his Notion touching the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how and wherefore the water causeth the Gout yet in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it does so in Bodies inclinable to that Disease we are both agreed Thus having proved by all manner of Arguments both à priori and à posteriori that Scarbrough water is petrifying and have manifested that Knaisbrough Spaw which partakes of the Vitriol of Iron by a famous Instance is quite otherwise it now remains only that I make out Scarbrough water has no Vitrioline Spirit in it In this undertaking I shall approve my self a greater friend to Scarbrough than Dr. Witty who maintains the contrary for if in this water the esurine Spirit of Vitriol be joined with the Volatile Spirit of Nitre of which this Spaw doth chiefly partake how then doth it differ from Aqua Fortis that deadly corrosive water which is nothing else but these two acid spirits inseparably united together if he say these two are not all there is Allom and Salt also this makes the Water worse for a Spirit from all these will make an Aqua Regia which doth corrode Gold it self the hardest of all Metals to dissolve If it be said these corrosive Spirits are extorted by stress of fire from their bodies which extraordinary heat will not be granted to be in the bowels of the Earth I answer this possibly may excuse à tanto but not à toto for first the prolifick Seminals of all things generated in the Earth doth come to their proper matrixes in a vapour If any question this let him try Platt's Experiment put bituminous and combustible substances into two Glass Retorts filling their necks the one with lean Earth the other with peet-earth set them in an open fire and by gradual heat the Vapours that ascend will petrifie the one Earth into Stone and the other Earth into a plain coal Secondly this Vapour if it be of ill quality hath the same pernicious effects upon our bodies as those that are sublimed by Art in the fire This truth the Miners do sadly experience the Sulphurous Vapours that are in every Coal-pit will soon stifle any that goes into it before it be purged by air conveyed to it Thirdly this Vapour Nature can no more cause to ascend upward which it doth perpetually without heat than Art can sublime without fire Suppono says Kircher omnes vapores nihil aliud quà m tenuissima subtilissima ac insensibilia corpuscula esse quae calore exaltata ingentis in terreno mundo mutationis causa sunt Wherefore I say though we know that Nitre and Vitriol distill'd divisim are both of them severally good and of daily practice yet we experience also that distill'd conjunctim they send forth the most deadly corrosive Vapour which by the coldness of the Receiver is condensed to a Spirit there can be no doubt but if both these as Dr. Witty would have it be joined in Scarbrough water it must be highly corrosive though not to such a degree as Aqua Fortis is twenty drops whereof will kill a Cat notwithstanding I shall examine his proofs for this Vitriol of Iron as I find them in his Book pag. 9. he says a small quantity of Gall being put into the Spaw Water doth turn it into a dark Claret Colour ergo there is Vitriol in it this is a non sequitur for thus will the Gall turn a Coal-water if it has gotten any touch of the Spirit of Sulphur to sharpen it for dissolution of the black Mine that it passeth through but we will suppose there is no Coal-Mine about Scarbrough therefore I say it is only the Allom-Stone in the Spaw that gives the tincture by the Gall let experience prove it take any Allom-stone unhurnt powder it adde Spring-water sharpened with the Spirit of Nitre that it may dissolve it and silter it so will you have to appearance a water as clear as the Spaw put Powder of Gall thereto and it gives you the same tincture I am witness that the Chymical Apothecary of York did pick out of the Hill near the Spaw an Allom-stone that was not hardened in the air but made soft in the Nitre which abounds there and after he mixed only Spring water with it and added the Gall to it it gave as high a Claret colour as the Spaw it self doth The Reason of these Experiments is plainly thus the acid water dissolves the black Coal or the blew Stone and hides the colour of them in its pores because every Atome of the continens must be outward to the contentum The Gall being put in and stirred amongst it by its Alcaly imbibing the acidity of the water what is included therein is extruded towards the bottom where what is precipitated appears in its own colour the Spirit of Salts adding lustre thereto I will not mention here how Dr. Witty commends this black sediment for Physical use pag. 10. Against this Experiment of Allom Stone giving its tincture by the Gall let be observed how Dr. Witty mistakes in his tryals says he in his answer to Mr. Simpson pag. 91. I have tryed the Allom Mine having broken it to powder and infused it in Spring water some hours and it received no tincture from the Gall. Good reason for he did but
infuse it not dissolve it can it be expected that the Gall should precipitate the Allom Stone from the water whilst it came not into it but only lay at the bottom undissolv'd what can simple water extract out of a hard Slate no more than a Feather can strike fire out of a Flint Stone Nay more saith he I calcin'd that very Stone and then dissolved it in Spring water and yet it received no tincture from the Gall. Answer No marvel neither because the calcin'd Stone of Allom is white its blewness which gives the tincture disappears by the sire even as red Coral calcin'd in a Crucible turns white of Colour Further to let the Reader know that he will spare for no pains to give satisfaction pag. 92. he sends to two ingenious Gentlemen at Whitby where is a water that breaks out of the middle of a Mine to try if that would receive tincture from Gall and they did both assure him it did not besides they sent a Glass-bottle of the same water to York where he tryed it himself and it did not change at all Why what 's the matter he is answered out of his own mouth Nay saith he I do aver with them that it is like ordinary Spring-water in truth it is none other the Labourers drink of it to quench their thirst having taken no vapour odour or Sapour from the Mine yet he doth confidently conclude from this tryal that it is not from Allom that this Water at Scarbrough takes its incture Such another Errand as this to Whitby he makes to Barnsley upon the edge of Darby-shire to try if a Spring of fresh Water that runs out of Iron-stone would change colour with Gall and it did not neither there nor at York What can be inferred from hence but that this Water which ran from the Iron-stone was no more concerned with the Iron than that at Whitby was with the Allom nay à potiori if a Mineral Salt of Allom whiles crude and imbodied in its Gleeb doth not always impart to the Spring that runs through it either Odour Sapour or Vapour as he hath said before much less will the Metal of Iron-stone do it If his friend that for a further tryal made a hole in the bottom Stone to see if the Water that stood in it would tinge by Gall had sent him a Bottle of any Water that came from the Iron-stone whilst it was in solutis principiis I do affirm that Water would receive tincture from Gall such a Water we have at Hunwick where great quantity of Iron-stone is digged up and it receives tincture from Gall as highly as Scarbrough doth Dr. Witty pag. 94. is framing an Argument ab inductione thus The tincture by Gall is not from Allom nor from Iron ergo 't is from Vitriol Answer I am loth to see my Brother in the pinfold yet must I say if it be from the Vitriol it is because of the Iron that is in it for no other Vitriol but ferrugineum will do it hence it will follow if not from Iron then 't is not from Vitriol ergo 't is from Allom that Scarbrough Water tinges by Gall. His second proof pag. 11. Sir John Anderton observed that the Water carried in an Oaken Vessel in the bottom whereof was found a yellowish sediment which he sent to the Doctor he saw it like crocus Martis and tasted it of a stiptick quality and therefore 't is supposed by him to be the Chalybeate part of the Minerals Answer Quaecunque volumus facilè credimus The sharp Water agitated against the Oaken Vessel in carrying corrodes the inner parts of it which powder setling to the bottom with some seces of the Spaw Water produceth a settlement of the colour of Oak which if he had dried and then burnt in a Crucible the flame thereof would have shown him that it was Wood and not Iron If different things were not sometimes like one another none could be deceived Pag. 12. The water at 40 Miles distance will not cruddle Milk as it doth at Scarbrough and that it doth not receive such a deep tincture from the Gall nor is it found to have such a pleasant acidity as at the Fountain which certainly must proceed from a loss of the Vitrioline Spirits of which it doth eminently participate Answer Who questions that Allom will not cruddle Milk as well as Vitriol the more subtile any acid Liquor put to Milk is the more perfectly doth it separate the thick parts from the thin 't will follow therefore that the water hath lost some of its subtile Spirits by carrying but none of the Vitriol which it never had The tincture from the Gall I have manifested to proceed from the Unburnt Allom Stone whereof this is a plain proof put the Spaw Water into Glass Bottles at the Fountain let them be carried abroad and left a few days and the Allom Stone will settle of it self without any mixture of Gall to the bottom in a blackish Powder which cannot be any thing of Chalybs for two Reasons First because the Vitrioline Spirit and Iron are too great friends being once met together to be so easily separated Any that have prepared Vitriolum Martis he hath learned this Note by it Secondly when the Vitrioline Water doth settle its Colcothar without adding Gall to it it is always of a yellow Colour This may be seen in the Stone Bason and Spout of Knaisbrough Spaw where the Water passing continually in the open air over it hath precipitated Crocus Martis as I may call it thereupon The like may be observed in every runner near the Fountain head of any Vitrioline or Chalybeate water whatsoever His Argument for Iron pag. 14. The Earth that falls from the Bank turns to Iron-stone as hard as Iron it self and fusible being put into a Smiths Forge as I have sometimes found upon tryal There is a piece of the Cliff within one hundred paces of the Spaw thus converted in a very sew years to an Iron Stone as much as would load three or four Carts Answer I here require the Smith to make Horse-shoe Nails of it and then I shall yield to Dr. Witty thus much that within a hundred Paces of the Spaw Westward there is Iron-stone To me it doth appear to be a reddish Earth dissolved with the Nitroaluminous Salt and petrified in the Sun and Air to a hard lump which will flux in the Fire answerable to the Nature of that Salt that is in it Another Argument for Iron which for manners sake I leave last is that the Water colours the Excrements black he should have said blew for when he looks back again they will appear of the same colour that Allom Stone is of In his Answer to Mr. Simpson pag. 42. I knew saith he Vitriol to be in the water from its eminent acidity Answer This is a non sequitur for acidity is appropriated to the Spirit of Nitre as well as to the Spirit