whether they or your Patients do ever discern aâ— taste or smell of Iron from such Waters Doth no I pray the main reason of Chalybeat Extraction depend upon the reduction of Iron into a Croâ—â— or the acuation or Menstruums by Saline Spirits 〈◊〉 either of which there happens a solution of some the body of Iron into the Chalybeat Liquors which give them a sapor not a vapour It 's true if you â—â— rusty silings of Iron Water upon its affusion â—â— thereby have an Iron taste but this is by reason an acid Salt in the Air which hath fretted the 〈◊〉 and tâ—â—ned it into a Crocus of Iron and theâ— makes it yeeld a solution of some of its parts And now Hydroph by this time I think you and your Apothecaries Boyes have done laughing and may take time to turn your Vapours into Tears and spend them at your leasure Doth not Falopius p. 29 34. who had great experience in Mineral and Metalline Waters say Arbitror non reperiri aquam ferream for certainly if Iron would give it self immediately to Water then should we find frequently those aquae ferreae in places where Waters run through the minera thereof but no such by experience are found therefore our Argument will be strongly inforc'd a majore ad minorem viz. that if in the minera where the parts are more loose it will not yeeld its Vapour or Tincture to Water much less will the compact Body thereof which hath undergone the violence of the melting Forge do any such thing And whereas you cavel at my Philosophical Description of Ink made forth by Colateral Experiments of the Spaw if you could have carpt at any thing therein no question but you would or if you had given a better then you had done like an Artist and so might have passed it over with a joke for though the Subjects sometimes we treat of be but common obvious things yet they require a searching diligence and deep diving Philosophically to solve the abstrusities of the nice Compositions and Commixtures of Bodies to make their Phaenomaena obvious I pray saith my Antagonist p. 35 36. Are Iron and Vitriol all one I think they do as really differ as your Knife and your Ink. Do not all Authors as well Chymical as others that treat of them do it severally And doth not Paracelsus say Natura genorat salem vitriolum dictum c. Do not Gallen Mathiolus Sennertus Pliny Renedeus speak to the same purpose To which I answer That Iron and Vitriol may indeed be two distinct things but then the Vitriol must be such as is made out of some other Metal oâ— Mineral but if you query concerning natural acid Salt Iron as coexistent in the same Concrete theâ— I say they are both one viz. they both together make up that Concrete we call Vitriol from which if you separate the Iron what remains falls short oâ— being a Vitriol and becomes only a Salt which iâ— more simple than Vitriol as being indeed but one Ingredient thereof And out of such a Vitriol oâ— Iron if you be a good Metallurgist and skilful Mechanick you may make as good a Blade as you have a Haft for as to what you urge how that those Authors speak in confirmation of your supposition I am not much sollicitous especially if what they write come in competition with truth as iâ— results from matter of fact besides some of these Authors as they have occasion treat severally oâ— these Concrets as different Subjects and not as they bear any relation to each other in Mineral Solutions and Concretions and so indeed they are different and may be discoursed of as differently And as to what you repeat out of Paracelsus 〈◊〉 am not concern'd seeing he doth not confirm it by matter of fact nor by any evident demonstration I find Paracelsus very incautious in his assertions and as for true Physiology not much to be regarded besides what he there saith doth diametrically oppose what may be made evident by Experiment for he calls that a Salt which after separation of other Ingredients is yet reducible into a more simple Salt witness the Salt of Vitriols which is separable out of any natural Vitriol after the separation of the Mineral or Metalline parts Yea I will tell you Hydroph that if you can produce out of any of the aforesaid Authors so much experiment as to make evident by matter of fact what you would prove yea if you can shew me from any ingenious Chymical Artist to whom you must be beholden if ever it be done such a Vitriol either extracted from this Spaw or elsewhere that is such a simple Salt as from which I cannot separate a Mineral or Metalline Body or if you can separate a Vitriol out of the Spaw after the precipitation of the minera of Iron The Game I assure you shall be upon your side For where you instance what I say p. 47. of my Hydrol. Chym. in p. 105. of your Mamick viz. that I arguing against Vitriol as being inconsistent with that of Iron in the Spaw the reason you blusht not to urge why though Vitriol be in the Water yet it should not vomit was that we used it said you in Juleps and Cordials which doth not cause Vomiting which you confirm and say That the main part of the Vitriol in this Water is the Spirit which is as much yea far more diluted with the Water wherein it is than the force of the Vitriol is corrected by the vehement heat of the fire in the distilling of the Spirit thereof Now to come to the point Hydroph if it were certainly true what you say that the main part of the Vitriol in the Water is the Spirit then it would without controversie demonstrate it self by distillation For seeing according to your own supposition the Vitriol is in Spirits in the Water and these Spirits are also very subtile volatile and penetrative therefore of necessity upon distillation of these Waters fresh from the Spring these Spirits should arise first but that they do not I can assure you by matter of Experiment for I distilled some fresh Water from the Fountain in a Glass Retort at Scarbrough whose joynts was exactly closed up I sav'd the first half ounce yea and in another distillation of fresh Water the first quarter of an ounce of Water which came over supposing that if any volatile vitrioline Spirits would come it would be at the very first whose taste or smell did not I affirm at all resemble the Spirits of Vitriol which according to your Hypothesis they should have done But suppose that what had come off at the first had been of the nature of vitrioline Spirits and had by the sharpness of their taste and sulphureousness of their odour demonstrated themselves to have been such which yet I assure you hapned to the contrary yet would it not thence have followed that these had been Vitriol as you assert for it is if I mistake
you expresly say That this precipitated black Pouder hath its colour from the Vitriol and yet is the Iron Ingredient of the Spaw therefore according to your own words it should follow that the Vitriol is yet left behind in the Water which if so Why doth it not upon a new addition of Galls give fresh tincture Why is it that upon the precipitation of this Crocus by long carriage of the Water it will give no more tincture by Galls as we find by experiment For I observe that when the minera of Iron is separated by precipitation out of the Spaw Water that neither Galls nor solution of Galls either of which would have done before will cause any alteration either of Red Purple or Black Colour which it would certainly do if the Vitriol were there which according to your own words gives the colour So that of necessity either the Vitriol is not in the Water or what you speak of it is not true chuse whether you please Hydroph you are pinch't and that no Vitriol remains after the falling down of the minera of Iron is apparent because if you then pour a dissolved lixiviate Salt thereon instead of precipitating a terra vitrioli which in all solutions of natural Vitriols will happen you shall have nothing but a white troubled milkie Liquor which will in a little time let fall the several contained fabulous Concretions which had been dissolved before in the Water and the Esurine together with the Nitrous Salt which acuated the Water and made it as a menstruum will be imbrac'd and complicated for the most part with the Lixivial Salts into a kind of Tartarum Vitriolatum So that by this it 's as plain as the Sun at noon day that there is an inconsistency of Vitriol and Iron as two distinct Ingredients of the Spaw The presence of which as two distinct constitutive principles thereof was what I opposed with sufficient grounds and now farther confirm which I think may byas any unprejudiced Reader All Authors saith my Antagonist whether Chymists or others account the Esurine Spirit or Juyce of Vitriol enough to impregnate a Water with an acidity that shall make it corrode other Minerals or Metals by which it passeth So as we may very well lay aside this Esurine Salt or primum eus salium as wholly precarious How now Hydroph do you accuse me of contradictions which I hope e're long I shall take of for the most part and yet your self guilty of the same even within the compass of half a dozen lines Can the Esurine Spirit or Juyce of Vitriol impregnate Water as a menstruum and yet the same thing viz. the Esurine Salt for by Esurine Spirit Esurine Salt or primum ens salium the same is understood be wholly precarious how doth this hang together I perceive you have imbib'd but a very sleight touch of Helmont otherwise you would have been better impregnated with his Principles than to have denyed the same thing you had before owned in a very little different expression Do not you frequently mention the Esurine Salt p. 5 6 7 17. viz. That by its Esurine Salt speaking of the Spaw it more freely corrodes the Iron and that Vitriol hath an Esurine Salt or Spirit in it self and yet here you say It may be laid aside as wholly precarious this is quidlibet ex quolibet justly retorted But why do I trouble my self these are only sudden flashes of your gnis fatum soon in and soon out apt to lead the timerous and unwary aside But pray if Iron be in this Spaw as a distinct Ingredient thereof from Vitriol What is that which is the menstruum in the Water to dissolve Iron viz. to make it appear in the form of a Liquor I tell you saith he what will do it besides the Alkahest of the Chymist Vitriol imbib'd at the first doth by its Esurine Salt make the Water corrosive and fit to take that or any other Mineral that is in its way Well this is a confirmation of your late Contradiction yet you hover and endeavour to gain the Forts you formerly quitted for first you own an Esurine Salt p. 5 6 7. and then p. 11. you lay it aside as wholly precarious and here p. 17. you very fairly take it up again and p. 96. you say you have with good reason exploded Helmonts primumens I 'le refer you saith my Antagonist to your grand Master Paraceisus where treating of Acid Waters Harum ortus est inquit ex resolutione Metallorum antequam ad maturitatem pervenerint And presently after saith Interdum ex vitriolo a lumine hujusmodi aquae promanant You are mistaken Sir I pretend not to be a Paracelsian in Physiology not much valuing his Theory your self quote him five times I may say I think for my once what I esteem him for was his Medicinal Arcana's by which he was enabled to perform great Cures maugre yours and others malice against him and other searchers of Nature As to that first sentence you urge if you consult a little further you will find he saith Aurum plumbum dant dulcedinem cuprum ferrumque aciditatem Now as for Gold that will give no Vitriol and for Lead that requires an Acid Salt either Vegetable or Mineral to make a Saccharine Vitriol thereof and Copper or Iron with an additional Acreal or Mineral Acid Salt gives in a Water Spring an acidity that is in short makes a Vitriol either of Iron or Copper But to proceed There are four wayes saith my Antagonist p. 21. whereby Water may imbibe the Nature or Vertue of a Mineral or Metal The first is By receiving its Vapour thus Water standing some while in a Brass or Iron Vessel will taste of the Brass or Iron Not to say Hydroph that those four wayes of imbibitions you reckon are pillag'd out of Doctor French his Book of Knarsbrough Spaw and out of Falopius cap. 8. without taking notice of the Authors is a crime you can indulge your self and not another Falopius tells us in that place where he speaks of the several commixtures of Minerals and Metals in Water Omnes mixtiones pendent a triplici causa Scilicet a calors a mora ab aptitudine materiae ad Eliquationem The last of which insinuates an aptitude of the Solvent solvable or both Non solum he goes on telluris species sed vapores succi metalla in subterraneis cavernis reperiuntur c. Amongst those he calls succi he reckons the Mineral Salts which as Basilius Valentinus who was much conversant amongst Minerals and Metals saith are the Keys to unlock the Mineral Kingdom and that whether naturally in the Bowels of the Earth or artificially upon solid Minerals or Metals and amongst the succs Minerales Falopius reckons the succus Calcanthi which whether ever it fell in his or some others way that treat cursorily thereof to anatomize that Mineral so as to rightly understand its constitutive Ingredients may
not much necessary now to determine and so what taste or smell it hath in coyn'd pieces or otherwise is to be ascribed to its Vitriol and not to the body of Copper We see where ever Copper or Brass is whether aloyd with other Metals so as it out-proportions the united Metal or alone is very apt unless constantly kept drest and clean to gather greenish Rust which is nothing else but a Vitriol thereof and this and not the Metal singly is that which both gives the taste and smell both to Liquors that stand long or are boyled in such Vessels or to coyn'd pieces And therefore Paracelsus and others together with your self not well weighing this considerable circumstance might easily be deceived and suppose the bodies of those two Metals when it was nothing but the Vitriols thereof to give that taste smell which is sometimes found and therefore the instance my Antagonist then brings to confirm that emission of Vapours from Copper p. 25. by putting Carps into a Copper Brewing-Vessel with fresh Water to be preserv'd for one night were all found dead in the morning is I say invalid and that first because the Copper Vessel for ought you know had not been used lately before and perhaps was not carefully cleans'd and thereby might as we have shewed before easily gather a greenish rustiness or Vitriol which by the pouring Water therein might easily dissolve and as readily kill the Carps as if so much other natural or artificial Vitriol had been put therein next to which the change of the Water which might very likely have a touch of some Salt that many times is not easily discoverable might prove altogether disagreeable to the Fish Whether way we take it you see there is no need to ascribe it or justly think it ascribable to the Vapours of the Copper Which suppose we should grant how absurd and incongruous to our health would it be to sup our Broth eat our Meat and drink our Drink so constantly made ready by those vessels whose steams were able to kill Fish Would it be at all safe to prepare our ordinary Food in such Vessels as have such poysonous Vapours Yea and that I might confirm what I say by matter of fact I procured seven or eight small Fish taken in a Net in Colder which I ordered to be caried to my House in some of the Water they were taten in which with more of the same Water I put into a bright clean scoured brass brewing Pan which â— caused to be set into the open Air for probably â—â—ant of fresh Air might amongst other things not a little contribute to the destruction of the Fish and found them not only to be alive the morning following but to be as lively and brisk in their motions as when newly put in where for tryal sake I kept them another night and found them the morning after in a manner as brisk and active as at the first And whereas I say that all compact Metalline Bodies must have proper and peculiar Menstruums to unlock them if any Medicinal Arcanum be thence expected My Antagonist answers p. 25. Why I can assure him upon tryal that the filings of Steel suppose a pound set to infuse in a quart oâ— clear Spring Water for a few dayes the Water upon evaporation afforded a clear Salt of greenish colour To which I return That it is my Antagonists hap to be very unfortunate in the proposal of his Experiments and therefore should not be one intrusted to make those Experiments from whence a well-grounded Hypothesis of natural Philosophy should be deduced for he is unwary in the due poysing of those concomitant circumstances which make Experiments critical and from whose management depends the successfulness or the contrary of most Experiments For had he rightly considered that all or most Spring Waters we meet with have a sleight touch of some one or other Mineral Salt oâ— Earth which is that which gives the difference oâ— tasts Spring Waters have one from another distinguishable by curious Palates accustomed to drink Water he would not have made use of that as hâ—â— Menstruum for the tryal of extracting a Vitriolic Salt out of Iron I did indeed try the like Experiment with Spring Water which we have by us poured upon clean filings of Steel for that 's another circumstance which unheeded may also make his Experiment as â—o what is intended thereby miscarry which being decanted after it had stood some dayes and evaporated gave as my Antagonist saith a greenish coloured Salt which had I not been further inquisitive in weighing the circumstances better I had concluded with my Antagonist that it had been a salt from the Iron but I considered whether or no indeed this Spring Water might not contain in its self this sort of Salt which upon tryal by evaporating it away alone in a Jar Glass I found that it â—est the very same sort of Salt and as near as could â—e esteemed the like quantity with that left after the â—â—fusion of the Water upon the Iron Therefore for further satisfaction I poured some distilled Water upon filings of Steel which being bured off after several dayes infusion found no â—â—ch Salt at all left behind nothing being left in â—e bottom that had any Salt by which I have early demonstrated how easily for want of due circumspection in circumstances essential to things to 〈◊〉 tryed by matter of fact my Antagonist can impose upon himself and others by fallacious Experiments And as to what you say that the Apothecaries â—â—yes would laugh at me for denying Iron as a impact body to impart a vapour to a Liquor I â—â—ght tell you that if I could spare so much vacant â—â—e I could both laugh at you and them at you â—â—â—t and chiefly for your ignorance of the very nature of the Metals you treat of supposing Chalybeat â—â—inks frequently ordered for Hypochondriack Maladies to be made after such a manner as wherein the Iron gives it self by a Vapour to the Liquor not Understanding at least not recollecting that to make Chalvbeat Waters they most frequently if noâ— alwayes add some Saline or Acid Spirit to make the Iron capable of being dissolved in part in the affus'd Liquor and that either by taking the Crocus or other preparation of Iron wherewith to satiate their Liquors which become so much dissoluble as to give them the name of Chalybeat Waters or Liquors For in all Chalybeat Extractions you should not Hydroph be ignorant that there is require either that the Iron be reduc'd into a Crocus which is done either by Calcination and that either pâ—se or with Sulphur or by Acid Spirits such a distilled Vinegar Spirit of Salt Niter Sulphur or else that the Menstruum to be affus'd have son innate acidity I would gladly know Hydroph whether yet ever order your merry Apothecaries Boyes to maâ—â— you any Chalybeat Liquors by barely pouring supple distilled Water upon fresh filings of Steel aâ—
here is apparent first because it will strike no tincture with Galls which any Mineral Water that hath but the least participation of Vitriol will readily do but this Spring with the addition of Galls gives no purple at all next because upon evaporation or distillation of this Water no Vitrioline Ocre is found with which such Waters whilst in the vigour of their Operation are constantly impregnated and as certainly let fall to the bottom when effaete in their Vertues Nay further the same is apparent by this following Experiment viz. I took some of the Vitriol Marcasites of which more anon found in the Bog about 240 paces North-west from the Well upon which grosly bruised I poured a strong solution of Sal marinum Hispanicum made in distilled Water and set them in frigido in a long glass body from the commixture of which I found no sulphureous apporrhea to arise but the solution became green which being decanted and evapored or distilled which last as I remember I did to try if it would yeeld any effluvia of Sulphur but found none I obtained a yellow Salt in Chrystals with a Vatrioline Ocre or Sulphur at the bottom which Salt was the Sal-marine ting'd with the vitrioline body of which I have some by me for being dissolv'd again in fresh distilled Water it will with the addition of Galls strike a deep tincture yea the liquamen viz. the Mother as the Vitriol or Alom-workmen call it which shoots not will if diluted with Water give the same colour By which it is plain that as Vitriol gives no odour or effluvia of its Sulphur to a solution of Salt so neither consequently doth it yeeld the same to this Salt Water considered simply as such we will suppose that the Salt Spring in the Earth I mean the Spring impregnated with Salt may in its passage run through these Marcasites of Vitriol which are found not far from thence as I shall afterwards prove it doth it would of necessity if simple Salt make some sleight solution thereof and give its Indications answerable to our Experiment by receiving a tincture from Galls c. But by matter of fact I find it not so to do Ergo Vitriol as such is no Ingredient of this Sulphur-Well Secondly That there is no Nitre is as evident in as much as in the Analysis of this Water no such Ingredient is to be found for neither doth there appear any Salt which shoots into such Styria's nor that hath any inflammable property both which are essential to Nitre as such Thirdly Nor is Sulphur as to the body thereof an Ingredient of this Spring notwithstanding that it hath its denomination therefrom being called the Sulphur-Well and this is evidently apparent because in the genuine resolution of this Spaw Water into its Principles not one grain of a combustible Sulphur is to be found for upon a gentle distillation thereof in Glass Vessels closely stopt the sulphureous odour goes off in much less then the third part of the Water which is first distilled The rest which distils is simple Water without any odour or taste and what remains in the bottom which I filtred though it stood not in much need thereof was a liquamen of Salt which being evaporated a little more shot into a Salt of cubical Figures exactly in taste colour figure c. resembling yea the very same with a Fossil or Marine Salt having an inconsiderable addition of Alom Salt lest after precipitation of the Sulphur so that nothing of Sulphur or any the least inflammable matter can be separated from the Spaw Against what I say hereof I have met with an Objection urg'd by a Physitian of note who grounds it upon this Experiment viz. That upon this Sulphur Water or others of the like nature which break forth higher upon the Bank above the usual Spring I say that upon these Waters restagnating is found a kind of white Cremor which sometimes is of various colours this being skim'd off and dryed will take flame and burn which by matter of fact I have my self upon tryal found true To which I answer That this Sulphur which thus separates from this restagnating Water is the same with that which swims upon other sorts of Mineral Waters upon long standing being a blewish cream or skin which swims as well upon the Sweet-Spaw and any Vitrioline or other Mineral Waters and as Dr. Heer 's saith being put upon the fire is inflamed and yeelds a sulphureous odor The same is also found in an Azure coloured skin swimming upon the restagating Scarbrough Spaw Water Yea the like is frequently to be seen upon Water that stands long upon any Bog This Sulphureous skin which swims upon most Mineral Waters is referrable to a double Original viz. Either they are such as have a bituminous matter swimming upon them which with the Water Spring issues forth joyntly out of the bowels of the Earth from some sulphureous or bituminous source witness the Spring at Pitchford in Shropshire and in Averna in France The Mare Asphaliticum called Mare Mortuum which hath plenty of Naptha and Bitumen issuing from the Shores which have store of bituminous Pits As also that Water in agro Parmensi Falop. 24.6 according to Falopius of which Water he saith Est usque aduò bituminosis vaporibus referta ut ex flammâ vix sibi admaeâ accendatur And that likewise in agro Patavino and all other Waters upon which swim Camphire Amber in succo suo soluto both which by Falopius Cardanus Agricola and Casius are accounted è genere bituminis Pisasphaltum Petroleum Balsamus Indicus c. all which are reckoned as various species de genere bituminis in all which the bituminous skin will take fire and burn with a sulphureous flame for as no Oil so neither Sulphur nor the Bitumina will mingle per minima with Water Oyls and Sulphurs consisting of similar parts which bear no proportion with watery Particles unless the watery be subjugated by an oyly Ferment Or Secondly They are such as whilst in the bowels of the Earth are impregnated with Minerals although perhaps not sulphureous but when they come into the open Air presently especially by restagnation let fall their imbibed Ingredients and by continuance of time suffer a sulphureous matter to be generated de novo or rather indeed as I apprehend by long standing suffer the Air by a kind of putrefactive ferment to cause a slow resolution of the very compage of Water and in this gentle Analysis makes the restagnating Water cast its Sulphur which was not preexistent in the Water as a Mineral Sulphur but is as I said either a bituminous Cremor or a Sulphur of Water ingendred by a putrefactive resolution thereof which will being dryed take flame and burn That I might make a sesemblance of this Water the better to inquire into the nature thereof I took one ounce of Hepar Antimonii upon which pulverized I poured some warm Water into which
filtred we dropt some little solution of Alom Salt for I knew Vinegar would do it as is usual in the making of Sulphur Auratum Antimonii and it forthwith separated the Sulphur of Antimony with a strong sulphureous odor not unlike that of the Sulphur-Well and being filtred was the same in taste and smell by which I learned what that was which precipitated the body of Sulphur after its first solution in the Water from its native Minera viz. That it was an Alom Juyce in which I am confirm'd in as much as I find a Bed of Alom within the space of ten yards from the breaking forth of that Well from the surface of whose Stones I have taken a Salt which dissolv'd in fresh Water I found would strike a deep tincture with Galls yea the very Stone it self being put into fresh Water will with Galls give the very same colour of which very thing I have not met with any that have taken notice either those who have wrote of or others who have frequented the Spaws and though I found hereby what was the second Juyce which precipitated the body of Sulphur and had made its Apporrhea or volatile odor to appear yet was I still at a loss what this Sulphur was or from what body and by what solvent it first became loosened or prepared for all Sulphurs whether in their own Earth or wrapt up in mineral or metallick Veins till they be opened by some particular and proper Solvents are not fit to give forth their volatile parts nor to strike the nostrils with their odor And that Water impregnated with Sal marine is not sufficient to open the body of a mineral Sulphur and consequently not adapted for a Menstruum is apparent by this following Experiment viz. I took a pint of Spring Water and dissolv'd two or three dragms of Sal marine therein which is the quantity at the most which the Sulphur-Well contains of the body of Salt into which I poured three ounces of the Marcasites of Vitriol aforesaid then stirred the mixture very well after that I poured off some of the Liquor and filtred it which would neither tinge Silver nor yeeld a sulphureous odor but to try whether Sal marine would at all open the body of Sulphur in the Marcasites as some suppos'd I added to the filtred Liquor a solution of Alom Salt as I had done for the precipitation of the Sulphur of Antimony out of the solution of Hepar but found no precipitation coagulation nor alteration of that Sulphur either in colour or smell nor would it at all tinge Silver all which it would have done to an opened and prepared Mineral Sulphur This Menstruum of the Sal marine had indeed made such a solution of the Vitrioline parts of the Marcasites as rendred it capable of receiving a tincture from Galls but had not at all touched the sulphureous parts thereof But before I deposite my own Thesis of the true native Ingredients of this Spaw which shall be clearly demonstrated by Experiment I would first take off what Dr. French opinionates thereon who saith thus As for the stinking odour thereof speaking of the Sulphur-Well that I suppose is caused from the vapours of the burning Bitumen and adust terreness therewith and therefore he judgeth it to be hot in its original source in the manner of Hot Baths who supposeth subterrestrial fires sed with a bituminous or sulphureous matter not only to cause hot Springs or Baths but also to give being to the faetidness of such sulphure ous Waters Now this is I confess an Opinion that not only he but Falopius Empedocles Agricola Casius Kircher and others hold for by two wayes they did suppose all Waters to be heated Nam aquarum according to Empedocles aliae calefiunt quia transeant per saxosa loca quibus subjectus fit ignis ardens in metallo sulphureo vel bituminoso aliae incaloseunt quia transeant per ipsum metallum ignitum ardens as thought Agricola Nor was Falopius much otherwise minded who treating de aquis Patavinis whose sulphureous odour is not much unlike that of our Sulphur-Well saith Ques halitus sulphuris Patavinis iste aqua habent non ideo quia bullient in metallo ipso sulphureo sed quoniam transeant supra loca sub quibus ebullit sulphuri ex quo efferuntur vapores ad cuniculos cum aquâ miscentur from whence he grounds his Opinion that the difference of Hot Baths viz. That some are intensly hot others moderately some tepid and subtepid others cold proceed from these two viz. Paucitas distantia ignis The scarcity and distance of the fire In answer to which Opinions I thus return viz That although I cannot deny but that there are Subterraneal Fires which being once inkindled feed upon sulphureous Minerals witness the Eruptions of Aetna Vesuvius Strongilo and other Vulcanian Mountains yet do not I see causes sufficient to convince me that these give being to all our Hot Baths or that their Vapours gives faetidness to sulphurous Waters That there may be some hot Baths adjacent to those sulphurous burnings which probably may be heated by passing over those places in cuniculis under which a bituminous matter burns I shall not deny witness that in Apulia called Tribulus where is plenty of Ashes and calcin'd Stones and those about the Lake Lucrinus and Avernus and that in Agro Valaterano according to Falopius Yet we scarce read of any in in Campania where is the Hill Vesuvius nor in Sicily where Mont Gibello belcheth forth flames nor in other places where these Eruptions are do Hot Baths more frequently appear then in those places where there is found not the least suspition of any Forge of Vulcan That these Subterranean Fires are not the causes of our hot Mineral Waters or sulphureous Springs in general will be evident if we consider first that it 's more then probable that a subterraneal fire is no more naturally implanted in the bowels of the Earth then the imaginary elementary fire is to be found sub concavo Lunae which though it may seem as a Paradox to some yet duly considered it will not appear irrational for the materia substrata of all inflammable concretions whether in the Cavities of the Earth or upon the supersicies thereof or in the common expausum of the Air must be a combustible matter common to them all and that must be bituminous unctuous or sulphureous al◠which whether in Subterraneal Caverns or upon the Surface of the Earth or in the Aereal Region may I say take flame and burn from some one of these three Causes viz. either from Motion Corruscation or Lightning or flamma de flammâ one fire inkindling another to which we may add a fourth which yet may be included in one of the three viz. from some Mineral Marcasites acuated by air and moisture instance Alom and Coperous Mines being in parcels broken exposed and moistned will gather an actual heat and produce