Vomit is properly added of the Vinum Benedictum or Salt of Vitriol especially if the Patient has a Nausea by the force of which the Stomach generally the offending part is not only Unloaded but the whole Nervous Body continuous with the Kidnies and in this case very much affected is mightily reliev'd Then give the following Glister especially if no Stool succeeds the Vomit Take of Chamomile-Flowers a Handful Seeds of Cummin Sweet-Fennel Parsley bruis'd of each an Ounce Marshmallow-Roots cut and bruis'd two Ounces boil these in common Water to a Pint in the strained Liquor dissolve Venice-Turpentine an Ounce the bitter Purging Salt half an Ounce Syrup of Althea three Ounces If the pain encreases add to the Glister 40 or 50 drops of Laudanum These or the like Glisters will frequently bring away the Urine either with or without a Stone or Stoney Matter and the Pains vanish But if the pain continues stubborn we must have recourse to the following Apozem as a most powerful Remedy Take of Barley-Water Maced 3 or 4 Pints of the bitter Purging Salt 6 or 8 Drams Syrup of Althea 3 or 4 Ounces take this warm in an hour and halfs time more or less altho' the Patient does Vomit some part of it In heat of Urine The above-mentioned Apozem is effectual whether it proceed from the Acrimony of the Blood or from a Venereal taint In suppression of Urine Which happens either without a Stone or with so great a Stone as to stop the Urinary passage But if this Disease has continued for some days Bleeding and that plentifully is the first thing necessary then a sharp Glister with Syrup of Buckthorn and the Purging Salt must be Administred and while it Works drink the fore-mentioned Apozem or some Draughts of it and expect success especially if before every Draught you take a Spoonful of the following Mixture Of Fennel and Saxifrage Water of each an Ounce and half Salt of Ambera Dram Tartar vitriolated a Scruple Millepedes prepar'd two Drams Syrup of Althea an Ounce Mix. In a Diabetes In which most dangerous kind of Disease if there be need of a Medicine that will gently purge and cool very much this is the safest of all purging Medicines and indeed the almost only one by the help of which and the constant Use of the Chalybeate-Waters I have recovered some young persons from the very Gates of Death In the Jaundice Also in this Disease bleeding is seldom to be omitted but sometimes to be repeated if the Patient be Feverish Vomits are here very Useful for as much as they exterminate the Morbifick Sordes of the Stomach as well as press out the Boil stagnating in its Vessels and therefore if there be occasion it ought to be now and then repeated but if the Use of these or other Remedies prove unsuccessful we may suspect the Biliary passage is stopp'd either by the bigness or number of the Stones generated there Therefore we ought to persist in this Method prudently and with courage In any sort of Jaundice Calculous or Simple the Purging Water or its Salt is an excellent Medicine given in this or the following manner Take Pill Ruffi half a Dram Rhuburb Volatile Salt of Urine of each half a Scruple with Syrup of Wormwood make 6 Pills and take them at Night going to rest The Morning following take this Apozem Shavings of Hartshorn two Ounces boil them in 3 or 4 Quarts of Water to two then add Mace and Turmerick of each a Dram boil a little strain and add an Ounce of the bitter Purging Salt as much Syrup of Steell and make an Apozem to be taken as above directed If the Physician sees fit in the place of the Pills give the following Draught Take of the Tincture of Hiera Picra an Ounce and a half or two Ounces of Syrup of Cichory with Rhuhurb an Ounce Tartar vitriolated half a Scruple mix and take it at six or seven in the Morning Two Hours after drink the foregoing Apozem and repeat these Medicines at least every other Day If Aloeticks are too hot give in their place the Infusion of Rhuburb CHAP. V. Of the Use of the Purging Salt in Cephalick Diseases And first in Madness VVHere besides Bleeding and frequent Vomits Chephalick Unguents Setons in the Neck Vesicatories especially to the Leggs Catharticks and other Remedies are frequently us'd But to quicken the working of all even the Helleborate Purges nothing is more proper than the Purging Water or its Salt prescrib'd after the following manner Take of Bawm and Borrage of each a handful infuse 'em in four or five Pints of boiling Water in a Vessel close stopt for half an Hour To the Infusion strain'd add of the Bitter Salt ten Drams or less Syrup of Violets three Ounces mix and make an Apozem to be drank by it self or instead of Posset-Drink with any other convenient Purge Or take 8 Drams of the Salt in 8 Draughts of the Spaw or other Chalybeate Water in a morning fasting In the Intervals of other Catharticks especially in the Summer 't is very beneficial taken in the preceding Method for it wonderfully quiets the raging Disorders of the Humours and Perturbations of the Spirits In the Head-Ach In which Distemper especially arising from a hot Cause or in a hot Constitution I have never found any thing so efficacious as the following Method In the first place bleed a sufficient quantity and from such Veins as the Circumstances of the Patient do indicate This done give a Vomit if the strength will permit After let the Patient take the following Medicines Of Scammony powder'd Rhubarb powder'd Mercurius dulcis each half a Scruple or 12 Grains with Syrup of Buckthorn make five Pills to be taken at four or five in the Morning and sleep after 'em Three hours after drink the following Apozem Of Water aromatiz'd with Mace 3 or 4 Pints of the Purging Salt 6 Drams or an Ounce Syrup of Violets two Ounces mix and take it keeping your Chamber Repeat this Apozem and Pills every 3d or 4th Day and without the Pills in the intervening Days and continue this Method for a Fortnight or three Weeks if the Case require it In a Virtigo Here also we must begin with Bleeding in the Arms especially if the Disease be the consequence of too much drinking Then apply Cupping Glasses with Scarification to the Shoulders and hinder part of the Head For in this Disease as well as in the former and for Inflamations of the Eyes I do always prescribe 'em to that part rather than another and with better success These things premis'd take the following Pills c. Of Mastick Pills two Scruples Chymical Oil of Marjoram 5 Drops Take 'em at night going to rest and next morning the following Apozem Of Spring Water aromatiz'd a Quart or three Pints distill'd Water of Sage four Ounces of Marjoram two Ounces of the bitter Purging Salt 6 Drams or an Ounce mix and make an Apozem to be
A TREATISE OF THE Nature and Use Of the Bitter Purging Salt Contain'd in EPSOM And such other VVATERS By NEHEMIAH GREW M. D. Fellow of the College of PHYSICIANS and of the ROYAL SOCIETY LONDON Printed in the Year 1697. ADVERTISEMENT THat this Salt is made and sold in greater or lesser Quantities by Francis Moult Chymist at the Sign of Glaubers-Head in Watling-Street And this Translation at no other Place 〈◊〉 TO THE READER THE Reason of my publishing this Book in English is the general Use I observe to be made of the Bitter Purging Salt in this Town and elsewhere by all sorts of Persons and that promiscuously in all Cases as Peoples Fancies or Humours prompt 'em without any Advice beyond Publick Fame or the good Woman that last visited The Sellers of this Salt are likewise such as use to dispose of other Catholick or Universal Medicines who neither know how to direct the Buyer nor care what becomes of the Taker so as they attain their End their part of the Profit There is indeed this difference That other Medicines that have grown Popular were always usher'd out with printed Directions or Certificates of it's Virtues and numberless Cures as Daffy's Elixir Spirit of Scurvy-Grass Atkins 's Oil for the Gout c. Nay the very Disciples of Ponteus afford for publick Benefit a printed Encomium for a Voucher to the Twelve-Penny Packet This I thought sufficient to Vindicate my Translation of Dr. Grew's Nature Use of the Bitter Purging Salt which I intend to give to those who buy any quantities of the Salt And I 'd have the Reader take notice That this is no Quack-Bill no boasting Rhodomontado of any Ignorant Pretender no guilded Bush to set off bad Wine but the Observations of an Ingenious Physician Fellow of both Societies and publish'd by him in Latin for the Information of the Practicers of Physick and for no Private Interest or Profit But I can scarce believe the Doctor ever foresaw the Consequence of his Commendations wou'd be the pushing every Body upon the Use of it Hand over Head therefore I doubt not his Pardon for my Translating it without his Knowledge my Design being not to discover the secret Method of its Preparation but to prevent by these Directions the Mischiefs he tells us may ensue the Abuse of so good a Medicine Farewell Part the First OF THE NATURE OF THE Bitter Purging Salt CHAP. I. How the bitter Purging Waters were first Discovered THE Mineral Waters arising near Epsom in Surrey the chief of all the bitter Purging Waters were found out by a Country Man in or about the Year 1620. For near the first Ten Years none but the Country People made use of them and they only to wash External Ulcers Afterwards the Lord Dudley North Father to Francis the late Lord-Keeper labouring under a Melancholy Disposition for which he had formerly Drank the Spaw-Waters in Germany was resolv'd to try the Vertue of these Epsom Waters flattering himself I suppose that he had found Chalybeate-Waters at his own Door However tho' they answer'd not his desire and expectation as to their Nature yet he did not repent of his Experiment but from that time drank these Purging Waters as a Medicine sent from Heaven with abundance of success Many others encouraged by his Example try'd the operation of these Waters and amongst the first Maria de Medicis Mother to the Wife of King Charles I. the Right Honourable George Lord Goring Earl of Norwich and many other Persons of Quality These and all others who drank the Epsom-Waters came not for Pleasure but Health and therefore always consulted their own or some Neighboring Physician for the Rules they were to observe In a little while Physicians came of their own accord to these Waters by whose Authority they acquir'd so great a Reputation that 2000 Persons have been there in one Day to drink or divert themselves About 30 Years since many of the Inhabitants of London whose Business or Poverty obstructed their going to Epsom had the Waters sent to them Thus the Ice being broke others brought great quantities to Town which they sold as well to Sick Persons as Apothecaries and continue still to do so No wonder then that so few sick People go to these Waters 't is not that the Modern Physicians esteem them less but because the Numbers of such as Drink at home and at other Wells of the same Nature do every Day mightily encrease For a few Years after the Discovery of the Epsom-Waters was publish'd others of the same sort found out by Enquiry or Chance grew into tolerable Repute and Use The Names of the Principal are Barnet in Hertfordshire North-Hall in Hertfordshire Acton in Middlesex Cobham in Surrey Dullidge in Surrey Strettham in Kent Besides these the Curious and Inquisitive may discover very many more to us unknown especially if they take along with them this Direction that sweet Waters generally arise from the tops of Hills but these from the Bottoms CHAP. II. Of the Nature of the Bitter Purging Waters THese Waters have no taste but a moderate bitterness which is very sensible Some that have Travelled into Syria and Egypt mention bitter Waters in those Countries and St. James in his Epistle takes notice of sweet and bitter Waters as very common things in the Eastern Parts all which bitter Waters 't is probable are of this sort These Fountains are not of an equal Strength nor Vertue but some are much stronger than others with the strongest Dullidge is justly reckon'd with the gentler Epsom These Waters in their Springs are without smell but kept some Days or Weeks in Vessels close stopp'd they putrifie and stink especially in Summer time which will happen to all Waters and sometimes also to the clearest Spring Water as we are told by those that Sail near the Equator Pour a little of this Water to Sirrup of Violets and 't will remain blue and unchang'd as if 't were mix'd with common spring-Spring-water By the adding Lime water it gives a whitish Muddy colour as if some drops of Milk were mix'd with it and the white parts will in about an hours time subside in the form of a cloudy curdling produc'd from the Union of the chalky Lexivial and the acidity of the Cathartick Salts All these Waters will curdle Milk if it be added to them when they are hot or boiling but not at all if mix'd when they are cold The Waters of any of these Wells evaporated in a glazed Earthen or any other proper Vessel will yield a kind of a Cream a top and a sediment at the bottom of the Vessel of both together 6 8 or 10 Drams from a Gallon This Cream is of an Ash colour Stony substance and resembles Plaister but certainly not at all Lixivial for every one knows that the Lapis Calcarius or Lime-Stone calcin'd altho' actually cold will grow very hot by pouring Water upon them and emit a very great and thick
fume and that apply'd to any part of the Body 't will burn Therefore Chirurgeons use it for a Potential Cautery but the fore-mentioned Cream calcin'd in a Crucible and Water pour'd upon it causes neither smoak nor heat nor does it acquire any the least Pungency Sometimes as in Acton-Waters the thin Minute Particles of which it consists Will be very resplendent and brittle and wholly insipid tho' Calcin'd as aforesaid yet by the pouring on any acid Liquor chiefly by Spirit of Nitre an Ebullition with a sensible heat will be excited The lesser part of this Sediment is like in substance to the before-describ'd Cream the remainder is purely Saline but compounded of two kinds of Salts one a Muriatick or Sea-Salt the other a Salt proper or special to these Waters whose Nature and Vertues I here design to treat of In Epsom-Waters the Muriatick Salt is about the 20th part of the whole Saline Composition it is something more in Dullidge and in most of the fore-mentioned Springs In its biting Tast as well as in the Figure of its Chrystals 't is not unlike Common Salt whence it is that Waters in which there is less of this Muriatick Salt purge not so strongly as others The other Salt as we have said before is the proper or peculiar Salt of the Purging Waters 't is made after the same manner as all Lixivial Salts viz. by Evaporating Filtring and Chrystalizing Calcination only excepted In this Preparation the Earthy or Plaistery part is first to be separated from the Saline then the Muriatick Salt and a yellow and thick Liquor from the proper Salt of the Waters CHAP. III. Of the Nature of the Bitter Salt peculiar to the Purging Waters THis Salt if it be rightly prepar'd is of a delicate whiteness equal to new fall'n Snow This bitter Salt is much more evident in the Salt it self in a dry Form than in the Water and smites the Tongue with a very penetrating Pungency but without any Acrimony If you dissolve a Dram of this Salt in a Pint of Common Water which is its Natural proportion 't will have the same property of curdling Milk and be ennobled with the same bitter Tast and Purging Vertue peculiar to its Mineral Water And therefore 't is not improperly distinguish'd from the Sal Mirabilis made of Oil of Vitriol and Common Salt and from all other Salts by the Name of the Bitter Purging Salt This bitter Purging Salt from the different manner of evaporating its Water or degree of Cold to which 't is afterwards exposed and other circumstances will shoot into Crystals of a greater or lesser Magnitude But let the Dimensions be what they will the Figure is the same for most of their Crystals if they shoot not too thick are small rectangular Prisms with four parallel sides the two opposite sides something flatter than the other Sometimes they have two more sides and are Sexangular but these are so small that the naked Eye can hardly discover ' em Their length is about half an Inch but their thickness not above a fith sixth or seventh part of their length their Basis a lump of the same the Summit very different having sometimes three but for the most part four sloping Plains and with the fore-mention'd parallel sides make obtuse Angles or pointed or oftener sharpned like a Pen Knife One of the sloping Plains is generally bigger than the other three taken together and of a Pentangular or Sexangular Figure the opposite to this Quadrangular or Pentangular the other two Triangular and less the last sometimes invisible without a Microscope These Cristals in their Oblong Figure do most resemble Salt-Petre in their Rectangular they come nearest to Sea-Salt This bitter Salt dissolv'd in common Water and standing some Days in a Glass Vessel shoots into Branches like little Trees round the sides of the Glass To the producing this Figure the before-describ'd Cristals of this Salt and of Sal Nitre the points of which are terminated sometimes into Right sometimes into Acute Angles are very proper the sloping Plain of one Cristal joyning to the parallel Plain of the others Which I have also demonstrated to be done in the Generation of Leaves by the Figure of their proper Salts Plant. Ang. 9. lib. 4. p. 1. c. ult Where note by the way That in that Discourse I have set down the Figures of Sal Nitri and other Salts not altogether as they appear to us but probably as they do exist in the Plants themselves Five Drams of this bitter Purging Salt mixt in a Vial with half an Ounce of common Water and shaken together by that Agitation only and the gentle Heat of the Hand in Winter will all presently dissolve except a few Grains by which you observe it to be more dissolvable than any other Salt 'T is distinguish'd also by its Specifick Gravity from all other Salts 't is heavier than Allom lighter than common Salt and than Nitre as we shall hereafter prove in the fifth Chapter A dissolution of this Salt and Salt of Tartar and any other Urinous or Lixivial Salt will generate a white Coagulum or a Nuetral Salt of the taste of neither but something Styptick Strong and new Oil of Vitriol poured upon this Salt will cause a moderate Ebullition from whence we may conclude it to be of an Alkaline Principle and in some manner Lixivial But if you add any other Liquor that I know of either Acid or Alkali to this Salt 't will neither ferment nor grow hot This Salt in a Crucible with a strong fire will melt and swell like Allom into a white Porous and boiling Calx But this Calx will except about a 40th part of the whole dissolve in a sufficient quantity of common Water which the Lapis Calcarius or Lime-Stone will not This Calx in a Crucible with a vehement fire for an hour will be as hard as Alabaster nor will it afterwards be softned by the Air Much otherwise 't is with the Lime-Stone which Calcin'd and expos'd to the Air falls to Powder Altho' by this Calcination it loses some part of its weight yet its bitterness continues and is rather increas'd The Calx of the bitter Purging Salt by the affusion of Spirit of Salt or any other Acid will presently ferment which is more or less conspicuous according to the strength of the aforesaid Spirit from whence also we may allow it to be in some sort Lixivial From a Pound of this Salt Distill'd in a Glass Retort well Luted with a Rever-beratory Fire you 'll have in the Receiver a little above half a pound of an Acid Spirit in smell and tast every way equal to common Spirit of Salt Oil of Vitriol pour'd upon common Spirit of Salt yields a dark and smoaky Vapour which will likewise happen if you drop the same Oil very strong into the Spirit of the Purging Salt 'T is very well known that all the Chalybeate Waters will change to a Purple by the
coagulation CHAP. V. The difference of the bitter Purging Salt from Nitrous and Calcarious Salts NOR does this Salt differ less from all kinds of Nitrous Salts from which by its bitter tast alone it s enough distinguish'd Nor less by its Figure for the Chrystals of Nitre shoot not into four corner'd Parallel Planes but always into six nor into right Angles but obtuse and their tops seldom terminate in 4 sloping Planes but mostly in 2 and sometimes in 6 and those more equal than in the Purging bitter Salt The Purging bitter Salt thrown into the Fire is not at all inflamable but Nitre burns with a bright flame and roaring noise till the most part of it evaporates I have said the most part of it nor do I retract my assertion for in the 3d Chapter we have observ'd about a 20th part to remain after the deflagration which is in no wise Nitrous but Lixivial from Wood-Ashes mix'd with it by the Nitre-Makers But further the bitter Salt in a Spoon held over the flame of a Candle will melt in a moment and bubble up as if thrown in to the fire but Nitre with such a heat will scarcely melt but take up at least 8 times the space of the other and emits a most resplendent flame On the contrary tho' Nitre melts with difficulty 't is when melted much more fluid for in a Crucible in a strong fire it boils not like Allom or the bitter Salt but flows like Rosin or melted Metals From Nitre melted in a Crucible arise thick Exhalations which you never see from the bitter Salt tho' in the strongest Fire Add likewise that they differ from one another in their power of coagulating Milk For half a Dram of the Purging Salt thrown into half a Pint of Milk will turn it very gray but Nitre mix'd after the same manner tho' in much greater proportion has no such effect The solubility of Nitre as we have before prov'd is two parts in three less than the Purging Salt for half an Ounce of common Water will in the Winter by agitation and a warm hand dissolve not above a Dram and half of Nitre It s gravity is likewise very different which appears by the following Experiment I put Oil of Turpentine into a Cylindar to the height of 3 Fingers I then put in two Ounces of the Purging Salt which rais'd the Oil a Finger higher but from an equal weight of depurated Nitre the Oil was elevated not higher than 3 fourths of a Finger therefore the bitter Purging Salt is a 4th part lighter than Nitre But Water impregnated with the Purging Salt occupies a less space its bulk considered than the same quantity with as much Sal Nitri dissolved in it That is Water instead of Oil mix'd with the Salts in a Vial when they are dissolv'd the former subsides lower than the latter Lastly I Distill'd Dantzick Vitriol Sal Armoniack and a like quantity of the bitter Salt instead of Nitre in order to make the Aqua Regia Now if this had been a Nitrous Salt this Water wou'd like Aqua Regia have dissolv'd Gold but we could find no such power in this Water Nor is it the Nitre of the Ancients for 't is nothing like that of the Egyptians so often mention'd by Hypocrates something like which is describ'd by Dioscorides and Pliny to be of a purple colour and biting nor that of Etius like Earth calcin'd and quench'd with Wine Nor lastly can it be reckon'd with the Sal Calcarius for the Purging Salt or Water only coagulates Milk with a much harder Curd and greater plenty of Serum than the Lime Water will And if that Power of Coagulation were equal how many Liquors have we mention'd that curdle Milk which are neither Calcarious nor Aluminous Spirit of Nitre dropt into the Cream that swims atop of the Lime-Water or upon Lime it self will cause a visible Ebullition but the same Spirit will have no such Effect upon the Purging Salt There can be no where more difference in the taste of Things than between the Purging Salt and the Calcarious for the one is Lixivial and Sweet the other as it were Cold and Bitter Lime will by pouring a little Water upon it presently fall to Powder On the contrary the Calx of the Purging Salt powder'd will by the same means run immediately into a hard Substance and in a few Moments be like a Stone Lamb's-Conduit Water mixt with Lime-Water will in a very little time grow white with a dark clowdy Curdling as it will with the Purging Waters But if you mix it with Water impregnated with the Calx of the Purging Salt no Muddiness nor Colour will follow Common Water impregnated with this Salt and afterwards evaporated will restore you the whole quantity you dissolv'd without any waste but Lime-Water evaporated the Salt is for the most part transmuted into a stony and tastless Substance The Cause of which is that the Saline Parts of the Aqu. Calcis do so intimately imbrace and unite with any other Aerial Salt that they make a third Nurtral Salt as in Oil of Anisseeds and Vitriol shaken together you have a Refine properly so call'd which if you wash will yield you no manner of taste This may be illustrated by the following Experiment I kept Lime-Water in a Glass close stopt with a Cork and as much in an open Vessel for a Week or longer that in the stopt Vial had no Cream upon it but that in the open Vessel where the Air could freely arrive at the Water was cover'd with an insipid and stony Cream But Water in which the Purging Salt is dissolv'd kept in an open Vessel and many Days expos'd to the Air will have no Cream at all on its surface And that which appears in boiling the Purging Waters is not in the least Calcarious as we have formerly prov'd Add also the very different solubility of these Salts for half an Ounce of the Bitter Purging Salt will be easily and without Heat or much Agitation presently dissolv'd in six times its quantity of Water But to the dissolution of so much of the Calcarious Salt is required two Gallons and a half of Water which is 640 times its weight For so much common Water is necessary to edulcorate an Ounce of Calx Vivens which done there remains in the bottom of the Vessel about half an Ounce of pure white and Insipid Calx But the Bitter Purging Salt is eminently distinguish'd from the fore-mention'd if there were no other way by its Medicinal Virtues as we shall evidently demonstrate in the latter Part of this Tract where we speak of its Use In the mean time we do not deny a small Portion as well of Nitre and common Salt as of a stony Substance may be contained not only in the Purging Waters but even in the Salt it self And indeed 't is probable that no Body existent in Nature is purely simple Silver every one knows is mixt with Copper or
is likewise totally free from the Malignant Quality of most Catharticks it does never violently agitate the Humours nor cause Sickness Faintings or Pains in the Bowels It never fails a Physicians design in Purging the Patient nor ever puts him in fear of a Hypercatharsis Besides the strength of the Waters is not at all times alike for 't is either encreas'd by a dry Season or diminish'd by a wet 't is stronger in Summer weaker in Winter and 't is common for those that fell them upon occasion to mix 'em with common Water From whence the Physician prescribing the usual Dose frequently fails of success But the Salt of this Water purely and rightly prepar'd is every Particle alike and endued with the same Purging Virtue Add to this That the London Physicians do not prescribe the Waters crude but for the most part boiled For taken this way the Dose being lessen'd and the Strength increas'd they slip easier through the Stomach and Guts In Summer you boil to the consumption of a third but in Winter to half the quantity which will require two or three Hours But the Purging Salt of the Water dissolv'd in any convenient Liquor and once boil'd is a Medicine always in a readiness accommodated to Apothecaries chiefly to sick Persons who in urgent Cases suffer much Pain and Uneasiness while the Waters are so long a boiling and may often times be in danger The last tho' not the least considerable is That the Water kept a little too long especially in Summer or hot Weather will stink but the Salt of this Water neither Age nor Place can corrupt But some I foresee will Question the wholsomness of this Salt from the Acid Spirit it yields in Distillation but this Objection does as much oppose the Use of the Water as of the Salt contained in them For the same Reason we may as well pretend to leave off the Use of Honey Sugar or White-Bread every one of which by the help of Fire will yield a Distill'd Spirit violently Acid and Biting Wine also and the wholsomest Food when its Principles are let loose by Fermentation or any other way do obtain Noxious and sometimes Poysonous Qualities Nay even the Food of Infants their Mothers Milk will in a warm place presently turn Acid but by dissolving the Purging Salt in a proper Vehicle its Principles are neither deprav'd nor divided but 't is given in its compact Body or united Essence as we are fed with the forementioned Eatables For as the Salt it self so also the Water we drink from which this Salt is prepar'd is sensibly tho' moderately bitter and without any mixture of Acidity CHAP. II. Of the Method of prescribing the Bitter Purging Salt THis Salt may be taken Dissolv'd in any Vehicle agreeable to the Palate or grateful to the Taste of the Patient such as Spring-Waters Barley-Water Water-Gruel Posset-Drink Whey c. I do most commonly prescribe common Water Boil'd and Aromatiz'd with a little Mace to two three or four Pints of which I add half an Ounce or an Ounce or a greater Dose of the Salt As for Example Take of Spring-Water two Quarts Mace a Dram boil a little and strain it then dissolve in the strain'd Liquor an Ounce or 10 Drams of the Salt for an Apozem to be taken in the Morning in the space of two hours hot warm and sometimes cold with a little Exercise This Apozem you may give by it self or during the Working of other Purging Physick It is proper also when there is occasion to add Senna Manna or both to the Mace to promote the efficacy of the Salt in this or the like Form Take Spring-Water four Pints Mace a Dram Senna three Drams boil them gently and add of the Bitter Purging Salt an Ounce Flakey-Manna an Ounce and half or two Ounces and strain it The Lord Dudley North was the first that drank the purging-Purging-Waters with Milk which did not at all agree with his Stomach because he mix'd them cold but Physicians afterwards altered the Waters by adding Milk when they were boiling which way if you please you may also most safely take the Salt it self For Example Take of the Salt an Ounce or 10 Drams dissolve it in 3 Pints and half or 4 of common Water and when it boils pour in half a Pint of Milk and strain the Curd from it In the Summer when Medicinal Waters are every where frequented the Chalybeate or the Purging-Waters taken immediately from their Springs is the best Vehicle A Dram or a Dram and half of this Salt taken in 3 or 4 of the first Glasses of Tunbridge or any other Chalybeate Water for the three or four first days will render the Humours and first Passages better prepared for the design of Drinking Chalybeate-Waters do frequently bind which will be prevented by a small quantity of this Salt dissolv'd in the first and last Glass But 't is best of all taken in its own Waters for a Dram of it dissolv'd in every Draught does Purge with more certainty and a less quantity of Water and by consequence is less burdensom to the Stomach 't is sometimes also very proper in Glisters to mix 3 or 4 Drams of it instead of Sal Gem. CHAP. III. Of the more particular Use of this Salt and first of all of its Use in Diseases of the Ventricle WHat I shall now insert of the purging-Purging-Waters and their Salt is not from uncertain conjectures but is demonstrable by the daily Experience of other Learned Men as well as my own all whom have us'd both the Salt and the Water in the following Diseases with happy success And first of all this Purging-Water or its Salt is a most Amicable Medicine to the Stomach exciting an Appetite and promoting a good Digestion which it does partly by its Acid Principle partly by the bitterness of the whole or its Alkaline Mixture But chiefly from the former because it affords a Spirit in some sort Analagous to the Spirit of the Salt with which all Meats are season'd and also from the latter for we do every day Experience the Stomach to be strengthned by this and most other Bitters 'T is also well known that the Appetite is chiefly strengthned by the Use of Compound Salts for almost all Pickles are prepar'd not with Salts alone but with Salt and Vinegar French Red-Wine we allow to be very wholsom with our Food because of its Tartarous Salt of all others the most Compound and Salt of Steel a very Compound Salt is as Famous among Stomach-Medicines The two Universal Digestives Bread and Spittle do one of them contain an Acid and the other an Alkaline Salt and mix'd supply the place of a Compound Salt And the Natural ferment of the Stomach consists of Acid and Alkaline Particles the first from the Arteries or the Blood the latter from the Nerves or the Excrement of the Animal Spirits which may be prov'd by very many Arguments not here to be insisted
Lead Gold with Silver in the same Mine Vein nay and Metallick Mass But it does not follow that Silver and Copper or Gold and Silver do hereby constitute a third Species but the two or more separable Metals exist together Nor can we inferr an Identity of Bodies from their agreement in some qualities for Lead and Gold do so agree both are solid opacque ductile fusible heavy Bodies c. and therefore are both Metals but nothing is Gold that has not all the qualities of Gold For Gold does not differ more ways nor in a more eminent manner from Lead than the Bitter Purging Salt is distinguish'd from all other Salts and therefore is in its own Nature the most Noble CHAP. VI. Some additional Observations of the Nature of the Bitter Purging Salt THE most special Qualities of this Salt that we have already describ'd are a taste gently and almost simply Bitter and of all sorts that we know most resembling the Crystals of Silver in similitude of Taste For these indeed are bitter but very much so and not without some Austerity joined with it I have in another place observ'd the Lapis Calaminaris to have some Qualities common with Silver therefore I dropp'd into the Powder of this Stone some drops of Spirit of Nitre and the fermentation over I wash'd the mixture with common Water This Water like the Chrystals of Silver is not only very styptick but bitter and is the only bitter Mineral that I know of except the Salt of Luna and the Purging Salt But whether the Purging Salt do arise from any Silver Minera wholly or in part so or from the Lapis Calaminaris or rather from any other I leave undetermined being never able to get any of the true Minera of this Salt But this is very plain from the forementioned Experiments that the Bitter Purging Salt is compounded of some parts in their nature Acid and others Alkaline and a little Lixivial In Salts compounded of various Principles the Proportion the Nature and the Union of those Principles are to be consider'd Some Acid Particles are frequently found in Lixivial Salts but in a small proportion But in Tartar which is the Salt of Wine the Saline Parts are much lesser than the Acid which exist in a much greater proportion And 't is almost the same in the Bitter Purging Salt with this difference only That in the former the Acids are actually mix'd with the Alkaline but in the latter Potentially Moreover all Lixivial Salts are Acrimonious but those commonly call'd Testaceous are not without reason accounted the more gentle As likewise are some Acid Liquors such as the Juice of Wood-Sorrel a Dissolution of the Cream of Tartar c. but the Purging Salt is gentler than any of these Indeed by Distillation it gives an Acid Spirit but this Acid Taste is not perceptible till its Principles are intimately dissolv'd and divided by a most violent Fire For the Salt it self has neither Acrimony nor Acidity Nor is it Tastless but very subtle and biting and therefore a most Efficacious Medicine It s Admirable Subtilty will appear by its penetrating any Earthen Vessel if not very well Glaz'd about the bottom of which on the outside there will be a woolly or hoary Concretion in colour like an Amethyst The Principles of this Salt are also more closely united than in Tartar and afford many other Remedies For the Union is so firm that one of its parts viz. it s Acid cannot be above the one half of it separated from the other and that not without a reverberatory Fire Whence 't is that when other gentle Purges frequently elude the Physicians expectation this does very seldom or never deceive him For such Medicines do work most upon the Humours of the Body which are least alterable by those Humours In the number of which this Salt and other Minerals are to be accounted Last of all This Salt tho' it does consist of different Principles is very pure if rightly and diligently prepar'd insomuch that it does not retain the thousandth part of any extraneous Body with it self For if you evaporate destill'd Water impregnated with an Ounce of this Salt 't will yield not a Particle of any Heterogeneous Salt stony Sediment or Cremor but the very same Ounce of most pure Salt The End of the First Part Part the Second OF THE USE OF THE Bitter Purging Salt CHAP. I. Of the more General Use of the Bitter Purging Salt THE Use of the Purging Waters of Epsom c. is so excellent and manifold and so very well known to London Physicians that no Body can doubt of it For in many grievous Diseases Experience has prov'd 'em a most efficacious Remedy endued with no unwholsom Quality which rationally prescrib'd I never knew attended with any unexpected ill Effect One Objection there is brought against these Waters with some shew of Reason 't is That the Waters in boiling separate a stony Cremor From whence we may fear a Matter may be supply'd fit to generate the Stone in the Body This Objection is answer'd by two Experiments one before-mention'd and the Second drawn from Physical Observations For 't is plain from what we have before prov'd That this stony Cremor does not arise upon the Purging Waters nor upon Aqua Calcis unless expos'd to the Air and in an open Vessel and therefore no stony Substance can be generated by the Waters in the Body But say they the Air is mixt with the Humours of the Body We grant it and likewise with Waters as may be demonstrated by the Air Pump But Waters cannot petrifie without the free and open influx of the Air. Add likewise That the Air cannot enter the Body but as it were through a Strainer Secondly Practice contradicts this for 't is notoriously known not only to me but to many other Physicians That after drinking these Purging Waters plentifully by intervals for 20 to 30 Years together Persons have been always free from the Gout or Stone in the Kidneys or Bladder and enjoy'd a perfect Health And the fore-mention'd Lord North who drank both Epsom and Barnet Waters live'd free from those Distempers to 85 Years of Age. And this Lime-Waterm which so suddenly proceduces a stony Substance by the admission of the Air is frequently and safely given by physicians And our Sugar-Refiner use it in the purifying their Sugar by which means the Treacle is better seperated from the concrescible part and it acquires a greater fineness and whilteness But if the Purging Water is a good Medicine how much more is the Salt to be accounted so For if we should for Arguments sake grant what is objected against the Waters yet that will make not at all against the Salt depurated from its stony Substance Moreover if the Water you take do abound with plenty of the Muriatick Salt sometimes it may Purge too violently but the purified Salt which is freed from it is of all Purging Medicines the most gentle 'T
upon Therefore while there is the Natural proportion of either Salt in the Stomach Concoction is duly performed but when either prevail sometimes the Acid sometimes the Alkaline are necessary to restore it to its Office When the Concoction of the Stomach is Vitiated by too much or improper Meat and Drink Vomiting often follows for the quieting which the Bitter Purging Salt or Waters is a most excellent Remedy for the same reason that the Salt of Wormwood and Juice of Lemons is so Famous tho' this Salt is highly preferrable to it with one stroke destroying and carrying off the Peccant Salts Also in the Cardialgia or Heart-burning and other pains of that kind no Medicines can be more safe and efficacious nor in a hot Hypocondriack Disposition In the fore-mentioned Cases I have sometimes prescribed the Purging Waters or Salt without any other Medicine but more often with the assistance of other Remedies as Bleeding Vomiting and the like for 't is not the part of a prudent Physician in dangerous Diseases to trust his Patients Health and his own Reputation to one only Medicine tho' never so Famous Remedies of this kind may be infinitely varied according to the Indications Some Forms of which I shall here add For a lost Appetite Take of Spaw or any other Chalybeate-Water or if not to be had Spring-Water Aromatiz'd with Mace a Quart or three Pints of the Bitter Salt half an Ounce six Drams or an Ounce drink it warm and fasting And all sorts of Chalybeate-Waters may be drank warm which is better and without the loss of its subtile Spirit by dipping a Bottle close stopt into hot Water for a few Moments and after pouring out a Glass stopping it as before While you take these Waters an hour before Dinner take also 20 30 or 40 drops of Elixir Proprietatis in a Spoonful of Sherry or Hock and Wormwood and continue their Use every Day or every other Day for four five or six times Or Take of the Conserve of Roman Wormwood two Ounces Garden-Scurvy-Grass an Ounce Candid-Ginger half an Ounce Aromatick-Powder of Cloves a Dram and half of Winters Bark of the true Salt of Wormwood of each a Dram with Sirrup of Cloves make an Electuary and take the quantity of a Nutmeg every Night going to Rest and of a small Wall-Nut every Day an hour before Dinner with a little Wormwood-Wine if the Patient be not subject to the Head-Ach Or Take of the Filings of Steel new and shining 3 Ounces Roman Wormwood half a handful Roman Cypress-Roots Calamus Aromaticus of each a Dram Galangall the less Cinnamon and Saffron of each half a Dram White-Wine or Sherry a Quart digest in a Vessel close stopt with a gentle heat for 3 Days shaking the Glass every Day and take two or three or four Spoonfuls two hours before Dinner In Vomitings Take of any Chalybeate-Water or Maced-Water three or four Pints and dissolve in it six eight or ten Drams of the Purging Salt to be drank in the Morning hot or cold as you please and repeat it three or four Days following or every other Day if there be occasion And to this joyn the Use of the following Pills Take of red Roses of Cinnamon of each a Dram Cloves Salt of Steell of each a Scruple Saffron half a Scruple Chimical Oil of Mint eight Drops with Sirrup of Steell make 24 Pills Take three every Day two Hours before Dinner and at Night going to rest Sometimes a Fomentation of red Wine with Venice Treacle red Roses and Mint infus'd in it hot is very profitable In a Bastard Collick Take Senna two Drams Macea Dram boil in Spring Water to three or four Pints Add to the strain'd Liquor six eight or ten Drams of the Purging Salt Take this Apozem as there is occasion either with or without Senna and by it self or with the following Pills Take of Stomach Pills with Gums 25 Grains of Steell-Filings powder'd ten Grains with Syrup of Steel make four Pills to be taken going to rest and the Apozem as above the following Morning and repeat 'em for three Days successively or longer Sometimes 't is necessary to mix Extract of Gentian or some other Bitter with the Pills and also a little Laudanum if the Pain be violent In a hot Hypocondriack Distemper Take of any chalybeate-Chalybeate-Water three or four Pints dissolve in every draught half a Dram or a Dram to eight times and drink it cold Or instead of Chalybeate-Waters use simple Milk-Water or distill'd from Borrage or Pimpernel In the Heart-Burning In this Disease the Salt taken as in the former will have very good success CHAP. IV. Of the Use of the Bitter Purging Salt in Diseases of the Intestines and Parts adjacent And first of the Collick IN this Disease there is no need to advise the Learned and Experienc'd Physician in the first place to let Blood and seldom or never to omit it Then 't is most Advisable to give this or the like Glister Take of the common Decoction for Glisters one pound with the addition of 3 Drams or half an Ounce of Senna to the Ingredients to it strain'd add half an Ounce or more of the Bitter Purging Salt Species of Hiera Picra a Dram and half or two Drams brown Sugar two Ounces From the Use of these and the like Glisters Chollick Pains are often dissipated at least by their passing up the Intestines the way is opened Oftentimes Pill Rudii one Scruple or half a Dram with a Grain of Laudanum is given with good success And sometimes crude Mercury if the Patient will swallow a sufficient quantity that is four five or six Ounces Especially if taken with two Ounces of the Tincture of Hiera Picra in White-Wine or any other proper Purging Medicine But the most Noble of all Remedies is the Purging Water or the Salt taken in this or the like manner Take of Spring or River Water aromatiz'd Lib. iij Chamomile Flower or Mint-Water six Ounces Bitter Purging Salt an Ounce or ten Drams Flakey-Manna an Ounce and half or two Ounces make an Apozem and let the Patient take about 17 Ounces at a time hot so often that the whole may be taken in an hour or an hour and half yea tho' some part of it be Vomited The force of this Medicine may be sometimes increas'd by the addition of the following Take one or two Spoonfuls of the Tincture of Hiera Picra before every draught of the Apozem In Worms This Salt if the Nurse give the Child a Dram and half or two Drams in its Pap 't will exterminate the Worms especially if the Physician will give before it in any proper Vehicle a Grain or two or three of Mercurius Dulcis according to the Age of the Patient or Chrystals of Silver Or if the Purging Salt be given in Bitter Glisters in the Stone Here also as well as in the Chollick we must begin with Bleeding which very often requires a repetition To this a