WITH all the Tenderness imaginable I accost you, for tho' you stile your self a Member of the College, yet since I find you such a weak one, and so thoroughly before confuted, and since these last Squeaks you make are only with your baffl'd Forces begging Quarter, shall fairly examine what you have urg'd afresh in this Treatise, and had you not again asserted an universal Regimen of Acids, the Owl should have perch'd sole Monarch in his Crab-Tree: Wherefore I shall begin with your Expe­riments of the Viper; but before I enter upon it, be pleas'd to let me return up­on you the Expression of that most inge­nious Lady, A. B.

Now, Sir, if upon Examination of the whole Matter, you be forced to sink to the lowest Ebb of Reason, it will then from this follow, you are but the Mon­key of her most ingenious Father, or that long ear'd Animal that never spoke but once to Baalam.

In the first Pages of your Treatise, you give us an Account of one Philipson that was bit by a Viper, and of giving Acids, as Elixir Vitrioli, in the beginning of the Distemper. Now by the bye, let me tell you, that if Elixir Vitrioli be truly pre­par'd, it cannot properly be called an Acid, but rather a Neutral Spirit; in that Preparation a Vinous Spirit and an Acid being strictly united, and so consequent­ly not purely an Acid: That which is prepar'd by Vigani, which I take to be the best I have any where seen, will scarce [Page 9]ferment with an Alkali; so that the first Prescription no ways corroborates your Notion of Acids, tho' it is true, from a Mixture of that, and Spirit of Harts­horn, will quickly arise Clouds; and the same may be observed by holding them close together, tho' in distinct Vials; but the Motion in the Mixture of the Liquors is scarce discernible, whence it is plain the Acid produced not those Effects in the Bite of the Viper, by so powerfully de­stroying the Alkali's.

Your next Prescription I find to be E­lixir Vitrioli ʒij, Rectify'd Spirit of Wine two Ounces. Now, Sir, it is most cer­tain the Points of the Acid in this Prescrip­tion are so sheathed in the Vinous Spirit, that a greater Corrector of Acids cannot be thought of; for Spirit of Nitre it self we find by this Method to become a safe and good Medicine, by destroying the Acid: Whence it's plain, what was effe­cted by this Medicine, cou'd not be by its acidity, that being destroyed before by the Mixture. Your next Prescriptions are Infusions of Rue, Snakeweed, Ange­lica, [Page 10]Butter-bur, &c. Which from the ancient Physicians to these very Days, have always been found to have been Alexipharmacs or Counter-poysons, and in those Cases used with success: Must therefore a little Addition of White-wine and Vinegar, which is what J. C. adds, be the Specifik? or the noble Herbs be­fore recited? If the latter, by the same Reason I might as well argue, that if I happen'd to give an acid Spirit with the Cortex in intermitting Fevers, the Cure was not compleated by the Cortex but the Acid, which I think none but Colebatch will affirm; and if so, the Acids contri­buted no farther here, perhaps than to allay the Heat of the Patient; for I am pretty well satisfy'd, no Man that consi­ders what a powerful Diaphoretick Snake­weed is, and consequently fine's the Blood, and how again Acids fix it, I say, no Man in his Senses that considers these things, can affirm their Virtues to consist in acidity, but quite contrary in oleaginous, alkalious Particles; and if so, it's plain that Acids little or nothing contributed [Page 11]to the Cure in the recited Case: For did [...]he Virtues of these Sudorificks consist in [...]n Acidity, how comes it to pass? Those which are really Acids, as Spirit of Vi­triol, Sulphur, and the vegetable Acids, as Lujula, Berberis, &c. are not Diapho­reticks. Since then the Virtue of the re­cited Herbs consists in the Evacuations they make in the miliary Glands by Sweat, it's plain what is effected by them must be by their oleaginous and volatile Particles, which may by due Preparati­ons be prepar'd from all of them.— Since their Oils are Diaphoretical, and their Acids, if they have any, quite con­trary, must we then because those Plants contain an Acid which is not Diaphore­tical, and an Oil which is, conclude the Virtue of the Plant consists in the Oil or the Acid? If in the latter, because at the fame time the Goa Stone, or Bezoar, and Juice of Limons to acidulate as Ju­lips are prescrib'd, does it thence follow because an Acid is only added to alleviate Thirst, the Cure was effected by the Be­zoardick or the Acids? If with the lat­ter, [Page 12]he may as well tell me because the Grand Signior constantly drinks Sherbet, and Coffee, eats all the Delicacies of the Eastern Countries, as Pine-Apples, Pa­tridge, Mutton, Venison, &c. is not nou­rished by that generous Food, but with a little Vinegar which happen'd to be mix'd with the Sauce. As for my part, I nei­ther pity nor envy J. C. For as no E­mulation of him can be an Object of my Ambition, so his wilful and elaborate Ignorance cannot merit the former: With what an unparallell'd Impudence then does he brow-beat the whole Body of Physicians, and in plain Terms makes them all Knaves or ignorant Pretenders! But, God be thank'd, the World by a large Experience hath sufficiently found the contrary, which is the best Demon­stration against an ignorant Pretender.

He tells in one place, he never was a Member of the University, and in that I very readily believe him; and I am sure, had he never been a Member of the College, it had added to the Honour of the Faculty of Physick. His Reasonings against Le­mery [Page 13]are as rude as empty, for in the bi­ting of Vipers it's certain there is a sud­den Coagulation of the Blood; and if so, the Poison cannot proceed from Vo­latile, Alkalious Salts, since by a Mixture of those with the Blood, it is certain the Blood is always more fluid, and pre­vented from Coagulation: And if so, J. C's Notion falls to the Ground.

What then is become of that Ray of Reason God Almighty imprinted into him? I am sure, to abuse that, and trans­mit false Notions down to Posterity, is a Wickedness unaccountable, and deserves a severer Punishment than the Statutes of a College can inflict.

And I speak it without Prejudice, he is much fitter for a Bar than a Patient; wherefore I shall dismiss him upon this Point, and proceed to his other Particu­lars; and to use his own words, how Hea­then Greek may sound to him, I know not, for I think he is as much an Hea­then as a Graecian; but Currat Lex, would be a just Motto upon him.

If this be so, I wonder the President resigns him not his Chair, since here is not only a bold Defiance to that Society, but to all others whatever. But the shal­lowest Brooks run loudest, and the Puny Mouse is the Off-spring of a Mountain.

If you esteem me one of them, I thank you for your Complement, for be assured it's the greatest Favour you cou'd do me, for shou'd he, that upon trifling, and false Notions had imposed upon all So­cieties of Learning, and arrogated to himself a Knowledge above all Mankind, and at the same time but a meer Preten­der, have treated me in another Dialect, [Page 15]it might perhaps have call'd in Question all the little Learning I dare pretend to; for when I consider the wonderful Works of Nature, I am far from Dogmatical As­sertions, but only in my own Judgment offer the most probable Conjectures.

In what Consumptive Cases? In none that I have yet met with, but the Spit­ting has been either Sweet, Acid, Austere, Bitter, or Putrid, none of which are In­dications of Chalk: But suppose such Chalky Matter was sometimes lodg'd in the Lungs, when the Stone or Gout is concomitant, it's plain then from the Arguments before recited by Dr. Covard, and those in the Exercitationes quinque, that the Blood in that Case is degenera­ted into too Saline a Crasis, and Preci­pitates too great a quantity of Alkali from the Blood, which indeed makes a kind of Magistery. By which it is plain the Blood in those Cases abounds more [Page 16]with Acid than Alkalious Particles, and I am sure the truest Method in those Di­stempers is either by Alkalious or Balsa­mick Medicines.

What a Wickedness therefore must it be in John Colebatch, to impose such Dan­gerous Practice upon Mankind, which I am certain can centre in nothing but the Ruin of the Patient? For I dare Chal­lenge him to produce one Instance, in a confirm'd Consumption, where he re­cover'd the Patient purely by Acids. How do you make out in Consumptive Per­sons the Sweat to be Alkalious? Their Tasts are manifestly Saline, their Smells frequently like those of the steams of Vinegar, which, if I am in my Senses, are no Indications of Alkalies, but pre­sume Sense and Reason are as much strangers to J.C. as his Scribling to Phy­sick and Philosophy. ‘ Pag. 34. He runs down Pulv. è Chel. ♋ Comp. & Sp. C. C. in Malignant Fevers, and afterwards affirms, if after the Exhibition of them any thing was done, Nature it self de­serves the whole Honour, nothing in [Page 17]the least being to be attributed to the Medicine.’ In Answer to this, I averr, that the last Winter I was concern'd with 300 Persons in Pestilential Fevers, of these there were not six that dy'd, which upon Occasion I can make out, and constantly used the Pulv. è Chel. Goa Stone, and fre­quently Sp. C.C. And surely the Reco­very of so many cou'd not wholly be at­tributed to Nature: I used Acids very temperately, just to allay their Thirst, but found that of themselves, without the Assistance of Alkali, they only suffer'd the Patient to sink insensibly. Which I think may serve as an Answer to that Point, and not let Mankind be so mise­rably abus'd by such Spurious Notions.

Certainly such an Inference was never made before, and if Transmigration of [Page 18]Souls be true, here is the clearest Demon­stration of it: So that now nothing less perhaps than the Life of a Man has taken its flight to the Cat's Back, and since so, for ought I know, the Cat, instead of Catterwauling, may Argue as well as Cole­batch, that so freely gave Life to her Half-Moons with no less than that of a Ra­tional Creature. By your Favour, Sir, because the Phosphorus can be extracted from all Animals, does it thence follow, the Life is in that? By the same Reason I may as well Argue the Life to consist in Alkalies, since according to your own Concessions those may be abundantly pre­par'd from all Animals; and if so, what then becomes of the Doctrine of Acids? For then to Attack these with sharp-pointed Acids, wou'd be little less than Cutting of Throats. In what particularly Life consists, I presume Mankind, with­out blushing, may fairly own their Ig­norance; but an Ignorant Pretender will attempt any thing, and prove nothing. How do you make out in a living Animal the Phosphorus is actually contain'd in the [Page 19]Blood, since from the Blood and Urine of Animals it is only prepared by Putre­faction; but this Notion I confess may help the Quaker out at a dead lift, he easily now may tell us, what he means by the Light within him. ‘ Pag. 51. I never cou'd see or hear of any one that hath seen any such thing as either Vo­latile or fixt Alkalisate Salt, that was any other way to be obtain'd out of Vegetable or Mineral Bodies, than from the Bodies after they had been calcin'd.’ And who can help invincible Ignorance? For had you consulted Monsieur du Closs, of the Mineral Waters in France, or the Tentamen Novum of the Mineral Waters in Lancashire, or the Philosophical Tran­sactions Printed about Twelve Years ago, you might in all these have found a large Description of Natural Alkalisate Salts, that were not made by Calcination, ei­ther of Mineral or Vegetable Bodies, and so consequently not as you term them, the Excrements of Fire; but I think your self may be very well stiled Inter Socra­ticos notissima fossa Cinoedos.

Did ever any but a Lunatick lay down such a Position? For were the Alkali of the Blood prepared by Conflagration, there must then in that, as in Plants, be a total Dissolution of its whole Compa­ges, and consequently there wou'd be no such thing as a Living Animal. It's plain the Alkalious Parts of the Blood are sepa­rated from it by proper Glandules, for the most part, as in the Liver and Reins, and not prepared by Conflagration. But he that can affirm such Absurdities as these, may assert any thing, and may if he please affirm there never was any such thing as a Shadow made by the Gnomon of a Dial. But Logicians tells us, Contra Principia ne­gantem non est disputandum; wherefore my Patience being quite tyr'd out in that Point, I dismiss him.

Pag. 64. How do you make out, Al­kalies make the Serum of the Blood Gela­tinous, since in Blood-letting, by mixing [Page 21] Alkalies with the Blood, we observe it to be made more fluid, which cou'd not be, did Alkalies turn the Blood to a Gelly? In Pag. 70. How does it appear it is the Acid part of the Sulphur that ferments with an Acid, but rather the Oleaginous Par­ticles, since were it the former, Spirit of Sulphur wou'd ferment with Spirit of Sulphur, which is both false and absurd, and a true Brat of Colebatch's Genius. If it is not the Acid of the Sulphur that fer­ments with the Acid, what you offer is trifling and ridiculous, and no Answer at all to Dr. Tuthill's Objection. Nor do you any ways make it appear the Virtues of Bitters consist in an Acid, which till you fairly do, you still stand charg'd with those Objections: Bitterness in Plants I don't apprehend to consist either in a pre­dominancy of Alkali or Acid, but in a par­ticular Mixture of different Bodies, which by Calcination, or Distillation is destroy'd, so that no Preparation from a bitter Plant will by any such Method, ( viz.) Distilla­tion or Calcination, ever answer the Ver­tue of the Vegetable; so that what he [Page 22]alledges in relation to the Acids of Bitters, is nothing to the Matter.

Guaicum, Sassafras, and Bitters, you as­sert to be invelop'd Acids; but pray if it be in you Nature to think, is it by the Acids in these, the Scurvy, Inflammatory, and Venereal Distempers are cur'd, or by their Terebinthinate and Balsamick Par­ticles.

To affirm the former, you may with the same parity of Reason affirm, Mercu­rius Dulcis not by its Saline Particles makes that Alteration in the Mass of Blood, which no Man I suppose will Assert that understands the Nature of Sublimate; but indeed the Saline Particles being sheath'd in the Mercurial ones, they by that means become a safe Medicine, and by their obtunded Points may help to incide the Viscid Humours, and by that means make room for the Mercurial Particles united with them; but then the Cure is not to be attributed to the Acids as such, but the Alkalious Particles conjoyn'd: So that if it is this you mean by your inve­lop'd Acids, you may as well tell me a [Page 23]Wound may be as easily made by the Sword in the Scabbard, as what Cures you attributed to invelop'd Acids, were effected by their A­cidity, but indeed quite contrary by their Bal­samick Particles.

Pray, Sir, in Diarthoea's, where a Person in Twenty Four hours, will sometimes haven an Hundred Stools, with intolerable Gripes, and the Faeces frequently clear, green, or viscid; I would gladly know whether those Humours are more highly saturated with Acids or Al­kalies. If with the latter, how comes it to pass, that in the West-Indies, where that Di­stemper is most frequent, Chalk is found to be a certain Specifick? In the like Case, the Ho­nourable Mr. Boyle, highly applauds Lapis Ca­laminaris, which is a most Potent Alkali. Now in these Cases were the Blood so highly satu­rated with Alkalies as you mention, the giving of these wou'd be only to add Oyl to a Flame, and raise the Distemper the higher; but the quite contrary Effects are found from them: Wherefore once more scratch your Abortive Noddle, and give a full Answer to these two Instances.

What Physician of Note ever rejected the prudent use Acids? But what makes that to Illustrate our Hypothesis? Were the Cures perfected by Acids? If not, as I'm sure they were not, what you urge is impertinent.

Under Favour, Sir, you are mistaken, for were it so great an Alkali, it wou'd ferment with any Acid, but will not with any but Oyl of Vitriol; and if so, it is not so great an Al­kali as you make it. Till you Answer the Ar­guments alledg'd by Dr. Coward and my self against you, for my part, I think not my self oblig'd to take any further notice of your un­digested Scribble, but to give a full and clear Answer to those Arguments, Challenge you and your whole Party, otherwise I think it much safer to Practice upon Establish'd Principles, than the Enthusiastick Notions of a Rambling Empirick.

[...] Sir, with a little loss of Time, I have given you a Reply to your last Performances, and tremble to think of your designed Treatise of Fevers; you have had already sufficient Revenge upon the Think­ing part of Mankind: VVherefore, good Sir, Murder us not afresh, but if you have any Grains of Com­passion, stop your Hand, and as you are Stout, be Merciful, lest by your Erecting these Castles in the Air, you give the VVorld too just Reason to wish the same Punishment may be inflicted upon you, as one of the Russian Emperors did upon and Engi­neer, who because he had built such an awkward Fortress, order'd both his Eyes to be pull'd out, that neither he himself might make, nor direct others to do the like.