THat he may be satisfy'd he is not the Man he takes himself for, I have printed Dr. Good­ [...]'s Letter to me, and given him a Reply to [...]s last Piece, so far as relates to my self. In [...]at Reply I found such illiterate Arguments, [...]uch mean and trifling Reflections, such a pro­ [...]ound Ignorance of the Latin Tongue, I once concluded to have been silent, being assured [...]e Piece was a better Answer to it self, than c [...]uld be given from another And. But since s [...]me Persons were pleas'd to alledge, that it w [...]s patroniz'd by one of the Censors of the C [...]llege of Physicians, I have therefore, to vindi­ [...]te both him and my self, made these pub­ [...]k.

When the most abstruse Points in Philosophy [...] reduc'd to dogmatical Assertions, and the [...]st exalted and useful Topicks in Physick [...] become the sportive Rattles of unthink­ [...]g Striplings; when Metaphorical Suppositions [...]ust pass for Anatomical Demonstrations, and [...]rogance and Noise are the Weapons of in­ [...]cible Confutation; when Impudence and [...]rrility are Arguments of Proof against all [...]ional Attacks, it's high time to tell the Youth, [...] has err'd, to reject the use of Lenitives, and [...] to more potent Applications. With what [Page 6]Assurance does he make it evident, that th [...] Animal Spirits move slower than the Blood? He sure never entertain'd any Notion [...] Thought, had no abstracted Speculations of i [...] Velocity. Their unaccountable Agility in vo­luntary Motion, evidently demonstrates th [...] contrary. In the first place he asserts, but [...] where proves, the Animal Spirits to be a swee [...] oily Mucilage. Now, by the bye, Did [...] ever see or taste the Animal Spirits? were they a sweet oily Mucilage he might do both. O­thers yet with the most accurate Glasses coul [...] never discover them. What need I had of Sp [...] ­ctacles I know not as yet, I thank God for i [...] But I am sure to make such Discoveries as a [...] there asserted, bespeak him to be one of th [...] greatest Virtuosi the World ever yet has seen [...] And I do again tell him, that did there such [...] Mucilage as he mentions, circulate through th [...] Nerves, the Nerve would either swell abov [...] the Ligature, or by the Section of a Nerv [...] the Mucilage might be squeezed from it. An [...] what he offers to those Arguments is but a pi­tiful Evasion, and no Solution at all: For if th [...] Motion of the Mucilage be so slow as he a [...] ­serts, it is not to be imagin'd, that upon th [...] cutting of a Nerve, it should make so quick an [...] instantaneous a return through its Branches, a [...] that it should not be possible to discover i [...] For by this way of arguing, he might as we [...] tell me, a Snail will make a swift Newmark [...] Courser, or a Man of his poor pity'd pitch o [...] Learning a profound Philosopher. Dr. Lister [...] I guess, will not thank him for what he has sai [...] [Page 7]in answer to the Controversie betwixt us two; for in my instancing in the Kennel-pit-water at Haigh in Lancashire, it was not to prove an A­cid in Water, which, he says, no body ever deny'd, but to prove there was perfect conco­cted Vitriol in Water; which was what the Dr. deny'd. His Remarks and Quibbles about my Notions of hot Baths, are not worth answering: And I do again affirm, That Hypothesis was never before laid down by any; and what some had formerly alledged was, That the Heat in those Waters was caused either by Fermentati­on of Sulphureous, and other Heterogeneous Particles, or by Subterraneous Fires; both of which in the Exercitations I have fully confu­ted. Wherefore I assign'd a third Cause (viz.) a Collision of Sulphureous Particles. But I find he has either not the Sense, or Sincerity, to di­stinguish betwixt Fermentation and Collision: And indeed, I think, both the Instances he has produc'd, do him no Service. The Paral­lel does not hold: unless he can demonstrate, that, as the Fire heats the Water, the Water makes the Fire to burn; and I think he has a Stock of Ignorance and Impudence to at­tempt it. With what an accurate Ken, with what pungent Sophistry, with how admirable a turn of a Faeculent Brain did he discover Ingenium Acerrimum to be a sour Wit? What could produce such a singular Construction, but the Dawnings of immature Conceptions? But now to expiate for so awkard a Constructi­on, he proceeds to a more conspicuous Dilem­ma, falls soul upon Case and Rule, and magisteri­ally [Page 8]affirms, Opinioni haud naturae se Credidit, to be false Latin: This he asserts in a notorious Paraphrase, bids Defiance to Grammar and Authority. The Unintelligible World, till now, mistook the President was delirous with luxuriant Thought, and drew erroneous Charts of imagin'd Shores; not Cicero, Seneca, nor Terence, with all their Train of Oratory; not the three Sons of Parnassus, Horace, Virgil, and Ovid, the Delight and Glory of Augustus's Court, when the Roman Tongue had acquired its [...], shall be Standards to this renowned Trifler. But to set him straight in this, I shall lay before him the following Authorities. In the first place, the Sentence he recites out of my Exercitations, is an Expression in Seneca's Epistles; whose Authority alone had been suf­ficient to vindicate me, had I had no other: But to shew him Credo frequently governs an Accusative with a Dative Case, let him take notice of the following Quotations. Credere se Neptuno, is a Sentence in Plautus, Credere se Coelo praepetibus pennis. Virgil; and these Words, I think, are applicable to him; for I doubt not but he has a Head Chimerical enough to afford him Wings to fly with, if the Lapwing would but have Patience to stay till the Shell dropt off his Head. Credere suum animum alicui, Terence. Credere uni omnia, Cicero. Libris Arcana Credere, Horace. Veritus se Credere nocti, Ovid. Wherefore for shame, let him not set up for an Author, but quit the Press, Oxford and his Addresses to the College, and return to the Grammar School at Chester; and by that means [Page 9]he will leave us room to think he may in time be something; and perhaps he may by frequent Lashing be qualify'd for the University. And since in his usual Method of acting the Plagia­ry, he has stole a Receipt for me, let him take this Advice: Before he writes, let him think; afterwards consult his Friends; and to prevent a Relapse of his Distemper, then burn his Papers: He then, like a rash unthinking Ad­venturer, may expire in Fire and Smoke, and not become the dishonourable Refuse of a Common-Shoar. His carping at the two Words pro me, farther confirms his Ignorance in the Latin Tongue; for as I use them, they are frequently used by Plautus and several mo­dern Authors, particularly Dr. Lister; so that if he blames me, he must likewise blame the Doctor, and not shelter himself from a just Rebuke; because I had formerly oppos'd the Doctor: And when ever I see an Answer to those Arguments alledged against the Doctor's Hypothesis, I shall freely ask his Pardon, if I be found in an Error; if not, I hope I have the Liberty of Thought. I do believe the Doctor will be ashamed to be quoted by such a Trifler. But, upon my Word, it shew'd him to be a Man of invincible Courage, to be so daring as to encounter those two Words Pro me; and had he never exceeded the Pronouns and Preposi­tions, he had eased the World of a great deal of Jargon, and kept himself in his due Limits; and so the Crane and the Pigmies might have [...]ought about the Knots in a Bull-rush. Ano­ther Expression of mine he carps at is In proclivi [Page 10]est; where he says it ought to be In promptu est: but I shall produce him a parallel Sentence from Terence, and translate it for him, since I see he cannot do it; and it is this, Id faciam in proclivi quod est, per me stetisse ut credat: Where by those Words In proclivi quod est, is meant no more than what is easie or ready, which is in the Sense I writ it.

He likewise quarrels with these Words, Sic Regero'; and in that I tell him as I express it, it is constantly taken in Philosophy; that is, I reply thus. His Instance from Dr. Willis can in no wise rescue him from the false Experiment he imposed upon the World, since the Doctor never asserted such a Paradox, and would have scorned to impose such a Falsity upon us. The Matter of Fact still stands Evidence a­gainst him: The Doctor's Notions of Fevers are grounded upon his Principles of Fermentation, which is quite contrary to what I have asser­ted: For I have made it highly probable that Fevers and inflammatory Distempers are not caused by Fermentations, but by Saline Par­ticles coagulating the Serum or Lympha of the Blood; but, Poor Man, to serve a turn, how miserably can he mangle that Author? and when he finds himself at a Pinch; then, like a most barbarous Tartar, defaces and ruins the spacious Plains he was foraging in, and straight removes to a remoter Clime: Whence it is evident my Notions of Fevers and In­flammatory Diseases could not, as he alledges, be borrowed from Dr. Willis: Wherefore to satisfie his Curiosity, I will allow him, Dr. [Page 11] Willis lived before I did; But do affirm, I have not in any one thing, which I have laid down as an Hypothesis, borrowed from that Eminent Author. But I can assure him this, barring his own fictious and false Foundation of all his Works, if each Bird pluckt its own Feathers from him he would be expos'd as naked to the World as he came there. In answer to that which he alledges, that my Exercitations were printed at a private Press in Oxford; and that they were denied an Imprimatur from the College, is notoriously false; for in the first place they were printed at Litch­field's Press, which is a publick one, and al­low'd of by the University. In the second Place, the College was never sollicited by me for an Imprimatur; because in one of the Exercitations I had opposed one of the Cen­sors, and therefore concluded it might be esteemed ill Manners to desire an Imprimatur from them.

His Objections against my Chapter of Drop­sies, are of the same Stamp: For what things I have assign'd as the various Causes of those Distempers, he brings in as the Effects: But since he never yet assigned a true Cause for any thing, I can readily pardon his Mistake, and reasonably conclude he is not able to distinguish the one from the other. And if so, I hope the Patient that is so Fool-hardy to commit himself to the Instructions of this most eminent Person, will settle his Concerns before, and be throughly prepared for ano­ther World, since he has two potent Ene­mies [Page 12]to encounter, a dangerous Distemper and a most unmerciful Pretender. But what made him to amuse us with his Arabick Word Acaid; since from what has been ob­served, it is demonstrably evident, he is as much a Stranger to the Letters in that Lan­guage as he is to their Persons? But I pre­sume, upon some Chirurgeons Arms in London he had observed a Greek Word or two; wherefore prevailed with some Friend to sup­ply him with the like Stock of the Eastern Dialect, that he might be thought Master of the Oriental Treasures. And since he has reduced the Materia Medica to an Old Wo­man with two Receipts, I hope he'll be so kind to curtail our English Dispensatory.— That he may be brought to a rational Ap­prehension, that he may, if 'tis possible, e­scape that Place with which he so foolishly, impudently, and frequently threatens me.

I hope he'll reflect on his own Imperfe­ctions; for I assure him I do vehemently suspect that his frivolous, inconnected, and roving way of Writing, and one of the Sta­tues in Moor-fields, are so lively Emblems of a Raving Madness, that it threatens him with a Visit thither. I must confess the Remarks upon his Piece concerning the Heat of the Blood, were in a Stile too light for the Gravity and Sobriety of Philosophy; but they were only design'd as a Ridicule upon his wild extravagant Notions, to shew him the Vanity of that way of Writing, a Me­thod as I thought the most likely to reclaim [Page 13]him. Where the greatest Men for their Knowledge in Philosophy the World ever yet has seen, have been sunk in Contempla­tion in the unsearchable Works and Ope­rations of Nature, he dogmatically asserts, and pretends mechanically to demonstrate, the Learn'd Charleton, Borellus, and Steno, have made large Discoveries in Muscu­lar Motion, having reduced the various Fi­gures of the Muscles to Mathematical De­monstrations: But alas, when we consider of the Power that gives Motion to each Fi­bre in voluntary Motion, how defective and enervate are all their elaborate Problems! But he, mighty Man, has out-stript all these Heroes in Philosophy, he only the Cham­pion, he the Dwarf upon the Giants Shoul­ders. The Learned Willis, Crone, Mayow and Cooper, have supply'd us with polite and learn­ed Hypotheses, yet faulter all in the main Business. They cannot see what it is in vo­luntary Motion makes that Impulse upon the Animal Spirits, that they can perform such Motions, contrary to all the Rules of Mechanism: Here they are sunk in an Abyss of Thought. Cou'd the Learn'd Bidloe? Cou'd the Accurate Cooper give us those lively Fi­gures of the Muscles, and dissect their minu­test Fibres? Cou'd they in the Scarfe Skin, seemingly barren of Variety of Vessels, dis­cover that infinite Number of Capillary Veins and Arteries, by mercurial Injections? Cou'd they in the more abstruse Viscera discover the minutest Glandules and Ly [...] [...]ucts? and [Page 14]in the Cutis the Diversity of Pores, and mi­liary Glands, and not be able to disco­ver Mr. Bolton's Metaphorical Glands? It's strange coy Nature shou'd thus obstinately deny us so inestimable a Jewel. Nay, are we arriv'd to that Perfection in Microscopes, that we cannot only have a lively Figure of the parts of a solid Body, but even the Figure of the Particles in Liquids? Is it possible then there should be such Glands as Mr. Bolton contends for, (viz.) Vessels impleted with a Juice from the Arteries and Nerves? Can we by these Glasses dis­cover the Globules of the Blood? the Forms of Plants in their Seeds? Animalcules, and each Particle of a Liquid, and not discern the Vessel that contains the Liquor? If so, sure now we are grown to that pur-blind Gene­ration, that we cannot see the Wood for the Trees, or can discern each Grain in a Mole-Hill, but cannot discover a Mountain. Thus he may see his Metaphorical Glands upon which all his Works depend, are false and fictiti­ous: So that his Foundation being now re­mov'd, his Castles in the Air must tumble down. I can with Laughter ridicule his U­topian Discoveries. He may if he thinks con­venient proceed in that Method, I can easi­ly think him as empty as the Welch-man that purchased the Pompion for the Mare's Egg, and doubt not but the one will as soon pro­duce a Colt as he solve the Phaenomena in Muscular Motion. Thus he may see what he has alledg'd is upon a Sandy Bottom: From [Page 15]the Premisses we may draw quite different Corollaries. What he urges is highly irratio­nal, and only begging the Question, a Me­thod he sure knows, the poorest way of argu­ing. I do assure him (though he is pleased to challenge me) I do not, nor ever did envy his Success.

And since he understands not the Classick Authors, as I have made it undeniably evident from the best Authorities, he does not; he may be assured till he qualifies himself better to write, I shall not give him or my self any Trouble in this nature.

Poor Animal, his Gumms were swell'd with Rancour, but he wanted Teeth to bite with. I hope he'll be so kind to himself to purchase a Whistle and a Coral to break the envenom'd Tumour, tho' no one needs to fear the Bite of so harmless a Creature. But now, to convince the World what little Deference he has for Learning, and how far he has trans­gress'd all the Rules of common Modesty, let him consult his own Letter, writ to a Friend of his at Chester, under whose Tuition he ought yet to be. In that he tells him he was little alter'd with the Air at Oxford; He expected indeed to have found it a Place of Learning, but, to his great Disappointment, he found it, for the greatest put, a Seat of Loggerheads; that the Exercise there was so mean and trilling, he cou'd by studying one Hour in twenty four qualifie himself for the performance of it: That when he disputed, he only talk'd to the Dean and Moderator, the rest not being able [Page 16]to discourse him: That he had only the Sa [...] faction to see the Respondent sit silent: and that with a Month's Study he could qualifie himself for any Degree there. He farther pro­ceeds upon his being Candidate for a Scholar­ship; That what Opposition he found, was only from a Blockhead of three Years stand­ing. What Pity it was to nip him in his early Bloom, to check him in his Tour, to illegiti­timate this Eaglet, who presumes he can gaze on a Meridian Sun, whilst his blear'd Eyes and dazl'd Organs obviously bespeak his Original spurious.

Here indeed is unparallel'd Arrogance, and unpardonable Reflections upon one of the greatest Bodies of Learning in the Universe; so that his thoughtless Raillery against me is the less to be regarded. Nor had I now taken notice of his empty Abuses, had he not shel­ter'd himself under the Patronage of so emi­nent a Person: And let him be assured, shall not hereafter, without greater Proofs of Mo­desty and Learning, trouble my self with such an Adversary. I cou'd enumerate more egregious Follies in the Piece of the same Stamp; but what have been observed are sufficient. I shall not therefore trouble the World with any more of his undigested Ri­baldry.