Legends no histories, or, A specimen of some animadversions upon The history of the Royal Society wherein, besides the several errors against common literature, sundry mistakes about the making of salt-petre and gun-powder are detected and rectified : whereunto are added two discourses, one of Pietro Sardi and another of Nicolas Tartaglia relating to that subject, translated out of Italian : with a brief account of those passages of the authors life ... : together with the Plus ultra of Mr. Joseph Glanvill reduced to a non-plus, &c. / by Henry Stubbe ...

THe favorable Censure of the Reader is craved for what Errors have happ'ned in Printing, which the Authors leisure hath neither permitted him to prevent nor correct: However I am to desire that these two may be thus read, viz. In the 2 Pag. of the Dedication, line the 11. for (your Supporters) read (their Supporters) and pag. 105. lin. ult. read Libavius.

N. H.

Legends no Histories: OR, A SPECIMEN Of some ANIMADVERSIONS Upon the HISTORY of the Royal Society.

Wherein, besides the several Errors against Common Literature, sundry mistakes about the making of Salt-Petre and Gun-Powder are detected, and rectified: whereunto are added two Discourses, one of Pietro Sardi, and another of Nicolas Tartaglia relating to that Subject. Translated out of Italian.

WITH A brief Account of those passages of the Authors Life, which the Virtuosi intended most to censure, and expatiate upon: Written to save them the trouble of doing any thing besides defending themselves.

TOGETHER With the PLUS ULTRA of Mr. Ioseph Glanvill reduced to a NON-PLUS, &c.

BY Henry Stubbe, Physician at Warwick.

At vos interea venite ad ignem Annales Volusi, cacata charta. Catullus.

Printed at London, and are to be sold by the Book-sellers there. 1670.

The Preface to the Judicious READER.

IT may perhaps, and that not unjustly, be wondered, that I should appear in behalf of the Antient and Aristotelian Philosophy, who have always been thought averse from it, and inclined to that which is more Novel. And it is true, that I have not such a veneration for the Peripatetical Physicks, as some others have, nor do I think they so satisfactorily explicate the Phoenomena in sublunary things, as that an inquisitive brain can acquiesce therein: but this is not so mnch the deficiency of that Learning, as of humane Nature; the attempt if self being so little feasible, that whosoever shall design any such thing, shall involve himself in the like miscarriages, as appears from what Gassendus, Des Cartes and others have done, from whose performances the greatest advantages we have yet derived is, that it seems manifest how easie a thing it is to find defaults, and how difficult to amend them; and how the Man of Stagira was not singular in his faylors.

If the Cartesian Hypothesis seem to be demonstrated sufficiently in this, How false that Cartesian assertion is, the learned and pious Dr. More hath in sundry pieces demonstrated. that it is agreeable to the general occurrents of Nature, and solves the difficulties emergent, as if it were absolutely true: If this, I say, may pass for sufficient proof, I know not why a Physician may not submit unto the like conviction, who dayly experiments that the Aristotelian Philosophy (which with some little discrepancie of opinions, and diversity of explications hath been transmitted from the Asclepiadae, Anton. van der Linden. de circuitu sanguin. Exercit. 5. Sect. 221. Hieron. Mercurialis de hom. generat. c. 2. Andr. Laurent. anatom. l. 2. q. 17. Hippocrates, and Aristotle to their Alexandrine, Grecian, Sarracenical, and Christian Physitians through so many ages, revolutions, and different Climates) is most conformable to the Subject about which his Faculty is employed, the explanation of Diseases, their Nature, their Symptoms, their tendency, and Cure? Not only the Chyrurgical, but Medicinal part of Physick hath been carried on and stated upon those general grounds, and that with such assurance, that where any learned and solid practitioner of that way shall happen to be at a loss, those which are enemies to it, the admirers of the Virtuosi and of Odowde, have not been able to make any considerable advantage thereby. Most that the Novellists have done, is to find out new reasons for an antient practice, and to shew how the old Medicaments wrought to their effects in another way than was supposed: but they have neither discredited the Medicines, nor Method with any understanding men: Whatever superlative discoveries have been made of late, a short time and tryal hath convinced us of the i • utility of the most famed inventions and Theorems; and the tedious, costly, new Medicaments have scarce continued to be nine days wonder. I speak not this out of contradiction I carry to these Virtuosi; it is the result of my thoughts after twelve years of deliberation, after observations accurately made in my own practice, and in that of other antient men: and as it is known how I never desired any thing so much as the benefit of my Patients; so I hope I may be bel • eved when I protest that my Ambition and Interest both suggested unto me a desire of atchieving Miracles in Physick, if it had been possible. But, since whatever repute I have required I owe it to that Physick which hath descended down unto this age by the means of such as have been of the Aristotelian and Galenical way, I am but just unto those Worthies in thus declaring against their puny Adversaries, who deserve all that contempt wherewith we depreciate th • illiterate and fools, when they tell us that the Antient M • thod will not qualifie us to work, Mr. Gl •• vil in his plus ul • ra pag. 7. or enable us TO CURE A CUT FINGER, may less discover the nature, and course of Diseases, Mr. Sprat. pag. • 17. and 327. the operation of Druggs, and the righ • compounding of them for the benefit of the sick.

Although that this Reason might sufficiently justifie me for what I have done, yet I had more powerful inducements which pressed me unto this design; and those are the exigences of the English Monarchy; whereunto since the good Providence of God hath subjected us once again, it is the prudence of every particular person to contribute all he can to the support of it, against all such intendments as may either introduce Popery on the one side, (which renders the Title of our King, and his power precarious, and will subvert the whole Commonalty of England in their Estates, Whosoever would be satisfied about the imprudence v • nity, and perniciousness of all attempts to subvert the M •• archy of Eng • and now, and introduce a Democracy; I would advise him to read over the Political discourses of Mal •• zzi in Tacitus, disc. 3. Boccalini advert. cent. 2. advert. 30. Paolo Paruta disc. polit. c. 8. Chr. Fo • stuer. in Tacit. l. 1. p. 3, 4, 5, 6. Ut verissime dixerit Cosmus Me • ices Cardinali Salviato, in tanta • pum inaequalitate, morumque corruptione, Floren • inam Rempub. non esse amplius lib • rtatis capacem, quae optari potius quam sperari debeat. The reas • ns why the last Brutus miscarried in his design, will convince any man. not to mention the concern of our Souls, and that intellectual slavery whereto we must submit) • and against all Ana • chical projects, or Democratical contrivances, whereof a debauched and ungenerous Nation is not capable, and which cannot take effect without such variety of changes, as no sober man will think upon without horror, nor any that is wise pursue as feasible. I do avow therefore that the desire I had to contribute what I could to uphold the Fundamental Policy of these Kingdoms, was the prin • ipal motive I had to write this Treatise: and that how willing soever I was otherwise to discharge all intelligent persons from the insupportable prating of these Comical • its, and to avenge my own faculty upon • hese insolents, yet the circumstances which I saw might create me future troubles and vexations were such, that nothing less than a generous and necessary inclination to serve my Countrey could have made me despise them. I have so small a regard for deep and subtle inquiries into Natural Philosophy, and the intricate Mechanismes by which this World is said to be governed, that could Physick be unconcerned in their debates, could Religion remain unshaken amidst the writings of these Vertuosi, could that Education be carried on happily whereby the Subjects are qualified to serve their Prince in all Negotiations and Employments, and their Countrey in Parliament, I should not entermeddle: but, if we look de facto upon these Experimental Philosophers, and from too fatal tryals judge how little they are fitted for those trusts • and management of business by that so famed Mechanical Education: and if we con • ider how much this Nation owes to Burleigh, Walsingham Iewel, Abbot, Perkins, Whitaker, Usher, Davenant, Casaubon, &c. & • hat by complying with these Novel projects for the breeding up of Youth, we deprive our selves of all our hopes to see such persons either in Church or State; we must rise as high in our resentments against the Authors of this History, & Mr. Glanvils Books (where more than • n • or two Virtuosi that contributed unto it) as the concerns of the present Age and of our posterity can animate us. The Art of reasoning by which the prudent are discriminated from fools, Mr. S • rat. pag. 324. which methodizeth and facilitates our discourses, which informs us of the validity of Consequences, and the probability of Arguments, See Mr. Glanvill's • lus ultra pag. • 23. & pag. 118, 119. and manifests the fallacies of Impos • ors and Comical Wits; that Art which gives life to solid Eloquence, and which renders States men, Divines, Physicians and Lawyers accomplished, how is this cried down and vilified by the Ignoramus's of these days?Mr. Sprat pag. 341, 342. What contempt is there raised upon the disputative Ethicks of Aristotle, and the Stoiques? And those Moral instructions which have produced the Alexanders and the Ptolomeys, the Pompeys and the Ciceroes, are now slighted in comparison of day-labouring! Did we live at Sparta, where the dayly imployments were the exercises of substantial vertue and Gallantry, and men, like setting-dogs, w • re rather bred up unto than taught reason & worth, it were a more tolerable proposal (though the different policy of these times would not admit it) but this working so recommended is but the feeding of Carps in the Ayr, the weighing of a pike in water, the cooling of Wine with Sal Armoniac, (published long ago by Berigiardus) the guilt varnish (no secret to some Trades-men in London) or the inventing of an Ambling • saddle. As for the study of Politicks, and all Critical Learning together with Church-History, these are either pedantical, or tedious to those who have a shorter way of studying Men? Mr. Sprat pag. 32 • . Those Metaphysicks which the constant po • icy of Christendom hath found so advan • ageous, that wit • out a Miracle we could not have born up against the Heathen-Philosophers, Arrians, Sarracens, and Socinians, and out of which we do so confound the Papists, these must be laid aside; and are we not then in a • it posture to encounter Bellarmine, and Baronius? I remit these things to the consideration of all serious patriots, and do earnestly desire that they would with attention read over Campanella concerning the Spanish Monarchy,I follow the English Edition of Campan • lla, and do recommend these places, especially the last Citation, to every serious Patriot his consideration. Ch. 23 • pag. 142. ch. 25. pag. 157. ch: 27. pag. 177, 182. and the last part of the History of the Royal Society, and maturely whether the projects of the one be not put in execution by the other.

I doubt not but this attempt of theirs was no part of the intentions of their Royal Founder: I am sure the publique utility is more dear unto Him than the giving of some men an opportunity to entertain their Melancholy, and divert their idle hours, or to acquire the reputation of Airy wits and Drolls: if He be their patron, it is certain that He is the Father of his Country, and the Head of the Church; the obligations he hath to these are so great and so near unto him, that these little Engagements must give place thereunto: Nay, He hath herein been Exemplary to his Subjects, by withdrawing much of his Encouragements, and testifying frequently his disesteem of these Experimental Philosophers. Thus many of the Nobility, most of the Physicians, and other understanding and serious persons have either totally deserted the Society, or discontinued their presence at their Assemblies. And I could wish they would not abuse the World with • alse Catalogues, but give us a true one of such men as do now frequent their meetings, keep correspondence with them, and pay the usual contribution.

Having so great Presidents to justifie my contempt of them, methinks I need not apprehend the censure of those Illustrious and Honorable personages who might otherwise seem concerned in this Quarrel. The same motives which prompted them to advance the Royal Society, must now excite their indignation against them: the desire of advancing of the Glory, and the trading of this Nation, & of understanding natural curiosities engaged them in this Society; but now that these men have no way answered their expectation, since their relations and Experiments, are so trivial, defective, and false, since that the Authors of this fatal History have more in them of Campanella, than of Mr. Boyl; since they have relinquished the original designs, and deviated so notoriously from the intention of the Royal Founder, and what those Eminent persons purposed, who first closed with them. I will not think them any more involved in this contest, than patrons are where their favours are abused. And I protest that I bring with me all the respect and Honor in the world for those persons of Honor, who in so dissolute an Age gave the world that testimony of their generous intentions, which was to design the improvement of useful knowledge by these men: And I am concern'd to see their Gallantry so abused, so that nothing exasperated my peace more than a resentment for their Honor: Had the Experimental Philosophers acquitted th • mselves in their trust better, yet ought I to have been comme • ded for animadverting upon these Books: the notorious unt • u • hs and Errors against common Literature were such, that Foreiners, who inquire into the Writings and transactions of these Comical Wits, would have concluded that we were universally degenerated into the old British ignorance, and that the Baras once more swayed in this Land: But I have taken off from the generality of this imputation; and dare presume that those that were no more than Honorary Members (and consequently not concerned in the private contests and suits of the Corporations they so stand related unto) will express a kindness for my performance.

Having thus excused my self to the persons of Honor, I shall bri • fly say something to those of unquestionable Learning that reside amongst the Society: I am sorry to finde them there, and that I must accommodate to their worth that Ancient saying, Ingenium Galbae male habitat: their number, and interest seems so small there, that this History could pass with applause, notwith • tanding them, and Mr. Glanvil be commended: with what credit can they r • sort unto the meetings of these Comical Wits, whose ridiculous actions reflect upon them, and upon which Assembly to bestow the El • gies of the Learned, or Vertuous, 't would be as improp • r in an Aristotelian, as to denomina • e an Aethiopian to be white because of his Teeth? He must be insensible of • ll merit that can derogate from Sir Robert Murray, Dr. Wren, or Dr. Wallis: and to suspect that the truly Honorable and inquisitive Mr. Boyle would abet a design that should subvert pi • ty, and the Protestant Religion, doth not become any that knows him, or his Writings. But since good men are often-times made use of to pernicious ends, and unwittingly become instruments of the basest frauds; since none are to judge of Affairs by their tendencie, and not by the persons that openly manage them, I doubt not but even these persons and others of integrity and solid worth will not imagine themselves concer • ed in the maintenance of those Errors, which they cannot approve of, and every one knows they could not commit, nor • inder.

I have been thus large in the Preface to remove all umbrages and misconstructions to which this undertaking might subject me: the Preface also against Mr. Glanvill may seem a little prolix in comparison of the subsequent Discourse; but the Specimen being lodged at London, partly in transcribing, and partly because that the distance of the Term made the Edition less seasonable, I thought fit to inlarge that Preface much during my stay at Bathe, and to annex those other Observations made there, and what else is taken out of the Disputations of Vander Linden about the Circulation of Blood, which Book I could not procure the sight of before.

There be many defaults in the Language, and connexion of • assages which may be liable to some ce • sure: But whilst the •• dy of my Discourse stands firm, the advantages which the •• mical Wits shall derive from those peccadilloes will not be • uch: especially when I shall plead that the work was written amidst the heat of my practice: that the papers were not written, nor any discourse finished at one time, but with fre •• ent interruptions: that the several parcels and fragments were sent to sundry Learned persons to experiment their judgment; that they were joyned together with some alterations and new •• nexions, without any review of mine, at London: several ad •• tions being to be inserted, as they came into my mind, in di ••• s places, and so transmitted by the post: which occasioned great trouble: in fine, had not some publique spirited Gentlemen there undertook to translate the Italian pieces, and to see the work transcribed, and the insertions made, and the connexion in some measure supplied, I could never had leasure to finish my intendments.

After this piece there shall follow the next Term (if God give me leave to perfect what is almost finished now) A Vindication of Aristotle from the calumnies with which Mr. Glanvill hath aspersed his person • in his Letter which is joyned to the Edition of his Scepsis Scientifica, which bears the Arms and is dedicated to the Royal Society,: as as he repeats again and again the same things, so he is still the same illiterate person: having never so much as read over Diogenes Laertius.

There are also three Letters of mine which may at some time or other become publique. The first, to a person of Honor and Member of the Royal Society, shewing how my writing against these Comical Wits doth not derogate from the persons of Qua • lity who are Honorary Members of the same Assembly: especially since they have acted so much contrary to the intentions o • those illustrious Patriots that at first encouraged them; ther • are the passages of Campanella set down, and commented • on • & the third part of the History of the Royal Society animadver • e upon, as being directly subservient to his Propoposals for the r •• storation of Popery, with some occ • ssional Characters, whic • Mr. Sprat, and Mr. Glanvil bestow upon the useful Universit • Learning.

The second, to a person of Honor, no Member of the Roy •• Society, shews, that it is impossible to arrive at any exact Scien •• in Natural Philosophy; that if it were possible, yet th • se Com •• cal Wits and their Method could never atchieve it: I shew he • th • ir negligence in making observations; their falshood in relat ••• them: 〈◊〉 I further pursue Mr. S ••• t for the mistakes ag • inst common 〈◊〉 , with which the Histo • y abounds that they either are ignorant of what is published Antient and Modern Writers, or most egregious plagiaries: 〈◊〉 the Aristotelians and Galenists were never enemies to Expe ••• ments, but cautious about concluding any thing rashly fr •• them, or making such as were unsafe and inconsistent with good conscience: and that the Experiments recorded by the • enical Physicians infinitely surpass as to Physick, and even Natural Philosophy, what ever th • se Comical Wits can pretend unto. I add, that the deep study of Natural Philosophy is not requisite, but rather destructive to all Polities, (as appears by History) neither is that or the Mathematicks necessary to the improvement of Manual Trades and Arts, since those Countries where Philosophy and Mathematicks, have been generally ignored, (as in Asia, and during the times of the Romans luxury) Mechanical Artisans, and such Manufactures have most flourished: that the Luxury which is now in fashion hath nothing in it that may compare with the ingenuity of the Antient Vertuosi: that those of old Rome did make an Icarus to fly, and in his flight to fall down and besprinkle Nero with his Blood; whereas our Fopps have been these many years studying how to flie, yet have not so much as effected the most facile part of • he attempt, which is, to break their necks.

The third is to a learned Physician, shewing the damages our Faculty hath sustained by these impertinents: the condition of Physick and Chyrurgery as it is at present by reason that the Divines, Mountebanks, Quacksalvers, Apothecaries, and every • ude Experimentator countenanced by the principles and repute of these Virtuosi, all practise it: the inconveniences to the Monarchy thereby are considered; and the unreasonableness of what the Virtuosi alledge, as also the vanity of sundry of their Experiments (besides what are old, and impudently obtruded on us for new) is demonstrated.

And if there be any person worthy of my indignation that will justifie the Rhetoricalness of the History of the Royal Society, I will write a fourth about that, shewing that choice of words, and • smooth and numerous period is not compleat Eloquence; but if • he Subjec • -matter be foolish and irrational, 'tis a sort of mad • ess in the judgment of Tully: and that if all the instances of pu • • ile & jejune Eloquence were lost, which are recorded by Sene •• and Quintilian, I protest I could supply a great part of that d • mage out of this famed History: and if any fitting Adversary declare hereupon, I will make these Comical Wits as much • enounce the A • tient Orators, as they do now the Philosophers.

I should here put an end to this Introductory discourse, but tha • 'tis fitting the world should know how not only illiterate, but mean-spirited these Vertuosi are: when I declared that I would animadvert upon Mr. Sprat, and Mr. Glanvill, these Comical Wits not only intimated to me, but in all places divulg'd that if I attempted any such thing, they would appoint some ingenious men of their number to write my Life, thinking hereby to terrifie me, and make me fear their Satyres, who despised their Lea • ning and other abilities. The effect of this their project was such, that I found all persons of Honour and ingennity to condemn it universally: pitiful Mechanicks, that being so ridiculous already, multiply occasions of further contempt! The course is usual amongst the Papists, and therefore less to be admired or strange in these Virtuosi. When the Bishop of Spalato writ his excellent Books against the Romanists, they answered him by calumniating his life: when Padre Paolo writ the History of the Council of Trent, the Jesuit Palavicini begins his Anti-History, with a long debate, wherein he attempts to prove that the Author of the said History was an Heretique, and Atheist. This procedure of his hath been laughed at every where, and Caesar Aquilinius a Papist, thus censures it.

• aesar Aquili • us de tribus Historicis Concilii Trid • n • ini • p. 18, 19, 20. An Petrus Soave suerit Haereticus an Atheus? Questionem hanc proponit Henricus initio praefationis ad suam Censuram, loquens enim de Petro Soave, haec addit, Scriptor Haereticus an Ath • ista? nihil oportet inquirere: quare ipse Quaestionem hanc ut superfluam contemnendam potius quam examinandam & determinandam judicat. Palavicinus vero existimans statim uno ictu adversarium, atque ejus Historiae sternere autoritatem, Quaestionem i • tam proponit, & solvit, asserens in primo introductionis suae limine Petrum Soave fuisse Haereticum, & quod pejus est, Atheum: hoc etiam addit secundi voluminis initio in epistola quam tribuit sui operis Bibliopo • ae. Probat hoc ex quibusdam verbis Manu scriptarum epistolarum, quae juxta ejus sententiam Petro Soave tribuun • ur • Ve • um satis stultè videtur incedere, & a •• imulatur ei, qui umbram insequitur relicto corpore: habet prae manibus Historiam Concil • i Tridentini scriptam ab • illo & typis datam, in qua tanquam in speculo posset cognoscere, quaenam sit Petri Soave Religio. An Catholicus, an Haereticus? An fortasse Atheus? & laborat apud nonnulla privata manu scripta, qua vel vera non sunt, vel certe ancipitis expositionis.—Primus igitur Palavicini ictus satis vanus & inutilis est, & ipse videtur assimilari homini, qui cum non valeat suis viribus inimicum vincere, utitur clarioribus, & maledicis vocibus: debuisset solum respondere ad opposita, quae in illius Historiâ inveniuntur, & non lacessere hostem injuriis & imitari prudentiores, ac Sanctos Scriptores adversus Haereticos, qui relictis injuriis tantum eorum doctrinam confutant ac damnant.—

In fine, I was so far from being daunted at those rumors and threats, that I enlarged much this Book thereupon, and resolved to charge the Enemy home, when I saw how weak resistance I should meet with. I knew that recriminations were no answers; and that a sober vertue needed not to stand in fear of any aspersions. I understood well that the passages of a life like mine, spent in different places with much privacie and obscuririty, was unknown to them;'Tis a kind of Impiety to disturb the buried: and oftentimes the exposing of things to the Air that have been long kept close, or the opening of Tombs, hath raised vapours so pestilential thas they have almost ruined flourishing Kingdoms and Seigniories. that even those actions they would fix their greatest calumnies upon, were such as that they understood not their grounds, nor had they learning enough and skill in casuistical Divinity to condemn: that it would be imprudent in them to look beyond the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion, which was more necessary to many of the Royal Society than to me; nor can their deportment be justified, as mine, who joyned with no party, frequented no Conventicles, writ very honorably concerning the Episcoparians, and pleaded for their See my preface to the Good Old Cause. Toleration: I was at Westminster-School when the late King was beheaded: I never took Covenant, nor Engagement. In sum, I SERVED MY PATRON; I endeavoured to express my Gratitude unto him who had relieved me being a Childe, and in great poverty (the Rebellion in Ireland having deprived my Parents of all means wherewith to educate me) who made me a King's Scholar, preferred me to Ch. Ch. C. in Oxon. who often supplied me with money, when my tender years gave him little hopes of any return, and who protected me amidst the Presbyterians and Independant • , and other Se • ts, with no • e thereof did I contract any relation or acquaintance: my familiarity never engaged me with ten of that party, and my genius and humor inclined me to fewer. I neither enriched, nor otherwise advanced my self during the late troubles, and shared the common odium, and dangers, not prosperity with my Benefactor. I believe no generous man, who hath the least sense of bravery will condemn me; and I profess, I am ashamed rather to have done so little, than that I have done so much for him that so frankly obliged a stranger, and a childe. When Gracchus was put to death for sedition, that faithful friend and complice of his was dismissed and mentioned with honour by all Posterity; who when he was impeached, justified his Treason by the avowing a Friendship so great, that whatever Gracchus had commanded him, he would not have declined it: and being further Ques • ioned, Whether he would have burned the Capitol at his bidding? He replied again, That he should have done it; but Gracchus would not bid such a thing. They that knew me heretofore, know I have a thousand times thus apologized for my self: adding, that in Vassals and Slaves, and persons transcendently obliged, their Fidelity exempted them from all ignominy, though the principal Lords, Masters, and Patrons might be accounted Traytors. And I am so far from dreading the Censure of the world (especially from Cavaliers) that I believe most men wish their favours so well placed, and that in their exigencies they might meet with as brave acknowledgments. My Youth and other circumstances incapacitated me from rendring him any great Services; but all that I did, and all that I writ, had no other aim than his interest; nor do I care how much any man can inodiate my former Writings, as long as that they were sul • ervient to him.

I think this defence to be the most proper and seasonable that I can now make; and I will not suffer my self to be engaged in any Disputes that may contribute to the dissettlement of this Nation, and Monarchy; it will therefore be but meanly done to assault what I now abandon; and to revive the mention, nay, perhaps to contrive any answer (after so many years omitting it) is scarce prudential. I have been confirmed by the Right Reverend father in God the Lord Bishop of Winchester, and they that would write my life well, must consult that excellent Prelate, and a Letter which He hath of mine: I have lived in Communion with the Church of England hitherto, as standing upon the foundations laid by Qu. Elizabeth; and my neighboring Diocesans of Worcester and Lichfiel • can certifie with how much respect I have demeaned my self to them upon occasion; and I abhor all thoughts but such as shall contribute to the support of the Monarchy, the Protestant Religion, the Honor and welfare of th • se Kingdoms. Having made this Declaration, let them (or more able men than they) write against any piece of mine which hath been published since his Majesties restoration, and consider the manner of my assertions; and let them write the life of a man who hath some vertues of the most celebrated times, and hath reserved himself free from the Vices of these, I shall not regard their malice, nor value the indulgence of a sort of people whose credit (since the Answer to Mr. Sorbier, the History of the R. S. the Calumnies against Aristotle, and the Plus Ultra of Mr. Glanvill) cannot equal that of Amadis de Gaule, King Arthur, Timaeus, or Schioppius. All that they shall say of this nature will be notorious, and illiterate malice; and my Reply shall be a scornful silence.

I shall add now, that in such times as I thought it our interest to subvert the Monarchy of England, and the repute of the Clergy, I was passionately addicted to the new Philosophy, and motioned several ways for the introducing it amongst the Gentry and youth in this Nation; I was confident that it would render all the Clergy contemptible, and take from their esteem and reverence in the Church, whilst they must seem egregious fools in matters of common discourse; nor did I question but the Authority of all Antiquity in spiritual affairs would vanish when it appeared how much they were mistaken in the common occurrences and Histories of Nature. How rational this opinion of mine was, and how it is verified in these days, let the Hierarchy and Universities judge.

To the two famous Universities of this Land, Oxford and Cambridge, the Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors, Heads of Colledges and Halls, Professors, Fellows, and Students in the same. Reverend Fathers and Gentlemen,

THe goodness of the Quarrel I am engaged in makes me fear no Judges; but yet to chuse the most competent: I am secure of the honest and true; but submit the decision to the learned and prudent. All that are sensible of those studies by which the Morality, Religion, and Civil Policy of this Nation hath been carried on happily before these Impertinents & Innovators; and how this Nation is declined and debauched from every thing that is serious and sober now, are convinced of the justice of my complaints, and how necessary it was that some body should attacque them; but it is for you to determine of the validity of my charge, and of those proofs with which I come to implead them. I am not troubled at the glorious Titles with which these Comical Wits boast themselves; Of the Lyons which they bear, they have only this faint resemblance, that they are not so brave as they are painted I have stooped the Talbots (your Supporters) for them, and if they ever hunt well hereafter, this Age knows whom they are obliged unto. The name of Virtuoso signifies as little with me, as it does in Italy, where they will bestow on a Pastry-Cook or M • llener, even with that fair accessional of molto Illostre; But it seems a little too open and palpable to fetch the project of the Society from Italy, and their name too: though Campanella contrived the former, yet would He not have advised them unto the latter; and if their invention were so barren as not to suggest unto them a fitting denomination, they might without robbing meaner Artizans, have borrowed one from the Academy of Perugia, or some where else there, and stiled themselves the INSENSATI, &c. It is manifest now that the Antient Learning (and not only the Natural Philosophy) is the Rubbish they would remove; Mr. Gla • vi •• pag. 91. This work they have so diligently pursued, as if they had forgot Their first and chief Employment, carefully to seek, and faithfully to report how things are de facto—This Specimen acquaints you with what integrity they perform their undertakings; and if the Ensamples they exhibite to the world, whilst They are yet probationers for the glory of Natural Philosophers, if they be so faulty • what estimate may we rationally make of those that are laid up in the Treasury of their Archives? Mr. Glanvill tells us, pag. 90. that They have done more than all the Philosophers of the notional way, I shall hereafter give the wor • d an examen of the rest of the 〈◊〉 : and I, design to try them by that piece. since Aristotle opened his shop in Greece: which saying (he adds) may perhaps look to some like a bold and fond sentence; but whosoever compares the Repository of this Society, with all the volumes of the Disputers, will finde it neither immodest nor unjust; and their History hath given us instances sufficient of their Experiments and Observations, and Instruments to justifie a bolder affirmation. —I am indeed apt to believe that all the Philosophers of the notional way in Greece, Alexandria, Arabia, Spain, and the rest of Europe, neither have, nor would have attempted anything like to what they have done; and when I reflect upon the lamentable narratives and proposals which their History, the Transactions and other Books of theirs represent unto us, I think they purpose to grow famous, as the Turks do to gain Paradise, by treasuring up all the waste paper they meet with. But I shall not anticipate your censure, nor endeavor to prepossess you against them by the sense of your interest, nor exasperate your passion any way: Be as unbyassed as it is possible; Be as Loyal and Monarchical, as any English-man imaginable; Be as great friends as you can to the Protestant Religion, sober vertue, and the real Honor and utility of these Kingdoms; I wish for such Arbitrators; and your Sentence shall never be declined upon those accounts, by

Your affectionate humble Servant. Hen. Stubbe. Warwick Octob. 6. 1669.

A Specimen of the Animadversions upon the History of the Royal Society.

EPicurus and those of his followers which declined the Vide Diog • n. La • rt. l. x. & notas Menagii pag. 275. entermedling with such employments as related unto the Government of their Countrey and Civil Policie, did agreeably to their inclinations and principles, slight and vilifie all that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Vid. Diog. Laert. ubi supra. Menagii notas pag. 260. 274. & Vos. de Phil. Sect. c. 8 • Sect. 2, 3, 7. course of studies consisting of Grammar (which in its extent included all Critical Learning, History and Chronology) and Rhetorick, and Logick, and even Mathematicks. That great Epicurean Philosopher Metrodorus had the confidence to Plutarch. in libello quod non potest suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum. write unto one, that whereas he was ignorant of the first Verses in Homer, and understood not whether Hector were a Trojan or a Grecian Commander, nor any of those things almost which were the subject of common discourse and knowledg, yet he should not be troubled thereat. We have seen in this Age not only the Philosophy, but the Ignorance of that Sect revived, but with this disparity, that wheras the former Epicureans did own & avow their being unacquainted with that sort of Literature, our Modern Insolents pretend to understand it in such perfection, that the Empire of Learning as well as of Wit, and solid Philosophy should seem included in the same walls. But how vain such their pretensions are, and how justly I charge them with the imputation of ignorance, is apparent to any that are conversant with the Books that wear their Name, and by their ordinary Discourses. I shall vindicate my Censure by instancing in those pieces which had more than one C • mical Wit to pen them, and which if they be not the most elaborate & substantial that it is possible for that sort of men to produce, the world must suspect henceforward their discretion, as much as now their abilities. The History was many years in writing, and the Author assures us, he had no mean assistants in that work: Mr. Glanvill wanted not a convenient space of time to perfect his Plus ultra; he consulted with several of the Virtuosi for materials wherewith to advance their Renown, and si • ence not only his opponent, but all opposites against the Royal Society. I know some that he writ unto about it • and others saw his papers as they were remitted unto him, blotted and altered. The result of all which their care and pains is, that whereas some only imagined that these men were a company of talkative and superficial—now it is become past denyal by any body.pag. 170. Who can with any patience read how this famous Society sent to the Governor of Batavia in the East-Indies to know what grows in Mexico in the West-Indies? How poor and mean are their inquiries, not such as serious men design to erect a Natural Philosophy upon, but to yield empty fellows, and the Impertinents matter for Table-talk! Just so when I went to Iamaica and desired that Honorable Personage Mr. Robert Boyle to procure me some directions for Philosophical inquiries in that Countrey; He, with blushing and disorder, tendered me from them a ridiculous paper which concerned most some particularities of China, and those Oriental parts: Had not that paper been lost, I would have printed it; but if they please to remember it, it is about half a sheet of Instructions given to an East-India Captain, and beyond any Almanack were to serve for all Meridians, Pag. 7. and Countreys, though the enquiries were specialties. I can scarce endure to hear Mr. Sprat tell us, that the graver and more reserved Aegyptians did confine their Philosophy to their Temples. There is a great noise made by some concerning the antient Hieroglyphical Learning of the Aegyptians; but I never heard that it was confined to their priests by the graver Authority; but rather that a company of cheating lying Rogues did make fools of the people, and by pretences of a sacred and mysterious Character amused them: they had little of Natural Philosophy; somewhat more of Geometry and Astronomy: all their Knowledge amounted not to much, as Conringius hath Conringius de Medicin. Hermeticâ. demonstrated; and after that the Sucessors of Alexander had setled themselves in Aegypt, that foppery decayed, & the grave Aegyptians at Alexandria endowed the professors of Physick and sundry Philosophies there, (the place or Colledge was called Museum, Strabo lib. 17.) and erected Libraries, and furnished the Roman Empire with Physicians to the days of Valen • inian, and Domitianus—misitque Alexandriam qui examplaria describerent; emendarent. Ita discimus tempore Do •• tiani non caruisse Bibliotheca Alexandriam; nam semper Urbs illa professores plurimos a luit. Pag • in. Ga • du • t. de Philos. apud Roman. c. 168. p. 456. pag. 7. Domitian with Books. But it were unpardonable in a common School-boy to pass by the Ionique and Italique Philosophers un-mentioned; and to tell us, That in Greece the most considerable (and indeed the only successful) trials were made at Athens? Whereas, if we regard Natural Philosophy, I believe the Cyrenaic Philosophers in the Court of Dionysi • s made v • ry succesful Exp • rimen • s: and their number is parallelled by Lypsius (if my memory fail me not) in his Stoical Manuduction, to any that Ath • ns ever saw. and abstract from the Experiments of the Aristotelians, there was never any thing in Athens could compare with the discovery that Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and Anaxagoras made, which were of the Ionique Sect: and since the Dialect in which he writ (not the place of his Nativity) authorizeth me to do it, I shall reckon Hippocrates amongst the Ionian Philosophers, and Mr. Sprat may be certain he is not to be accounted for in Athens. And as to the Italique and Eleatique Sects, dare any man say they, that they were inferior to Athens, or that their trials were un-successful; who knows the performances of Pythagoras, Empedocles, Acron, Parmenides, Melissus, Leucippus, Democritus, Ocellus, Lucanus, Archytas, Archimedes, &c? At Alexandria (a place we may not improperly reckon in Greece, since not only Mr. Sprat omits the mention of those Professors as Aegyptians; but they writ in Greek, followed the Grecian Con • ing. de Med. Hermet. c. 12. pag. 152. account and customes, not Aegyptian; and as Athenaeus shews (lib. 4.) taught Greece it self Philosophy and the Liberal Arts) if we remember that it was the seat of Euclides Mathematicus florui • temporibus P • olomaei Lagidae, eoque regnante primus Alexandriae docuit Mathesia: ut ex Proclo diadoch • videre est. Voss. de Phil. Sect. c. 11. Sect. 1. Euclid the Mathematician, and there is scarce one Mathematician recorded but was related to Alexandria as Vossius shews. Valde autem illud commendat Scholam ab Euclide erectam Alexandriae, quod non solum multos reliquerit discipulos; de quo auctor Pappus in septimo collectionum Mathematicarum; sed ab ejus tempore, usque ad tempora Sarracenica vix ullum invenire sit nobilem Mathematicum; quin vel patria fuit Alexandrinus; vel saltem Alexandriae dederit operam Mathesi. Voss. de Scient. Mathemat. c. 1 • . pag. 52. The same is avowed by Sir Henry Savil in his second Lecture. Post Euclidem enituit Archimedes—& Eratosthenes. Hos insecuti Apollonius Pergaeus, Geminus, Theodosius, Menelaus Geometra dictus, & alii ex Schola fere Alexandrin • profecti omnes, usque ad tempora Sarracenorum. There flourished Herophilus and Themison, and Dioscorides, and many other Professors of Physick, Anatomy, and Philosophy (even Chymistry, and the Philosophers-stone) 'tis extreme imprudence to mention Athens thus! But, to gratifie him further than he deserves or can expect; to yield that up to Aristo • le and his Peripatetick followers in Athens which cannot seem due to such as Mr. S • rat. pag. 327, 817. spent their time in idle talking and wandring under the fruitless shadows of nature, in their first institution, (as their successors have done ever since) and were utterly useless in respect of the good of man-kinde. To grant our Virtuoso more than the walks, porches, and gardens he prates of, do merit, what a stranger is he in the History of Philosophy, and how ignorant of the Subject he discourseth about, not to know what Dialects the Grecian Philosophers writ in, nor how elegant was their style? Some used the Ionique, o • hers the Dorique dialect, and those embased several ways according as their humors, their Countreys, or the novelty of the Subject put them upon it: And even at Athens, neither the Stoiques, not Epicureans were so solicitous about Rhetorick, as to chuse that for Philosophy which they could most eloquently express. And since Plato had his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and Aristotle his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and other terms and expressions, 'tis hard to think that they did so regulate their Philosophy by their regards to the ornaments of speech, as Mr. Sprat imagines. How comes it to p • ss then that our Historian intimates to us ('tis a new invention! to give the Comical Wits their due, though foole • ies) that the Athenians were the Did the Athenians teach Hip • ocrates, or Democritus to write? did these two shew so great a care of eloquent language that they chose their Philosophy accordingly? Or did not the one in the Ionique, the other in the Dorique phrase joyn many words and expres • ions thereby to describe their Philosophical sentiments. Read over, Oh! tres- • aute & tres-agre • able virtuose Diogenes Laertius, & Foesius before you tell these Stories. Masters of the Arts of speaking to all their Neighbours [which is fal • e concerning the Ionians, and probably of some others] and so might well be inclined, rather to chuse such opini •• s of Nature, which they might most elegantly express, than such which were more useful, but could not so well be illustrated by the ornaments of Speech.

Mr. Sprat further informs us, (and who can deny him to glory of being the first discoverer?) that in the City of Athens the knowledge of Nature had its Original before either that of Discourse, or of humane Actions. pag. 8. —This is notoriously false; for it is manifest that Anaxagoras Clazomenius first brought from Miletum news of Natural Philosophy to Athens, Vossius de Phil. Sect. c. • . Sect. 7. teaching it to Pericles and Euripides: and before that time there were Orators, and Moral Philosophers, as certainly as ever there was a Solon, or Isocrat. in orat. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . the Sophist • at Athens.

I must profess here in the Introduction that 'tis an hard thing to write against men that understand nothing: and that it is not my present intention to manifest all those mistakes against common reading and Literature, which are in that History. I shall insist now but on some, but such as are so gross as to justifie the most harsh of my censures, and to gain a belief from my Reader, that those who could not prevent these faylors may be guilty of an infinite more. I appeal unto my Reverend and Learned School-Master Dr. Busby at Westminster, whether he, or any other Learned man, would have admitted of, much less have applauded such an Exercise as Mr. Sprat offers to his Majesty by way of Dedication? Do a few empty though smooth-placed words make up all Rhetorique? Is this Nation sunk so low, that non-sense and ignorance can be voiced for the most Exemplary Eloquence that late years have published? Cicero de orato • . l. 1. Oratio, si res non subest ab oratore percept • & cognita, aut nulla sit necesse est, aut omnium irrisione ludatur. Quid enim tam furiosum, quam verborum vel optimorum atque ornatissimorum sonitus inanis, nulla subjecta sententia • ut scientia? The Epistle follows, and is this.

The Dedication of the History of the Royal Society unto his Majesty. To the King. SIR,

OF all the Kings of Europe, Your Majesty was the first, who confirmed this Noble Design of Experiments, by Your own Example, and by publick Establishment. An Enterprise equal to the most renown'd Actions of the best Princ • s. For, to encrease the Powers of all Mankind, and to free them from the Bondage of Errors, is greater Glory than to enlarge Empire, or to put Chains on the Necks of Conquer'd Nations.

What Reverence all Antiquity had for the Authors of Natural Discoveries, is Evident by the Diviner sort of Honor they conferr'd on them. Their Founders of Philosophical Opinions were only admir'd by their own Sects. Their Valiant Men and Gen • rals did seldom rise higher than to Demy-Gods and Heroes. But the Gods they Worshipped with Temples and Altars, were those who instructed the world to Plow, to Sow, to Plant, to Spin, to build Houses, and to find out New Countries. This Zeal indeed, by which they express'd their Gratitude to such Benefactors, degenerated into Superstition: yet has it taught us, that an higher degre • of Reputation is due to Discoverers, than to the Teachers of Sp • culative Doctrines, nay, even to Conquerors themselves.

Nor has the True God himself omitted to shew his value of Vulgar Arts. In the whole History of the First Monarchs of the world from Adam to Noah, there is no mention of their Wars, or their Victories: All that is recorded is this, they liv'd so many years, and taught their Posterity to keep Sheep, to till the Grounds, to plant Vineyards, to dwell in Tents, to build Cities, to play on the Harp and Organs, and to work in Brass and Iron. And if they deserved a Sacred Remembrance for one Natural or Mechanical Invention, Your Majesty will certainly obtain Immortal Fame, for having established a perpetual Succession of Inventors.

I am, &c. THO. SPRAT.

Animadversions upon the Epistle aforesaid.

IT is a sign that our Virtuoso is little acquainted with the condition of Europe, and that the Intelligence of these Curieus • is as bad or worse than ever deceived the Man of Stagyra, in that he says, that of all the Kings of Europe his Majesty was the first, who confirmed this Noble design of Experiments by his own example.—Had not the Emperor Rudolphus a Colledge of Chymists to promote Natural and useful Experiments in Physick and Philosophy, Mr. de Silhon in the second part of h •• Minister of State, disc. 7. observeth, but commends not the Emperor Rudolphus, in that he made a Shop and Forge of his Cabinet, and reduced all his Imperial thoughts into the search of the Philosophers-stone, and to make Watches and Dyals. did he not oftentimes work himself in those Laboratories where they had Rulandus and others for his assistents? take the testimony of one that was present with him. Martin. Ruland. in dedic. ad progynanasm. Alchemiae. Nec attinet superiorum annorum Imperatores, Principes, & totam Nobilium familiam citare; cum manifestissimum sit, multum studii, laboris, diligentiae atque sumptuum in nobilissimam hanc artem [Chemiae] collocasse Augustissimum nostrum Caesarem Rudolphum adducere licebit, quem publica fama passim constat, artem hanc Alchemiae impense amare, artificiumque studiose de • is exquirere, non raro ipsa Chymi • a aggredi, tractandaque nec dedignari. —Did not Alphonso the last King of that name in Naples try many Experiments in his Gardens? and when he poorly abandoned his Countrey and Riches to the French, did he not (admire him, O ye Comical Wits!) did he not with several choice Seeds remember to ship some excellent Bottles of Wine, and so retired to Sicily? Did not King Charles the First encourage and assist Dr. Harvey in the Disquisitions about the Circulation of the Blood, and Generation of Animals? Hath not there been at Florence an Academy for Experiments in all manner of Philosophy promoted and kept on foot by the Ducal Family? Is there not, by the encouragement of the Popes, a Laboratory and Colledge of Iesuits at Rome, whose great work hath been for many years to enquire into all natural Curiosities? is it not there that Schoinerus, Kircherus, Ricciolus and others have flourished before ever this Royal Society was thought upon? How long hath the Duke of Holstein kept up his Laboratory and Chymical Colledge at Gottorp? If all these be not Crowned heads; yet there are enough of them to take off from the generality of the assertion made by our Virtuoso; and the rest serve to extenuate the complement: But if I had gone about to reckon the Cyrenaic Academy under Aristippus at Sicily, and the Colledge of Virtuosi under Petronius Arbiter in Rome, as the establishments of European Princes; Dionisius and Nero had quite spoiled the flattery of this saying:Read the life of Nero in Su • • ouius, and reflect upon it. yet any one that hath read Plutarch, Suetonius, or Martial, can tell the exploits of those Mechanick Philosophers, and how they depraved one of the best Emperors in the world.

As for the publique Establishment of these experimental Philosophers, I do grant that our King was the first that did such a thing: but the formality of a Charter, their President and Mace, and other such circumstances make more for their Grandeur, than the King's glory, except that the usefulness of the design appear: the ignorance and folly of these Comical Wits, the Members of it hath more of disgrace in it, than there is honour in the whole foundation; it being more for his prejudice that it should be proclaimed abroad (as 'tis by this Historian and Mr. Glanvills writings) that our Nation are a generation of illiterate fools and Coxcombs, than 'tis for his credit that they have inutile and insignificant desires after knowledge.

"An enterprise equal to the most renowned actions of the best Princes.—I have oftentimes reflected upon those Actions whereby Princes have acquired the fame of great, and good, but I never found any that gained either of those Elogies, by any knick-knacks of Experimental or Mechanical Philosophy alone: there have been some that making some of these inquiries of their innocent divertisement, & by doing all those actions which gain a repute of political wisdom, courage, justice, piety, &c. have transmitted an honorable memory of themselves: but these tranghams as they are contra-distinct to sober and substantial vertue, are so far from being Actions equal to t • e most renowned enterprises of the best Princes, that they do not expiate for other their faults: as any man may learn from the lives of those infortunate Princes, Dionysius and Nero. What writer advanceth the repute of Alphonso, or justifies him for murthering and oppressing his Subjects, and losing his own, whilst he kept his Garden? Is Dio • letian more famous for those ingenuities, or infamous for his persecution of the Christians? I do not think that the establishment of this Society, (had all things answered mens wishes, and out-done their hopes) would have been mentioned with so much honour as the most renowned actions of the best Princes: since the actions that relate to goodness and piety admit of no comparison, (being of different Natures and kinds) but when a foo • , (as here a Virtuoso) holds the Scales. I should not pardon my self, should I oppose the Heroicalness of this enterprise, with the actions of Constantine raising Christianity; with those of Iustinian or Theodosius in compiling their Codes: with the actions of our Black Prince, or Henry the Fifth: or with Henry the Eighth in demolishing Abbies, and rejecting the Papal Authority; or Q • een Elizabeths exploits against Spain: or her restoring the Protestant Religion, putting the Bible into English, and supporting the Protestants beyond Sea: I Would fain know whether the making of a Golden-Chain of 43 Links to the chain, the Lock and Key being fastned and put about a fleas nec • , she drew the same, all which, Lock, Key, and Chain weighed but one grain and an h • lf; as How relates in his Chronicles of Queen Eliz • beth. Ann. Regn. 18. 1576. yet whether did his inven • ion (surpassing all ever heard of the R. S.) render Mark Scaliot (the author) equal in glory or renown to his Sovereign Princes • and her best or most famed actions; neither is it voyc • d as the most important atchievement of her Reign, though it were an u • usual improvement of the Powers of Mankinde, our Rebellious and vexatious Fleas. It is not for any man that pretends to be an Aristotelian, to make such comparisons; much less to to infer as Mr. Sprat does. But the rea • on which he gives why the establishment of the Royal Society of Experimentators equalleth the most renowned actions of the best Princes, is such a pitiful one as Guzman de Alfarache never met with in the whole extent of the Hospital of Fools.

For, to increase the Powers of Mankinde, and to free them from the bondage of Errors, is greater glory than to enlarge Empire, or to put Chains on the necks of Conquered Nations.—

These Consequences are twisted like the cordage of O • nus (the God of sloth) in Hell, which are fit for nothing but to fodder Asses with. If our Historian mean by every little invention to encrease the Powers of all Mankinde, as an enterprise of such renown; he is deceived: this glory is not due to such as go about with a dog and • hoop: not to them which keep dancing Horses and Bears; not to the practisers of Leger-de-main, or upon the high or low rope, not to every Mountebank and his man Andrew: all which with many other Mechanical and Experimental Philosophers, do in some sort encrease the Powers of Mankinde; and differ no more from some of the Virtuosi, than a Cat in a hole doth from a Cat out of an hole; betwixt which that inquisitive person As dry as dust Tossoffacan, found a very great resemblance. Neither is it worth the while to go about to dis-abuse Man-kinde about every little error: to rectifie every vulgar mistake about natural Phoenomena, this is an enterprise God never delegated any man unto; Moses who was faithful in all his Reiglement omitted the contrivance of our illustrious Society: Christ and his Apostles mentioned it not, but were content by • heir Language to countenance those Vulgar Locutions, the Refutation whereof is now so Renowned and Important. It is the Utility of Inventions that acquires a Value to them. 'Tis not the encreasing of the Powers of Man-kind by the project of a Diving-bell, which our Nation holds Equivalent to the ending of a War, at the first Battle. 'Tis not a Pendulum Watch, nor Spectacles wherely divers may see under water, nor the new Ingenuity of Apple-Roasters, nor every Petty discovery or Instrument of Ingenious Luxury must be put in comparison, much less be pr • ferred before the Protection, and Enlargement of Empires.

;That all Antiquity had such a Reverence for the Authors of Natural discoveries, as to bestow a Diviner sort of Honour upon them, that the Gods were Worshipped with Temples and Altars, were those that instructed the World to Plow, to Sowe, to Plant, to Spin, to build Houses, and to find out New Countries.—This is a tale hath so much of Ignorance in it, that I believe no School-boy ever uttered the like. The Task is difficult, if not impossible to state the several distinctions of the Paynim Gods, and to adjust unto them their Honors, The Dii Majorum Gentium, or those whom Tully reckons upon as having gained a worship general • y before the world was aware, and he opposeth them to such as by their merits gained adoration: so that they we • e not worshipped as Inventors. according as they are distinguished into Dii Longentes or Majorum Gentium: and the Semi-Dei and Heroes and the Semones: It is true that amongst the principal Gods these are recounted, Iuno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mercurius, Iovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo. and although it be true that most of these were Autors of Natural discoveries, yet it is first observable how all Antiquity had such a Reverence for them that were eminent for Moral vertue, civil Prudence, and those Qualifications that inable a Prince to Govern well, that they made Iupiter to be the chief of all the Gods, and the most powerful of them all, whose Fame lay in the Arts of Government, in his Governing his Subjects in Crete with due admiration of Iustice, in preserving his Land and Naval-Forces, in advancing of Commerce and all those Sciences that are useful in a Society. They made Iove the Father of Pallas, and Mercury the Deities of Artisans and Mechanical Philosophers. It is false that the Gods they worshipped with Temples and Altars, were those that instructed the world to plow, to sowe, &c. For it is evident that all these Honors were conferred on such as were not Inventors, so that he makes an Antithesis where there is none. For the deified Emperors, the Heroes and Semi-Dei shared all these Honors with the greatest Gods, and some of them in as eminent a manner as most of the others; which any man knows that understands what veneration Hercules was in,If you read the Dedications of Altars to Augustus, and other Heroes, you will see the Laws of them were the same with those of Diana in mount Av • ntine. See Ro • inus Antiquit. l. 2. and what Tenth • were vowed to him, and what Priests he had. Every Writer almost tells us of Temples or Fanes, called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 erected for the Honor and the Worship of the Heroes; Thucid. l. 5. vid. Hen. Steph. in vocibus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . also of their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 • of their Sacrifices and Festivals, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . He was not deified for his Natural Philosophy, of whom Virgil saith, Eclog. 1. Nempe erit ille mihi semper Deus; illius aram Saepe • ener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet Agnus.

It was the same person to whom Horace relates: Viventi tibi maturos largimur honores, Iurandasque tuum per nomen ponimus aras.

It was not for such curiosities that Iulius Caesar had his place amongst the Gods, and how he was worshipped learn from Maro thus: Ipsa sonant arbusta, Deus, Deus, ille, Menalca. Eclog. 5. Sis bonus ô foelixque tuis. En quatuor aras, Ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duoque altaria Phoebo: Pocula bina novo spumantia lacte quotannis, Craterasque duos statuam tibi pinguis olivi. Haec tibi semper crunt, & cum solennia vot • Reddemus Nymphis, & cum lustrabimus agros. Ut Baccho, Cererique, tibi sic vota quotannis Agricolae facient? damnabis tu quoque votis.

It is manifest then to any man of common reading, that the Gods, the Antients worshipped with Temples and Altars, were not only those that did teach them to plant, &c. And it is observable, that such as were deified upon any such account gained such Honors in the most ignorant times and Nations: the more prudent generations, which deified the vertuous, the wise, the valiant, conferred no such respects upon every trivial Inventor of Mechanisms. Even Rome did so contrive the Temples of Vert • e and Honor, that there was no ingress for a Virtuoso there: no coming at the Temple of Honor but through that of Virtue. And Tully when he recites those • erits which advanced men to Heaven,Rosin. Antiq. Rom. l. 2. c. 19. Cicero de leg. l. 2. he names them thus. Ast olla, praeter quae datur adscensus in coelum mentem, virtutem, pietatem, fidem, earumque landum delubra sunto • Even when the deifying humor possessed ignorant Mortals, I can frame no other judgment of things, than that there was much of chance in their advancement: for oftentimes the greatest Inventions did not gain one those Honors which were payed to inferior discoveries. These discoveries are greater than what our Royal Society have produced: so that they might have missed o • T • mples and Alt • rs notwithstanding that they contrived the royal Catherines's first Mo • el, and built the double ke • l'd Exp • riment; which how she carried her self upon a tacque, how she would bear up against the wind, how she would live in a great Sea, their Historia • tells n • t, but puts us off with a fob. I do not finde that Tiphys who first built a Ship, or Triptolemus, who was unci monstrator or atri, had the honors of Demy-Gods: nor that Perdix who invented a Saw was deified, but when his Master cast him head-long from Minervas Tower in Athens, they feined that he was turned into a Patridge, not a God: so that for ought I can perceive by this Story, had any man found out an Ambling-Saddle, he might have been thought converted into an Owl, in stead of being worshipped with Temples and Altars. Neither was Daedalus so deified for his ingenious way of pimping for Pasiphae; nor Perillus for the Mechanical contrivance of the of the Bull of Phalaris the Tyrant. In fine, from the days that Sparta flourished to the Empire of the Mancha und • r the ingenious Author of the Experimental History of Don Quixote, I do not find that the little inventors of trivial and useless toys, though improvements of reall knowledge, and of the powers of all mankind, have had that honor which Mr. Sprat intimates. I shall recommend unto my Reader the description of a most accomplished Virtuoso in Maximus Tyrius, Sermon • . his name was Mithecus, one not famous for ancient Learning, no Orator, Sophister, or notional Philosopher, but a man that was for the improvement of useful knowledge in Cookery, viz. Hujus Sophistae studium eo tendebat ut conficeret opus quod, Maximus Tyrius Serm. • . citant • Jacob. Mazonio de comp. Arist. & Platon. Sect. • . pag. 25 • . quod voluptatem haberet una cum utilitate ipsa temperatum. Quippe qui concinnandis dapibus ita operam daret, ut escas acceptas ratione condimentorum temperamento, vari • tateque, atque ignis ministerio vescentibus jucunditatem praebe ••• s meliores multo quam pro natura propri • efficeret. None can deny this person the repute of an eminent Virtuoso, an improver of the powers of man, and a discoverer of vulgar Errors, (I know a Member of the Royal Society who hath nothing in him but the skill to dress a Carp well) this man was admired by all Greec • almost, but not deified: he met with no Temples, nor Altars, but coming to Sparta, he offered to reclaim them from their Black Broth, and wretched Cookery, and to instruct them in those dishes which might be called (in the phrase of our Historian) the useful Arts of life. But the Magistrates of Lacedamon did summon Mithecus before them, 〈◊〉 . Spta. p. 119 and banished him immediately out of their Territories. I find in Michael Cerrantes in the Preface to the second part of the Manchegal Experiments, a narration concerning an ingenious person in Spain, who was esteemed as mad by his Neighbours, though he did those feats that that might have rendred him considerable to some of the Society, and gained him an immortal fame in Philosophical transactions.Preface to the second part of 〈◊〉 History 〈◊〉 Quixote. The passage runs thus. There was a Mad-man in Sevil which hit upon one of the prettiest absurd tricks that ever Mad-man in the world lighted on; which was: he made him a Cane sharp at one end, and then catching a Dog in the Street or elsewhere, he held fast one of the Dogs legs under his Foot, and the other he held up with his hand. Then fitting his Cane as well as he could behind, he fell a blowing till he made the Dog as round as a Ball: and then • holding him still in the same manner, he gave him two claps with his hand on his Belly, and so let him go, saying to those that stood by (which always were many) how think you my Masters? Is it a small matter to blow up a Dog like a Bladder? However in this the most Dull Members of the Society are redevable to their Historian. He hath shewed that the Ancient Paynims did worship such Blocks as some are now; and that those heretofore would have passed for Heathen Gods, whom all sober and Serious Protestants look upon as Heathens. Their Founders of Philosophical Opinions, he says were only admired by their own Sects. But although Mr. Sprat say it, I am assured that Plato, Pythagoras and Anacharsis were admired by mor • than ever saw them, or were their particular Scholars, and ••••• wers. That Aristotle might admire his Master, and Pythagor • s, and Dem • critus, and Socrates; that a Stoique might pay very great respect to Epicurus, is as credible, as that Tully should esteem the Friendship of Attic •• ; or Brutus revere Cass • us; or Sen • ca expatiate in commendation of the Tutor of Metrodarus: or that the Seven Wise men should so admire the wisdom of 〈◊〉 another, as to transmit the Golden Tripos from themselves and followers, each to the other. But that those Antients he so much talks of, did confer those Diviner sort of Honors upo • the Founders of Philosophical Opinions and built some of them Temples and Altars, De 〈…〉 Mr. Sprat might have learned from Tertullian, who says, Plerosque Autores etiam Deos existimavit Antiquita • , nedum Divos, ut Mercurium Aegyptium cui praecipue Plato adsuev •• : ut Silenum Phrygium cui a pastoribus perducto ingentes aures suas Midas tradidit, ut Hermotimum, • ui Clazomenii mortuo Templum contulerunt; ut Orpheum, ut Musaeum, ut Pherecyden Pythagorae Magistrum. But it is too much to expect that our Virtuoso and Divine should have read Tertullian. These are not times wherein men have will or leisure to look into those Antiquated Studies; to be Wits and agreeable company, to be Poets, to see, and understand and write Plays; to talk of and pretend to certain To • ish Experiments; these are Cares of such high concernment, that all Philology is but Pedantry; and Polemical Divinity, Controversies with which we are Satiated. Howsoever one would have thought the ordinary stock of School-learning might have instru • ted Mr. Sprat in the Mythology of the Ancients, better than to have ignored these things. He might there have learned that the Thracians, and particularly the Getes (the most Iust, and most Valiant Nation amongs • them) did deifie and offer Sacrifice, and pay all those Honor • , which were held to be most Divine unto Zamolxis, Vid. 〈◊〉 Laert. lib. • . cum 〈◊〉 Casa •• o • i, Aldobra • di ••• & M • nagi • . who, whether the Servant, or Predecessor of Pythagoras, it matters not, since Herodotus, Strabo, Laertius, and the Author of the Etymologicon, all agree that he was reputed and worshipped for a • od 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . So saith Strabo of him: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Laertius; He was the Founder of Philosophical Opinions, if Pythagoras was a follower of his; and if ••• hagoras taught him; he was the Promulgator of Philosophical Opinions in Thrace, and having taught them the Immortality, and Transmigration of Souls, and instructed them in their ways of worshiping God, without any mention of his Experimental Philosophy, it i • averred that he gained the esteem and wor • hip of a God. Tha • Hercules was a Philosopher and disciple of Atlas who instructed him in the Do • trine of the Spheres, and Astronomy, is as confidently avowed, as it is He was Deified. So Schrevelius. Con •• at • enim Herculem Philosophum fuisse. Et ratio est, cur omnia illa monstra vicisse dicatur. Vid. Shrevelium in Virgin. Aeneid. l. 1. •• sc. 745. It is manifest that Hercules was a Philosopher; and for that reason he is said to have overcome so many Monsters (which were but Monstrous Opinions) and it is as notorious that for the subduing of those Monsters, he was reckoned a God, honoured with Tithes, Temples, Priests, and Sacrifices; That Plato derived all his repute from the Inventive and Experimental Philosophy, is a thing I yet understand not, but that there wanted not such as reckon him amongst the Demy-Gods, in a time when men had given over the Deifying of Rat-catchers, is certain. Hunc Platonem Labeo inter Semi-deos Commemorandum putavit: Semi-deos autem Heroibus anteponit, & utrosque inter Numina collocat. Veruntamen istum quem Semideum appellat, non Heroibus tantum, sed etiam Diis ipsis praeferendum esse, non dubito, so saith August. de civit. Dei. l. 2. c. 14. And that man of Stagyra, that Idol of Disputers is termed an Heroe by Iul. Scaliger, a man of as inquisitive and Experimental a Spirit, as any of this age or Mechanical Society ever produced. Read his Character, and despair of the like that it will ever be given to any of the Virtuosi, viz. de subtil. exercit. 194. Sect. 4. Barbara ingenia levissimis momentis impelluntur ad Divini atque incomparabilis Herois Obtrectationem. Duae namque sunt Aquilae solae, in natura rerum: altera bellicae laudis, altera literarariae; Illa potentiae, haec Sapientiae: Caesar & Aristoteles. I am ashamed to be put upon the Proof of those things, which their Country School-Masters should have taught them, and so should have prevented me this trouble, which I find not yet to be at an end.

Their Valiant men and Generals, did seldome rise highe • than to Demy-Gods and Heroes. But the Gods they Worshipped with Temples and Altars, were those who instructed the world to Plowe, &c. —By this Antithesis any one will conjecture that the Heroes and Demi-gods had no Temples and Altars, which is a childish and unpardonable Error, as any Boy conversant in the Roman Antiquities will tell him, and I have shewed before: Evander propter summam Sapientiam & Iruditionem, D • mst • r Antiquit. Rom. l. 2 • c. 17. de dii • Indigetibus. pro Deo cultus est ab Aboriginibus: imo Romani Divinos ei honores tribuentes aram Condiderunt, & quotannis Sacrificia obtulerunt, sicut & aliis Heroibus iidem fecerunt, ut testatur Dionysius H • licarnassaeus, lib. Primo. Ara Evandri erat in colle Aventino. No man ever took Hercules or Zamolxis, or • astor and Pollux and Quirinus, or those Roman Emperors that were Deified, as Iulius Caesar, Augustus and others for mo • e than Demy-Gods and Heroes, yet had they Temples and Altars, Priests and Sacrifices, as every School-boy knows. Let any man enquire into the Ethnick Theology, and see if the Authors of Natural Discoveries either exceed in number or dignity the Heroes and Demi-Gods who gained an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by their worth, by being Legislators, Generals, or Kings and Emperors: If they do not, (as 'tis certain they do not) what truth is there in what Mr. Sprat tells his Majesty, that a diviner sort of honor was conferred on them, than on the founders of Philosophical Opinions? And how far will they be to seek, that go to search Antiquity for proofs that an higher degree of Reputation is due to Discoverers, than to the Teachers of Speculative Doctrines, nay even to Conquerors themselves?

Nor hath the true God himself omitted to shew his value of Vulgar Arts; In the whole History of the first Monarchs of the World from Adam to Noah, there is no mention of their Wars, or their Victories. All that is Recorded is this, they lived so many years, and taught their Posterity to keep Sheep, to till the Ground, to plant Vineyards, to dwell in Tents, to build Citie • , to play on the Harp and Organs, & to work in Brass & Iron, &c. I have already demonstrated the Ignorance of Mr. Sprat in Philology and humane Learning. Here he discovers himself to be as little acquainted with the Bible; and seems to have as little of Divinity, as other Scholar • ship in him. It is more than the Text warrants him, to say, That God Almighty mentioned those Discoveries out of his Value of those Vulgar Arts. Who made him Privy to the Secret Counsels of Heaven? or who impowred him to add to the Scripture? Doth he not fear lest God should add unto him the plagues that are written in that Book?Revel. 2 • .18 • It was good advice which Agur giveth.Prov. 30 • 6. Add not to his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou beest found a Lyar. Any man else who had considered how the thoughts of God are not as ou • thoughts; or have imagined that God took notice of those Vulgar Arts, out of a Value he placed on them, wheras he no where shews such an esteem for them, nor takes notice of more important discoveries, which happened within the compass of Mose's writing, • uch is the pulverising of Gold, when Moses burnt the Golden Calf to powder; A thing not to be performed in these days, without the help of Chy • istry. and might have merited his regard, as well as these. He takes no notice who first discovered Minerals; whose Inventions were Gold and Silver, and precious stones; whose project it was to make Linnen, and Silks, and the like. If these Vulgar Arts deserved his sacred Remembrance, as they were Arts, it is certain then that all Arts deserved his Remembrance, and he would have been Iust unto them. I suppose him to have forgot his Logick, and therefore needs to have that old rule suggested to him, Aquatenus ad De omni valet consequentia. But let us leave this Secret unto him to whom it appertains.

I desire to know by what right he calls those Inventors of the said Vulgar Arts, by the Title of Monarchs? Surely they were not such: for neither paternal right, nor Primo-geniture (if they create any Sovereignty, as I am confident they do not) could intervene here so as to justifie him: for Adam lived to see Lamech, which was the ninth Generation: where then could be their Monarchy? or, who were their Subjects? Can any man imagine that Abel was ever a Monarch? or that Cain, at the time when he tilled the Ground (as his Brother kept Sheep) was capable of such a Title? or, that Iabal, Iubal and Tubal-Cain were Monarchs during the life of old Lamech their Father? this is not amongst the things Recorded of them.—For there is no more said of them (if we believe Mr. Sprats great Reading) than that they lived so many years, and taught their posterity to keep sheep, &c. But is this all that is recorded of them? Dare you avow the saying in verbo Sacerdotis? Is the History of the Creation, of Paradise, the fall of man, the punishments of his sin, the promise of a Messiah, the acceptableness of Piety, the odiousness of impiety, specified in the accounts of Cain and Abel, together with the • xamples of God's Vengeance pursuing sinners in • his life, and the terrors of a guilty Conscience; Is the History of Enoch's walking with God, and his Translation; the Relatio • of the wickedness of th • World, and of the Deluge ensuing thereupon; the severe prohibition of Murder; the preservation of Noah; the Sacrifice he offered at his coming forth; God's promise thereupon; His Covenant with Noah: Are all these insignificant passages not worth the regard, not so co • siderable as that Noah (subsequent to all these) planted a Vineyard? whereas he saith, there is no mention of their Wars or their Victories; How can he reconcile this with the Battle of those two mighty Monarchs Cain and Abel, in the which the one was slain, the other remained Victorious? Did not that puissant Prince Lamech kill a man to his wounding? But, above all, who could have imagined that a Virtuoso of this age should not have taken special notice of that part of the all which is recorded of those Monarchs, that relates to Lamech his having two wives? and that the rest begat Sons and Daughters most of them? As to the Discoverers of those useful Arts recorded in Scripture; it is usually observed by Divines upon the place, that the greatest Inventors, and the most ingenious at Experimental Philosophy, were the brood of Cain; and to pretend with so much ado to be the imitators of that wicked progeny, puts me in mind of a sort of Heretiques in Epiphanius, Gen. • . 4.2 •• who derived their pedigree from Cain, and claimed Kin with Core, Dathan, and Abiram. Thus the Teufels a Family in Almain, are said to give as the Arms of their House, a Divel • ules, in a Field Or. The conclusion of that Chapter in which God is pleased to Record those authors of Natural Discoveries, is very remarkable, intimating as if the rise of Experimental Philosophy, were the Ruine of Piety, and that whiles men were so busie about Earthly concerns they had forgot to Worship God. Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord. Which words admit of various Expositions, but such as all carry a reflexion upon the Inventors. Some read it to this purpose; Then profaneness began in calling on the Name of Iehovah. See 〈◊〉 upon the pla ••• With which accords the Chaldee Paraphrase, Then the Sons of man left off praying (or, became profane, so that they prayed not) in the Name of the Lord. Others Expound it thus; that when the Holy Seed Enoch, Mathuselah, Noah, &c. saw impi •• ty to encrease, and that men laid aside all fear and worship of God, to prosecute Inventions delightful and profitable, they began to be troubled, and to call upon God in a peculiar manner, and to preach Repentance. A third party thus senseth it, that when the Sons of Cain busied themselves in the discoveries of Nature, and the divertisements of Luxury, and were called perhaps, the ingenious, and the Curieuse, the Saints and Holy • ace did not seek to be denominated from their Carvings or their Musique; but the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of all solid Wisdom: and by their calling upon the Name of Iehovah were contra distinguished from t • ose Experimentators. Had I been as Mr. Sprat, I would have declined this part of the Rhetorical Address, by reason of this severe reflexion, which he must needs see was obvious to every Adversary.

And if they deserved a Sacred Remembrance for one Natural or Mechanical Invention, your Majesty will certainly obtain Immortal Fame for having Established a perpetual Succession of Inventors. —In the first place Mr. Sprat, I am to seek, How these persons could by their Inventions deserve at the hands of God? What Doctrine of Merit is this you would introduce? Is not the Plowing of the wicked, Sin? Are not the best of men to ask pardon for the defaults that att • nd their best actions? Is it not true, Deus coronat in nobis sua opera? What have we that we have not received? Where then is any desert or boasting? In the Antapodosis of this Period, I exp • cted an inf • rence, that God Almighty would have s • nt some new Prophet or Holy Pen-man • o Record the Natural and Mechanical Inventions of this Age, to perpetuate their Glory, and the Establishing of the Succession of Inventors: But he promiseth no such thing: only he assures the King of Immortal Fame for Establishing this Society of Inventors: whether they invent any thing material or no.

When I consider the Falshood of their Natural Relations • the many • ntruths which He and Mr. Glanvil and other Virtuosi obtrude upon us, as to the Antient Wr • ters and the •• ••• rance; and as to Modern Writers and their Discoveri • s; I fear the Fame his Majesty will acquire hereafter will be, that He (out of his sincere and Generous Intentions to advance the Knowledge and Honour and Welfare of his people) Established a Society of such Experimental Philosophers and Inventors (I believe and hope it will not last to a Succession) that he will become for ever an Instance and Example how much the Goodness and Ingenuity of a Prince may be abused, and the most specious pretences accommodated to mean design • . But what Posterity will think of us, how much their estimate for these Studies may vary, I know not. I know that a few years have changed Extremely the Sentiments of this Age, & the Opinion of Honorable, Iudicious, and Sober persons (such as are and were Members of the Royal Society) is very different now from what it hath been: and that Antient Poet Virgil hath more abettors than Pindarical Mr. Sprat, since he prefers those studies which instruct men in the Arts of Government, that is, that Learning which our Universities intend, before the Mechanical Education of the Virtuosi.

Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera, Credo equid • m, vivos ducent de marmore vultus, Virg. Aeneid. lib. 6. Orabunt causas melius, coelique meatus Describant radio, & surgentia sydera dicent. Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento; (Hae tibi erunt artes) pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectis & debellare superbos. Others, I grant, shall • ould respiring Brass,Mr. Ogleby's Translation. And grave on Marble a more lively Face; Some better plead; and some Astronomers Better describe Heavens motion, and the Stars: Be thou ambitious how to Govern best, In these Arts Roman, thou must be profest, That we a Peace well-grounded may enjoy, Subjects to spare, and Rebels to destroy.

While the Bishops of Rome, did assume an Infallibility, and a Sovereign Dominion over our Faith: the Reformed Churches did not only justly refuse to grant them that, but some of them thought themselves obliged to forbear all Communion with them, and would not give them that respect which possibly might belong unto so Antient and so Famous a Church: and which might still have been allowed it, without any danger of Superstition. — Having represented to the World how little Mr. Sprat is versed in Grammar-Learning, and the Bible: Here he gives me an occasion to shew his Ignorance in Church-History. It is false and notoriously known to be so, by any man that is conversant in the Writings of our Divines against the Papists, that the Grand Motive and Reason why the Reformed Churches did Separate from the Bishops of Rome, was because they assumed an Infallibility and Sovereign Dominion over our Faith. Had the Popes taught the sincere Truths of the Gospel, had they not depraved them with heathenish and Superstitious Follies, Blasphemies, and Idolatry, the Point of Infallibility had never come into Question amongst those who were in possession of Truth and Peace: but when the gross Usurpations, Errors, and Damnable Blasphemies and Idolatries of the See of Rome came into Dispute, and to be refuted by the means of that Critical Learning and Philosophy (assisted by the peculiar Grace and concurrence of God) which our Virtuosi deny; then was this Question started about the Infallibility of the Roman Catholick Church, whether that could Erre? That the Bishops of Rome either are Infallible, or have any Sovereign Dominion over our Faith, was no Question on which Protestancy was introduced and Communion with Papists refused. The Papists themselves did avow it: they held that the Church Catholick could not Erre, and that they, that is the Christians in Communion with them were the Church Catholick. If the Popes Infallibility came to be asserted, it was by the Canonists (impious and indeed Blasphemous Parasites) Sic omnes Apostolicae sedis Sanctiones accipiendae sunt, tanquam ipsius Divini Petri voce firmatae sint. So saies Gratian. Distinct: 19. Canon: 2. But the General Counsels of Pisa, Constance and Basil have sufficiently damn'd this Doctrine. Leo the Tenth in the Lateran Counsel said indeed, that none of his Predecessors had erred (but he evidently erred in saying so) yet he neither did nor durst say they were infallible. The Jesuites of late do (I confess) assert the Popes infallibility, but I well know the Sorbon and the Arr • st de la Cour de Parliament portant que les propositions Contenuës en la Declaratio • de la Faculte de Theologie de Paris. &c. Da. 30. May. 1663. Parliament of Paris, and the Declaration du Roy pour l'Enr • gisttrement des six propositions de la Facult • de Sorbonne, &c. A Paris. 4. d'Aoust 1663. French King too have lately damn'd this Doctrine (of the Popes sworn Janizaries.) Nay so ridiculous is this assertion of theirs, that they neither tell us, nor know themselves, how he is infallible: whether by himself, or with his Consistory of Cardinals or a General Counsel? and then, what is a true General Counsel? who must call it? who have decisive Votes? and whether all or the Major part may be enough to make a Canon? Concerning these (and many such Questions more) they are not agreed, and so cannot assure us of what they are not assured themselves. If any Pope ever did assume a personal infallibility and Soveraignty in matters of Faith, any man might have rejected the bold Assertor without being an Heretick, or being guilty of Apostasy from the Roman-Catholick Church, for the Gallican Church keep Communion, and yet ever denyed the Popes infallibility. In fine, the Point of Infallibility of the Roman-Catholick Church (I am not such a Fool as to say the Infallibility of the Bishops of Rome, for they are confessed to have Erred and that damnably some times) was not the occasion of the rupture betwixt the Papists and the Protestants at first; nor doth it now continue it otherwise then by accident, in as much as it hind • rs the Reformation of those Idolatrous Tenets and practises with which that man of Sin hath filled his adherents, and without the profession whereof no Protestant can be admitted to their Church-membership and Communion. Let any man but comply with them in these Solemnities, and I dare engage that he shall neve • be pressed Authoritatively to own that personal Infallibility of the Pope or his Soveraign Dominion in matters of Faith: So that there must be more Important grounds than Mr. Sprat imtimates for that great Action of • he Reformed Churches; or the imputation of Maleper • ness and horrid Schisme must be fixed on them: But the Truth is, they were infallibly certain Certitudine fidei, as assured as they were of the Truth of the Bible, and Gods word; and as Morally certain as Metaphysicks, natural (That is Aristotelian) Phylosophy, and Skill of Tongues could make them, that the Papi • ts did hold such Errors, as none could know, and Communicate with, without hazard of damnation; Nor any Ignorantly profess and be saved, without the benefit of an hearty though General repentance, and the boundless (but not to be presumed upon) Effects of that mercy of God in Christ, which the Antichristanisme of that Satanicall Synagogue otherwise would frustrate. Tis not dispu • ed betwixt Church and Church whether the Pope can add new Articles of Faith, or vary the old Creed: the current of Popish writers ascribe unto him no such Dominion over our Faith, no nor to their Counsels. They are to enquire Quid traditum est? What there is of Ecclesiasticall Tradition in the Scripture and the Church Doctrine and Practise, and to determine this or that to be de fide, because it hath alwaies been de fide: Every Point that comes short of this declaration, is so farr short of its Catholicisme, and the Obligation to believe it. And now let any man Judge whether Mr. Sprat were of the number of those that were Satiated (to use his own expression pag. 152) with Religious disputes, Nec modus ullus esse debet investi gandi ve • i: Et quaerendi turpis defatigatio, cum id ipsum quod quaeritur sit pulcherrimum. or of those that never looked into them; how necessary soever they be to the support of the English Monarchy, the Church, of which he is a Member, & the Salvation of his Soul, which is of more importance, then these Natural Experiments. I could have with more confidence cryed out, How beautiful are his Feet • and Hands, had I found him employed in the Gospel-work, than in this Society. But he gives me no cause for this Exclamation: that which follows is of so pernitious consequence. —Some of the Reformed Churches thought themselves obliged to fo • bear all communion with them, and would not give them that respect which possibly might belong to so Antient & so Famous a Church. —I am much to seek which of those that wear the name of Reformed Churches did ever hold it lawfull to hold Communion with the Bishops of Rome, and their adherents. For since the Question is not concerning Civil Commerce and Actions of General humanity, Though Mr. Sprat teach us in this History that 't • s u • civil to cond • mn the Religion of other Countries: Y • t the Apostles were not bred up to that civility. but concerning Church-Worship, and joyning with them in the Sacrifice, Prayers, and Ceremonies of their most superstitious Mass (to be present at and bear a part in the Service, and to receive the Sacrament are with them, as with the Church of England, tokens of the Church-Communion, and not the hearing of Sermons) and at other times owning them as a Church of Christ: Since this is the Question, I would willingly learn of our Historian, which of the Reformed Churches hath not forborn all Communion with them and taught it to be necessary to do so? It is true the Church of England hath upon very • asy termes made way for the Papist to come to us, to communicate with us: The Hierarchy, the Ceremonies retained, the very Liturgy word for word being so framed, that whatever they hear or see at our Service is not repugnant to what their Church followeth; as Mr. Hales in one of his Sermons doth shew: And indeed they differ no more than a Bible with the Apochrypha from one which wants it. And this in great part is the foundation of our Penal Lawes against the Papists, b • cause they do refuse to come to hear and assist in the same Prayers and service which their Church useth,Mr. Chillingworth teacheth, that it is imp • ssible for any to hold External Communion with the Church of Rome and not to Communicate with her Errors: and declares he never met with any Protestants that held it lawfull, but he lived n • t to see our Inventors nor this History. or only condemns because it is not of the Pontifical approbation. If the Papists should comply in the manner demanded with the Church of England, it might then be said indeed that they Communicated with us; But not that we held Communion with them, except we likewise resorted to Mass, joyned with them in their prayers, and participated there; which is a thing our Homilies,1 Cor: cap. 10. ver. 20, 21. 1 Cor: cap. 6. ver. 15, 16. the Articles of our Church, nor (I think) any of our Church men ever taught, nor could it be done without danger of strengthening • hem in their Superstitious and Idolatrous waies, and the hazarding of the whole in er • st of the Kingdome of Christ as it is lodged in the Protestants, they being apt thereby to be ensnared, and from a mixing Fellowship with God and Belial come at last to fall into Popish Idolatry.

Certainly neither the Antiquity nor the Fame (Arguments so powerful with Mr. Sprat, but so ridiculous, so extrinsecal to truth, and Baffled by all Protestant Divines!) can warrant this procedure. This the Papists are aware of, who shew no such regard to the Ancient and Famous Church of England. And it is evident that Errors are not the more tolerable, but the more dangerous for being Ancient. Could antiquity or Fame give Credit to impious Communion or Civilities, how ought we to Reverence that old Serpent, whose Antiquity, whose renown, whose extent of Dominion is such, that all which Mr. Sprat so much admires, and Pleads for, is but a part of it. Mr. Sprat, Mr. Sprat let me tell you and some of your fellow-Virtuosi, that there is a tenderness for those without which is Cruelty to those within: and that you must have a care how you destroy those who profess the Gospel and for whom Christ dyed, to gratify such as live in opposition to him in all the Offices of his Mediatorship, & to whom he will say at the last day, I know you not, be gone you workers of iniquity. But I shew too much of the Divine, whilst our Historian shews so little: but I could not dispense with this Passage: and I wonder how it ever could be permitted in such a piece: lest it should be thought to be the Judgement of that Illustrious Society, and that they were making way for the Introducing of som • thing else besides a New Philosophy. It is a Caution which the Apostle Suggests unto me, Take he • d least by any means this liberty of yours become a Stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the Idols Temple: shall not the Conscience of him that is weak, be emboldned to eat those things which are offered to Idols? And through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother Perish, for whom Christ dyed? But when ye • in so, against the bretheren and wound their weak Conscience, ye sin against Christ, 1 Cor: cap. 8. ver. 9, 10, 11, 12.

I can only apply my self to that good Nature, which a Great Man has observ'd to be so peculiar to our Nation, Hist: of the R. S. Pag. 61. that there is scarce an Expression to signify it in any other Language. —This Notion about Good Nature hath so delighted Mr. Sprat that in his Discourse against Mr. Sorbier, he thought fit to propose it to the world, and here to repeat it again. In that Discourse he makes this Observa • ion to be an Instance of the profound Criticisme of the Earl of Clarendon But certainly never was a great Minister of State so abused by an ill defence as that Honorable person was, when such poor things were alledged in his Commendation, he seemed more depreciated by his Apologist, than by his Adversary. I am apt to believe that the Great-man (yet whose Greatness, did scarce surpasse that of Sir. Tho: Moore, or the Lord Bacon, to whom Mr. Sprat compares him) had other Excellencies then a Criticall knowledge of Ancient or Modern Languages. But Mr. Sprat saies this of him—There is Scarce any Language in the world, which can properly signify one English expression, and that is Good-Nature. Though Monsieur Sorbier will not allow the Noble Author of this Note to have any Skill in Grammer learning, yet He must pardon me, if I still believe the observation to be true. —I know not how kind Monsieur Sorbier may be unto him, and how he may practice a quality which is so hard to be Expressed: But I am sure, I cannot indulge him in this Conceit: for if the French do not signify the same by un homme de bonne Nature et homme d'un bon naturel: I am sure that one shall find that the Greeks do equal the Emphasis of our English in that of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and transcend it in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . What other Languages may do, it is for M • . Sprat, and others to determine, without understanding them;If any be not so good a Grecian as to be convinced of the Signification of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 let him but read what Hen. Stephanus in his Thesaurus Ling. Graec. saith of it and he will no longer doubt. I care not to render at present such testimony of my folly.

Mistakes about the SWEATING-SICKNES, and its Cure.

TO shew the great Utility of the Royal Society, Hist: of the R. S. Pag. 75. he sayes They will be able by degrees to purchase such Extraordinary Inventions, which a • e now close lock'd up in Cabine • s; and then to bring them unto one Common Stock, which shall be upon all occasions exposed to all mens use. This is a most Heroick Invention; For by such concealments, there may come very much hurt to mankind. If any certain remedy should be found out against an Epidemicall disease, if it were suffer'd to be engross'd by one man, there would be great Swarms swept away, which otherwise might be easily sav'd. I shall instance in the Sweating-Sickness. The Medicine for it was almost Infallible:☜ But, before that could be generally published, it had almost dispeopled whole Towns. If the same disease should have returned, it might again have been as destructive,☜ had not the Lord Bacon ta-ken care to set down the particular course of Physick for it in his History of Henry the Seventh, and so put it beyond the possibility of any private man's invading it. This ou • ht to be imitated in all other Soveraign Cures of the like nature to avoid such dreadful casualties.

One would think by the words of our Historian, That the Cure of the Sweating-Sickness, were recorded by no Body but the Lord Bacon that it was almost Infallible; that the Sweating-Sickness did not return again; And that the C • re was rather concealed (and needed to be generally published) at first, then to be discovered by Observation and Experiments of those • hat first fell sick. But there is no such thing: for the same cure is related by Polydore Virgil, and Holinshed in their Histories of Henry the Seventh. And the same sickness did rage in the twenty second year of the said King his Reign, as well as the first. And the Cure related was so far from being almost Infallible, that my Lord Bacon only saies it commonly recovered the sick: and after it was so g • n • rally known, yet the twenty second year of that Kings R • ign, many dyed of it (as Holi • shed saith) howbeit not in the same number, by reason of the remedy found out at the beginning of it. To convince the Reader of the truth of what I • ay, and to shew how unacquainted this Virtuoso is in our English Chronicles, I shall set down the words of the Lord Bacon, of Holinshed, and of Polydore Virgil.

Lord Bacon Hist: of H. 7. pag. 9.

It appeared by Experience, that this disease was rather a surprise of nature, then obstinate to remedies, if it were in time looked unto. For, if the patient were kept in an equal temper, both for clothes, fire, and drink, moderatly warme, with temperate Cordialls, whereby natures work were neither irritated by Heat, nor turned back by Cold, he commonly recovered. But infinite persons dyed suddenly of it, before the manner of the Cure, and attendance was known.

Hollinshed Hist: of H. 7. in the beginning.

At length by the diligent observation of those that escaped (which marking what things had done them good, and holpen to their deliverance, used the like again. When they fell into the same disease a second or third time, as to divers it chanced) a remedy was found for that mortall Malady, which was this. If a man on the day-time were taken with the Sweat, then he should Streight lye down with all his clothes and Garments, and continue in his Sweat twenty four houres, after so moderate a sort as might be. If in the night he chanced to be taken, then should he not rise out of his bed for the space of twenty four houres, so casting the cloths that he might in no wise provoke the Sweat, but lye so temperatly that the water might distill out softly of the ovvn accord, and to abstain from all meat, if he might so long suffer hunger, and to take no more drnk (neither hot, nor cold) then would moderatly quench and asswage his thirsty appetite. Thus with luke-warm drink,☜ temperate heat, and measurable clothes many Escaped, Few which used this order (after it was found out) dyed of the Sweat: marry, one point diligently above all other in this Cure is to be observed, that he never did put his hands or Feet out of the bed to refresh or cool himself, which to do is no less jeopardy than death.

Polydor. Virgil. Hist. l. 26. Henrici Septimi.

Eodem anno novum morbi genus pervasit totum regnum, sub primum Henrici in insulam descensum, dira quidem lues, & quam nulla sit aetas antea, quod constet, perpessa: subitò enim sudor mortifer corpus tentabat, ac simul dolor caput Stomachumque vehementi caloris ardore affectum angebat. Quo in morbo homines qui a principio erant, quia alii aestus minus patientes, si in lecto erant, Stragula dimovebant, si vestiti, vestes deponebant; alii sitientes frigidum potum sumebant, alii dem • m patientes caloris foetoris que nam sudor grave olebat, additis stragulis, sudorem provocabant, aequè omnes aut illicò, aut non multo post quam sudare coepissent, moriebantur, ita, ut ex omni aegrotantium numero, vix centesimus quisque evaderet. Neque ulla interim medicorum ars aut scientia quicquam opitulabatur, quin morbi novitas omnem illorum excluderet peritiam. Verùm post viginti quatuor horas (tanto temporis Spacio vis ejus morbi durabat) abeunte sudore, nonnulli confirmabantur: non eo tamen ita expurgati erant, quin iterùm at que iterùm in morbum reciderent, multi que inde perirent. Sed ea 〈◊〉 remedium tanto malo ad ultimum monstravit: nam quisemel primo sudârant, cum deinde rursum aegrotarent, observabant ea quae in primâ curatione, profuissent, et illis pro remedio utentes, addebant semper aliquid ad curationem utile. Item et illi iidem cum iterùm in idem valetudinis genus inciderent, ex priore observatione earum rerum, per quas se confirmâssent, ita se curare didicerunt, ut vim sudoris illius facilé tolerarent. Quibus rebus ita usu venit, ut post ingentem mortalium s • ragem remedium vnicui que promptissimum inventum sit, quod hujusmodi est, Siquis interdiu sudore corripiatur, cum vestitu protinus cubatum eat: sin noctu, et in lecto, tum quiescat, nec se è loco moveat, usque ad viginti quatuor horas exactas: interim ita se stragulis oneret, quò non provocetur Sudor, sed sua sponte mollitèr stillet, cibi nihil capiat, si tam diu famem tolerare possit, neque plus potionis consuetae ac calefactae hauriat, quam modicè satis sit ad sitim extinguendam; inter hanc curationem inprimis caveat, ne manum quidem aut pedem sui refrigerandi, recreandíque causâ, extra stragula proferat, quod facere letale est. Hoc remedium est novo morbo inventum, qui tantum Angliam id temporis pervasit et posthac saep • graviter afflixit.

Those of the R. S. that understand no more than English may compare the account of Hollinshed (or Hall in his Chronicles) with that of the Lord Bacon; the more learned may consult Polydore Virgil, and if they please Fracastorius de contag. l. 2. c. 5. Pareus de pest. l. 25. c. 5. Hollerius de morbis intern. l. 2. c. de sudore. Langius Ep. l. 1. Ep. 19. Beverovicius de. med. veter. part. 3. c. 3. pag: 222. Tho. Cogans haven of health. pag: 272. & Senertus de Febrib. l. 4. c. 15. All of them will be presently satisfied how little the Physicians are beholden to the Lord Bacon, as if he alone had recorded that Cure, which so many besides have committed to writing. Nay it will appear that the account he delivers of that Cure is very imperfect, and such as none but some such inconsiderate Virtuoso, would have acquiesced in, much less have recommended. For whereas the others direct that the sick party if dressed in his cloaths, should immediatly lye downe, without so much as adventuring to put of his cloaths:They were not to sleep during the twenty four hours, as Tho. Cogan observes in the place aforecited: and so doth Caius. This Circumstance, of how great importance soever is totally omitted: and I think that great caution of putting the Hand or Foot, or any part of the body out of bed, or into any cool place (which they all so severely inculcate) is not sufficiently intimated in that expression, of keeping themselves in an equal temper, both for clothes and fire. And whereas they say the Patient, must refrain from all meats, if possible, for 24 hours, which leaves the party at liberty, to comply with the vital indication, in case of extremity,Some having had it twice, died the third time of it, as Cogan relates. otherwise not; of this our renowned Lord makes no mention, nor that the same person might have it twice, or thrice; which is a material observation; nor mentions he the stench of the Sweat, and other Symptomes.

But concerning the Nature and times of the encrease, State and decrease of the disease: and the manner of feeding, and giving drink to the sick (they gave them Beer, Ale, Wine, as well as other Iuleps) according to several exigencies and occasions (upon the observation whereof depended their recovery) it would be too long to transcribe the passages in Caius; and yet without the knowledge thereof this almost Infallible medicine would signifie nothing, or as little as we see good medicaments now do, when they fall into the Hands of a little dabler in Physick, who boasts himself a Virtuoso, or an admirer of them. But in those daies when Caius himself attended, and more particular directions were published in English for the instruction of the people, yet an infinite number of Rich (most of them) and poor were swept away. Quoquò te vertisses, cadaver conspexisses. Continuus undi que nolarum aenearum pulsus, confusus sonus erat. So Caius. Whose Book I do recommend to all inquisitive persons, as containing several Curious as well as necessary observations: nor will I doubt to • ay that if all that ever my Lord Bacon writ, were put into the Scales, (and the History of the R. S. and all their discoveries cast in) that single treatise of Caius for Utility would out-weigh them all, and deserves to be secured from Oblivion by publick Authority, least what afflicted this Nation so miserably at sundry times for fifty years space, should returne again, and produce as direfull-effects as ever.

When I reflect upon this remedy as it is recommended to our admiration, and imitation by this Historian, methinks I begin to doubt that those persons will hardly be punctual in their own Relations, who have the confidence to obtrude upon us such an imperfect one from another. I question not but we are more secured by Holinshed's having set it down, than by its being inserted into the History of the Lord Bacon, the works of the former will be so much more valued then the latter by our Nation, as long as they have any Judgment. The truth is the Lord Bacon is like great piles, when the Sun is not high, they cast an extraordinary shadow over the Earth, which lesseneth as the Sun grows verticall. In the account of the Sweating-Si • kness, what understanding Physician can read without laughter the Character he gives of the disease. It was a pestilent Feaver, but (as it seems) not seated in the veins or humors, for that there followed, no Carbuncle, no purple or livid Spots, or the like, the masse of the body not being tainted: only a maligne vapour flew to the Heart, and seised the vital Spirits, which stirred nature to strive to send it forth by an extream Sweat. But Polydor Virgil and Holinshed prudently decline the controversy about the nature of a Pestilential Feaver, and only tell us that A deadly burning Sweat so assayled their bodies, and distemper'd their blood with a most ardent heat (they being sick in head and stomach) that scarce one amongst a hundred that sickned did escape with life. He that tells me the disease is a Pestilent Feaver, and the Sweat is an effect of nature endeavouring to expell the Malignity: puts me upon some thoughts that I should not have, if I took the Sweating to be the primary disease, or a Symptome consequential to its Malignity. And whereas our Lord saith Nature did strive to send forth its virulency by an extream Sweat: I find not any such thing, for all that recovered were recovered by the continuance of a moderate Sweat: This experience and observation taught them; and the Physitians, imitating those operations of nature, did advise them unto it. All Ex • ream Sweats either Spontaneously happening, or procured by Art, were Mortall. As to the Seat of the pestilential venome, it seemed not to that Lord to be in the Masse of blood and humors, but only in the vital Spirits. And why? because there followed no Carbuncle, no purple or livid Spots or the like. Is it then necessary that whensoever there is a Pestilential Feaver, which affects the Masse of blood, that then there must be some cutaneous eruption, by botch, Carbuncle or Spots? No Physician will say it. Nonnunquam evenit, ut in febre manifeste Pestilenti, ac forté caeteris maligniore, neque papulae, ne que tumores, ne que ulla naturae depulsio conspicia Massarius de febrib. c. 24. But that the Seat of this disease was Principally or solely to be placed in the Masse of blood and humors appears, first from the occasionall external cause of it, a moist season preceding, which multiplyed the like humors in the people; Next it is evident from the Symptomes that attended it, particularly the horrid stench of the Sweat, which issued from them that were sick of it: of which Polydor Virgil takes notice. Sudor Britanicus est quidem Diarius, quia Spatio viginti quatuor horarum perficitur; Ephemera benigna est, Anglica febris maligna et pessima, et symptoma • a habet horrenda, sudorem perpetuum, lipothymiam, cordis palpitationem pulsus frequentiam, et inaequalitatem: adde quod tanta sudoris copia, tam longa convalescentia in • is qui ev • dunt, humores infectos in ea febre indicant esse. Rodericus a Fons • ca method. cur. febr. ut tamen non ob id sub verâ febre diariâ, quae ex Spiritibus calefactis et putridis Fiat, collocari potest. Nam referunt Britanni medici, et proximi Belgae, quod non solum aegrotantes sudant, multo que sudore perfundantur, verumetiam quod sudor iste est faetentissimus: ad haec urinae lividae apparent, ac valde corruptae, sanguis que aliás per vesicam excernitur plurimus, alias effluit per nares, quin et per aures, quando que etiam per oculos stillat, Ex quibus colligitur putrifactionem esse in ipsis humoribus, alioqui laborantibus solis spiritibus urina non mutaretur, nec sanguis adeo copiosé efflueret. Septalius de peste l. 1. c. 21. I have have been thus particular about this disease, thereby to take of the repute a little of my Lord Bacon, as he fell in my way, whose steps our Society pretend to tread in; and that so exactly as even to mistake where he did. If any shall reply in behalf of that Lord, that He was no Physitian, and that in an History, we are not to expect an accurate relation of any disease and its Cure; I shall willingly allow of the Answer; but I must not al • ow Mr. Sprat that excuse, who (not owning the prescription to • e any where else) remits us to the Lord Bacon for a Cure for the Sweating-Sickness, which is almost Infallible, and the pr • servation whereof in that book, secures the world from incurring the like hazard again: which it might have done, had the receipt fallen into the hands of some avaricious Doctor of Physick. Because here is such adoe about a receipt, and that the Society promise us to record many more, (fully as good as this!) I shall inquire into the success of this almost Infallible Medicine a little further.It is observed by Dr. Caius who lived and writ during the last Sweating-Sickness, that it raged five times in this Nation. First in the year 1485. from the beginning of August to the last of October. This is the time Mr. Sprat relates unto. A second time in 1506. during the Summer. A third time in 1517. from Iuly to the middle of December. A fourth time in 1528. during all the Summer. A fifth time in 1551. when it lasted above five moneths, beginning in Shropshire about May. That the Sweating Sickness did rage again in the twenty second year of the Reign of Henry the seventh, I have already shewed out of Hollinshed, and of the success that Method had in curing it, which was indeed such as might give a reputation unto it, though not so great as our Historian fixeth on it. About nine years after. An. D. 1517. in the Reign of He • ry the eighth, the Sweating-Sickness did much infect the Kingdome again: and since it cannot be imagined that in so short a time the people should have forgot a Medicine, which they are observed to have remembred twice as long before, let us see what effect this almost Infallible Cure produced. Truely the disease (notwithstanding this Course!) was of that malignity, as within the space of three hours it killed! Herbert in H. 8. A • . Dom. 1517. This caused the King to leave London, and adjourning three Termes, 1517. to remove Trinity-Terme, 1518. to Oxford where it yet continued but one day and was adjourned again to Westminster. Nevertheless divers Knights, Gentlemen and Officers of the Kings Court died thereof, as the Lord Clinton, the Lord Grey of Wilton, and others of quality; the Vulgar sort so commonly perishing, as in some towns it took away half the people, in others the third part. The same disease again brake out under Ed. 6. 1550. It raged extreamly through the land, Io. Speed in Ed. 6. Sect. 65. wherein died the two Sons of Charles Brandon, both of Dukes of Suffolk, besides an infinite number of men in their best strength; it followed only English men in Forreign Countries, no other people being infected therewith, whereby they were both feared and shunned in all places where they came.

What Speed saith concerning the Sweating-Sickness, that it at that time pursued the English abroad, without infecting the Forraigners where they sojourned; this is confirmed unto us by the learned and accurate Dr. Caius, who saith that it pursued (in the daies of Ed. 6.) the English every where, into Scotland, Holland and France. So that it was in vain for any of them to fly their Country. As to the Forraigners, even the Scots were not infected with it though living in England at that time: nor did the disease then spread abroad so as that the diseased English should infect the Nations they fled into, or conversed with. He observes also that in 1529. When the German ayre became infected with a peculiar sort of malignity (which yet did not difference the disease in its Symptoms or Cure) the same Sickness did seise the Dutch, and not the English, viz. Hi nostro a • re & contagione non laeduntur, sed suo: nos non suus illorum sed noster inficit.

It were easy to prosecute this argument further, and to shew the vanity of this almost Infallible remedy (though amplified with all the circumstances any Physitian, except Dr. Caius, sets down) especially when it falls into the hands of Empiricks, and men of little reading; But I think such labour altogether needless to my present purpose; and it is a Supererogation of my kindness to the Vertuosi, that I give them this ensuing caution.☜ He that would cure this disease as becomes a Physitian, must not rely upon one method alwaies especially in malignant diseases, but attend to the differences of humane bodies, different seasons of the years, and other accidents which alter mens bodies; and where humane search failes us in the discerning of the Causes of that sensible difference that is observed to be in the same disease at sundry times, he must, with Hypocrates, have recourse to the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , in other cases to Dis-Syncrasies. Thus in some years the small Pox is fatall, notwithstanding the best Methods: In other times so gentle, that any Nurse can cure it. Some years the Plague and Pestilentiall Feavers are cured by Vomiting, bleeding, purging, and Sweating; In other years Vomiting, Purging, Bleeding; and Sweating, have proved pernicious: I shall Illustrate this out of the two great Plagues which happened at Leyden, in the Netherlands, one in 1624, the other in 1635. In the First Plague, all that had botches behind their Eares, under their Armepits, or in their Gro • ne, upon the applying of a vesicatory in a convenient place, and the botch being suppurated, and the matter evacuated by the adjoyning vesicatory, the botches vanished without breaking, the malignity and ma • ter contained in the botch • venting it self by that other passage. In the latter Plague, although upon the applying of blisters, the sick amended, and the malignity seemed exhausted, yet did all the botches suppurate and break. In the first Plague all Women that during their being sick of the Plague, happened either orderly or accidentally to have their Menstrua, and all that had the Plague, and did miscarry there, these general • y died: But in the second Plague, it was quite otherwise, many women recovered notwithstanding their abortion; and most women escaped that had those Menstrua, though it were Symptomatically. In the First Plague, all that had purple, livid, or black Spots dyed, almost. But in the second, many escaped who had those Marks. This Henricus Florentius relates upon his own knowledg in his additaments to P. Paaw. de peste. c. 2. pag. 47. and with this passage I shall close up this Animadversion, referring all inquisitive persons to Forrestus and Schenkius in their observations upon this disease; whose Cure is so layed down by them out of Caius, Tyengius, Vissenacus and by Tho. Cogan, by Pareus, Sennertus, Langius, Claudinus, Hollerius, Langham in his Garden of health and others, that any one that is Master of a General and diffused method of Physick, acquainted with the generall rules and cautions and who by a variety of reading is acquainted with the Multiplicity of malignan • and Pestilential Feavers, and that infinite discrepancy that is observed in them, in their Types, Beginning, Progress, Event, and Cure, shall not be at any loss in that disease, should it return again, otherwise then what human i • becillity and the intricacy of the thing subjects him unto. But his Method I doubt will not be almost Infallible. But! what is all this to the Historian?

Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 77. It was the fear of being circumvented, that made one of our wisest Kings d • lay Columbus too long, when he came with the promise of a new world: whereas a little more confidence in his Art, and a small charge in furnishing out some few ships would have yearly brought all the Silver of the West-Indies to London, which now arrives at Sevill,

I do not wonder that our Historian hath not read Holinshed and Polydor Virgil; but how can he be excused for not being conversant in the Lord Bacon's History of H. 7. whose words are these pag. 189. It is certain that the Kings fortune had a Tender of that great Empire of the West-Indies. Neither was it a refusall on the Kings part,☜ but a delay by accident, that put by so great an Acquest. For Christophorus Columbus refused by the King of Portugall (who would not embrace at once both East and West) imployed his Brother, Bartholomaeus Columbus unto King Henry to negotiate for his discovery, And it so fortuned that he was taken by Pirates at Sea, by which accidentall impediment, ☜ he was long ere he came to the King; So long that before he had obtained a Capitulation with the King for his Brother, the enterprise by him was atchieved, and so the West-Indies by Providence were then reserved, for the Crown of Castilia. Yet this sharpened the King so, that (not only in the voyage of Sebastian Gabato, but) again in the Sixteenth and Eighteenth year of his Reign he granted forth new Commissions for the discovery and investing of unknown Lands.

I do not find by this History that the King did suspect Columbus for a Cheat, or put any delayes upon him because he was not satisfyed with his Art. His Brother having been taken and detained by the Pirates, this Columbus applyed himself to the King of Spain, and had Transacted with him and finished his voyage, and first discoveries, before Bartholomaeus Columbus could arrive and finish his Capitulation with H. 7. But had that prudent King doubted of his Art in a Case not yet tryed, where the Discovery seemed as uncertain as were the length and incommodities of the voyage: and where the grounds upon which He went, seemed meerly conjectural, how could he be blamed? For whatever private Intelligence Columbus had from a Spanish Pilot (that dyed in his house) or otherwise, he (being more desirous to make his Enterprise the Child of his Science and Fortune, then the follower of a former discovery) represented no other assurances that all was not Sea from the West of Europe and Africk unto Asia but Seneca's prophe • y, or Plato's antiquity, or the nature of Tides and Land winds and the like. The Lord Bacon terms them only Conjectures, and these Gentlemen who hold that in those daies there was no Philosophy about the Winds and Tides whereupon one would rely, and those antiquities of Seneca and Plato, being but the dotages of two Fooles credulous and apt to conclude too soon, should not condemn the deliberate procedure of that King. Especially since the discovery of the North West though grounded upon better conjectures (as my Lord Bacon saith) then those of Columbus, proved uneff • ctuall in the voyage of Sebastian Gabato whom the King did furnish out with a ship not long after: and so hath the prosecution of the North-West passage since that. I think I could evince further out of the condition that England was then in, not being so populous as of late years, the Scots being un-assured, France, Spain and the House of Burgundy emulating, if not hating him, and the Fleets and Navall power of England being nothing to what it hath lately ri • en unto, that (considering our Scituation in comparison of Spain) it was not so easy a thing as he imagines, to have possessed the West-Indies, and effected that trade and commerce which the Castilian is now master of: but I shall not digress so farr.

Animadversions upon the History of making SALT-PETRE, which was Penned by Mr. Henshaw.

THis History of Salt-Petre hath so many defects in it,Hist. R. S. Pag. 260. that I wonder any one should offer such an account to them, and am more surprised to see it approved by them and inserted into their History as a Specimen of their Narrations for the world to Judg how accurate and inquisitive the Society, and its Members are. The Narration is not only imperfect; but in many parts false, so that for ought I can discerne, the History of Nature which they propose to themselves, will not merit any more Credit (if so much) then that of Pliny: and these Experimentall Philosophers instead of undeceiving the age as to inveterate Errors will multiply new ones. We are told in their History with what caution they proceed in their Experiments,Hist. R. S. Pag. 99. in the making of them, and in the repeating them: they observe all the Chances and the regularities of the proceeding; what nature does willingly, what Constrained; what with its own power, what by the succours of Art; what in a Constant rode, and what with some kind of Sport and extravagance; industriously marking all the various shapes into which it turnes it self when it is pursued, and by how many secret passages it at last attaines its end; never giving it over till the whole Company has been fully certified of the certainty, & constancy, or on the other side of the absolute impossibility of the effect. This Critical and reiterated Scrutiny of those things which are the plaine object of their Eyes, must needs put out of all reasonable dispute the reality of those operations, which the Society shal positively determine to have succeeded.Pag: 100.—Nay, they tell us that there is not any one thing which is now approved and practised in the world, that is confirmed by stronger evidence than this which the Society requires; except only the Holy Mysteries of our Religion. Whether he intend to present the Holy Mysteries of our Religion as fabulous and ridiculous I cannot tell: but whosoever shall reflect upon this Similitude and examine the realty of their Experiments, and particularly of this concerning Salt-Petre, which is a common thing, and the Instance of their care and exactness, will hardly entertain any kind thoughts of these Projectors. Just as I was writing this, Mr. Bagnall had his workmen employed about the making Salt-Petre at Warwick and Coventry, whereupon I consulted with the Operators and received the subject of these following Animadversions from them.

As to that Q • estion which he first proposeth, whether the Salt-Petre which we use • ow, and that of the Ancients, be of the same Species? He might have encreased the Catalogue of such as deny it, by adding Quercetan in his discourse of Gunshot-wounds, and Brassavolus in his Treatise of Purging medicines: Ioel in his discourse of poysons. As for Scaliger, he distinguisheth betwixt Nitre and Salt-Petre. De subtil. exe • cit. 104. Sect 15. He saith and proveth it that the Nitre of the Ancients, is not a thing lost totally, but common to be had in Asia and Egypt and even in Tuscany. Pharm • cop. Spagy • ic. l. 1.7. And Poterius saith, he gathered it in several places about Bononia, and particularly in Monte Paderna. And if Langius be the Author Mr. Henshaw cites (I never heard of any writer called Longius, and am apt to believe it to be a mistake of the Printer) it is plain that he reckons our Salt-Petre as a distinct Species, Epist. l. 2. Ep. • 2. and not as the same with that o • her of the Ancients. Est et alia Nitri Species (marke that!) artis industriâ parata, quae ex stirijs frigore in lapidibus parietum aut testudinum concretis, sensim distillantibus, saxis et caemento accrescit, aut ex putrida et salsuginosa in stabulis terra, veterinariorum urinâ conspersa decoquitur. Novum inventum, veteribus Medicis ignotum. The distinction that Scaliger makes betwixt Salt-Petre and the Nitre consists in the tenuity of their parts, and upon the same ground he distinguisheth Salt-Petre from the number of Salia Fossilia, or Salts digged out of the Earth. Tantum abest, ut sal petrae sit sal Fossile, ut et a Sale et a Nitro distet partium tenuitate. ubi supr • . Tam enim sal quam Nitrum ita uritur, ut cineris quippiam relinquatur. Sal petrae universum absumitur ab igni. What the judgment of Cardan may be, I know not; But Untzerus doth give his reasons why our Nitre and theirs should not be of the same Species. Because that theirs was such as might be eaten with meats, and commonly drunk with wines; it was of a rosy colour, de Sal. c. 1 • . bitter, light, Spungy, and of an Earthy Nature. Whereas our Salt-Petre hath none of these qualities. As for those that hold the Affirmative, their number is not so great as he represents them to be, nor is the general vote of learned men so favourable to that opinion. But the controversie is laid aside, because we have none of that Nitre brought over unto us. Should it happen once to be so, or that we should meet with any Veins of it or Nitrous Waters in Europe where it were to be digged or made without Lixiviating, it is not to be doubted but there would arise several disputes about the Mineral it self and the bodies, that separate from it upon refining. Since there is a great difference in the Salt-Petre of several grounds in England, and some having a greater proportion of Common Salt than others have, Poterius Pharmac. Spagir. l. 1. c. 7. and some abounding much more with Sal Armoniack than others, as the Barbary-Petre, or that which is cast out of the Earth in Italy, or hangs upon old Stone walls in England: whereas that which is made by boiling, participates not at all of the nature of Sal Armoniack. And that many little differnces in the Petre besides these, might have been offered to the consideration of the Society, and found out by them in order to the improving of Gunpowder, is certain: but they are not so serious, as they pretend.The Peter of House- • loors and the like which abounds with Commo • Salt, can never be so refined as to burn, or be so effectual, as that of better Soyl. The common Salt being in part inseparable. And whereas Mr. Henshaw saith that the reason why the general vote of learned men hath been most favourable to that opinion of their being but one Species, was because that in all Latine Relations and, prescriptions, the word Nitrum, or Halinitrum is most commonly used for Salt-Petre. I do not believe any man ever gave that reason: For the word Nitrum is of Greekish originall, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The Greeks and Latines cald that peculiar • ort of Minerall, Nitre, which was in some places digged out of the Earth, Avicen con. med. l. 2. t • . 2. • dit. Plemp • ii p. 71. in others made by the Sun operating upon little Canales made ou • of the Nile, and oftentimes it was cast up of it self out of the Earth (or bred there) in manner of a hoar frost, as it is now in the Indies, and Barbary; the Arabians called it Bauraekh and mention two sorts, that of Armenia, and that of Africk. When the use of Gun-powder had rendred Salt-Petre so advantagious a commodity,I here argue as if our Salt-Petre which is Extracted out of Earth by Elixiviation, were unknown to the Ancients. And I con • ess that notwithstan • ing what Tartaglia and Semi •• o •• z say (whose words I shall rel • te anon I can not perswade my self but that if they had been acquainted with so strang • Ph • nomenon i • nature, they would at one time or other have taken notice of this as well as of other waies of gaining Nitre. That none should either directly or casually let fall a word that might convince us that they knew it, is a strong presumption they were ignorant of it: and though there be no records that tell us when or by whom it was invented, yet it is more easy to comprehend how it should be a mode • ne discovery, and yet the Auth • r unknown (a common accident!) then how it should have been known so long and yet never spoken of by those who have even in the making of Salt • and Nitre taken notice of as minute circumstances. and that modern Artists had found out this way of extracting it out of Earth by Elixiviating it, they gave it the same appellation that the Ancients did to their Nitre, and came to use promiscuously the Names of Nitre and Salt-Petre, both sorts of Nitre being equally subservient to their ends, and being in a manner all one after refining; although Curiosity might be able to multiply distinctions from the different manner of productions, and different constitutive principles that occur daily in the making Salt-Petre. They were the more induced to give ou • Salt-Petre the same name with the Ancient Nitre, because that they had continued the name of Nitre to the same sort of Minerall, though sometimes occurring in a white colour, sometimes Black, sometimes red: sometimes they had it naturally produced; sometimes it was artificially generated in their Pooles or Canales: Sometimes it was of so hard a consistence as not to dissolve easily in water; sometimes it was soft, of a loose texture, and as it were froathy. From this consideration the moderns thought it no incongruity if they gave the same name to their Salt-Petre, which the Ancients had given to a Minerall of so resembling a nature. So Botallus saith. Quanquam adhuc sub judice lis est, num hoc nostrum Nitrum idem sit quod veterum, sensus tamen indicat hoc facultate illi haud absimile esse. So Quercetan saies, Salpetrae nostrum a Nitro diversum est, nisi quod qualitatum communionem forte quandam cum illo habet, quemadmodum sales omnes inter se communionem quandam habent. de vulner. Sclopet. Sect. 10. vide Laurenbergium in aphor. Sal, c. 18. We see in common Salt how great a variety is comprehended under the same appellation. Some is white, some black, some bay, some red, some purple, some digged out of the Earth, some made by the Sun; Some is boild to its consistence; in the tast there is great difference; some more pleasantly Salt than others, some bitter and ill tasted. Some Salt hath a rank smell; some none at all; and in the effects and uses to which Salt is applyed, there is so great a variety and discrepancy that we may justifie our calling the Common Salt-Petre by the name of Nitre. In the mean while it is apparent that the Latines could not use the word Nitrum or Halinitrum for that Salt-Peter which we commonly make; and they must be very ignorant persons that could avow our Salt-Petre and the Nitre of the Ancients to be of the same Species, because that in all Latine Relations and prescriptions the word Nitrum or Halinitrum is commonly used for (ours? or another kind?) Salt-Petre. If ever they had any such it was called Aphronitrum et Spuma Nitri: and no • Nitrum •

But however Mr. Henshaw hath done less then one would have expected in the foregoing discourse;Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 261. he would have done more than I, or any other, towards the determining the Question concerning Salt-Peter, whether it were the same or no, with that which the Ancients used and called Nitre. Let us listen to our Vertuoso, and marke how much the Members of the Royal Society surpass all others of the number of Literati. If, saies he, I could have got any Egyptian Nitre at the Drugsters, I doubt not but I should have been able to have put an end to that Question, by a Demonstration, that is by turning the greatest part of it into Salt-Petre. Here I must first inform our Experimentall Philosopher, that the Ancients had more sorts of Nitre besides that of Egypt, U • tzer. de Sale. c. 1 • . as the Armenian, African, Roman, Babylonian and Macedonian; and as to that of Egypt, perhaps besides that fouleness which is likely to adhere unto it by reason of the muddiness of the Nile, there might be so much of common Salt in it, as would render • hat part of his assertion • alse, wherein he seemes not to doubt but to turn the greatest part of it into Salt-Petre, His own Citation out of Pliny (pag. 263) evidenceth that the Nitre of Egypt was the wrost, and most remote from our Salt-Petre. And when he should have done all this, Yet would his DEMONSTRATION be ridiculous, and be laughed at by every yong Sophister. Pliny and Ki • cher mund. subterran. l. 6. Sect. 2. c. 1. say that the Egyptian Nitre is so solid that it is cut out into Vessels. So the latter. Nitrum juxta Cairum • alo • e Solis tostum in lapide • , vasis consicien • is aptissimum conver • itur. I shall shape the Argument for him by which the Question is to be decided.

Egyptian Nitre may be turned into such Salt-Petre as ours is Ergo, That Salt-Petre which is now in use, and that which the Ancients used, is the same.

TO paralel this Argument; is not this as good an inference, I can turn Sublimate into Mercurius currens or Quicksilver; so as that the most part of it be such: Ergo, there is no difference betwixt Mercurius Sublimatus and Quicksilver; and Ergo, whosoever makes use of crude Quicksilver makes use of Sublimate. Or, is not this as good a Demonstration, I can turn the greatest part of Salt-water into fresh: Ergo, Salt-water, and fresh are the same: and they that drink the former, and they that drink the latter, use one and the same drink. Or may I not demonstrate that the Ancients did season their wines, and Eat that which our workmen call their raw liquor, and put the Question out of doubt thus. I can turn Egyptian; Armenian, or Macedonian Nitre into Salt-Petre: I can turn the raw liquor into Salt-Petre: Ergo, the raw liquor and the other Nitre are all one, and they did eat (not drink!) this raw liquor. I am so well pleased with these kind of Demonstrations, that I cannot but suggest more of them viz. I can turn Gunpowder, the greatest part of it into Salt-Petre: Ergo Gunpowder is no new invention: & the Nitre of the ancients & our Gunpowder were the same. Or, I can turn native Cinnabar even farre the greatest part, 13 ounces of sixteen) into running Mercury or Quicksilver: Ergo, the Cinnabar and Mercury are all one, and whosoever useth or diggeth up the one, doth in Specie, use and dig up the other. But, what if Mr. Henshaw had lighted upon such impure Egyptian Nitre, as upon refining had yielded more of common Salt, th • n of Salt-Petre (which I shall shew to be possible enough) had he then Demonstrated the point? Or would it not have been made evident that the Nitre of the Ancients, and our Common Salt, had been all one? and that when they used the one, they used indeed, nay in Specie the other?

But Mr. Henshaw though he could not get any Egyptian Nitre, is apt to think that the Ancients did not understand the way of refining their Nitre, as we do: and that hence arise the different descriptions of their Nitre and our Salt-Petre:To shew the differences betwixt these natural productions of Nitre, & what Art generates, consider that passage of Kircher: in mund. subt • rran. l. 6. Sect. 2. c. 3. Nitrum no • purg • t • m contin • t ut plurimum tres substantias, Alumen, Salem Crepita • tem, et Nitrum essentiale, quae ex ejus distillation • reperiuntur: Alumen quippe calci •• tur cum servore quodam et • bullitione: Nitrum purum inflammatur consumit • r que Sal crepat, exilit que probat id gustus Aluminosus Salsus, nitrosus—and a little after. Non est Mi • eralium mixto • um sodina, a • t vena m • tallièa, cui nescio sanc qua insita ambitione non associatur Nitrum. I • ter Caetera Sali, Alumini Ammoniaco, caeteris que Salibus, veluti, cognatione, proximis sibi non tan • u • adnascitur, • ed ta suis divitiis implet. which I grant to be true; but yet those accessionall Corpuscles of so many different natures, participating of the natures of Earth, common Salt, Allom, and Salt Armeniack (and God knowes what else) make a very great difference betwixt the one and other, such, as in the common naming of things (even by Philosophers) may well serve to rank them as different. They will not have the same colour, nor the same tast, nor burn in the same manner, nor appear in the same figures; they will not serve for the same uses, being Chymically Analised, they will not yeild the same consti • uent principles. In fine, and upon which the controversie most depends, It will never appear that they were both made the same way. So that Mr. Henshaw by his Demonstration, had no way ended the controversie.

To shew his Ignorance a little more, I would have him to know that the Ancients had not only dark coloured and stony Nitre (which he informes us of out of Pliny) but white, and of those other colours I mentioned out of Hofman, and he out of Galen. And that the Armenian and African Nitre would have made more for his purpose, such as Avicenna and the Moores did use. And that the Moores, did either refine their Nitre, or Nature in Barbary was kind to them in producing better than yet we receive thence, will appear from the account of Nitre or Baurakh, which the Prince gives.

Nitrum probatissimum est Armeniacum, leve, crustosum, friabile, spongiosum, Avic • n: Cano • med. lib. 2. •• . 2. pag. 17. Edit. Plempij. albo, aut roseo, aut purpureo colore, mordax: et Africanum quidem Nitrum cum caeteris Nitri generibus comparatum habet se veluti Nitrum ad Salem. Non estur autem Nitrum nisi magnam gravem que ob caus • m. Nitri spuma est tenuior Nitro, ejusdem que est potestatis. Laudatissima est vitrea (some read it molliuscula) ac fractu Comminatù que perfacilis.

Insigniter abstergit, et abluit, praesertim Africanum, et abradit, et purgat, crassos humores incîdit. At que omnibus aliis Nitri Speciebus modica inest astrictoria vis simul et abstersoria • , levis propter salsuginem, quam habent, praeter quam Africano, hoc enim nullius adstrictionis est particeps, sed purum putam abstergens est et validum: Sali autem adstrictoria inest potestas, sed abstertorica non nisi levis et modica.

Out of which it is evident that the African Nitre, was free from the mixture of common Salt, and came very near to our Salt-Petre (especially the Spuma Nitri, which perhaps was Cristalls of Nitre) in resemblance and operation; but the Armenian Nitre was mixed with common Salt. But that they did Elixivi • te it out of the Earth I do not finde.

In the end of this page he tell us that in the refining of Salt-Petre there is besides common-Salt,

Pag: 261.262.

Hist. of the R. S.

a certain greasy Oil attending it, which doth by nature so wonderfully adhere to every part of the Petre,In that other way which is followed by Pietr • Sardi Casimirus Semien • wicz and Agric • la and other Forreigners, there is not that trouble in the making • or those Mothers that occurre in ours. that the separation of it is the sole cause of the great charge and labour that is required to the refining of Petre. This is true, but I cannot find that our Salt-Petre men do call that Oil the Mother of Salt-Petre, but quite another thing, which I shall explaine hereafter.

I cannot but take notice of that citation which Mr. Henshaw makes use of out of the Exercitations of Scaliger. De subtil: exer c. 104. Sect. 15. Sublustris purpurae quasi Splendor quidem in Salis-Petrae terris saepenumerò est a nobis observatus. This is perfect falsification of the text in Scaliger, & occasioned by Mr. Henshaw his not understanding well the Latin-tongue: Scaliger doth not hold that Salt-Petre is a fossile Salt as he reputes the Nitre of the Ancients to be; but to be a more subtile Efflorescence sticking upon the rocks, and dried by the Sun, and therefore called Sal Petrae, diff • ring from the other in subtility of parts, (as I related before) and hanging upon the stones like Icicles which are in Latin called Stiriae, & Cirri: but Mr. Henshaw, not knowing how to English the word Cirri, nor having Patience to learn, Substitutes terris for Cirris, the text running thus.—Sal fossile Sale marino Crassius est, tum propter coctionem, tum pro • er materiam: • uic enim aquae, illi terrae plus. Utrun que autem ipso est Sale-Petrae minus tenue. Sudor enim est a Nitri quibusdam principiis secundum aliquam proportionem, sed adeo tenuis, totus ut Spuma sit, totus que abeat in ignem.—Quod haeret rupibus, in quibus insolatur, ac propterea Sal petrae dicitur, analogiam habet, at que affinitatis naturam cum ipso Nitro sed aereum magìs est, at que ad Aphronitri potius veterum speciem vergens. Etenim sublustris purpurae quasi splendor quidem in Salis Petrae Cirris soepenumero est a nobis observatus. Out of which it is manifest that Mr. Henshaw altered the text grosly, and that Scaliger meant no more than to compare those Cirri or Stiriae or Icicles of Nitre with the Aphronit • um of the Ancients. And however those Crystalls are white with us in our houses, yet to evince that they may be as well of another colour, as the Aphronitrum described by the Ancients, he saith, he had often observed in the Salt-Petre as it Chrystallised on the rockes a colour inclining to purple.

Hist. R S Pag: 262. And he that shall boyl a Lixivi • m past through a Salt-Petre-Earth, up to a consistence without filtring it through ashes, or giving the Salt leave to Chrystalize, may perhaps find something not unlike the Nitre of the Ancients.

I never though • hi • hly of the observations of these men, and Mr. Henshaw here s • rves me with an instance so pregnant that I cannot pass it by. He pretended in the foregoing page to much converse with the makers and refiners of Salt-Petre, and to some curiosity in his own Experimen • s about it, but (alas) how vaine are his pretensions! how superficiall his enquiries and observations! how little of accura • eness is there in those Scrutinies which ought to be so Criticall and Severe? where is that Certainty which we are to have from them, inferior to no proofes, but what convey unto us the Holy Misteries of our Religion! He observed before that there was a certain greasie Oyl in the Minerall; That Oyl is of such a nature, that if it be not separa • ed from Petre it will never Coagulate into any Crystalls, or imbody: (I speak of our Petre to which he referrs us) and it is his own own observation (pag 273) that after the Salt-Petre Liquor is Crystallized, there will remain some part of it that will not coagulate, being greasie and it must again pass the ashes before it be boyled, or it will never generate any Salt. The truth is Salt-Petre is one of the most odde Concretes in the world, exceeding Sugar: And howsoever Nature, and the Sun in the Earth, or Nitrepanns at Nile, may transcend our Art in the production of it, (the peculiar Aire of the Climate concurring) yet with us it is not made with that facility Mr. Henshaw here insinuates. After the Workmen have extracted their Lixivium out of the Earth in such manner as Mr. Henshaw describes; afterwards they boil that raw Liquor according to what he saies, two daies and a night: and when it is boiled to the height, though it stand never so long in the cool, it will not Chrystallize or Coagulate into any Lumps or Mass, notwithstanding that it is impregnated with a vast quantity of Salt-Petre and common Salt, by reason of that greasy Oyl: To evince this, there needs no more but this Experiment, which is well known to the Salt-Petre-men; if any one will cast a little grease, or tallow into the boiler, when the liquor is past the ashes and depurated, and boiled to the heigth, it will • inder the co • gulation of it, nor will it ever become Petre. This Experiment of casting in the gre • se will not succeed in the refining, but in the first generating of the S • lt-P • t • e. Besides it will boyl over with that violence that they know no way to allay it: This happ • ns more if Soap be cast in. This Liquor thus boiled up, and as yet impure is kept by them for the Mother of Salt-Petre. Having prepared this impure Liquor and boiled it up as to a proofe as they call it, they put it into a Tubb, which they call the Mother Tubb. And this will never coagulate, nor Crystallize, but is called the Mother of Salt-Petre. And that for this reason, because that to make Salt-Petre, they boyl another Copper-full to the just heigth, and when it is come to that, they put into it some of this Mother, and (as soon as it begins to boil) they lade away as fast as they can the whole liquor into their Ash-tubbs, which when it is passed through, it will at the second boiling, let fall the common Salt and Salt-Petre, as he and I shall declare presently. At Warwick they boiled nine tun of raw liquor at once, and when this proportion was boiled to an heigth, they put in about half a tun of the Mother, and so made it. This is the way to produce the Mother when they are destitute: But when they have once made Petre, they keep that Liquor which remaines after the Crystallizing in the panns, that is kept in Tubbs, and is called the Mother of Salt-Petre, and this they carry about with them wheresoever they go, thereby to save them the trouble of making new in the manner I described. Having declared thus much in order to the generating of Salt-Petre amongst us,This Moth • r of Salt-Pe • re is not so called, as if the Elixiviated Liquor having been boiled and passed the ashes and after boiled to a proofe, would not let fall the common S • lt and coagulate into Petre at all: but because by these meanes it generateth a great quantity of Petre and the work is made much more easie. And it is observable that the Mother which remains after the generating of Petre is much more Efficacious then what is made otherwise. If the raw Liquor be, by negligence boiled too high it will become ex • ream Oily or greasi • nor can it be cleared of it by ashes, except it be put in as Mother, to other boilings, and so pass the ashes. If the Mother be put in too soon it spoils the boiling; and if it b • il i • after tis at the height, it will over the furnace. I leave my reader to judge how much Mr. Henshaw clears up the matter by his imperfect accounts from Barbary and Pegu about the natural productions of Nitre. In which I observe that there is no account given of the nature of the soile, nor of those corpuscles that impregnate the Aire there, nor of the times of the year in which it is generated, nor of the influence that change of winds and weather hath upon it. Nor how deep the veines of it lie, whether it be only generated in the surface of the Earth, and propagate downwards or whether it generate lower and propagate upwards. Whosoever shall make these reflections with me (and they are but necessary: I remember that where the Sun makes Salt in Iamaica at the Salt-pa • ns, the times of the year and seasons of weather made a great alteration) he will think that it is not for this Vertuoso to blame the Ancients: And let any man consider the account which Pliny gives, as Mr. Henshaw cites him, and he will find even that man (as much, and as justly as he is condemned) was more accurate then our Historian. And if the learned Theodorus Collado passed this Censure upon his naturall History; viz. Opus recreandis curiosorum animis, non Erudiendis Scientiae cupidis, idoneum: nec Philosophicum, nec medicum, sed Historicum. Vir equidem fuit Studiosissimus; sed aliis in rebu • occupatissimus (assiduitatem autem in Studiis artis requirit in medico Hypocrates) Aliquamdiu causas actitavit, ut de ipso Plinius alter ad Caecilium (at necessaria est in medico, in append. adv. Laurentium de Error practic. c. 78 Sect. 6. ait Hypocrates, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , didicisse artem à pueritiâ) tantum 56. Annos vixit, breve tempus: Iunior Erat quum Scriberet; (at ars longa) Totum illud tempus distentus impeditus que quá • fficiis maximis, qua amicitiâ principum egit, in Germania mili • avit. Ita que horis succisivis, ex variis collegit authoribus pulcherrima quae que suo arbitrio, Iectu que grata in unum digessit, per capita, nihil ex suo attulit: sed non potuit per otii angustias res exactè ponderare, et elimare: Saepè au • ores aut Iinguarum imperitiâ, aut sensus sermonum ignoratione, non intellexit, ut optimè in materiâ simplicium, Ruellius Dalechampius que annotarunt: in aliis partibus alii. I say if this Character be Justly fixed on Pliny; what credit will some deserve who are farr inferiour in parts, in Iudgment • in learning, and in curiosity to Pliny.

How will they be abused by Artisans, as Pliny by his authors? how much knowledge and Skill is requisite to enquire into the circumstances of Mechanicall productions? how much more to relate them? I could not avoid this digr • ssion, which any one will pardon, who considers what Just cause Mr. Henshaw gave me.

But I pray, which sort of the Ancient Nitre doth he think ou • impure liquor (if it were coagulated) would resemble? Since they had sundry sorts: as there be severall kinds of Salt, some digg'd out of the Earth; some made by the Sun out of Sea-water in the Salt-panns; some boiled out of Salt-springs; some made out of plants calcined: so there were several sorts of Petre very much differenced in tast, colour, weight, shape; as I have shewed. The African was the best, and comes nearest of all to the Aphronitrum of the Ancients. Of this Aphronitrum I shall adde as little to what Mr. Henshaw saith, as he does to Pliny; they that have seen it can Judge better of it, then they who have not; but that which they found upon the rocks, and which Scaliger speaks of, was much different from what we observe in England in Vaults, and Arched Cellars or Walls. For that with us seems to be but the transudation of the Saline particles of the Lime and coagulating with some corpuscles in the aire, into an hoare, or Chrystalls; Nor did I ever see any but what was White: nor could I observe it to stick naturally to the Wall but in dry weather or when I made constant fires in my Chamber at Oxford, where it grew on the Walls near the ground, the Earth being higher much on the outer sides, then the floore within. At other times I supposed it too much diluted with moisture to stick on the Wall. But their Aphronitrum was of other colours, and grew out of naturall rocks and Vaults, and such was that which Scaliger saw. It is no strange news that Mr. Henshaw dr • w very good Rock-Petre out of those Stiriae: nor is it any thing remarkable that a Physitian in Shrop-shire should frame a Sal prunellae out of them, except he had given us an account of the differences betwixt that sort of Petre, and the common sort: As to the Cures he did with it, I would faine know whether they were such as could not have been done without it? and whether they were effected by that alone? or with the concurrence of other medicines? If the last, how comes the Cure to be ascribed to that Sal prunellae? perhaps it was not Effected by it at all or in part only. If the Cures were such as might have been effected by other me • nes, or by other preparations of common Nitre, what singular news did his Shrop-shire Physitian tell him? Every man of understanding knowes that crude Petre is as good, or better than that which is prepared by that calcination, with Brim-stone. And it is an usuall way of cheat with the Chymists by some little alteration in a Medicine, to pretend unto Miraculous discoveries in Physick and such Cures as never man performed besides, or before; and sometimes their medicines are but old ones though boasted for new. Such was that Arcanum of Ivy-berries which was whispered into Mr. Boyle's Eare for a secret against the Plague: which yet was not only the secret of Helmont (as he observes) but was commonly used in England in a Plague which happened Anno Domini. 1540. As my old receipts say. It is in the Garden of Health, and other English receipt-books that are in Print. It is in Alexius Pedemontius's secrets lib. 1. and out of him transcribed by Antonius Schneebergerus in his Catalogue of Euporîsta against the Plague. It is not easie to be imagined what a pudder some men make about a small matter; and certainly much learning and knowledg were a thing very desirable in this age, when a little goes so farr (being set off with impudence) and acquires a man so great repute.

In the torrid Zone and barren desarts of Africa, the sands are visibly full of Nitre, Hist. of the R. S. Pag. 264. and those few Springs and Wells that are to be found there, are by that reason so bitter, that the Moores and their Camells are forced to make an hard shift with them in their long journies. —I do not understand the force of the Argument for the bitterness of the Springs from the Nitrosity of the ground; since Springs commonly participate not of the nature of the adjacent soile, nor have their Originall where they discover themselves: So Salt-Springs, and Hot-springs are found in places where the cause cannot be ascribed to the Soile, by reason of the many other Springs thereabouts that are of a different nature. And although Baccius be of his opinion, that the bitterness of these Springs is from Nitre: plures inter Rubrum mare et Nilum amarae aquae inveniuntur, ob substantiam Nitri quod in illis maximé partibus abundat, saporis exacté amari. Yet I cannot assent to it, for this reason, that neither the lake in Macedonia, nor Nile (in which Nitre doth naturally coagulate) neither of them are said to be bitter: particularly the Nile is esteemed the best water in the world Suavissima illius fluminis aqua, quae alijs omnibus videtur praeferenda. Alpin. de med. Aegypt. l. 1. c, 10. Yet this Nile, (Mr. Henshaw saith) washes the Nitre out of those desarts, and so becomes impregnated in such manner, as is related. Besides, Salt-Petre it self hath no such tast; nor the boiled liquor of it: and Fallopius saith, that Salt-Petre is rather to be discovered in waters by it's effects, • ab • . • allop. de • he • mis c. 9. than tast; For if it ever shew it self to the tast, it is by a certain Saline purging, and as it were a gently corroding acrimony, which affects the tongue, and with a quickness diffuseth the fresh sence of it, as Salt-Petre it self does. If Nitre ever makes water bitter, it is by reason of some heterogeneous mixture.

Hist, of the R. S Pag. 265. He observes that Lime doth strongly attract the corpuscles ou • of the aire, which either are Salt-Petre, or make it.—I wonder how this passage came to be approved of, since that when I made use of the like principles, in an account of some naturall Phaenomena, relating to Iamaica, the publisher of the Philosophicall transactions, fixed a Marginall reflexion upon me as not solving the thing Mechanically.

He tells us that Salt-Peter is the life of Vegetables, and that the face of the Earth could not produce them, if it were not for this Salt. Yet (pag. 266.) he tells us that in clay, or Sandy Earth little of it is to be found: & it is certain that our clay-grounds (that are of a very Stiffe clay, as in Northamton-shire) yeild as good Corne as any in the world; and as good pasture ground, and feed as large sheep, and as large a breed of Hors • s, as this Nation boasts of. And I have seen in places in Iamaica, where there is nothing of Earth or mould, but immediate rocks under the sand, I have seen prickled peares, Mangraves, & other trees grow, and Melons also. So all grounds that are Gravelly, or full of Springs yeild no Sa • t-Petre, yet do they abound in Plants: and even in pure water Mints will grow very ranke, in which the proportion of Salt-Petre is very small, as he confesses.

Hist. of the R. S. Pag. 266. Husbandmen might make double or treble the profit they usually do of their muck, if they would lay it up under an Hovell or some covered place until they cary it out upon their Land.—I would not have any man think that this improvement of a muck heap is the particular observation of a Member of the Society, for which all Farmers are redevable to him. It was a thing known long agoe, and published by the Writers of French and English Husbandry. Not to mention others, take the words of Sir Hugh Plat, who lived in the daies of Queen Elizabeth, in his Iewel House of Art and nature, pag. 94. All those simple Sorts that leave their muck-heaps abroad, and subject to the weather, shew themselves to be but mean Husbandmen, and that they never tasted of any true natural Philosophy. For the Rain that falls upon those Dung-hills flowing down into the Vallies, doth also carry with it the Salt of the Dung, which dissolveth it self with the moisture: wherby the soil being afterwards laid abroad upon the land, doth little or no good upon it. But if thou wilt not give credite to my Speech, yet mark how the labouring Hind, when he carries his Dung to the Feild, how in discharging of his loads he leaves it in certain heaps together, and a while after he comes to spread it all over the ground, and layeth the same in equall levell, and afterwards when the field happens to be sowed with Corn, thou sha • t alwaies find the Corn to be more green and rank in those places where the same heaps were first laid, (after they have lain there some reasonable time) then in any other place in all the ground besides: and this comes to pass by reason that the Rain which fell upon them hath carried even the Salt through them, and conveyed it into the Earth that was under them.

I have been told by an experienced work man,Hist. of the R. S. Pag. 266. At Coven • ty in a Floor where they couched Mault, there was so much P • tre that it was visible to the Eye in great-plenty: and the men came to desire the Salt-Petre-men to work it, because he found it prejudiciall to his Mault which was not so good as when the Earth was less Nitrous. that no place yeilds Petre so plentifully as the Earth in Churches. —This was told Mr. Henshaw; but as Experienced a man told me, that it was false; & particularly at Coventry lately. Pigeon-houses yeild much more; and even here we must distinguish: for if a Pigeon-house be built on Springs or Gravel, either there will be none at all, or little Petre: The like distinction is to be used in reference to the Scituation of Churches: Salt-Petre is begot in the Earth by a kind of fermentation. Stiffe Clay hinders that, and gravell is either of nature that imbibes, and destroies Salt, or elfe it is too open, and so gives a vent for those particle • to exhale, that should ferment, and by fermentation transmute or Combine themselves into Petre, as also derive some principles out of the ayre, which contribute thereunto.

Hist of the R.S. Pag. 266 Let the Earth be never so good, if it be laid on a brick Floor, or that is boarded, it will not be so rich in Petre as if it have free communication with the Exhalations of the lower parts of the Earth.—I am not satisfied that the streams arising from beneath concurre to the production of it, because that the generation of Salt-Petre begins at the top, and from the surface of the Earth multiplies it self by fermentation downwards, which is the reason that the lower you descend, the • ess you find; Mr. Henshaw confesseth that if the ground be good, it seldome exceeds ten Foot in depth; commonly but six, or eight Foot: In Warwick (which stands on a gravell) it descends not above one Foot, as they assured me, though it be rich in Minerall at the surface. Besides in Warwick-shire there were Pigeon-houses that were floored with stone and with pebbles which yeilded as much Petre in proportion as any others.

He might have observed that the more Southward you work for Petre, and upon the Sun (as they Phrase it) the richer the ground is in Petre. And how old Mud-walls gather so much Petre, that it hath countervaild the cost to pull some of them down, and after rebuild th • m. The Elixiviated Ashes laid in the Sun impregnated with the Oile and filth only, will in a short time breed Petre in the top, if no Rain fall.

If the Earth tast bitter, he is sure to have good store of Minerall. —This is not true, for the Earth hath not any bitter tast, but Saltish and pungent, with a quickness, such as is in Salt-Petre, Especially if you imagine in it a mixture of common Salt more or less, according as the Earth is.

He that shall cast Water upon a Ground fit to dig for Petre, Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 267. will only sink the Mineral deeper into the Earth; but he that throwes Soap-sudds on it, will qui • e destroy the Petre (as the Workmen have a Tradition) and it very well deserves a further enquiry. —It is impossible for Mr. Henshaw to minde what he saies, I think. If any man cast on much water into a rich Earth, the water will not wash it only deep (water descends not very deep) but dissolves the Petre, and Soaks quite away with it, for that time. As for the casting Soap-Suds on the ground, that it destroys the Petre either for ever, or for that time, any more then much water Spilled would doe; it is but a foolish • surmise: for should one cast Soap-Suds into the Tubbs as the • raw liquor is extracting, it would do no harm; the grease thereof not descending with the liquor, but lodging in the remaining Earth. But should any one cast Soap or the Suds into the boiling liquor, it would not only boile over irresistably, but never coagulate. So Soap (or Sugar) cast into the Churm • is observed by Mr. Scot to hinder the butter to come.

That Salt-Petre, Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 267.268. and the way of drawing it out of the Earth, now in use, was a moderne invention; is generally concluded by all Authors; but whether we owe it to chance, or the sagacity of some great Witt, is as unknown, as the time when it was first discovered.

It seems to have many years preceded the Invention of Gunpowder, which by the Germans is ascribed to Constantine Autlitzer, or Berthold Schwertz a Monk of Friburgh, and was, in all probability, not long discovered, when the Inventor (as Polydor Virgil tells us) taught the use of Guns to the Venetians, at the Battail of Fossa Claudia, when they obtained that notable Victory over the Genoveses Anno 1380. For there is mention made, both of Salt-Petre and Aqua fortis, in the writings of Geber, a Spanish Moore, and an Alchymist; but at what time he lived, is unknown, though it be certain, some hundreds of years before Raymund Lully, who lived about the year 1333. and published some of his Books wherein he treats of Salt-Petre and Aqua fortis.

Vide Casimirum Semi •• owicz Art: m • g • n: Ar •• ll, l. 2. c. 1. Pag. 61It is apparently false even out of Mr. Henshaw, that Salt-Petre is no modern Invention. Nor can any man say so who knows that it is mentioned in the Scripture, in Pliny, Aristotle, Seneca, Dios • crides • Galen, Vitruvius, Philostratus in the life of Appollonius Tyanaeus, Avicenna and many others, too tedious to recount. Nor is it less impertinent, that a Witt should speak it as a strange thing that Geber (who by the way, was no Spanish Moor, but an Apostate Grecian, as I shew Mr. Glanvill, and I believe never in Spain, but in the Kingdome of • ez; and living one hundred years after Mahomet, could not precede Raymund Lully but by very few hundreds of years) that He should mention Salt-Petre: though the mention of Aqua-fortis in him carry something of remarque. I demand of our Vertuoso whether Geber saith that the Salt-Petre in his daies was extracted and made as now? If he do not (as I am confident He used the African-Nitre mention'd by Avicenna and others) what needed he tell us that Salt-Petre is spoken of by Geber, whereas he had before demonstrated it out of Pliny, and shewed himself inclined to their Judgment who taught • hat our Nitre and that of the Ancients were all one?

A more Logicall head would have thus delivered the thing here proposed by Mr. Henshaw.

There are several Mineralls that are called by the name of Nitre, or Salt-Petre: betwixt which the more accurate (that is the Ancients) did distinguish; so that one, the more impure was called Nitrum and Halinitrum; the more pure Aphronitrum; the most pure Spuma Nitri, Pli •• . 31. c. 1 • . lit. H. or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Da • echampius observes. The Nitre or Halini • re was in Lapideous bodies sometimes digged out of the Earth, sometimes made by the Sun in the Nitraria or Canals of Nitrous waters. Vi • e G • le • . de Simpl. medic. l. 9. Of this last some being a better sort than others was called Aphronitrum, and was more freed from common Salt, and was gathered (as I may say) in the Nitre pannes, as it shot there in Lumps. Besides this there was a third sort of Spuma Nitri, Pliny l. 31. c. 30. which was the best of all: Quae maxime laudatur: antiqui negabant fieri, nisi cùm ros cecidisset praegnantibus nitrariis, sed nondum parientibus. So that it seemes they took the first small loose concretions • or the Spuma Nitri before they came to larger Chrystalls, or lumps & stones: upon which account Galen saith it is like to Wheat Flower. Of this fine Spuma Nitri (which I confess is sometimes Aphronitrum; but not with Acribology) it was found afterwards that it might be had in Vaults, distilling from the stones in Ice-ickles. And from hence, as also because it was found trans-suding and coagulating on rocks, it came to be called by the Barbarous Latines after the Moores had taught them Physick, and the Materia Medica, by the name of Sal-Petrae. Besides these waies of finding Nitre there is another way of making Nitre out of Elixiviated Earth, which upon refining is brought to that purity as to equall the best Spuma Nitri and Salpetrae, the Earthy particles and heterogeneous mixtures of common Salt, and other corpuscles that diversified the tast and colour and qualities of the former Nitres, • ide Semi • nowicz. ubi supr • Pag 63. being generally seperated from this: Art equalling, if not exceding the productions herein of Nature. How much the Salt-Petre of the Ancients differed from ours, is not now to be discussed anew: certain it is that the Invention of Salt-Petre (in it self) nor of any of those natural productions of the Spuma Nitri, is not moderne. N •• did any Author in the world, till these appeared, conclude so. But as • o this Elixiviated Salt-Petre whether it be the same with that which the Ancients commonly speak of, hath been questioned; and I have already illustrated the point. And whether the Ancients were acquainted with the present manner of Extracting and refining it out of the Earth? this hath been disputed by many; and it is affirmed by most to be a moderne Invention, See his judgment hereafter, in his discours • . yet so as that Tartaglia saith they knew it as plainly as they did Betony. And the already mentioned and most diligent writer about Gunpowder saith. Quod autem existiment nonnulli • unc Salem nostrum Pyrotechnic •• esse recenter a • inventum illud maxime • alsum esse, vel hoc unicum argumento est, quod historici • ide digni inventorem Pyrii p • lveris vel summis • audum depraedicent encomiis, Casimir. Semi • n • wicz ar • . magn. a •• iller. part. 1. l. 2. c. 1. pag. 63. vet tot convitiorum execration •• m que nominibus proscindant, non quod Salis Nitri nov •• aliq • am invenerit Speciem ad perniciem Extirpationem que humani generis, sed quod novum, necdum antehac usitatum pulveris nitrati, ex certis Ni • ri (jam tunc optime noti) Sulphuris carbonum que portionibus mixti commentus fuerit compositionem. This Book was Printed at Leyden in 1650. and from hence any man may Judge how true that generall expression of Mr. Henshawe's is, that generally all Authors conclude it to be a modern Invention: and how impertinent that allegation of his ou • of Geber, and that ostentation of learning, is, in computing the time of Geber and Lullie's lifes: wherein he mistakes too, for if we abstract from the authority of Leo A • er (to which I submit) it is not certain (or rather it is manifest to the contrary) that there did scarce intercede two Centuries betwixt Geber and Lully, vide Eras • um de m • tall. Pag. 111. if so much.

As to that he saith about the Invention of Gunpowder, it might have become our Vertuoso to have compleated his History, by taking notice of what our Country-man D • . Read saith of it before that German Monk. I will endeavour herein to supply his omission of a passage that hath something of curiosity in it.

Dr. Alexander Read of wounds Sect. 15 Pag. 107. Bertholdus Niger, Schwarth, or Black by Sirname. Anno 1380 〈◊〉 Franciscan Frier, and an Alchymist, found out the making of Gunpowder, and Ordnance which are now in use: He only perfected this mischiefe: for the use of Guns, although rude, was before: For in the time of Carolus Magnus, Gamoscus, King of Frisland, killed the Count of Holland, and two of his Sons with a piece, and Roger Bacon who died about the year of our Lord 1284. maketh mention of Gunpowder. Nauclerus affirmeth powder and Ordnance, to have been Invented in the daies of Otho the Fourth, Innocentius the third, in the year of the Redemption of mankind, 1213. Froissard Anno 1340 and 1353. maketh mention of Guns. Petrarcha who died Anno 1374. doth the like. Sethus Calvisius Chronolog. Pag. 752. Co. 2. You may read in the History of Alphonsus King of Castile, when he besieged Algezira, a famous town of the Moors, 3 Aug. Anno 1342. that they in the town shot out of it bullets of Iron out of Ordnance according to Mariana. Yea Petrus Matterus affirmeth that Brass Ordnance have been used by the Chinoies many ages ago. So that the Frier was not the Inventor, but Perfecter of Guns and Powder. I have not opportunity to inquire into the citations of Dr. Read, but if I had been to write the History of Salt-Petre and of Gun-powder, I should have thought my self obliged to this inquiry, as much as to that which Mr. Henshaw begins with concerning the Nitre of the Ancients.

Here I must make a Protestation about the making of Salt-Petre, Pag. 268. that I will not be understood to oppose Mr. Henshaw in any way,That of Agricola doth agree with that of Petro Sardi, which I have added in the end of this discourse. but such as is commonly followed in England; there is another manner of ordering it in Agricola de Re metallicâ lib. 12. page 454. which if it produce and Phaenomena different from my observations, I do transfer all the discrepancies upon the variety of the process, and profess my own integrity and Candour in what I suggest. It ought to suffice that the men Mr. Henshaw conversed with all, and those that made it at Warwick did take the same course.

If you are curious to know how rich your Liquor is before boiling,Hist. of the R. S. Pag. 269 you may take a glass-viall, containing a quart, fill it with the common Water you use, then weigh it exactly; next fill the same glass with your liquor, and find the difference of weight which compared with the quantity of all your liquors, will give you a very near guess, how much Salt-Petre you are like to make by that boiling.—This is a very vain Experiment, and at best can hold true only in the richest mould that is found in Pigeon-houses in which there is little of the Cubique or Common-Salt. It seldome happens that their raw liquor contains nothing but Petre. They have oftentimes as much of common Salt as Petre, sometimes more, as in the raw liquor drawn from the floores of some houses. But besides the common Salt there is the mixture of other filth, If the raw liquor be made with the two parts extracted from Pigeons Earth, and one out of floores and the last contain much common Salt, the Pigeon-houses liquor cuts out (as they ca • l it) or transmutes even that Salt, so as that there will be little or none in the end. and the greasy Oile, which will render the weight uncertain: except we think that the Salt in the Ashes supplies all that is lost in the percolation. It had certainly become our Vertuoso to enquire what became of that greasy Oile; and what happens to the Alcalisate Salt in the ashes, since it is turned into Salt-Petre in the operation; at least it is certain that as it is totally drawn out in the percolation, so it doth not turn into Cubique Salt except the raw liquor be of a peculiar sort; as I have said.

Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 270. When you have boiled it up to that height, that a little of it flirted off the finger upon a live Charcoal, will flash like Gun-powder (which for the most part falls out to be after two daies, and a nights boyling.)—It is strange that any man should write such a thing as this: first, let the liquor be never so rich of the Mineral which seldom happens, and void of common Salt, yet will not that (no no • the most refined Petre) flash like to Gun-Powder. Secondly, where the Cubique or common Salt abounds in it (be it more, or be it less) it burns more slowly, and will certainly Sputter in the burning. In fine, this onely Sparcles, being flirted into the fire: the other tryall, by seeing that it is boiled high enough, if it hang like Oile on the sides of the brasen Skummer, is false: for if it be boiled so high, it is too fat to be recovered by passing the Ashes, and must be used as Mothers.

At what time upon triall an hundred weight the of liquor containes about thirty five pound weight of Petre. —This is often times false, if ever true: for if the liquor hath more or less of common Salt, the product of Salt-Petre varies accordingly. And I say, it is seldom (if ever) true, because that in Warwick, they seldom had two hundred weight of Petre, out of Nine Tunne of raw liquor, yet did they never boile it near to that proportion in the copper which would agree with his computation.

"Fill up your Tubs with any sort of wood ashes.—He forgets here the putting in of the Mother of Salt-Petre: of which I have spoken already. And in his prescription of any sort of wood ashes, there is an omission of a considerable circumstance: for those ashes are best which abound most in Salt, of which there is a great difference: I remember in Iamaica to have tasted the ashes of several woods, and found scarce any Salt in them; Zwelfer. in Pharmacop: August • n: de Sale Lig • i Sancti. and the Ashes of oak only the Petre-men term'd a dead ashes: and Chymists generally observe that Lignum-vitae yeilds little of the fixed Salt. If the places where the Salt-Petre-men do work, do not yeild them ashes of wood that may serve their turne; they use then either the ashes of Broome burnt as it is green; or (which is no wood!) the ashes of green ferne, or bean-straw or pease-straw, which need not be burnt green; the older the better: they are better then wood-ashes: Concerning the reason of their burning the Broom, All woods say our Petre-men if burned green, yeild a Salter ashes then otherwise. But for ashes, the Ash is best • the young thorn • , Second; the Elm, third; Firrs and Fern burnt green (the younger the better) yeild a Salt-ashes; if dry, not so. Hence those ashes are not used in bucking of Linnen. The S • lter th • ashes, the lighter. If they lye dry a while, or till they be old they are the better fo • Petre, They gather Saltness by lying. and Fern green, I could suggest some remarkable observations, as to the different quantities of Salt, (and consequently of vertues) in plants before their coming to maturity, or full growth; but I shall Satifie my self now with shewing the mistakes and omissions of Mr. Henshaw, whereof this is one, of which I should have spoken (living in a place where the much use of the ashes of green Ferne, in washing, gives people occasion to observe the difference of Ferne at several growths, and the difference betwixt those ashes and others) but he gives me no occasion.

Note that toward the end of your boiling,Hist. of the R.S Pag. 271. there will arise great store of Scumme and froth, which must carefully be taken off. —He might have told us what use this is good for: if this Scumme, and the ashes through which the liquor is percolated (insipid, but impregnated with the greasy Oile) be put into any convenient ground, they will generate there Salt-Petre in a shorter time, and much greater quantity then otherwise would be found there. Besides, if there rise such great store of Scumme and Froth, (which must needs vary as the raw liquor is more or less fowle) how shall any man conjecture, by weighing his raw liquor against common water, at the quantity of Salt-Petre h • is to receive?

Usually about that time it lets fall some common Salt toIbid. the bottom which you must take up with the said Scummer. —If there be a great quantity of common Salt in it, it falls almost all to the bottom, during the boiling: what remains of common Salt in it, granulates against the sides as it cooles, which at Warwick they suffered to be done in the Cauldron, without any distinct Tubb; what an observation did our Vertuoso loose here concerning the discovery of two so different Salts, at first swimming and mixing indiscernably in the liquor; and af • erwards parting in this manner, the one Chrystallizing whilst the liquor is hot and boiling and remaining in great quantities:When the liquor is suffered to coole in t • e Copper, and begins to granulate, my artists laded it out into the shooting-pannes, leav • ng the turbid and faeculent setling at the bottom: which (though Mr. H • nshaw omit it) they put in again • o the raw liquor, at any time, as it boile • : and it is their Judgment, that it increaseth the Petre though much of it be commo • Salt; the liquor yeilding a sensible quantity of Petre thereupon more then otherwise. the other coagulating into Sexangular, not Cubique shapes, and that when it is cold and divided into Shallow pannes? Here are Twenty pages lost, that might have been Expended in Luciferous Experiments.

Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 272. When the Liquor is brought to this pass, every hundred weight of it containeth about threesco • e and ten pound weight of Petre. —Any one may Judge how true this is by what I have said before: it may happen that half of it is common Salt.

When you find the Cubiq • e Salt to granulate and stick to the sides. —Why did not he disgress to tell us why it granulates at the sides when it cooles, and falls to the bottom when hot?

"Draw of your Liquor into deep wooden Traies.—Which if you do, it is ten to one but the weight of the Liquor will break out the sides of them: wherefore our men think it good Husbandry to use Brass-pannes.

That part of the Liquor which is not coagulated but Swims upon the Petre, Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 273. must be carefully powred off, and being mingled with new liquors, must again pass the ashes, before it be boiled, else it will grow so greasy it will never generate any Salt.—This is the Mother of Salt-Petre, of which I spake before. And if it (or the raw liquor, being boiled too long) grow so greasy, as not to be able to coagulate by any meanes, what must we think of his designe to counterfeit the Nitre of the Ancients?

Then cast in by degrees a pint of the strongest Wine-vinegar,Hist. of the R.S Pag. 273. or else four ounces of Allom beaten to powder (some choose burt Allom and you shall observe a black Scumme to rise on the top of the liguor.—I saw as good Petre made at Warwick as any in the world, without this cautelous refining: they cast in nothing but good Scowring water, such as would bear Soap well, continued the pouring of it, as long as any Scumme would arise. Nor did they lade the Liquor out into any Setling Tub, (as he proposeth) but suffered it to stand in the Copper till it began to Chystall against the sides in such manner as the common Salt doth Chrystallize in the first boiling: then did they take out the liquor, leaving the faeces and all that is foule at the bottome.

Here I must take notice of an omission of Mr. Henshaw's, in that having brought his refined Petre to chrystall & rock in the pannes, He then slightly transfers it into a Tub with an hole in the bottome to drain, and when it is dry, it is fit for use. But I found that our workmen took more care: For they took the large fragments of the Nitrous rocks and placed them in Live-ashes upright, and so the ashes did drain from the rocks that greasy and Motherish substance which adheres to the Petre extrinsecally as it shootes, and which (if not separated this way) vitiates the colour, and takes of so much from the Efficacy and goodness of the Petre as there adheres of Grease. As for the smaller Chrystalls and pieces, which are too little to be so ranked, they are placed upon a sheet spread upon the said ashes, and so that Motherish humidity draines from them, and they become clear and white as Snow. The ashes being impregnated with this Oile are enriched in order to the generating of more Petre, when the liquor comes to be passed through them.

The Figure of the Chrystalls is Sexangular,Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 374. and if it hath rightly shot, is fistulous and hollow like a Pipe. — He should have done well to have told us,Th • s di • scourse concerni • g the figures of Nitre C • ystallized proceeds upon the supposition that • he Crystalls are of that shape, which is a thing I n • ver yet saw, at the making of S • lt-P • tre, not Gl • ub • r de Signa • Sal: nor I believe Mr.H • nsh • w. The shapes of the C • yst • lls are very i • regul • r. I found no • e f •• tu • ous: and the Rocks of Petre do not seem to be made up of sexangula: concretions at all. I h • ve seen else-where some shaped s • xingularly, but not fi • tulous, no more did Glauber. I observed, and so do the workmen, that in the coagulation in the panns there i • comm • nly some protuberant concr • tio • s, which with the Crystalls distinctly composing them have s • me resemblance of a rose, and were so called by our Artists. Why did not our Mechanicier take n • t • ce and Explain that? The Crystalls are the worst Petre, and shoot last, they burn as if there were res ••• itat • d A • lom in them; they make worse powder, and leave more faeces upon burning; and our workmen will not allow them to be the best sort of Petre: whether there be some interceptions of Aire and w •• e • incorporating with the Nitre in shooting; or whether there be any r • suscitation of All • m, which makes them burn with that Spumeous Ebullition, let such consider as magnify Crystalls of Ni • re in Physi • k; for my part I am satisfied that all preparations (how laborious and curio • s soever) are • ot i • proveme • ts. Upon a solution of Petre in water, where the Liquor is not impregnated so high, as at the worke • , one may see such Crystalls as Mr. H • nshaw speaks of, if he proceeds carefully, and (as my wo • kmen say) I have not had leysure to try since the intimation) use Ba • bary Petre, which is that which is usualy sold. But I never visited the works, but I thought of a passage some where Mr. B • yl • hath, that he could never observe such a regularity in the Crystalls of Nitre, as is spoken of: insomuch as he seems to do • b • the assertion; if my Memory deceive me not. But that sometimes it happens, is certain; and that there are alwaies beautifull figures and compli • ations above 〈◊〉 . how this Mine • al comes to be thus figured? and evidenced it unto us that it was performed Mechanically: This had been a much more generous undertaking, then the suggestion of an impertinent conceit of his, which I shall speak of presently; He should have shewed the configuration of the particles, what it is that gives them Motion; what it is that Sizeth them, and preserves them fistulous: This had been a curiosity worthy a Philosopher, that understands something more than common Formes. To tell us that nature acts the Geometrician, or that it is done by the agitation of any subtile Spirits, or matter, acting in a determinate manner upon particles of one configuration, whilest the others are agitated and cast off by a different Motion: I say this is no satisfactory discourse, nor v • ry comprehensible, when we reflect upon the Liquor of the Salt-Petre how thick it is crowded, and into what fistulous Crystalls it coagulates. For all this while, a man does not understand how Ingenious nature doth particularly and distinctly figure out those Crystalls, nor the manner of that Speciall Geometry which she practiseth in this case. Should an Indian or other Ignorant person, ask concerning the making of a watch, or other piece of Clock-work, what was the reason that the hand did so exactly discriminate the houres; what was the reason of its so slow and equable motion bearing such an unerring correspondence with that great revolution of the Sun? and should any man answer that it was a peculiar conformation of parts (which consist of several me • talls) differently shaped, and placed in order to the composing of that machine, which the ingenious Artist had atchieved: though this answer carry much of truth in it, yet doth it not solve the doubt, or satisfie a speculative inquirer: Nor if he continue his question further, will he be satisfied with a narration that those very materialls are apparently Sand, Lead, Steel, Iron, Brass, &c. differently agitated according to determine rules of motion, whereby it happens that it keeps so certain and constant a course, in declaring of Time. This kind of general knowledge may content such as have not leisure to engage in more accurate Theories; but he deserves not the name of a Mechanick Philosopher, who doth not perspicuously declare the matter, and configuration of each part, the Size and Use of each Wheel, the effect of each Spring and weight, and this either Mathematically to the understanding, or by ocular demonstration to the Eye. This had been an undertaking that would have ennobled Mr. Henshaw, had he gone through with it: and if he and his fellows despair of bringing things to this perspicuity, they had as good suffer us to be content, with our old Formes, and combinations of Elements, with which the world hath subsisted so long, and Mechanicall ingenuity been so farr advanced, that whosoever is acquainted with the delicious Luxury of Asia, Greece, and Rome, will easily think all our performances, nay, pretenses not to equall their reall Enjoyments • and if there be any one thing in the improvement whereof our present Artists (I must not say Philosophers; the Inventions we boast of, being not theirs, but the discoveries of more common and thick Skulls) Glory, it is over ballanced by the multitude of excellent things in which th • y surpassed us.

Mr Henshaw declines all these Speculations,I •• d. to acquaint us with some other that he hath of this Salt, Which if he could clearly make out, would lead us into the knowledg of many noble secrets in nature; as also to a great improvement in the Art of making Salt-Petre. —I am so great a well-wisher to the publick good, that I shall be willing to enquire into any thing, that may advance so great & Staple a commodity as Salt-Petre is, and alwaies wil be as long as the use of Guns continues: and since it is the most plausible pretense for the establishment of the Royall Society, that they may and will meliorate and improve the Manufactures and trading of our Nation, let us with some heedfulness observe this publick Essay and tryall of their Skill and Utility.

Hist. of the R.S Page. 275. First then you are to observe, that though Petre go all away in Gun-powder yet if you fulminate it in a Crucible, and burn of the volatile part with powder of Coal, Brimstone, Antimony or Meal, there will remain a Salt, and yet so fixed (very unlike common-Salt) that it will endure the force of almost the strongest Fire you can give it; which being dissolved into water and Spirit of Nitre dropped into it, till it give over hissing (which is the same with the volatile part that was seperated from it in the fulmination) it will be again reduced to Crystalls of Petre, as it was at first.

This Curiosity was the Invention of that Honourable personage Mr. Robert Boyle, & a treatise writ upon the subject, which he was pleased to impart unto me long before Glauber writ any thing of that nature, and I translated it into Latine: It hath been made use of by Dr. Willis as an instance whereby to shew that Chymicall Fires do not generate new substances, 〈…〉 . c. 3. but only divide asunder the first constitutive parts, and exhibit them. Angelus Sala did reproduce Vitriol out of the parts which he had separated Chymically, 〈…〉 tract. 1. • . 10. by remixing them together. But neither do these few instances in the behalf of the Chymists out of Materialls of a Slight texture, serve to any other purpose then to make us more doubfull, not more intelligent: For there are so many demonstrations, that those furnaces do generate new substances & that according to the different regimen of the Fire, and the difference of i • , (being open or close) and the different Vessels and the different processes: it being also evident that by other meanes quite discrepant parts are disclosed, than what those vexatious Fires could ever reveal. that I think it impossible for any to submit his Judgment to such Convictions: And that the observations which Mr. Boyle raised from that Experiment were of such importance as Mr. Henshaw thinks, is a point which such as measure speculations by their Utility, will hardly grant.

First you are to observe that though Petre go all away in Gun-powder, Mr. Sprat ubi supra, yet if you fulminate it in a Crucible, and burn off the volatile part with powder of Coal.—There will remain a Salt, and yet so fixed,In this reproduction of Petre, it is observable which Glauber suggest • : viz. that though the acid and alcalisate Salts mortify Each other presently; non tamen e vestigio fit Sal Hermaphroditicus, sed necesse est ut aliquamdin in a • re collocati vitam et naturam ardentem quâignis ipsos nudavit, recipiant. Haec illis inicamus qui sales sine atris opera, amimari posse forsan opinarentur. Prosp. Germ. par. 1 Pag. 101. that it will endure the force of almost the strongest fire &c.—This same to me doth not seem so extraordinary a phaenomenon, so as to merit an unusuall regard: for that Gold is as fixed a body as this Salt, is undeniable; and yet in the de • lagration of Aurum fulminans, its particles flye away, though they may be catched under the forme of a purple powder, if the fulmination be performed in a close Vessell, as Dr. Willis observes, De fermentat. c. 10. so in Salt Armoniac,, the common Salt will undergo many sublimations, without deserting the concrete: and yet it is an easy thing to reduce it to such a state of fixedness as amazeth our Virtuoso. Many other instances might be alledged: and therefore I proceed to tell the world, that though Mr. Henshaw entitle Mr. Boyle to this Noble Experiment, yet what he repeats of it, is taken from Glauber out of a book of his printed in 1659. de signaturâ Salium &c. — pag. 28. whom yet he names not. This is manifest from this that Mr. Boyle useth live pieces of coal to calcine the Nitre with: Glauber in his Pharmacop: Spagyric. part. 2. p. 28 & Mr. Henshaw cast in the powder of coal. Mr. Boyle Speaks nothing of calcining it with Brimstone, or Antimony, De Ferment, c. 10. which Glauber doth: and so doth Dr. Willis: But the former prescribes the Regulus Antimonij Stellatus Concerning the Experiment as it is performed with coale, I have this Scruple; That I am not satisfied by any observations I can make, that Salt-Petre, if it be rightly purified, will upon deflagration leave any such Salt behind it at all. But that wheresoever any such thing remaines, it is the product of a common Salt, and other heterogeneous mixtures incorporated with the Petre: I am moved to this doubt, by the saying of Scaliger concerning the best-sort of Nitre which he terms Sal-Petrae: viz. Tam enim Sal quam Nitrum ita uritur, ut cineris quippiam relinquatur: De subtil. exercit. 104.15. Sal-Petrae universum absumitur ab igni. And in the tryalls of Salt-Petre which are made by the best Artists Pietro Sardi & Casimirus Semienowicz, See the proof of this in the account of Pietro Sardi which followes. it is required of good Salt-Petre, that it burn all away upon the Table, leaving no impurity or foeculency behind. I have taken of the best Salt-Petre at Warwick oftentimes to make this Essay, and also to compare the Crystalls, and White-rock-nitre: I put the pieces upon a broad Pit-coal red-hot, and could see a difference in the burning of Each;If the coal be not broad the Petre as it burns will run • ver it. and a different quantity of that incombustible matter remain according to the different purifications; insomuch that as far • as my Eye could guide my Judgment, out of an ounce of the best Rock-Petre there could not remain half a dram if a scruple of that fixed Salt which Mr. Henshaw speaks of. In the Crucible indeed upon burning with coal there did remain about a third part, when I burnd the best Petre: and more, according as it is more impure. Mr. Thibaut in his Art of Chymistry observes, that a spoonfull of Nitre cast into a pot red-hot, will presently be in a flame and vanish all away in Smoak Pag. 58. See him al • o Pag. 53. Where he prepares Salt of Tarta • . So Glauber. Nitrum prunae ardenti im •• sit • m totum co • flagrat et in auras Evan • scit. P • arma • . Spag, p. 2. p. 95. Dr. Ed: I • r • en of naturall Bathes. c. 7. pag. 35. • dit. in 40. Dr. Iorden observes that the difference betwixt Salt-Petre and the Ancient Nitre, appears in this, that a pound of Nitre being burn'd, will leave four ounces of Ashes; Salt-Petre wil leave None. Io: Roberts in his compleat Canonier, pag. 49. And the common assertion of our English Gunners about the Goodness of Petre, is, If it be laid on a board, and a coal put to it, and it burne into the board, and leave nothing but a black colour, and rise with a long flamed ventosity and exhalation, it is well refin'd. But since th • observations of Scaliger, & those other Artists of unquestionable credit, and my own Experience teach me that the quantity of what remaines after the deflagration of Nitre depends upon its impure and Saline mixtures, Mr. T • ibaut saith that in a Cr • cible it consumes almost quite away. pag. 34. and that pure Nitre burnt openly leaves nothing behind it; I am apt to believe that either there is something in the nature of the Crucible, or in the manner of burning • it in those Vessells, that causeth that Phaenomenon. And perhaps there is not so much of untruth (upon this ground) in that saying of Beguinus, that he that operates well shall draw a pound of Spirit from a pound of Nitre. Tyrocin. Chym. l. 2. c. 4.

But let us suppose that there doth remain, otherwise than by accident, this fixed Salt, our Philosopher saith it is very unlike common Salt. A doughty remarque! It is very like any Alcali; if it be not common Salt reduced to an Alcali: though the mixtures of Allom and Vitriol may give it a little diversification sometimes. But where is the improvement he promised us all this while of Manufacture of Salt-Petre? Why it amounts to this! Take a pound of the best purified Nitre that you can buy, such as is already fit to make Gun-powder, distill it with three, four or five times as much potters Earth prepared in a Glass retort well luted in a close reverberatory furnace; giving fire by degrees till you come to the highest, which continue twenty four houres. Out of one pound of Nitre thus distilled, you may have four ounces of Spirit saith Mr. Art of Chymistry. pag. 33. Thibaut. But Mr. De Spirit. Sal. Nitri pag. 133. Hartman upon Crollius, saith there will come out of those red Spirits, but an ounce and an half or two ounces at most. Having gained this Spirit, let him take a pound more of as good Petre and burn it with a Coal in a Crucible according to the process of Mr. Boyle, or Glauber: and let him get as much fixed Salt as he can: breaking his Crucible into the bargain: I find that Mr. Boyle in his account of the redintegration of Nitre saith not what quantity of fixed Salt he had:See Mr. Boyl • 's Experiment About the parts of Nitre Sect. 4. only that he reproduced the Petre by pouring the Spirit upon the Alcali; and that he did not affuse so much of Spirit upon it, as the Alcali seemed to have lost in the burning: and yet not much less. In another place about subordinate formes pag. 350 he saith that Nitre upon calcination leaves only a third part, or perhaps more. But let him get wh • t he can (I assure him that the • owler his Petre is, the more he will get) and having dissolved it in rainewater, and filtrated it, let him powre upon it the Spirit of Nitre drop by drop untill the abullition cease: Glauber de • ignat. Sal. p. 28. • 9. Then let him with patience expect for some daies, the redintegration of the Nitre: or if he be hasty, let him evaporate the liquor away till it come to a cuticle, then place it in a cool place, and in one night he shall find his Petre to Crystallize: Then powre off the liquor, and evaporate it to a Cuticle again, and so a third time till he have gotten all the Petre. Having allowed this Experiment all the advantages imaginable, which is, that our Operatour shall have such a quantity of fixed Salt as will redintegrate exactly his Petre (which may not happen: as I have demonstrated) so that having calcined one pound, and distilled another into Spirit he hath reproduced now one compleat pound of Petre: And that this Petre is as effectuall for Gunpowder, as our common Salt-Petre: (which yet is an Experiment our Inventors and Improvers give no account of: Mr, Boyle saith his was more acid, then Salt-Petre is usually; Ubi supra Sect. 17. and what alteration that Superfluous Spirit adhering is to the Crystalls may produce, I know not. Glauber proceeds to dissolve again and filtrate his regenerate Nitre: De signat. Sal. ubi supra. and then saith Quicquid post operationem Superfuerit in arenâ per evaporationem, donec cuticula appareat, rursus distillandum, et in • rigore in Crystallos redigendum est, quae, ut vulgaris Sal-Petre in usum adhiberi possunt. And saith that if you will again calcine one part, and distill another, and reproduce Petre, you shall have more pure Petre than ever, and which will perform admirable effects in Physick and Alchymistry.) Granting, I say, our Operator all this happiness, I desire to know where is the great improvement in the Art of making Salt-Petre? How much Cheaper will this be afforded, then that which is usually sold? How much more Effectuall will the powder be which is to be made out of it? Will a Thimblefull serve to charge a Culverin? Or, if there be requisite as much to the charge as of common powder: will the force be such that Each Bullet of a Culverin, or Canon shall do execution at the Tex • l, Algiers or Candia? Can you dispatch with a pocket-pistoll from Arundell house the boldest pyr • te within the Straights? Or, in fine, will this Powder last for ever without any decay, and by its durableness countervaile the charge and Extraordinary trouble in the making? I cannot find a word of all this; nor any thing but what will convince any man that to make Salt-Petre, is but to loose his time instead of improving the Manufacture. I heard that Some of the Society had a great mind to work Silk into Hats: which project though the Hatters laughed at, yet to satisfie them, tryall was made: and for twenty shillings they had a Hat made, but it proved so bad, that any one might have bought a better for Eighteen pence. I shall do Mr. Henshaw a courtesy, and tell people (besides the pretty curiosities observed by Mr. Boyle) that will all this trouble, and cost, though they got never the better Petre, yet Glauber tells you, this is the only way for any man to see the true signature and rightly-shaped crystalls of Nitre: they will be all as white as Snow, long, slender, Sexangular, and so smooth that nothing can seeme more polished. and so discover that signature which God and Nature endowed Salt-Petre with. de signat. Sal. Pag. 29.30 Si rectè operatus fueris, omnes Crystalli nullis exceptis erunt in longitudinem aequalem directae, et Sexangulae sine ullâ asperitate et Scabritie, quae vera et genuina Salispetrae rectè et probè purgati Signatura exis • it. And is not this a considerable improvement in the Art of making Salt-Petre, to produce such beautifull Crystalls, to shew the true figure into which that Salt naturally doth Crystallize? Some have represented the naturall figure of that Salt to be Cylindricall: and I have by me some exact and large Cylinders into which it did Crystallize, but not from the Salt-Petre works: some have ascribed to it other shapes; Mr. Boyle found it to be Sexangular, but the sides not of equall breadth, and, each two whereof as they were opposite to each other,Experiment of Nitre Sect. 5. seemed paralell. Glauber saith that their shape will be such as I have described in English above, if you follow his way in making them. And is not this a notable discovery for such men as raise their Glory upon the shewing of Sights! Especially, if Mr. Henshaw Exhibit them also fistulous! which neither Glauber nor Mr. Boyle did!

The other way of burning Salt-Petre to an Alcali with Brimstone is ridiculous, and such as any man that ever made Sal prunellae will laugh at. For the Brimstone doth not burn the Nitre to any Alcaly at all, nor inflames it at all, but serves to purifie it by consuming the Sal-Armoniacall parts or greasy heterogeneities, and precipitating its faeces to the bottom of the pot till it become so transparent, that after those projections, Se • e • t. de cons. C • ym. c. 19. M • . Thibaut Pag. 59. and flagrations you may see the bottom of the pot through the melted Nitre. And this is so evident a thing that Senertus and Monsieur Thibaut are positive therein. Pietro Sardi (as you may see hereafter) and Casimirus Semien • wicz in his Ars mag. Artiller. p. 1. l. 2. c. 3. do prescribe this very way of burning it with Sulphur, instead of the more tedious re • ining which is usually practised, in order to the making of Gun-powder. Imponatur Sal-nitri in vas aliquod cupreum vel ferreum, aut fictile vitreatum, et igne vasi supposito, per que solitos gradus aucto exuratur, donec Sal liquefiat et fervendo bulliat. Iam sumatur aliquantulum Sulphuris communis subtilissimè pulverisati, et Salinitri liquefacto superinspergatur: et concipiet subitò flammam, et quicquid pinguedinis vel noxij terrestris Salis non sufficienter purgatus Sal-Nitri habuerit, exuret et multum clarificabit: injectio autem Sulphuris aliquoties reiterari poterit. Deni que liquefactum et purificatum Salemnitri Effundito in marmor politum vel laminas ferreas aut cupreas, vel vascula aliqua metallica vel figulnea vitreata, et frigescere ibidem sinito. Habebis jam Salemnitri congelatum, Parium lapidem vel Alabastritem colore et duritie quâm proximé referentem. If that excellent Lithuanian found this to be as good a way to refine the Nitre, as that other by new solution, affusion of Lixiviated liquors, and new coagulation: If it be evident that Sal prunellae will Crystalize, and burn as other Petre: if it be certain that Brimstone cannot burn Salt-Petre (as Senertus, Tartaglia and Semienowicz avow) How shall we do for this fixed Salt or Alcali wherewith to make Nitre by affusion of the Spirit?

His calcining of it with Antimony hath as little of sence as the former: for besides that there is more trouble in the process, because that the Alcalisate Salt must be washed from the Antimony: which takes off from the improvement. If there be any Alcali in those preparations of Diaphoretick Antimony (wherein every Apo • hecary tries the Experiment) it is from the common or other Salts mixed with the Nitre, and not from the Nitre, part of which flies away with the Sulphur of Antimony as it deflagrates: the rest staies behind, and may be extracted with water, and reduced into Crystalls of Nitre, as a friend of mine tried, of which he keeps some by him. This Schroder and Rolfincius speaking of Diaphoretick Antimony, and its edulcoration confess, Aqua post primam edulcorationem nitro gravida ad medietatem evaporata praebet egregiam Aquam Anodynam. Ralfine c. C • ym. in art. red act. l. 5. Sect. 7 c. 2. pag. 377. Eâdem justâ evaporatione praegressâ in cellâ subterraneâ locata concrescit in Crystallos, qui Nitrum Anodinum vocatur. A Schrodero LAPIS PRUNELLAE ANTIMONIALIS indigitatur.

The vanity of Some men not knowing when they are well must be trying new conclusions although it be for the worse: and obtruding them upon others. What (if at all,) was to be done with plain coal, must for Ostentation-sake, be tryed with Brimstone and Antimony. And it had been a more genuine observation to have acquainted the world how; after Mr. Boyl had found out a way to reproduce Nitre by affusing the Spirit to the Alcali of Nitre burnt with coal: Mr. Henshaw had found out a method how to reduce the Alcali of Nitre burnt with Brimstone and Antimony to Nitre without any new Spirit affused. Had he pretended this, it had been but an ingenious imposture for vulgar capacities: but now there is more of weakness than of knavery in the performance.

Had he told us out of Mr. Boyle's Essay, and especially out of Glauber, that the manufacture of Salt-Petre might be improved by affunding Aqua Fortis or the Spirit of Nitre upon the solution of Pot-ashes, or any Alcalisate-Salt; Nay upon Sal Gemmae, Bay Salt, common table Salt, or Lyme water, and that thereby any one might gaine Crystalls of Nitre, proceeding according to Glauber. Prosper: German. part. 2. pag. 66. Et habebis purum putum Salempetrae, instar alius Salis-Petrae ex pecorum aut pecudum Stabulis petiti, flammam concipientem. If he had hold us this, though the advantage would have been greater than by the Alcali of Nitre; yet would it not have been considerable, because of the expense and Trouble, Ibid pag. 67. and that it must be performed with the brittle materialls of Glasses, as Glauber observes. But it would have illustrated a little what I mentioned about the Lixiviate • Salt in the Ashes through which the Salt-Petre-liquor is filtrated, shewing how the Alcali and common Salt are turned into Petre by vertue of that Liquor, which yet hath nothing of the Acid Spirit, whereby the Chymists generate theirs. Let us learn from thence how obscure the procedures of Nature are • and how different from those of Art! And let us leave off to say, that things are alwaies generated of those principles into which they are Analised.

That which I aim at then is, that if the Spirit of the volatile Salt of Soot, Hist. of the R. S. Pag. 275.276. or of the Urine, blood hoofes, hair, excrements or indeed any part of Animals (for all abound with such a volatile Salt fixed and Oile, as Petre doth) could by the same way, or any like it, be reduced to Petre or some Nitrous Salt, not much differing it from it: it would excellently make out a Theory that I am much delighted with till I am convinced in it; which is, that the Salt which is found in vegetables and Animals, is but the Nitre which is so universally diffused through all the Elements (and must therefore make a chief ingredient in their nutriment, and by consequence of their Generation) a little altered from its first complexion. And that the reason why Animals that feed on Vegetables are obliged by nature, to longer meales, than those that feed on other Animals; is, because Animals are fuller of that Salt then Vegetables: And indeed such Animals are but Caterers of it for Man; and others whom natures bounty gratifies with a more delicious and lusty Dyet.

In confess I have been the more confirmed in this fancy, since I have often seen a friend of mine with a natural and facile 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 convert the greater part of Petre into a Salt so like the volatile Salt of Urine, that they are scarcely to be distinguisht in smell or tast; and yet he adds nothing to it that can possibly be suspected to participate of that nature. But indeed all volatile Salts are so alike, that it is not easy to distinguish them in any respect.

I have been carefull not to dismember this last Paragraph, that the Reader might with one view survey this strange fancy: and Judge better how little I impose upon him in the sequell of my discourse.

And first I ask our Orator—how he applies this Speculation to what he promised us in the introduction to it? How does this improve the Art of making Salt-Petre? If an ill Memory, and a proportionate mixture of something else, be demonstrations of a great Witt, no man hath given greater testimonies of his abilities than Mr. Henshaw. Secondly, I demand why He is so Solicitous to transform the Spirit of the volatile Salt of Soot or Urine &c into Petre: whereas any man that considered what he went about would employ his care rather to coagulate the volatile Salt with which the Spirit of Soot and Urine abounds with Spirit of Nitre, Aqua-fortis or the like into Petre; or some such Nitrous Salt? But, behold the Happiness of Mr. Henshawe's Fansy and the unhappiness of his judgment: That which he Fansied possible about the coagulation of the volatile Salt abounding in Spirit of Urine with Spirit of Nitre into a kind of Petre, this Experiment hath happily succeeded under the tryall of the Honourable and inquisitive Mr. Boyle: but yet that Theory which he goes about to deduce thence is as farr from being established thereby, as the Artifice of Salt Petre-making is from being thereby advanced! From Spirit of Urine (saith M • . R. B.) and Spirit of Nitre • Mr. R. B Origi • e of formes Pag. 125. when I have suffered them to remain long together before coagulation, and freed the mixture from the Superfluous moisture very slowly, I have sometimes obtained fine long Crystalls, so shaped, that most beholders took them for Crystalls of Salt-Petre. But whosoever shal consider how much more trouble and cost there is in distilling those other volatile Spirits than there is in the drawing of the Spirit of Nitre: and how small quantities are like to be made this way, and those perhaps not serviceable in Gun-powder, will easily see that this project is as inutile as the former was in order to the improvement of the making Salt-Petre.

Oh! But it will excellently make out a Theory, that the Salt which is found in vegetables and Animals, is but the Nitre which is so universally diffused through all the Elements, a little altered from its first complexion. I remember that Sc • liger taking occasion to complain of Cardan for some illogicall inferences, useth these words: De subtil. Exerc. 153 Sect. 9. Dij benefecerunt, quód te faeminam non fecerunt. Ad primam quam que speciem promissorum exiluisses. I must apply this Sarcasme to Mr. Henshaw, who could be deluded by such weak appearances of reason. Let us but shape an Hypotheticall Syllogisme for him, and consider the consequence.

If the Spirit of Nitre being poured upon the Spirit of the Volatile Salt of Urine, Soot &c. doth reduce the Volatile Salt to Petre or some Nitrous Salt not much differing from it; then doth it follow that the Salt which is found in Vegetables and Animalls, is but the Nitre, which is so Universally diffused through all Elements (and must therefore make a chiefe ingredient in their nutrition and generation) a little altered from its first complexion. But the Antecedent is true Ergo,

In the first place it is evident by the Experiment of Mr. Boyle, that even Sea-Salt by the affusion of Spirit of Nitre may be turned into Petre. Origine of Formes Pag. 216. Nay Glauber teacheth us how Allom, Vitriol, Miner • lls and Stones may be with more or less trouble converted into Nitre; why did not he extend his consideration about the Nitre in all the Elements, to them? Is it because that they abound not in Oile and volatile Salt, upon which he so wisely builds his Argument?

Secondly, since it is made evident by Glauber in many places of his works, In Append. ad quint. par • . Prosper. Germ • n. Pag. 20.23, 25, 49. &c. that the Spirit of Nitre is as it were the Seed of Nitre by which it propagates it self and assumes a body, as plants do, where it finds one agreeable: and such are not only (nay not principally: which he should have noted) the votatile but fixed Salts of any Creature? Aqua fortis, aut Spiritus Nitri, Chymista Scepticus, p. 240 • est quasi Semen Salis-Petrae, at que hanc naturam habet, quando alijs Salibus, sicut semen aliquod vegetabile terrae, mandatur, ut ex ipsis augmentum capiendo, multiplicetur, quemadmodum herbarum semina faciunt. This Seminall principle in Nitre seemes to have the approbation of Mr. Boyle: and if it be thus, as undoubtedly it is, and that those Salts (whither volatile or fixed) are but the materiall principle, I do not see any more validity in the consequence, than if I should say, because sundry plants grow in the Earth or Water, therefore the Earth or Water were but those plants a little disguised in their complexion.

In fine, it is so farr from following hereupon, that Salt-Petre disguised is the Chief ingredient of the nutrition and geration of Animals; that it doth not follow, that it is any ingredient at all; but that there is something in those substances mentioned that may be converted into Petre, and is, as an Aristotelian would say, disposed fitly to be the Subject matter of that Forme. For as this Argument is shaped, what I say is as manifest, as that the constitutive parts of the Nitre, are to be the volatile Salt & the Spirit of Nitre: The one thing indifferent to sundry combinations and transmutations, and which hath nothing of the nature of Salt-Petre; but is palpably transmuted; since in the distillation of good Nitre there appears no such thing as volatile Salt: The other it is, that Specificates the predisposed matter, and generates P •• re out of it; so much altering the complexion, that the affinity betwixt that volatile Salt and Salt-Petre is no more than betwixt a man and a pumpion. He talks of the complexion of the Nitre being a little altered: but I would faine know how little that is. Let me see the like Crystalls: a resembling flame, and other effects that result from the being and Specification of Salt-Petre. If Salt-petre be a chief ingredient in the generation and nutrition of vegetables, Tis either because of its bulke or Efficacy that it is chief; but neither of these is true: For the quantity is not so great in vegetables or Animalls, should we allow the volatile Salt and Nitre to be all one. Not for Efficacy, because it is not made out that there is Nitre in the Sea, in clay-grounds or Springs, or in Countries remote from the Sun, yet here fishes and other Creatures feed, and plants grow: and consequently that cannot be a chief ingredient in nutrition, which may be wanting.

There is something else in Mr He • shaw that lookes like an Argument by the introduction FOR.—For all abound with such a volatile Salt fixed, and Oil, as Petre doth. I cannot tell how to forme this Argument, and yet convince the world that I do not injure him, this passage is so extreamly ridiculous. Yet I will endeavour it, if it be but to shew the Logick of Ant'- Aristotelians, and how much we owe to that providence which hath educated us better than to argue so. The proposition he aimes at, and would prove is, That the Salt which is in vegetables, and Animals, is but the Nitre which is universally diffused through the Elements. The medium or Argument by which he would prove it is —is—is—harder to be found out than the meaning of Aristotle in his Acromaticks. Let us consider it again.

That which I aim at then is, That if the Spirit of the volatile Salt of Soot, or of the Urin, blood, hornes, hoofes, haire, excrements, or indeed any part of Animals (for all abound with such a volatile Salt fixed, and Oile as Petre doth) could by the same way (viz: as the redintegrated Nitre) be reduced to Petre, or some Nitrous Salt, it would Excellently make out a Theory that I am much delighted with, till I am convinced in it: which is, that the Salt which is found in vegetables and Animals, is but the Nitre which is so universally diffused through all the El • ments (and must therefore make a chief ingredient in their nutrition,By his Favour there is no consequence in that passage: if it be the chief ingredient in nut • ition, 'tis so in generatio • : • or though nutritio • be commonly by a new generation of parts: yet in that which is properly generation • the S • minall pri • ciples and active are chief in • utrition; the mate • iall and passive principles are more regarded. and by consequence of their generation) a little altered from its first complexion.

Here is the Spirit of the volatile Salt of the parts of vegetables and Animals, to be coagulated and transformed into Petre by the Spirit of Nitre.—Here is a volatile Salt fixed, and Oile such as is in Petre! mentioned to what purpose!—Here is a Salt spoken of to be found in Vegetables, and Animals: yet 'tis not expressed whether it be the volatile or fixed Salt: yet these two are different, and those that abound with volatile Salt are more the Physick, than the food of man.—Well I have spent half an hour to frame a Sorites, or any tolerable Argument out of these words: but I cannot do it: but I will adventure to give our Philosophers this advise that they would take our English word FOR into their serious consideration, and abolish the use of it, as the French Academy at Paris did Car. Before I have done with this History, I shall shew that this Intimation was but necessary for them.

To proceed: How doth it appear that Salt-Petre abounds with a volatile Salt fixed and Oile? In the regenerated Nitre (which Glauber makes to be the best) there is nothing but Alcali and the Spirit of Nitre: in the Nitre which is generated by the mixture of the Spirit of Urin and Spirit of Nitre there is no such thing. In the distillation of Nitre there is nothing but Spirit (inseperate from Phlegme) and its Alcali: and as there is no Oile there, so I hope he would not have us take the Alcali for a volatile Salt fixed. In the making of Salt-Petre there is found indeed something that seems Oily and greasy: but that is Excrementitious, and so farr from being a constitutive part of it, that it must be Separated from it (as Mr. Henshaw knowes) before Salt-Petre can be made: and the great contrivance is how to separate it. So Glauber in Prosper German. part. 3. pag. 43. alias enim pinguedinem nimiam contrahit lixivium, nec ullum Salgenerabitur.

From the mention of this Oile, I must take an occasion to tell the world how superficially our Virtuoso writes the History of Nitre: I could suggest many curiosities from the severall liquors in the making of Salt-Petre: But I have not time to discourse of the Mothers of Petre, not how that grease being lodged in the ashes, those ashes being exposed to the Sun at Warwick did in one or two daies produce visible Nitre on the top of the ashes, so that in few daies those ashes become fit to be Elixiviated into raw liquors, which were before but to make a Lixivium to purge the liquors that had boiled. I shall only touch at an Experiment which may not be unwelcome to the Honourable Mr. Boyle. I took of the Mothers that had stood long and were exceeding Oily: I powred four spoonfulls of them into a large Venice-glass, half full of water: This greasy liquor sunke to the bottom instantly without altering the tast or colour of the water at all: so that the top was clear water; the bottom of a reddish colour as bilious Urin: only on the surface of the water, and in the middle, there did flote several very small bubbles of the colour of water: having let this stand a day: I took a Solution of the Alcali of Salt-Petre (which, though of a greenish blew, yeilded a lympid liquor upon filtration) and poured two or three spoonfulls into the mixture of Mothers and water: immediately the whole liquor turn'd Lacteous or White; but the colour presently contracted it self into a white en • orema, or suspensum, such as is to be seen in healthfull Urin, and so floted above the surface of the Mothers: the next morning I found as it were a powder fallen to the bottom, which I stirred up to the top, whereupon the whole liquor up to the top of the water was turbid.

After the Glass had stood some daies, the l • quor lost its Oili • ess, no Crystalls did shoot at all, but it became a lit • le turbid, on the top there s • o • ed something here and there, like to a thin cremor, and on every side of the Glass from the top to the bottom thereof fixed themselves certain mol • culae which a credulous Chymist would as firmly have beleived to have been the rudiments of some pl • nts, as that the Salt of Harts-hornes in distillation represents the hornes of St • ggs; If you will imagine any Plant growing on the side of a • all, and that instead of the leaves of the pl • nt, there were nothing but white filaments issuing from a roo • , such we • e these: all of them were of one bigness, and were ranked in some orde • . A chance hindred me from making further inquiries: nor indeed am I much sollicitous about them.

The Phaenomenon appears not if you look down rig • t on it, but standing on one side at a distance.

I let it stand all night, and this morning the whole liquor from top to bottom is of one colour; and that exactly of a Limon-colour, or like old Hoccomar-wine; on the top there seems to float thin coagulations of fat with some variety of colours, such as one may often see on small waters that stand in Moorish grounds: the liquor is nothing • igh so acrimonious and purigent as the Mothers were: and all of it is as greasy as the Mothers were, when Separate: hanging on the finger, as Oile, and not like water at all; at the bottom of the Glass there lies a Yellow-sediment as 'twere powder, which upon agitation will not rise of it self, but must be stirred up with something, and then resembles the white Hypostasis of Urin, with capillary filaments enterveaving each other.

And, How doth it appear that Urin doth abound with a volatile Salt fixed, and Oile? I do not understand what he meanes by his volatile Salt fixed: Zwelfer. in Phrm • cop: Aug: pag. 486. Edit. in 8. by what is it fixed? to what degree? volatile Salts are sometimes so fixed, as only to abate, not alter the volatility: as the volatile Salt of vipers, in Zwelfer: and the volatile Salt of Harts-horn (of which I keep some) with rectified Spirit of Salt: Sometimes they are so fixed as to loose the nature of Salt and to become insipid, and indissoluble: Ibid. pag. 234. as when volatile Salts are mixed with Limewater: There are a sort of Salts which Zwelfer calls Salia Essentialia, which are not to be called properly fixed, nor volatile, being mediae quasi naturae inter utra que Salia, volatilia scilicet, (quae instar Spirituum levi ignis calore concitata sublime petunt) et fixa.

And there are Salts so fixed naturally that they will endure the Fire without evaporating: Zwelfer. in Append. pag. 99. Salia pu •• Salsa fixa. Salia, accino-Salsa fixa. such are Alcalisate Salts, being purely Salt fixed: other fixed Salts having of acidity in them, and upon distillation yeild an acid Spirit: how farr these may be volatilised, is not the question; but whether there be in Urin a volatile Salt fixed: which any man will deny, who considers with how much ease the volatile Salt of Urin is procured. As for the Oile wherewith Urin is said to abound, Vid. Zwelfer in Append. pag. 99. surely Mr Henshaw converses with men of a strange • idney that make such water; Or that feed much upon green Tortoyses. In some morbid persons Physicians Speak of Urines that are oleaginous, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But I shall favour the Virtuoso so much as to understand what he saies about Urin, as relating to persons in health, and not sick; least I should be to seek as much for the volatile Salt as I am for the Oile, which is not to be distilled from it by any Chymicall process, that I meet with in Dr. Willis, or any else: nor to be seen, but in such as feed on green Turtle in the West Indies: or are not well in their bodies: not be spoken of, but by such as are not well in their Wits. If by Oile he means that which gives a colour to the Urin, and is by Dr. Willis, called the Sulphureous part of the Urin: I shall not now dispute whether that be Oile: or, no since that same learned and inquisitiv • person assures us he found no great quantity of it in his Analysis. Urinae Anatome ostendit quod Eleme • ta é quibus liquor eius conflatur sunt plurimum aquae et Salis, aliquantulum Sulphuris et terrae, Willis de Uri •• s c. 1. at que Spiritus tantillum.

Yet a word, or two: How doth it appear that Nitre is so Universally diffused through all the Elements? If he mean the Aristorelian Elements, did he ever find it so universally lodged in that Fire: is it so diffused through Water? how many foot deep is it found in the Earth? How doth it appear to be in the Aire? Let Mr. Henshaw recollect himself. Let him give what Notion he will to his Elements, the Assertion is false: although it be true that in this Terr-aqueous Globe of ours there is nothing occurrs but what contains in it Salt-Petre, or somewhat that may first or last, after greater or lesser pains and time be Animated into Salt-Petre viz. 〈…〉 . G •• man. pa •• . 1. Pag. 98.99. Exemplum hoc esto. Sal Vegetabilium, Animalium, et Mineralium Essentialis vel Universalis su • natur • quidem nitrosus est, sed prius flammam non concipit, quám ex aere vitam et flammam attraxerit. Salium autem etiam unus citius et libentius altero, vitam illam attrabit, prout a Naturâ formatus est. Quò fugaciores et magis urinosi sunt sales, eo citius in Nitrum se commutant: quo mordaciores et magis corrosivi, eo difficilius et tardiùs Salispetrae naturam induunt. Sed quia Nitrum Sal est utrius que naturae particeps, urinosae nimirum et corrosivae, et quasi exutro que Sale urinoso nempe et corrosivo compositus, It is to be n • ted, that although he say S • a-Sal • and some othe • s do require much time to be converted into Petre: • e me • ns when it is to be as it were sowed & planted, & generated by a 〈…〉 ; oth • rwi • e, he kn • w, a • d • e • che • h speedy waies of generating Nitr • out of the fixed-Salt of Ly • e-sto • e as doth Mr. 〈◊〉 out of B • y-Salt in his Origine of so • nes pag: 216. ejus ope peritus Naturae Salibus facile succurret, et ex iis faciet quicquid voluerit. Nec Sal ullus est in rerum natur • qui artis adjumento in Nitrum mutari nequeat: Inprimis vero sales illi, qui igne sublimantur et ejus vi eleva • i ascendunt: ut illi qui in urin • et excrementis animalium omnium sunt: Imo animalia, vegetabilia, et Mineralia ipsa, facile admodum Nitri naturam a • ripiunt. Hic primus Salium gradus esto. Al • er gradus est Salium, qui aliquanto fixiores sunt, ut artis filii nuncupant, et in igne a vegetabilibus, animalibus et mineralibus relinquuntur. Hi difficilius in Nitri naturam transeunt. Omnium difficillime illi, qui in tertio gradu sunt, ut Sal communis, marinus, montanus seu fossilis, alumen et vitriolum. Nam hos ars etiam eò deducit, ut in verum Nitrum abeant, sed difficilius, cum longiore ad eos mutandos tempore indigeat, quam ad supranominatos Sales fugaces, volatiles et urinosos. Quare nemo eâ opinione esto, quando in Scriptis meis dico quod hic aut ille Sal, in Salem-petrae converti queat; quamprimum lixivio extractus, aut saltem ignis calcinatione elicitus fuerit, quod Sal-petrae verus et ardens futurus sit: Tempus adh • c requititur, quo ex aere vitam et animam, alliciat et ardens evadat.

Lippis et to • soribus notum est, maximam Salis-petrae antehac confecti partem, ex lixivio terrae, ex ovilibus, aliarum que bestiarum Stabulis antiquis petitae, exccctam fuisse. Quare ex antiquis jumentorum, pecudum et pecorum Stabulis, et non etiam novis? Ideo quia non solum vetera Stabula longo temporis progressu plus ex excrementis et urinâ Salis imbibunt, e • que de caus • plus Salis-Petrae conferre possunt. Sed etiam Sales ipsi Excrementorum ex animalibus, quod potissimum est, longo temporis progressu exaere animam suam acceperunt, quâ recentes nondum imbutisunt. Nam, coquat quis, torreat et vexet stercora, et urinam animalium, ut voluerit, Nitrum nunquam evadent, nisi ex aëre vitam suam hauserint.

Whereas he saies, That the reason why Animals that feed on Vegetables are obliged by Nature to longer meales than those that feed on other Animalls; is because that Animals are fulle • of that Salt than Vegetables: and indeed such Animals are but Ca • erers of it for man and others whom nature gratifies with a more lusty and delicious dyet.—To begin with the last passage, I observe that our Inventor hath such a Pique against Antiquity, that he transgresseth the old proverbe De gustibus non est disputandum. It doth not appear to me certain that the feeding upon Flesh, as most do now: or on Fish, as most did heretofore; is more delicious than to feed on vegetables, and some of their productions. Not yet that it is the more lusty food, Z •• chi • s i • quaest. medico-legal. l. 5. Tit. 1. qu. 2. D •• i • l. 1. v. 5 • give the word what sence you will. The story of Daniel's pulse: of St Iohn Baptist, of the Negro's in the West-Indies, of the Bannyans in the East-Indies. They will not grant it who hold (I think most truely) that before the flood men lived on Vegetables: In the Golden age they are not fansied to have had this delicious and lusty food.

• vid. m • tamo • ph. l. 15. At vetus illa aetas cui secimus Aurea nomen Faetibus arboreis, et quas humus educat herbis Fortunata fuit, nec polluit ora cruore.

How many of the Ancient Philosophers did dec • ine & decr this admired dyet? but our Virtuoso will as little approve of their Palats, as their judgments. How many of the primitive Christians were of the same judgment, and liv'd accordingly? Th • y were so universally inclined to it (I do not mention the Tatiani and Encratitae, and other Hereticks) that in the Examination of such as were to be admitted into Holy Orders it was one Q • ery, Renatus Mor • an in anim • dv. ad • Schol. Sal • r • it. pag. 590. Si nuptias Secundas non improbarent, e • carnes non haberent Execratas. Quin cogebantur praegustare carnes, alioquin Excommunicabantur, et de ordine sui Clericatus deponebantur, ut habes expositum in Can: 50 51. Apostolorum. 1 Can. 14. Carthaginensi, canone primo. Bracharensi primo, et refertur de consecrati dist. 23. cap. qui Episcop. The order of the Carthusian Monks at present eat no Flesh: Arn: de villa-Nova de • su carnium p • o Su • t • nt 〈◊〉 . Cartu •• e • s. yet doth Arnoldus Villanovanus demand, Quis audet asserere quod nemo vitae longitudinem consequatur sine carnium usu, cum in Monasteriis Cartusienses octogenarii et centenarii mundorum sensuum crebro inveniantur. When David found the Egyptian in the field, who had eaten no bread, nor drank any water three daies and three nights: they gave him bread and he did eat, 3 Sam: 30.11.12. and they made him drink water: And they gave him a piece of a cake of Figgs, and two clusters of Raysins: and when he had eaten, his Spirit came again unto him. And it seemes as if the general food of the Romans had been Herbs: So Zacchias imagineth, Zatchias, quaest medico-legal. l. 5. tit 1. qu. 2. Quibus ego addam Claudii Edictum, de quo apud Suetonium in ejus vita cap. 22. quo cavebatur ne in propinis quicquam cocti vaeniret, praeter olera et legumina: quae quidem non contemnendam conjecturam praebent antiquiores, haec pr • caeteris cibariis in familiarissimo usu habuisse; Est et apud Horatium locus ex quo similis conjectura desumi potest, cum suum victum familiarem ac quotidianum narrat: l. 1. Sermon. Sat. 6.

—Inde domum me Ad Porri, et Ciceris refero, Lagam que catinum.

I neither find that these people disrelished their dyet, or wanted of that lustiness which the eaters of flesh pretend unto. That such as feed on Vegetables should be Caterers of Nitre for those that feed upon Animals, it is either false, or they are very bad Caterers, since they seldome do their duty in procuring that Salt: and when by chance they may have fed upon any, I am confident it is transmuted into an Urinous Salt in their bodies, so that those other Animals never get any other than that universall Salt which is the radix Nitri as Glauber calls it, but is really no more Salt-Petre than it is Salt Armoniack; Salt of Wormwood, or Salt of Scurvy-grass. No complexion was ever so altered by being Sunburnt, or by the Small Pox, as the complexion of Salt-Petre is in Plants and Animals, from what it is at the Work-house.

The reason why Animals that feed on Vegetables are obliged by Nature to longer meales than those that feed on other Animals; is because Animals are fuller of that Salt then Vegetables.—This Reason puts me in mind of a probleme in Aristotle, Why Colts that have seen a Wolf, are Swifter than those that have not? (I think it is to that purpose.) After sundry reasons given, he adds; But purhaps there is no such thing. I profess I do imagine it is so in this Case. And waving the question How nature obligeth them to it? I never heard that those Encrati • es and such as Daniel, or St. Iohn Baptist &c. had Stomachs and did eat like Horses: I never read of the long meales of the Bannyans, or Pythagoreans. Any planter in Barbados, will assure you that a pint of a kind of bean which they call Bonavist with a little Salt, boyld, will nourish and support a servant more than flesh. The like we observe with Cacao in Iamaica. The Hunte • s in Iamaica that live on Flesh and Salt when they are abroad in the Woods, eat much more in quantity than when they eat bread • Cassavi, or Patata's with their meat. Besides, there is a bird in Iamaica, and the adjacent Islands almost as big as a Turkey and like one, they call it a Carrion Crow, these devour all the offall of the beasts that are slain by the Hunters: they are never fat, nor satiated: I have seen some of them feed on Carrion from morning to night without any considerable intermission.

The facile 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by which his friend did convert the greatest part o • Petre into a Salt so like the volatile Salt of Urine that they are scarce to be distinguished by smell or tast: yet adding nothing that can possiibly be suspected of that nature. If it be true, and that Mr. Henshaw was not imposed upon; if this Nitre was so changed as that it lost its inflammability and way of burning, its way of Crystallising and those other qualities which are proper to Nitre: how facile soever the Operation were, it was a transmutation, and the change was greater than when the Complexion of Salt-Petre is only altered a little.

I am tyred with multiplying reflexions upon such a discourse: any one will apprehend that this great and usefull Speculation of Mr. Henshaw's amounts to no more than wast Paper. All that I have benefited by it, is to remember a proposition made in Mr. Hartlib, Hartlibs legacy Pag. 180. concerning the improvement of Houses of Office, which I will set down as being more materiall to the publick, and indeed more conducing to illustrate his Speculations than any thing he hath alledged.—I have seen Fifty pounds worth of Salt Petre extracted out of a vault at Dowgate, not very Spacious, which was formerly an House of O • fice, and not emptyed till the matter was throughly rotten. Why may not the same thing be done by Art, which was formerly done by Nature and Accident? I have been credibly informed that such a work is ordinarily done in the Kingdome of China and also at the City of Paris in France: and I see no reason why English-men should not have as much wit as they. If any man hath convenient Room to build two Houses of Office, and to close up the one whilest he useth the other, then there can be no question but that instead of the charge of emptying, and no • someness of smell, he may have it emptied for nothing, and feel the sweet smell of money very gratefull to most m • n, and that in as great or greater quantity than he receiveth for his ordinary edifices: besides that, he will shew himself to be a good member of the body politick in which he lives: but he must beware that the matter lye dry, and that no adventitious moisture come to it from beneath or above; which will be something more chargeable in moist grounds than where the Earth is very dry by its own nature. Agreable to this is the practise of our Salt-Petre-men, who as often as they meet with any old vault of this kind, they make use of it to extract their Minerall, as being inferior to no Earths. Andras • accius de therm. l. 5 cap. 7. And Baccius relates that near a certain town, which he calls Oppidum Fabrianum, there was a deep and close Grott under the Appennine, in which Millions of Owles did lodge themselves, their dung had been accumulated there for many centuries of years: So Kircher. Mun • . Subter. l. 6. Sect. 2. cap. 4. out of this the Salt-Petre-men extracted so much of Nitre as amounted to an inestimable summ • of money.

And not long agoe, whereas in the Warrs betwixt the Crim Tartar and Polonians towards Muscovy, Gla • be • P • osper. Germ. part. per • pag. 96. great numbers of people being slain in battails were buryed for hast togegether in great cavernes in the Mountains, & so rotted there: out of that Earth in the Cavernes there was extracted a great quantity of Salt-Petre. Casimir S • micnowicz. art mag. artiller. p. 1. l. 2. c. 2. From these premises, and from the consideration of the dung of Kine, Horses, Goates, Swine, Sheep; out of all which Salt-Petre is extracted in great quantities, it seems as if one might with some Speciousness argue, that the Salt in Animals (which is a great ingredient in their nutrition) were nothing but Nitre altered a little from its first complexion. But whosoever shall consider with Gla • ber that circumstance of a long putrifacti • n, and how necessary it is the Earth be Animated and impregnated by the Aire (so that in Churches where it is paved, they look not for Petre but in open floores or Seats that are loosly boarded) and by what degrees and rudiments it proceeds to common Salt (as I suppose in this cas • the immature Earth abounds with that which is afterwards turn'd into Nitre, and the Northern Countries tha • y • ild little Petre are impregnated with that Salt) to common Salt first (except a powerfull Seminality intervene as in • shes impregnated with Mothers; in Earth mixed with the Scumme or ashes aforesaid) and after into Salt-Petre. Whosoever shall consider this will be apt to reject that conclusion, and think that since no Chymistry, nor other Artific • can discover any Petre in Animals at first, that whatever Salt there is in Animals and their excrements, it more differs from Salt-Petre than the change of its Complexion amounts unto, and that it is a kind of Seminall principle derived from the Aire, or some other way, that generates by real transmutation the Salt-Petre out of the volatile and fixed Salts, and (perhaps) other particles of their bodies and Excrements.

I should here conclude my Animadversions upon this History of Salt-Petre, but that I think it necessary to shew the world what a Plagiary this Virtuoso is: This Theory of his with which he seems so much delighted, is but a disguise of what Glauber hath publish • d in his works, and inculca • ed more than once. That inquisitive person tell us, that there is a certain universall Salt diffused through all parts of our Globe, and that the three Kingdomes, Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral are impregnated therewith: and that this Universal Salt is of such a nature that if it be animated ('tis his own word) by a certain Nitrous principle, Spirit or Seminality, it will become true and inflameable Petre. That this Nitrous Spirit can never be incorporated or coagulated of it self: but that it must be Sociated with some Saline bodies and then it becomes perfect Nitre. And however he allowes a regard to the volatile and Urinous Salts as things most facile to impregnate with and transmute into Salt-Petre; yet doth he ascrib • as much to the fixed (though the progress be sometimes slower) as to the Volatile Salts in this case. Equidem lubens fateor,, quod Spiritus Nitri ex omnibus fixis Salibus sibi corpus assumendo, G • aube • . appe • . qu. pa • t. Pros •• . G • rman. Pag. 23. ad pri •• inam Salis-Petrae naturam reverti possit. From this opinion of Glauber (who sometimes speaks loosly, and calls the Salt in Veget • bles, and Animals, and Minerals Nitrous, and even Nitre) did Mr. Henshaw borrow his Notion of this Nitre that is diffused through all the Elements, and disguised in Vegetables, and Animals and Minerals, which he omits; foolishly!) Animalia nulla sibi alia quaerunt alimenta, quam quae terra ipsis suppeditat, Prosper. G • rman. part. 3. p • g. 112. quibus Sal-p • trae omnino ades • e debet. Salptrae ita que est omnium vegetabilium Mineralium et Animalium Unicus Servator.—Salessentiale vel naturae nihil aliud est quam Salpetrae, prosper. Germ. part. 2 p. 66. non tamen ardens nisi animatus fuerit per aërem, et ex eodem vitam aut esse suum hauserit.—Cuncta haec in omnibus rebus nitrum OCCULTUM latere satis super que arguunt. Sal enim mundi, sive Sal Universale et essentiale nihil est aliud quam Nitrum postquam Vitam ex aëre extraxit. What Glauber's Opinion is may be guessed out of what I have already alledged out of him, where he particularly explains himself. How —our Virtuoso hath disguised and declared his, I have also shewed. But perhaps you will say that Mr. Henshaw never read Glauber, at least he never takes notice of him: I answer, that in not mentioning of him he shews his disingenuity: but Glauber's treatises relating to Salt-Petre were published in the years 1656, and 1659. And that Mr. Henshaw did read him it seems evident from this, that his History of Salt-Petre seems rather to be transcribed from out of Glauber's third part of the Prosperity of Germany (who transcribed it out of Lazarus Ercker overseer of the Emperor's Mines) than from any Experiments or observations of his own and other Salt-Petre-men, (with whom perhaps he lightly discoursed) whatever he pretended the begining of his History: pag. 261. For had he minded the work, he could not have committed so many Errours. I believe that I ought to rectify Mr. Henshawe's computation of what Petre the liquor holds by computation before it be put into the Ash-tubs pag: 270. and that for thirty five pound it ought to be twenty five pound: for so 'tis in Ercker; who followes that way of calculating, which I believe our Petre-men do not. Sure I am, that whereas Mr. Henshaw saith that the liquor of the second boyling when it is ready to Crystallize contains in every hundred-weight about threescore and ten pounds of Petre. That Ercker saith: Liquore sic perfecte parato, ex centenario ejus plus quam 70 l. Salis-Petrae provenient. That Signe also of second boyling being boyld to a just height, by hanging like Oile on the Scummer, as false as it is, is out of Ercker, viz. Ligula ipsa liquoris bonitatem denotat, ubi liquori immissa et iterum extracta ipsum instar olei sibi adhaerentem exhibet. Several other passages there are, which seeme taken out of Ercker, about the colour of the Un-refined Petre, and the mistake about the Mother, or liquor which remains after coagulation how it is to be disposed of. The casting in of Vinegar, a pint at a time, and the rising of the black Scumme (pag 273) is the one a direction, the other an observation of Erckers. The Casting in of quick-lime to make the Petre whiter, and rock the better; the injecting of burnt Allom before that: are the documents of Ercker, but not that I hear the practice of England. The covering the Trayes with cloaths, to make the Petre begin to shoot at the bottom and Rock into fairer Crystalls; These and many other circumstances convince me that Mr. Henshaw stole his narrative, and then certainly fetcht his—from no other place. Onely he Spoiles a plausible Theory, and tells us he is much delighted with it: and no doubt thereof: So were some of the Society, and it was an Extraordinary apprehension they had of the Worth of this History that they inserted it into Mr. Sprat's Book: and truely I was as much pleased thereat, as They could be.

Animadversions upon the History of making of Gun-powder, Pag. 277. written also by Mr. Henshaw.

IF some of our Wits were not such Enemies to Logick (a part whereof is Method) I should have expected to have found in the continuation of the History of Gun-powder some mention of Brimston, and its refining. And I should have expected a discourse concerning mute powder, which however it be not efficacious, This is a particular way of clarifying the Brimstone and fortifying it so as to be much more servicable: which any one may read in Casimi • us Semienowicz p. 1. l. 2. c. 9. There is an account of mute Powder (though not tried by him) in the same Author and a way to take of the crack of Gun-powder, in Untzerus de Sal. c. 29. of which we heare not a word. yet is it a sort of Gun-powder, and a noble experiment. And perhaps it might not have been unworthy the curiosity of an accurate Historian to have treated of those preparations of Gold and Steel, which are called Aurum fulminans et tonitruans or crepitans, Ceraunochrysos; Vide Chrysioscopion Casparis. Mars tonans: and that other made with common Sulphur, and published by Rolfincius Chym. in art. red. l. 5. Sect. 2. c. 28. Amthour cap. 5. S • nn •• t. de co • s. • t diss. chym. c. 19. These he might very well have inserted, and neither have Invented over again (a thing usuall with our Virtuosi) or have related them as secrets imparted unto him by an Ingenious friend or Member of the Royal Society: which is agreable to their practice: thus particularly Mr. Hooke suggests unto us the usual Study of the Signatures of Plants upon the observation of an able Physitian, • n • erograph. observe. 30. pag. 155. a friend of his whereas that discovery is as old as Paracelsus and Crollius and in reference to his insinuation of the vertue of Poppyes from the Signature, I shall add this digressing passage out of Conringius in addend. ad. med. Hermet. pag. 400. Nec veró capiti prodest vel nymphaeae flos uel papaveris caput, quòd imaginem aliquam capitis praebeant: omnibus enim ejus affectibus deberent prodesse et solis, siquidem agant Specificâ quodam, ut loquuntur, facultate, et capiti proprie • int dicata. Sed et illa capitis effigiem non aliter prae se ferunt quam poma omnia imo omnes seminum folliculi, quae tamen nemo duxerit capiti singulariter prodesse. Infinitis exemplis vanitatem doctrinae ostendere est, si opus fuerit.

But these are not his only omissions; for it became him in the first place to have represented unto us the facile and less artificiall waies of making Gun-powder, & then the more elaborate procedure at the Powder-mills. But our Virtuoso is above those pedanticall rules of Logick and History, by which vulgar Wits are regulated. Because I think it no unnecessary instruction, I shall set down a Method of making Gun-powder without any Mill at all, as Casimirus Semienowicz reports it. • n Art. may • . A • tiller. pa • t 1. l. 2. c. 14. many of our Country-peasants know how to make Gun-powder without the use of any artifice or machines. For we have seen many of the inhabitants of Podolia and •• rain, who are termed Cosacs making Gun-powder after another manner then is commonly practised. They take certain proportions of Salt-Petre, Brimstone, and Coal, (which proportions they have learned by long practise) & put them into an earthen vessel, adding thereto some fresh water, they boile it over a slow fire for two or three houres, till the water be evaporated, and the materials grow thick and Stiffe. Then they take the mess out of the pot, and drying it a little more in a Stove or in the Sun, they pass it through an haire sieve, and so granulate it very small. Others take the materials designed for Gun powder & either upon a plain polished Stone, or in any Earthen Vessel grind them and mixe them well together and incorporate them: then they moisten it, and so granulate it. Betwixt this way of the Cosacs, and that of Vannuccio Biringoccio there is a little difference, which makes me set his down apart. Having weighed the materials, • ach by it self, and having beat and sears • d th • m each apart, in the end (as the best and speedi • st way) to compose them together, take the quantity of Nitre you are to use, and put into a Caldron with so much water as, putting it on the fire to heat, you think will dissolve it; then take off the Caldron and set it on the ground in a firme place, and then put in the quantity of the Coal by little and little, stirring it about untill it is well incorporated with the dissolved Nitre: then take your Sulphur finely powdered and s • arsed, and stir it in, stirring it continually about with a wooden pestell, untill you have well incorporated all together, and made the Co • l fine and impalpable, if you can: then dry it from all moisture and searse it very well thorough a fit serse; and then wet it with a little common water, or a little Vinegar, and lastly thorough a sieve or searse grain it, and then again dry it well for your use.

To pass by his defects it is a notorious untruth with which he begins his History. The materials of Gun-powder are Salt-Petre, Brimstone, and Coal. —The Coal MUST be Withy and Alder equal parts: for Withy alone is counted too soft, and some do commend Hazle to be as good as the other two.—I find that those that made Gun-powder at Coventry during the late Warrs used any • ight-wood-coal, de vulner: s • l • pet 911. as Maple and Aspe: and thought their powder as good as any could be. Some have told me that they have known Birch-coal very good. I find Botallus to reckon up as ingredients promiscuously used in the making of Gunpowder, Dr. Read also reckons them coals as m • de indifferently of Willow, or strlks of Hemp: of wounds lit. 15. Art. magn. or till. p. 1. l. 2. c. 13. Carbones Cannabinos, saliceos, vel juglandeos • and Semienowicz saith that if you cannot get enough of Withy, or Hazle to charre: Si Salicis et coryli sufficiens non detur copia ad urendos carbones, vices horum tilia sicca supplere poterit. Si exiguam aliquam carbonum portionem praeparare cupis, virgulta ex coryla et salice, vel lignum tiliae aut j • niperi in parva frustula secta, et optimé siccata vasi alicui testaceo includito, et operculo figulneâ cretâ ad orificium vasis firmato, postea candentibus • ndique • stipatum prunis, per unius horae Spatium ibidem in uno continuo et aequali semper caloris gradu manere sinito. Frigescattandem sua sponte, et usti eximantur carbones. Sunt qui mappas et lineam telam vetustam bene et siccatam hoc modo in carbo • em redigant; cujus etiam non spernenda virtus in re Pyrotechnica. I find another excellent writer of Pyrotechny one Signior Vannu • cio Biringoccio a Nobleman of Sienna Printed at Venice the third time in 1559. to use other materials for his Coal then our Virtuoso propounds. To make the Coal some besides Willowes use the branches of vine: some make it of Noccido a Nut tree Hazel, bay-tree, of the bark of the fruit of the pine, and some of those twigs they make Baskets with, some of young Elder, and some of Cane or Reed: and in fine, those coales that are made of gentle, pliable and flexile wood with pith enough, and that be fine and young and without hard knots, are fit for this use, and it is made in divers manners in great quantities. It is made after the fashion of common coal. Those Virtuosi that have little to do, use to put twigs split into a large pot or other Vessel of Earth, Iron, or Brass, and cover or lute it well about that nothing may respire; and then make a fire upon it, continuing it so long that they beleive the twigs are sufficiently burnt without flame; and then they let them coole, and take the coal for their use. When I have had present need I have done it without all this adoe I have taken a quantity of clear dry twigs, and broke them to pieces and laid them on an heap close, and set them on fire, and let them burn well: then with a Scoop or a ladle I have sprinkled water on them, and then gently scatterd the fire and quenched them.

But whatever the common practice be, the addition of coal is not so necessary, but some other things may be substituted instead of it, which practice is usual with those that make Gun-powder of sundry other colours besides black.

De pulvere pyrio variis coloribus colorato.

Pulveris communis pyrii nigredo ex carbonum atro colore resultat. Possibile tamen • undem alio quo que colore tingere, • as. S • mieno • icz. •• t. mag. art. p. 3. l. 2. •• 15. si carbonum loco vel lignum putridum, vel papyrus alba humefacta prius postea in furno calido siccata et in pulverem trita, vel aliud quidpiam simile, facile ignem arripiens et combustibile (ut in sequentibus patebit) sumatur, varij que colores addantur. Proponemus igitur hoc capite mixtur as aliquot ex quibus ipsimet propriis manibus saepius variis coloribus coloratos confeci •• s pulveres.

Pulvis albus.

Salisnitri lb. 6. Sulphuris lb. j. medullae sambuci exiccat • lb. j.

Salisnitri lb. 10. Sulphuris lb. j. corticum vel partis lignos • Cannabi decussae lb. j.

Salisnitri lb. 6. Sulphuris lb. j. Taratri ad albedinem calcinati, dein in aquâ communi in ollâ non vitreatâ ad evaporationem totius aquae cocti un • .

Pulvis rubicundus.

Salisnitri lb. 6. Sulphuris lb. j. Ambrae lb. se. sandali rubri lb. j.

Salisnitri lb. 8. Sulphuris lb. j. papyri exiccatae et in pulverem tritae, et in aquâ cinnanobaris aut ligni Brasiliani coctae et iterum exiccatae lb. j.

Pulvis luteus.

Salispetre lb. 8. Sulphuris lb. j. Croci sylvestris cum vino adusto prius cocti, dein optime exiccati et pulverisati lb. j.

Pulvis viridis.

Salisnitri lb. 10. Sulphuris lb. j. ligni p • tridi cum aerugine aeris et aquâ vita cocti, dein exiccati lb. 2.

Pulvis caeruleus

Salisnitri lib. 8. Sulphuris lib. j. Scobis ex ligno tilie cum indigo et vino adusto coctae, dein exiccatae et pulveris atae lb. j.

It might have become our Virtuoso in an History of Gun-powder not only to have declined these Errors and Mistakes, but to have treated of these sundry sorts of powder, thus coloured: as also to have taken notice of the difference betwixt Cannon-powder and that which is used for Musquets & Pistolls, which distinction, as observable as it is to every ordinary person, is not taken notice of by our Historian further then that out of the same mass the great cornes serve for Cannon powder, the less for musquet and pistoll. whereas great Artillery requires other powder then the small; & the materials of Gunpowder are differently proportioned to make up the several powders as appeares by the pyrotechny of Vannuccio Biringoccio.

To make common powder for great Artillery. Take of Nitre refined three parts. of Sulphur 1 part. of Coal of Willow 2 parts. To make that for the middle sort of Artillery. Take Nitre refined 5 parts. Coal 1 part and an half. Sulphur one part, Let it be well incorporated, granulated and dryed. To make that for Arquebusses and Pistolls. Take Nitre refined 10 parts. Coal of Hazell-twigs cleansed 1. part: Sulphur 1 part. Some to make it better. Take Nitre, 13 parts and an half. Coal two parts. Sulphur one part and and an half.

Let them be well beaten and incorporated &c.

I find also the accurate Casimirus Semienowicz to make a treble distinction of Powder which I shall set down, as being the best and most approved in the world. which when I have done we shall not much lament the concealment of that cheat or secret Mr. Henshaw could well learn, but with promise not to divulge it: it not being other then to substract from the Petre, and make up the weight in coal whilest (by this improvement of Gun-powder by the Virtuosi) his Majesty payes as if there were the proportion of Salt-Petre,

Mixturae ad triplicem pulverem conficiendum optimae probatissimae que .

Mixturae pulveris ad tormenta Majora. Mixturae pulveris ad Sclopeta majora vulgo musquetas. Mixturae pulveris ad Sclopeta minora, vulgó pistolos et alia. 1 1 1 Salisnitri lb. 100. Salisnitri lb. 100. Salisnitri lb. 100. Sulphuris lb. 25. Sulphuris lb. 18. Sulphuris lb. 12. Carbonum lb. 25. Carbonum lb. 20. Carbonum lb. 15. 2 2 2 Salisnitri lb. 100. Salisnitri lb. 100. Salisnitri lb. 100. Sulphuris lb. 20. Sulphuris lb. 15. Sulphuris lb. 10. Carbonum lb. 24. Carbonum lb. 18. Carbonum lb. 8.

Mixturae pulverum ad Tormenta & Majora Sclopeta, inter pinsendum vel Simplici aquâ tantum, vel aceto, vel urina, vel vino adusto humectari et inspergi possunt. Sin autem ad Sclopeta minora fortiorem vege • iorem que exoptamus pulverem, superiores duae mixturae sequenti liquore, vel aquâ ex corticibus, malorum Aurantiorum, et Citrinorum, et Limoniorum recentium Chymicis organis distillatâ inspergantur saepius, pinsentur que per Horas 24 dein que in minutissima granulentur.

Liquor autem componitur ex vini adusti mensuris 20. Spiritus aceti ex vino albo distillati mensuris 12. Spiritus Nitri mensuris 4. A • uae simplicis ex Sale Armeniaco mensuris 2. Camphorae ex vino adusto subactae, vel cum Sulphure trito pulveri sa • ae, vel d • ni que cum oleo Amygdalarum dulcium in oleum redactae, mensur • 1.

Aqua ex Sale Ammoniaco.

Rec. Salis Ammoniaci 3 drach. Salis Nitri unc. 1. redigantur in pulve • em tenuissi • um et probe misceantur: postea in Alembicum • mponantur, e • aceto fortissimo in • uso, distillentur igne lento

I have oftentimes wondered with my self how it was possible for Mr. Henshaw to penne, and for the Royal Society to approve so pitty • ull an History of Salt-Petre and Gun-P • wder. Th • y are certainely a lamentable sort of Scriblers, that write so ill, having so good Copies before them! That noble Siennoi • whom I have already cited; Nicolo Tartaglia in his Quesi • i et inven • ioni diverse: and Pietro Sardi in his book L'Artiglieria have written excellently well of this subject: and in the year 1650 Casimirus Semienowicz a Lithuanian Knight and formerly Li • uetenant of the Ordnance to the King of Poland, published a most Elaborate discourse about the use of the great Artillery; He was a man that made those studies his business & having signalized himself by his skill in the management of all manner of Artillery, he was employed & Honoured by Uladislaus the 4th. King of Poland & Sweden, by him incouraged to that work, & to accomplish it the bett • r at his • harge sent into Holland there to perfect his knowledge. This Eminent personage in the second book of his first part hath handled all that appertaines to the making of Salt-Petre and Gun-powder, to the tryall, and to the keeping of it: And were not the discourse too long, I had inserted it h • re but because I have already made use of several passages ou • of him, I shall here adde the discourses onely of Pietro Sardi and Nicolo Tartaglia; where they are defective or need amendment I shall supply all out of Cas. Semienowicz. whom Kircher calls Semienovius, in his Mundus Subterraneous, and out of him transcribes most that he hath about this subject there.

The Discourse of Pietro Sardi about Salt-petre, & Gun-powder, in his book L' Artigleria lib. 3. Cap. 49, 50, 51.52, 53, 54. printed in Venice, in folio.

Sal Nitri, being the Ground-work, strength and Spirit of the Powder which by the Quantity and Perfections of the Nitre, is said to be more or less fine and effectual, it seems good here to discourse somewhat concerning it, whence it is Generated, how made and Reduc'd to perfection; to the end the Gunner in every occasion, (wanting Powder, Powder-makers and Saltpetre-men,) may know how to make it, if not in that perfection which the Saltpeter-men do by their Art, yet at least such as may serve in time of Necessity.

Sal Nitri is Extracted from the Earth in great quantities, and from Walls in small; to wit, from that Salt, which some walls of Cellars and vaults under Ground, exposed to Humidity do spue forth.

It is drawn from the Earth,Terra et materia Salnitrosa plerumque reperitur in maxima copia in locis obscuris, umbrosis, & • avernosis, ad quae tam radijs Solaribus, quam pluviae et omni dulci aquae aditus prae clusus est. Tum etiam in equilibus, & aliis claustris non Subdialibus, sed tectis, ubi omnis generis pecora: ut sunt boves, caprae, sues, oves, et his • • imilia alia locari et concludi • : ne • non ubi homines ipsi u • inam reddere solent. Tum denique in illis locis in quibus post campe stria com • ssa praeli • , plu • ima caesorum militum corpora in • oveas conjecta, et super his immensae terrae moles superextr • ctae sunt. E • his post multa annorum intervalla, plurimum materiae Salni-trosae erui vidimus in Valachia et Pod olilae desertis inter Bohem, et Boristhenem. Cas. Semienowickz p. 1. l, 2. c. 2: yet in England I cannot hear that they digge for it in places dunged with Sheep although the C • vert, and time may have seemed to have concurred apparently to generate it. but not in all places, but such as are Proper, as those are, that are obscure and Cavernous, whe • e the rain falls not, as in the stalls of Animals great and small, and Particularly Goats, Sheep and Hogs. In Gascoigne in France, These three ways are approved by Cas. Se •• en • wicz; but if he say that Salt-pe • re-c ••• h bites a little to the tast. lingu • m mordacius • orr • dit, he doth not say it is bitter, as Mr. He • shaw doth. p. 266: I went in the company of the Commissary of the Artigliery of the City of Burdeaux, through the Cave • ns of the little hills and Mountains, that are scituated on the River Garonne, drawing and digging in many places, Great quantities of this Salt-petre-Earth; and in Brussels I have seen them draw Sal • Nitre from Rubbish and D • st of old walls.

And in France th • re is Commission given to the Principal officers of the Artillery, dispersed through that vast Kingdome, to enter into all houses private and publique, to find out such Salt-Peter-Earth; and the private persons are forced to be patient because it is for the service of the King. Si citrei et ad albedinem vergentis aliquantulum coloris in ferro frigefacto signa inveneris de valor et bointatet erre non dubties. Cas. Semienowicz. p. • . l. 2. c. 2.

There are Three ways to know if the Earth be Pregnant of Salt-Petre. 1. with the Mouth, putting a little on the tongue, if there be sense of a biting tas • . 2. with a Burning Iron-thrust into a hole made with a Sharpe woodden Stick, and suffering it to Coole there; and if upon drawing it out it appears of a yellow whitish Colour, it is a signe there is Nitre there, but if it remains of the natural colour, it is unprofitable. 3. It is proved likewise,Si strepitum aliquem edere et lucidos in altum surgere favillos observaveris, multo fale ni-tri terram ejusmodi abundare judicabis, id. ib. Cineris usti ex • obore, fraxino, •• mo, ace • e vel aliis sortib us et duris ligni • ib. taking a handful and sprinkling it lightly on burning Coales, if there be perceived any crackling noise, and any sparkles issues forth speedily, it shall be a sign of Salt-petre-Earth, otherwise of none.

Having got great quantity of this pregnant Earth, you ought also to have Ready a good quantity of Ashes made of Oake, Cerro. holme Oake, or Sarmenti signifies also flags, fegs, or Ree • growing by the watersi • e, H • jus e • neris suman • ur partes d • ae, 〈…〉 bene 〈…〉 . Vine-branches or some other Strong wood, with a sufficient quantity of Quick-lime, which things being thus prepared, take two parts of the said Lime and three of Ashes and let them be well mingled together.

Let there be also prepared a Great 〈1 paragraph〉 vessel, placed on high, in such manner that under it may stand another vessel to Receive the water, that shall be strained from that above.

In the upper Vessel shall be put broom or straw in the Bottom or plain, and over the hole where the water is to issue ou • , shall be placed a Piece of a Tile, or some such thing as the women do in their Bucks, and the Hole must be • hut very well.

Afterward take the Sal-nitrous Earth moderately dryed, and put it into the vessell a handfull thick, and upon that a Ground (of two or three fingers high) of that Ashes and lime mingled together,Paululum exsica • a. Cas. Semienowicz. ubi supra and then a ground of Earth, and againe of Ashes and Lime, continuing this Course untill the vessell be full within a handful and an half.

This being thus managed, let it be filled up with common water sweet and clear in which is not the least salt,Insundatur recenti • et dulcas aquà tantum, quantum • at esse videbit u • atque duos tresve digito • , terrae super exte • . i • . ib. and because the Earth will quickly suck up the water, let it be put in so by degrees till the Earth will admit no more, and the vessell be filled equal to the Earth, and not higher.

It being thus filled, let it stand twenty four hours, or more, after which time open the tap-hole, and let the water strain into the vessell underneath, which being all strain'd, let that water be emptied into another vessel or Tun and reserved, Untzerus presents us with another way of making Sal • -Petre, which because our Historian hath omitted, I shal set down: Terr • • itrosa aqu • multa di •• at • r, d • inde ad p • rum colatur. colatur • si non satis dives • alinitro est, de •• o apponitur materiis et iterum cocta facto sedimento per lacinias transfertur in vas purium ibique coquit • r • ad just • m consistentiam Decoctum ins •• tur in Oll • m, Diges tum per dolia et alveolos, crystali • angelati • xim • ntur, residus liquor recoquitur ad m •• ias vel tertias donec gastu sit acris, et gutt • super aramento concrescant unde i •• rum expectandi crystalli. et sic perge • um don • c t • tum ••• gulaverit. Untzer: de sale c. 18. and then put in some fresh water into the Earth vessel as before, letting it stand for the space of twelve hours, then opening the tap-hole again let it strain into the vessel, which done, put apart into another vessel this liquor, and not in the first: Do this a third time and empty it into a third Vessel.

This being done, make proof of these three waters by putting some few drops on your tongue, and tasting it you shall find the first very biting, the second lesse, and the third least of all, for the first draws more of the substance of the Salt-peter, then the second, and the second then the third.

But there may be the fourth operation, for sometimes the Earth doth retain so much Nitrous substance therein, that it may prove advantageous even to the fift and sixt time; and all the waters are to be reserved apart, with the distillations of the first, second, third &c. as many as there shall be.

By this operation of one vessell or • un, may be apprehended the manner of making an hundred or as many as you please, according to the Quantity of the Prepared Earth, observing always that the first waters strain'd be put in one vessel, or in what will contain them, and all the other waters (Carelesly) in one or more vessels that will hold them.

These last waters shall be taken and forced to pass over New Earth, operating as before, and so many times shall they Pass over new earth untill you find the water sufficiently impregnated with Nitre, which you shall easily know by the tast; for the tongue will be hardly able to indure it for the great hea • , and the waters will bear almost a new layd Egge without sinking to the bottom.

• gne lento prius, dein fortiori decoquatur ad consumptionem unius tertiae. id. ibid. Having Collected a sufficient quantity of this Nitrous water you must put it into one or more Great Brazen or Copper caldron (like those of the dyers accommodated to a fornace) which being filled of two thirds of such liquor (i. e.) in such manner that a third part of the caldron be yet empty, give fire to it at first gently, afterwards more strongly, by degrees, untill the boyling be well advanced, and so continue untill the caldron be but one third part full of liquor, or to say better untill but half of what was put in do Remain.

The waters of one or more Caldrons being boyled and reduced to such a Quantity,Coque ad consumptionem medietatis, vel quousque spissior et densior-evadat. id. ibid. let them be gently taken out, and put in a Capacious Tun, or Tuns, well hooped with hoopes of Iron, and let them be covered with hempen cloath and tables upon them very diligently, and so let them be left untill they coole, and that they be setled very well in such manner that all the Earthy substance and naughty Salt, be fallen to the bottom. Congeli.

These waters being thus purified let them again be gently (that they be not troubled but the common Salt and earthiness left in the bottom) Returned in to the cleansed caldrons, and they being boyled as at first untill one half be consumed,Effundatur in ligneos canales, vel vasa alv • ata oblonga e • lata • agis quàm profunda: nec tamen plus hujas aquae sit in uno vase, quam ut spatium unius palmi in altitud • ne occupet, de • nde vasa sineis vel laneis pannis cras • io • ibus contecta in frigido loco ponantur. id. ib. or at least untill you know it be boyled and be coagu • a • ed, which will be known, when taking a little upon a stick and dropping it on a Polish'd marble or stone, if it remain congealed, or to say better thickned, it is a sign it is boyled, and therefore take it from the fire and suffer it to coole. It being thus cooled & clarified, let there be ready some Tray • made of Planks long & not too large nor too deep, but more large in the top then in the botome, let these be filled with the boyl'd and clarified waters a handful high, putting into them some little sticks of wood without Barke, and cover the trays, and let them stand so two or three days, and at that time or longer, according to the season you shall find the Sal-Nitri, Congeal'd and cleaving to the sides of the Trays, and the sticks, (after the manner of clear Chrystall,) which take away carefully and the water that Remains, let it be put to boyling anew as at first, leaving the salt and the dregs in the bottome of the Trays.

And because the waters in the boyling swell, and make a scum it will be necessary to take away that scum carefully, (as they do from the flesh-pots) and to reserve that scum to throw it upon the Earth taken from the Tuns to reimpregnate it with Salt-petre.

Moreover because the water in boyling will spatter out of the caldron, to remedy this let there be ready a strong lie, made 3 fourths of ferne Ashes, or the ashes of Oak holme, o • Oak or with Ash, or Maple (such as was used a • the first elixiviation,) and of one fourth of quick-lime, and in the said strong lie, for every hundred pints let there be dissolved four pounds for Roach-allu ••

And of this lie so prepared, take one or two pot • uls, and throw it in by little and little when the Caldron swells, and it will presently be quiet, and descend, and become of a clear Azure colour, and the dreggs of the common salt will fall to the Bottome.

Of the manner to r • fine Sal-p • trae to make gun-powder, cap. 50.

ALL the vigour of Gun-powder, consisting in Sol-petrae, its quantity, and its perfection, if the Sal-petre should be put in use of the first boyling, the Powder would • ot be so perfect and so strong, as need would require; for the quantity of Terrestriall matter • Common • salt and u • ctuosity, Nessarium bis aut ter (immo pluries adhuc si tanto majorem pulveris effectum habere volumus) purgasse et clarificasse id. ibid. c. 3. which also reside with the Petre, do hinder its vertue and strength, and therefore the Artists do always anew Refine the said Salt-petre, and purge it from every extraneous matter, as much as is possible, that they may obtaine the most strenuous effects of Powder, that can be desired.

This Refining is made in two manners, either with water commonly called the wett; or with Fire, commonly called the Dry, or the Burnt.

A Guazzo.The wett, or with water, is made thus; They take as much sal-nitre as they please to Refine, and put it in a Caldron over a fornace, and upon that Sal-nitre they put such a quantity of fresh and clear water, as may be sufficient to dissolve it; they take notice of the quantity of the water,Aliquot cyathi; Cas, Semienowicz. ib. c. 3. and for every barrel of water which they put into the Caldron, they put five or six Pot-fulls of that strong lie, made of Ferne-Ashes, Oake, and Quick-lime, and Allum, and giving fire to the Caldron at first softly, and afterward increasing it, un till the melted Nitre boyle and rayse a scum. Sabbione, sand or gravel. Imponatur Sabulonis loti et bene purgati tantum, ut ad altitudinem unius palmi super fundum vasis emineat. Cas. Semienowicz ibid. c. 3.

Let there be ready, a great Tun or vessel placed so high that another vessel may stand under it to receive the Sal-nitrous water, which by little shall strain from above, and in the said great Tun let there be put a hands-breadth of cleane and wash'd Sand, and upon that a great linnen cloth doubled, (as the laundresses do) and on that poure the water from the Caldron, (which contains the melted Nitre) as soon as it boyles and the scum is taken from it, and let it strain by little and little by the •• p into the vessel below, as they do in making their Bucks.

Which water being all strained, let it be put into a cleare Caldron and boyl it till by the proof of a Co • gealed drop, it may be known to be well boyled, (not forgetting to give it some of the strong li • , of Allum, Ashes, and lime, when the Caldron swells and would spatter out the water, and having made proof it is boyled enough, let it be taken out and put into the long Trays, to cool • as before, and preserve the congealed Salt-petre, and returne the water to boyle again that remains, and againe to congeale, and do so untill the water Give no more Salt-petre.

Now this Salt-petre so Refined, is called Salt-petre Refin'd of the • econd boyling • as the Refiners, of sugar, call their Sugar Refined, of the Second, Third or fourth, boyling, and to make Saltpetre of such perfection, you may (as some do) Refine it, that is Reboyl it, in such manner the third time, proceeding always as before.

Because that there is such difficulty in the depurating of Salt-peter from the fixed common Salt, Allum & Vitriol which adhere to it, & that, without this be done, no man can judge whether the salt it leaves upon calcination be from the Nitre, or some other body, which by the usual process even of Mr. Boyle, by filtration and co • gulation can never be perfectly sep • r • ted, nor the Petre • educed to crystals of 〈◊〉 right Sig •• ture. 〈…〉 lis bestiarum • rutus per solutionem et coagulationem purgetur, impossible tamen est, ut • unditiem suam debitam et Signaturam vera • con • eq ••••• so Glauber. de signat. Sa • . pag. 27. And because the cryst • l • of Nitre appear best in their own shapes, after such an ex • ct depuration, it may not be omitted to tell you what Mr. Henshaw might have done, for 〈…〉 evident • e had 〈◊〉 Gla •• e • •• z. 〈…〉 way of making pure Nitre, is to take the course Mr. Boyle found out, to burne part to an Alcali, and to powr upon a filtrated solution of that the Spirit of Nitre, and evaporating it to • cuticle, to crystalize it in a cold place; But there is another way that may not be 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 Somienowicz p. 1. • . 2. • . 8. 〈…〉 2 • 〈…〉 simul mixt a pul •• r • 〈…〉 neo, & aceti, v • l vini, a •• in defectu horum aqua d • lois 〈…〉 fundatu, bon • quanti • as, at fia • lixivium • Quod per tridu • • p • tium sibi relictum • larescat. Pone deinne sa • em-nitri in caldar • e, 〈…〉 tantum lixivij ut salem-nitri cooperiat, pr •• o que lento igne ad consumptionem mediae partis totius liquoris: resid • um effunde in aliud vas, faeces autem omnes immundas, quas fundum caldarij petlisse videbisforas • jiace. frigescat postea aqua sal • itrosa et ulterius elaboretur, more consueto, that is i • s • ch manner, as is pres • ribed by Sordi and him, in the first boyling of Salt-petre.

The Refining Salt-petre by fire, to wit the dry, is made in this manner, they have a great and capacious and thick vessel of Brass, Copper, or Iron, placed on a Fornace, and in that they put, what quantity of Nitre they please, and making a gentle fire at first, and increasing it by degrees untill the Nitre be perfectly melted and running, and begins to boyle, and having ready fine powdered Brimstone, they throw some of it in the top of the melted Nitre, and if the Brimstone fire of it selfe, it is well, if not with a coale, or having a stick they fire it, and this Brimstone so fired, they let alone untill it have consumed all the grease which swims upon the said Salt-petre.

The which being all consumed, the Salt-petre is emptyed into what vessels a man will, that the Loaves or Pieces of Salt-petre, may become large, of which he may prepare what quantity shall seem sufficient, and in the bottom of the Caldron will remain the Dreggs and common salt, the Salt-petre being cooled, becomming like a piece o • fine white Marble, & in this manner you may refine it as often as you will, and it shal always pro • e more perfect, and worke greater effects.

Of the Manner how to Re-impregnate the Earth, taken out of the Vessells with new Salt-petre.

HAving taken out the Earth from the Vessels, after that the water hath extracted al the Nitrous substance therefrom, let it be spread on the face of the Earth, but not exceeding a foot thick, and in some covered place, that it be subject to neither Rain nor the sight of the Sun.

Which Earth being so ordered and spread, get a great quantity of Dung, as well of great Cartel as small, and spread it on the Earth, as thick as you can, one or two foot thick, or more if you have dung enough.

Upon this dung cast all the scum, and the waters which were taken from the Salt-petr • , leaving the Earthy dreggs, and the common salt.

And afterwards gathering in all publique pla • es, in vessels prepared to that purpose, as much Human urine as is possible, and every Day cast it on the Dung, and doing so at two years end, that Earth will be impregnated, with as much Nitre as ever, and it may be with greater advantage.

How to prove Salt-petre, to know its finess. Cap. 52.

TAke a Pound of Salt-petre, and put it on a smooth white Table, and with burning coales fire it, in t • e doing whereof note these effects.

If it make a noyse as Salt does, when it is cast on burning coales, it shall be a sign that it reteins in it much common-salt.

If it make a fat scumme, it is a sign it hath too much fatt.

If after it is all burnt, it leave in the bottom filth, it is a sign it yet retains some of the Earthy substance, and the greater these signs are, so much the more extraneous matter doth the Salt • petre contain, and it is so much the less purified fine, and of less Vigour.

But if the flame it cast be Si feceri • flamm • m claram, • ongam, & in plurimos radios disperti • am, fundum ve • o tabulae remanserit mundum: arse • i • que puri c • rbonis modo, sine omni spuma & e •• pitu hortido, minusque convenienti, purgatum bene & perfectum esse salem n •• ri conjecturam • iper • licebit. Cos. Sem • en • wi • z. ibid. cap 7. & Kirc • e • . Mu • d. Subter • a • . lib 6. Sect. 2. cap. 3. Quidam injectum candenti prunae spectant, argumento bonitatis & puritatis, si diff • u • t & def • agret sine reliqui • s salis commu ••• , aut foecum terrestrium, & saltu crepitante. Lib • zarius, Apocalyps. He • met. p •• t. 1. cap. 17. cleare, windy, long, divided into many parts, after the manner of Brandishing Rays, or beams of light, that the Table remain clean, if it is burn'd as pure coale that makes no s • umme or noyse, then the Salt-petre may be said to be well purified and perfect.

How to know the goodness of Powder. Cap. 53.

The goodness of Powder is known by the Eye, the Touch, and by the Fire: by the Eye, if it be very Black, or that it is Moist, and put upon white paper and tinging it with black,

Be • etti • o, Grey or Ash-colour.

Nimia in pulvere nigredo, signum est humiditatis: haec si super papy • o munda ponatur, & • andem nigro tingat colore, signum erit eum plurim • m in se continere carbonum: cincricius autem sub obscurus pulveris color, & aliquantulum ad rubedicem vergens, bonitatis vestigium est. Cas. S • mi • nowicz. ibid. c. 17.

it is a sign that it hath too much Coal, but if it be of dark Ash-colour and • inge not, it is a sign that it hath its proportion of Coal, and it is dry.

With the Touch it is known, when rubbing it with the fingers, it appears soft and easily broken, it is a sign of too much Coal: and when rubbing it and powdering it with the fingers, you feel some little knobs that prick the fingers, it is a sign the Sulphur is not well powd'red and incorporated, and that the Powder is not elaborated enough.

Denique ignis beneficio in notitiam bonitatis pulveris facile deveniemus: si nimirum pusillas aliquot conge • ies pulveris super tabula lignea • unda & poli •• , latitudine dimidii palmi a se invicem distantes posu • rimus, & unicam tantum ex omnibus incenderimus. Haec • i subito flammam conceperit, & sola tantum, aliis non accen •• s, co • fl • graverit, idque cum fragore & soni • u quodam: f •• eritque fumum album, clarum, & in ascendendo vel cem: in ac • e vero circulus quasi quidam, se • • orolla fumosa appar • a • , perfectissime pulve •• s nota • rit.With the Fire likewise is known the goodness of Powder, taking a pound of it, and putting it on a Table smooth and white, and near unto it another, a third, fourth and fifth pound, so that they do no • touch: and then giving fire unto a little heap, if at one and the same time all the heap • are fired, if the flame be raised clear and quick, cracking in the raising, it is a sign it is fine and well labour'd, but if the flame be slow in raising and with much smoke and without noyse, it is a sign of the little strength of it, of the great • uantity of Coal and Sulphur more than it ought.

If after it is burnt the Table remain black, it is a sign of too much Coal; if Unctuous, it is a sign of the grease of the Salt-Petre and Sulphur that were not well refined • and if with earthiness, and little granulets of matter, it is a sign the Salt-Petre was not well purged of common Salt, and earthy matter, and that the Sulphur was not well powder'd and incorporated; and if after the powder is burnt, the Table remain whitened, it is a sign the Salt-Petre hath much of common Salt, and that it was not well cleansed from that.

Of Powder spoiled, and the ways to Recover it.

BY Powder spoiled is meant that which wants much of the vigour and vertue which it had in the beginning: now this want proceeds from no other thing, than that the vertue of the Salt-Petre which gives it that vigour is weakned and vanish'd.

Now the Vertue of Salt-petre reduced into Gun-powder, is lost either by Age or Moisture; by old Age, because being • onjoy'nd with Coal and Sulphur, it doth participate of that corruption which will happen to them in time: by Moisture, because the Salt-petre, (composed of Salnitrous Waters, as all other Sa • ts of their Salt Waters) does no sooner as it were see the moisture, but by that, by little and little it is converted into moisture, and the vertue and vigour thereof is exhal'd by that humidity.

Thus a great part of the Salt-petre being separated by this Humidity from the rest of the Composition of the Powder;Carbones tamen & sulphur minime hic suo quem antea habuere, privantur pondere, cum nullo dissolvuntur humore: imo carbones studiose eum attrahunt, fiuntque ponderosio • es. Id. ibid. c. 18. and the Salt-petre being more ponderous than the other two materials, which are no • exhaled, as is the Petre; it follows, that of that quan • ity of Powder which in the perfection of it was inclosed in the Barrel: For example, one hundred pound, after the Salt-petre is wasted in this manner either by old Age or Moisture, there will not remain the same quantity, but much less.

Now to recover this Powder thus wasted, it is to be done two ways, viz. to adjoyn the quantity of Salt-petre is wanting to make it vigorous and perfect; or to take away that Salt-petre which remaining in the wasted Powder, to refine the Salt-petre, and to make other Powder anew with it.

There is another way of recovering decayed Powde • , by fortifying it with a certain Lixivium proposed by Cas. S mi •• owicz. p. 1. l. 2. c. 18. which you may see in him.To recover that same weakned Powder, by the vanishing of the Nitre, proceed in this manner: Take all that quantity of wasted Powder, and put it on a cloath, and lay it in the Sun to dry, which being perfectly dried, fill a Barrel with it: • or example, let there be one hundred pound:

Then let it be emptied aside, and let the Barrel be filled with perfect Powder, such as was the spoil'd in the perfect vigour of it, let it be weighed and noted how many pound it weigheth: for example, suppose one hundred and twenty.

Here we say that those twenty pound more which the Barrel of perfect Powder weighed, shall be twenty pound of Salt-petre which the o • her wanted.

Now let us see how much wasted Powder there is in all, and if there be for example 10000 pound; for to know then in this great quantity of naughty powder how many pounds of Salt-petre there are wanting to reduce it to perfection and vigour.

Work with the Golden Rule of the 4 Proportionals, saying, If one hundred pound of wasted Powder, there want 20 pound of Salt-p • tre, how much Petre will there be wanting in ten thousand?

Let the second number be multiplied by the third, viz. 20 by 10000, and the product shall be divided by the first, viz. by 100, and you shall have 2000 in the Quotient, and these shall be the pounds of Salt-petre which are wanting in the wasted powder to reduce it to perfection.

Let these 2000 l. of Salt-petre be powder'd, & likewise the 10000 of bad powder, as the manner is, and taking a proportion, let it be incorporated with the 2000 of Salt-petre, beating them together according to Art; and in such manner working them, there will be made good Powder.

If we will take away all the Salt-petr • out of wasted powder, we must proceed in this manner: Let there be prepared one or more capacious Tubbs, and on them let there be laid three or four linnen Cloathes (like the skins of a Drum) well tied, but not so strait.

Then let there be another Vessel or more of Copper or Wood, and put therein the quantity of spoiled Powder, that shall seem fit, and pour upon it as much fresh clear Water as shall dissolve it, stirring it with a cudgel or a Schoope.

This being liquified, with a Ladle or Bucket, throw it upon the cloath over the Table, that the clear water may strain into the Tubb, and upon the cloath may remain the Coal and the Sulphur: and when it is all strain'd, throw softly a Bucket or two of water to draw away the substance of Salt-petre that shall remain with the Coal and Sulphur.

And in this manner shall be done until all the Salt-petre of the naughty powder be strain'd, drawing away the strain'd water in the Table when it is full, and if these waters are not clear, let them be put on again on the washed and cleansed cloath, and let them be strain'd again, until they are clear.

Then take all these clear waters and boyl them in the Caldrons as before, and then put them in the Trays to congeal and make Salt-petre, and taken and refined, and new Powder made of it as the manner is; and the Coal and Sulphur may be dried perfectly, and proof made if it will serve, but if not, you must take new Sulphur and Coal.

But here I do advertise that all that is here said, is written only that the Gunuer in time of Necessity may supply himself and do the best that he can, for such Salt-petre and Powder is not made with that diligence and Art that the Powder-Masters and Salt-Petremen do, but yet it will not fail to serve in •• me of Necessity.

Dal. Pietro Sardi: in Venet. 1629.

The Third Book of the various Questions and Inventions of Nicolas Tartaglia. Of Sal Nitre, and the various compositions of the Gun-Powder: of the Propriety or the particular office which each of the Materials hath in that Composition, and • ther Particulars. The first enquiry made by Seignior Gabriel Tadino Prior of Barletta.

IS it not to be wondred at, that the Antients had no knowledg of Sal-Nitre which to us Moderns is become so familiar? Prior.

Nicol. Yea Rather the knowledg of that Simple is most Antient; for most of the Antient Naturalists make mention of it; true it is that some of them, Nitre is mentioned Jeremiah 2.22. & Prov. 25.20. although in the Septuag • nt that l • st verse is varied, yet Symmachus r •• ds it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and 〈…〉 f • ll • ws it, and 〈…〉 English tran • lation. and especially Avicenna have called it Baurach, because it is so called in the Arabic Tongue; some Aphroni • um, because it is so nam'd in the Greek; and others as Serapion, Diascorides and Pliny have ca • l'd it Nitrum, or Spuma Nitri, for the Latins so call it; and in the Pandects it is affirmed there are two sorts of Nitrum, or Sal Nitri, viz. Mineral, and Artificial, of the Mineral they say there are four, the Armenian, African, Roman, and Aegyptian. Serapion says, that the Minerals of Sal Nitre are as the Minerals of Salt, for there are found of it, that are running waters, which become congealed and condensed like a stone, and this is affirmed also by Pliny, that it is found also in the Mine as a stone, and called Sal Petrosum; yea, he says that this Sal Nitre is found White and Red, and of many Colours, insomuch that he affirms that there are many kinds of it, not only for the diversity of the colour, but because there is found one that is Spongy, viz. full of holes, another very fragile, and lamines or plates; and of many other qualities, which would be too long to talk of one by one, of which one is more biting and powerful than the other: of the Artificial it is not worth time to speak, it being in these days better known than Betony.

Truly, Prior. I thought the knowledg thereof had been Modern.

But tell me, The 2 Question. I pray, If the Antients had knowledge both of the Natural and Artificial Nitre, (as you have proved by the Authority of the Antient Naturalists) did they also know that it burns so vigorously as it does?

Truly the Antient Naturalists make no mention of it, Nicol. save only of those proprieties that are found in it necessary to Medicine;C • si • irus S • mienowicz. thinks that the Antients did seldome or never use S • lt-petre in their Fire-work • ; and that wheresoever it is found mentioned as an ingredient in the Ignis Graecus, &c. and that passage is spurious: at least if it were used, it was kept as a secret: for amongst the most r • nowned Writers of the Roman Wars and Militia, ne jotta quidem unum in illorum Commentariis de S • le Nitri, Nitro, aut S • le petrae, quod Romanorum ignibus artificialibus inserviverint, reperict quispiam, Art, mag. p. 1. l. 2. c. 1. but many other Antient Authors do acquaint us that they knew it burn'd; for they serv'd themselves of it in Compositions of fire for to burn the Testudo, or Ram, and the Ellepoli, and other portable Towers, which they used in those days in taking of Cities, and also to burn the Naval powers: it is true that in such Compositions, some call it by the name of the Burning Salt, and others the Stone Salt, and Salt of Skill, and o • hers by the proper name of Sal Nitri.

Concerning this I have another doubt, Prior. If the Antients knew that Nitre burnt with so much force, The 3 Quest. how comes it to pass that they knew not how to make the Powder for Artigliary, of so great importance in Art Military, as well as we Moderns?

The Consequence is not good to say, Nicol. that if the Antients knew that Sal Nitre burned, that of necessity they knew how to compound the Powder; for that is not made of Sal Nitre alone: yea, it is compounded of three Materials, of Nitre, Sulphur, and Coal; and therefore it is possible they might have the knowledge of Nitre, and the Nature of it, and yet be ignorant of the Compositions of Powder.

Prior. You have reason; But for what cause is the Powder compounded of those three materials? The 4 Quest. and what particular office hath every one of them? And what effect shall Two have without the Third?

Nicol. The Powder is composed of these three Materials, because each one cloth medicate & supply the defects of the two other; for the Sulphur is most apt to kindle the Fire with the flame of either of the other two, which fire with flame is very apt to introduce into fire the Sal Nitre more than any other, because the said Nitre burning resolves it self into a windy Exhalation, the which is so po • ent, that it presen • ly quenches the flame introduced into the Sulphur, and consequently that introduced (by that of the Sulphur) into it self. For the Nature of Sulphur, and likewise of the Nitre is such, that the flame being dead, there remains not the least sign of fire, S • saith S • mieno • icz. also • Si componeretur corpus quoddam ex Sulphure & sale Nitri, op • ime tusis, & simul mixtis, admoto ign • , subito quidem arriperet flammam, nihilominus tamen subito extingueretur, id est, ignis ille non continuaretur, perduraretque ad consumptionem & combustionem mateteriae totius, sed pauxilium tantum ex illa consumeret, residuo intacto. Art. mag. p. 1. l. 2. c. 20. and therefore compounding together only Nitre and Sulphur well beaten, and putting fire to it, immediately it is inflamed and destroyed, for the Reasons abovesaid, to wit, that such fire will not continue until all the matter be consumed and burned, but only a little of it, and the rest will remain not offended by the said fire: therefore to cure this d • fect, there is mingled with both Coals well powdered, because Coal is of that Nature, that touched by the flame of fire, it is presently kindled and converts it self into fire without flame, the which fire without flame the more it is vexed by any wind, so much the more it is enkindled and continued, until that all the substance of it be converted into Ashes: and therefore touching that Composition with the fire, immediately the Sulphur is taken with flame (as is said) which flame not only introduces presently fire and flame into the Nitre, but also in the same instant introduces fire without flame into the Coal, which fire is not extinguished, but rather augmented by the wind, and because that wind caused by the Nitre is not apt to extinguish that fire without flame which is in the Coal, yea, rather, as I have said, it augments it, and forasmuch as the Sulphur is contiguous with the fire with flame or without flame, and cannot be without flame, the which flame (as is said) inflames the Nitre, and therefore these three Materials powdered and mingled well together, and fire being put to this mixture, it becomes altogether inextinguishable, until all the substance be consumed: (except there be some accidental defect in some of the materials, either of Humidity, or that there were taken of them much different from the convenient proportion) and therefore it is concluded that the office of the sulphur is to take hold of the fire with flame, and to introduce it into the other Materials: and that of the Coal is only to maintain the said fire without flame, already introduced by the sulphur, and chiefly against that great wind which the Sal Nitre causes; but then the office of the Nitre is only to cause that great exhalation of wind, for in that wind consists all the vertue and propriety of the Powder, for that is it which drives out the Bullet with so incredible a force, and therefore it is concluded that only on the Nitre doth depend all the vertue and puissance of the Powder, and the other two Materials are put therein only to resolve into fire and wind the said Nitre, and for no other end: for he that should compound powder only of sulphur and Coal, and charge a Gun with a considerable quantity of it, I say, giving fire to it should not be able to drive forth a stick or a straw. And this proceeds because all the expulsive vertue depends solely on the pure Nitre, and not of any other thing, and therefore it may be rather concluded p • ssible to make Powder without Coal and sulphur, than without nitre: for it is more probable to find other Materials to do the off •• e of sulphur in taking fire with flame, and likewise of the Coal in maintaining the fire without flame, than to find another which shall be fit to cause so gr • at and impetuous a wind, as the nitre does.

You have well assigned the cause why the powder is composed of those three Materials, Prior. and the office every one of them hath in the Composition, now I demand who was the Inventor thereof, and with what reason the proportion of each of the materials was determined by him.

Who was the Inventor of powder and Guns, Nicol. it is spread amongst the Vulgar by the Authority of Cornazanus, The 5 Quest. who says • t was found by chance by a Dutch Alchymist: but I am of opinion, that Archimedes the Syracusan, that famous Philosopher and Mathematician, was the Inventor of the Composition, and of the same mind is the Commentator of Vitruvius upon the first Book; for of him it is written in many places (as Vallurius says in his tenth Book De re Militari) how he found out a certain Machine of Iron, with which he threw towards a Land Army stones of prodigious weight and greatness, and with an incredible sound; which gives us to understand that it was a Machine like a great Gun, with which he threw great Balls of stone (as it is not long ago, since the Moderns did,) and chiefly for their great sound, which in discharging them happens, and in any other kind of Machine it does not appear to me it could be done except in one like it. True it is, that at that time it is probable they were more deformed and unhandsome than those used at this present time; for the first Inventions are always something homely, but mend with time, it being an easie matter to add to things already found out; and the same thing I say of powder which in the beginning was found out (either by Archimedes, or by whom you will) but was not compounded in such order and proportion as at present is used. Yea, I rather judge that from that time until this, the Composition hath been varied many ways, and that this is true I hav • found insome Book not very Antient certain ways and Orders of composing it much differing from the present, the variety whereof I shall her • distinctly set down: 1 Gun-powder of the most antient way. Sal Nitre Each equal parts. Sulphur Each equal parts. Coal. Each equal parts. 2 Powder not so antient. Sal Nitre 3 parts Sulphur 2 parts Coal 2 parts 3 Powder not so antient. Sal Nitre 10 parts Sulp ••• 3 parts • oal 3 parts 4 Powder not so antient Sal Nitre 12 parts Sulphur 3 parts Coal 2 parts 5 Powder not yet so antient. Nitre 9 Sulphur 2 parts Coal 3 6 Powder of the Moderns. Nitre 4 Sulphur 1 parts Coal 1 7 Powder more Modern. Nitre 20 Sulph • r 3 parts Coal 10 8 Powder more Modern. Nitre 100 Sulphur 10 parts Coal 36 9 Powder Grea • after the Moderns. Nitre 100 Sulphur 20 parts Coal 37 10 Fine powder not very antient. Nitre 9 Sulphur 3 parts Coal of The Autho • confesses he knows not what Mirochea is. Mirochea 6 11 Great Powder more modern. Nitre 2 Sulphur 1 parts Coal of Willow 1 12 Powder of Harquebuses more Modern. Nitre 3 Sulphur 1 parts Coals of branches of young willows. 1 13 Fine powder more modern. Nitre refi • ed many times 5 Sulphur 1 par. Coal of the twigs of young A • olane. Hazel 1 14 Great powder more modern. Nitre refined 3 Sulphur 1 p. Coal of Willow. 2 15 Middle powder more modern. Nitre refined 10 Sulphur 2 p. Coal of Willow 3 16 Powder of Harquebuses modern. Nitre refined many times 10 Sulphur 1 p. Coal of Verzelle. Nizola is a filberd or a hazel Probably, Verzelle may be the shell of the Nut, but I cannot •• nd it. the 〈◊〉 branches of the Filberd or Hazel cleansed, 1 17 Gun-Powder more modern. Nitre refined 27 Sulphur 3 p. Coal of the tender branches of the filberd or Hazel cleansed. 4 18 Gun-powder more strong and modern. Nitre refined 7 Sulphur 1 Coal as last before 1 19 Pistol powder more fine and strong. Nitre many times refined 6 Sulphur 1 parts. Coal as before of Hazels, or Filberds 1 20 Great powder modern. Nitre 4 Sulphur 1 p. Coal of Willow 1 21 Great powder modern. Nitre 20 Sulphur 4 p. Coal of Willow. 5 22 Pistol Powder modern. Nitre refined the dry way 48 Yellow Sulphur 7 parts. Nizolaro. Coals of filberd or Hazel, or Hempe-stalkes dryed. 8 23 Pistol powder modern. Nitre refined 18 Sulphur 2 p. Coal of Filberd wood 3

Now to make any of the aforesaid Powders, it is necessary to • ake notice that the nitre be pure and potent; the which is known by the practices by burning a little; likewise that the sulphur be clear from the earth and other filth, and that the Coal be not moist by standing in a moist place, and that it be not mixt with Dust or Earth; Lastly, that it be well beaten, and the materials be well incorporated together: and making such powder it will not want effects answerable to the kinds of it, not forgetting that it be well dried, and kept in a dry place.

Certainly there is reason to wonder at the various change of the pro •••• ions, Prior. and I cannot wonder, what should lead them so to determin • them. Nicol.

The first Invention (some believe it was by chance) I am well satisfied was found by reason speculatively; to wit, that these three Materials well beaten and mingled together should be apt to make a fire so strong and unquenchable, uncil each matter should be consumed, for there are clear reasons that it ought to be so, but to give the proportions of the said Materials, I believe they were advised by Experience; for the first Order was founded upon Equality, for they took alike of each, but although it might have a good effect, nevertheless perceiving that effect proceeded from the nitre, they took a greater quantity than of each of the other, and they found that Powder more potent than the first, and so with rational advice some have varied the order unto this day: True it is, there are some orders of the afore-noted that have been ordained with little Reason, and less judgment; yea, I believe some of them, (because they would not do what was done before) to shew their wit without any other reason have made new Inventions, viz. increasing the Coal and diminishing the sulphur, & vice versa, others varying all three in such strange proportions that it might appear found out with greater prudence and subtilty.

There are indeed a certain sort of Inventors who knowing not how to speak or do, Prior. And Tartaglia was very sensible that some of his Inventions would be invented over again. but what hath been seen or done already by others, and are ashamed that it should appear that they have leran'd or taken any thing from those went before them, do force themselves to vary something from the former manner, or the speech, though it be to make it worse than it was before.

It is a sad truth indeed. Nicol.

You have shewed me how the Order and Proportion of the three materials, Prior. The 1 • Quest. have been varied from time to time, now I desire to know which of the afore-mentioned Orders you esteem to be the best, that is, the most perfect and poten • Powder?

Nicol. Doubtless that which contains the greater quantity of nitre, I say that the greater in respect of the whole, therefore that of the 16th. Order shall be more po • ent than any of the rest, viz. that thus composed, Thus in the Original. Sal nitrio raffinato piu volte 10 parts. Solfere 1 part. Carbon de Verzelle de nizola giorene e monde 1 part. Nitre refined many times 10 Sulphur 1 parts. Cole of the tender branches of the Hazle or filberd young & clear. 1 and this shall be the most powerful for two Reasons: the first is, because it doth contain five sixths of Nitre, the which five sixths is greater than that in any other part occurring in any of the above specified Orders. The second is, because the Nitre is refined many times, which makes it more perfe • t: and there is in it also more perfect Coal; for if the Coal be made of a light and soft matter, it is more apt to receive, and more falsely to maintain the fire, and so shall be more fit and disposed to do the office with celerity.

Prior. You have concluded the 16 th. Order to be the best powder, The 7 Quest. but I demand, if yet it shall not be more potent that shall receive a greater part, th • n five sixths of Nitre, and a l • sser by one sixth between the sulphur and the coal?

Nicol. Without doubt it shall, provided that, that little part of the sulphur and Coal be but sufficient to do its office, which is discovered by taking fire with speed, and also by introducing and maintaining it in the Nitre until it be wholly resolved into fire, for if there be so little quantity of the sulphur and Coal as not to do its duty, that composition shall be but unuseful and of no value: and therefore it will behoove one to take good heed, for if it were possible to make good powder of pure Nitre, it would be the best and most powerful of all, • ut because it is not apt alone to take fire with that celerity with quick flame as does the sulphur, nor to conserve it till it is all consumed, as do • s the Coal, therefore it is necessary to give it the company of the other two, and in such a quantity as may be apt and sufficient to do as it ought, which may be discovered, as I told you before.

I understand you well, Prior. but is this rule general for all kind of Artigliery? The 8 Q • estion. for it is well known, that Pistols require finer powder than Arquebnsus, Arqnibusus finer than M • squets and Falconets; and Falconets better than other sorts of grea • Artillery: and therefore I demand whether it be not necessary to limit this composition, and finess according to the sorts of the Pieces?

It doth appear to me so, Nicol. although it • e the custome, yea I have an opinion it is an error as that about your Cannon in the XI Quest. of the first Book, about the length of Guns, quantity of Powder and weight of Bullets, &c. but I will consider better of it and make you sensible of the error in that thing.

☞ Of the same opinion with Tartaglia in this last point doth Vannuccio Biringoccio seem to be, in that he thus expr • sseth himself. The great Artillery does require other Powder than the small, as the Gunners are pleased to say. But the common Experience, as well as the authority of Casimirus Simienowicz, doth shew that the large grained powder, called Cannon-powder is not so serviceable for small pieces, as that which is less, and in smaller grains. Though whether the smaller-grained powder be not more eff • ctual in Cannons, than what is commonly used, I know not • certain it is that the lesser the grains are, the more powerful is the Powder: and yet, if the powder be not grenulated at all, but in a subtile powder, it loseth its efficacie, and will scarce throw the Bullet beyond the mussel of the Gun. These and other curiosities (many of which are touched upon by that learned Lithuanian, & by Kir • herus, our Virtuosi might have taken notice of, rather than have digressed into those impertinencies with which he concludes his discourse of Salt-petre. Neither have I time to inlarge upon this Subject: nor is it my intention to carry this animadversion further, than to demonstrate to the meanest capacity, how ill some have written upon so noble, so conmon, and so necessary a Subject: and wherein they had such excellent helps from the Writings of others, had not their ignorance bereaved them of those aids.

FINIS.

An additional Review.

TO the end that no exceptions may be taken against what I say in relation to the English Liturgy by any of the Episcopal Clergy on the one hand; or that the Non-Conformists may not derive any further prejudice against the publique and established Worship in this Nation: I do profess that I neither do hereby any way derogate from the Liturgy of the Church of England, neither do I think any man can justly condemn Queen Elizabeth for the course She took herein, but rather commend her most pious prudence; what I say, is agreeable to what sundry English Writers say, that justifie the equitableness of our penal Laws against the Papists; it is conformable to what Dr. Heylin writes in his History of the Reformation primo Elizabethae, and the words of Mr. Hales in his Sermon preached at Pauls-Cross are these:

Mr. Hale's Sermons, pag. 57, 58. And here I may not pass by that singular moderation of this Church of ours, which she most Christianly exprest towards her Adversaries of Rome, here at home in her bosome above all the Reformed Churches, I have read of; for out of desire to make the breach seem no greater, than indeed it is, and to hold Communion and Christian fellowship with h • r • o far as we possibly can, we have done nothing to cut off the favourers of that Church. The reasons of their love and respects to the Church of Rome we wish, but we do not command them to lay down: their Lay-Brethren have all means of instruction offered them. Our Edicts and Statutes made for their restraint, are such as serve only to awake them, and cause them to consider the innocencie of that cause for refusal of Communion, in which they endure as (they suppose) such great loss • s. Those who are sent over by them, either for the retaining of the already perverted, or preventing others, are either return'd by us back again to them, or without any wrong unto their persons, or danger of their lives, suffer an easie restraint, which only hinders them from dispersing the poyson they brought. And had they not been stickling in our State-business, and medling with our Prince's Crown, there had not a drop of their Blood fallen to the ground: unto our Sermons, in which the warnings of that Church are necessarily to be taxed by us, we do not bind their presence, only our desire is that they would joyn with us in those prayers and holy Ceremonies which are common to them and us. And so accordingly, by singular discretion was our Service-Book compiled by our Fore-Fathers, as containing nothing that might offend them, as being almost meerly a Compendium of their own Breviary and Missal, so that they shall see nothing in our Meetings, but that they shall see done in their own, though many things which are in theirs, here I grant they shall not finde. And here indeed is the great and main difference betwixt us: As it is in the Controversie concerning the Canonical Books of Scripture: whatsoever we hold for Scripture, that even by that Church is maintained, only she takes upon her to add much, which we cannot think safe to admit: so fares it in other points of Faith, and Ceremony; whatsoever it is we hold for Faith, she holds it as far forth as we: our Ceremonies are taken from Her; only She over and above urges some things for Faith, which we take to be Error, or at best but opinion, and for Ceremony which we think to be superstition. So that to participate with us, is, though not throughout, yet in some good measure to participate with that Church: and certainly were that Spirit of Charity stirring in them, which ought to be, they would love and honor us, even for the resemblance of that Church, the beauty of which themselves so much admire. Thus far Mr. Hales, with whose sentiments my thoughts so correspond, that to justifie the procedure of that renowned Queen, I add that Her action is warranted by the deportment of the Christians from the Apostolique and primitive times, to the revolution under Constantine, and that I never read any thing in Ecclesiastical History relating to Christianity, to convince me that Her demeanor therein was unlawful, or unexpedient.

Where I speak of the Sweating-Sickness, to the accounts of Polydore Virgil and Hollingshed, add this out of the Chronicle of Edw. Hall published by Richard Grafton Anno Domini 1550.

In the first year of King Henry 7. a new kind of Sickness came suddenly through the whole Region, even after the first entring of the King into this Isle, which was so sore and painful and sharp, that the like was never heard of to any mans remembrance before that time: For suddenly a deadly and burning Sweat invaded their bodies, and vexed their blood with a most ardent heat, infested the stomach and the head grievously: by the tormenting and vexation of which sicknes, men were so sorely handled & so painfully pangued, that if they were laid in their bed, being not hable to suffer the importunate heat, they cast away the sheets and all the cloaths lying on the bed. If they were in their apparel and vestures, they would put off all their Garments, even to their shirts. Others were so dry that they drank the cold water to quench their importune heat and insatiable thirst. Others that could or at the least would abide the heat and stench (for indeed the Sweat had a great and strong savour) caused cloathes to be laid upon them as much as they could • ear, to drive out the Sweat, if it might be. All in manner assoon as the Sweat took them, or within a short space after, yielded up their Ghost. So that of all them that sickned, there was not one amongst an hundred that escaped: Insomuch that beside the great number which deceased within the City of London, two Mayors successively died of the same disease within eight days, and six Aldermen. And when any person had fully and compleatly sweat 24 hours (for so long did the strength of this plague hold them) he should be then clearly delivered of his disease: yet not so clear rid of that, but that he might shortly relapse and f • ll again into the same evil pyt; • ea again and twice again, as man • one in deed did, which after the third time died of the same. A • the length by Study of Physicians and experience of the people, driven thereunto by dreadful necessity, there was a remedy invented: For they that survived, considering the extremity of the pain in them that deceased, devised by things meer contrariant, to resi •• and withstand the furious rage of that burning furnace, by luke-warm drink, temperate heat, and measurable cloathes. For such persons as relapsed again into the flame after the first deliverance, observed diligently and marked such things as did them ease and comfort at their first vexation, and using the same for a remedy and medicine of their pain, adding ever somewhat thereto that was sanative and wholsome. So that if any person ever after fell sick again, he observing the regiment that amongst the people was devised could shortly help himself, and easily temper and avoid the strength and malice of the Sweat. So that after the great loss of many men, they learned a present and speedy remedy for the same disease and malady, the which is this: If a man on the day time were plagued with the Sweat, then he should strait lie down with all his cloathes and garments, and lie still the whole 24 hours. If in the night he were taken, then he should not rise out of his bed for the space of 24 hours, & so cast the cloathes off that he might in no wise provoke the sweat, but so lie temperately that the water might distil out softly of its own ac • ord, and to abstain from all meat if he might so long sustain and suffer hunger, and to take no more drink neither hot nor cold, than will moderately quench and delay his thirsty appetite. And in this his amending, one point diligently above all other is to be observed and attended, that he never put his hand or foot out of the bed to refresh or cool himself, the which to do is no less pain than short death. So you may plainly see what remedy was by the dayly experience excogitated and invented for this strange and unknown Disease, the which at that time vexed and grieved only the Realm of England in every Town and Village, as it did divers times after: but 55 years after, it sailed into Flanders and Germany, where it destroyed people innumerable for lack of knowledge of the English experience.

In the twenty second year of the aforesaid King, though the Sweating-Sickness did break out again, yet he saith that it did less hurt and displeasure to the people at this time, than it did before, by reason of the remedy which was invented by the death of many a Creature in the beginning. But in the subsequent years the Sweating-sickness is represented by him to be as direful, as others relate of it. But neither doth Hall, or any other Chronologer speak of this famo • s and almost infalli • le Medicine, what effect it had: so that we may conclude, that since it was impossible for the people to have been ignorant of that remedy during those latter mortalities, the course it self must needs have been ineffectual.

Whereas I observe that the Arcanum of Ivy-berryes was no secret, however that Arcanist pretended it to be so; I prove it out of Alexius Piedmontius and others. I add to those Authors Parkenson's Herbal, a Book called, A thousand Notable things: and Simon Paulli professeth he was taught it by a Scotch Soldier. And that it may appear with how much more accurateness the receipt is in our Medicinal Books, than in the account of Mr. R. B. I shall set down the words of Alexius Piedmontius; and that the rather, because if the Receipt were so effectual as 'tis represented, (as I am satisfied it hath been at other times) 'tis necessary men should know how to use it.

Alexius Piedmontius Secret. l. 2. pag. 92. ex vers. Latin. Weckeri Basileae 1563. Praesentissimum remedium ad eos, qui Peste correp • i sunt; quod valet etiam ad lividas pustulas in cute ex febre pestilentiali subortas: itemque ad carbunculos, ignem sacrum, & id genus alia.

R. Hederae baccas, maturas, & in umbra siccatas, deinde contritas, & fiat pulvis, de quo accipiant aegri ʒ • 8. cum poculo dimidio vini albi, deinde maneant in lecto, ut optime sudent. Posteaquam sudaverint aegri, indusium, linteamina lecti, & stragula mutentur, fiquidem fieri potest: sin mīnus, indusium tantum cum linteaminibus. Atque sic aliqui una nocte sola sani evaserunt. Mediolanensem quendam vidi ipse Aleppae, correptum peste, • na cum bubone in inguinibus & sub axilla altero, qui cum hoc pulvere bis in die, mane scilicet & vesperi uteretur: sequenti die, bubonibus ruptis convaluisse.

The old MSS. Receipts to which I refer (there is a mistake in the year of that Plague in the Print, it being 1525. not 1540.) Give as much as will lie on a six-pen • e (or more) in half a glass of white wine, and direct to cover the party well and make him sweat: and they add, That some have taken of the said powder over night, and found themselves in the morning so well, that they have rose up, cloathed themselves, and walked about the house, and finally been throughly cured. Probat. Ann. Domini 1625.

The Treasure for English men, Mr. Parkenson from the Empericks, Qua • ks • lvers, and Chirur • ions, expresseth not the dose not circumstances with which it is given; but that it must b • taken 2 or 3 days together. or Receipts published in Th. Vicary (pag. 245.) Give a dram of the said powder tempered with two ounces of Planten-water, or white wine: and direct the Patient to sweat upon it as much, and as often as he can: and in using this for three or four days together, he will die or mend without all doubt (by Gods help.) This hath been often and truly proved. The Author of A thousand Notable things gives only half a dram with two or three ounces of Planten-water, and directs them to sweat, as Alexius doth.

Thus they, R. B. Of the usefulness of Nat. Phil. par. 2. pag. 142. whereas Mr. R. B. says only that in the Irish Plague, the Arcanum which cured such numbers (and which he purchased by the exchange of another Secret) was only a good dose of the powder of fully-ripe Ivy-berryes, which did usually work plentifully by sweat. Here is neither an account of the Type, or quality of that Plague; (yet there is a great difference betwixt one and another, howbeit they go under one name: not are they cured by one method.) No relation of the dose of the powder, whether half a dram, one, two, or three drams: yet in the plague such sudorifiques as are otherwise used, are given in double quantity to what is commonly practised in lesser exigencies: and though it b • said to work plentifully by swea • ; yet is there no directions that the patient be laid to sweat; but, for all this saying, it might induce one that knew no more than this about Arcanum, to advise it only as such powders are given frequently to continue (with other Medicines) plain transpiration insensibly. In sum, there is not set down whether that our Irish Physician did begin his Cure with this powder, or with what Method he used it: and when all these Circumstances are added, (without which the Receipt is useless) though I am pleased to have read the happy success of it once, yet I dare not promise that it shall again, any more than Mr. Sprats almost infallible cure of the Sweating-sickness, or those other Anti-Pestilential Medicaments (now exactly) recorded by Experimental Galenists.

Whereas (pag. 54.) I speak of the age of Geber, as following of Leo Afer in my judgment, and that he lived but one hundred years after Mahomet: and consequently many Centuries before Raym • nd Lully: the Argument I use is manifest to any man that knows the time of the birth of Mahomet, (which yet Historians fix to be,See Hottinger Histor. Orient. some A. D. 570. others A. D. 610. others in 620.) and that the Hegyra begins A. D. 622. as V • ssius. But I think it fit that I ob • e • ve here that as in all the Arabian Chronology, so in this particular about the age of Geber, there are great uncertainties. Blancanus placeth Gel • r (the Arabian) in the ninth Century after Christ; Bl • n • a • us Chronolog. Mathemat. Secul. 18. A • dr. Liba •• us exam. • ens. Parisiens. V • de N • udaeum in histor. Magiae. c. 14. Vide Riccioli Chronicon utrumque praemissum Almage •• o novo. and so he must have lived about five hundred years before Raymund Lully, The inquisitive and learned Libavius reckons upon Geber as contemporary with Mahomet, saying, Geberus quem volunt circa annum partûs virginei sexcentesimum in vivis fuisse. I find that Vigner placeth him in the year of our Lord 723. Ricciolus calls him a Spaniard, Geber Hispalensis in his Chronicle of Astronomers, he placeth him in the year of our Lord 1090. and gives this reason against Blancanus, that it must be so, because that Geber in his Astronomie mentions Arzachel who lived in the twelfth Century after Christ, and whom by the name of Arzael is placed by Blancanus two Centuries after Geber, that is, within the eleventh Century after Christ. There is such a confusion in the Arabian names, that I am ready to imagine there were two Gebers (or more, the name being commonly assumed by the Saracens) the one very antient, and a Chymist, of whom Leo Afer may speak; and another in Spain, famous for Astronomy, who corrected sundry things in Ptolomy's Almagest, of whom Ricciolus and others speak, who call Ge • er a Spaniard. As for Raymund Lully, whom Mr. Henshaw placeth in the year 1333. I find Libavius to say he flourished sooner: Illustris fuit Reimundus anno salvatoris 1324. but Conringius relates how he was killed in the year 1315.A •• d. Lib • v. exam. cens. Parisiens. Conring. de medic. Hermet. c. 27. pag. 380. Lullius 1315. Octuagenarius circiter, dum religionem Christian • m Bugiae in Africa doceret Martyr lapidibus obrutus est. From whence it is manifes • , that if we place Geber in the twelfth Century with Arzachel, (as Ricciolus in his larger and more accurate Chronicle doth) then it is a mistake in Mr. Henshaw to say that Geber for certain flourished some Centuries before Raymundus Lullius: and it seems evident that he mistook the Age of Lullius also. So that if I grant him to have been a Spaniard (as I do not grant that Geber the Chymist was either a Spaniard, nor yet an Indian King, as some have thought) I have still just reason to except against Mr. Henshaw.

Where I say there are different Salt-Petres, perhaps according to the several Earths they are made: and to what I say about the Salt-Petre gathered of Lime walls; add, that since the writing hereof I have been where a new Cellar yeelded me a quantity of Peter on the walls: I observed that the taste was rather like the salt of calx viva, than of Nitre, yet did it burn without leaving any fixed salt at all. So that if Mr. Henshaw's friend had minded that, perhaps there might have been a considerable improvement deduced thence, either in order to Physick, or the Manufacture of Gunpowder.

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THE PLUS ULTRA reduced to a NON PLUS: OR, A SPECIMEN of some Animadversions upon the PLVS VLTRA of Mr. Glanvill, wherein sundry Errors of some VIRTVOSI are discovered, the Credit of the Aristotelians in part Re-advanced; and Enquiries made about The Advantages of the Ancient Education in England above the Novel and Mechanical. The old Peripatetick notion of the Gravity of the Air, and the Pressure of the aëreal Columne or Cylinder. The Deceitfulness of Telescopes. The World in the Moon, and a Voyage thither. The Original and Progress of Chymistry. The Vse of chymical M • dicaments. The Vsefulness of the Peripatetick Philosophy in reference to the Practice of Physick. The Original and Progress of Anatomy. The First Inventor of the Circulation of the Blood. The Transfusion of Blood, the first Proposers and Inventers thereof; and its Vsefulness. The different Nature of the Blood, and the variety of Phaenomena appearing upon the burning thereof, and mixing of it with several liquors. Some Trials in order to a discovery of the Nature of the English Baths.

By Henry Stubbe, Physician at Warwick.

Isocrates in Encomio Helenae,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

LONDON, Printed for the Author. 1670.

A PREMONITION to the Ingenious and Considerate READER.

ABove a year ago, at the Tab • e of a Person of Honour, there hapned a Deba • e concerning the Utili • y of the Ancient and Established Method and Medicaments used in Physick, and H • w much the knowledge of the Doctrine of Elements, Elemen • ary Qualities and Humors, (as vulgarly deliver • d) might contribute to the skill and successful Practi • e of a Iuaicious Physi • ian? There hapned to be present a G • ntleman, very much concerned for the Promoting of Scien • e, and a professed Admirer of the Institution of the Royal Society, who (as is usual with th • t sort of Virtuosi) instantly usurped all the Dis • ourse, and avowed that All the Ancient Methods of Sci • nce were vain and useless to a Physician, and d • d not so much as contribute to the Cure of a Cut-finger. With this rash and hasty Censure I confess I was surprised and demanding what knowledge he had in the re • eived Methods • f Physick and Medicamen • s? I found him altoge • her ignorant therein, but some • rude Assertions of the new Philosophers, and some imperfect Experimen • s we • e alledged in behalf of U • iversal Inference • , and no less then Stupidity charged upon the pr • c • d •• t Philosophers and Physicians, with those that adhered unto t • em: In fine, He avowed that this o • inion of • is was the posi • ive and d • gmatical averment even to a syllable, of Mr. Glanvill and other Virtuosi, and that it was undeniably evinced in a Book of theirs about The Modern Improvements of Useful Knowledge. After a brief replie to this Insolent, shewing that the an • ient Philosophy had not been so steril in reference to Physick, but that it had been the foundation of all those accounts of the Causes, Prognosticks, and Cures of Diseases (as also of the Healing of Cut-fingers and green wounds) by which of old and in la • ter tim • s Patients had been benefited: that the nature of infirmities had been explicated, and the qualities and use of Medicaments succeessfully explained upon tho • e grounds: and whatever Defects there were in those re • eived Principles, No Physician, that understood what he said, could deny them to be exceeding useful; that for any man to speak otherwise, was to expose himself to just s • orn and contempt. As also for any man to go about to inodiate and discr • dit the present aut • enti • a • e Me • hods of Curing upon no other excep • ions then those, that the Philosophy whereupon those Theorems we • e raised was false and f • iv • lo • s, was an Int • lerable Impertinence; since that even in Mathem • ti • ks it was notorious, that many solid Truths had been happily deduced from fals • suppositions and Postulata; that in Comm • n Log • ck Right C • nclusions m • ght be the result of ridiculous Premiss • s; and the Rule of falshood in Arithmetick would alone serve to convince any man, that upon im • gi • ary, yea, confessedly false Hypotheses, important and true deductions might be judiciously continued. After that an end was put to this contest by a more general conversation, I still retained a sense of the Injury I supposed to be done to me and all Rational Physicians, by this barbarous Opini • tour; I determined to avenge my Faculty upon Mr. Glanvill for this, and by sac • ificing that Virtuoso to publick Obloquy, thereby to establish (if possible) our general rep • se and tranquillitie, that we might not (as I observed we were) be troubled in all Companies and Assemblies, with Extravagancies of this kinde; there appearing unto me daily a greater necessitie of securing our Eares with black wooll or Wax, against the Buz and Nise of these Prat • le-boxes, then ever Ulysses had upon his approach to the Sirens: Our ruine being as certain from them; and there being nothing of Harmony in such Discourses, nothing but dis • ord and jarring, in comparison whereof the screeching of Owls, the creaking of doors, and whatever noise • lse is offensive, seemed Musical and Melodious. Upon the perusal of Mr. Gl • n • vill's Book (which He had recommended unto me) I met with so much of Ignorance, that I wond • ed how se • eral • en should concurre to mistake so, and I thought it a difficult • atter to reply, it being too tedious for one of so little leisure as I have, to info • m persons that we • e conceited and knew nothing.

Howsoever, for the general benefit of the Age, I purposed to write s • me Animadversions upon him, and ther • by to put a stop to the pride of such Ignoramus's, and amongst the several antiquated Philosophies which our Times have ren • wed, to int • oduce amongst the Virtu • si that of Pythagoras, the first rud • ments whereof consist • d in this, that the Disciples were obliged for five years to hold their peace. Upon the reading of Mr. Gla • vill, I saw my self under a necessitie of examining the History of the Royal Socie • ie, the tendencie whereof I observed to be so pernicious, that, if the first prov • cation had made me angry, I was now become obstinate In that Famed Work I encountr • d with so many illiterate passages, that the credit of our Nation seemed concerned in • he refuti • g it. I met with Passag • s so destruc • i • e that, if to be conce • ned for the i • terest of the p • esent Monarc • y, the Protestant Religion • and the • mo • ument of each pr • v • te person (and not solely of Tradesm • n) could warrant any one for putting Pe • to pap • r, I o • ght not to be s • lent I divided my Animadversio • s into several pa • ts; some whereof were to represent th • se C • mical Wits as • eally r • dicul • us; others w • re to make them odious to the Kingdom • I considered, that in those days few had pati • nce to reade ov • r prol • xe Treat • ses; as also I imagined, that the Contest would be more deeply imprinted in the minds of men, if they were excited by a variety of dis • ourse of that natu • e. The first Specimen of Animadversions upon Dr. Sprat and Mr. Glanvill were dispatched last Easter; but the Comical Wits were so alarmed at what they at first despised, that they emploied all their Artifices to divert me: and if malicious threats or other disingenious proceedings could have wrought upon me, the thing had died: But those pitif • l Me • haniciens understood not the weakness of such Batteries upon me, and in all my life (which those mean spirits pretended they would write) I am sure there was never any circumstance could induce them to conjecture that I was to be discouraged by Menaces; Besides, having found them so ungenerous, I conclud • d it more unsafe to desist, then to proceed: I knew the cruelty of Cowards, and that who had to do with wolves, must not make himself a Sheep: I evidently saw designes not only upon my Fortunes, but Life; I know the pernicious 〈◊〉 of mean and proud spirits, the Obligation would be lost in sparing them; whilst the Ignominy was so great, to be at my Mercy: I concluded that the most daring Council was the best; that it was no disparagement for me to be overthrown by power, and that I should multiply shame upon them, when it should be said, I fell their Victour and their Mar • yr. Although I had submitted those papers to the most severe Judgment of a Cauti • us Pe • son (giving him absolute liberty to dispunge whatsoever he thought harsh, or culpable) resolving never to look upon or alter them after he had viewed them; when they were authorised to the Press, and that there was no longer doubt of their Innocency, they containing nothing repugnant to the Government, Church of England, or Good Manners, yet did some of the Virtuosi (notwithstanding that th • y pretended to be desirous it should come out, and that rather then the Book should meet with any obstacle their President should licence it) procure the Impression to be stopped: If this be Genero • s, if this be agreeable to that frankness of minde and Philosophy which you profess; O tres-haute, and • res-agreeable Comediants, I appeal to all English and brave spir • ts! Could any man have perswaded • he world, befo • e this Essay, that you who seem the sole Dictatours of Wit, and useful Knowledge, would have emploied your power against me! A • d that t • irty Legions were to be called to aid You against a young Countrey-P • ysician, who had so long discontinued studies of this nature, and had so little time to resume th • m, or recollect his thoughts! Pardon me, if I t • ll you, there is nothing Noble in this demeanour, and whatever there may be of the Virtuoso, there is no G • llantry of Vertue will give countenan • e to it, nor any thi • g that d • rives from the Tutour of Alexander. Go, procu • e an Act of Parliament, or sollicite for a Proclamation, that none write or speak against you; by such means ensure those Triumphs over the ancient Education of this Kingdom, the two Universities, and the Protestant Church; which the Sprats and Glanvills by • heir Goose-quills cannot a • chieve for you. To this course I should willingly submit, and not envy you such accessi • nals of Glory: And as a Supplement to the Lifes of your W • r • h • es, only wri • e them impartially, I give you leave to feign what you will concerning Me. Take not the advantage against these Animadv • rsions, which the Printers mistakes occasioned: they are many, and since you were in part a cause of them, by distracting and impeding of the publication; and I being absent could not remedy them, 'twill be ignoble to press upon confessed errours, some whereof are reduced into a Catalogue. As to the incoherences of some places, and the incongruities of the English, I acknowledge there are sundry of that kind; but do not think my self accountable for those failures, nor for those repetitions of things, which as I travelled came into my memory; some whereof had been sent to London before. Howsoever, if you can refute the substance of the Discourses, I shall leave it to yo • r prudence, after this declaration, how you will manage the controversie. When the other piece against Dr. Sprat will come out, is a matter I cannot well promise to the world: The Virtuosi can best undertake for that. I have respited the publication hereof thus long, to try, if any Let • ers of mine, or Entreaties might prevail with them: I joyned also Menaces that I would post them; which indignities I wonder men of Tolerable Ingenuitie, or of so g • eat arrogance would out-live. And the Theological Censure being already publick, I found the expectation of all men impatient to see some of these Animadve • sions.

There is another T • eatise, shewing the Original of the Colledge of Experimental Philosophers, See Campanella o • the Spanish Monarchy, in English • • . 10. p. 47. c. 25. p. 157. c. 27 p. 177, 180, 181, 182, 183. as Campanella projected it, and containing a parallel of what He contrived (and their Historian hath pursued) for the reducing of England and Holland to Popery: also a Specimen of sundry Experim • nts published by several Virtuosi, that are false or stolne, yet boasted of as their proper Inventions: together with Instances of the danger that all Tradesmen will run into by the continuance of this Assemblie; which to manifest further, I shall here adde a Proposal designed to have been tend • ed, and improved into an Act, in this last Session of Parl • ament. It was deliver • d by Sir P.N. to an Honourable M • mber of the House • f Commons, and by Him sent unto me, adding, In which you may see wh • t they drive at, viz. Instead of Monopolizing this or that particular Trade at a time, once for all to have a Monopoly for all that ever should be invented.

It is proposed, that such kinde of pretended n • w Inventions relat • ng to Mechanicks, Trades, or Manufactures, as are or shall be offered to the Parliament, may by them by referred to such indifferent judicious persons, as are like to give them a faithful Account, about the Newness, Reality, Vsefulness, &c. of the things proposed, and whether they are like to answer the effects pretended to, and to make Report of the same to the Parliament.

And the Royal Society of London for Improving of Natural Knowledge, being already fixed into a Corporation, and the Council of the said Society consisting of 21, being by their Constitution under an Oath, to deal faithfully in all things belonging to the Trust committed to the said Council: It is offered, that such things may be preferred to the said Council, and they to Report unto the Parliament.

They that know the M • n, know their meaning: and whosoever understands the Consti • ut • on of our Parliaments, is assur • d that they need not look out of their own number for indifferent judicious pe • sons, to inform the House what the Reali • y, Usefulness, or Newness, &c. is of Inventions; or should the Parlia • ent be at any time destitute of s •• h Intelligence, the Council must make better Reports then doth their Historian, or else it will be in vain to resort • o them in the Case. Upon the same pre • ence, if they once gain this, that miscellaneo • s Assembly of indifferentlie judicious Persons, shall pretend to detect the F • auds • f Trades; and endeavou • to reco • mend to all befitting Preferments in the University and elsewhere, the i • g • nio • s and learned: and then affairs will be brought to a fair pass. But I enlarge too far, and shall only adde, that I do • emit the consideration and purport o • this Project to the Tradesmen of London, who are better acquainted then I with the tenden • y and consequences he • eof. Had my Preface to the Animadversions upon the History of the R. S. come out first, I had there shewed that it is no way my intention by any of these Pi • ces to detract from any Person of Quality or Learniug, that is an Honorary Member of that Society, not from the Institution of it: I must referre my Reader to that, as containing •• ample Iustification of me, as also a defence of those passages in my life, which I apprehended most obnoxious to their ce • sure. My quarrellies only with the Comical Wi • s, who make such a Noise in the world, that in them all the rest are as it were drown'd, who have deviated from the int • n • ions of the Royal Founder, and are so deserted by sober and serious men, that I make it my further Request, that they would inform us what number of Persons are at pres • nt actual Members of the Royal Socie • y, and wh • ch resort thither, and pay the usual Contributions: and that in their Transactions there may be rel • ted what Persons are present each M • neth: from hence we shall be able to judge what repute they deserve, and what respects we are to pay them.

TO THE Reader.

THE Discourse of Mr. Glanv • ll, was the first occasion of my writing about the R • yal Society, the provocation which it gave to all sorts of men, of different Professions were such, that it might stir up any publick spirit, to support so • ommon a cause. I was sensible of the injuries he doth unto the dead, the affronts he puts upon the living, the contempt wherewith he decries that University-Learning, and those Studies by which Christianity hath been supported again • t the Arrians, the Iews, the Mahometans, and of late the Papists and Socinians: and which if they be relinquished, I profess, that I think that the Christian Religion must inevitably fall without the aid of a Miracle. It is a kind of Apostacy from the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds to • light Metaphysicks. The distinction of the Trinity, of Essence and Personality, the Hypostatical Union of the two Natures in our Saviour, and the meritoriousness of his death, (which depends thereon,) are undermined with School-Divinity; and whosoever hath any sense or value for the benefits we derive from Controversial-Divinity, either as to the quieting of his Conscience, or convincing of his Adversaries, must detest this Enterprise of Mr. Glanvill. And methinks that whosoever doth but call to mind that variety o • foolish Sects, which gave the Church so much trouble in its first Infancy, and of late years, and considers that they had their Original from want of Logick, should not condemn that Art, by which men argue rightly from sound Principles. It was no less strange to me to finde the names of Reverend, Sage, Grave, Disputer and Logician, perverted into terms o • Contumely; yet had not all those Motives prevailed with me, but that he had so defamed the Ancient and Modern Physicians, until those late Innovators, that many importuned me to revenge my Faculty upon this Insolent Man. Besides, I had been much troubled with impertinent discourses of some, who to excuse their Ignorance in the Prognostick and Therapeutick parts of Medicine, indulged themselves in the vilifying all the ancient learning and reading, and asserting out of the Writings of the Society, the necessity and conveniency of new methods, in curing and abbreviating diseases. I soon espied my advantages over Mr. Glanvill. But perceiving his Defence so complicated, with the History of the Royal Society, that I could not well meddle with the one without reflecting upon the other; I set my self to peruse that also, and found the Errors therein so numerous and gross, and the tendency of it so dangerous, that it seemed but an easie, yet necessary work, to the Universities, and all Learning • as well as the profession of Methodical Physick, to write against these new-fashion'd Philosophers; I remarked so many defaults in both books, that I was at last weary of taking notice of them, there being still Plus ultra. I resolve to give my Studies no further diversion in pursuing Mr. Glanvill; but to leave him to the scorn of some more common Pens, who being at the Universities may have more leisure then I have at present. A • ter all this Ostentation of Learning, the things he talks and writes of are such, as he is utterly unacquainted with: the Authors he mentions he never saw, and all his discourse about the Mathematicks, and Mathematicians, procured him no other acknowledgements from a Learned and Reverend Prelate, (to whom he sent one of his Books) than a Reprimand for intermedling with what he understood not. Who can choose but smile when he reads how Apuleius improved the Mathematicks 〈…〉 ? who ever heard of such men as Maximus Palanudes, Plus Vit • a. pag. 2 • . Achazen and Orentius? I suppose this last should have been Orontius, and he is so famous a Geometrician, that when Sir H. Savill (as I remember) was to seek for an instance of a pitiful fellow; this was the man he fixed upon; He tells us that the most learned men of all sorts and professions;Page 4. Mathematicians, Chymists, Physicians, Anatomists, Antiquaries, and Philosophers, make up the Royal Society: but one would not guess so by their History! He tells us, that the former Methods of Science for so many Centuries, never brought the world so much practical beneficial knowledge, as would help towards the Cure of a Cut Finger, Plus Vltra Pag. 7. and 8. which he says is a palpable Argument, that they were fundamental mistakes, and that the way was not right. Can any one that hath heard of Podalirius and Machaon in Homer prate thus? Quos tamen Homerus non in pestilentia, Corn. Celsus in Praefat. neque in variis generibus morborum aliquid attulisse auxilii, sed vulneribus tantummodo ferro & medicamentis mederi solitos esse proposuit. Ex quo apparet has partes medicinae solas ab his esse tentatas, easque esse vetustatissimas. Had our Virtuoso but known how Hippocrates had writ about Wounds and Ulcers, Diog. Laert. in vita Arist. Suidas in Nicomacho, & Ammonius in vita Arist. Vide noras Menagii in Diog. Laert. l. 5. and that Aristotle himself was descended of the line of Aesculapius, and that his Ancestor Nicomachus was Physician to Amyntas King of Macedon, And that Aristotle also was a Physician, and writ several books (besides his Anatomy of Man) in that Science, and was upon that account valued by Alexander the Great, as Plutarch saith. And how little the Ancients stood in need of modern discoveries and aids to cure Cut Fingers, any man may judge, that knows what Scribonius Largus, and Galen (in his books de Compos. Medicam. sec. genera) have written: and how this last Author (upon Philosophical deductions) compounds several Medicaments to that purpose. In the Augustane Dispensatory, to this day his Tripharmacon, his Diapalma, his Diadictamnum, and others are recorded. And if any thing rendred Paracelsus justly famous, it was the cure of inveterate Ulcers, not green Wounds: and that therein he did out-doe the ancient Physicians, is a question, I cannot grant, and have not leisure to dispute.

He reckons up Five Instruments by which the latter Ages have improved Knowledge above Antiquity. Plus Vltra. Page 10. The MICROSCOPE, TELESCOPE, THERMOMETER, BAROMETER, and the AIR-PUMP. Some of which were first invented, all of them exceedingly improved by the ROYAL SOCIETY. But as for the Telescope, he confesses that to have been invented by Metius and Galilaeo. Which Confession of his, although it take from the Society all pretences to the invention thereof; yet it is unbecoming an inquisitive person, who might upon better Intelligence from Borellus, in his book about the Inventor of Telescopes, published in 1656. He might have learned thence that Adrianus Metius of Alkmaer did not invent them, but one Zacharias Ioannides of Middleburgh in Zeland, (though perhaps Baptista Porta had obscurely proposed it) and that he who may most justly come in for a second share in the glory of that invention is one Ioannes Lapreius of the same Town. And whereas 'tis generally written, that Galilaeo was the first who applied those tubes to the contemplation of Celestial Objects, even that appears to be false, seeing that the first Inventor, even Zacharias Ioannides, (together with his son Ioannes Zacharides) did make use of them to discover several new Phaenomena in the Moon and Heavens. •• rel de v • ro invent. Teles • op. c. 12. Which mistake is unpardonable in our Virtuoso (and his Assistants) because that a more particular Enquiry hath been made of late years hereinto, then ever before. The Barometer he allows to have been first invented by Torricellius, not to try the gravitation of the Aire, but to prove a vacuum; Afterwards, the different ascent of the Quicksilver, being tried on the top and at the bottom of Hills in France, the opinion of the rising of the Quicksilver from the pressure of the Air, was introduced and illustrated. But net her is the gravitation, or pressure of the Air, a new opinion; it is as old as Aristotle, it is his, •• ecquet. Exp ••• m 2. in D • ss • nat. p. •• . Ed 〈◊〉 1651. and he essayed to weigh the Air, in his book de coelo l. 4. sect. 29, 30, 39. He proves the Air to ponderate, because a bladder full of Air weighs heavier then one that is empty. Concerning which Experiment I shall adde the words of Scipi Claramontius, 〈1 paragraph〉 that learned Writer, the truth of it having been questioned, Possum tamen testari observationem Aristotelis dicto faventem, fuitque diligens observatio, & à diligentissimo pensatore, exactusque stateris & lancibus peracta, me praesente & adsistente, cum pluribus veritatis cupidis viris: pensit avimus ergo primum follem novum penitusque vacuum, primo statera quae solum unciarum differentiam indicabat, invenimusque unciarum decemnovem, & totidem reperimus eundem follem diligenter inflatum, & solo spiritu nulloque humore immisso: ac postea usi sumus lance, quae semuncias quoque indicabat, tumque follem inflatum unciarum decemnovem & & semis invenimus, adeo tamen ut ibi libra in aequilibrio absque tractu (ut vocant nostri) adamussim permaneret: at idem vacuus non amplius in eodem signo sine tractu, sed cum tractu perstabat. Quocirca verum dicit Aristoteles. So that whether we consider the gravitation of the Aire, or its being weighed, (which Mr. Glanvill in his Plus ultra thinks so strange of, Plus Vltrae p 59. c. 8. as he expresses, To have said in elder Time, That Mankind should light upon an Invention, whereby those Bodies might be weigh'd, would certainly have appeared very wilde and extravigant; and it will be so accounted for some time yet, till men have been longer, and are better acquainted with this Instrument,Many P • rit • •• i • ls ( • Claramontius) •• ld • hat t • e impure Air • f 〈◊〉 At •• sphear doth •• a • itate, 〈◊〉 they deny it as to • he pur Ele • en • al Air. &c) The opinion it self, and the attempt to weigh it, is Aristotles: Nor is this D • scou • se casually proposed once in Aristotle; but sundry ti • es he avows the gravita • ion of the Air in his Problems, viz. sect. 11. probl 45 sect. 21. probl. 18. sect. 25. probl. 12, 13. From hence we may judge how well Mr. Glanvill is acquainted with the tenets of Aristotle, and how well read he is in him whom he condemns. He and his Ph • losophick friends dealt only in some pitiful Compendium of Phys • cs, and from thence learned that which was the opinion of Themistiu • , Simplicius • and o • her eminent Peripatetics, as if it had been the avowed doctrine of their great Master; and thereupon they thus deliver themselves. And on this occasion, Sir, I observe the incompetency of their judgments, Mr. Glanvill, p. 122. who are E • emies to the real Experimental Philosophy, in that they do not (as I intimated) at all, or very little, understand what they condemn. This I have some reason to say, since in the whole Compass of my Acquaintance, which is not very narrow. I profess I know not one who opposeth the Modern way, that is not almost totally unacquainted with it. And on the other side, upon the most careful turn of my thoughts among my Philosophick friends, I cann • t light on one of all those that are for the free and experimental procedure, but who hath been very well instructed in the P • ripatetick doctrines,

Pecquet. Exper. Physico • Math. de Vacuo. Pag. 50, &c. Paris 1651.

M • rsenni Pha • nomena Pneumar. pag. 140. Par. 1644.

which they have deserted, and most of them much better than those who are yet zealous Contenders for them. I might tell our Divine, that the Gravitation of the Air seems proposed in Iob 28.25. Qui fecit ventis pondus, God is said to make weight for the winde: indeed neither the gravitation of the A • mosphear, nor the notion of Aerial cylinders, pressing upon subjacent bodies, were any News in the world when the Society was first established. But the News of the Barometer is so pleasant, that I will insert the whole passage.

But (IV.) The BAROMETER is another late Instrument, very helpful to useful Knowledge. That there is gravity even in the Air it self, and that that Element is only comparatively light, Plus Vltra cap. 8. pag. 59 is now made evident and palpa • le by Experience, though Aristotle and his Schools held a different Theory: And by the help of Quicksilver in a Tube, the way is found to measure all the degrees of Compression in the Atmosphere, and to estimate exactly any accession of weight, which the Air receives from Winds, Clouds, or Vapors. To have said in elder Times, that Mankind should light upon an Invention whereby those bodies might be weigh'd, would certainly have appeared very wilde and extravigant; and it will be so accounted for some time yet, till men have been longer, and are better acquainted with this Instrument. For we have no reason to believe it should have better luck than the Doctrine of the Circulation, the Theory of Antipodes, and all great Discoveries in their first Proposals. 'Tis impossible to perswade some of the Indians that live near the heats of the Line, that there is any such thing as Ice in the World; but if you talk to them of Water made hard and consistent by Cold, they'l laugh at you as a notorious Romancer. And those will appear as ridiculous among the most of us, who shall affirm it possible to determine any thing of the Weight of the Wind or Clouds. But Experience turns the laugh upon the confident incredulity of the Scoffer; and he that will not believe, needs no more for his Conviction, then the labour of a Trial. Let him then fill a Tube of Glass, of some Feet in length, with Quicksilver; and having sealed one end, let him stop the other with his Finger, and immerge that which is so stop'd into a vessel of Mercury, the Tube being perpendicularly erected; let him then substract his Finger, and he will perceive the Quicksilver to descend from the Tube into the subjacent vessel, till it comes to 29 Digits or thereabouts; there, after some Vibrations, it ordinarily rests. The reason that this remainder of the Mercury doth not descend also, is, because such a Mercurial Cylinder is just equiponderant to one of the incumbent Atmosphere that leans upon the Quicksilver in the Vessel, and so hinders a further descent. It is concluded therfore, That such a Cylinder of the • ir, as presses upon the Mercury in the Vess • l is of equal weight to about 29 Digits of that ponderous Body in the Tube. Thus it is when the Air is in its ordinary temper: but Vapours, Winds, and Clouds alter the Standard; so that the Quicksilver sometimes falls, sometimes rises in the Glass, proportionably to the greater or less accession of Gravity and compression of the Air hath received from any of those alterations; and the Degree of increase beyond the Standard, is the measure of the additionable gravity.—

There is something so charming and so divertive in this discourse, that I cannot yet dismiss it, notwithstanding what I have said out of Aristotle and Claramontius. Aver ••• s adh •••• to A •• sto • le, and ho • ds the Air do • h g • avitate. That there is gravity even in the Air it self, and that that Element is only comparatively light, was of old made evident by the Man of Stagira: nor did the Schools hold a different tenet, if you take Air for this impure mixture and Sphaera vaporosa about the Earth, which we breath, and in a special manner have to do with: as appears from Claramontius in his Book of the Universe, and Septalius upon Aristotle's Problems. But Mr. Glanvill neither understands what he opposeth, nor what he Asserts. For in the beginning he speaks of the gravitation of the Element of the Air; whereas that Instrument called a Barometer proposeth only a way to measure the degrees of compression in the Atmosphear, in which Region I believe no man ever denied but that the Aqueous and Terrestrial corpuscles interspersed had their weight and pressure: Thus the ordinary temper of this Air (which is never pure) the alterations of it by vapors, winds, clouds, are the subject of those contemplations, as any man knows that reads Mr. Boyle, or even Mr. Glanvill. Thus all the flourish of Rhetorick comes to nothing, the wonder is ceased, and we come to try only a more particular way of examining the weight of a body, which no man in his wits ever denied to be ponderous. And here I must tell our Vir • noso, that his reading or consideration extends not so • ar as to the writings of Mr. Boyle, and the experiment in him. For it appears out of Him that the Mercurial Cylinder riseth and falls in the Magdeburgical Air-Pump, 〈1 paragraph〉 according to the lessening or vigorating of the Spring of the Air: and that upon putting in the Barometer, and closing the Engine, there appeared not any change in the height of the Mercurial Cylinder, no more then if the interposed Glass-Receiver did not hinder the immediate pressure of the ambient Atmosphear upon the inclosed Air; •• sides, the d • ff •• en • e in Quick • ilver is such, • ha • a • l Write • s take no • ice of it • and • am apt t • •• lieve the 〈◊〉 may be much va ••• d in th • 〈◊〉 acco • ding to that. which hereby appears to bear upon the Mercury, rather by vertue of its Spring then of its weight. And if this Ph • nomenon proved such in a greater and less Receiver, with a greater or less cylinder of Mercury (it being indifferent which is used,) I doubt this Barometer will not determine the strength of the Spring of the Air, much less its weight. For the Elasticity is a distinct consideration from the weight of the Air: as when some Experimentators went about to weigh the Pike, the Flownce or Spring of the Pike was no part of the weight of the Pike, though it might turn the Scales. This sole consideration destroys all the great promises we have from the Barometer, for if the Spring of the Air cannot be exactly known, that we must be for ever ignorant of the nature of those other bodies which influence and press upon our Air, and compress the Spring of the Air, and may have many operations upon it which we know not, neither can comprehend; If the height of the Atmosphear cannot be determined, (which I make a postulatum of) the alterations in the higher R • gions are unsearchable, and the mechanismes of those corpuscular combinations incomprehensible, I shall not do • bt to say, that there is not yet found out a way to measure • ALL THE degrees of Compression in the Atmosphear: nay, 'tis far from that exactness; for the body of the Quicksilver varies not upon insensible variations in the Air: the intercepted Air in it takes off from the Nicenesse of the Experiment: and since even heat, (and perhaps other circumstances) adds to the Spring of the Air, it cannot give us that account pretended, about vapours, winds and clouds.

The Essay by Tubes and Quicksilver, as ingenious as it is, yields the Society no further glory, then to have illustrated it, and perhaps to have made some further Experiments in it then those had done, to whom, as the first Inventor, (by the concession of the Historian) appertains all or most of the Honour which ariseth from such accessionals. It is true, our Virtuosi fixed on it the name of Barometer, but they had done better to have called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or Gas, or Blas, or Diaceltateston, or some such unintelligible name, rather then have termed it thus: the Appellation signi • ying no more an instrument to measure the gravity of the Air, then an instrument to weigh a parcel of Tarre, or indefinitely a pair • f Stillyards. The Aerometer might have been a little more Emphatical; especially considering that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are Synonimous. Had not Aeroscopium been accommodated to the Thermometer, it would not have been much incongruous. But I conceive, that Aerobaricon or Aerostaticon would have fitted the Experiment as well as any name I can now think upon. The Barometer was invented by Torricellius to prove a Vacuum, and in Mersennus's Cogitata Physico-Mathematica, you may find it applied to the examining the difference of the Air in several places. The Air-Pump was found out at Magdeburgh, and not in England; it was first published by Schottus, under the name of Ins • rumentum Magdeburgicum. Mr. Boyle amended it, and prosecuted many ingenious Experiments in it, for which all Philosophers are redev • ble to him, but cannot proclaim him the Inventor of the Instrument, Hen. Reg. Philos Nat. l. 2 c. 2 p. • 4. & l. 2 c. 3 p. 173 ed. 1 •• 1 no • nor of the (notion of the Elasticity of the Air; which was proposed first to the world by Henricus Regius, under the name of the spontaneous dilatation of the Air: and illustrated by Pecquetus, who first, (that I know of,) spoke of the Elater, Pecquetus pag. • 9 (quem • ela • erem nuncupo). • orel u • i supra c. 12 p. 26. Blancanus de mundi fabr. pa •• 3. c 2. The Microscope was invented by the aforesaid Zacharias Ioannides: The Thermometer, or Thermoscopium was first the invention of Sanctorius; so Blancanus saith, Audivi Doctorem quendam medicum Patavii degentem, qui Sanctorius cognominatur, hujus esse inventorem And now I demand of our Virtuoso, which of these Five Instruments for the Improvement of knowledge have been found out by the Royal Society: The Thermometer is the discovery of a Galenical Physician; but as to our Virtuosi nothing appears but the pretension to other mens discoveries, and the improving of them.

By the Benefit indeed of one of these Instruments, the Telescope, we are put in hopes to find a sure way to determine those mighty Questions, Whether the Earth move? or, The Planets be inhabited? And who knows which way the Conclusion may fall?—I perceive hereby that Mr. Glanvill is not altogether convinced that the Earth moves; and I am as little satisfied, that the solution of those Questions is so mighty and important a thing; for if the Earth stand still, then things will be as they are now: and if it be determined otherwise, yet shall we not need to fear that the Revolution of the Earth in its Diurnal motion, either shake our houses about our ears, or shake us of • by the tangent line: and as for those inhabitants of the Planets, in case all our other trading should be lost, we shall not finde out any gainful commerce with them; nor need we dread that they will piss out our Eyes as we look up. So that let their Telescopes be brought to that unimaginable perfection, whereby to discover the inhabitants of the Planets as plainly as mites in Cheese, and let the Conclusion fall which way it will, things will fall out no otherwise than they do.

He inveigheth bitterly against Aristotle for his Heathen-Notions, and in his Preface to the Clergy of B. & W. wishes that the devoted Admirers of Aristotle would study his Rhetorick, History of Animals, and Mechanicks. I wonder he did not recommend unto them the perusal of his Ethicks. Certainly they deserve as much to be read in these days, as any Piece. And perhaps his Politicks might contribute something to the instruction of a Nation. But how dare he recommend any book of that man of Stagira to be read, if those motives that swayed him to Anti-Aristotelism, be of any validity: Alas! he is troubled at his Heathen-Notions! Oh! rare Puritanism! But my dear Brother Scruple, ought any one to be offended at every thing that is of Heathen-Original, though it contain nothing of Gentilisme in it? Represent your adversary as you please to his Diocesan, nothing hath more of the Presbyterian and Fanatick then this Topick. Moreover, what do you think of those Atoms and Corpuscles? are they not Heathen-Notions, and decried by the Fathers? what do you think of the terms used by the Mathematicians? what of the Lang • ages, such as are not Sacred? what of the months, days of the year, and the names of the Stars, Constellations, &c. Must every thing be reformed according to the Coelum Stellatum Christianum of Iulius Schillerus? Besides, these words in Theology, of Unity and Trinity, have as much of Heathenism in them, as they have of Platonism. I shall here take further notice of his exceptions against Aristotle, as they are Recapitulated here (though they are more largely proposed by him in his Letter against Aristotle, which I have fully answered in a distinct Treatise) the generall censure whereof is, That they are nothing but Lies, and such as no man that is acquainted with any thing of ancient Literature could have uttered. I protest in the Presence of Almighty God, that if there be not great care taken, we may be in a little time reduced to that pass, as to believe the story of Tom Thumb, and all the Legends or falsifications of History, which the Papists obtrude upon us! This Philosophy fairly disposeth us therevnto, by taking us off from the Pedantism of Philology, and ancient reading, and by accustoming us to believe the forgeries they obtrude upon us. Methinks herein he is one as absurd as that Romish Monk was in the Pulpit. I • Hen H • t • ingerus in Smeg •• . Oriental l. 1. c. 2. p. • Heresbachius I. C • citante Taubmanno, audivi, inquit, Monachum in Ecclesia declamantem, qui, nova, inquiebat, jam reperta est Lingua, quae vo • atur Grae • a, ab hac sedulo cavendum: H • c enim est quae parit omnes istas heraeses. Ea lingua est liber proditus, in manibus passim habetur & vocatur N. T. Plenus hic liber rubetis, & viperis. Alia etiam oritur lingua, quam vocant Hebraeam, hanc qui discunt, efficiuntur Hebraei. We are running on as fast as we can to this condition of ignorance, and shall be so inured to Historical untruths, magisterially imposed upon us, and disused from inquiring into them, as to beleeve any thing. He tells us the Aristotelian Philosophy aims at no more, than the instructing men in Notion and Dispute, that its Design was mean, and its Principles at the best uncertain and precarious,—One may guess how well our Virtuoso understands the Old Philosophy, to ascribe that unto it all in general as its aim, which is but the intendment (and that a necessary one too) of the Dialectick and Metaphysical parts. In Natural Philosophy their designs were the same that our Moderns boast of, if they miscarried in the main, let us pity their misfortunes, but not blame their intentions. Did Aristotle in his books of Animals, or Theophrastus about Plants, instruct men only to Dispute? Had his Anatomy, and his Problems nothing but Notion? Must we cast off all Notions? Or ought we to endeavour after the gaining of clear notions of things? If men hitherto did proceed no further, and yet pretended to be Peripateticks, blame the abuse, but condemn not the Philosophy, which hath nothing in it that puts a stop to Enquiries and Curiosity. Nor do I find that those Physicians, and others, who advanced the several parts of Natural Philosophy and Physick, did thereby act contrary to the rules of their Master or Tutors. It is true, that their Schools did meddle but with few points mainly, and those were such as related to Divinity, as the Eternity of the World, the Nature of the First and Second Causes, of the Soul and its Faculties, &c. as to an exact natural Philosophy, they did not much trouble them • elves, nor had we had what we have, but that Averroes and the Physicians befriended us. But must Scaliger and such like suffer under these Imputations, which par • icularly relate unto their School-Divines? and must they also be blamed for not teaching nor putting men upon further Enquiries than were necessary to that Christianity, which they were to support against the Mahometans and Iews? He that knows the end of their first institution by Charlemaigne, can best judge how prudential it was, and how they answered expectation. But our Illiterati know nothing of that, and are always reviling them where they are not faulty, and would have had them nglected that part which was necessary to the Education of all that were to live under and support Christianity, to pursue Studies that contribute little thereto, and such as were never essential to the being of a State, but have been often exploded as prejudicial thereunto. The same Apology may serve the present Universities, who do enough in breeding up men to be fitly qualified for Employments in Church and St ••• , and instruct them in so much Philosophy as is necessary for the explaining and defending of our Religion against Atheists, Papists, and Socinians: and whosoever shall put the accurate debate of these Points, the Art of reasoning, the Validity of Consequences, the unfolding of crytical Syllogisins and Fallacies, the general doctrine of Topicks, the Moral Philosophy, and Foundations of Civil Prudence, (besides Civil and Ecclesiastical History and Languages) which are taught there, or ought to be by their Constitution, into the Scales on one hand, and the Mechanical Education (recommended with all the advantages that ariseth from Aphorisms o • Cider, planting of Orchards, See Mr Sprat, p. 329. making of Optick Glasses, magnetick and hortulane Curiosities) on the other hand, will be able to judge easily which Studies deserve the most encouragement by the publick, and which are most useful and requisite. Having said thus much in behalf of our University-Learning (which is now contradistinguished from the Mechanical Education) I shall adde thus much in favour of our Ancestors, who gave solemn encouragement to Archery, Cudgel-playing, Foot-ballplaying, and other Exercises, that prepared the Vulgar to Military Performances; as the more Academical did the Gentry to State-affairs: whereas they gave little countenance to the Experimental Philosophers and Naturalists: that the practice is justified by Vegetius l. 3. c. 10. Quis autem dubitat artem bellicam rebus omnibus esse potiorem, per quam libert as retinetur, & dignitas propagatur, provinciae conservantur & Imperium? Hanc quondam relictis d • ctrinis omnibus Lacedemonii, & post coluere Romani. Hanc solam hodieque Barbari putant esse servandam: caetera aut in hac arte consistere, aut per hanc artem assequi se posse con • idunt. Haec dimicaturis est necessaria • per quam vitam retineant & victoriam consequantur. But to r • turn to our Virtuoso! Are not the principles of Des Cartes, and the figured Atoms of Gassendus as precarious as those of Aristotle, and less subjected to sense? Have not the Chymical Principles so much of uncertainty, Anal • gi • è si accipiantur h • c Chymico •• m p • incipia assentiri e • s p • ssumu • , ita ut p • o Mercurio aqua ponatur, Sulphure ignis & a • r, S. le ter • a. Analogi • negatâ negatur • mnia co abire. Ex aqua & • erra fac li • um v • s ••• lum, & hunc curae conglurinari & concrescere in lapidem: quemadm • dum n • tu •• 〈◊〉 vid • mus. Si hic resolvatur in ultima non in Mercurium, Sulphur, & Salem, sed in vulgata & Physica resolvetur principia. M. Ruland. Progymn. Alchym Qu •• . as they have of Equivocation? Are not they precarious too • and suspicious? Are there any o • those that agree amongst themselves? and do not they as little agree with Nature as those of the Peripatetick way? I will not doubt to maintain that as far as Physick is concerned in the debates; The ancient Philosophy better agrees with the Phaenomena of Nature, and carries us on with more assurance to work (as they phrase it) then any other, and that the diligent reading of Vallesius, Mercatus, Saxonia, Claudinus, &c. shall produce better Physicians then Sylvius, Helmont, or Odorode. And whosoever resolves any of the other Questions in the Negative, whatever he pretend, hath never considerately studied the Points. Give therefore the Aristotelians leave to hold an Hypothesis, which is accommodated to the poli • y of our Nation) at least as revocable, till a better be introduced; and do not proceed in an exterminative way, till something else be ready to be substituted.

If Notions might be rejected for being first proposed and used by Heathens, then is not Aristotle in a worse condition then Epicurus, Democritus, Plato, or Pythagoras; If Impiety in the Teacher may authorize us to reject doctrines not impious, I think the condition of our Stagirite not to be worse then that of other ancient Philosophers, and better th • n some of the New. That there is impiety enough in Gassendus's Answer to Des Cartes, any Christian will grant, especially if he be a Protestant. And the life of Des-Cartes had but little of the Saint: this is manifest.I cannot finde any ground to conclude Aristotle so wicked. If we in •• emu • fie him fo • having an hand in poisoning Alexander, (which p • rhaps is not true). In his last Will, there is much generosity: in his li • e, many testimonies of a singular v •• tue: 〈◊〉 his d • scourses much wit and worth. He writ an Apologie for Piety; got the walls of his destroy • d Country to be rebuilt, and made excellent L • ws for it. Philip chose him to breed up Alexander. And those are greater assurances that he was not so wicked, as he is • eported by his adversa • ies. They repeat nothing but old lies, such as Apellicon refu • ed: and Arist • cles saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . See Ca • au • on upon Diog. L • rt. And I desire Mr. Glanvill to acquit Para • elsus from being impious in his life, and many of his doctrines. If he was a Corrupter of the Wisdom of the Ancients, for mis-citing, and misrepresenting their opinions; and must therefore be condemned and rejected: who can approve of Mr. Sprat, Mr. Glanvill, and their Adherents? He saith, that Aristotle was of no such superlative Account in the wisest times. But he tells us not which those most wise times were, when he was in disesteem. I have not read of any more wise people, then Greece, Rome, and the Mahometans, under their first Caliphs and King Almansor. And yet all these admired him at several times. He that chargeth Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, and his Successors, (particularly the Ptolomyes of Egypt,) with Folly: and Sylla, Tully, and those other Romans that admired him, with want of wisdom; Or, who thinks that the Empire of the Moors, and their Academies at Bagdod, Fez, and Cordula, were composed of a sort of Simpletons, may go seek for the wise and the prudent in Gotam Colledge. And perhaps those Christians that celebrated Aristotle, and advanced him to that repute in their Kingdoms and Universities, were not Idiots or Changlings. That He was much opposed and slighted by the first Fathers, is an Objection that hath some truth in it, but not much to the particular prejudice of our Stagirite. For at first they hated and detested all humane Learning, and Philosophy; and when they came any of them to admit of those Sciences, then they divided into the Aristotelians and Platonists, as they did into Arians and Catholicks: That the Arians were Aristotelians, is to me as evident, as that Mahomet taking the advantage of that faction, and of the brutal lives and ignorance of the Catholiques depending upon the Patriarch of Constantinople, did advance the Sect of Christians, called Mahometans; and his Successors the Caliphs, did wholly employ themselves to improve the doctrines of Aristotle and the Peripateticks. I d • si • e that the Virtu • si would enquire a •• er the Peripatetick Philosophy, at Alexandria after the Ptolomies and not at Athens. And when they have done that, and studied the condition of Christianity, during the time of the Arrians, and enquired into the rise of Mahom •• , the circumstances that advanced him and contributed to the spreading of his doctrine, and increase of that Empire under the Caliphs, then they will be able to judge of the truth of what their Historian, and Mr Glanvill writes in the books animadverted on, and in his Letter concerning A • isto • le. So that Aristotelism,. Arianism, and Mahometanism issued out of the same parts of the world, viz. Alexandria, and the adjacent Countreys: Nor was it Chance or the black ignorance of the Age, but great prudence in Charlemaine and his Successors in the West, that brought in Aristotle: as any man will say that understands the circumstances of those dayes. But so much History is above the reach of my Experimental Philosopher: To supply that defect, Christians must be once more told, that since their minds are enlightned with the rays of the glorious Gospel, they have less reason to bow down to the Dictates of an Idolater and an Heathen. And so farewel to the Rhetorick and other works of Aristotle, which our Virtuoso a little while agoe recommended unto us. Let us shake hands with Seneca, and Epictetus, and Plato: and joyn with Tertullian in that saying • Nobis Philosophia opus non est post Iesum Christum, nec Aristotele post Evangelium. Having said thus much to these grand accusations against Aristotle, with which Mr. Glanvill was so perplexed, I suppose he may think that a more devout Admirer of Aristotle then I am, with more time, may say enough to convince him, that it was his fault, and not the Peripateticks, that he benefited so little by them • And I pray what language did Epicurus, Pythagoras, and Philolaus make use of? He writ better about divine things than Plato, as Vossius witnesseth, Quanquam multa de Deo scripta sunt a Platone, • ccuratius tamen apertiusque de iis egit Aristoteles. He cites a passage of Plato, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and adds, that the Universe must be known by the Art, by which it was made. If it be not to be known any other way, it is unintelligible. Let him answer Dr. More's Dialogues upon that point, where he explodes the Mechanism of Nature: and reckons upon Des-Cartes as the most prodigious Fool that ever was, for holding that opinion. I shall adde, that Geometricians are commonly a sort of men, that being once got out of their Science, they are far from being elevated and improved thereby: And the reason is, because that the severe procedure of Mathematical demonstrations, and their ways they take to demonstrate things appertaining to their Science, these do not qualifie a man at all for those argumentations which sway and guide in Metaphysicks, A • ist Eth. l. 6. c. 8. Ethicks, Politicks and Religion it self. Upon this account Aristotle observed, that a child might become a Mathematician, but not a Politician, or Moralist. Hence it is, that Geometricians, (except their studies have particularly acquainted them with those Dialecticks, which regulate the generality of Mankinde in such discourses,) seldom, if ever, prove Metaphysicians, Religieuse, or otherwise of tolerable ratiocination: either rejecting as false, frivolous, and indemonstrable, those reasonings and studies, according to which humane affairs are regulated; or else ignorantly, running into Whimseys, and phantastical ways of arguing. Neither is this more manifest, then I think these two Conclusions are, which I deduce from thence in opposition to some Comical Wits in their History, viz.

That by how much more general as to publike and private use and emolument in order to domestick affairs, or Civil • rudence and the preservation of Humane Society and Government those things are, which depend upon perswasive Arguments, and those topicks and methods of ratiocination which are laid down by Aristotle, not Euclide: by so much those courses ought to be pursued, upheld and encouraged by understanding Statesmen which are subservient thereunto, above the less necessary and inutile Mathematicks.

Next, That the Mechanical Education, or that whereby Youth are inu • ed at first to vigorous demonstrations, Hist. of the R.S. p. 319. and necessary deductions from evident Principles, and a Philosophy that is purely Corpuscularian, ought not to be premised or preferred to other studies in order to the fitting men for humane life: seeing either accidentally, (yet so, as in regard of our depraved nature it is almost unavoidable) or intrinsecally those courses dispose mens minds afterwards to Atheism, or an indifference in Religion; and inhabilitate them towards those more important, but less delightful studies of Law, Policy, and Religion, with their several dependencies.

I finde that Aristotle hath complained of some, that in their Explications of Nature made too much use of Geometry. Magnenus hath complained also of them; and Conringius, Bullialdus, and Ricciolus, Vide Ricciolum in Almagest. no • . l. 4. p 178. of Kepler; and Bodinus, in his Theatrum Naturae l. 5. and all Physicians almost of Des-Cartes his ridiculous book de Homine. And if Plato was so solicitous, that none but Geometricians should come into his School, yet he sent them very fools out, if they allowed of his Logick and Physiology. See Mr. Parkers cen • ure of the Platonick Philosophy. I shall leave the further defence of Aristotle to others; only I must tell him, that Vossius in his account of Geometricians allows of Aristotle for no mean one. And we find that he supposeth his Scholars not ignorant in Geometry, Vide Blancanum in loca Mathematica Aristotelis. since without that knowledge they could not understand his Analyticks, nor that part of his Ethicks, where he illustrates Iustice by the Arithmetical and Geometrical proportions. And as for his Ethnical opinions, it is ridiculous to upbraid the University-Learning with them, Epicurus Mathesin insuper habuit: unde ut Plutarch. ait libro contra Epicurum. Philosophum quendam nomine Apellem, eo nomine la • dabat, quod ab adolescentia nunquam esset con • amina • us disciplinis Mathematicis. Vossius de P • ilos. s • ct. c 8 sect. 7. since they are not taught, but solidly refuted there, However if Aristotle must suffer on this Account, let not Epicurus triumph. He tells us that Archytas, that great Geometrician was scared from Mechanical and Organical Methods to the great hinderance of beneficial Improvements that way, so that he kept himself up in Abstractive Contemplations. I cannot finde any such thing in his life written by Diog. Laertius, but the contrary,Diog. Laert. l. 8. in vit. Archy • ae. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . He made a Pidgeon of wood artificially to flie. So Favorinus. •• llius x. 12. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . I wonder oftentimes how He did to commit so many mistakes; and I cannot believe that He or his Philosophick friends were ever well instructed in the Peripa ••• ick doc • rines, who are so ill taught in all manner of Humane Learning. I resign him up to be the scorn and entertainment of others henceforth. Nor will I engage particularly in the dispute betwixt him and Mr. Cross. I am informed, that the Relation is very false; and I profess I have no mind to believe this Virtuoso in any thing he says. It is easie for him to misreport a private discourse; His great and admired friend Mr. Sprat relates general Encounters false; He tells us, Of a mischance that befel the Christian Army in Egypt in the time of the Holy Warre.Hist. of the R.S. Pag. 412. Their strength was great and irresistible, if they had only understood that which every Egyptian could have taught them, the course and the time of the overflowing of the Nile. For the want of that slender knowledge, the bravest men of all Christendome, were led up to the Neck in the River, and were forced to yield to the Enemies conditions without striking a stroke. This was occasioned by the stupidity of the Cardinal who commanded them. If he had been less skilful in the Schoolmen and more in Nature, that dreadful disaster had never happened. —Such an untruth as the Historian tells here, such perhaps is the Narrative of what passed betwixt him and Mr. Cross. I cannot finde any such Story in Fullers Holy Warre, F • llers Holy War, l. 3, c • 27. but the contrary, viz. Egypt is a low level Countrey except some few advantages, which the Egyptians had fortified for themselves. Through the midst of the Land runs the River Nilus, whose streams they had so bridled with banks and •• uces, that they could keep it to be their own servant, and make it their Enemies Master at pleasure. The Christians confidently marched on, and the Turks perceiving the Game was come within the wile, pierced their banks, and unmuzling the River, let it run open mouth upon them, yet so that at the first they drowned them but up to the middle not to the neck. There is no body charges the Cardinal Pelagius, who was Legate, and commanded the Army there, for invading Egypt in a • unseasonable time, nor with being ignorant of the time when Nile did overflow. The Christians were not ignorant of that, who had discovered and invaded Egypt before in 1218, and this was b • t two years after in 1220. The Egyptians, 'tis true, dammed up the River (which was now low) and upon the approach of the Cardinal cut their banks, and so gained the victory. That the Cardinal was no Souldier, and unacquainted with Stratagems of war, I grant; and for this Historians condemn him, but not for being ignorant of that part of Natural Philosophy. A Member of the Royal Society published lately an account of the Original of Nile. The Description had nothing of News in it to any Scholar, that was material. But they should have procured an account of the manner of the inundation of Nile, for the Historian is more ignorant then the Cardinal of it. Had it been the time of the beginning of the overflowing of Nile, they might have retired easily to Damiata without damage; Prosper. Alpi • d • M dic. Aegypt l 1. c. 8 for it never exceeds in rising above ten inches each day, sometimes it ariseth not eight inches. Just such an Account, I fear, doth Mr. Glanvill give of Mr. Cross's discourses,I know not what Logick Mr Glanvill read at O •• ord, but 'tis Ignoratio Elenchi in him, t • oppo • e what Mr. Cross might say about Asia as twas of old named, and bounded, and 〈◊〉 over • with the new discoveries 〈◊〉 China, Iapan, &c which rather constitute a fifth part of the world, then are inc • uded in Asia. Tha is Asia, which they imported that gave it the name, not what others 〈◊〉 to it. 〈◊〉 the same Sophist • y it may be 〈◊〉 that the fo • mer Kings were not Kings of France, because late Conquests have enlarged the borders. whom report speaks so advantagiously of, that we must give the Lie to general fame, or believe him a very learned Person, as well as pious. Perhaps he, as well as my Lord Bacon might suspect the truth of those Telescopes. And perhaps also he might be mistaken in saying that Aristotle did travel all over Asia:No • was Aristotle implicitly guided by the relations of those Hunters &c. he diligently inq ••• ed into their reports, and oftentimes r • f • tes the vulgar stories. See this pa • ticularly alterred by Federicus Bonaventura de pa • tu Octomestri l. 5. c. 6. yet, however that, that Ionssius (de Script Philos. l. 1 c. 18.) disproves that opinion, yet no less man then Iosephus l. 1. adv. Apionem, was deceived as well as Mr. Cross. Solinus also c. 14 and Ammonius in the li • e of Aristotle say, that Aristotle did accompany Alexander in his Asiatick Expedition. And I prosess my self in an errour as well as Mr • Cross, if it be not true, that Aristotle had sundry advantages to pen his History of Animals which our Virtuosi want. Pliny Nat. Hist. l. 8 • c. 16. saith. Alexandro Magno rege inflammato cupidine animalium naturas noscendi, delegat aque hac commentatione Aristoteli, summo in omni doctrina viro, aliquot millia hominum in totius Asiae, Greciae que tractu parere jussa, omnium quos venatus, aucupia, piscatusque alebant: quibusque vivaria, armenta, alvearia, piscinae, aviaria in cura erant: nequid usquam gentium ignoraretur ab eo: quos percontando, quinquaginta ferme volumina illa praeclara de animalibus condidit.

Let a man now consider the greatness of Alexander, the impatience he had to effect his purposes, how generous he was in acknowledging Services, and how vindicative when neglected, and how understanding to know what was done and omitted: Let any man consider this, and he will think that the Society have not a Patron that interesseth himself so much as Alexander did for Aristotle. He had several thousands commanded to give him intelligence: their number transcends any that ours can pretend to: their quality is such as the R. Society wisheth for, viz. Intelligence from the constant and unerring use of Experienced men, Mr. Sprat. p. 257. of the most unaffected and most unartificial kinds of life. And if notwithstanding all these circumstances Aristotle were abused or mistaken, or defective in his Narrations, I am confident there is less credit to be placed in the Narrations of some of our Virtuosi, who have been so mistaken in their Accounts of Cider and Salt-Peter, domestick Enquiries; what man will give himself the trouble to inform them, either at home, or abroad? with what negligence and imperfectness will they register things? how un-philosophical will their memoires be? How will they be able by intreaty to procure a second information? That there are more parts of the world discovered and sailed unto then in Aristotles time, I grant. But what certainty shall we have of Narratives picked up from negligent, or un-accurate Merchants and Seamen? What judgement have these men of no reading, whereby to rectify or enlarge their Enquiries? Mr. Glanvill doth not so much as know who writ well upon the several subjects, in which he pretends that the Moderns have out-done the Ancients. As Improvers of the History of Bathes (by the way we are far inferiour to them in the practice of Bathing) he reckons Savanarola for one: he might as well have recounted Bayrus, Gordonius and Gatinaria: or any of the barbarous Physicians, for advancers of the practick: He might have told us of a Volume of Writers de balneis: But why did he omit Solinander de thermis, Libavius, and our Dr. Iordan (who lived at our Bathe) and Bauhinus de fonte Bollensi, and the other Writers about particular Bathes? Alas! He knew them not: nor did I ever hear any man commend Blanchellus upon that subject. About Minerals, could he not have named Enceli • s, Caesalpinus, Fallopius, and Lazarus Erkerus, whom I find by so • e to be preferred before Agricola? In his Account of remote Histories of Nature, could he remember the Author of the Caribby-History, and pass by Carolus Piso, Burggravius, and Bontius about Brasile and the East Indies. So where he speaks of discoveries made by Microscopes (pag. 57.) by naming only Dr. Power and Mr. Hooke, ingenious Mechanicks, Members of the Royal Society; he seems to intimate, as if none but the Virtuosi had proceeded in that adventure, whereas Petrus Borellus, Physician in ordinary to the King of • rance, published a Century of Microscopical observations An. Dom. 1656. such as have (if true) more of utility then those of Mr. Hooke, though less of curiosity, and destitu • e of Cuts; and Kircher after many years employed in those contemplations, 〈◊〉 d • P • st •• ct. • . c. 7. per exquisitissima Microscopia, did publish several Experiments of that kinde, in his book de Peste; Ni • . 〈◊〉 Phi • o • . 〈◊〉 par • . 2. • . 3. c. 〈◊〉 . 4. p. 348. and Nicolaus Zucchius about the same time (1656.) published a short account of Microscopical observations, about a Lowse, a Flea, the feathers of a Peacocks tail, &c. encouraging others to prosecute the work. He tells us, (pag. 56.) that the discoveries by Telescopes may inform us of the Longitudes: upon which must needs ensue yet greater improvements of Navigation, and perhaps the discovery of the North-west passage, and yet unknown South. I grant that the invention of Longitudes will be extreamly beneficial to man kinde in point of sailing: and the R.S. have made great boasts how that it shall be atchieved by their Members; and thereupon caused some projects to be rejected, which yet perhaps would have proved as unfeasible as the attempt of Galileo's, to calculate it by the Medicean Starrs. I desire much to see the happy result of our Virtuosi, though the consequences here affixed to it, as Improvements was very defective. I shall propose some Scruples about the North-west passage, and the utility of its discovery, as also of the hopes of finding out the Southern Tracts First,See Mr • Gardiner in his d •• c •• ption of Ame • i •• c 25. 〈◊〉 h • 〈◊〉 to w • ite not • ing out w • at h • s own knowledge, or g • od intellig • nce pe • swa • ed him unto, he having lived •• ng in the re ••••• pa • ts of • merica: th • 〈…〉 whose large Accoun • • hereof we may deplore • I say that the story about the streights of Aman is very improbable, if not certainly a Fiction. It hath been so thorowly search'd into by our Nation, that there is no encouragement to a further trial: and this Streight of the Northwest passage, is indeed nothing but a narrow difficult passage to Button's Bay, the entrance being properly called Hudson's Streight, in regard of his first finding it • the mouth whereof lies in 62 degrees. But were there such a passage, it would much more concern the Portugals, and the Spaniards, and Dutch, then it doth the English; for their trade is to the North-part of the East-Indies, and ours to the South • theirs to the Moluccoes, Philippinas, Iapan, and China; whereas we seldom pass beyond Bantam in Iava. Secondly, were there a passage that way, yet it were not to be chosen before the other: • or, could a man sail in a strait line, first from England to the Streight, and thence from the Streight to the East-Indies, it would prove a further way then the other by the Cape o • good Hope. But thos • that know any thing of those Seas, know that the Sea-Course to any part of North-America, is as low as 23, 24, 25 • or 30 the highest by reason of the winde which bloweth in the South-sea East and West • as well as in the North, that is to say, for the most part West without the Tropicks, and almost constantly East within them. Wherefore you must go out of your way as well from the North-part of America to the East-Indies, as from England to this supposed Streight: and there is as much difference in relation to pleasantness in the Voyages, as between Summer and Winter. For when one is clear of the Bay of Biscay, in all the Voyage by the Cape you find no cold weather till you return to the same place again: but on the contrary, it is so cold and Icy about the Streight in the middle of Summer, Judge hence what hopes • here is of making discoveries in the Southerne Tracts • that there is no making way without much difficulty and trouble. And in the South-Sea. where the Sunne keeps the same course as in the North in Iune; Sir Francis Drake in compassing the world, found so much cold in thirty eight degrees of North-latitude, that he was forced into a Southerly course. Besides, if we may take a conjecture from the windes, which have blown when the Undertakers for that discovery passed into those Streights, one would guess by their great coldness, that they did blow from the Land, and consequently that there is no Sea to the North of America, but that the Land of this New World reacheth by the North parts, even to the Northwardly Provinces of Tartary, &c.

I am surprized to finde, that Mr. Glanvill doth not make the Moderns to surpass the Ancients, in Architecture, Sculpture, Picture, and several other Arts of ingenious Luxury. That he doth not advance the glory of our Mathematical burning-Glasses, above the Specula Ustoria of Proclus; and the Artificial Fires of our Virtuosi above those invented by Callinicus, when he burned the Saracens Fleet.

But not to upbraid him with what he hath omitted: I shall resume the discourse about Telescopes, and their fallaciousness, wherein if Mr. Cross was a little doubtful, yet Mr. Glanvill is so assured, that he makes an ample recital of the contest, and the advantages he gained in it. I shall set down his words, the better to divert my Reader, and to shew how insupportable such kind of men are in all judicious and intelligent company.

Mr. Glanvills Plus Ultra. c. 9 p. 65. To my Discourse about the Dioptrick Tubes, the Telescope and Microscope, the Reverend Disputer replied, [That our Glasses were all deceitful and fallacious] Which Answer minds me of the good Woman, who when her Husband urged in an occasion of difference, [I saw it, and shall I not believe my own Eyes?] Replied briskly, Will you believe your own Eyes before your own Dear Wife? And it seems this Gentleman thinks it unreasonable we should believe ours, before his own dear Aristotle.

For an assurance of the credit of those Glasses, I told him he might try them upon objects near, and easily visible by the unassisted sight; and if he made the trial, he would finde they altered and objects in nothing but their proportions, which are represented larger for the advantage of vision in things small and remote; and we have all the like reasons to distrust our Eyes, as these Glasses (for their inf •• mati • ns are the same in all things, but the mentioned difference) and there is no man so much a fool as not to • ake allowances for that. Never was any yet so grosly deceived by the Microscope, as to be perswaded that a Flea is as big as a Lobster; nor did the Telescope ever make any o • e believe that the Moon was at the end of his Tube: But if the former represents that little Creature as bristled and jamar'd, and the other makes the Planet mountanous and uneven, we have no reason to believe but that their reports are sincere, though our unaided Senses are too gross to perceive either the one or other; since, if the mentioned bristles and jamars are in the Glass, and not in the Animal, they would appear in like manner in all the small Creatures which in the same light and position are look't on through the Microscope: And if the ruggedness of surface were in it, and not in the Moon, the same would be seen upon all other distant Objects, that are view'd through the other Optick Instrument. And if there be deceit in those Glasses, Seamen had need beware how they trust them, since the Flags which appear to be those of th • ir Friends in the Perspective, may be really the Colours of their Enemies.

Upon these Accounts, Sir, which afford plain and sensible evidence, I wondred much at the Disputers strange suspicion, which had been scarce pardonable in a vulgar head; and I know not what to call it in one, that would be thought a Philosopher: But the wary man gave a reason, which made me as much wond • r at his Argument, as his Doubt. And to this attend Ye Philosophers of the ROYAL COLLEDGE, and prepare your selves to answer a Demonstration from Experience against your Glasses; Raise your Expectations for a wonderful, convictive Experiment; Let the Mountains travel, and the Birth will follow. [Take two-Spectacles (saith the EXperimental Sage) use them at the same time • and you will not see so well as with one singly.] therefore your Microscopes and Telescopes are Impostors. This man, Sir, is a Logician, and no doubt you perceive so. O how I admire this rare faculty of arguing! How dull are our Wits, to those subtile, Eagle-ey'd Schoolmen, who see Conclusions so far off, through the more unerring Telescopes of their own piercing Understandings? Did ever old man before make this use of his Spectacles But to leave wondring, let's endeavour to understand this Philosophy of Ch • e. How a man may see by Spectacles, that Perspectives are deceitful. [We can see better through one pair, than two] saith the deep Philosopher • Most sagely observ'd! The Argument begins strongly: But in the name of Aristotle, whence comes the Consequence? Therefore Perspectives are fallacious.

One Proposition for Sence, And th' other for Convenience.

This fits his purpose to discredit new Discoveries, 'tis no matter how it follows. This Gentleman, you must know, Sir, useth to have his word taken among his admiring Neighbours, and so is not wont to be put to the trouble of proving: but I was so unmannerly as to expect it, chusing rather to see with mine own Eyes, than his infallible Spectacles. We can see better—saith the Disputer. How doth he know that? If Perspectives deceive us, though naked sense witness for them. Why may not his single Spectacles be as deceitful as they? These represent things bigger than they are to the unaided sight; and the Philosophical Glasses do but the same thing, in a higher degree of magnifying the Object. But we allow him the benefit of his single Spectacles, though he will not be so courteous to our Glasses, and confess his R • verend EXperiment of the use of two, but are inquisitive about the Consequence. The Reason of which certainly must be, (if any be intended in it) that our Telescopes and Microscopes have a Glass at each end, which the Man of Sapience thinks answers the two pair of Spectacles, and therefor • must render the Representation deceitful. If this Philosopher had spared some of those thoughts to the profitable doctrine of Opticks, which he hath spent upon Genus and Species, we had never heard of this Obj • ction, which is as much a reason against the credit of all Perspective Glasses whatsoever, as the Philosoph • cal ones he would discredit. And without more Opticks than those of natural Understanding, he might, if it had pleased him, have known, that we see better through the two Glasses in Perspectives, then any single one; because they are so fashioned and ordered, that the visive rays are better gathered and united by them for the advantage of sight: But in the two Spectacles, the case is contrary. These things I suggested, and some others from the Dioptricks, in which this • age Person was pleased then to conceal his Knowledge; and how great that was in these matters, will appear by the Learned Problem he proposed at this period of our Discourse, [ • hy we cannot see w • th two pair of Spectacles better than with one singly? For, saith the Man of AXioms, Vis unita fortior?] A pleasant piece of Philosophy this; And I'le shew the Disputer how strongly he infers from his Maxim, by another Question like it. Why cannot he write better with two Pens then with a single one, since Vis unita fortior? When he hath answered this Quaere, he hath resolved his own. I said in the Discourse, That the reason he gave why one would expect it should be so, is the reason why 'tis not; and this is plain enough to sense, from the confusion of Vision, which shews, that the rays are not united after the way requisite for the aiding the sight (as I just now intimated) and how that should be, I had here shewn, but that I am ashamed to adde more in earnest about a grave foolery. —

Upon this Discourse, the first Remark I shall make is, That Mr. Glanvill hath little or no insight into Opticks, and is in a manner as ignorant in that profitable Science, as he represents his Adversary to be. It is something for a Man to be able to give an account how he spent his time, though a • out Genus and Species; rather then to appear to have idly • ass'd it away • without acquiring any knowledge at all. The • olution of Mr. Cross's fallacy, (if it were his) by that Inter • atory, Why cannot he write better with two Pens, then with a •• ngle one? is ridiculous, since there is no vis unita there: and in one sort of Tubes, though the rays be united in the first convex-Glass, Vitrum Sphaeri • è capum, dilatando radios per ipsum transmissos • mplificat notabiliter imaginem si in debit • distantiâ constituatur post Sphaeri • convexum. Zucchius phil. opt part. 2. tr. • . c. 7 sect. 5. pag. 360, 361, 362. How it is in Telescopes made up of all convex-Glasses, the same Author shew • there: and so doth Kepler in his Dioptricks. and brought to a Convergency, yet must the Sphaerical Cavity o • the next Glass dilate again, and dispose them fittingly to effect the expected vision in the Retina: and besides this, it is requisite that the Tube be so fitted unto the eye (not to speak of the fitting it differently according as the Medium is) as to exclude all other impressions and radiations, that may divert and impede the sight, Zucchi • s philos. opt. part. 2. tr. 3. c. 7. s • ct. 5. p. 35 • . viz. Ad consulendum sufficienti determinationi potentiae per languidiorem & angustiorem impressionem à remotioribus, multum prodest, si ex forma instrumenti & ejus applicatione ad Oculum vel ex conditione loci è quo per instrumentum remotiora, & in minori amplitudine apparentia prospectamus, impediuntur radiationes aliunde intra oculum simul & semel diffusae, praesertim validae.

As to what Mr. Cross is said to have argued against Telescopes, that the addition of one Glass to another must hinder rather then improve vision, because that the superadding of one pair of Spectacles to another, rather weakens then amends the sight. I must say, that whosoever understands the forming of an Argument cannot except against the form of that, nor do the Propositions coher • so ill together, as that one should be as it were for sence, and other, for convenience. All that excursion of our Virtuoso shews his Ignorance, not Mr. Cross's. 'Tis one thing to except against the form, another thing to except against the matter of a Syllogism. I confess ther • is reason enough for to do the latter; but now for the other procedure. I believe such a dispute was never heard of s • nce the declining of Arcadia, as this was: If Mr. Cross did urge this otherwise then to try the Intellectuals of Mr. Glanvill, (concerning whose inhability he might be well satisfied) there is no defence to be made for him, otherwise then that he was unacquainted with a sort of knowledge which is unnecessary in a Divine, and not expected from him; whose credit is better supported by those Qualifications which represent him as a man of godly Conversation, faithful and able in the discharge of his Gospel-Ministry. But that Mr. Glanvill as little understood the subject of a knowledge he pretends un • o, it is manifest from hence; that he might easily have denied the Assertion of the Spectacles, that two pair did not impede, but amend the sight in some eyes that are very weak. I know a young Gentlewoman that hath two Cataracts breeding in her eyes, which reads and works with two pair of Spectacles, whereas she cannot with one pair. There is also an old Gentlewoman of my acquaintance who useth the same helps. I am ashamed to debate these fooleries (as our Virtuoso calls them,) but if Mr. Cross did call in question the integrity of the Telescopes, I shall assume the liberty of a digression about that Point, which perhaps may not seem unseasonable in this Age, and which will abate the pride, and evince the great ignorance of Mr. Glanvill.

Either my Memory doth very much deceive me, or else the Lord Bacon did suspect these Telescopes, that they might impose upon our Senses: and I am sure Mr. Boyle is in the • ame Errour with Mr. Cross, for he complains that when He went about to examine those appearances in the Sunne called Maculae, Tentam. Physi • log. pag. 144.145, 146. and Faculae solares, he could not make the least discovery of them in many months, which yet other Observators pretend to see every day: yet doth Mr. Boyle profess, that He neither wanted the conveniency of excellent Telescopes, nor omitted any circumstance requisite to the Enquiry. Besides these,Vide Ricciol. Al • ag • st. nov. l. 8. sect. 1. c. 16. Scipio Claramontius, he that baffled Tycho about the Comets in the judgement of most men, and gained advantages enough against Kepler and Galilaeo to make himself glorious, and to shew that instead of Mathematical demonstrations they proceeded upon uncertain Topicks and Probabilities: Scipio Claram • ntius in defensione Anti-Tych • ni • , & libri de novis stellis à se conl • ripti Italico idiomate edit • , multis contendi • Telescopium in repraesen ••• ione objector • m • fallax esse, Part. 2 c. 25. ex quibus infert c. 16. ei qui velit apparentias • oe • estium per illud excepta • ratas haberi, • ecessariò oste • dendum esse • null • abe • ra • ionum, quibus illud obnoxium est, hujusmodi nitiatas esse • uare cum ex • na parte assumi nequeat, quasi universali • er verum quicquid per Telescopium repraesentatur; ex alia 〈…〉 apparen •• as • oe •• stium, • ine mani • est • p • titione principii, cum hoc ips • m sit qu • d controvertitur; an fallaci de se instrumento o • serva • a in coelestibus pro certis ha • enda sint? manif • st s • quit •• nihi • ex u • u Teles. opii •• n • ti • ui posse de dispositione • oelestium. Zu • chius Philos. opt. part. 1. c. 17. sect.—p. 175. this learned and inquisitive person doth avowedly suspect the Telescopes as fallacious more then once, and that there are more then He of that judgement, is a thing unquestionable by any but Superficial Scholars: nor do I apprehend any other reason then this to be in their heads, who have till this day employed their thoughts here to contrive new Glasses, and amend defects in the former. Our Virtuosi have complained of an Iris in their Glasses, and gone ab • ut to correct that by Turning of them; but a friend of mine writes, that he imagines it was after that Eustachio Divini at Rome had given them an hint of it: and then they found it out. A little more modesty in Assertions of this kinde would become our Wits, considering that affairs of this nature (it is the opinion of Archimedes, and refers to all Mechanismes) admit not demonstration. Cum neque visus, neque manus, neque instrumenta per quae experiri oportet, satis ha • eant fidei ad exquisitam demonstrationem.—Archimed. in libro de Arena.

I shall not so far engage in the controversie, as to repeat the Arguments and Replies on both sides. It seems strange, that the Telescopes should so magnifie thirty, fourty, or one hundred times objects on earth, and yet les • en those of the • ixed Stars in Heaven, Scipio Claram • nt. de unive • so l 9. c. 〈◊〉 viz. Stellas primae magnitudinis, Caniculam, &c. Jovem, Saturnum minores repraesentat multo • quam oculo libero appareant: & idem instrumentum stellas nusquam apparentes, ut Jovis Sa • ellites justae magni • udinis repraesentat, & paulo minores repraesentato Jove, imò tantas facit, ut possint pius apparere quam queant apparere stellae primae magnitudinis,—at quid? in Octava Sphaera stellas nihil apparentes magnas facit, Nebulosas scilicet, & Galaxiae formatrices.—This is grant • d all by Galileo to be true, but he solves by an imaginary irradiation, the fancie whereof he advanced upon some weak Experiments, Vide • cip. Claram. de univ • r •• l • c. 17.18.19, •• Z • cchius ph •• . op • par. 1. c. 1 • • ect 6 p. 111. Id. ib p. 216. most whereof he deserted himself, and the re • t are excellently re • uted by Zucchius, who introduceth another Salvo from the configuration of the Ey • , and that part of it ca • led Uvea: which perhaps may be discovered to be as false as any of the other hereafter: but he adds, Ex quo est • u • in facilitato detrabendae circumfusae sideribus radiationis sit notab • le discrim • n inter Planetas collat • s int • r s • , & inter stellas fixas invicem, & aliquas • arum cum aliquibu • corum comparatas. Thus the Objection in its full force is granted by all (except Sorfius deny it) only the cause of the Phaenomenon was not till Zucchius (if then) sufficiently explicated; Zuc • hius p • il. opt • part. 1. c. 17. sect. • . p 199, 200. Sure I am that he in another place avows, that long Telescopes rightly made do not lessen Iupiter, but represent him greater then He appears to the naked Eye: insomuch that his Tube of 23 feet-long did represent Iupiter as big as the Moon is when at full, and looked upon without any Telescope: so that He says the Objection holds only in Telescopiis brevioribus, in quibus pariter evenit inspiciendo lucida inferiora.

Besides, were there such certainty in the Telescopes, how comes it to pass that there is such a variety of opinions amongst those Observators, whose diligence can be as little suspected as their learning? Claramontius did set t • o persons to observe the Spots of the Sunne, (both were inclined to Novelties) they were not 40 miles distant, yet did not their Schemes agree as to number, or scituation. Nor is this a figment of that partial Peripatetick: Ricciol Alm • g. nov • l. 3. c 3 any man that reads Ricciolus, and Zucchius, will see that they cannot agree about the number, Zucchius phil. opt. par. 1. c • 7. s • ct 8 p. 233. S • e this point o • the variety • b • ut the spots in the Sun, particula • ly • andled by Schot • us in his No • es upo • Kirch • ru • ' • iter exstati • cum coeleste. I • i • er. 1. dialog. 1. p 18 • . • nd • ow different the ob • ervations of Ga • ilaeo and • ch • iner were • ou may see in a Syn •• sis in the Rosa V ••• na l. • . c. •• & ib. • 10. the motion, the scituation, or so much as colour of them. The words of this last Writer are very remarkable in reference to Mr. Glanvill, and that certainty which he asserts unto the Telescopes, viz. Neque obstat discrepantia numeri, vel figurae macularum in observationibus plurium, circa idem tempus captatis: tum quia longiores Telescopii in ampliori disco plures exhibent, qnae spectantem breviore Telescopio, angustiori disco latent: immo eodem Telescopio, ad exactam mensuram suae extensionis redacto, notabiles fiunt aliquae, ante inobservatae: & facillimum est in tali mensura minus exercitatos decipi; cum tam pauci ex observatoribus, nec nisi monente Scheinero, didicerint ad exacte consignandam Solis imaginem, & in ea maculas, per trajectionem radiorum Telescopio in planum directe oppositum, necessariam esse mutationem extensionis Tubi, eo notabiliter magis producto in hyeme, correpto in aestate: Tum quia sicut facilis est, ex allatis, varietas in numero macularum, ita in terminatione, quae facilius mutari potest ex iisdem capitibus in illis, quae in pluribus observationibus consignantur, & ex modo consignandi. Less do they agree about the nature of them: one Ioannes Iarde named them Astra Borbonia: and Malapertius, Mastrius, Rheita, do hold them to be Starrs: of this opinion was Scheinerus once, but he afterwards assented to that of Galilaeo, Kepler, Bullialdus and Blancanus, that they were not Starrs, but fuliginous exhalations arising out of the furnace of the Solar Globe, which he conceives to be a fire. Kircher and others are of the same judgement; but Ricciolus distrusts it, being not able to comprehend how fuliginous vapours should arise in such a number, Vide Sch • ttum ubi • up • a p. 184. R • c • iol. Alm • g • ov. l. 3. c. 3 p. • 7. so constantly, so permanently as to keep a motion about, or with the Sunne, of about 27 days.

The like uncertainty there is in the Observations about Saturn, Iupiter, Mars, &c. what controversies do they raise and how contradictious are their Relations? Gali • aeo in e • . ad Velserum, citante C • atamontio de univers. l. 9. c. 9. Ri • ciolus Almag. nov. l 7. sect. 1. c. 2. p. 487, 488. Schottus in Kicher. iter ex •• ar. coe • este p. 301, 302. Ch • ist. Hugenius apud Borellum de con • pi ••••• p. 63 Galilaeo doth represent Saturn in one figure, Scheiner in another: the former saith, that the oblong shape in Saturn ariseth from a defect in the Telescope, or Eye, that could not distinguish the Comites Saturni from the Planet it self. But Ricciolus and others dissent from him in that point: and Christianus Hugenius made observations about Saturn, such as neither Antonius de Rheita, nor Hevelius did ever see; and represents the ansulae of Saturn, differently from what Fontana and the Dantiscan Selenographer do write. The words of Hugenius I shall propose to Mr. Glanvill's consideration, Expectamus ut sub finem Aprilis, si non antea, brachia Saturno renascantur, non curva illa, cujusmodi a Francisco Fontana, & Hevelio depicta cernuntur, sed secundùm lineam rectam utrinque prominentia, siquis melioris notae perspicillo intueatur. Nam vulgaria si adhibeat binos orbiculos referent, sicuti Galilaeo primum se obtulere. Nostram quo Saturni asseclam reperimus, quinquagies diametrum rei visae multiplicat, duodenos pedes aequans; cui postea duplum longitudine constriximus, multip • icatione centupla. Cum autem longiora etiam hisce Tel • scopia, utpote triginta & quadraginta pedum ab aliis fabricari dicantur, aliquid aut vitris vitii inesse, aut haec eadem non debita proportione mutuo respondere credibile est. Neque enim alius hucusque aciem eorum effugisset novus Saturni Satelles. Being to speak of Saturn, I must not forget Zucchius, who after thirty five years diligent observation with variety of the best Teles • opes, represents this Planet differently from what any others write, viz. Zucchius philos. opt. part. 1. c. 17. sect 5. p. • 00, 201. Assero Saturnum multòrum annorum spatio figura passim oblonga, & in oppositione ad Solem, notabiliter majorem apparuisse, in apparentiae medio visum esse album illustre tumidum, aliquo modo ad rotunditatem vergens, accedentibus hinc inde ad illud duabus velut nigris notis, quas altum illustre, totam apparentiam ad apices terminans ita includit, ut ad apices illius multo sit orassius, ubi vero eas notas complectend • ad medium extenditur, gracilescat.

Assertio est facti, in quo a multis jam, annis. conveniunt accuratiores, ex variis Provinciis observatores longioribus Telescopiis instructi.

Scio a prioribus vulgatum, tres a se stellas in loco Saturni spectatas, media multo majori, quae simul mutantes in coelo situm, a fixis aperte distinguerentur, & Saturni duobus Planetis minoribus stipati apparentium exhiberent, qui postea, illis a tali situ motis spectatus sit figura rotunda. Verum triginta quinque ut minimum, anni sunt, quibus figura semper oblonga, cum dispositione in assertione assignata, a me spectatus est pluries quotannis, pro vario ad Solem situ, acutioribus, minus acutis, cavis, convexisque lentibus ad oculum proxime in Telescopio adhibitis apparentia eadem, semper magis distincta, & majori, in oppositione ad Solem, etiamsi meliorem vitiorum elaborationem in multo longioribus Telescopiis postremo D. D. Evangelistae Torricellii, & Eustachii Divini artificio, & beneficio singulari consecutus • sim.—Quare in hoc priorum observationes, qui brevioribus, minusque perfectis Telescopiis, ut omnino ratas admittere non audeo.

Concerning Iupiter, Vide Schottum in Kirch. iter exstaticum coeleste p. 268, 269 &c. Ricciol. in Almag. nov. l. 7. sect. 1. p. 486. and his Satellites, and their number, taking in the Urban Octavian Starrs, I finde a great variety, even when two men observed at the same time, as de Rheita and Gassendus: that both of them were in the right, cannot be said: which of them were in the wrong, I know not. In summe, the observations about Iupiter and his Attendants are so various, Aliter enim apparuerunt Simoni Mario, aliter Apelli, aliter Galilaeo, that Claramontius takes this advantage of it. Ego igitur argumentum ex ejusmodi diversitate alicio contra veritatem objecti, S • ipio Cla 〈◊〉 univ • r •• l. 9. c. 8. non contra observationum diligentiam, cum observatio ejusmodi: non sit nisi pura per tubum transpectio, eaque de • ixa: ii etiam viri perfectum instrumentum habebant, estque id verisimile, cum in eam rem toti incumberent, instrumentum etiam exactum paravisse: oculorum etiam & visus acumen, cur demam Apelli & ejus in observando sociis, potius Galilaeo demerem, qui se fatetur oculum minus perfectum habere.

Neither are they better agreed about Mars and his Figure, the umbo or spot in him. Gassendus denies that ever • e saw it, though he used the Tube of Galilaeo; others avow it: 〈◊〉 in Kir • her. ite • • xsta • . 〈…〉 p. 242 &c. Ricciolus A • mag. nov. l. 7. sect. 1. p. 486. Zucchius phil opt. part. 1. c. 17. sect 4. p. 193. as you may see in Schottus and Ricciolus. In fine, as to the new Phaenomena about Mars, Venus, and Mercury, to defend them Zucchius is forced to complain of the Telescopes, and protests thus. Interim te, amice Lector, provoco Spectatorem, bono & longiore Telescopio instructum, cujus Lens superior ad obtinendam figuram apparentiarum bene praecisam, juxta dicta, maxima ex parte contecta sit, modico ad medium aperto foramine.

I am tired with the further prosecution of this subject; and therefore shall confine the rest of my discourse to the Observations about the Moon: the contemplation whereof, as it is more facile, so it hath been more pursued then any other of that kinde. There is none of our Comicall Wits doubt that it is a World, divided into Hills, Valleys, Seas, Lakes, Rivers, and even peopled as this Terraqueous Globe of ours • But it is remarkable, that the use of the Telescope hath not convinced some, that the Moon hath an unequal surface, but that the Phaenomena of the spots may be solved by the conceit that some parts of it are more Diaphanous, some more opake. Who hath not heard how Scheiner looked on the Moon in an Eclipse, 〈…〉 d • Luna. id • b and did conceive it was fistulous, (at least translucid in part) and so did transmit the light thorough several Cavities in some places, whilst others, not directly subject to the Sunne, are obscure. They cannot agree whether the Spots of the Moon be more bright, or obscure in an Eclipse. The observations and descriptions of the Moon, made by Galilaeo, Scheiner, Fontana, Schottus upon Kircher, &c. are so defective, that we must repute them but as the first rudiments of an intended Science. And as for the descriptions of the Phases of the Moon, made by Langrenus and Hevelius, however there be many things in which they all agree: yet the Telescopes of Ricciolus (made by a Bavarian Artist) and of Franciscus Maria Grimaldi either rectified the mistakes, or represented many Phaenomena different from those delineated by Galilaeo, Fontana, Torricellius, and Manzini, Ricciolus Almag. n • v. l. 4. c. 7. viz. Lunaris faciei partes omnes magnas, mediocres, ac minimas singillatim Telescopio intuens Grimaldus, easque statim cum Langreni & Hevelii Schematibus comparans, deprehendit multa quidem egregie ab iis peracta, non pauca tamen superesse, quae aut addenda, aut quoad situm, magnitudinem, figuram, symmetriam, nigroris aut claritatis differentiam corrigenda forent. Such as reject the exact Sphericalness of the Moon, introduce Asperities and inequalities in the surface of it, which some explain by Mountains, Valleys, and Waters: but concerning the parts of the Moon, which might be Water, and which Land, our Observators did differ. Galilaeo believes the spots or obscure parts to be water.

Glailaeo system. co • mic. p. 131. •• it. Londin.

Kepler. Astronom. Optic. c. 6. sect. 9.

Kepler held the contrary, that the bright parts were water, and pretends to demonstrate it out of Opticks. though afterwards he changed his opinion for that of Galilaeo's, which is generally received. As to those asperities in the surface of the Moon, whether they extend to the Limbus, or utmost circumference, or no, is a doubt amongst them: Galilaeo denies it; Ricciolus Almag nov. l. 4. c. 8. qu 2. Kepler, Ricciolus, and others affirming it: and the latter gives this reason why they are less frequently observed there: Vera causa cur raro asperi • as illa Limborum videatur, est partim imperfectio Telescopii, &c. Neither are they better satisfied about the Atmosphear of the Moon: that there is one, Galilaeo, Kepler, Antonius Maria de Rheita, Kircher,

Kircher. iter exsta • . • oe • est. p 48.

Ricciolus Almag. nov. l. 4. c • . sect. 8.

Cysatus, Scheiner, with others do avow: and Langrenus saith, that we may observe it with a Telescope: eandem Tubo-specillis conspici affirmat Michael Florentius Langrenus. But others deny it as peremptorily. Interim mihi (saith Ricciolus) nondum quocunque Telescopio adhibito aer hic it a patuit, Ricc • ol. Almag. nov. l 4. c. 2. sect. • . ut illum potius prope ac circa Lunam, quam in aere nostro, in quo & Halones fiunt, cogar agnoscere. And Zucchius at large proveth this Corollary, Zucchius phil. optic. part. 1. c. 17. sect. 9. p. 2 • 4. Non elevantur vi luminis Solis vapores • e Luna, sicut elevantur ex Globo e terra & aqua integrato: Neque datur circa Lunam Sphaera vaporosa ulla, qualis circa dictum Globum deprehenditur.

Having proceeded thus far, I shall take notice of some extravagant opinions that possess many of our Comical wits, and their Associates or Admirers, which are extended to the prejudice of Christianity, and the growth of Atheism in this Age, viz. That the resemblance betwixt the Moon and the Earth is such, that it is a Terraqueous Globe inhabited by men, and they hereupon concern themselves about their Progeny, Salvation, &c. I shall from hence take occasion to instruct those phantastical persons, that even Hevelius, who accommodated the Terrestrial Geography to the Lunar Globe, and seems to conclude that the illuminated part is earth, the darker is water: yet did it only because He knew no fitter comparison amongst sublunary bodies.—Non est autem quod quispiam ideo existimet Lunam ex ejusmodi sabulo, luto, aut lapide esse compositam, ut haec terra nostra, siquidem fortassis ex alia poterit constare materia, ab imaginatione nostra prorsus diversa, Ioan. Hevelius Selenograph. p. 148. & modo adhuc incomprehensibili.—Minime etiam hasce Lunares aquas nostris similes assero, sed quod nihil quicquam similius, propter magnam utrarumque affinitatem hic in terra habeamus, cum quo illas comparare valeamus. It was indiscreetly done of Kepler, Kircher, Hevelius, and such Writers to carry on the comparison so far, the resemblance betwixt the two Globes being so little as the most unprejudic'd persons find it to be. Ricciolus Almag. nov. l. 4. c. 7. p. 203. Hevelius perinde acsi Luna osset altera tellus, Geographica nostratis Telluris nomina in Lunam transtulit: licet quoad figuram, situm, symmetriam, &c. nulla fere sit Analogia inter utriusque superficiem. The truth whereof will further appear from those considerations which the inquisitive Zucchius after thirty five years use of all manner of Telescopes at length fixed upon, Zucchius phil. opt. hart. 2. c. 17. sect. 9. corol. 7. p. 266. viz. That the discrepancy of Parts in the illuminated Moon may be explained without attributing thereunto any variety of colours: yea, it ought to be so explained. The first part of which Assertion he proves thus: because in Opace bodies the difference of a greater and lesser Obliquity in their • cituation towards the body that shines upon them doth cause a diverse manner of illustration. Thus the same wall, of one uniform colour, according as it is differently illuminated, seems in some parts to be white, in others pale, in others dark-coloured, and black: besides that, a greater or lesser asperity or inequality of the superficies may cause an intermixture of the enlightned and over-shadowed parts, and so create different appearances of light and opacity in their most observable parts.

The second part He proves thus: because that the face of the Moon being looked on with a Tube of an extraordinary length, with Glasses excellently polished (such as He used for many years) appears all of it like a great Tract of Land covered over with Snow, which the Sunne variously ill • minates accordingly as the parts are differently framed and scituated. Where there is any change of scituation in the parts illuminated in reference to the body that irradiates them, then do such parts abate of their whiteness: and although they still continue in such a position that his beams may in some degree and manner reach them, yet by reason of the unequal surf • ce of the Moon (in which some parts are more elevated then others) some parts are directly opposite to the Sunne, others are glanced upon with an oblique ray, and this mixture of shades and brightness occasions those spots which we so talk of. Thus upon the libration of the body of Iupiter, the girdle, which otherwise seems remarkably black above the other adjacent parts of the Planet • becomes like unto the rest of the body in whiteness, and so disappears.

As to the distinction of the Moon into Sea and Land, consisting of Mountains and Valleys;Existimo materiam globi luna • is non constar • terra & aqua Galilaeo system. cosmic p. 132. although the Analogy may seem allowable by reason of the Asperities in the surface of the Moon, (which is a thing not to be denied: albeit that the calculation of the heighth of those more elevated parts are ridiculous, except the nature of the Cavities were better to be discovered, Zucchi • s phil. opt. pa • t. 1. c. 17. sect 9 p. 260, 261. as Zucchius shews) yet the imagination of Seas and Lakes therein, or any thing of that Nature, except what borders upon the Peninsula deliriorum in the Lunar Chart of Ricciolus, 'tis all an improbable phancie. For, that the more pale and obscure spots are not water, appears hence, that those spots keep the same Phasis or appearance for many days, though the Site of the Moon, both in respect of the Sunne, and of us the Spectators, do vary much in that time: whereas when the Sunne casts his beams upon Seas or great waters on Earth, the Phaenomena differ according as the Sunne, or the beholder vary their station: And this alone might convince us, but that I finde now in Zucchius, Zucchius ubi supra p. 263. viz Similiter transitum successivum radiis Solis ad fundum usque ad magnis maculis intra margines illustriores contentis praebent (ut diximus in apparentiis, pag. 239.) quod non evenit in liquido profundo instar aquae, ut in aquis experimur etiam in multa vicinitate illustratis, quando not abilem habent profunditatem: tum quia constantem inaequalitatem illustrationis exhibent in horizonte Lunari, & quidem, juxta dicta in Apparentiis (num. 3.) secundum magnam extensionem illustratam, intra reliquas partes nondum Solis radiis perfusas; imo aliquae, Soli proximiores, alias sequentes in eadem majori macula inumbrabant: Ga • ilaeo prol • nem, that in the Moon the • e is no • ain; no clouds there thicken the air. Longis ac diligenti • us observationibus nunquam id animadvertere potui, ac semper uni • ormem purissimamque serenitatem ibi deprehendi. Galilaeo. system co • mic. p 133. Zucchius ubi supra • p 264. hujusmodi autem convenire non possunt corpori inconsistenti, & liquido aquam referen • i, quae tamen certum est convenire aliquibus Lunae partibus, ab omnibus inter maculas computatis. I must confess I think these reasons convincing to any persons not prepossessed; and they are much more inforced by him with a discourse concerning exhalations and an Atmosphear about the Moon, which he denies absolutely: yet considering the proportion of the imaginary Waters to the Land in the Moon, and the heat and continuance of the Sunne-beams thereupon, common reason would tell us. that the vaporous exhalatious would proportionably exceed those about the Earth here, and produce an Atmosphear that should be observable, whereas the most accurate inspection at most opportune times with the best Telescopes could not satisfie Zucchius, that there was any such thing at all.

Kepler (and his Master Moestlinus) did believe that the Moon was a World consisting of Sea and Land, Kepler Astronom Optic, c. 6. s • ct. • . making up one entire Globe, as the Earth does; and that the Mountains there were much higher and bigger comparatively then those of the Earth: and adds by way of jocundry, that since the Men and other Animals commonly participate of the nature of the soyl and climate they dwell in,

Galilaeo system. Cosmic. p. 132. Existimo materiam Globi Lunaris non constare terra & aqua. Quae res una ad generationes alterationesque nostris similes tollendas susficit. Ve • untamen etiams • concederetur Aquam ibi Terramque dari; non tamen plantae & anima • i • nostris similia nascerentur, idque ob duas praecipue rationes: primo quia ad nosti as generationes aspectuum Solis varietas adeo necessaria est, ut sine illis esse nullae possint. Ia • autem habitudines Solis ad Terram, ab •• lis quae sunt ad Lunam, valde differunt. N • s quoad illuminationem diurnam, in major • parte terrae, singulis horarum viginti quatuo • periodis, noc • is atque di • i • icissitudinem experimur, quae in Luna men •• ruo demum spatio absolvitur. Item i • le Solis in Zediaco descensus & ascensus ann • us, qui hiemis aestatilque • i • issitudinem & dierum ac noctium inaequalitatem produ • it, in Luna unico mense • initur: Cumque Sel apud nos sic elevetur acdeprimatur, ut inter maximam ac minimam altitudinem intercedat differentia gradum, 47. qu • nta ni • irum est distantia ab uno tro • ico ad alterum; in Luna non nisi 10 gra • ibus aut paulo amplius illa differentia constat. quanta S • i • icet est maxima la • itudo Draconis ultra citr • que Ecli • ticam. Nunc consideretur qualis operatio sit • utura So'is in Zona torrida, si per quinde • im di •• continu •• adiis suis • am ferire pergeret. Perse enim intelligetur, omnes plantas, berbas & animalia p • ssum itura • Quod si vel maxi • e generationes iti sierent, illae ta • en a • herbis, plantis, & animali • us nostr • tilus dive • si • sim • forenthu.

Secundo persu asissi • um est mihi, nullas in Luna p • ivias esse. Nam si qua parte • ubes ibi con ••••• rentur ut sit in terra, videren us utiq •• rerum illa rum aliquid abs • ondi, quas ope telescopii in Luna conspicimus: & in summa, in particula aliqua nobis variare • ur aspectus. Id quod longis ac di • igentibus observationibus nunquam arimadvertere pot • i, ac semper uniformem purissimamque serenitatem i • i depre • endi.

that the inhabitants of the Moon must be of a greater stature, and more robust constitution then those of the Earth: The Day there making up fifteen days of ours: and the Heats seem so scorching, and so unexpressible by reason of the Suns being vertical to them so long. In fine, he thinks it no a • surd opinion of the Gentiles, that made the Moon a kinde of Purgatory for departed Souls.

Upon the most serious consideration of all circumstances, whereunto I could ever engage my thoughts; when I reflected upon the great difference betwixt the Days here and there; the different influence which the Sunne must have here and there through the Diversity of his Aspects, (whereupon depend Terrestrial productions) that there is no rain, no clouds there; no Atmosphear (like ours) proportioned to such respiration and life: no intermixture of earth and water: no innate diversity of colours, which occasion the Phaenomena that perplex our over-curious Mortals: and that all the Enquiries hitherto made, have so little of evidence, that 'tis more clear that the Moon is a Cheese, (not fat, • or then it would melt) odly figured and made with Asperities in its • upe • fici • s and perhaps a little vin • yed in • ome parts • hen an Earth resembli • g ours: I could not but cond • mn those 〈◊〉 Comical and Athestical Wits, who use so l •• tle of modesty • r serupulousness in their discou • ses abo • t this so uncertain subj • ct They are men of so little read • ng and inquisitireness (whatever they pret • nd unto; as if this Nation produced no persons equal to them for Learning and Ab • lities) that they never examined these debates; but the opinions which they take up and transfo • m into Assertions, are onely the raillery or casual and imperfect pieces • f conversation betwixt more intelligent persons, or some Coffee house talk, which they confidently obtrude and impose upon speculative or more considerate Gentlemen, and render th • mselves insupportable in any Society.

A young Gentleman, a friend of mine, who was not a little valued in the world, w • o was no stranger to the Mathema • icks, and whose wit and learning far transcended any thing I can observe in a droll and C • mediantes of these times, entertain • d me with a discourse once of this nature; Having spoken of the C • lestial Phaenomena, how differently they were represented by sundry men, he was more prone to suspect their dioptrick Tubes, then their in • egrity: He thought our Eyes were Telescopes of God Almighty's making, Tu • us lentibus du •• us co • sta • s dici potest oculus mere 〈…〉 l 2. c. 7 q •• m vide ib. a c. 13. •• que • d c. 30. and the model by which the others were regulated and amended: and that any man who regarded the daily Occurrents in vision, could never believe it possible, that any certain • y could be derived from Telescopes, about such Phaenomena as we could employ only one sense about, and that not in a due distance, and with such circumstances as legitimate the judgement thereof: That we were to look through their different mediums (granting that our Air makes but one Diaphanum) and those not contrived dioptrically, that we know, and that since every medium, thicker or thinner, (besides the inte • currencies of irregular and unknown particles, Tam • a • itas qu • m densitas potest esse • ausa r •• ractio • nis. 〈◊〉 . like to moats in and upon a Glass) did cause a different Refraction, and that neither the constitution of our Atmosphear (as not proportionate to our sensible enquiries) and air, nor the intermundial Aether, nor the Sphaera vaporosa of the Planets could ever be accurately and satisfactorily searched into; no man could particularly know what he beheld, and deduce with prudence any theoremes and conclusions from such infirm hypotheses. He added, that our senses and the daily objects we converse with on earth, did prejudicate rather then qualifie us for these speculations: that we might easily observe what mistakes arise from the co • templation of resemblances: that similitudes, though very slender, engage the unwary, (and some that are cautious too) to conclude an identity in objects: that it would be impossible for any man without the aid of a nearer approach, and even of his other senses, to conclude whether a stick lying part in, part out of the water were str • ight or crooked, by reason of the refraction in the different mediums of Air and Water: and that a Glow-worm, or an Indian fire-Fly would create strange disputes and contests amongst mankind, had they no other helps to discover the Phaenomenon then a Telescope, magnifying the object and its parts thirty, fourty, or one hundred times. He admired that saying of Aristotle, Arist me • eor. • . • . c. 4. s • ct. 2. These a • e • he words, and this the judgm • nt o • Galilaeo S •• t. Colm p •• . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . H • po •• de vet. med. s • . 3 • 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : and commended him, that in his doctrine of Meteors he pretended not to arise higher then a low degree of probability. That it was possible to imagine such things to our selves as were not really in the Moon, but not such as were there, except in a very general and indefinite manner. Posse quidem excogitari nonnulla, quae in Luna neque sunt, neque esse possunt: nihil autem eorum quae ibi sunt aut esse possunt, ni • i largissima generalitate. That the appearance of an Earth, did not infer the inhabitation of men, much less Animals and Plants like ours: that our own Geography might undeceive us herein, some parts of this Globe being not peopled, and the animals, and plants, and nature of the soyle, differing so much from our European productions, as we could not have conceived, had not our Eyes and authentick testimonies gained us to a belief of it. That the most clear Eyes have in this case a kinde of a suffusion, and the most unbiassed persons their Intellectuals prejudicated, and had no reason to condemn the opinion of that Peasant, who imagined the Grandeur of Rome to be like unto his Village, or the Scot who represented London to be such another town as Edinburgh. It is an opinion wherein the Peripateticks and Lyncei are agreed: • para Quicquid sub nostram cadit imagination • m, id aut jam ante viderimus oportet, aut ex rebus rerumve partibus jam ante visis compositum sit, quales sunt Sphynges, Sirenes, Chimerae, Centauri, &c. He smiled at those who thought they had much improved solid knowledge, by telling men of Quasi-terra, Quasi-mare, Quasi-sylvae, which he suppposed to be as insignificant termes as the Canting. of Chymists, or the Quasi-corpus, and Quasi-sanguis, in the gods of Epicurus: that it was intolerable in a Philosopher to phrase it thus, however a Poet might say, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

But nothing created in him a greater laughter, then the Proposals some made of flying to the World in the Moon: this design he thought superlatively ridiculous, though the contrivance of wings for mankind were then but projecting at Wadham-Colledge: It did not appear to him then that this World was no Magnet: he wished that first these Opiniatours would go to both Poles, and placing themselves there try the Observations of Des-Cartes with some dust of Iron: that • hey would consider whether the more remote Air would bear up their wings and weight, (perhaps there might be that difference in Air that there is in water, where those Ships which sail in salt-water do sink in fresh streams) and how it might agree with their respiration, since the Air upon the tops of Andes of Peru is so sharp, that those Mountains are as difficult to pass,Vide P. Alph. Ovag • ium in relatione Chilensi c. 5. Ricciol Almag. nov. in app • nd. ad part. primam • omi primi, p. 730. or live upon, as Aristotle represents Olympus to have been, where men are forced to breath through Sponges: whether that inhability of the Air for men to breath in it did arise from the real nature of so elevated a place • or that it was occasioned by some destructive exhalations (since Mount Athos is reputed higher then Olympus) he knew not: but he thought they might enquire well into this particular • and into those regions (which are different) wherein storms, thunder, and snow are generated; what tempests might arise therein (of which we are not sensible here below) what • rovision there is against them before one arrives at th • twelve Celestial houses: what accommodation of meat and drink, what money currant in those parts, all which ought to be regarded lest our Experimentators should come off as ill as the Knight of 〈◊〉 Manchae did,Concerning a voyage to the Wo • ld of the Moon, the difficulties of the passage and of the air, water, and other circumstances the • e, read Kircher his Iter exstat. unto the Moon; and you will find how just a caveat I give here. when he had not wherewithal to defray the expence of his Inne: besides that, he was much afraid, that at their arrival, agreeably to what Kepler saith, they might finde their lodging too hot for them.

Having said these things, that great young man, (who died before that Ignorance and the Virtuosi grew prevalent) presented me with the works of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, published by D. Meric Casaubon, opening it at that place where that understanding Emperour acknowledgeth it to have been the special favour of the Gods, that he never troubled himself about these Meteorologies and ex • ravagant speculations, whereunto nothing humane can reach: He added, that in these kind of speculations he knew enough that was secured from superstition, that for a man to desert those Studies which qualifie him for a sociable life, and were of importance to the preservation of the Government and Countrey he lived in, this was a kinde of salvagenesse, had more of the Anchorete, then of Civil Prudence, and was to be encouraged in a Cloyster, or in the deserts of Thebais, then to be made a practice among wise Statesmen.

I have somtimes entertained my self with the remembrance of this Gentleman, and guessed how he would have sported at that passage of Mr. Glanvill, in his Scepsis Scientifica, where he complements the R. Society, to whom that book is Addressed.

We expect greater things from Neoterick Endeavors.Scepsi Scientif. p. 133, 13 • The Cartesian Philosophy in this regard hath shewn the World the way to be happy. And me thinks this Age seems resolved to bequeath Posterity somewhat to remember it. The glorious Undertakers, wherewith Heaven hath blest our days, will leave the World better provided then they found it. And whereas in former times such generous free-spirited Worthies were as the Rare newly-observed Stars, a single one the wonder of an Age: In ours they are like the Lights of the greater size, that twinkle in the Starry Firmament: And this last Century can glory in numerous Constellations. Should those Heroes go on as they have happily begun, they • ll fill the World with Wonders. And I doubt not but Posterity will find many things, that are now but Rumours, verified into God forbid. practical Realities. It may be some Ages hence, a Voyage to the 'Tis very cold going thither, if you believe Sir Fr. Drake; as I have shewed afore in my di • cour • e of the Northwest-passage. Southern unknown Tracts, yea, possiblie the Moon, will not be more strange then one to Yes a • ittle mo • e; the Ancie • ts had been there be • ore; besides, the difficulties in going to the Moon are mo • e insuperable. America. To them that come after us, it may be as ordinarie to buy a payr of Wings to flie into Remotest Regions; Pacolet's Ho • se; Fortunatus's wishing-Cap; the skill o • Medea in restoring youth, all ancient and modern fable • shal • be • eally atchieved! as now a pair of Boots to ride a Iourney. And to conferre at the distance of the Indies by Sympathetick conveyances, may be as usual to future times, as to us in a literary correspondence. The restauration of Gray hairs to Juvenility, and renewing the exhausted marrow, may at length be effected without a Miracle. And the turni • g the now comparative desert World into a Paradise, may not improbablie be expected from late Agriculture.

Now those that judge by the narrowness of • ormer Principles and Successes, will smile at these They that do not so, laugh at you, and think such expectations thence paradoxical. Paradoxical Expectations: But questionless, those great inventions, which have in these latter Ages altered the • ace of all things, in their naked Propo • alls, and meer Suppositions, Prove that they ever did think of them: if they did not, they could not be • idiculous to them. were to former times as ridiculous. To have talked of a New Earth to have been discovered, had been a Enquire into the Navigatio • s of Antiqui • y and then say this. Romance to Antiquity: And to sail without sight of Stars or Shoars by the guidance of a Mineral, a storie more absurd then the Flight of Daedalus. That men should speak after their tongues were ashes, or communicate with each oth • r in differing Hemi • phears, before the invention of Letters, could no • but have been thought a Fiction • Antiquity would not have believed the almost incredible force of our The strangen •• s 〈◊〉 more in the in • redible force of the powder: had they known that, they would not have thought the other strange Canons; and would as coldlie have entertained the wonders of the Telescope • In these we all condemn I know not any that cond •• ns the ancients 〈◊〉 incredulity about such matters as were n • ver p • oposed unto them, but • or the credulity of this Age, • xpect scorn • ather th • n pity. antique incredulity, and 'tis like lie Posterity will have as much cause to pity • ur • . But yet notwithstanding this streightnesse of shallow Observers, there are a set of 'Tis a pretty philosophy ind • ed, it is all invention. enlarged Souls that are more judiciously credulous, and those who are acquainted with the • ecunditie of Not of the Paracea, not of the • hilos • phers stone, nor any thing in Ovids Metamorphosis, Atlantis, or Vtopia. Cartesian Principles, and the diligent and ingenious Endeavours of so many t • ue Philosophers, will despair of •• lus ultra, Page 6.6 nothing.

This is a most extraordinary Flourish: Yet I finde the Rhetorick defective in the suiting of the Antitheses and Antapodoses: but I shall not take notice of that fault now, it is so general in our Comical Wits. I shall now quit my Digression, and resume the cont • ove • sie betwixt the two Disputants. Mr. Glanvill, for the c • edit of those Dioptrick Glasses, told Mr. Cross, That he might try them upon Objects near, and easily visible, by the unassisted fight; and if he made triall, he would f • nde they altered the Objects in nothing but their proportions, which are represented larger for the advantage of vision in things small and remote; and we have all the like reasons to distrust our Eyes, as these Glasses (for their informations are the same in all things, but the mentioned difference) and there is no man such a fool as not to make allowance for that.—I see Mr. Glanvill is not only ignorant of the Opticks, but altogether unacquainted with Telescopes: for first there are some made by Mr. Smithwick (a very ingenious and worthy man) which represent the Phases of the Moon very well,Duobus vitiis convexis instructo Tel • scopio, habetur simul & semel objecti mediocris, vel multarum partium g • andioris repraesentatio, sed inversa: si debite addatur tertium convexum, multiplica • is adhuc refractionibus, una unius obtinetur apparentia, & in situ con • ormis Objecto. Zucchius phil. opt. part. 1. c. 17 • sect. 2. p. 180. and yet invert all Objects, but that is no default or impediment where the thing looked on is round. These convex Telescopes alter the Object in some thing else besides their proportions: nor doth any such thing happen in a well-disposed Eye upon vision. Secondly, he might have known this further difference betwixt an un-assisted sight, and what is performed by the best and longest Telescopes about ordinary Objects, that the Dioptrick Tubes do represent the light and colours of bodies more dilute and remiss then they appear to the naked Eye. Zucchius ubi supra p. 181. Per Telescopia, praesertim longiora, objecta spectantur lu • e & colore dilutiora, quam libero oculo. This is granted by Zucchius and others; and the reason is given by Zucchius, because that so great an expansion or amplification of the Object, and distancing of its parts one from the other,

Expansion • m repraesentativorum aequival •• e remissioni, & densationem • orum intensi • ni, & utramque non à medio, s • d • pr • p • ia conditione propagationis radio • um pendere. id ib. Si Telescopium sit extraordinariae longitudinis, ex nimia expansione, q • ae • quivalet remissioni qualitatis visibilis, ap • aret nimis dilurum: ut minus in eovarietas partium internosci possi • . Zucchius phil opt. p 2. • r. 3. c. 7 sect. 5. p. 366.

Zucchi • s phil • pt. part 1 c. 17. sect. 6 p. 204

is equivalent to a remission of those qualities therein. But to shew Mr. Glanvill a little more of his ignorance in Telescopes, I shall shew him some further differences betwixt the naked sight, and what is performed by those Glasses. For some of them represent some Objects greater then they appear to the naked eye: Some (in the shorter Tubes) are represented no bigger, or rather less then they otherwise seem: Some Objects in the longer Telescopes are magnified indeed, but nothing so much as other Objects are by the same Glasses. The Experiments are obvious: place a candle in the dark at some considerable distance, and the flame will appear round and encompassed with rays: then take a short Telescope fitly made and placed, and look through it, and you will see the irradiation taken off, and the flame represented as oblong, not round, and rather seemingly less then greater then it appeared before to the naked Eye. Then turn your eye unto any coloured Object, and take notice how big it seems: assume the same Telescope, and you shall find that to be magnified above what it seemed to the naked eye by much. After this, take a long Telescope, and view the aforesaid candle through that; and at the same distance view some other coloured Object, and you shall see that this last Telescope will represent both Objects much magnified; but the Candle less of the two by far.

But I shall adde further, that it is not to be doubted but that the Telescopes of Galilaeo, Scheiner, Rheita, Gassendus, Grimaldi, Eustachio Divini, Hevelius, Hugenius, Ricciolus, and Zucchius, were good in their kind, and that they did represent Objects as truly here on earth, as any could; Si Lunares discos, post tot inspectores, & inspectiones. p • blicatos videas, neque numero, n • que conformatione sibi corres • ondent: qu • m multae par • es vel prae aliis circumpositis illust • iores interj • ctae & sua multo mino • i illustrationis ex • i • itione illas interrumpentes, aliquos latuerunt, & in angusti • ibus, vel nin • s accuratè expressis. Discis • missae, q • ae verè internos • ibiles sunt in luna, & ab a • iis consignantur? quantum totius Dis • i lunaris ter • inatio • & insig • iorum in e • parti • m, variata? Zucchius phil opt. part. 1. c. 17 sect 8. p 2 • 3. yet when they come to be applied to the Celestial Phaenomena, what difference is there in their. Observations? How do they complain either of the default of the Telescopes, or want of care or skill, each in the other? Simon Marius boasts of his accurateness: Scheiner in his Apelles tells us, Observationes omnes factae sunt summo studio coelo serenissimo, semper cum observatum est, & obscurissimo, plerumque in absentia videlicet Lunae: Vide Scition. Claramont. de Unive • s. l. • . c. 8. talis vero variis & excellentissimis, quorum uno meliorem adhuc ad stellas non vidi. But enough may be collected to this purpose out of the foregoing discourse, so that I need not repeat it over again: out of all which as I would not be understood totally to discredit the use of Telescopes in celestial discoveries, (I do not deny but some things and some motions are observed by them, which a naked Eye cannot discern; but this knowledge arrives to a slender degree of certainty, when the Phaenomena come to be particularly explicated; and theoremes or assertions framed thence) so I would not have them too much relied on, nor men be too confident in principles and Conclusions which have no surer Foundation then those probabilities: and I do herein joyn with Claramontius in that Epiphonema, In tanta diversitate, quid certi ex tubo Optico habemus? If I must suspect the skill or accurateness of Galilaeo, Scheiner, Gassendus, Hevelius, Fontana, Ricciolus, and Zucchius, and such like; pardon me, if I know not whom to believe.

I have been the more large in this Point because of the insolence with which Mr. Glanvill persecutes that Reverend, and otherwise learned person, whom he represents to the world as He pleaseth, and accordingly treats him with that contempt and scorn which is less allowable towards a Divine, and such a one as is, and always hath been in that Countrey very much esteemed by several honourable Families, as well as others. However God hath so providentially ordered the dispute, thereby to check the pride of our Virtuoso, that The Man of Words cannot triumph over the Man of Axiomes. And if it be true, that our Aristotelean was amazed at the hard words of Dioptrick Tubes, &c. as if there had been Magick in them: I doubt not to Iustifie Him in it; for the insolent Virtuoso made use of them, not as became a knowing person, but as Conjurers use strange termes, and of an uncouth sound, though perhaps really Hebrew, Latine, or Arabique.

Besides all this, perhaps Mr. Cross seems to have been offended at something in that mixt discourse or dispute, that might derogate from the Authority of the Scripture: many sayings are not innocent, but as they are worded or uttered. To say the Scripture was written to mens fancies is an expression very unwary in a Divine: although a convenient interpretation may excuse it. To say it is not written according to vulgar Methods may so be spoken, that the action may render the words culpable. And in another Age they might have passed better then now, when men are prone to vilifie the Scripture, especially the little Wits. I perceive Mr. Sprat is not over-tender of the dignity of the Scripture: for although there be an ancient Canon of the Church against the applying the Sacred Word of God ad scurrilia & adulatoria (which Canon is authorised even by the Council of Trent) yet doth he encourage men to apply it to ordinary Raillery. The Wit that may be borrowed from the Bible is magnificent, Plus ultra Page 414. and as all the other Treasures of knowledg it contains, inexhaustible. This may be used and allowed without any danger of prophanenesse. The Ancient Heathens did the same. They made their Divine Ceremonies, But this practice of thei • s was the ruine of their Religi • n, as any man may judg who sees what use Clemens Alexandrinus and Lictantius make of it again • t Paganism. And the Greeks thought so whe • they punished one, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . the chief subjects of their phansies: by that means their Religions had a more awful impression, became more popular, and lasted longer in force then else they would have done, And why may not Christianity admit the same thing, if it be practised with Sobriety and Reverence. What irreligion can there be in applying some Scripture-expressions to Natural things? Why are not the one rather exalted and purified, then the other defiled by such Applications? — The Case is clear Gentlemen, Hath not the Lord said, What hast thou to do to take my words into thy mouth since thou hatest to be reformed? Besides, methinks our Divine might have remembred the feast of Belshazzar, and the resentment that the Lord expressed upon the applying of the consecrated vessels to the serving in a festival banquet, though to a Prince. He might have called to minde the hand-writing upon the wall, and very probably have inferred with himself, that if God was so concerned at the misapplication and abuse of those Temple-Vessels, he would much more severely interess himself where that Word of his, which he hath so many ways hallowed and recommended to our Veneration, is abused to raillery: This Humour is no part of the words or works in which the Man of God is to be perfected by reading of the Holy Scripture. I fear the great Iudge will one day say unto these Drolls, Ye are weighed in the ballance, and found too light. To conclude, the generality of Raillery amounts to no more but so many idle words, and they become doubly criminal by being profane.

Of the Antiquity and Vse of Chymical Physique.

Plus ultra, Page • 0, 11. CHymistry hath indeed a pretence of the great Hermes for its Author, (how truly I will not dispute.) From him 'tis said to have come to the Egyptians, and from them to the Arabians; Among these it was infinitely mingled with vanity and superstitious devices: but it doth not appear at all in use with Aristotle and his Sectators: Nor doth it appear that the Grecians, or the disputing Ages, were conversant in these useful and luciferous Processes. —

Our Virtuoso is not willing to dispute whether Hermes were the Author of Chymistry, or not: It had become one that is encharged with the Cure of Souls very well, to have declined all these other disputes, as being remote from those Studies, by which he ought to qualifie himself for a befitting discharge of the Ministry. But to tell him further, what I am sure he is ignorant of, the Egyptians did never attribute to Hermes the Invention of Physick, or any part of it, but to Apis and Aesculapius; and as for that Chymistry which they practised, which consisted in melting down and improving of Metalls, or making of Gold: the Egyptians did never reckon the discovery of that Art amongst the praises of their Hermes, 〈◊〉 nomine olim haud legas quid a • iud sig • ificatum • quam 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈◊〉 vero 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 •• am quae vil • orum metallorum l • pdumque in melius co • mutationem pallicetur Ne quidem l • gere est. vel medicamentis praeparandis operam aliquam impendisse primos Ch • m • ae professores Conring. de Med • Herm. c. 3. p. 15. though they were very forward to magnifie him, and to ascribe unto him a great many Elogies. Nay, when they do recount the Authors of their Chymistry, though they do not agree about them, yet there is none that transfers that honour upon this Trismegistus. But whether Aesculapius, or the wicked Angels, (to both which the Invention is attributed) were the discoverers of Chymistry, I think I may allow the Egyptians to have been the first Practisers of it, and that there wanted not those who did mention Hermes amongst them that used that Art, and were esteemed Philosophers. Nor is the Egyptian Chymistry of any great Antiquity, there being no mention of it in any Greek or Latine Writer,Vide Conring. c. 3 p. 28. till almost the fourth Century after Christ. Neither is the name only of Chemia or Chemistry of so modern a date: but there is not any record of any book written, In the time of Constantine A. D. 320. Fi • micus is said to be the first that is recorded to have named Alchimia; he saith, that Saturn disposeth to Alchimy. Whence Libavius argues that it was then an A • r, and had been long practised, or else how comes it under Astrological Prediction? But the • e is no consequence in that reason of his it being usual for Astrologers to accommodate the Stars so as to have an influence upon novel inv • ntions. Vnder Theodosius the Great, A. D. 38 • . Heliodorus writ a book to the Emperour about the Ch • y • opoeia; and s • mething about that A • e to cr •• lius, as Cedren • s witnesseth. Libav. in Exam censur. Parisi •• s. or work performed, that imports any such thing. Yet have the Alchymists (it is true) pretended to a greater Antiquity, entitling several spurious books to Hermes, Moses, (and Miriam his Sister) Democritus, Plato, Aristotle; and made as if their Art were intimated in the fable of the Golden Fleece, the Hesperian Orchards, and the Song of Solomon. In which I cannot but take notice of the different procedure of those Chymists, and our Experimental Philosophers: the one attributed all glorious discoveries to the Ancients, their Predecessors; these will not allow them those praises which indisputably belong unto them. But however, that I may grant our Virtuoso, that Chymistry did flourish in Egypt in such manner and at such time, as I have declared out of Conringius, (to whom I refer the inquisitive Reader) yet I must not gratifie him with this other concession, that from them it came to the Arabians, the followers of Aristotle not being at all acquainted with it, nor the Grecians, or those disputing Ages, being at all conversant with it. For it is made evident by Conringius, (c. 26. p, 368.) that it passed from the Egyptians to the Greeks. There are of Greek Writers, Zosimus Panopolita, Olympiodorus, Stephanus, Several of these Greek Writers were seen by Salma • ius in the King of France his Library and by Reyn • sius, (vide var. lecti n l. • . c. 5 p 155.) who transcrib • s this 〈◊〉 as th • Con • lusion • f one of 〈◊〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , le • t any on • sh • u • d t • ink • hat by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 were meant • ar W • s, and Poets, and • nventors. I must add • , that it is a name long ago fixed upon th • Chymists and Ch • ysippore ••• ks, as Reyne • ius declares. Synesius, M • chael Psellus, Blemmydas, and many others, which are instanced in by the same Author, and deduced through the several Centuries anteceding the Saracen Empire. The very name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , is Greek, as Vossius observes, de Philos. c. 9. The Moorish particle Al being prefixed. Nor is the word Alembex of any other original, being compounded of the said 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a term used by Dioscorides to signifie a vessel, not much unlike our Limbecks. Diosc. l. 5. c. 64. vid. Conring. & Voss. ubi supra. From the Greeks together with other Learning • even Chymistry was transmitted: and Geber himself (as Leo Afer relates it, lib. 3. pag. 136.) was but an Apostate Grecian. This Geber is the most ancient of Arabian Alchymists, their Idol, and styled Magister Magistrorum. I am not ignorant that Conradus Gesnerus (in praef. ad Evon.) and some others have reckoned upon Geber as if he had been originally a Saracen, • e • erus qu • m v • lunt ci • ca • nnum P • r • us vi • gin • i s • x • entissimum 〈◊〉 vivis • uisse Libav • xam c • rfur. Pa • in • us. and the Nephew of one Mahomet: some say he was the Grandchild of the Impostor Mahomet: but their credit is not equal to that of Leo Afer, who appears a most learned person, and inquisitive even to Curiosity into the Lives as well as Customs of the Moors, his Countreymen. Habent Fessani Arabes multa Chemicae artis opuscula a viris doctis conscripta, I co A • er Hist. 〈◊〉 l. 3. inter quos potiorem locum habet Geber, qui centum annis post Mahometen vixit, quem natione Gidum aiunt fidem abjurasse.—Gesner cannot tell at what time he lived, but he saith he was not the Inventor, but Illustrator of the Art of Distillation.—Quanquam non illum primum hujus Artis Inventorem, sed Illustratorem fuisse existimo. Hoc in opere quod summae perfectionis inscribitur,Con • ad G •• r. 〈…〉 . de distillatione in Gener Multa pulchre disserens, varios distillandi modos fere omnibus notos esse scribit: nimirum ut vetus quoddam suo seculo, non recens quoddam inventum.

But though the Greeks were not free of the Metallurgical part of Chymistry, yet did they not prepare any Medicines Chymically (that I know of,) except it were the Alcalisate Salts, and Ecchyl • mata, or Iuices formed into Extracts, and Oyls drawn per descensum. This seems manifest in that Oribasius, Aetius, Paulus Aegineta, Alexander Trach • anius, PAULUS & IOANNES Iatrosophistae of Alexandria, Conringius c. 26. p. 370. Gesner. inpraefat. ad Euonym. Simeon Sethus, Actuarius, Nonas, and others mention no such Medicaments: no, nor Michael Psellus, though he writ a peculiar Tract about Chemistry. Neither hath Nicolaus Myrepsus (though a modern Grecian) any Chymical Preparation.

The Arabians seem the first that ever accommodated Chymistry in an eminent manner to Physick; if it be true, as Libavius imagines; that Abulchasis did live in the time of Muhauia the Saracen, that setled their Empire at Damascus Anno Dom • 660. Chymistry then seems to have been regulated into an Art;Libav in exam. sent. Pa • is. He writ a Book of Physick called Servitor, which principally treats of Medicines Chymically prepared, and useth the terms of reverberation, calcination, coagulation, distillation per ascensum & descensum: and many such like expressions, together with Processes purely Chymical. It was then that Alchymie was called Perfectum Magisterium; and that which we call Oyle of Bricks, did bear the name of Oleum Sapientiae & Perfecti Magisterii.

So Avicenna speaks not only of Rose-water distilled: but of Mercury and Arsenick sublimed: after him Ioannes Mesues shews how to make several Chymical Oyls, Conring • ubi supra. p 374. as of Amber, Wheat, Oleum Philosophorum, &c. Neither is it to be doubted, but that there were an infinite number of Chymical Processes latent in the hands of particular Artists, since Ioannes Mesues refers us unto them, Vid. Con • ing. ubi supra. viz. de quibus loquuntur, qui quae sunt occulta in rebus manifestant & detegunt. Hos quoque aggredere rei hujus cupidus tam famosae apud illos. After that the Western Christians were civilized and instructed in the Sciences by the Moors inhabiting Spain, Reade Liba • ius more full • upon this s • bject in E • am. censur. Pa • isi • ns. and that Physick superstructed upon the principles of Galen, Avicenna, and Averroes, was derived unto them, those Sectators of the ancient Philosophy improved Chymical Pharmacy very much.

nor were Albertus Magnus, Aponensis, Gentilis de Fulgineo, Arnoldus de villa nova, Raymundus Lullius, or Ioannes de Rupescissa, or Isaacus Hollandus, Con •• ng. ubi supra, c. 27. p. 379, 80, &c. or Basilius Valentinus, or Antonius Guainerius, or Michael Savonorola, or Montagnana, or Hieronymus Schallerus, and Magenbuchius (Chymical Physicians at Norimbergh before Paracelsus) or Guilielmus Varigana, or Antonius Fumanellus, or Wolfgangus Talhenserus, or Hieronymus Brunsvigus (the first that writ of Chymistry in the German tongue) any other then Pretenders to the ancient Physick and Philosophy. There was no faction betwixt the Physicians in those days; nor did they undervalue or decry each other; They rather represented themselves to be Adherents and Sectators of Aristotle, then his Enemies; and chose rather to sophisticate his fourth book of Meteors, Conring. ibid. c • 8. p. • 87. Erastus de metal • . p 34. to shew that great Man knew all things, then condemn all his other works, as if he knew nothing. Nor were they only followers of the PERIPATETICKS, but I finde the Chymists • that did precede Paracelsus to be accounted Hippocratical Physicians: witness this passage in Caspar Bravo, who inquired more into them then I have had leisure to doe.

Caspar Bravo Resolut. Medic. part. 1. disp. 1. sect. 1. resol. 3. sect. 2.

Resolvendum, artem Spagiricam veterum Spagiricorum, quam Avicenna, Geberus, Rhasis, Arnoldus de villa nova, Raymundus Lullius, Blemmydas, Braceseus, Virceanus, Ioannes Augustinus, Panterus, Isaachus Monachus, Morienus, Zosymus, & alii Hippocratis Sectatores professi sunt diversam esse a Secta Paracelsistica. With this agrees that passage of Conringius de Med. Herm. c. 28.W • th him agrees Lib • vi • s in the fore • ited • r • atise. Certe ante Paracelsum haud est observare in Chemicorum scriptis singularem aliquam sive Hermeticam, sive Chemicam Medicinam. Observata autem est plerumque medendi illa via quam Hippocrates, Galenus, horumque Sectatores cum Graeci tum Arabes, inter que eos Avicenna calcaverant: quod unum Arnoldum Villanovanum legenti non potest non Sole videri clarius. So Primrose de vulg. Error. l. 4. c. 1. Haec medicamenta praeparandi ratio non a Paracelso inventa est: sed multis ante Para • elsum natum seculis exculta fuit ab iis etiam Medicis qui Galeni doctrinam sectabantur, ut Raym. Lullio, Villanovano, &c.

But when Paracelsus was seised with the same spirit that seems to sway some of the Virtuosi: then did he begin to decry the study of Languages, as loss of time; our Wits call it Pedantry. He vilified Logick as that which caused endless disputes, and darkned rather then discovered Nature: He calls it matrem odii, rixarum & litium; He prohibited the reading of other good and Ancient Authors.. He seemed to be of no Religion; and if for any, it was to be without Metaphysicks, without the mixture of Glosses and Interpretations, Solum textum Scripturae legendum, interpretationem nullam adhibendam. He calls upon all Universities and Countreys to resort unto him, to follow him and his new discoveries • his real Philosophy, his Essential Anatomies, all other performances being but empty and verbose.

Because I observe som resemblance betwixt the invitations of Mr. Sprat and his, I will set one of his passages down in the Preface of his Paragranum, viz. Me sequimini; Non ego vos sequar. Me, me, inquam, sequimini, Avicenna, Galen, Rhases, Montagnana, Mesue. Me sequimini; non ego vos sequar, Parisienses, Monpelienses, Suevi, Misnici, Colonienses, Viennenses, qui Danubium & Rhenum accolitis. Sed in primo de pes • ilitate tractatu primo, ubi d • Chelidoniae contra imagina • iones Magicas amuleto disserit, adeo non rejicit Gale • i & Hippocratis decreta, ut etiam amplius vider velit Galeni- icus, quàm omnium scholarum profesores publici. Libavius ubi supra. Vos item Insulae marinae, Italia, Dalmatia, Athenae, Graeci, Arabes, Israelitae, me sequimini, non ego vos sequar. Mea enim Monarchia. Hereby any one may see that He was as conceited of himself, and as great a contemner of all ancient Learning, and of Aristotle, and Galen, &c. as some of the Virtuosi: and as ignorant of Latin and other tongues; and as false and imperfect in his relations; as variable in his hypotheses, as if he held nothing but with the power of revoking it, which is a great qualification of a modern Philosopher. He was not for the particular methods in vogue, but for a general Enquiry into the Experiments of old Women, Mountebanks, Hangmen, Husbandmen, &c. He could make use of the writings and inventions of others, concealing their names, and boasting them for new and his own, as becomes a modish Experimentator. To evince this last assertion, I shall set down some passages of Crato, and others, to shew that the disputing Ages were not so ignorant of Chymistry as Mr. Glanvill pretends. Crato in a Letter to Erastus writes thus; • rastus part. 4. p 3 •• . Remedia quibus aliquando usus esse dicitur, non illius esse ex eo certus sum, quod librum vidi ante ducentos fere annos a Monacho quodam Ulmae scriptum, in quo eadem medicamenta, quae ille frustillatim, nunc in has nunc in illas chartas sparsit, perspicue sunt scripta.—And elsewhere, Fuit in bibliotheca viri optimi & integerrimi Marci Singmoseri Sacratissimi Impp. Consilii a Secretis primi,

P • ae • ad Exe • ci • . Scaliger.

Hartman & C • ollius published no new medicines. Cae • erum n • que Crollium n • q me a iquid 〈◊〉 p • o • ulise libente •• • emur, ne que • a unq • am u • rius que nos ••• m mens fuit.

Hartman. in not. ad Cr • ll p • 38.

Libavius ubi su • ra.

liber ante ducentos annos a Monacho quodam exaratus. Eo multis mensibus usus sum, & omnia quae isti (Paracelsici) tanquam in Eleusiniis sacris mussitant, tam evidenter tradita, ut neminem fallere possent animadverti. He himself confesseth who were his teachers in Chimistry, and that he was far from being the first Inventour of it. Theophrastus Paracelsus natus anno Christi 1493. mortuus 1541. Hic non erubuit confiteri se remedia in Chymicis accepisse, & his ipsis Scientiam Artis Chymiae debere. Antiqui Philosophi (ait in 2. parte Chirurgiae mag. tractat. 3. c. 1.) studiosi indagandarum longae vitae causarum (recitamus breviter sententiam) destituti vero perfecta praeparandorum componendorumque medicamentorum scientia ab Alchymistis eam petere non sunt veriti, atque sic utronemque laboribus conjunctis genuina praeparandorum remediorum Scientia exorta, & variis Chemicis experimentis in medicinam transfusis est aucta, maxime vero tincturis & floribus metallicis, quarum tincturarum quanta fuerit efficacia, antiqui ea de re Codices testantur, quos diu a Pseudomedicorum turba suppressos, nos publicos facere non dubitavimus. Remedia nostra ex Chymicorum S • hola prodiisse non dubito fateri: & quoniam Chymica ars infinitis erroribus scatere visa est, illud quoque Augiae stabulum re • urgandi laborem sumpsimus: in quo felicius mihi versari licuit, quod ob ineunte aetate magnae Artis studio captus summa diligentia sub excellentissimis praeceptoribus Arti huic studuerim. Praeceptores enim fuerunt Wilhelmus Hohenheimius Pater, & alii infiniti: praeter hos quoque scriptis adjutus sum Setthagii Episcopi, Erhardi Laventalii, Nicolai Hipponensis Episcopi, Matthaei Schechtii Suffraganei Treisingensis, Abbatis Spanheimii, aliorumque doctissimorum Chemistarum: Quin & variis eorum experimentis factus sum locupletior, inter quos honoris causa nominandus mihi venit nobilissimus vir Sigismundus Fueger Schwathensis, qui magnis sumptibus pluribus ministris sustentatis Chemicam accessione locupletavit. Haec ibi Paracelsus. Neqne vero falsa scribere est putandus, quandoquidem seculum istum & exercitiis Chymicis & voluminibus sca • uit, cum jam plures tractatus typis publicis sint impressi, nihilominus cernimus, subinde ex tenebris prodire plures, ita ut ne Thesauri quidem multi videantur sufficere cupiendis, nec Theatra.

His followers confess, that he borrowed much out of Basilius Valentinus, and more out of Isaacus Hollandus, as Penottus declares,De de • ar. medic. Cum incidissem in Isaaci librum de opere vegetabili, reperi de verb • ad verbum doctrinam de tribus principiis, & de separatione quatuor Elementorum ab eo desumptam • Unde constat illum praecipua sua Opera suffuratum fuisse, atque hinc inde expiscatum: Vide Conring. de med. He • m. c. 2 • . p. 252, 253. ut de gradationibus medicinarum ab Arnoldo, Archidoxa a Raymundo Lullio ex sua Arte operativa: de Arcanis a Rupescissa; nihil prorsus a seipso praeter convitia: & maledicta: a Trithemio varia.—The same is confessed by Quercetan somwhere as I remember, and he himself intimates it by adding to many preparations the words, Ex nostra correctione, ex me a emendatione. Out of all which it is evident, that neither the Grecians, nor the disputing Ages were so ignorant of Chymistry, as Mr. Glanvill asserts; as it is certain that the Arabians as well as the Grecians were disputers and followers of Aristotle and Galen, and that particularly Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon were Schoolmen. Nor can any man doubt the same of those other Bishops and Monks, who knows with what perfect Veneration, in those days Aristotle was regarded. How useful and how luciferous their Processes w • re, it is not for Mr. Glanvill to judge, who is ignorant of them: but any one will allow them • both the one and the other, recommmendation, who considers that their Chymical Processes which passed amongst them gave occasion to all, and make a great part of the improvements in Chymistry, in Dioptricks and other Subjects, wherein our Virtuosi pride themselves. Particularly as to Chymistry, it is as clear that the disputing Ages and followers of Aristotle were acquainted with it, and eminent for it, as that there were Monks and Schoolmen. Those men whom Mr. Glanvill so explodes, and with whom the Historian disports himself, had of late years before Paracelsus, in a manner, solely the knowledge of this Art by which Nature is unwound, &c. De C • ns. Ch • m. c. 3. This Sennertus granteth. Proximis seculis fere inter Monachos latuit Chymia, quorum non pauci illud, quo abundabant, otium post sacras meditationes & orationes, arti huic praestantissimae honeste tribuerunt: inter quos fuerunt Raymundus Lullius, Albertus Magnus, Ioannes de Rupescissa, Savanarola, Morienus, Rogerius, Trithemius, & Frater Basilius Valentinus: quorum scripta multa hoc seculo in lucem edita sunt, & multa adhuc manuscripta passim latent. I hope there is no exception against Sennertus, how partial soever Erastus or Crato may seem. And to af • ront our Virtuoso a little more, it was a follower of Aristotle, and those Disputers, a pitiful School-Divine that discovered the making of Gun-Powder, which single invention out does all that our Collegiates boast of. In the year 1354. Bertholdus Schwarz a Benedictine Monk discovered it, and I dare warrant him in those days no enemy to the man of Stagyra, the Idol of disputers; A very ancient Manuscript gives him this Character. Bertholdus Schwarz Goslariensis Monachus ordinis Sancti Benedicti, cum mire Chymicis delectaretur, atque eorum peritia jam magnam sibi nominis existimationem acquisiisset, &c. Any one may read the rest in Kirchers Mundus subterraneus l. 12. sect. 5. part. 4.

V • ssi • s de ph • losoph c. 12. sect 12. G • ss • . in prae • . ad Euonym. Vossius de philo • . c 13. C • nring de med. Herm c. 26. p. 37 • .I shall relate some particular processes in Chymistry, which are mentioned by such as were not Arabians, but of a much more ancient date. In the time of Iulianus and Valentinianus Emperours lived Aetius Amidenus; he and Nicolaus Myrepsus (who is indeed later then Mesue) do mention the distillation of Oyls per descensum, as Gesner shews; and Vossius together with Conringius avow— Nicolaus Myrepsus (or Praepositus) —in quo illud miror nullam ab eo aquarum oleorumve Chymisticis instrumentis paratorum mentionem fieri. Capnistum tantum oleum, quod per descensum distilletur, describit, ut Aetius quoque. As to the ways of making Chymical Extracts, let any man judge whether the Grecians were ignorant of them, by these passages, as they are cited by Gunterus Billichius, Observat • & paradox. chym. l. 1. c. 2. p. 32. viz. Chylismata extrahuntur aut exprimuntur. Extrahendi nec ars nova est, nec novus modus, quanquam Heurnio ita visum sit Method. ad praxin. lib. 1. & lib. 2. c. 25. Rat • onem ejus a Dioscoride accipe, verbis interpretis Ruellii lib. 3. c. de Gentiana • Contusa, inquit, radix quinque diebus aqua maceratur, postea in eadem tantisper decoquitur, dum extent radices, & ubi refrixit aqua, linteo excolatur: mox discoquitur, dum mellis crassitudo, fiat fictilique reconditur. Similia cap. 9. ejusdem libri de Centaurio minore habet. Dabo tibi ipsissima Dioscoridis verba; Dioscorides lived in the days of Cleopa • ra and Marc. Anton. whose Physician he was, a so lower of Herophilus, and consequently of H • ppocrates and A • istotle. Vide Voss de philos. c. 11. sect. 40. & I • nsium de script. hist. & p • il. l. 2. c. 6 • p. 145. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Nequid ad plenitudinem artificii deesset, subjungit; Quod siquid concretum faucibus vasis adhaerescat, deradunt, reliquoque humori permiscent. Item haec; Quae autem • iccis radicibus aut herbis liquamenta exprimuntur, decocta (ut in Gentianae mentione retulimus) praeparantur. Ita Lycium & Abscynthium, hypocistis, & consimilia coguntur. De Lycio vide cap. 135. lib. 1. de hypocistide libri ejusdem cap. 128. Chylismatis den • que absynthini, cap. 26. meminit. Nec aliter Extractum Melampodii clarissimus Raymundus Mindeserus concinnavit, quod in Pharmacopoeia Augustana inter Ecchylismata Cathortica locum non postremum reperit. Ut liqueat, extrahendi artificium, dignum omnino fuisse, quod & erudita antiquitas inveniret, & non degener posteritas imitaretur. Nec quicquam Chymia novi, praeter liquorem attulit.

Concerning fixed and Alcalisate Salts, the Chymists and Chymical Physicians make a great noise: and undoubtedly the Invention is very extraordinary, and their use very singugular in Medicine. See the antiquity of the use of Alcalisate and other Salts by the Ancients, largely proved by M. Rulandus p • ogymn. alchym. qu. 14, 15. Yet both the preparation and the use of them is set down by Dioscorides, Galen, Vide Galen, de Theriaca sub finem, & Pharmacop. Augustan. in append. ad antidot. class. de Salib. Theriacal. and Aetius, in their discourses about Theriacal Salts; Though latter days have reformed the preparation, • . Bellichius observat. & paradox. chym. l. 1. c. 2. p. 30. & in Thessalo chymicum. c. 7. p. 90. as Galen endeavoured to do that which he found in use in his time. Besides, I observe out of Gunterus Bellichius, that Aristotle was not ignorant of it. Aristoteles auctor est, Umbros cinerem harundinis & junci decoquere aqua solitos, donec exiguum superesset humoris: qui ubi refrixisset, salis copiam fecerit, lib. 2. meteor. cap. 3. Hoc se apud Theophrastum invenire Plinius testatur, lib. 31. cap. 7. Idemque non harundinei tantum juncique salis meminit, sed colurni insuper, & querni. Amborum autoritate (nam de Theophracto nihil mihi constat) Chymicorum castigabitur temeritas, quae suis inventis salem cineritum annumerare aus • est.

The preparation of Salt-peter with Sulphur, in order to the making of what the Chymical Physicians call Sal prunellae, was known to Hippocrates, and others of the ancients, and they used it in Squinonsyes in Gargarismes for the tongue and throat. Desinant in posterum Chymici de lapide Prunellae magnifice gloriari. Nam & apud Hippocratem 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 quater invenimus. G. Bellichius observ. chym. l. 1. c. 5. p 49. Semel quidem in tertio de morbis: bis in de internis affectionibus: denique semel in lib. de morb. mulier. Ac ne dubites erudite antiquitati cognitum eum lapidem fuisse, Plinius auctor est, nitrum frequenter liquatum cum Sulphure coqui in carbonibus, sulphuri concoctum in lapidem verti. Haec recognosce ex lib. 31. cap. 10. And the same Author saith elsewhere,G. Bellichius ib l. 2. c. 5. p. 119. Prae aliis omnibus inclaruit 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Hippocratis seu lapis Plinii nitrarius, dictus a barbarorum pruna seu angina, cui singulariter mederi perhibetur. Nec nova est quaecunque ea laus. Nam & Hippocrates abstergendae Salivae & •• uco, ac facilitandae exscreationi nitrum anginosis obtulit, indiditque collationibus Oris. Lib. 2. de morbis, sect. 49.

Neither is the way of subliming Flowers of Benzoin, any thing else then the imitation of that way which the Ancients had of condensing Soot. Id. ib. l. 1. c. 2. p. 32. So Bellichius informs me, Fuligo, definiente Scaligero, cujusque rei pinguis crematilis pars est, ac demum aliarum rerum fumus condensatus, Exerc. 56. Modus conficiendae ejus, siquid artificii subest, apud Dioscoriden extat, lib. 1. c. 85, 86, 94, 97. imitatio apud Beguinum, quando Benzoinum defloravit, l. 2. c. 18.

It may perhaps be granted by most intelligent persons, that the making of Extracts, and fixed Salts, and such instances of Vegetables being prepared as I have given, and the glory of those inventions cannot justly be denied unto those disputing Ages; but that the preparation of Minerals, and the medicinal use of them inwardly, is a discovery the ancient times were not acquainted with. And this is the judgment of many learned men. But in refutation of it, seeing that the inward use of Antimony, as it is several ways prepared, refers to Basilius Valentinus, and before his days; since that, sundry preparations of Mercury are more ancient then the humour of Novellism; since Paracelsus, Hartman, Crollius did but publish the processes of Aristoteleans, Avicennists, and such like Monks and Physicians; all that our Virtuoso can derive from this Plea is, that the Arabians, adherents to the old Philosophy and their followers, did improve the extent of Chymistry, and added thereunto as they did in the other practice of Physick, the use of Rhubarb, Cassia, Manna, Tamarinds, and other benign medicines: and this demonstrates that Philosophy and those notions not to be so steril, as they are represented in comparison of the Fecundity of the Cartesian Principles, from whence Physick hath received little (if any) benefit or advantage. But to raise this Enquiry beyond the times of the Saracen Empire, it is manifest out of Pliny, that mineral-waters were drunk in those ancient times: and that the Stomoma or rust of iron, as also that drinks in which Iron was quenched, was given in the time of Dioscorides and Galen.

Diosc. l. 5. • . 53.

Galen. l. 1. de • uporist. c. 17.

That Brimstone was given inwardly by Hippocrates to asthmatick persons. That the Squamma aeris was given inwardly, as a purge and vomit by Hippocrates,

Hippocr. de vict. in morb. acut.

Vide Doring. de medicina, p. 217. Ruland progymn. qu. 20. Brassavol. de me • . pu • g. p. 1 • 7. • oteri • s. Pha • macop. Spagir. l. 2. c • .

Galen, Dioscorides and Celsus: and the Experiment happily tried by Brassavolus, that great Experimentator again of later years. So the giving of Sandaracha, or Orpiment inwardly for old coughs; and the suffiment made out of it, are recorded by Dioscorides: the trochises of it recommended anew by Mesue, and the more modern trials in Riverius. Even Chalcitis is an ingredient in the ancient Treacle of Andromachus. I shall conclude all with the passage of Doringius in the place already cited, Praeter Sandarachum Isidorus, Athenaeus, Idius, Eubulus, Heras, Gemellus, Agathius, Nicostratus, Menander, Doring. de med • c. & med. p. • 19. Vide & Ruland. progymn. Alch qu. 20. Thanyros, Deletius Epagathus, Asclepiades, & alii: Alumen scissum, Auripigmentum, Aeris squammam, Aes ustum, Calcem vivam, Sulphur vivum, faeces unde ustas, Cadmiam, Cerussam, Gypsum, Stibium sive Antimonium in pastillos redacta dysentericis praescripserunt: quorum praeparandi rationem & utendi modum vide apud Galenum lib. 9. de compos. med. sec. loc. c. 5. Out of which passages any Reader will gue • s what President later Authors had out of the more remote Ancients for the giving minerals inwardly; and if we are just to the Arabians and their followers, we shall scarcely allow them any further honour, then to have found out some new ways to serve up old dishes.

I shall adde, that in Egypt, at such time as the repute of the Egyptian Priests, and their phantastical Philosophy had given way to the followers of Hippocrates, Aristotle, Herophilus, and others, that introduced the Grecian Learning there, that is, in, and somewhat before the days of Dioclesian, the Egyptians were Masters of that Secre • of making Gold, which our inquisitive Moderns have so vainly sought after. Before that Age there is no mention of it, and then it is said they had such knowledge of the Art of making Gold, that thereby they were enriched and impowered to make War upon the Romans; and being overcome by the Emperour Dioclesian, he burned all the books which they had, containing the Mysteries of that Art, to prevent any future commotions of that Nature. So Suidas in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 he says, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The renown of this Story is not questioned by the Chymists, Ioan. Langii Ep. med. l. 1. ep. • 3. de Orig. Alchym. But O •• s. and Paulus Diaconus were credulous W • iters, and of little repu • t. Libavius in exam. censur. Parisi • ns. Ro • fincius • hym. Art. no. redact l 1. c. •• & Conring. de med. Herm. c 3. p. 21. and I finde the learned Ioannes Langius to give credit unto it, quoting for the truth of it in his margin, besides Suidas; Orosius l. 7. c. 16. And Paulus Diaconus in the life of Diocletian: Neither doth Libavius or Rolfincius elevate the authority thereof, though he mention the passage of Suidas. And to give a further colour unto this relation, I am informed that Aeneas Gazaeus, who lived in the latter end of the fifth Century, when Zeno and Anastasius were Emperours, treating of the Resurrection, hath this passage, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But these Narrations ar • rejected by such as deny that other metalls may be transmuted into Gold: It is replied by Erastus, that either those Egyptian books contained nothing but the Art of melting down of metalls, Erastus de metallis, p. 103. and separating the latent Gold therefrom: or that Suid •• being a late writer, living but 500 years ago, about 800 years or more after Diocletian, might have been imposed upon by the Chymists of those times (in Greece, Conring. de med. Herm. c. 3 p. 23. and during the disputing Ages! mark that Mr. Glanvill) who even then might have feigned some such stories as that (and the Allegorising of the Golden Fleece) just as they have within the last Centuries counterfeited the Works of Mos • s and Solomon, and entitle them unto their Fictions. There are an infinity of stories in Suidas, which render his Assertions suspected: and in this he hath not the countenance of any ancient Writer to second him. It seems strange, that the Romans having so long ruled in Egypt absolutely, and their Governours, they not being to be supposed free from all desires of gain, how they should never apprehend the Artifice, nor have the least mention of it in their Writers (Greek or Latine) till the end of the fourth Century: and that so remarkable a passage as this is should be omitted by those ancient Writers, who relate both the war and actings of Diocletian after his victory.Id • ib p. 22. As for that saying of Aenaeas Gazaeus, it is replied that he speaks by hear-say, rather then certain knowledge of the operation: that there have not wanted many learned persons,De plant. resuscit. vide Bellich. Thessal. rediv. c. 7. Rolfinc. art. chym. l. 6. c. 3. & l. 7. c. 19. who have with a great deal of confidence, illustrated the Resurrection by contemplations of the Phoenix, and of the forms of Plants resuscitated in their several Salts, as if both were realities: yet is there no such thing as either the one or the other.

Out of all which it is evident that Chymistry was a practice known and in use am • ng the Sectators of Aristotle: and that the Grecian and disputing Ages were not unacquainted with those Processes, though these latter times have been more various and inquisitive, and have reduced that Art into better Method, and enlarged the Practice of Physick, with an infinity of Medicines: and indeed we must confess our ••• ves very much obliged by the labours of ingenious Chymis ••• and that they have afforded multitudes of Experiments, such as contribute to the delight of all Philosophical heads, and to the Cure of many that being sick; have either better opinion of Chymical Medicines then of others, or are pleased with their small, and commonly more pleasant d • se.

See this largly disputed by Liba • ius in exam. censur. Parisiens.But that those parts into which Chymists reduce things, are latent in the compound body, otherwise then by the Aristotelean distinction of formaliter and materialiter (so much laughed at by Mr. Glanvill, pag. 119.) This is an Assertion which doth not become any man that pretends to have read Mr. Boyle in his Sceptical Chymist, where that Point is too amply debated to be here transcribed, or ever (I think) refuted. Having denied Mr. Glanvill, Vide Kerger. de fermentat. sect • 1. c. 3. p. • 0. & Rolfinc. chym. in a • . • ed. l. 1. c. 19. Conring. de med. Hermet. c. 22. that by those useful and luciferous processes, Nature is unwound and resolved into the minute Rudiments of its composition. Which Rudiments were not made use of at the first Creation, when one Fiat created those compound bodies, which Artful Fires sometimes (and but sometimes) analyse into several parts, as Salts, Oyle, or Sulphur and Spirit, and those grosser Elements of Earth and water. All which are not found in many bodies, (and when they are, it is with a great discrepancy betwixt those of one Concrete, and those of another) nor any of them to be separated from Gold. De fe • ment. c 1. p. 4. Which Libavius, no, nor Dr. Willis doth not make to be the last unmixt, and simple Constituents of natural bodies, sed • jusmodi tantum substantias, in quas veluti partes ultimo sensibiles res Physicae resolvuntur: Substances into which natural bodies are resolved finally as far as sense can judge, and when the Analysis is prosecuted in one sort of procedure: for another method, different Solvents, and different Fires discover different parts, and those sensible too from what the usual Chymistry builds upon. Having denied him this, I must further tell him, that when the Countreywoman sets her Eggs to be hatched, she produceth by those means such bodies as no Chymical fires wi • h • heir vexatious Analysis ever would discover: so she doth when she doth brew and churms her butter. Nor is this more evident, then it is clear that the Chymical principles, when they come to be accommodated to the solving of the Phaenomena in nature, or in diseases, have as much of darkness and dissatisfaction in them, as occurs in the Peripatetick way: so that now we are more dubious, not more knowing, then before: and this any man that hath considered how the Chymical Physicians disagree about the causes of diseases, and even about the common Phaenomena of Nature, will easily grant me: nor will it appear less manifest, that if the Chymical hypotheses do take place, that it will subject the Mechanick Philosophy, and establish that of Anaximander, revived by the ingenious Berigardus.

But Mr. Glanvill adds, Plus ultra, p. 11. That Chymistry directs Medicines less lothsom, and far more vigorous, and freeth the spirits and purer parts from the clogging and noxious appendices of grosser matter, which not only hinder and disable the operation, but leave hurtful dregs in the body behind them. — This Plea for the preferring CHYMICAL Medicines before those commonly called Galenical, is much insisted on by Beguinus, Quercetanus, and others of that way. Yet, first it is observable, that whether we regard taste or smell, those very Authors recommend as odious medicaments, and as loathsom, as ever Coerdus or Foesius in their Dispensatories, if not worse. Will any man in his Wits condemn Wormwood and Centory because of their bitter taste, or Castoreum for the smell? Secondly, every thing is not the better for being extracted. Thus the Extract of Rhubarb, Freictag. noct. med. c. 75. p. 325. See Mr. Boyle of the usefulness of Philos. part 2 p. 148, &c. though quickned with its Salt, is not so efficacious as plain Rhubarb, except it be sophisticated with Diagridium. Nor is Cynnamom improved by Extraction. Their being more vigorous and freed from grosser parts is not always a commendation, and sometimes it carries danger with it. That those grosser parts, and those natural vehicles are requisite, seems even thence clear, that their spirits & essences must be tempered and mixed often with other gross bodies before they be given.

See this point fully debated in the Vulgar Errors of Primrose, l. 4. c 3. which I desire Mr. Glanvill to read.

In Pha • mac • p. August. De CC philosophice calcinat. p. 805.

Those appendices of grosser matter are not always noxious to Nature, since in our meats we finde none to be able to live on Chymical viands, but good Kitchin-Preparations. How many ways are there of preparing Harts-horn, yet is there not one that equalls the crude Horn. I shall set down Zwelfers words, whose credit no Chymist almost will extenuate. Licet ex cornibus vel ossibus ita Philosophice calcinatis distillationi subjectis de spiritu sale volatili, & oleo ipsorum foetido nonnihil eliciatur, non tamen propterea existimandum ipsa adhuc iisdem quibus crudum cornu pollere viribus vel majoribus etiam (prout nonnulli sibi imaginantur & asserunt) vel etiam, ut alii arbitrantur, hac calcinatione nihil aliud peractum fuisse quam quod friabilia, ad pulverandum aptiora, & magis pura reddita sunt: Neutiquam, Quippe, qui ambo cornua, tam crudum quam Philosophice calcinatum, examini ignis subjiciet, reipsa deprehendet multum de nativa sua humiditate, de sale volatili & oleo huic cornu Philosophice calcinato detractum esse, & eorundem vix parte quarta adhuc gaudere, ut propterea & hanc calcinationem Philosophicam, licet totali exustione aliquanto meliorem, In prosecution of this point let any man consider, that Chymical oyle of Annis • eds is not so effectual as the powder. Heurn. meth. adv. l. 1. c. 5. Nor doth the like oyle of Camomile equal the infusion, as Simon Pauls • l. quadrip. p. 2 • 5. practically observed. So the common Pillute de succino and Franckfort-pills transcend the • i • ute • oses of divers and the most famed Panchymagog • . This • s an observation so common with all practitioners, that none but Mountebank • and Q • acks can deny it. Crato, S • eeghius, Hofman, and others, generally taking notice of it. approbare nequeam: e contra vero ipsum crudum cervi cornu subtiliter & minutim raspatum pluris aestimem, quod tamen diversimode parari, inque virtutibus sui • exaltari potest: Ut vel in substantia, forma nimirum pulveris, vel in aqua deco • tum & in mucilaginem vel gelatinam conversam tuto & sine nausea propinari possit. Nor is this more true in Harts-horn than in Vipers, which are more effectual being eaten as Eeles, or by a common infusion in wine, or given in powder (plain powder) then when reduced to volatile Salt and Essences. It is also false, that Chymical preparation always amends, or doth not render some things worse: The ingredients of sublimated Mercury are not poison; the result is. How much is the nature of Antimony and Mercury altered by preparing, so that a few grains prove mortal to the taker, who might without prejudice devour great quantities of either of them unprepared,M. Ruland. progymn. Alchym. qu. 33. Hydrargyrus, Antimonium crudum larga saepius porriguntur: The infusion of crude Antimony, (a pound in four Gallons of Ale) often rectifies all impurities of the blood, as well any viper-wine: and Mercury, which being crude is not only given in Pills by sundry Physicians, Poterius Pharmacop. Spagir. l. 1. p. 352. This experiment is not down in the two Treatises of the Vituosi about the sophistication of wines: but in short, those • ieces (as much as they are famed before they came out) have been laughed at by all knowing persons and Wine-coopers. but drunk without any hurt in greater or lesser quantities in several cases. Non desunt qui Mercurium crudum in dolioli fundo detinent, ferunt vinum ne arescat, aut vaporem contrabat, aut pendulum fiat, ea ratione fieri. Nos tale vinum ad ventris lumbricos plurimum valere certo scimus. As for the hurtful dr • gs which the Galenical Medicaments are said to leave behind: I am confident, that whosoever shall enquire into the ill consequences of the two Pharmaceutics, will say, that if the Galenical be not always the most efficacious, it is always the most safe and innocent: and any man will be more apt to dread the violent impressions which the powerful spirits and minerals may make upon the membranes of the Stomach (which may introduce an irrelievable distemper in the torenus of that part, whereupon depends the nutriment, health, and vigour of the whole body) then any noxious faeces or little and remediable hurt from the generality of the Galenical Medicaments. Qui Deum credit malefactorum vindic • m ultoremque, is a noxiis medicamentis, cum ad manum sunt alia, diligenter abstinebit: ne quando homicidii, accusante conscientia, reus fiat, parum profuerit novend • ci • curasse periculoso curationis genere, quo vigesimus, aut triges • mus sit necatus. Erastus disp. de propr. medic. c. 65. And there is this to be said in Iustification of that Course—that those who have most decried it, and raised their r • pute upon a different way, yet have practised with it. In ipsius Paracelsi scriptis passim la •• antur remedia morborum vulgarimodo & composita & praeparata. Conring. de med. Herm. c. 21. p 279. Palundan. epist. ad H. Smet. Ea habetur in Bartholini cista med. in vita Severini. p. 127. Etiam Petrus Severinus teste Paludano, Medicamentis Paracelsicis non semper usus est, verum & compositionibus Galenicis saepe. Nor are Paracelsus & Petrus Severinus Danus singular in this action: it is the common usage of Quercetan, Crollius, and Hartman; not to mention Dr. Willis: I shall adde, that Chymical medicines have never or very seldom answered their expectation, which men raise of them: and whosoever shall inquire into the credit which Paracelsus, Petrus Severinus, Phedro, Vide Conring. de med. Herm. c. 2 • p. 358, &c. de Paracelso, de Phedrone, & Pharmacis Paracelsicis vide Bernardum Diss • nniam Croneburgium in def med. veter. c. 40, 41, &c. & de Petro Severino Dano. Vide epistolam Palu dani, ubi supra. De Scheunemanno vide Rolfinc. chym. l. 1. c. • 8. p. 51. or Scheunemannus, or Helmont gained by these refined Medicaments, he shall observe that either they are infamous for their destructive courses of Physick, or at best atchieved nothing beyond other Mortals, except by Chance. In fine, though I have seen very good success of many Chymical Medicines; yet dare I not express so great an admiration for them as Mr. Glanvill declares: and if he in all the number of his Philosophick friends, had but one understanding Physician, or two, they would tell him, That there are some diseases in themselves, or by accident incurable; that men will die under the most able Physicians, and that the most best and innocent Physick will som • times have effects different from the wishes and hopes of the Doctor:Nec Paracelsi s • ctatores prob • , qui medicina dogmatica explosa & relicta, Elixir vitae, quintas essen • ias. Axungiam Solis & Lunae, &c. & alia pe • nicios • & deterrinia pharmaca in parva dosi, magno cum supercilio exhibere solent, aegrorum palato consulere volentes: cum hoc titulo tenus saltem medicamenta sint, ipsorum quidem opinione singularia, revera autem mortis • ercula & p • cula, quib • s pler • mque corpus humanum vehementer exagitatur, & magna cum jactatione satigatur, & ita debilitatur, ut aut ae • re aut nunquam amplius, pristinas vires recuperet. Gabelchover. Cent. 6. hist. 7. in annot. p. 24. and he would finde that by ordinary medicaments not purged from thei • dregs,, nor exalted into spirits and essen • es, as great Cures a • e done by Countrey-Physicians and Countrey-Gentlewomen oftentimes, as any ever were wrought by Chymistry. The Physick which is celebrated in the Scripture, that which St. Luke, St. Iames, Cosmas and Damianus, Ioannes D • mascenus, and others followed, was that which our Divine scruples, at least it leaves dregs in the body.

I confess that among the Egyptians, and Arabians, and Paracelsians, and some other Moderns, Chymistry was very fantastick, unintelligible and delusive; and the boasts, vanity, and canting of those Spagyrists brought a scandal upon the Art, and exposed it to suspicion and contempt: but what the Society have done in order to its improvement, I understand not so well as Mr. Glanvill seems to do: the Treatise of Dr. Willis about Fermentation was writ before he was of that number: and I know not how he hath improved Chymistry much since. And in that famed Piece, all is not to be reckoned upon as invented (much less is improved) that is written. His notion of Fermentation, as thereby he expresseth the natural and praeternatural occurrences in our bodies, is taken from Bellich. de sermentat. sect. 8 • . His notion of the fire in the heart it very near related to the doctrine of Contingius de calido innato; and the comparison of the bloud with wine is derived from Carolus Piso: so that those things (which are the principal in his book) seem rather illustrated excelently well, then new discoveries and Hypotheses. Those that have improved it most, and made it intelligible, are Beguinus, Crollius, Quercetan, Hartman, Angelus Sala, Schroder, Zwelfer, Sennertus, Glauber, and others, that never conversed with the Society, whose Improvements are not mentioned by Mr. Glanvill, though so great, that (considering what men now write or do, is but by their Example, and after they had removed away all difficulties) all that our Inventors have done, doth not deserve to be mentioned.

I shall adde, that we owe not only the invention, and rude improvement of Chymistry to the Disputative followers of Hippocrates, Aristotle, Galen, those superstitious Porers upon the Writings of the Ancients, those ridiculo • s Schoolmen, and Monks, and Physicians, but even the present credit and esteem which it hath in the world, and upon which it hath so farre advanc • d it self. It was not Paracelsus with all his noise and Insolen •• , but the Dogmatical Physicians, who observing the benefit thereof in Pharmacy gave it fame, and introduced it into the Shops, and Cabinets of Princes, and the use of serious and considerate Persons. Crato introduced it into the Emperours Court at Vienna: Crato medicin. ep 137. Erast. adr. Para • e • s. part. 4 p. 285. & de metall. p • 8. not a Chymical Oyle, or Extract was prepared there, till he gav • Encouragemen • to the thing. So did Erastus, a greater enemy to Paracelsus than to Chymical Physick: as appears by that saying which he uttered in the midst of his Disputes and animosities against the Paracelsians. Equidem ne absoluta est Ars nostra sine distillatoria. And had not Langius, Audernacus, Gesuerus, Senner • de cons. chym. c. 2. Fernelius, Zwingerus, Schegkius, Augenius, Minadous, Matthiolus, Libavius, and many other Physicians of the Hippocratical way introduced the sober and honest practice of it, and rendred it helpful to common life, perhaps our Virtuosi had never medled with it, at least not have been able to give it any esteem in the world. But now that the Galenists and Aristoteleans, (as they are commonly called) have refined it from its dross, and cast of • the Chrysopoietick and delusory designs, and magical intermixtures, and Rosicrucian vapours and superstitions, all which they effected; and gave Mr. Glanvill the opportunity of this Cant, with which I conclude this discourse.

Mr. Glanvill, p. 1 • . I confess, Sir, that among the Egyptians, and Arabians, and Paracelsians, and some other Moderns, Chymistry was very phantastick, and unintelligible, and delusive: and the boasts, vanity, and cantings of those Spagyrists brought a Scandal upon the Art, Perhaps not s • delusory as Mr. Glanvill thinks: but I am sure the projects some go upon are delusory, have much of the Rosicrui • n humour in them: and the design of introducing a • ensible Philosophy is the pretence of C • ollius, and of the Rosicrusive Order. and exposed it to suspicion and contempt. But its late Cultivators, and particularly the ROYALL SOCIETY have refined it from its dross, and made it honest, sober, and intelligible, an excellent Interpreter to Philosophy, and help to common life. For they have laid aside the Chrysopoi • tick, and delusory designs, and vain transmutations, and Rosicrucian vapors, Magical Charms and superstitious suggestions, and formed it into an instrument to know the Depths and Efficacies of Nature. — All this without dispute the Society hath done; and without disputing. And hereupon I do agree with our Virtuoso, that they have no small advantage above the old Philosophers of the N • tional way.

Of Anatomical Improvements.

WE have another advantage above the Ancients in the study, Plus u • tra, p. 12. use, and vast Improvements of Anatomy, which we find as needful to be known among us, as 'tis wonderful 'twas known so little among the Ancients, whom a fond Superstition deterr'd from dissections. For the Anatomising the bodies of men was counted barbarous and inhumane in elder Times: And I observe from a learned man of our own, that the Romans held it unlawful to look on the Entrails. And Tertullian severely censures an inquisitive Physician of his time for this practice, saying, That he hated man, that he might know him. Yea, one of the Popes (I take it 'twas Boniface 8.) threatens to excommunicate those that should do any thing of this then-abominable nature. And Democritus was fain to excuse his dissection of Beasts, even to the great Hippocrates. Nor does it appear by any thing extant in the writings of Galen, that that other Father of Physicians ever made any Anatomy of humane bodies. Thus shy and unacquainted was Antiquity with this excellent Art, which is one of the most useful in humane life, and tends mightily to the eviscerating of Nature, and disclosure of the Springs of its Motion.

I have set down without any interruption the words of this English Bravo and Hector of our Modern Philosophers, that my Reader might come with a greater expectation to the perusal of my Animadversions: so high a charge of ignorance upon the Ancients, such useful discoveries of the Moderns render the former to be contemptible fellows, and the latter a very beneficial and important party in this Age. But if it do appear that the Moderns have not as yet convinced us by their works and great performances in Physick, that the knowledge of these new inventions is so necessary to Physicians, and so advantageous to mankind, but that those which either slight or ignore their discoveries, acquire a greater repute, are more employed and possessed of a more honourable and gainful practice, and, in fine, do greater Cures in general, then our Braggadochios; then is there no such reason for this Triumph of Mr. Glanvill, as he imagines. The better to judge hereof, I desire all con • idering men to look back upon the several Physicians, who have flourished in Greece, Rome and Barbary, and to view the present state of Physick in Italy, Spain, and France, and try his most severe judgement if it be possible for him to condemn that Physick as imperfect and pitifully deficient, which gave that credit to Hippocrates, Galen, Rhases, Avicenne, Fernelius, Lacuna, Mercatus, Vallesius, Christophorus, and Thomas a Veiga, Claudinus, Massarius, Septalius, Rondeletius, Hollerius, Ballonius, Rodericus a Castro, Fonseca, Saxonia, Sennertus, Crato, Prosper Alpinus, Antonius Musa Basavola, Hofman, and many others whom I shall not name; as indeed I name these without any order) which they now • njoy. Let him set his most ambitious thoughts on work, and see if he can propose to his desires greater things then they attained unto, and atchieved. Let him employ all his envy, and yet condemn their Diagnosticks, Prognosticks, or that Secretorum Secretissimum, their method of curing, and their Medicines. If there be little or no fault in these parts, it • ignifies not much what principles they went upon in Philosophy, nor whether they did mistake or ignore some things in Anatomy, as long as they were not such as hindred a Physician from the obtaining of that end which is designed by his Art: And as to the improvement of the Therapeutick part of Physick, by new Medicaments, or new and more pleasant preparations of old Medicaments, if they be no more efficacious then the former, we pay to the Inventors those acknowledgements, which we do to the introducers of new garbs and fashions of clothes, the best contrivances whereof, howsoever they may excel in conveniency, cannot be endeared unto us by the representations of being necessary. I have named practical Physicians; I shall now instance in Chirurgery: What man is there in this Age, that would not be content with the repute of Ingrassias, Vesalius, Fallopius, Carcanus, Aquapendens, Spigelius, Marchettis, Severinus Paraeus, Chalmetaeus, Pigraeus, Guillemeau, Hildanus, &c? or what man is there in this inquisitive Age, that any sober man would compare with them, much less prefer before them? If the Posture of Physick be such, and that the value we ought to place on every thing be to be regulated by its subserviency and conduciveness to some end, (finis conciliat mediis gratiam) it is easie to judge what certain esteem we are to put upon the modern Improvements of Knowledge in order to Physick, and how far we may justly censure the Ancients, and such as either slight or are ignorant of them. I profess my self not to know what disease it is that the Virtuosi cure better, or with more certainty then those that follow those other of the Dogmatical way. If it were done, there would not want such as should cry such performances up; besides the inter • st of the Novellists, the sence of thei • great Cu • es • would gain them all the practice that is now in the hands of such as vary not from the ancient Method, and Rules of that Art. I shall adde, that I could demonstrate by unden • able testimonies, and such as ar • confirmed by modern trials, that the introducing of new Medicines, either Chymical, or otherwise, and the neglect of a diffused reading, hath occasioned the dis-use and ignorance of several Medicines for Consumptions, the Gout, Plague, and other grievous diseases, which might be attempted with much more assurance, then is to be placed upon the later Methods. To prosecute this point further, I shall tell you, that Physicians hitherto looked with a great indifference upon the Principles of natural Philosophy, whether they were true, or no; so that they did but serve as convenient Memorials to regulate them in their practice, and that they did guide them to their wished end with such certainty, as if they were true. All disputes about Natural Philosophy that did not refer to practice, they looked upon as Curiosities, going beyond their Art, and about which they would not contend, so as that the Method of curing were not undermined thereby. Upon this account they did allow of two sorts of Truth, the one in Physick, the other in Natural Philosophy, and that what was such in one, might not be such in the other. This President they derived from their great Master, Hippocrates, who in his discourses sometimes proceeds upon the Doctrine of the four Elements, as if that were true: Sometimes he goes upon the doctrine of Atomes, as if he regulated his Cures thereby: sometimes he seems to favour the T • nets of the Chymists; 〈…〉 § 14 C • n ••• ning the • e • ning o • whi • h pla • e see E. • •• us a • v P • rac. p. • . pag. 96 & Con • ing. de H • rm • t. med. c. 1 • p 191. and he cries out as Mr. Boyle, and other Chymists cite him, Non calidum, frigidum, humidum, siccum esse quod maximam vim agendi habet in corpore, verum amarum, & falsum, & dulce, & acidum, &c. Somtimes he proceeds as it were upon the principles of the old Methodists, and ascribes the origin of diseases to the altering of the texture of the body, to the different conformation of parts, the different configuration of pores, &c. This was the course that Great Man took: he was willing to observe in all diseases the motions and the course Nature took; to take those for ill signs and symptoms, which he found to be such from that great Instructor; however 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , those ways whereby Nature did usually terminate diseases, were the ways he thought they ought to be terminated by; and he made that the scope to be aimed at in the curing of diseases: those evacuations that had helped naturally to cure, he endeavoured to promote artificially, by such Medicines as Experience shewed to be serviceable to those ends, when administred at due times and seasons. In short, he made himself absolutely the slave of Nature, attended on her motions, sometimes gently leading her on, as it were a Gentleman-Usher; sometimes following her, as a Page, never pretending to command her by his Medicines: So cautious he was, that he would not adventure to do good unseasonably, and at other houres then his Teacher directed him, lest he should do harm: he would not adventure to shorten a disease, lest he should shorten his Patients life. As if he had foreseen the truth of that observation, which Vallesius, and others in these days experiment, Celerior quam pro morbi longitudine curatio, Consultius esse nullus • escit tempore paulo lo • giore & tu • o • urari, quam paulo breviore cum cert • vitae periculo sanari. Erastus disput. de p • opriet. med. c. 65. sub finem. detrahens plus virium quam pro morbi ratione facit in tempore curandos ante tempus mori. Agreeable to this Method of Hippocrates, was that counsel which Dr. Bathurst (of Black-friers) gave me, when I first seriously set my self to study and observe his practice in Physick, viz. Nunquam ille Medicus magnus erit, quisquis patitur sese principiis Philosophicis alligari atque constringi. It is impossible for any person to be a great Physician, who ties up himself to one sort of Natural Philosophy, as if it were really true and certain: the operation of Medicaments is oftentimes such as answers not the Principles of any Philosophy, and the digestions of Nature are so different from those of Chymistry, her fires, her solvents, her filters, her furnaces & vess • ls, her mixtures and degrees of heat so discrepant, that there is no arguing from the one to the other: nor is there any thing to be relied upon in Physick, but an exact knowledge of medicinal Phisiology (founded upon observation, not principles) semeiotics, method of curing, and tried, (not excogitated, not commanding) medicines: where this course fails (as somtimes it will) we then try uncertain Medicines, rather then abandon the Patient to those Prognosticks, which are seldom so fatal as to destroy all hope; and where Skill is at a loss, we frequently behold Chance to be successful. And this last is the Mystress of our Reforming Physicians, it is under her conduct that they will enrich our Therapeutick part of Medicine, and alter our Method. I shal not enlarge further hereupon, being content to have shewed what esteem Physicians have had Philosophy in, and how they have had as little regard to the truth of their principles in natural Philosophy, as a man ought to have to the hand of a Dial, or which points out the way to any place: It is not requisite that it be a real hand, whatever men call it; nor would we endure the impertinencies of any that should go about to perswade us out of our way, because they that cald that an hand, were mistaken: In sum, so the way be good and certain, I am content to be one of those whom the Italian Proverb commends, for going that way which the Mules go. Ito qua Muli eunt. In this opinion I have amongst late Writers the learned Hofman, Instit. med l. 2 c. • sect. 11, 1, &c. & Ad a •• ed. c 1. whose words are these, Quae enim necessitas est Medicum semper loqui cum Physico, siquidem usus, a quo pendet ars nostra, aliud velit, vel certe permittat? Quid enim ibi VERITAS est, hic UTILITAS est.

Nor will it be amiss to propose the Judgment of the learned Practitioner Ioannes Antonides Vander Linden, which he passed not long before his death at Leiden A.D. 1659 after a mature consideration of all the new speculations in Natural Philosophy, Jo Ant. Vander Linden de circuitu sanguin. exercita. sub finem. which this last Age had produced and acquainted him with. Physici ab imaginariis incipiunt, per ratiocinia pergunt, & in frivola desinunt. Cordatos obtestor, an apud se non 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ? Ad quid igitur Physica, ut nunc constituta est, Medico? Etiam quae nunc docetur optima (praeter quod Principiis nitatur non necessariis, & ob id certa non sit) quid ad medendum, si scitur, utile; aut, si nescitur, noxii confert? Etiam, si extaret, quae absolute certis principiis & perfectis regulis constaret, tamen Medicinae non esset, nisi Institoria, non Institutoria. Institoria, inquam; nam id Medicis est Physica, quod Fabris omne genus taberna mercium Novicarum. Instituriam Medicin • qui volunt, nae illi sciunt, quid velit detritissimum, ubi desinit Physicus, ibi incipit Medicus. Medicina non habet opus aliena; nedum a Physicis ficta & emendicata principia: habet sua, & certa, & ausa stare contra omnem dubitationis impetum. Qua fiducia concludo: Physica hodierna optima Medicinae parum aut nihil utilis est. Qui habet aures ad audiendum audiat, mentemque sanam in corpore sano habeat. Saltem vos, vos iterum alloquor 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , sapite; & ab ea quae Medicinae larva se tegit, Physica cavete; & hoc agite, ut quam aliquando salutis humanae praesidem Artem in bona conscientia vultis facere, eam ante cum certo fructu regia via velitis discere.

Upon this account I often laugh at our modern Virtuosi, when they dilate themselves with a great deal of ostentation and confidence, about the qualities and correctives of Opium, whether it be hot or cold? which controversie how great soever, hath no influence upon practice, because both agree pretty well in the cases in which it is to be used, and many of the modern preparations and corrections are foolish, and make it worse; And as to that Laudanum of Helmonts amongst the Virtuosi; I have seen much more simple preparations stupifie less, and produce greater Cures, then that did when made by the hands of one of the Society, and given by another of it: whilst the best of Modern Chymists, Zwelfer; Pharmacop. August in conf. Archigenis. bestows this commendation upon that old medicine of Archigenes and Mesues—Erit sic rite praeparata opiata, quae merito Laudani opiati, multarumque aliarum Opiatarum vi •• s supplere poss •• . I could enlarge here, but that Mr. Gla • vill will think I have forgot him.

Having made this general Apology for Physicians, which is sufficient to justifie them, both as to their care of their Pati • nts, and their skill; I shall come to apply my discourse particularly to Mr. Glanvill. It is hard to reconcile the necessity of Anatomy, with the Mosaical Constitutions, it seeming strange that God should make it so unclean a thing for any one to touch a d • ad body, and yet the knowledge of Sceletons should be so necessary. To supply this, the Iewish Rabbins say, that God Almighty did reveal unto Moses the accurate knowledge of Anatomy: and when we consider how they embalmed their dead, and that embalming doth infer a knowledge of dissection, and of the Entrails; when we observe (out of Buxtor • s Synagoga) that artifice with which the Iews kill all Animals, thereby to let out the blood exactly: when we conside • that the multiplicity of accidents in war, or otherwise, would render the knowledge of the inward and outward parts nec • ssary to them, and experience acquaint them with their natur • (not to mention some Iewish relations about the Vid. Rio • an. Anthr • pogr • ph. l. 1. c. 3. opening of the Os pubis and the partus Caesareus) I am apt to think that the ancient Iews were not ignorant of useful Ana • omy, nor so superstitious as totally to avoid the practice of it; nor dar • I say (with our Virtuoso) such Superstition is fond, which is ascribed to God as its immediate Author.

As for the Gre • ks, the study of Anatomy was very ancient amongst t • em, since it is attributed to Al • maeon, that ancient Physici • n (a Scholar of Pythagoras) as the first Author of it, if we will believe Chalcidius upon the Timaeus of Plato. From him it was derived to posterity by tradition and manual operation, children being bred up unto it, such as were to be Physicians, as also Philosophers. So Democritus, Hippocrates, and many others came to be acquainted with it. But none of the Ancients, Hi • r • n. Mercurialis Var. L • ct. l. 1. c. 1 c. until the time of Diocles Garystius, did write any thing about it: which notwithstanding, that Science seems to hav • been in never the worse condition, The • . Anatomica • ••• ra • i • ns of the Youth were calle • 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which Hosman th • nks may be 〈…〉 a me • Exercitia Ana • omica. A •• ing • Didiceram enim • x •• us operis (apud Galerum) l. 2. init • o ha • 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ab ipso artis incuna • u • 〈…〉 Asclepiade • , alto 〈◊〉 ad factitandam mediciram. Sciebam etiam ali • nde, longe alium • u • ss • tum Anatomiae rationem, q • am nunc • st • s • oifim inquam fuiss • traditam histo •• a • pa • t •• mipsarum, s • mperq fultam oculari inspec • i • ne. V • d • H • fman Va • . L • ct. l. 2. c. 13. The same 〈…〉 V • salius in his Preface to Charles V. as Mercurialis thinks. Anatom •• etsi a nullo veterum usque ad Dioclis aetatem Scriptis mandatam referat Galen. in 2. de anat. admin. melius tamen sic conservatam & amplificatam inde intelligere possumus, quod tunc homines a primis annis Anatomen (ut caeteras artes,) non ex scriptis sed ex Parentum sermonibus ipsaque exercitatione addiscebant; sicque melius ipsam comparantes, non modo tenacius in animis servabant, verum etiam assiduis studiis augebant. But to put this question more out of doubt, I shall appeal to Galen, who could give a better account of what they did in the elder times then Mr. Glanvill. I have not his Works by me; but Lacuna in his Epitome thus expresseth him. 〈1 paragraph〉 "Quod veteres nihil scripserint de consectionib • s administrandis, vertendum illis vitio non est: quandoquidem erat iis tum frequens tamque in communi usu ipsa Anatome, ut domi apud Parentes etiam ab ipsa pueritia, in illa omnes olim exercerentur. Postea vero tam praeclaro illo exercitio intermisso, opus certe nobis fuit Commentariis, quae Anatomicam disciplinam Chirurgicae medendi rationi maxime necessariam, integram conservarent. That Aristotle did dissect the bodies of men is manifest out of his Hist. Anim. l. 3. where he informs us how he made an inquiry into the nature and series of the veins in humane bodies: 〈1 paragraph〉 and as to his anatomizing of other creatures, beasts, birds, fishes, insects, 〈…〉 every pass • ge in 〈…〉 Ana • omy: 〈◊〉 ha • h many gr • ss 〈…〉 Harvey • 〈…〉 s • man • as ma • ex •• se 〈…〉 ? (and how he had some thousands employed under him to that purpose) no man can doubt who reads Riolanus and Pliny l. 8. c. 18. How accurate he was (however his brevity doth not represent every circumstance, nor fully describe things) we may judge by this that there are few of the new inventions, but are ascribed unto him; and Dr. Harvey is known commonly to have said,D • . Pearson in Dedic. Laertii ad Carol. II. Nihil fere unquam in ipsis Naturae penetralibus invenisse se, quin cum Aristotelem suum pensiculatius evolveret idem ab illo, aut explicatum, aut saltem cognitum reperiret. After Diocles, I find these other reckoned as notable Anatomists by Volcherus, Coiter, viz. Polybius, Erasistratus, Callistus, all Scholars of Aristotle: Vol. Coiter intro. in anat. c. 6 Galen in his Coment upon H • ppoc • ates de na • . hum. reckons up abo • e 10 eminent Anatomists of the ancien • s. Vide Ri • lan. Anthrop • g • . And after them Marinus, and Lycus, the Master of Galen, and Satyrus, and Pelops, and Numesianus, besides several others at Alexandria all which Galen went to converse with. But I must not pass by Herophilus without an especial Character, who did not only correct the mistakes in Anatomy which his Master Praxagoras fell into, but by his industry and skill acquired a repute so great, that his name is equal to the most famous that ever were before, or since his time: This great man is preferred by Vesalius before Galen: And it was an usual saying of Fallopius, that any man might as easily contradict the Gospel, as contradict Herophilus in Anatomy. Mae • ius sundam med. c. 1. p. 10. & V • ssius de 〈◊〉 . 1. •• ct. 2. Contradicere Herophilo in Anatomicis est contradicere Evangelio. This man is that inquisitive Physician, of whom Mr. Glanvill speaks, and who is blamed by Tertullian not for dissecting humane bodies, but for dissecting them alive, which he terms Butchery. Because, I think Mr. Glanvill never read him, and because I will make it evident that one of the Ancients did dissect more bodies of men, then all the Society put together, and that with an extraordinary caution. I shall set down the words of Tertullian, and they are these, Tert • lli • n. de an • ma • c 1 • . 〈…〉 — Herophilus ille Medicus aut Lanius, qui sexcentos • execuit ut naturam scrutaretur, qui hominem odiit ut nosset, nescio an omnia ejus interna liquido explorarit; ipsa morte mutante q quaevixerant, & morte non simplici, sed ipsa inter artificia exectionis errante. Upon which passage, Philip le prieur notes thus, Anatemia quae & celebris magnoque in precio fuit apud Ethnicos, a veteribus Christianis odio quam maximo afficiebatur. Quamvis hic dictum Lanium Herophilum constet, quod vivos homines dissecaret. Id autem facere solitos Erasistratum, Dioclem, & Herophilum docet Claudius Galennus 8. de plac. & 2. anatom. administr. Agreeable to of Tertullian, C • lsu • 1. in picoemio. is that passage of Cornelius Celsus in his Preface. Necessarium ergo esse incidere corpora mortuorum, eorum que viscera atque intestina scrutari, longeque optime fecisse Herophilum & Erasistratum, qui nocentes homines a regibus ex carcere acceptos, vivos inciderint, considerarintque etiam Spiritu remanente, ea quae Natura clausisset, eorumque posituram, colorem, figuram, magnitudinem, ordinem, duriciem, molliciem, laevorem, contactum: processus deinde singu orum & recessus, & sive quid inseritur a teri, sive quid partem a terius in s • recipit. This Herophi us was undoubtedly a person of vast parts, great earning and curiosity. He brought the Hippocratica Physick to its heighth and perfection, compleating the Anatomica part, and illustrating the Doctrine of the Pulses. His followers had a Schoo not far from Laodicea, as Strabo saith, wherein it is not to be doubted but that Anatomy was taught, and so in that other School of Erasistratus at Smyrna. 〈◊〉 Geog • aph. in fine lib 12. citant • Mercuriale Var. Lect. l. 2. c. 12. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 From whence it is clear, that in the Reign of Augustus Caesar (when Strabo lived) Anatomy in the East was in great request, and that the Physicians and followers of Herophilus had a great Academy betwixt Laodicea and Carura. And that before those times at Smyrna, Erasistratus that was a great Dissector of men (even alive) had another Academy of his followers: V • salius de • ad. Chin •• , p. 16 • . whose works though they are lost, yet Vesalius saith, that one may conjecture out of the passages in Galen that relate to them, that they were very accurate Anatomists. — Veteribus dissectionum proceribus, quos ex Galeni libris in corporum anatome sedulo versatus esse nobis persuasum est.— Not much unlike this character o • Vesalius is that Elogy which Veslingius bestows upon the Ancients in an Epistle of his to C. Hof,+man, enquiring whether the venae lacteae of Asellius were a part of the porta vena known so long ago? Sic habeas, incertum mihi esse quid primi illi qui ante Dioclis Carystii aevum privatis a ••• ectionibus in corporis humani partes inquirebant hic viderint, cum nihil eorum quae cognorant scriptis divulgarint. Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona multi, ait Lyricus: & proculdubio ante Herophilum eximii, & in hoc dissectionum studio exercitatissimi, quos ob monumentorum defectum longa nocte oblivio premit. Veslingius Ep. 20. edit. per Bartholin.

I shall conclude this discourse of Herophilus, with an observation about the time when he lived; which was not in the days of Tertullian, though Mr. Glanvill represents them as Contemporaries: but many Centuries before, in the time of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, and he is famed for his raillery upon Diodorus Cronus, who denied there was any motion, yet had his shoulder dislocated. See Conring. de medic. Hermet. c. 9. p. 83. Some make him more ancient, but none ever brought him so low as our Virtuoso. Vide Voss. de Philos. c. 11, Ionsium de Script. Philos. l. 1. c. 15.

As to the Romans, and their skill in Anatomy, I cannot say much of it, except it be to their disparagement. They were a military sort of people, rough-hewen, and thought all that below their studies or serious thoughts which our Experimental Philosophers boast of, and recommend unto our care with so much vanity. All the Mechanick, I had almost said the Liberal Sciences, they thought to be excellent qualifications in their slaves, not in themselves: And they who gave Laws to all the world, scorned to be instructed by their vassals, and a conquered Nation. Upon this account, not onely in the time of Tully, but afterwards to the days of Quintilian and Tacitus, (I know not which writ the Book De Oratoribus) it is evident, that however many Gentlemen did inform themselves of the several parts of ingenious Learning, yet did that haughty people behold those persons with indignation, and some thoughts of hatred, in so much as that those who were best versed in it, pretended ignorance and scorn of it. Things being in this condition, and the Romans having no other Physicians then their Slaves, it is not to be wondered if they were not eminent for Anatomy. Cato had banished the Physicians long ago, and after-ages gave them little encouragement. I do not at present remember any Physician, whose name hath any thing of the Roman till Cornelius Celsus, and after him Vectius Valens. Pliny saith, that even to his time, in the reign of Titus Vespasian, the Romans did not care to profess and practise Physick. Solam hanc artium Graecorum nondum exercet Romana gravitas in tanto fructu: paucissimi Quiritum attigere, & ipsi statim ad Graecos transfugae: imo vero autoritas aliter quam Graece eam tractantibus, etiam apud imperitos expertesque linguae, non est. Nat. hist l. 29. c. 1. In the time of Augustus Caesar, his freed man Artorius Musa, and his brother Euphorbus gave some credit to Physick, 〈1 paragraph〉 . and afterwards several eminent Greeks are said to have flourished; but whether it were that the Romans were impatient to learn so much as was requisite (or thought to be so) to make a man eminent in the Hippocratical and Herophilian way; whether they thought it more becoming their grandeur, rather to learn (with all the world) a new Method of Physick, then seem to have been so long as it were brutish and ignorant in comparison of the Greeks; or whether that the new principles and method were more agreeable to that Empirical way, During the flourishing of the Roman Empire, the 〈…〉 P •• sick was principally pursued at Al • xand •• a in E •• pt. There Herophilus and his Scholars 〈…〉 credit, and the Empiricks and Methodists had their Acad • mies, and the Jatrosophistae • were endowed professors The repute of Alexandria • eing such even in the days of Valentinian • that it was credit enough for any Physician to say he had been bred there. Ammian. Ma • cell. lib. 22. they had been accustomed unto (See Plin. nat. hist. l. 26. c. 3.) and so more easily received by the populace then that of Hippocrates made up of a Grecian dyet, and medicaments; whatever was the reason, I finde that the Romans did generally incline to that Sect of Physicians, called the Methodici, begun by Asclepiades and Themison in the time of the Triumvirate, or Vectius Valens, and compleated by Thessalus in the time of Nero: This Sect seems to have had the advantage over all other the Physicians amongst the Romans from the time of Augustus, to the reign of Severus, which is near three hundred years. 〈…〉 . Pliny calls Themison, Summum authorem, and by that place in Iuvenal one would guess him to have been a man of great notice and general practice in the days he lived.

Morborum omne genus, quorum si nomine quaeras, Promptius expediam quot amaverit Hippia moechos, Quot Themison aegros autumno occiderit uno.

Thessalus, against whom Galen and Pliny inveigh, was certainly a man, not only of great Eloquence, but also of extraordinary Learning and Iudgement, as we may guess by those parcels and fragments of that excellent man, which are all that remains of him, and they preserved in the works of others. His Books de Communitatibus & Syncriticis are peeces whose losses I much lament. The Memory of his Tombe is not lost upon which he inscribed himself, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; or, The Conquerour of Physicians. His Letter to Nero had something of a gallant confidence in it, which may become Heroes, and is justified in men of great Learning. Cum novam sectam condiderim, & quae sola vera sit, propterea quod qui ante me fuerunt omnes nihil utile prodiderunt, vel ad sanitatem • uendam, vel ad mor bos propulsandos—. The generality of his followers seem to have been excellent Physicians, as Dionysius, Proculus, Archigenes, Soranus, Attalus Iulianus, and others. I shall not insist upon a particular relation of their tenets, Prosp Alpin. de medic. methodi • a. which one may see excellently illustrated by Prosper Alpinus. This sect of Physicians seems to have left impressions of its method and principles, Quintilian being to describe Physick, renders an account of it agreeable to the Methodists. In declam. 8. Gemini Languentes. in all places where the Roman Empire swayed. Th • y called Gallen • when he put himself forth in the world by the os • enta • ion of Anatomy and Philosophy, Logiater: Logiatri autem nomen sui temporis medici Romae Galeno per c • ntemptum imponeba • t; ut ita eum traducerent • quasi non reipsa, nec usu, & • xercitio artis peritus • ss • t: Sed ad loquacitatem duntaxat & disserendum de iis quae ad a • tem per • inent comparatus. Ges • er. in Scholiis ad Cassium p. 57. They placed little value upon the exact knowledge of Anatomy, being content with a general skill therein, and enquiring no further than was necessary. They knew that the Romans had formerly banished the Physicians (as Archagathus) from amongst them, for using their Patients with much cruelty, cutting and burning them; and understood the humour of the people so well, how they disliked the dissections of humane • odies, especially alive, and therefore they closed with that popular prejudice, and turned it to their advantage; neither dissecting of bodies, nor tormenting them with those odious or cruel methods of Cure, which were practised by the followers of Herophilus. Nor do I doubt that those objections in Celsus against Anatomy, were put into his mouth by the Methodists, as well as Empirics, viz. that all Anatomy of bodies was a nasty performance; but to dissect the living, most barbarous and cruel: that as much of Anatomy as would instruct one sufficiently, might be learned in a Camp, where the Physician need not make wounds, but learn at once and practice Cures. Hence it was that the study of Anatomy was so much out of request at Rome in Galens time, that I think he mentions not one curious Anatomist there, though he tell how Satyrus taught him at Pergamus, and Pelops at Smyrna, and Numesianus at Corinth, and others. There were some that were excellent Ostrologists at Alexandria. And I am apt to think, that even he durst not for fear of publick odium, dissect any living men there, because, as Celsus saith, most people held it to be cruelty, and perhaps would not have thought well of him, who should have dissected any dead men. Whereupon he set up with Apes, dissecting them, as being nearest to men in resemblance,Vesalius i • • is Treatise de • ad. Chinae sheweth how Ga • en dissected Apes, and was thereby led into sundry mistakes But even such as did blame Galen were • hemselves faulty, as Vesalius and Columbus; which app • ars by what they say about the kidneys; which they describe out of brutes, not men, as Piccolomineus and Beverovicus observe. Beverovic. de calculo, p 3 Read also Fallopius Obs • rvations and imagining the fabrick of their bodies to have as great an affinity with the parts of men, as their shapes had; that this was the cause of many mistakes in him, is certain; and demonstrated by Vesalius. But that he never made any Anatomies of humane bodies, or considered any as they came in his way, Vesalius in dedic. lib. de fabric. co • p. hum. ad • arol V. Imper. In the same place he cals Galen. d • ss • ctionis pref • ssorum facile prima ••• m. is a calumny which might be refuted by sundry instances out of his Works, and some thereof are to be seen in Riolanus Anthopogr. l. 1. c. 12.

Vesalius never raised his imputations to this heighth; all that he saith of this nature, is, Nobis modo ex renata dissectionis arte, diligentique Galeni librorum praelectione, & in plerisque locis eorundem non poenitenda restitutione constat, nunquam ipfum nuper mortuum corpus humanum resecuisse. At vero suis deceptum Simiis (licet ipsi arida, ac veluti ad ossium inspectionem parata hominum cadavera occurrerint) crebro veteres Medicos, qui hominum consectionibus se exercuerant, immerito arguere. Nay, it is evident out of Galen, Galen. l. 3. sec. gen. c. 2. that the Roman Physicians which were in the Army of Antoninus did dissect the Germans that were killed by him in battel. As for that Learned man of our own, out of whom he tells us, That the Romans held it unlawful to look on the Entrails: I know not who it should be. Mr. Boyle indeed doth say, that in Galens time it was thought little less then irreligious, if not barbarous, to mangle the bodies of men: which how far it is true, one may guess out of what I have said; But that Honourable Person speaks in such a manner as gives us little of exception; Mr. Glanvill is so peremptory, that I wonder that he did not deny, that the Romans did not use any Augury from the inspection of the bowels, heart, and liver of beasts; or that they did not eat the Livers of Geese, and other Guts of several Animals. This is so well known to every School-boy that hath read Martial, or Horace, or Virgil, that I need not speak of it. Had the Romans held it so unlawful a thing to behold the Entrails of Animals, I wonder they gave the name of Visceratio to those distributions of flesh which they publikely used: to such unlawful customs, Virgil would not have alluded, when he brings in Dido her self, —Pecudumque reclusis Pectoribus inhians, spirantia consulit exta. Aeneid. l. 4. v. 64. & Georgic. l. 1. v. 484. Tristibus aut Extis fibrae apparere minaces.

Nay, they carried the bodies of beasts open with their Entrails displayed to be sold publickly, as Mart. shews l. 6. ep. 64.

Ne valeam, si non multo sapit altius i • tud, Quod cum panticibus laxis, & cum pede grandi Et rubro palmone vetus, nasisque timendum, Omnia crudelis Lanius, per compita portat.

But perhaps he will confine his discourse to the Entrails of men, why then did not he speak more plainly? And even in this case, that some superstitious persons might hold it impious and unlawful is possible • and that others out of enmity to the Anatomical Physicians, (as Pliny l. 28. c. 1.) Aspici humana exta nefas habetur, might call it so, 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 relates onely • o Augu • y, that i • was not lawful am • ngst men t • make use of humane bodies, and s • arch their • owe • s to t • ose • nds: this was nefas: but no • hing • l • e. I deny not. But what Law was there against it? How comes it to pass, that Celsus in his debate about the lawfulness of Anatomizing even living bodies, saith (or maketh others to say) that it is only cruel, or nasty and abominable; not impiety or a breach of Religion? Besides, how could any Physician in those days have dressed such wounds in which their Entrails either gushed out, or were hurt, in case it had been unlawful to look upon them? It is manifest that Celsus saith, a prudent Physician may from such accidents learn Anatomy; Ita sedem, positum, ordinem, & figuram, similiaque alia cognoscere prudentem medicum, and adviseth him to improve the occasion: And he was a Person learned not only in the Physick, but Civil Laws of his Countrey.

To convince our Virtuoso a little more, out of Schoolbooks, in which he ought to be conversant. Is there not a controversie agitated in Seneca, Controvers. l.x. contr. 6. about Parrhasius the Painter? how he brought an old Olynthian, and dissected him alive, thereby to draw the picture of Prometheus with a vulture preying upon his Liver! Is it not agitated pro and Con, by Romans and Grecians? Is there any one that saith it was unlawful for him to behold the Entrails? Nay, is it not said in the midst of Rome, that it was always LAWFUL? In argumentis dixit, quantum semper Artibus LICUISSET, Medicos ut vim ignoratam morbi cognoscerent, viscera rescidisse HODIE cadaverum artus rescindi, ut nervorum articulorumque positio cognosci possit. In Quintilian is there not a Declamation Declam. 8. (Gemini languentes) in which the Mother accuseth the Father for permitting the Physician to dissect one of the sick twins, thereby to discover the disease of the other! Doth not the Mother there bid him dissect the bowels of the dead youth? Differ saltem, pater, hanc calamitatem: quicquid ex filio facis, facies ex cadavere. Si deprehendi potest languor dum occidit, facilius cum occiderit. Doth she not describe the cruelty of that Anatomy very tragicaliy? Passus est miser discurrentem per omnia reserati pectoris improbum vagae artis errorem. Contentum fuisse medicum toto homine discurrentem primo putatis aspectu? Egesta saepe vitalia, pertractata, diducta sunt: fecerunt manus plura, quam ferrum. Stat juxta medicum pater apertis visceribus in • ians, stillantem animae sedem cruentis manibus agitantem: ne festinet, hortatur; jubet altius diligentiusque scrutari: Interrogat, dubitat, contendit, affirmat, & accepit d • filii morte rationem — Inter haec reficiebatur miser haustibus, detinebatur alloquiis, comprimebatur residuus cruor, claudebantur aperta vitalia. Nemo unquam tam nova pertulit commenta fevitiae, tanquam san • retur occifus est— Vos tunc putatis illius tantum languoris medicum quaesiisse causas? quaesivit quicquid nesciebat, & usus occasione rarissima in omnem voluit proficere novitatem. After this she tells in what manner she gathered up his bowels, and by closing up his Corps fitted him for the Funeral. Corpus quod medicus, quod reliquerat pater, hoc sinu misera collegi, ac vacuum pectus frigidis abjectisque visceribus rursus implevi, sparsos artus amplexibus junxi, membra diducta composui. If any one can imagine, that this great Oratour in so solemn a Declamation would have omitted so important an objection as the unlawfulness and impiety of beholding the entrails of the youth, certainly he thinks too meanly of the judgment of Quintilian, and too well of his own. It appears out of that Oration, that they had seldom opportunities of dissecting men alive, and therefore he calls it rarissimam occasionem. And that they were not ignorant of Anatomy and the inward fabrick of humane bodies, it is evident furher out of that Oration, where the Mother says the Physicians must needs already have learned that part of their Art. Sufficit quod aliquando jam facta ex unius hominis inspectione, How could they behold the Ludi Circenses, the Gladiators fighting in the Theatre, and at the tombs of the deceased; or those sad spectacles described by Martial? I profess I think it as gross a mi • take to say they held it unlawful to behold the ent •• ils of men, as to deny the Augury by beasts. ad totius intellectum naturae medicina pr • fecit. Quid allaturus huic aegroto es, quod non tot seculorum, tot languentium experimenta deprehenderint?

As for what Mr. Glanvill saith about Democritus, that he was fain to excuse himself to Hippocrates for dissecting of beas • s; this is as tr • e as all the rest. Never was there a fitter second for Mr. Sprat, then Mr. Glanvill. They do not cite, but invent stories, and that with so much confidence, that a man must be assured by his own reading, before he can suspect theirs. That Hippocrates was a diligent Anatomist, is a thing every one must confess who either knows the manner of their education then, or hath looked into his Anatomical books de locis in homine, de fracturis, and sundry other pieces of his. That he not only contemplated the seat and action of parts in the dead, but living, appears by this passage, De Articulis sect 43. where he speaks about the setting of the Sp • ondyles of the back; Pag. 800. • om. 2. edit. Vander Linden. Itaque si tale contingat, palam est quod neque concutiendo, neque alio quodam modo reponi possit, nisi qui dissecto homine & manu in ventrem injecta, inquisitionem faciat, ut ex interna parte ad externam manu retrudat: atque haec in mortuo quidem facere possent, in vivo autem non ita. But I shall give an account of the Anatomy of Hippocrates, in the words of the learned Riolanus Anthropograph. l. 1. c. 2. Testatur Galenus Comment. in lib. 3. de artic. Hippocratem potissimum rationi corporum incidendorum sedulam operam dedisse, cum Anatomen mirum in modum ad artem medicam conferre sciret, quod nunc aperte docet cum spinae naturam intelligi voluit, quam Empirici non secus atque caeterarum partium contemplationem inutilem esse dicunt. Ipsemet Hippocrates lib. 3. de artic. Commentarios de venis & arteriis pollicetur, quos nunquam videre potuit Galenus. Praeterea librum de dissectione conscripsit, quem imperfectum habemus. Ipsemet Galenus libros de Anatome, secundum Hippocratis doctrinam composuerat, quorum deploranda est jactura. Hippocrates canes dissecuit ut pulmones observaret. lib. de corde. Ibidem monet quod dissectio accurata hujus partis non est opus cujusvis, sed periti artificis, & appellat istud opus Chirurgian. l. 6. Epidem, scribit hominem habere cola intestina cani similia. Idem lib. de intern. affect. testatur se in bove, in cane, & sue, quod impedibus dissectis tubercula in pulmone aqua referta invenisse, unde natus fuerat hydrops thoracis. Idem testatur se ex hominis ossibus ossa descripsisse: primus spinae admirabilem figuram descripsit: primus vesiculas seminarias, earumque situm, omenti usum, valvulas venarum, ortum nervorum, lienis actionem, uteri conformationem. Atque ut extaret aliquod monumentum aeternum & immutabile suae diligentiae, laborisque in hoc studio exantlati, sceletum aere fabricatum Apollini Delphico consecravit: ut Author est Pausanias lib. 10. And is it credible that ever Democritus should be forced to excuse himself to Hippocrates for cutting up of Animals, as if it were so uncouth and strange to him? I cannot answer for the Intellectuals of our Virtuoso, but no man of an higher capacity can believe it. The pleasantest part of this Narrative is, that there appears no such thing upon record. First of all the story of Democritus, how Hippocrates came and found him busie in dissecting of Animals, is called in question by Cortesius in Miscellaneis, as Riolanus tells me. And indeed I cannot perswade my self that those Letters in the end of Hippocrates works are genuine. But to pass by this exception. All that Hippocrates writes in his second Letter to Damagetus amounts to this. That at the request of the people of Abdera, he came to cure Democritus of his supposed madness, that being conducted to his house, he found him sitting under a Plantanus tree in a garb not much differing from a madman, and postures that had something of the same humor: Ipse Democritus sub ampla & humillima plantano sedebat, in veste crassa citra humeros desinente, solus, discalceatus, super lapidea sede, valde pallidus ac macilentus, promissa barba— Ipse vero cum inculto ornatu, super genibus, librum habebat, sed & alii quidam ex utraque parte adjacebant. Accumulata etiam erant Animalia multa per totum resecta. Et ipse quidem aliquando concitate incumbens scribebat, aliquando quiescebat, diu mu • tumque se continens, & in seipso meditans. Deinde non longe post, his peractis, exurgens deambulabat, & viscera animalium inspiciebat, & depositis ipsis digressus, rursus desidebat.— When Hippocrates approched near him, he was busie writing, and even then his deportment had something odde and Enthusiastical in it. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 — 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . After the first complements (which are great and not usual in those days) Hippocrates demanded of him what he was writing? He replied about madness: and what about that, said the great Physician? To which he answers again • hus. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Quid enim, inquit, aliud quam quid sit, & quomodo in hominibus generetur, & quomodo allevetur. Nam animalia haec, quae vides, inquit, hujus gratia reseco, non quod odio habeam opera Dei, sed bilis naturam ac sedem quaerens. How much this and the whole passage of that Enterview makes for Mr. Glanvill's purpose, I see not. Hippocrates doth not blame him for anatomizing of animals, nor is surprized at the novelty, nor troubled at the impiety of the action. Democritus knowing what apprehension the people had of him, and fearing left the garb and posture he was in might confirm to Hippocrates, the truth of the report tells him how he employed his thoughts, and that the Animals that lay there upon the ground, were not slaughtered by him in a frantick rage, out of hatred to the creatures of God; but cut up Anatomically by him, thereby to discover the seat and nature of the gall, and the effects it had upon Maniacks. Whereupon Hippocrates was wonderfully pleased with the testimony he gave of the soundness of his judgment, and after some other prudential discourses, departed, satisfied about the good condition of his Patient. But if Democritus were not out of his Wits, I believe Mr. Glanvill was to alledge such an impertinent story. But idle persons, that would upon easie termes acquire the repute of Learning, by citing quotations, are often thus imposed upon, and liable to mistakes. And perhaps there may be some person in the world that I know not of, who may have abused our Virtuoso in this case: but He should have minded the Text better.

What Pope Boniface the Eighth did, I know not. But I am apt to suspect a person that hath told me so many untruths. The place in the Canon-Law, which I am apt to beleeve Mr. Glanvill never saw:An • hiop • g • . l 1. c. 12. It is lib. 3. Extravag. titulo de sepultura. And Riolanus, whom I had rather credit, gives this account of it; Inter Christianos Papa Bonifacius octavus barbarum & inhumanum judicavit, peregre mortuorum corpora exenterare, carnibusque spoliare, ut ossa lecta & tersa in locum sepulturae, quem vivi delegerant, commode perferri possent. It seems that Pope thought it an inhumane and barbarous thing not to dissect •• dies for information sake; but to embowel them, and reduce them into Sceletons, and so to carry their bones to distant places to be buried according to the desire of the deceased. I am apt to think this Canon was never applied to Anatomy, and perhaps there is nothing of Excommunication in it, since Riolanus doth not mention it.

As for the gross errours in Anatomy which Galen is charged with, I know not one that incommodates a man in point of Practice, but that the Metbod he took (however founded on false principles) was secure and good. Upon which it happened that all his followers implicitly submitted to his Anatomical relations without further Enquiry, Hinc [Galeno] universi fid • m dedere, ut nullus repertus sit medicus, qui in Galeni Anatomicis • oluminibus vel levissimum quidem lapsum dep • eh • nsum es • e • mu t • que minus deprehendi posse censuerint. Vesalius in dedic. lib. de Fabric hum. and taught his Errours • or truths: And perhaps a certain vanity seised Galen to contradict the famous Herophilus out of dissected Apes, thereby to raise his own credit. However it was, from him arose most of the mistakes in Anatomy, that were translated to the Moors, and from them to our Ancestors. The Moors are said by their Religion, to forbid the medling with dead bodies: Which Assertion, how true it is, I know not, because that Avicenne and Albucasis commend the study of Anatomy, as necessary in a peculiar manner to Chirurgeons. They practised sundry Chirurgical operations in Cauteries, and opening Arteries, which seemed to require an Experimental skill in dissections; and which were their own inventions. In fine, Averroes pleads not any scruples of Religion for his ignorance in Anatomy, but laments the Civil Wars of the Moors, which hindred him from inquiring by dissection into those controversies betwixt Galen and Aristotle, which he had occasion to debate. Yet did Averroes at all adventures, assert the credit of Aristotle against Galen, out of an emulation against Avicenne who was a Galenist. From these two great men amongst the Moors, as the knowledge of Physick and Philosophy, happened to be imparted to the barbarous Christians of the West, so was there a feud propagated betwixt the Philosophers, and the Physicians; and the contr • versies were the more intricate, because the Sciences had not been so well translated out of Greek into Arabick, as was requisite; and they were worse put into Latine. After the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, when some learn •• men had fled thence into Italy, they began to impart unto the world new books, to acquaint the West with the Greek tongue, and with the Greek Works of Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen; and thereby multiplied many Controversies in the practice of Physick, about Phlebotomy, and Purging, and the like; especially about bleeding in a Plurisy, on which side it should be done. The contention was fierce, and some proofs being fetcht out of Anatomy, some persons were excited to enquire into humane bodies dissection, thereby to determine this controversy, and also the others betwixt Aristotle, Galen, and others. Amongst these Vesalius was (I had almost said) the first and principal, and by his indefatigabl • pains prevented much the industry of others. After him Fallopius and Eustachius were the most remarkable; though many others came in with their little inventions to make up the cry, and failed not to supply the inutility of their discoveries with excessive clamor. What Apologies were made for Galen by Sylvius, and others, would be tedious to relate; they being so ridiculous, Ye • neither are all the ex • eptions made by Vesalius against Galen allowable. Galenum aliquando in verbis potius quam in lententus ca • pit, aliquando mutilum (quod facere debuerat) minime excusat. ac saepe indignius, quam Anatomieum, Philosophum, ac Medicum tam insignem deceret, ca • pit at accusat. Fallopius observat. ana • om. p 3. and repugnant to common sense, that nothing could stop the growing glory of Vesalius and his followers. The issue of all was, that as Hippocrates lost no credit by an ingenious confession of his mistake about the Sutures in the head of Autonomus; small errors being not observable in great Authors: So Galen still retained a great repute in the world, his other Works having advanced him above the effects of petty calumnies, or defaults. And the great Guinterus Andemacus, a competent Judge of old and new discoveries in Physick and Anatomy, gives this censure upon those curious Disquisitions:Devet. & nova med comment. 8. dial. 5 p. 261. Multa in rerum natura extant, quorum notitia non quidem Medicum aptiorem facit, sed medicinae tantum profectum reddit, Sic nolli ob acc • ratam illam, ne dicam curiosam nimis, partium corporis perscrutationem Medici excellentiores, sed ob curationes dextre sentatas absolutasque censentur. Ideo etiam Hippocrates, Galenus, Erasistratus, & plures id genus alii, tantum ex rerum natura & corporis humani fabricatione scrutari voluerunt, quantum ad medicinam probe exercendam ex usu esse putarunt. Non eadem enim semper omnibus similem ob causam conducunt. Sic Anatome aliter physicis inseruit, qui disciplinas ipsas propter se amant; alterii, qui illam non adeo affectant, sed nihil temere a natura factum esse demonstrant: aliter his qui argumenta (ut ill • ait) ad actionem quandam vel naturalem vel animalem cognoscendam, ex partium humani corporis historia adferre nituntur: aliter medico qui manum aculeis, telonumque cuspidibus probe exprimendis vel alicui parti apte excidendae vel sinubus & fistulis & abscessibus incidendis adhibiturus est; quo Anatomes usn nihil aeque est necessarium.

Certainly it had been an action of greater ingenuity in our Novelists to have acknowledged the many excellent things that are in Galen, which are so advantageous to Physick, then to endeavour to render a man multi ingenii, multaque nihilominus habiturum, contemptible by the representation of a few defects in him, relating to things not much material to his prof • ssion. It must always be said of Galen, that he was the man who by his dextrous wit, happy practice, and great eloquence, as well as universal learning, did restore the glory of the Hippocratical Physick, which was in a manner extinct in his days. He again brought Anatomy into request, which had been slighted and dis-used so long: he himself dissected bodies priva • ely, and publickly in the Temple of Peace; and amongst other Discoveries of his own, it is observable that he found out the use of recurrent nerves, Vide Columbum Anat. • . 14. & Vesalium de fabrica corp. hum. l. 4 c. 9. whose influence upon the voice is such, that as they are pressed or cut into two, so a Dog becomes perpetually mute, or onely howls, never barks. Had that curiosity been but the discove • ry of some Novelists, what a noise would they have made? what boastings should we have had? But all that is good in Galen is passed by, and to make way for the glory of our new Inventors, Vesalius, Fallopius, Carcanus, Eustachius, Ingrassias, Columbus, Arantius, Varolius, are not so much as mentioned by Mr. Glanvill; to the end that we may (if we will) believe that it is the genius of this Age alone, which puts men upon discoveries, and that before them there were none that had merited this remark.

Plus ul • ra, pag. 13. I instance in the most remarkable of their discoveries briefly:Riolanus asserts the first invention of the Va • ves in th • veins to Hippocrat • s. Anthropogr. l 5. c. 49. and those I take notice of are, The valves of the veins, discovered by Fabricius ab Aqua pendente: The valve at the entrance of the Gut Colon, found as is generally thought by Bauhinus. — I cannot think these to be so remarkable discoveries, but that he might have found out many more, since the time of Vesalius, I shall n • me one wo • gave a great light to the Circulation of bloud, and that is the discovery which Realdus Columbus made, that the blood did pass through the Lungs out of the right ventricle into the left, and so into the Aorta, and all the body. As for the valves in the veins, I believe there are few that think that Fabricius ab Aquapendente, was the first discoverer of them: for they were shewed to Fabricius by father Paul, that famous Venetian Monk, as appears in his life written by Fulgentio, and extant in English. Neither indeed was Father Paul the first Inventour of them, for they are described before by Iacobus Sylvius, Professor of Physick at Paris, as Riolanus, and Slegelius, Riolanus Anthropogr. l. 5. c. 49. Marquard. Slegel. de ci • cul. fangu. l. 2. p. 7. Bartholin. in libelio de venis c. 2. Var • lius Anat. l. • . c. 3 Riolan. Anthropogr. l. 2. c. 14. Bartholin. Anat. 〈◊〉 . l. 1. c. 1 • . and Bartholinns do inform the world. And as to the valve in the beginning of the Colon-gut (if there be such a one, and that it be not rather a protuberant circle, arising from the joyning of the Ileon and Colon, as Pavius, Falcoburgius, and Riolanus hold whatsoever it be, it was discovered by Varolius, and called the Operculum Iléi, before that ever Bauhinus was born, as Riolanus doth demonstrate: there are two others that may as justly pretend to it, to better merit the credit then Bauhinus, and those are Solomon Albertus, whom Bartholin inclines unto: and Ioannes Posthius of Montpelier, whom Riolanus also favours.

Plus ultra, pag. 14. The Sinus of the veins, and their use found out by Dr. Willis—. I wonder Mr. Glanvill should not acquaint us with those particular Sinus which Dr. Willis should finde out; for since in common discourse, when we speak undeterminately of the Sinus, we understand those of the brain, it did become him to tell us which others he meant: lest a man that knew his skill, should apprehend him so ignorant as to think that Dr. Willis had newly found out those Sinus, one whereof hath for above two thousand years born the name of Herophilus, and was called Torcular Herophili, Dr. Willis de cerebro c 6. p. 82, 83. in Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But I shall be so favourable as to think that these are not the Sinus he meant, Dr. Willis having tried nothing more in prosecution of them, then to pursue the Circulation of the blood there by the injecting of Inkish liquor, Io. Iac. Wepferus Apoplex. p 116. Bartholin. Anat. l. 3. c. 7. whereas Wepferus used a tincture of Saffron; and Bartholin evidenced the same thing by a pair of bellows, or tube and winde insufflated. I do beleeve that He, or they that suggested this to him, did mean the Sinus or venae vertebrales, which are described exactly in the Doctors Book, in the thirteenth Table. But I must tell him, that whatsoever there is in that Piece, which is Anatomical, the glory thereof belongs to Dr. Lower, whose ind • fatigable industry produced that elaborate Treatise; and any man that knows the great practice of that other Doctor, will grant, that although he could not want abilities, yet he wanted leisure to attend to such painful and tedeous inquiries. Dr. Willis indeed candidly doth relinquish this honour to Dr. Lower, and his pains deserved your commendation (Mr. Clanvill) if that be of any value, so much more then those other inventions that are celebrated by the Virtuosi, by how much the subject was more minute and subtile which he was to trace. All that Dr. Willis contributed, that I hear, was the discourses and conjectures upon the Anatomical deductions of Dr. Lower, which as ingenuous as they are, I am sure neither are, nor ever will pass all for inventions. But in the case I now mention, I am confident that Dr. Lower is so ingenuous, as to acknowledge that what He exhibits there, is taken out of the Cuts of Varolius, as far as where they empty themselves into the subclavian veins: but I think that as to the Synus, or veins, and arteries all along the Spine, as there is not any Cut of them extant before that I hear of, so I allow them to pass as his invention: but the accurateness of his Neurology equals to the best Inventors •

But if Mr. Glanvill injur'd Dr. Lower in attributing what he invented unto Dr. Willis, he will not conceal his own discoveries, you shall see what a Divine can do in Physick. 'St. St"! I adde the origination of the Nerves, which were of old supposed to arise out of the substance of the brain, but are found by late Anatomists to proceed from the medulla oblongata. This is such an Addition as becometh our Novellists, most that they pretend unto being no more then Mr. Glanvill here boasts of; and which is so pitiful an accessional in Anatomy, that none ever bragged of it, or upbraided the Ancients about it, that I remember, except Bartholin may be said to do it. As to the late Anatomists, unto whom he ascribes this invention, I would he had told their names. The difference betwixt the cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata, is a modern (but not very late) distinction. Some have made the medulla oblongata and the spinal marrow to be but productions of the brain and cerebellum, from whence it raiseth it self by four foundations or roots: the discrepancy betwixt that and the other parts whence it is originated, not being such as to justifie any great contest about it: since it is the usual course of Nature in its progress from the union of two different bodies, to produce an intermediate substance, participating of the nature of both. Spinalis medulla or • us principium rectius cerebro atque cerebello acceptum fertur,

Vol. Coiter. observ. anatom miscel.

Ex substantia cerebri & cerebelli quatuor radicibus oritur primum • runcus insignis, Medulla spinalis appellat •• , ex quo multi emergunt s •• culi, nomine ne • vorum insig • iti. Varolius Anatom. l. 1. c. 13. p 12.

unde non immerito caudex, sive processus, sive soboles cerebri appellatur: nam vix in ullo, nisi in duritie (est enim cerebro aliquanto solidi • r & fi • mior) videtur a cerebro differre. Some have made the brain & cerebellum to be productions of the spinal marrow, which enlargeth it self within the skull, and generateth those two Apophyses called the cerebrum & cerebellum. In fine, it doth not appear that the Ancients mistook much the place of the origination of nerves, if you reckon amongst them Vesalius and Fallopius: but they said they rose all from the brain, understanding by that word all tha • which is included within the skull, and termed that to be the spinal marrow • which was without the skull, and whence those other paria nerv • rum seem to rise, which Anatomists describe. And this subtilty of Mr. Glanvill is so little regarded by late Anatomists, that Moebius (a man of as great note as most are) slights it by the example of Hofman, Moebius fundament med. c. de usu • ervor. p 606. Caspar Hofman. 〈◊〉 . med. l 2. c. 65. sec • . 1. whose sense I shall here report: Monendi sunt ado • escentiores, ne forte morentur illos qui neglecta veteri distinctione dicunt, Omnes nervi sunt a medulla, sed alii ex illa, antequam cranio excidat, alii ex • adem, cum jam in spinam delapsa est, & Spinalis dicitur. Quid enim hoc aliud est, quam frustranea nominum novatio? So Dr. Charlton in his Discourse to the Royal Society concerning the Brain, takes the liberty to understand by the Cerebrum as well as others, totum illud corp •• quod Calvariae concavo contin • tur (pag. 67. de Propr. cerebri humani) though afterwards, when he comes to s • eak more accurately, he treats of the Medulla oblongata thus: Cerebro proxime subjicitur alma nervorum ad sensus spectantium mater, & funi • argentei (sicut Sapiens in Ecclesiaste cleganti •• d obscu • a Allegoria vocat Medull • m spinalem) principlum Medul • a scilicet intra cranium oblon • ata. Behold the addition of Mr. Glanvill! Cum dico me de nervis ex cerebro ortis acturum, intelligo totum id quod • ranio continetur. There is another Origination of the nerves, which is as ancient as Aristotle, and which Hofman and Vander Linden assert, wherby they are deduced immediately and formally from the brain, but immediately and materially from the heart; for so much as they hold each nerve to be an Artery vested with the membranes of the brain, and so issuing to several parts. This opinion is very agreeable to the observations that occurre in the practice of Physick, and their arguments seem to me so plausible, that I am so averse with Mr. Glanvill to proclaim a new origination of the nerves, that I much doubt whether the followers of Galen were not deceived • and the Peripateticks in the right. See Vander Linden Disp. 38. de vasis & nervis, and Hofman de partib. similar. in thes. de orig. nerv. sec. Aristot.

It is clear now that Mr. Glanvills new addition amounts onely to this, that the Ancients did some of them hold that the nerves had their original from the brain; others deduced them from the heart. V. de V • ro • ium l. 1. c. 3. Some (perhaps before Varolius) did subdivide the brain into several parts, If Varolius 〈…〉 I • elieve be did, by a pe •• liar wa • 〈◊〉 di ••• cting the head • what is it that Mr G • anvill then 〈◊〉 ? I am sure that F • acassatus saith, Va • olius p • imus principium spinalis medull • vel intra cranium sobole • cere in nervo •• quorum o • igo olim á cerebro peteba • u • , d • cuit. and said that the nerves had their origination from the medulla oblongata, and not from the cerebrum and cerebell • m. This nicety Dr. Willis makes some use of, but since he explicates nothing of the brain with a mechanical accurateness; I shall only subjoyn, that whosoever shall view or eat that which they call Medulla oblongata & spinalis, and compare it with the marrow that is in the bones otherwise, he will think it a less impropriety of speech, to say the Medulla oblongata is a part of the brain, then to term it a Medullary substance.

And though the Succus Nutritius be not yet fully agreed upon by Physicians, yet it hath so much to say for it self, that it may not unreasonably be mentioned amongst the new Inventions — It's strange Mr. Glanvill should entitle this opinion about the Succus Nutritius to so great a degree of probability, as he doth. Physicians are so far from being fully agreed upon it, that, excepting Dr. Glisson, Dr. Charleton, and perhaps one or two more, the rest do generally reject it. Dr. Highmore,

Highmore de affect. hypochond • . c. 4. Willis in Anatome cerebri c 20.

Bartholin spi • ileg. 1. c. 3.

Dr. Willis, and Bartholine have written against it; and so hath Deusingius writ a particular discourse against it. Nor do I doubt, but whosoever peruseth those Authors which I refer unto, will be so far from imagining it reasonable to ascribe the Succus Nutritius to the number of modern Inventions, that he will term it at best but an ingenious Paradox, which when the first surprise is over, vanisheth with the appearance of being ridiculous. How much doth our Virtnoso, and Bartholine differ? Bartholin. • pic •• eg. 1. de vasis lymphat p. 23. Prodeat Herophilus, ex a • tro educatur Democritus, advocentur prosectores cujuscunque sortis & aetatis, si in dissectis corporum nervis ullum invenerint liquorem nutritioni opportunum, nolim inter eos locum mereri.

But of all Modern Discoveries, Wit and Industry have made in the Oeconomy of humane nature, Plus •• tra, p • g. 15. the noblest is that of the Circulation of the blood, which was the invention of our deservedly famous Harvey. 'Tis true, the envy of malicious Contemporaries would have robb'd him of the Glory of this Discovery, and pretend it was known to Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, and others among the Ancients; but whoever considers the expressious of those Authors, which are said to respect the Circulation, who finde that those who form the inference, do it by a faculty that makes all kind of Compositions and Deductions, and the same that assists the Enthusiasts of our days, to see so clearly all our alterations of State and Religion, to the minutest particulars in the Revelation of Saint Iohn. And I think it may be as well concluded from the first chapter of Genesis, as from the remains of those Ancients, who if they had known this great and general Theory, how chance they speak no more of a thing, which no doubt they had frequent occasions to mention? How came it to be lost without Memory amongst their followers, who were such superstitious Porers upon their Writings? How chance it was not shewn to be lodged in those Authors before the days of Dr. Harvey, when Envy hed impregnated and determined the Imaginations • of those who were not willing any thing should be found anew, of which themselves were not the Inventours? But 'tis not only the remotest Ancients, whom time hath consecrated, and distance made venerable, whose Ashes those fond men would honour with this discovery; but even much later Authors have had the glory fastned upon them. For the Invention is by some ascribed to Paulus Venetus; by others to Prosper Alpinus; and a third sort give it to Andraeas Caesalpinus. For these, though either of them should be acknowledged to be the Author, it will make as much for the design of my discourse, as if Harvey had the credit: and therefore here I am no otherwise concerned, but to have justice for that excellent man: and the World hath now done right to his Memory, Death having overcome that Envy which Dogs living vertue to the Grave; and his Name rests quietly in the Armes of Glory, while the Pretensions of his Rivals are creeping into darkness and oblivion.

Whether those that have gone about to deprive Dr. Harvey have been incited by Envy and Malice, it is hard for any considerate man to judge; since those which first proposed the doubt about the Author, were great friends to the Theoreme; such as Walaeus, who first mentioned it; Riolanus, Nardius, Fracassarus, and Ioannes Antonides Vander Linden: All of them pay a great respect to Dr. Harvey's Performances; All of them concur with him generally in his Assertions, saving that Riolanus made some variation therein, and perhaps his passion might blinde his candour; though I do not think so, because I finde him zealously vindicating of Dr. Harvey from those imputations by which Walaeus endeavoured to transfer the credit of the invention upon Father Paul.

Another thing I must take notice of is, that Mr. Glanvill speaks very peremptorily about a thing he hath not enquired into, for it is evident that he never read the passages out of the Ancients, which are cited by Walaeus and Riolanus, to to shew they were not altogether ignorant of that motion of the bloud which is called Circulation. He thinks it may be as well concluded from the first chapter of Genesis, as from the remains of the Ancients. And why so? Is there any thing mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis, that sounds like the Circulation of the blood, or any words that can be applied unto this late discovery? not one. But any man that understands Greek, must confess that the words 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Hippocrates (whatever he meant by them) do most emphatically signifie the Circulation of the blood, as it is now proposed. If I merit not to be believed herein, take the judgement of Iulius Caesar, Scaliger upon Aristotle de insoma .xiij. 1444. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . I shall not from this place deduce the mystery of the Circulation of the blood, by saying that rivers circulate under ground thorough that sandy earth, which those that dig in Wells, when they come unto, they can descend no further: (which Helmont in the Brabant Dialect calls Quellem, other Dutch-men name Well-ground and Well-sand, and after return unto the Sea again by open Channels: But whatever the intent of the Philosopher was, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , properly imports such a thing, and that we have the name given it by Aristotle, this Scaliger confesseth, Ejus ad apotelesma xxxi. haec sunt verba. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , motum; ut infebribus accessionem. Circuitum Calvus cum dicit, fideliter, non plene explicat. Neque enim. circumducitur sanguis, ut 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 impleat significationem Nam in febribus idcirco dicitur 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , quia revertitur paroxysmus: quasi circumductus ob diem parum & vacuum a morbo. From which it is evident, that if Scaliger had known that the blood had circulated, he would have granted it to have been properly expressed here in the Text: which is more then He would say of any Apocalyptical discoveries, or deductions of that opinion out of the first Chapter of Genesis. And if the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 be so significant, it is hard to deny that Hippocrates did not set down the thing it self in this passage, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Hippocrates de oss. nat. t. • 7. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ven • per corpus fusae spiritum, & fluxum, & motum praestant. Ab una multae propagantur: sed illa una unde incipiat, •• t ubi desinat, non scio. Circulo enim ducto,E • lib. de alim. 1.4 12. principium non invenitur. And in that other: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . In pilos alimentum [id est, sanguis nutriens] & in ungues, atque extremam superficiem intus advenit: faeris alimentum ab extrema superficie intime revertitur. Corrivatio una, conspiratio una, consentientia omnia. Certe quod ad communem naturam omnia: in quavis parte partes ad opus. Principium magnum [id est Cor, per transmissos spiritus & sanguinem] ad extremam partem pervenit: ab extrema parte ad principium magnum revertitur. There are more passages in the same Authour which seem to import the same thing, though his usual brevity and obscurity is such, that had not Harvey and others dilucidated the point, we had never, I believe, fixed this explication upon him, which amounts to no more then a new gloss upon an old Text: which yet is sufficient to check the largeness of Mr. Glanvills assertion. The 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of Plato, and his making the Heart to be the original of the veins, Plato in Ti •• ae • . 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; these are something more then is to be found in the first of Genesis. And that passage of Aristotle de Gen. Anim l. 4. c. ult. is so unlike any thing of Moses's, and so like to the doctrine of Harvey, that any man must blame Mr. Glanvill, for rashness of what he says. The words are thus set down by Riolanus, and I have not the Original by me to consult: Cum coelestia corpora circulariter moveantur, inferiera corpora motum illum imitari debent, cumque Oceanus fluxu & refluxu moveatur ab influxu Lunari, similiter humores •• lem motum habere necessum est. Which words seem clear enough, so as to justifie the Epiphonema of my Author, in opposition to our Virtuoso. Quid ista significant nisi sanguinis Circulationem. He that would be informed more fully about the judgement of the Ancients, whether there be any thing in them that discovers the Circulation of the blood, to have been known unto them; or that they were not totally ignorant, and without any apprehensions of it: let him reade the first letter of Walaeus, and the several Pieces of Ioannes Riolanus about the Circulation of the blood, and the disputations of Vander Linden about the Circulation of the blood, in which he vindicates it in a prolixe discours unto Hippocrates. I wil not trouble my self to transcribe them: It is evident that all men do give unto Harvey the credit of having so explicated it, and Anatomically proved it, that he may as well be termed the Author of it, as Epicurus and others the Authors of that Philosophy which they derived from Pythogoras, Democritus, Leucippus, and Ocellus Lucanus. Nor hath Harvey any other Plea and Right to the Invention, then that he did more fully and perspicuously declare it, and in the most judicious and solid manner assert what others had but hinted at, or faintly insisted on.

Nor is Mr. Glanvill any better acquainted with the notions of the Modern Writers, then he is with those of the Ancients. He saith, that some have ascribed the Circulation of the blood to Paulus Venetus. I must inform the Reader (who may easily mistake, if he be one of the ordinary Comical Wits) that it is not to be ascribed to Paulus Venetus, the great Traveller, who is generally understood, when that name is mentioned; none can say that he brought it from the Kingdom of Cathay. But Pater Paulus Sarpa (or Serpa) or Father Paul, the famous Venetian Monk, of the order of the Servi; who signatised himself during the time that Venice was interdicted. He was a Student at Padoa at the same time that Harvey was there, and discovered to Aqua pendens the valves in the veins, which discovery that great Anatomist appropriated to himself; and so Harvey was thought to have abused the same Father. Vide Slegel. de motu Sanguin c. 2. & Ri • lan. in not. ad ep. Walai. But since Fulgentio in the life of Padre Paolo doth not challenge Harvey for this Cheat, as he doth Fabricius for that other; and since Marquardus Slegelius could not hear of any such thing upon a strict Enquiry at Venice and Padua, I know not any since Walaeus and Franciscus Ulmus, that have ascribed the invention to Paulus Venetus Servita.

Neither did I ever reade of any man that attributed it to Prosper Alpinus: nor is it credible that any ever did so. For that great Physician established his glory by being an excellent Practitioner, and not by any Anatomical curiosities, which he rather contemned, then pursued: and till I know what Author Mr. Glanvill follows, I believe the mentioning of him was occasioned by that way of discoutse which is common to the Wits of this Age, to blunder out any thing: and by laughing at improbabilities (of their own suggestion) to explode substantial truths, or represent them as forgeries. But if any did deceive the world in attributing the Circulation of the blood to Padre Paolo and Prosper Alpinus, it doth not follow but that Andreas Caesalpinus was the first Inventor of it, and proposed it to the world in his Medical and Peripatetical Questions, though not in any Set Discourse, but as it casually falls into the discussion of other Problems: Whereupon it was little regarded, and not enquired after; the book being also scarce, and he being of that faction of Physicians which adheres to Aristotle against Galen, whence it hapned that few read his Paradoxes, and one of the bravest men of the latter Age hath been almost buried in oblivion. However, an ingenious Florentine, call'd Ioannes Nardius, hath asserted the repute of Andraeas Caesalpinus, for precedency to Harvey in the Discovery; nor doth the same Author doubt • but that Erasistratus was of the same opinion: but he • aith of Caesalpinus this: Foelix cui contigit post mortem nancisci clarissimum Patronum Guglielmum Harveium Regium M • dicum, nobisque per charum, qui abortivam illam opinionem excoluit adeo, ut nihil cultius nostro seculo, nilque mirabilius occurrerit curiosis & amaenarum literarum amatoribus. To decide this question, and to put an end to those disputes which trouble some of our Virtuosi so much, by reason of that little converse they have with Books, I shall draw out the opinion of Caesalpinus, as he expresseth himself in his Disputations.

A • d • aeas Caesal • inus • . peripatet. f. 5. qu. 3.As a great abettour of Aristotle, he avows that the Heart is the principal part in man, and the original of the veins, arteries, and nerves; which is the opinion of Hofman, Van der Linden, and other Aristotelian Physicians.

He describes the Fabrick of the Heart as exactly as any of the Circulators in reference to the Valves, so much talked of;Ib. q • 4. but he declares not their shape: Vasorum in Cor desinentium quaedam intromittunt contentam in ipsis substantiam, ut vena Cava in dextro ventriculo, & arteria venalis in sinistro: quadam educunt, ut arteria aorta in sinistro ventriculo, & vena arterialis pulmonem nutriens iu dextro: omnibus autem membranule sunt appositae & officio delegatae, ut oscula intromittentia non educant, & educentia non intromittant.

And for the account of the Vena arteriosa, and Arteria venosa in the Lungs, Harvey is not more perspicuous, then he is afterwards, where he makes the one to be an Artery, the other a veine, viz. Putaverunt autem Medici usum hunc non videntes commutatae fuisse vasa in pulmone, ut Arteria quidem similis esset venae, vena autem similis Arteriae: appellantes venas vasa omnia quae in dextrum ventriculum desinunt, Arterias autem, quae in sinistrum: figmenta multa & absurditates excogitantes ut usum invenirent. Pulsat igitur in pulmone vas dextri ventriculi, haec enim e corde recipit, ut Arteria magna, & similiter fabricatum est ejus corpus. Vas autem sinistri ventriculi non pulsat, quia introducit tantum, & ejus corpus simile est reliquis venis.

He holds that the motion of the Heart and Arteries depends not upon any pelsifick Faculty, but that it ariseth from the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ebullition, or effervescency of the blood in the Ventricles; and that the Heart and Arteries are dilated at the same time, the blood dilating the Heart, and issuing out thorough the valves of the Aorta and Pulmonique Artery at the same instant, which is pure • artesianism.

He holds that the Blood comes up from the veins to the Heart, and there acquires the last Perfection, and becomes vital and spirituous: in the mention of the Arterious Blood, he useth indifferently the termes of Blood, spirit, and natural heat, which I desire may be observed, lest the proofs seem not full enough, and he be construed to speak of nothing but spirits and natural heat in the Arteries. He saith, that this Blood having acquired its Perfection in its passage through both the ventricles, is distributed through all the parts of the body, for its nutriment by the Arteries, in which Arteries there is such a constant quantity of Blood, that the effervency of that in the Heart impells the whole continuation of the Arteries, so that they beat all at once. Cum enim pulsatio Cordis & Arteriarum sit accidens quoddam quod ex necessitate insequitur humoris in corde effervescentiam, qua sanguinis generatio per ficitur, ut in caeteris quae igne elixantur, accidit. lib. de vita & mort. c. 2. intumescente corde necesse est simul omnes Arterias dilatari, in quas derivatur fervor: non enim repleri pot • st una pars, quin totum fiat majus: ubi non omni ex parte vasa quae continua sunt fuerint exinanita. Nam nullo intus existente corpore, non contingit simul repleri principium & extrema, cum motus non fiat in instanti: existente autem per totos canales aliquo spiritu, simul ac in principio alius fuerit genitus, necesse est totum simul dilatari, unum enim sit spiritus accedens cum toto. Cum ergo totum reddatur majus simul ac accesserit pars, non potest una pars dilatari, quin eodem tempore dilatetur totum. Est autem veluti totum quoddam Arteriae omnes cum corde; Mark this, where he m • kes the Heart and Arteries to be one continued receptacle of perfect blood: by which you must • xplain what he says in some p • aces, as i • only spirits or natural heat went into the Arteri • s, or returned by the v • in • . Continuum enim est vas sanguinis perfecti. Spiritu autem efflante inhabitum corporis, & distributo particulis sanguine, necesse est tumorem vasorum desidere, quae est pulsus contractio. Continue autem hoc fit, quia continua est partium nutritio, & continua sanguinis generatio in corde. Elevatio igitur Spiritus a calore fit, non tamen temere, sed alicujus gratia. Nam sine hujusmodi amplificatione non fieret distributio alimenti in omnes partes.

He plants a kind of Flammula cordis, or fire in the heart, which causeth the ebullition, and imprints a spirituousness in the blood that issueth out into the Arteries. Hujusmodi locus Cor est in quo secundum Naturam elementum praeparatum ardere possit, & fieri spiritus: venae alimentum supp • ditant, Arteriae flammae spiritum recipiunt.

He • aith, that the Blood moves towards the Heart, as the Oyle to the flame of the burning Lamp, and that the Valves as the orifice of the Vena Cava which immit the blood, are placed there to moderate the source of the blood, lest it should fall in too fast, & extinguish the vital fire: and that the valves at the entrance of the Aorta do flie open upon the effervescency of the blood, by the pressure of it every way, to get more room: it finding no out-let but by those yielding valves, which were so placed, lest upon any accident, or violent passion, the arterious blood should regurgitate into the Heart, Motus fit ex venis in Cor caliditate alimentum trahente, ex corde autem in arterias, quia hac solum patet iter propter membranarum positionem, positae autem sunt hoc modo membranae, he unquam contingeret contrarium motum fieri, quod accidere posset in vehementibus animi perturbationibus, aut aliis causis, a quibus sanguinis retractio fit ad Cor: Obsistunt enim huic motui membranae. Nam si hoc modo condite non essent, ignis cordis vel levi causa extingueretur. Si enim motus f • eret contrarius simile esset, ac si flamma compingeretur deorsum ad alimentum • quod • um minime sit praeparatum, aut copiosius qu • m 〈…〉 ignem s • ffocat. Oportet enim alimentum praeparari, & 〈…〉 disp •• s • ri ad locum flammae.

He saith th • 〈…〉 blood, or spirit, is distributed into all parts of the body • with great celerity, and that it is that which nourisheth the parts: and that upon its diffusion into the habit of the body, the spirits are very much exhausted, and the corpulent part of the aliment doth remain, being coagulated partly by heat, and partly by cold.

He saith, that the variety of the pulse, as to strength or debility, celerity and slowness, depends upon the nature of the vi •• l fire, the nature of the aliment with which it is fed, and sometimes upon the particular Fabrick, or conformation of the Heart, in which that Fire is seated.

He placeth Anastomoses betwixt the veins and arteries every where in the body. Osculorum communio est non solum in corde, sed etiam per totum venerum & arteriarum ductum,

He saith that the blood is never extravasated, but where it is aggregated to any part by way of nourishment, or else it putrifies: he doth not understand how it should not coagulate if once extravasated; nor can he comprehend how it should be reassumed into the veins in such a case. Venam continuam esse oportet, usque ad cordis ventriculos, ut inde omnis virtus descendat: nec ullibi contingit disjunctam esse; sanguis enim calore cordis destitutus concrescit, & tandem putrescit.

He makes the Blood to pass betwixt the right and left ventricle of the Heart; partly by the Lungs, and partly by the Septum Cordis. Pulchre igitur condita sunt omnia. Cum enim fervere oporteret in corde sanguinem, ul fieret alimenti perfectio: primo quidem in dextro ventriculo, in quo crassior adhuc continetur sanguis, deinde autem in sinistro, ubi sincerior sang • is est: partim per medium septum, partim per medios pulmones refrigerationis gratia ex dextro in sinis • rum mittitur. Interim autem pulmo abunde nutriri potest: totum enim eum sanguinem absumere, quem recipit, egreditur fines rationis. Non enim rara esset ejus substantia & levis, ut videtur si tantum alimenti, vim in suam naturam converteret. This he thus • urther explains. Pulmo per venam arteriis similem ex dextro cordis ventriculo fervidum hauriens sanguinem, eumque per anastomosin arteriae • enal •• •• de • s quae in sinistrum 〈◊〉 ventriculum tendit, transmisso interim aere frigido per asperae arteriae canales, qui juxta arteriam venalem pro • enduntur, non tamen osculis communicantes, ut pulavit Galenus solo tactu temperat. Huic Sanguinis Circulationi ex dextro cordis ventriculo, per pulmones in sinis • rum ejusdem ventriculum optime respondent ea guae ex disse •• i • ne apparent. Nam duo sunt vasa in dextrum ventriculum des • n • ntia, duo etiam in sinistrum. Duorum autem unum intro •••• it • an • um • alterum educit, membranis eo ingenio con •• r ••• is. Vas igitur intromittens, vena est magna quidem in • extro, quae cava appellatur: parva autem in sinistro, ex pul •••• introducens, cujus unica est tunica, ut caeterarum venarum. Va • autem educens Arteria, est magna quidem in sinistro, quae A • rta appellatur, parva autem in dextro ad pulmones derivans, • ujus similiter duae sunt tunicae • ut in caeteris arteriis.

He holds that the spirituous or arterious blood is cast out, • nd diffused vigorously into the habit of the body, that the v • ins and arteries being continuous by Anastomosis, it returns to the Heart again, vigorating the blood of the vena p • rta and • ava as it returns: which is sufficiently intimated in that he deduces all the vigour and vitality of the blood from the Heart • and that this vigour or natural heat is carried over the body by the Arteries alone, and that it is necessary that the whole v • nous Systeme, or contexture of Arteries and veins be continuous, lest the blood in the veins, being destitute of the cordial heat, should coagulate and putrifie. He holds that this motion, or Circulation of the blood is without intermission: and that the swelling of the veins upon the Ligature is a suffici • nt proof of it. But he holds, that the recourse of the blood by the veins is greater in the sleep, then when we awake; which he proves thus • in that the veins are more full and • umid during sleep, then waking: and the pulse weaker, and more slow; as any man may observe. From whence he concludes, that the natural heat (which is the Art • ri • us • lood, as I observed before, to prevent all possible 〈◊〉 which was otherwise in great part expended up • n the 〈◊〉 and sensories, doth in sleep return: and fill the 〈…〉 (that exhaustion ceasing) then when we 〈…〉

His opinion will be best set down in his own words; and I think it necessary to do it, because Nardius hath done it so imperfectly, that one would attribute as little to his allegations, as to those which are cited out of the Ancients; and if I had not read Caesalpinus long before, I should have thought the Florentine to have intitled Caesalpinus to the opinion out of envy to Harvey, or out of a partial desire to advance the glory of the Tuscan Academy at Pisa, when Caesalpinus was Professour. Thus that learned man writ about the year 1590. or a little after.

Audraeas Caesalpinus Quest • Medic. l. 2. Qu. 17. edit. venetae secunda in 4to. A. D. 1593. fol. 234. col. 1.

Sed illud speculatione dignum videtur, Propter quod intumescunt venae ultra locum apprehensum, non citr • : quod experimento sciunt qui vena secant: vinculum enim adhibent citra locum sectionis, non ultra: quia tument venae ultra vinculum, non citra. Debuisset autem opposito modo contingere, si motus sanguinis & spiritus a visceribus fit in totum corpus: intercepto enim meatu, non ultra datur progressus: tumor igitur venarum citra vinculum debuisset fieri. An • olvitur dubitatio ex eo quod scribit Aristoteles, de Som c. 3. ubi inquit, Necesse enim quod evaporatur aliquousque impelli: deinde converti & permutari, sicut Euripum: calidum enim cujusque animalium ad superiora natum est ferri: cum autem in superioribus locis fuerit, multum simul iterum revertitur, ferturque deorsum. Haec Aristoteles. Pro cujus loci explicatione illud sciendum est: Cordis meatus ita a natura paratos esse, ut ex vena Cava intromissio fiat in Cordis ventriculum dextrum, unde patet exitus in pulmonem: ex pulmone praeterea alium ingressum esse in Cordis ventriculum sinistrum, ex quotandem patet exitus in Arteriam Aortam, membranis quibusdam ad ostia vasorum appositis, ut impediant retrocessum: Sic enim perpetuus quidam motus est ex vena cava per Cor & pulmones in Arteriam Aortam: ut in Quaestionibus Peripateticis explicavimus. Cum autem in vigilia motus caloris nativi fiat extra, scilicet ad sensoria: in Somno autem intra, scilicet ad Cor: putandum est in vigilia multum spiritus & sanguinis ferri ad arterias, inde enim in nervos iter est. In somno autem eundem calorem per venas reverti ad Cor, non per Arteriam. Judicio sunt pulsus, qui expergiscentibus fiunt magni, vehementes, celeres, & crebri, cum quadam vibratione: in somno autem parvi, languidi, tardi & rari notante Galeno. 3. de caus. pul. 9, 10. Num in Somno calor nativus minus vergit in arterias: in casdem erumpit vehementius cum expergiscuntur. Venae autem contrario se modo habent: nam in somno fiunt tumidiores, in vigilia exiliores, ut patet intuenti eas quae in manu sunt. Transit enim in somno calor nativus ex arteriis in venas per of culorum communionem, quam Anastomosin vocant, & inde ad Cor. Vt autem sanguinis exundatio ad superiora, & retrocessus ad inferiora ad instar Euripi manifesta est in somno & vigilia, sic non obscurus est hujusmodi motus in quacunque parte cor. poris vinculum adhibeatur, aut alia ratione occludantur venae. Cum enim tollitur permeatio, intumescunt rivuli qua parte fluere solent.

From hence it is clear that He held that the blood did circulate continually, falling into the Heart by the vena Cava, and issuing out by the Aorta into all parts of the body: that this motion of the blood was perceivable by the Ligatures at any time, but most manifest in the intumescence of the veins in sleep: at what time also the blood or natural heat (which is all one to him) did pass by way of Anastomosis out of the arteries into the veins, as well as at other times. So that we are not to imagine any interrupted circulation in him, but that it did constantly flow night and day, sleeping and waking, though with unequal celerity. In letting of blood he tells us, that the blood which first issues out is venous, and blacker then that which follows,Qu. Med. l. 2. qu 5 • ol. 212. col. 1. lit. c. and comes more immediately out of the Arteries. —Venas cum Arteriis adeo copulari osculis, ut vena secta primum exeat sanguis venalis nigrior, deinde succedat arterialis flavior, quod plerumque contingit. And he explains the motion of the blood, Qu. Med. l. 2. qu. 15. fol. 230. col. 1. l. c. and natural heat thus, to prevent all ambiguity. At instabit quis in somno nequaquam prohiberi calo • em in cerebro & sensoriis: pulsant enim arteriae in toto corpore etiam in somno. At praesente calore innato debuisset duci in actum facultas animalis. An calor innatus in somno viget in venis & arteriis, non in nervis sine quibus, non sit sensus & motus? Extra igitur forri est nervos petere, intra autem non solum ad viscera, sed in omnes venas & arterias; unde operationes naturales magis perficiuntur in toto corpore.

I hope I have now determined the Question which hath occasioned so many heats in the world concerning the Circulation of the blood, who was the first Inventor of it? I have demonstrated that Andraeas Caesalpinus, a rigid Peripatetick upon sensible Experiments & Mechanical considerations, not notional apprehensions, did not only discover this motion of the blood (even through the Lungs) but gave it the name of CIRCULATIO SANGUINIS; which name is not so proper in it self, considering the Fabrick of the veins and arteries, and the Labyrinth in which the blood moves universally, describing a Line no way circular, as that a man would have pitched upon it in any other Age then when Caesalpinus lived, when the knowledge of the Learned Languages was less general then now, and such a barbarous stile in fashion, as our Inve • tour • sed. But it was not so in the days of Dr. Harvey, who published his Treatise in 4to. at Francfourt in the year (as I take it) 1628. I must confess I am apt to think upon this consideration, that Dr. Harvey (who was a Peripatetique Physician, and in whose time at Padoa, those Physicians did flourish with the greatest repute of Learning and skill in Anatomy, as well as Philosophy) did take up this opinion from my Author. And although there wanted not occasion by reason of what Walaus, Riolanus, Slegelius, and others had said upon the point, for him to declare the original of the discovery, yet in his two Answers to Riolanus, and his Book of Generation, He no where asserts the Invention so to himself • as to deny that he had the intimation or notion from Caesalpinus; but leaves the Controversy in the dark: which silence of his I take for a tacite Confession. His Ambition of Glory made him willing to be thought the Authour of a Paradox he had so illustrated, and brought upon the Stage, when it lay unregarded, and in all probability buried in oblivion. Yet such was his Modesty, as not to vindicate it to himself by telling a Lie. And such his Prudence, as rather to avoid the debate, then resolve it to his prejudice. Had Dr. Harvey been a Chymist, I should have guessed that he might have fixed upon the word Circulation, upon other reasons, and those congruous enough to his Hypotheses: but since (especially in the days when he writ) those Studies were unknown to him, Narravit mih. Nobiliss. & Ampliss • Nic • laus Cudart, illustrissmi Principis Auriaci Consi •• arius, meminisse se andire ipsum Harveium profitentem se revera primam circuitus sanguinis n • titiam, & in cum se • tione viventium inquirendi occasionem ex He • ioto accepisse. Fuit is serenissimi 〈◊〉 •• pis Iac • bi gemm • rius. & Mathe •• os peri • us, eoque nomine Londini • elebris.—Si verum hoc, verisi milius quoque est, vel ips • m, vel Sarpium, vel Heri •• um, a C • s • lpin • accepisse. Nemo enim mihi pers • aserit, ab eorum nemine visum fuisse scriptum [venetiis impressum] quod vel titulo s • , nedum eruditionis varietate atque sublimitate commendet. Io. Art • r • Vander Linden disput, de circuit. sangu 〈◊〉 . 9. sect. 196. & exercit. 16. sect • 582. and not valued by him, I am inclined to think that He did receive his first I • telligence from this Professour at Pisa (where Harvey also was) and so improved those hints, that in the divulging of his Opinion, they are as little to be seen, as the first indeclines which Painters draw in Pictures that are lost, when the Pourtraict is finished • or as in the first Appearances of Plants above ground, where those leaves and buds, which often give growth • to the succeeding stemme • flower, and fruit, are lost, or altered so as not to be known. Let it suffice, that Dr. Harvey had parts and industry enough to have discovered it, had he not been prevented th •• ein. And I should have imagined that our Countreyman had found it out, without any communication with those other books (a thing possible enough, and of which we have instanc • in the case of • udbek, Bartholine, and Iolice) but that the reasons I have alledged render the case suspicions. Had C • salpi • us writ a distinct Treatise, I doubt not but much of the Glory had been his: since there are as great differences between one Circulator, and another, and greater, then betwixt him and H • rvey: but his notions being confusedly laid down here and there in his Peripatetick and Medicinal Questions, and he being not ambitious to pretend to any 〈◊〉 discoveries, only to illustrate Aristotle • tenets. I sh • ll allow Harvey the possession of his present repa •• : nor do I give my self this trouble of collecting up into a method th • se confu • ed a •• e • tions of Caes • lpi • us on • of any envy to the dead, but out of animosity to Pre ••• ders to Wit and Learning, that brave it th • s amongs • u • ; ye • if to be ignorant of what 〈◊〉 passed 〈…〉 heretofore • be an argument of c •• ldishness, • here is not any thing more puerile then this sort of Vi • t •• si.

I might not dismiss my Reader • but that the great noise which this Circulatio • of bl •• d makes in the World, enforceth m • to speak a little m •• e about the utility of this discovery, which ou • A •• hour describes to be the most noble of • ll those discoveries in the O • conomy of humane • ature, which Wit and I • dustry have made. I do confess I think the Arguments for it to be such as admit of no Answer in general; but when we come to debate how it passeth throught the Lungs, (which Riolanus almost invincibly disproves) or through the Septum Cordis, (which Riolan and Bartholin asserts, but Harvey, Slegelius, Vander Linden, and others, reject it on good grounds) what it is that causeth the pulsation of the Heart? what continues on the motion of the blood in the veins, even when a Ligature is made betwixt the antecedent and subsequent blood. Whether the blood be diffused into the habit of the body, and reimbibed by capillary veins, or conveyed on by Anastomoses? whether there be any difference betwixt the venous and Arterious blood? How the Phaenomena (which undeniably are observed) about the pulse can be made out; and particularly how some have lived without any Pulse, others (which I have known) in the palpitation of the Heart, suffer no change in their Pulse? How upon diffection or wounds somtimes both ends of the veine divided do bleed? How some bleed at the arme without any Ligature; some upon a double Ligature? These, and many other questions, when I come to dispute with my self, methinks I am forced to constrain my judgement in the assent I give to that Probleme: and what I am ashamed to deny, I finde I cannot own without some reluctancy, which is daily encreased in me by scruples arising from the Practick Part of Physick; nor do I blush to declare my self an Abettour only of such Tenets, as are consistent with, and illustrated by Practical Physick: it was thought at first that this Circulation of blood would overthrow all the usual Methods of Physick, and introduce new and beneficial discoveries in that part of Medicine which is Therapeutick. But Harvey denieth that it varieth the Medicine of the Ancients; and Slegelius asserts the same opinion, avowing it to be rather an happy illustration, then a subver • ion of the former praxis, though it alter the Theory much. In fine, those little advantages and Diorismes, which we derive from that Invention m • rit not our notice; nay, any man shall with more assurance bleed in many diseases in sundry manners and different places, upon diverse indications upon the old observations and rules, then on the new hypotheses, wherein as to the use of parts, and nature of humors, there is as little of • le •• n • ss and •• rtai • ty; as there is efficacy in that practice, which is regulated most thereby.

I had forgot to take notice of the venae l • cteae ascribed to Asellius, Navdiu • . noct Genial. • . p. 412. the invention of them is thought a great discovery, and such as signatiseth a man in this Age. Yet even those vessels were known to Galen, as Nardius proveth out of his book against Erasistratus, c. 5. and out of the last chapter of his Anatomical Administrations. It is true, he calls them Arteries; he saith they were in the Mesentery filled with Milk, and that he observed them in young Kids. And Hofman in his Variae Lectiones doth produce out of Galen, de usu part. l. 4. sect. 19. a place • o evidently shewing that Galen and Herophilus did recover those Venae lacteae; that Vestingius cries out in a Letter to him, Existimo aut nihil cum Herophil • Galenum vidisse, Epist xxi. out has 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , hos ipsos ductus esse, quos lacteos cum Asellio nominamus. Quae ad Pancreatis 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (ex multarum enim glandularum compage constructum videtur) pertinent. The place in Galen is this, as Hofman represents it. C. Hofman var lect. l. 2. c. 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Which proof as it is p • rspicuous enough to ruine the discovery of the Venae Lact • ae • and the deducing of them unto the Glandules of the Mesentery (beyond which Herophilus and Galen did never trace the journey of the Chy • e, but imagined those veins to nourish the Mesentery) so I think that the invention of the Ductus Thoracius belongs to Andr. Vesalius, and Barthol. Eustac • ius: the one more obscurely proposeth it, the other more openly.

A • dr. Ve • alius de f • brica corporis humani l. 3 c 7. p. 291 Edit. Venet. 1568. I • Ant. Vand • r Lind • n de Ci •• ui • fangu. • x • rc. 9

—Aleo ut mihi etiam persuasum fit quamvis id nunquam vid • rim; interdum a • inistro coe • ae caudicis latere, ubi jugulum contingit, venam depromi, quae secundum finistrum vertebrarum latus declivis ducta, sinistris cos • is samos offerat: illa quam sine pari nuncupamus, dextras costas alente. Atque hujusmodi ven • or • um, non tantum a jugulo primum posse • fieri, sed paulo infernis, etiam agnus attestatur: in quo • ale aliquid semel observavi.

Viden' venisse in rem, & quasi in manu jam habuisse illud Ariadnae filum, quod secutus penetra • e in naturae Labyrin • hum, majoremque sibi gloriam comparare potuisset? sed quo fructu? Audi sis, & disce, quam homini, scientias sectanti, necessarium sit, etiam in naturalibus eum, qui sui juris & muneris fecit, docere homines scientias & artes, Ps 94. v. 10. Jer. 28. v. 26, precari, Revela oculos meos ut cernam mirabilia in operibus tuis, ex Ps. 119. v. 18.

Verum, inquit, ejuscemodi non nisi rarissime occurrentes venarum series, anatomes studioso non aliter expendendas putarim, quam s • interdum sextus in manu digitus, aliud ne monstruosum se spectandum offerret. Adeo ut siquando in publicis sectionibus haec observo, ea tanquam non essent, tacite praetereamne artis candidati in omnibus corporibus haec observari arbitrentur.

Quanto egregius, & propter hoc non unam atque immortalem laudem meritus Barth. Eustachius: qui non solum candide exponit, quod vidit; sed et praemisso, quod res merebatur, praeloquio conatus est posteriorem studia excitare ad ulteriorem inquisitionem et perfectiorem cognitionem. Neque enim ignorabat, rei quidem inventionem, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 munus es • e: at vero ejus plenam cognitionem 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 opus ef • e. Sed audiamus ipsum.

Ad hanc naturae providentiam quandam equorum venam alias pertinere credidi: quae cum artificii & admirationis plena sit, nec delectatione ac fructu careat: quam • is minime sit ad Thoracem alendum instituta: operae pretium est ut exponetur. Ita que in illis animantibus, pergit ab hoc ipso insigni trunco sinistri juguli, qua posterior sedes radicis venae internae jugularis spectat, magna quaedam propago g • rminat: quaepraeterquam quod in ejus origine ostiolum semi-circulare habet, est etiam ALBA ET AQUEI HUMORIS PLENA; noc l • nge ab ortu in duas partes scinditur; paulo post rursus coeuntes in unam: quae nullos ramos diffund • ns, juxta sinistram vertebrarum latus, penetrato septo transverso, deor sum ad medium us que lumborum fertur: quo latior efferta, magnam que arteriam circumplexa, obscurissimum finem, nihil que adhuc non bene perceptum, obtinet.

Since the writing hereof, I have met with a book containing certain Letters of Marcellus Malpighius, and Carolus Fracassatus; in which it is observable that Fracassatus (the Anatomy. Professour at Pisa) doth ascribe the Invention of the Circulation of the blood to Caesalpinus; and of the ductus Thoracius to Eustachius: His words are these: Adeo oscitantia Autorum quaedam tam male praeponuntur, ac tanguntur, ut oporteat alios eadem repetere, ac ditare novis elucubrationibus, ac si nunquam fuissent. Sanguinis Circulatio, Galaxia in Microcosmo humano, scilicet via Chyli Cor, nonne • aesalpinum agnoscit Authorem, ac Eustachium de vena sine pari? Et tamen soles in Scholis Autores crepant Anglos Harvaeus, & Di • penses Pecquetos: non tamen spernendi, qui verum rudimenta ponunt, etiamsi infecto nec absoluto opere cessaverint: Fracassatus de cerebro. p. 202. qui invenit anticipavit laborem & curam quaerendi: & ad minora vocatur, si quaetionis solicitudo & jactatio tollatur: par tamen decus manet & illum, qui primum invenit, & qui postremum perfecit, nescio enim an praestet invenisse, an ditasse.

Having said thus much, I leave Mr. Glanvill, to answer those little quillets of his, which can convince none but Shallow-brain'd and Comical Wits. — If they knew these grand Theories formerly; how chanceth it that they speak no more of things, which no doubt they had frequent occasions to mention? How come they to be left without memory among their followers, who were such superstitious porers upon their writings? How chanceth it not to have been shewn to be lodged in those Authors before the days of Dr. Harvey, &c. when Envy had impregnated and determined their imaginations? Let illiterate persons and Mathematicians be swayed against plain proof by these Arguments. I think in stead of Temples and Altars to be erected to these Inventors, there is more need of a Schoolmaster and an Antiquary, the one to teach them humane learning, the other to instruct them in past discoveries; least, with much trouble and pains our new Philosophers should finde out again the Art of Printing, or E • ching: the use of Gunpowder, or the Load-stone.

Of Transfusion of Blood— into Animals.

Plus Vltra. pag. 17. THus, Sir, I have done with Instances of Anatomical Advancements, unless I should hitherto referre the late noble Experiment of Transfusion of the Blood, from one living Animal into another, which I think very fit to be mentioned; and I suppose it is not improper for this place: Or however, I shall rather venture the danger of improprie • y and misplacing, then omit the taking notice of so excellent a Discovery, which no doubt future Ingenuity and Practice will improve to Purposes not yet thought of; and we have very great likelihood of advantages from it in present Prospect.

For it is concluded, That the greatest part of our diseases, arise either from the scarcity, or malignant tempers and corruptions of our Blood; in which cases Transfusion is an obvious Remedy; and in the way of this Operation the peccant blood may be drawn out • without the danger of too much enfeebling Nature, which is the grand inconvenience of meer Phlebotomies. So that this Experiment may be of excellent use, when Custom and Acquaintance have hardned men to permit the Practice in Pleurisies, Cancers, Leprosies, Madness, Ulcers, Small-Pox, Dotage, and all such like Distempers. And I know not why that of injecting prepared Medicines immediately into the blood, may not be better and more efficacious then the ordinary course of Practice: Since this will prevent all the danger of frustration from the loathings of the Stomach, and the disabling, clogging mixtures and alterations they meet with there, and in the in • estines, in which no doubt much of the spirit and virtue is lost. But in the way of immediate injection they are kept intire, all those inconveniences are avoided, and the Operation is like • to be more speedy and successful. Both these noble Experiments are the late Inventions of the ROYAL SOCIETY, who have attes • ed the reality of the former, that of Transfusion of Blood by numerous trials on several sorts of brute Animals, Indeed the French made the Experiment first upon humane Bodies, of which we have a good account from Mounsieur Dennis. But it hath been practised also with fair and encouraging success by our Philosophical Society. The other of injection, if it may be mentioned as a different invention, was also the Product of some generous Inventors; though indeed more forward Forreigners have endeavoured to usurp the Credit of both • This latter likewise hath succeed • d to considerable good effects in some new Trials that have been made of it in Dantzick, as appears in a Letter written from Dr. Fabricius of that City, and Printed in the Philosophical Translations.

I shall not quarrel with Mr. Glanvill for misplacing this discourse about the Transfusion of Blood,

Those Forreigner • will rectifie hereaf • er their mistakes, and not attribute the injectin • of Medic • ments to th ••• • nvention • as Caspar Schottus in Mir • b. Art. l. xi. c. 21. p. 891. • Phil. Iac. Sacks in Ocean Micromicrocosm. s • ct. 155 have do • c, unjustly magnifying • oler • iss • ram Industriam & Ex • p • rientiam of these Pretenders

Andr. Li • av. defens. Syntagm arcanor adv. Henning. Scheunemem act 2. c. pag. 8. edit. F • ancof • urt. A. 1615.

but I think all the World will condemn him for ascribing either the invention of Transfusing blood, or of injecting Medicaments into the veins, unto the Society. That the latter was a thing much practised by Dr. Wren and others in Oxford, befor • the Restoration of his Majesty, and before that ever the SOCIETY was thought upon, is a thing known to all that were at those days in that University. I saw my self in those days the Dog into whose veins there was injected a Solution of Opium, at the Lodgings of the Honourable Robert Boyle, of which he makes mention in his second discourse of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy, and Borrichius in his Letters to Bartholinus.

As for that other of Transfusing the blood out of one Animal into another, if the Question be who first proposed it into the World to be tr • ed, it is certain that Libavius first did tha • , at least I know not any more ancient then He • That Learned man above Fifty years ago, so plainly describes the Tran • fusion, that one can hardly discourse of it with more clearness, then there is done in these words. Adsit Iuvenis robustus, sanus, sanguine spirituoso plenus: Adstet exhaustus viribus, tenu • s, macitentus, vix animam trahens. Magister Artis habeat tubulos argenteos inter se congruen • es, ap • riat arteriam robus • i & tubulum inserat, muniatque mox & aegr • ti arteriam findat, & tubulum foemineum infigat: jam duos tubulos sibi mutuo applicet, & ex sano sanguis arterialis calens & spirituosus saliet in aegrotum, unaque vitae fontem afferet, omnemque languo • em pellet. This allegation was made use of by an Italian Phi • osopher, and silenceth all those in England, or France, that pretend to the Glory of having first proposed:Phil • s. T • ansact. Numb. 37. p. 740. So that the Authour of the Philosophical Transactions confesseth it in these words". This indeed is clear enough, and obligeth us to averre a greater Antiquity of this operation,

• y his leave it infers only the mention of it to be more ancient, not • he Operation.

Libavius propos • th it out of some Paracel • ian Magical Writer, and not from his own Fancy: adding • hat the Physician who practiseth th • s Transfusion, de • e • vs Hellebore himself.

See Mr. I. Denny's Letter in the Transact. numb. 27. Ib. num • 28

then before we were aware of, though 'tis true, Libavius did not propose it, but only to mock at it (which is the common fate of new Inventions in their Cradle) besides that, He contrives it with great danger both to the Recipient and Emittent, by proposing to open Arteries in both, which indeed may be practised upon Brutes, but ought by no means upon Man. Till that learned Italian had instructed the Virtuosi in the point, there had been a great Controversie agitated between the French and English Societies about the Invention. The former pretended, that it was mentioned first amongst them about eleven years ago, at the Assembly, in the house of Mounsieur de Montmor; and that the publick is beholding to that Monsieur for this discovery, and the benefits and advantages that shall be reaped thereby. But about the person that should first m • ntion the design, the French vary. Monsieur de Gury fathers it upon the Abbot Bourdelot: but the Author of their Iournals upon a Benedictine Friar. Our Society having given the world occasion to take notice of it publikely, and having otherwise long before pursued the Oxford Invention of injecting Liquors into the veins, thought themselves injured in this, that the French should usurp the Credit of such a discovery as had its first birth in England, upon a pre • ence that it was conceived in France: it being notorious, the French took occasion to try it by the Example of the English Virtuosi: and there being no publick record cited, declaring the time and place of the Invention proposed the Method to practise it, and the success of the Execution' Thereupon began a Paper-scuffle betwixt the Gazettiers of the Curiens • which any m • n may read • with some pleas • re, because they had on both sides such little Logick, as to argue from the mentioning of a design, to the effecting it. If the way of Argumentation be good and solid, then Aristotle, and such of the Ancients, as proposed the squaring of the Circle, must not be denied the glory of being Inventors of it: So they which first proposed a perpetual motion, or the Northwest Passage, may go for Inventors of them: yet are none of these things yet discovered. Oh! new Correlates, and worthy of our Inventors! Long ago Aristotle and the Common Dialectio • s told us, Datur scibile de quo non datur Scientia. But none lik • our Anti-Logicians-ever taught, there were a sort of Inventors who • e Inve • tions were yet to seek. All that our Inventors did, was, that after Dr. Lower had first discovered and practised the Transfusion at Oxford in Febru • ry 1665. They on the seventeenth of May following 1665. gave order that there should be trials made for transfusing the blood: See Transact. Num. 28. pag. 524. b • t their • rials proving lame for want of a fit Apparatus, and a well continued Method of Operation: the Dr. sent them a convenient Method for effecting the thing. Before this, there never was any mention or proposal made at the Society concerning the Transfusion, as I am certainly informed by one of their Number, who hath examined their Iournal Books, in which such Proposals and Experiments are recorded. Nay, they were so far from pretending to it at first, that when it was mentioned unto them by Mr. Boyle, there were some as well severe as ingenuous Criticks, who thought it somewhat strange and bold for him to affirm that the Dr. had made it succeed. And besides, I observe that Mr. Boyle in his Letter to Dr. Lower (who hath vindicated the Invention to himself in his late Book de Corde) doth not say that ever the Society had thought of or attempted, or designed to attempt the thing. He calls it insolitum & insperatum conamen. June. 26. 1666. and desires He would acquaint the Society with the manner how he atchieved it. Now since that neither was Dr. Lower then of the Society, nor any way entitles them unto it, but himself, and that in a Treatise wherein he doth not so much as call himself a Member of that Assembly, set any man judge with how much truth this other Discovery is ascribed to these NEW EXPERIMENTATORS, In the Transactions numb. 37. pag. 371. The G • z • ttier affi • ms, that upon further inv • stig • tion i • wa • by g • od proof (which is in h • s hands) prov'd that the invention 〈…〉 • nown to some Ingenious pers • ns in • ngland thi •• y years ago. If so, • hen is not the Soc • ety the Inventors of it, exc • pt we will say, that Societies as well as individual 〈◊〉 de pre-exist! But may not a man ask 〈◊〉 Gazettier • where is the publike record 〈◊〉 this Inven • i • n? w • a • Account • s there of the Me • hod with whi • h it was practised? with what su • ces? How comes all this • o be concea • ed till • fter Dr. Lower atchieves it, and the Fr • nch pr ••• nd to it? would any man ha • e con ••• led th • ir claim to the D • scov • ry • afte • that it was become the talk of E • rope • the Da • ling of the Soc • e • y and wo • thy to • e dispu • ed by the French? why did they not put in their Claim, being w • thin hea • ing, till about three years after, by our Virtuoso. But least I should seem to deal too severely and mal • ciously with them, rather then it shall be said That they invented nothing, I grant, that They invented a LYE; and shall conclude the Debate by representing the words out of their Transactions, by which they assume to themselves the Credit of the Invention, and by a dubious wording and pointing of the Period, insinuate as if Dr. Lower as well as Dr. King had been encouraged to the Attempt by the Society.

Phi • osoph. Transact. Numb. 27. pag. 490.

How lon • so • ver that Experiment may have been conceived in other parts (which is needless to contest) it is notorious that it had its Birth first of all in England; some ingenious persons of the Royal Society, having first started it there, several years ago, (as appears by their Journal) and that dextrous Anatomist, Dr. Lower, reduced it into practice, both by contriving a Method for the Operation, and by successfully executing the same, wherein he was soon overtaken by several happy Trials of the skilful hand of Dr. Edmund King, and others encouraged thereunto, by the said Society, which being notified to the World Numb. 6.19. & 20. of these Transactions printed Novemb. 19. & Decemb. 17. 1666. the Experiment was soon after that time heard of to have been tried in forreign Parts, without hearing any thing of its having been conceived ten years ago.

In which relation, I must take notice that it doth not really appear in their Iournal-books, that ever any such thing was started by any persons how ingenious soever of their Society; Dr. Lower being not then, nor long after in the History of the Royal Society reckoned as a Member of it. Next • that the int • rpunction of the period is so equivocally placed and penned, that the unwary Reader may think that Dr. Lower, as well as the others was encouraged to the trial by the Society. Whereas he was not, whatever the others were. Again, it is disingeniously said, that he was soon overtaken by several happy Trials of Dr. Edmund King, and others, encouraged thereto by the Society. Since it appears by the letter of Mr. B • yle, that the Society knew not how to do the thing in Iune, which Dr. Lower had effected in February, and the fame thereof at that time was spread over England. In Iuly Dr. Lower acquainted the Society with the manner of the Transfusion, whereof Dr. Wallis had given the Society an imperfect acco • nt a little before of what he had seen Dr. Lower do at Oxford. So that for at least four or five months, the Members of the Society did not overtake Dr. Lower. But after they were acquainted with the contrivance, they invented it very clearly.

From he • ce it is easie for any man to judge with how much right Mr. Glanvill doth say, that both the injecting of Medicines, and transfusing blood into the veins of Animals, those Noble Exp • riments were the late Inventions of the SOCIETY. I shall now proceed to inquire into the Utility of them; thereby to discover how noble and excellent they are, and what advantages we may hope to derive from them hereafter.

Because this Transf • nding of blood hath hitherto been looked on as the primary Invention, and the most famed of any the Society were ever intitled unto: and that they themsel • es have particularly concerned themselves in asserting it to be their discovery • to the end that every Reader may the better be able to judge of the Controversie, without being forced to go seek out amongst the scattered transactions and elsewhere, several Histories that are material to the passing a right judgement; I shall crave pardon if I do relate particularly the matter of fact. and what hath been sundry times performed by the English, Italian and Fre • ch Virtuosi, with every circumstance, both as to injecting of Medicines, and of blood into the veins.

As to the injecting of Medicaments into the veins, it is an Experiment that I am apt to think was first tried by the English, and as a curiosity, it was not unpleasant; but that it should be so advantageous a discovery as Mr. Glanvill represents it is like to be, I do not beleeve. There was a time when men had regard to their Consciences, and what could not be administred but upon prudential hopes of advantage to the Patient, no approved Physician durst, or would give to any sick person: but in this Age, such as ought to protest against it, are as forward as any to forget these considerations, and prompt men on to practices without either regarding whether the effect be not Murther in the Physicians, besides the ill consequences to the diseased. In the injecting of Medicaments, I must complain that neither the Operation of Medicaments immediately injected into the blood and veins is known, nor the dose; and consequently the Project not like to improve Physick at all, unless our Magistrates will licence men to try so many Experiments, even to the apparent hazard or certain death of the parties, and may regulate and authenticate the practice in such manner as becomes a Baconical Experiment: and to encourage Rational men to this procedure, there ought to be a greater deficiency in Physick, then yet appears, and a more hopeful success then any man can yet expect, supposed by this way. A Paynim told us, Nulla unquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa est.

A sober Physician will look upon the act to be as indiscreet, as the Comedian describes love to be, Quaeres in se neque consilium, neque modum habet ullum, eam consilio regere non potes. That there is no probability that this way of Medicine can ever amount to any thing, appears from this consideration, that Liquors immediately injected into the blood, have a different Operation there, then when taken in by the Stomach: and that the mixtures of Liquors with blood upon Phlebotomy in a Pottinger, gives no light to the Experiment. As I shall now shew.

Seignior Fracassati Professor of Anatomy at Pisa tried these Experiments by injecting Medicaments.

1. Having injected into the jugular and crural veins of a Dog some Aqua fortis diluted, the Animal died presently: Transact. num. 27. p. 490 491. and being opened, all the blood in the vessels was coagulated and fixed: but that which was in the Viscera (which I dare not English Guts, Car. Fracassat. Ep. Ana • . de cerebro. p. 252.253. • 54. but take it to denote the Heart, Liver, Lungs, Spleen, where the blood passes extravasated through: though the Transactions render it Guts, and destroy the antithesis betwixt vasa and viscera) did not so easily coagulate. It was also observed that the great vessels were burst, or as it were cut asunder, yet have I known who hath put Aqua fortis into cooling Iuleps in Fevers, as others do spirit of Vitriol without • ny harm. 2. There was also infused into another Dog, some spirit of Vitriol, which had not so present an effect: for the Animal complained a great while, and foamed like Epilepticks, and had its respiration very thick: and observing the beating of his breast, one might easily judge, the Dog suffered much: who dying at last, his blood was found fixed in the veins, and grumous, resembling Soot: whereas in the Experiment with Aqua fortis (which may as easily be given inwardly as spirit of Nitre) the blood is not said to have been changed in its colour from other coagulated blood. It was also observabl • (tho • gh the Transactions minde it not) that the blood in this last Dog was not upon coagulation continuous in the veins, but broken and severed into parcels. 3. There was also injected into the jugular of another dog, some oyle of Sulphu • per campanam, but he died not of it, though this inf • sion was several times tried on him. And the wound being closed, and the dog l • t go, he went into all the corners of the room, searching for meat, and having found some bones, he fell to gnawing them with a strange avidity, as if this Liquor had caused in him a great appetite. 4. Another dog, into whose veins some Oyle of Tartar per deliquium was injected, did not escape so well: for he complained much, and was altogether swoln; and then died: • eing o • ened, the Spectators were surprised to finde his blood not curdled, but on the contrary more thin and florid then ordinary. Dr. L • wer de mo • u Cordis pag. 1.9.5. Dr. Lower having extracted half a pound of blood out of the crural urine of a Mastiff dog, did inject the like quantity of warm milk into him; within half an hour the dog became very sick, breathed with difficulty, and seemed to labour much with his heart and diaphragme, and after to palpitate, tremble and sigh grievously, and at length miserably died. Upon dissection he found the vena cava, the ventricles of the heart, the vessels of the Lungs, and the Aorta full of blood and milk coagulated together, and the concretion was so hard,Transact. num. 27. pag. 49. that it was not easie to part it. This he tried but once. But Monsieur Dennys the French Physician saith, he tried it with a different success. For having syringed about a quarter of a pint of milk into the veins of an Animal (he tells not what) and having opened the same some time after, he found the milk so perfectly mixed with the blood, that there was not any place in which appeared the least footstep of the whiteness of the milk, and all the blood was generally more liquid, and less apt to coagulate. 6. I received an account of some Experiments, from one much versed in these injections (which he may one day acquaint the world with) to this effect. That the infusion of Crocus Metallorum, injected in a less quantity then otherwise (viz • ℥ ſs semis ) will work by vomit in a dog, almost presently, and very strangely, and make him grievously sick. Yet Dr. Wren informs Mr. Boyle, Mr. Boyl • of the Usefu • nes • of Nat P • il • s. part. 2 p. 54, 55. that a moderate dose of the infusion of Crocus Metallorum did not much move the dog that he injected it into: but a large dose of two ounces or more wrought soon, and so violently, that he vomited up life and all. That a dog will take two drams of Opium into his Stomack, and seem never the worse, if you keep him from lying down half an hour after; but two drams of Poppy-seeds made into an Emulsion, and injected into his veins, will kill him presently. Vid • up • a p 53.547. Mr. Boyle saith, that he conveyed a small dose of the tincture of Opium into a dog this way, which began to work so speedily upon the brain, that he was scarce untied before the Opium began to disclose its Narcotick quality; and almost as soon as he was upon his feet, he began to nod with his head, and reel and faulter in his place; but being kept awake, and in motion, by whipping up and down the Garden, after some time he came to himself again, and not only recovered but began to grow fat so manifestly, that 'twas admired. 8. A certain German Count coming into England, Phil. Iac. Sachs in Ocean-macromicrocosm. s • ct 15 • . relates an Experiment, which he saw in the presence of Pr. Rupert. After some blood taken from a dog, there was injected into him a small quantity (portiuncula) of Spanish wine; within sometime after the dog was perfectly drunk, being giddy, performing sundry ridiculous actions, then vomiting with a profound sleep. 9 Dr. Fabricius Physician to the City of Dantzick injected purgatives into humane bodies, Transact. numb. 30. pa • . 564, 565. with this effect. A strong bodied Souldier being dangerously infected with the Pox, and having grievous protuberations of the bones in his armes, two drams of a purgative liquor were injected: he presently complained of great pains in his elbows, and the little valves of his arm did swell so visibly, that it was necessary by a great compression on's fingers to stroke up that swelling towards the Patients shoulders • Some four hours after it began to work, not very troublesomely; and so it did the next day, in so much that the man had five good stools with it. Without any other remedies those protuberances were gone, nor are there any footsteps of the disease left. Two other trials were made upon women, the one a married woman of 35, the other a Servant-maid of 20 years old: both from the birth had been grievously troubled with Epileptick Fits, so that there was little hopes of curing them. There was injected into their veins a laxative rosin, dissolved in an Antiepileptical spirit; the first of these had gentle stools, some hours after the injection; and the next day the Fits recurred now and then, but much milder; and are since quite vanished. The Maid, she went the same day to stool four times, and several times the next: but by going into the Air, and taking cold, and not observing any diet, cast her self away. 'Tis remarkable, that it was common to all three, to vomit soon after the injection, and that extreamly, and frequently.

I have not time to adde any more of these kind of trials: but from hence it is evident, that things operate (where they do operate in the same manner) in a lesser dose, then when taken into the Stomach, and with more violence. Vulgo hactenus a non p • ucis sp •• itus Vitrioli, & Sulphu • is pro diversis reb • s habiti sunt: adeo quidem ut nonnulli 〈◊〉 sulphuris & acidum ad e • sdempulmonis morb • s exhiberent: sed valde impe • ite cum ac da omnia sint pect • ri inimica, & spiritus Sulphuris & Vitri li ess • ntia null • modo • iff • rant • sed ex • adem re generent • r, & parentu • . Etenim spiritus V • trioli & Sulphuris eundem sa • orem, co • o • em & omnino easdem q • alitat • s & • ff • ctus habent, & ad • osd • m usu • in m • dicina adhi •• ntur: n • ndumqu • inventus est, qui • pecu • iarem aliquam, seu manifestam seu occuliam qualitatem in spiritu Sulphuris monstrare potuerit, quae non e • i • m i • spiritu Vitrioli sit. S • nnert. in Paralipomen. ad institut. l. 5 part. 3 sect. 3 c. 5. That oftentimes such things as are innocently taken in to the Stomach, are mortal when injected immediately into the blood. That although learned Physicians have made little or no difference betwixt the op • ration of Oyle of Sulphur, and that of Vitriol, yet by this Experiment there is found to be a quite different effect. So the Salt of Tartar (which is as innocent as Salt of Wormwood, or any such Salt) had a pernicious effect upon the dog, though discrepant from the others.

As to the Experiments of Dr. Fabritius, they do not give much of Encouragement to the Trial, for the one died which had the most of youth; and though her death be attributed to other circumstances and neglects, yet either those are irivial, or for some (unknown) length of time there must be greater care then ordinarily after Physick, otherwise small accidents become mortal. And th • extreme and frequent vomitings (which here happen from the sufferings of the Heart, and not the Stomack) render the course more hazardous to tender Stomachs, and weak Constitutions, then Mr. Glanvill suggests. So that the loathings of the Stomach are not prevented by this way, nor the success very inviting (how speedy soever) upon those Experiments any more then from the Churlish Physick of the ancient and moderate Chymists of Mr. Odored's party, which wise-men will not imitate. I wonder the laxative Solutions were not set down that we might judge of their strength: and that the way of di • ting and ordering of them afterwards was omitted: whereas the knowledge thereof might avail to prevent the ill consequence which befel the Maid.

I shall now consider the effects which the several Liquors have upon a 〈◊〉 with the blood • when taken warm in a Pottinger, and those a •• u • ed to it. This is a Practice which the Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle imparted to the Royal Society in December 1664. and thinks that Eracassati may have taken his hint from it, to inject those Liquors • but I finde a Letter from Leyden sent to Bartholinus, Dated Ian. 9. 1662. in which there are several E • periments of that kind, which I shall set down presently. If I placed any great value upon the Experiment, I could put in for the Practiser of it at Stratford upon Avon in 1660 • and prove that I made some Solutions of Salt of Ash, Salt of Wormwood, and Salt of Tartar, and received the blood of sheep into the glasses in which they were, to try the differences betwixt those Salts, whether they were of the same nature (so that it was indifferent whether one used Salt of Wormwood, Garduus Benedictus, Yarrow, or Mugwort) or that there were any difference. Which last Angela Sala denies, • ngelus Sala Tartaralog. sect. 3 c 2. p. 133. though other Chymists affirm it. But a • ter that I had enquired into that Controversie by several ways, I went to Iamaica and neglected the Experiment. But since that I see that every unprofitable trifle, becomes a famous and noble Experiment, and if it bring no present Emolu •••• , y • t at least it becomes Luciferous, and (as they say) puts us in the Prospect of several great advantages; at least, more and greater things will be disclosed by it, when future ingenuity and diligence hath improved and perfected the invention. Since that time I have made many Essays about the mixture of sundry Liquors, with the blood of Sheep, Lambs, Calves, Cows, Oxen, Hogs, Poultry, and that in several manners.

I have received the blood of several ••• atures upon warm solutions of sundry Salts, of Allom, impure Salt-peter, Sal Prunellae, Salt of Nitre, upon solution of the several Vitriols; upon Steel wine, Vomitive mine, Sack, French wine, and Malaga, upon spirit of mine, spirit of Cider, and spirit of the grounds of Beer • upon warm Urine, upon mixtures with spirit of Vitriol, and oyl of Sulphur, and Iuice of Lemons, and Oranges, upon the rare liquor o • Salt-peter; upon it, after it hath passed the Ashes, and upon the Mothers of it, and many other trials with oyle of Wormwood, Amber, &c. dissolved in spirit of wine.

I have also poured upon the Mass, after it hath coagulated several acid spirits, before and after the Serum was separated from it.

I have also taken the separated Serum, and affused spirit of Vitriol to some; to others spirits of Harts-horn, and other spirituous waters, and I have affused to those that had a mixture of the spirit of Harts-horn some acid spirits, and other liquors to see the changes.

I shall not now set down the several Phaenomena, and observations I made, not having leisure to digest them all; nor being willing to dismember a discourse I intend about the nature of blood and Phlebo • omy, in which I shall not only treat of all these things, but adde many other observations, from the burning of blood, and the Serum, which any man may do, without feeling any thing by sympathy, notwithstanding the whimseys of Helmont, and that great Virtuoso Sir Kenelme Digby. I have done it fourty-times in Men, Women, and Children, to observe those varieties in blood, which never entred into the heads of our Experimentators • Though Dr. Walter Needham, my learned School-fellow, a Member of the Society,D • squisit. de soe • u. pag. 130. deny that blood will burn, Carbonibus injectus sanguis flammam non facile concipit, sed potius torretur in grumum. Yet if any one please but to take a piece of the coagulated Mass of blood, and lay it on a Fire shovell, and so place it in an hot fire, that the coales arch round about it, but touch it not: after he hath observed the great variety of its intumescence, and the • rackling of divers salts, as it were decrepitating, it will take flame commonly when dry, and burn with a great variety of Phaenomena: some will not flame at all, though brought to ignition: there will be also variety in the remaining Cinis, as to its saltness. In the like manner set the Serum to coagulate on the coals, and then burn it. I have also burned the blood and Serum, after it hath been mixed with acid liquors. By this trial will appear more then can be imagined as to the differences of the blood of Animals, and of young and old Animals, I will endea • our to finish that Tractate, wherein there will be observations about the colour of blood, and melancholique, and pituitous, and crimson parts; and a certain pellicle which generates by the Air on the top of most blood, if it stand 24 houres; which sometimes is as firme as those tunicles that encompass the Liver, or Kidneys. Observations upon that, and upon the • urning of the coagulated Mass, and its becoming red again, though not so floridly. Trials upon that in vessels cover'd, that it is not from the air, in opposition to the Fracassati.

I will not mention any thing hereof now, but having imparted some observations to some, and knowing what plagiaries some men are, I thought fitting to publish thus much, that they might not pretend to the inventions, each whereof were enough to make one of them proud, and fill the Transactions. Yet I will say this, That I never had put my self upon these trials, but out of envy and indignation against them, and the Transfusion of blood, about which they made such ado every where. I shall promise one thing, that Mr. Boyle is very much mistaken in, imagining that there is a great difference betwixt the effects of Medicaments, when mi • ed with th • warm blood of an Animal out of the veins and in them, as will appear by the mixture of milk already sp • cifi • d, and that of the Salt of Tartar, which will follow out of the Letter of Borrichius.

Experiments upon the mixture of Liquors, with the warm blood of Animals, taken out by Phlebotomy.

1. By putting into the warm blood, Transact. numb. 29. p. 552. as it came from Animals, a little Aqua fortis, or Oyle of Vitriol, or spirit of Salt, (these being the most usual and acid menstruums) Mr. Boyle observed, that the blood not only would presently lose its pure colour, and become of a dirty one, but in a trice also be coagulated; whereas some, if fine urinous spirit, such as the spirit of Sal Armoniack, w • re mingled with the warm blood, it would no • only not cu • dle 〈◊〉 , or imbase its colour, but make it look rather more florid • hen before, and both keep it fluid, and preserve it from putrefaction for a long time.

Th • . Barth • lin. ep. Centur. 3 ep. 97. pag. 421, 4 • 22. The Learned and Inquisitive Man Olaus B • rrichius, having cut up a dog alive, made these observations. He took five glasses, and placed them in order, putting into the one spirit of vinegar, into another oyl of Tartar per deliquium into a third a Solution of Allom, into a fourth spirit of Salt Armoniack, into a fifth spirit of wine; into each of the Glasses, he suffered the blood of the Crural Art • ry to run. After some time he come to look upon his Glasses, but the next day the observation was most perspicuous. That Glass which had the spirit of vinegar in it, it was become black like to the blood of Melancholique persons, Inspeximus post intervallum & plenius postr •• ie omnia: Observavimus sanguinem, cui aff • sus erat spiritus ace • i, reddi • um nigricantem instar sanguinis Melancholicorum, sedimento crasso, copioso, a • ro, supernatantem liquorem, paene etiam atrum. Cui af • usum oleum salis tartari, redditum coloris sic satis floridi, sed turbidiorem liquorem • sedimentum nullum, ramenta tantum fibrillarum ins • ar hin • inde conspicua. Cui affufa solutio aluminis, redditum instar puti • ae & subcine • itiae put • ilaginis, omni sanguinis colore pror • us abolito. Cui affusus spiritus vini, redditum turbidiorem, quam cui oleum salis tartari. Cui spi • itus salis Armoniaci, reddit • m omnium elegantissimum, colore floridum, tenuem substantia, infundo se • imentum diaphanum instar Galatinae 〈◊〉 . with a thick and copious black sediment, and that liquor which was on the top, was blackish.

Where the Oyl of Tartar was, the colour was pretty florid, but the liquor more turbid, no sediment at all, only some filements, like little fibres floated in it conspicuously, here and there.

Where the Solution of Allom was, there all seemed like a subcineritious or dirty • coloured putrilage, there being no reliques of the crimson colour of blood to be seen.

Where the spirit of wine was, there the liquor was more turbid then that which had the Oyl of Tartar in it.

Where the spirit of salt Armoniack was, that was of the most beautiful colour of all, being very florid, of a thin consistence, with a diaphanous sediment like to the gelly of currants.

This observation he also tells Bartholinus, that he had in like manner made the preceding Summer.

Out of all which it most evidently appears how nice a thing the blood is, and how small mixtures alter the colour and texture of it: and what consequences may follow upon such alteration of its consist • nce, and particular texture, no man knows; but that they may be very bad (even where innocent, and wholesom Medicaments are affused) is evident ou • of what I have set down.

It is also as manifest, that there are in the bodies of men and women solutions or liquors imbued with sundry salts, as aluminous, acid, and vitriolate, &c. which when they shall mix with the injected blood, what the issue may be, I leave the Prudent to conjecture. C • rtain i • is, that for these considerations specified (reserving my own Experiments to my self) none but inconsiderate Quacksalvers would put a Patient upon the trial of injecting of Medicaments, or transfusing of blood. It is a course Nature (whose Servants and Imitators Physicians hitherto were) never prompted us unto: Having taken so many courses whereby blood might at any time of need issue out of the veins and arteries in sundry parts of the body: But especially provided that nothing might immediat • ly come into the veins. Whatever comes into the veins by the Stomach; suffers a great alteration first, and whatsoever is noxious, either separates from it there and in the guts, or is mortified, or mitigated so as to be innocent, and agreeabl • to the nature of the veins. Which particular nature of the sanguif • rous vessels, is that which in the dead keeps its own blood fluid, and in the living contributes so much to the motion of it,Vide ep Walaei de mo • u sangu. that if you make a stop and int • rcept the impulse of the subsequent blood, yet will the other continue its cours • . But what will the effect be of Heterog • neous blood? For undoubtedly the nature of the veins is agreeabl • to the blood, and communicates its impurities and vertue, as the cask doth to the wine. But further, since the blood is to pass through the porosities of the Liver and Lungs, and capillary veins and arteries; how will they agree with the new blood. (it being evident upon mixture of Liquors, and upon burning, that there is a difference in the fibrosity of the bloods, and consistence of the several Serums) or how will that circulate which results from the mixture, I know not, but certain it is, that the ill consequence is almost, if not absolutely past remedy.

In fine, what is it that is aimed at in this Transfu • ion? is it the rectifying the mass of blood (suppose sev • nt • en pound in a body) with the affusion of a few ounces, or a pound of L • mbs blood? They may as soon rectifie as much vinegar, or decayed wine, with the like proportion of good wine? would they amend the impurities of the vessels? there is the same difficulty as before. That which they transfuse is not a Chymical spirit, but an impure, and h • terogeneous mixture, fitted by different digestions and ferments to a different nourishment of another Animal, with different excrements resulting from it. It is in the Stomach and first digestion where food is so concocted by the Humane heat, or Acidity, as to turn to a chyle adequate to the nourishment of man, and generating such blood, and such excrements, as are the result of such a concoction as is agreeable to the nature of man. And so it is in all creatures: Thus we see, that in different Animals different Excrements are generated, nor is it to be doubted but that the concoctive principle differs as much in a dog, or cat, as do those excr • ments which differ much from those of men, though both eat the same meat. Otto Tachenius Hipp •• r. med. clavis c. 9. p. 201. Sicut acidus spiritus quilibet animam inseparabiliter in ventre suo portat, atque in illud corpus, cui infunditur, dominium suscipit, illudque confestim juxta sui naturam format: hinc spiritus salis in Alcali Tartari fusus statim sibi format corpus salinum propriae naturae consentaneum, & fit sal: & aceti spiritus, vel acetum distillatum in eodem Alcali tartari sibi format corpus adaequatum suae propriae naturae, & fit tartarus vini, & sic de vitriolo, & reliquis acidis: Ita quoque acidum Stomachi humani, cum apprehendit panem, vel quicquam alibile, in quod dominari possit, illud convertit & commutat in chylum, & exinde in carnem humanam: & eundem panem Acidum Stomachi canini convertit & transmutat in carnem caninam: uti & de reliquis viventibus quotidie docemur, eo quod natura in omnibus iisdem instrumentis operatur. If the Case be such, and that the blood transfused hath received those impregnations of vitality which are agreeable to the nature of the Animal whence it is transfused, and is qualified to generate such nourishment, and such excrements as are the consequences of those digestive characters (if I may so call them) and impressions; How can we imagine that such blood being immediately transfused into our 〈◊〉 , wi • hout those pr • vious alimental • igillations and digestions, produce those effects which are to be expected in human • bodies, and are (though irrationally) in this case wished for.

But perhaps they think to atchieve their design, by introducing a new texture in the vitiated blood, and vessels, or fermentation, whereupon should ensue the amendment. I perceive indeed by their stories a new fermentation, I had an intention to have set down at large all the Stories relating to the Transfusion of blood, with remarks upon them: but I was so much pr • ss • d to conclude, and had so little leisure to dispatch it in th • t manner at that time, • hat the Reader must be content with this brief, but I think substantial • eply to all that hath yet been said. that the dogs piss blood (no desirable or trivial accident!) But what a little time is there for the blood to pass unto the heart, and mix with those other Liquors, and ascending blood, and so to pass into the Heart and Lungs? How do they know that the blood they transfuse is good? Upon burning they shall finde a difference in blood of beasts; and a different taste and coagulation in the Serum. Besides, that the blood of young Animals is generally less balsamical and inflammable, of another texture and colour, the Serum very saline; and in a word, exceeding different from what is in men and women of years. And in the blood of men and women, there are often defects not to be perceived but by coagulating and burning of the Serum and blood. I have taken the Serum of a Maid seemingly healthful, only pained at Stomach, and abounding in blood, it coagulated and looked like tallow, and would not burn at all, and smelt noisomely after coagulat • on, not before. I have several strange instances of this kind. If there be such indiscernable causes of distempers, and mixtures in blood of persons that are not well, if they neither know what they aim at in transfusing in, nor what they transfuse, Let Mr. Glanvill talk of great Advantages to be expected, and let them try it for me.See the Stories in the Philosophical Transactions. Sure I am that the Transactions report an Untruth, in saying that Coga was ever the better for it: I am told his Arm was strangely ill after it, and difficulty cured: and if all the great likelihood of Advantages from Transfusion that are in their present Prospect, a • ise from no other grounds, they are very improbable. The Parliament of Pari • have forbid it to be prosecuted but by the allowance of the Parisian Facul • y of Physicians. A Swedish Baron died upon it: and to argue from the cures of Madmen, I remember they say that it is not expressed, how the Transfusion was practised upon the Baron Bond, nor after how long time it was repeated when he died But this is no excu • e for them; for they have fixed no r • les or circumstances whereby to regulate the operation • those are to be lea • ned by frequent Experiments, and it may be, th • dea • h of mo • e Patients. Next, it is not to be doubted, but that He that did it might act as Cautiously as they, for his own credit, and the credit of the t • ial, and the q • ality of the Person. It concerns them to p • ocure • n Authentick Narration of the thing • and what appeared upon his being embowell • d or from what they suffer without hurt, is not for a Physician, but for one that deserves to be sent to Bedlam: for mad people endures a thousand ill • • and strong Physick, such as others cannot endure: and if they find any amendment sometimes by uncouth means, it is by accident, as it makes them ill, which sometimes prove their recovery.

As for dogs, they cannot declare what they suffer: but I am in haste, and refer my Reader to the perusal of the Histories in the Transactions: in which what I last objected, is all confessed: and if after all I have said, he find encouragement to try a remedy, that hath sometimes proved not unfortunate, (but is always rash) let him do it for me.

I am satisfied, That the operation carries more of terror (and many swoon upon bleeding) then a potion, or Galenical Physick; and that the greatest part of our distempers do not arise from the scarcity, or malignant tempers, and corruption of our blood, is as manifest as can be; more arise from the depraved motion, and redundancy of the blood, and serosities in and about the brain, and the laxity and strictness of the habit and pores of the body; and in these cases Transfusion is no remedy; much less in malignant diseases, in which to let blood is often mortal, commonly dangerous; and it always must be antecedent to Transfusion, excepting only the scarcity of blood; in which case what strength is there to assimilate, or ferment with the new blood.

As to the Transfusion of blood in Pleurisies, the attempt is very ridiculous, considering what an Ebullition and Inflammation of the blood there is then in the Lungs, whither the transfused blood immediately flows: what extravasated serosities do afflict those parts? how unfit are they for any seasonable fermentation? And in the Small Pox, how few are they in 〈…〉 in that disease at all? and • ow 〈…〉 Tran • fusion seem, which distu • bs and diverts nature in her present work? what h • zard must the Patient run amidst a Fever, and that violent commotion of • umors which afflicts his head, back, heart and lungs at tha • time, should • e besides all other accidents fall into pis • ing of blood • a symptom so dangerous in that disease, and so usual a consequent of this Operation.

Having dispatched those papers thus far: the length of time since they were sent to London to be transcribed, perused, and several insertions made, according as my memory, amidst a constant employment, suggested any thing new unto me, and the delay of the Printing till Michaelmass-Tearm, gives me an opportunity to relate some Observations I made at Bath, during my stay there this Summer: As famous as the Bathes are, and of as general an use as they are (there being no better R • medy in the world for the Scurvey the • the Cross-Bath regularly pursued, and as it might be, I cannot say is commonly practised) yet have not our Experimental Philosophers made any Inquiries into its nature and qualities: not a man of them ever so much as tried the mixing of several liquors and spirits with the water: as I did, and found no change upon the mixture of Acid spirits: but the urinous and volatile spirits of Sal Armoniack (drawn the Leiden way) and Harts horn did change the water of the Pump in the Gross Bath (which ariseth from the hot Bath) into a lacteous colour and opacity, insomuch that it represented an Almond-milk, and after a time there precipitated to the bottom an ins • pid Magistery resembling Burnt Harts horn finely powdered: the precipitated powder was more copious in the affusion of the spirit of Sal Armoniack, then that of spirit of Harts-horn: and the former in that mixture lost its urinous smell, (and made no unpleasant, but an unctuo •• , soft, emulsion • like dri • k) which the other retained.

Not a man of them ever tried whether the several Bath-water would coagulate milk: which I tried first, and found that the Kings-Bath water makes Posset with a soft cu • d, and whitish posset-drink, which will not become clear: the Cross-Bath makes an hard curd, a clean but whitish-posset-drink: the Pump • water of the Cross-Bath (which ariseth from the neighbouring hot Bath) yields an hard curd, a clear and very green posset-drink; which being drunk by a woman that gave suck bred a great deal of milk (more then fennel • posset-drink) and made her break abundance of winde, which those usually do that drink the Bath-waters. And I believe this way of giving the Bath-waters might be no small improvement of Physick, were those courses taken there, and that method which those that understand the ancient and modern Bathes, and waters that are drunk, might easily pitch upon: but this is above the reading of our Comical Wits.

I could find no grounds to believe there was any sulphur, or bitumen in the Baths: but rather some odd Alcali mixed with the vitriol of Iron • Mr. Ch Hotham, when I shewed him some of the extracted Salt, did conceive it to be a mixture of common Salt, and vitriol of Iron. I extracted the Salts by evaporation of two gallons of the Cross-Bath-water;When I was there, a Spring of the Cross-Bath being lost, they digg'd for it; I ta • ted the Earth, but could finde nothing nitr • us in it: opening the gutter by which that Bath empties it self, we found the passage crusted very thick, with a white la • ideous concretion, rough and unequal in the surface, with several cryst • ls fixed in it, resembling those of cream of Tartar: to taste, it was insipid, an • of substan • e like to what precipitate, with • rinous spirits in the water: but after it had • e • on the tongue a while, some p • eces discovered a taste exactly • ike cream of Tartar, others an a • striction somewhat vit • io • ine • I brought some away, and intend to examine it further. and having reduced them to three quarts I set it to shoot; but there was no appearance of salt-peter at all: then I evaporated it to three-pints, but still neither salt-peter, or any other salt appeared: then I evaporated it quite away; and then I had about two ounces of a dark-coloured salt, which at first resembled cream of Tartar somewhat in taste; but having lien longer on the tongue, it resembled very much the Vitriolum Mortis, with some more Alcalisate taste: I performed the Operation both in Iron and Glass vessels with little difference of the taste, or quantity of salt: some of the said salt dissolving into a moisture in the air did eat off the writing upon such papers as it fell, and turned the paper yellow all over, and rotted it. I made a Lixivium with the Cross-Bath water, and evaporated that, thinking that if there were any unctuous matter in the water, it might hinder the discovery of the Nitre in its shooting; but neither could I finde any thing of Nitre this way: but still there was a taste of • he Vitriolum Mortis in the salt: and 〈◊〉 Mr • 〈◊〉 a Practitioner there assured me, that he had known the Bath • water drink, and to have tinged the 〈…〉 cannot avow the truth of that.

I inquired about 〈◊〉 truth of what Dr. Mearn had writ about the Stone he took up • upon Lands-down, which being infused in water produced a resembling heat and taste to what is in the Bath: 〈…〉 Maplet, an inquisitive and learned Physician there, who was with Dr. Mearn then, and had some of the mineral stone, assured me it was a lime • stone: so did Mr. Chapman an observing Apothecary there, who likewise saw the Stone, and tasted the infusion. In fine, where Dr. Mearn took up that Stone, any man may take up • thousand, they not being east out of the Earth, but dropped out of the lime • carts which pass that way into Bathe • the Kills being thereabouts.

The stones in the bottom of the Cross-Bath, many are of reddish rusty colour, others green: but concerning the Batthe, I may next Summer, during my stay there, in the midst of Iune and Iuly (if God gi • e me life and health) make a further Narrative: I only mention on this to prevent the Virtuosi from usurping upon my discoveries and intendments. Yet to do them some justice, I was told that in some of their Transactions, they have this observation about Bathe, that if any person that is drunk go in there, the Bath will make him sober: If any that is in the Bath drink freely there, it will cause him to be presently drunk, with less drink by far then if he were out of it. This report is worthy of our Philosophers, and advanceth their intelligence above the credit that Aristotle and his Hunters deserve. The first part is defective, for it should have been added that the drunk person must sit still, and sweat soundly: if he stir up and down or swim, he shall be more sick then if he had never come in. The second part is notoriously false, and all the Bath-Guides and others that have tried it avow, that 'tis usual for the Townsmen to sit some hours and drink in the Parlour of the Queen • -Bath, and never be drunk: and they say, a man that sweats there shall bear much mo • e drink, then if he were out of the Bath: which I thought rational and agreeable to what I had observ'd in the Indies, where men sweat and have more drink then in England, and stronger.

But I come now to that Case, for which I adde this Discourse, and that is, Observations upon the mixture of the Bath-water and other Liquors with blood, and the Phaenomen • thereupon, which, though. I might reserve for that other discourse of mine about Phlebotomy, yet I will oblige my Reader with some of those Curiosities here, especially since it will give him occasion to reflect how facile it is to multiply such Experiments, and how negligent they are who pretend to be the grand Observators of this Age.

When I went to make use of the Bath, amongst other Prepar • tives thereto (which are better taken upon the place, then at a distance) I caused my self to be let blood, and being willi • g to improve that occasion as well for my instruction, as health, I c • used several Venice-Glasses to be filled with several liquors, each liquor amounting to some three ounces, and into each glass I suffered to run as much as half an ounce of blood, or little more; taking no other measure, then that the whole liquor seemed of a deep blood red. The Phaenomena thereupon were these ensuing • being observed presently after I had bound up my arm, and was in condition to write.

1. That Glass which contained the spirit of S • l Armoniack (drawn the Leiden-way) kept of an equal consistence from top to bottom, being of a deep red, and not • ransparent, li • e Tent-wine. 2. Into two several Glasses I had dissolved the Salts of Ash and Wormwood, half a dram in three ounces of water; the solutions of these two Salts shewed no difference at all; the top, after some space, was of a florid red, (such as is visible in watrish blood) for about a quarter of an inch: the bottom was of a more dark red, and resembled Tent-wine. 3. A fou • th Glass held Oleum Tartari per deliquium: the blood and that liquor did not first mix, but were a • two distinct liquors, notwithstanding that the blood had streamed into the Glass: After a while the blood and oyle mixed together, and it all became of a deep-red from top to bottom; the surface only was transparent, and of a brighter red, as that of the other Alcalisate Liquors, but not so far downwards • the rest was as Tent-wine. 4. I dissolved half a dram of All • m in three ounces of water, and upon bleeding thereupon, all the crimson of the blood was immediately destroyed, and it became almost as black as Ink: after a little space towards the surface it cleared up: there were certain bubbles on the top that continued the redness. 5. Another Glass held a quantity of the Kings-Bath water, the blood that did stream into it, appeared of a dark red, but transparent, as deep Bourdeaux wine shews: a little below the surface it was deeply red, not transparent, but like Tent wine. 6. The Cross-Bath altered lit • le from the Kings-Bath, saving that the transparency of the surface extended it self downwards to a greater profundity then the other. 7. A Solution of half a dram of Sal prunellae, yielded a blood on the surface like to that of Salt of Wormwood, but not to so deep a descent: otherwise it was of the colour and consistence of Tent wine.

After they had stood in the window about five houres, I returned and observed these Phaenomena.

1. That with the spirit of Sal Armoniack continued like Tent-wine, only the uppermost part of it to the thickness of a barley-corn, was diaphanous as deep Bourdeaux-wine. 2. That with the Sal prunellae coagulated into a Mass, shrunk from the sides of the Glass, and sunk to the bottom, leaving them super-natant water of a pale citrins colour; the Mass it self being of a florid red on the surface, and of a deep red, not blackish, to the bottom, that I could perceive. 3. That with the Cross-Bath water changed not, but seemed thick as Tent-wine, the upper part being diaphanous, and like deep Bourdeaux-wine? 4. That with the Kings-Bath water changed not; only the diaphanous surface extended not it self downwards so far as the other Bath-water did. 5. The Solution of All • m contin • ed all fluid and black; no c • agulated mass therein: but the bubbles had lost their crimson-colour, and were become cineritious, 6. That with the Salt of Wormwood resembled deep Bourdeaux wine, but was less diaphanoux a little below the surface: The surface extended downwards to the length of a barley • corn with a perfect transparency. 7. That wherein was the Sal fraxini was diaphan •• s to the bottom; no innatant filaments, or coagulated mass in it: But the surface to the length of a barley-corn was like decayed Claret made with a mixture of white and red wine: the residue was deeper like that of Bourdeaux. 8. That with the oleum Tartari per deliquium was diaphanous to the length of a barley-corn, and of the colour of Bourdeaux wine: the lower part un-coagulated, and like Tent • wine. 9. It is to be noted, that the reflexion of the Glasses in all the Liquors, they being held up to the light, (except the spirit of Sal Armoniack) did create a corona of several colours, mixt with green, blew, and so as not one resembled the other. That with the oleum Tartari per deliquium resembled the blew in Bourdeaux wine, with an eye of green.

I had forgot to relate how I kept some of the blood in a separate Pottinger; and it seemed excellently well coloured; when it coagulated • the top was of a due red, the bottom blackish red; the serum of a due transparency and proportion, and not tinged to citrine colour: and coagulated all as the white of an egge over a gentle fire.

I poured also upon the blood in two other Pottingers; upon the one spirit of Harts-horn; on the other spirit of Sal Armoniack, but not much: perhaps a dram or more: that with the spirit of Harts-horn at first seemed more florid, then that with the spirit of Sal Armoniack: both coagulated into Mass • s after a while, and were then both of one colour on the surface: but that with the spirit of Sal Armoniack coagulated its Mass so as to break from the sides: that with the spirit of Harts-horn did not break from the sides; whether the blood of one, and the other might differ, I know not; but both immediately followed one the other. That blood which had nothing mixed with it, after coagulation, differed not from the other two, though they were covered over with the spirits as soon as they wore taken, and that exposed only to the Air.

After a while upon the surface of that with the Kings-Bath-water, there was a kind of fatty crem • r which covered the whole surface; and so on that with the Queens-Bath-water: the others had none at all.

On Munday after dinner, the next day after I had bled • I came to observe again; and found, 1. That with the Sal fraxini to be more and more diaphanous, resembling Bourdeaux wine: that with the Sal abscynthii less diaphanous, but red still. 2. I observed the Solution of Allom • and however it looked black, yet being held in a clear light, one might discover in it visible appearances of a deep red. I poured on it some spirit of Sal Armoniack, to see if it would restore the colour: but in stead of that the liquor coagulated presently into little massula or flakes, resembling raw flesh when the blood is washed out. 3. There was no alteration in that with the spirit of Sal Armoniack. 4. That with the Queens-Bath-water continued more diaphanously red towards the top: but that with the Kings-Bath-water, did not lose its redness, though it were not diaphanous near the surface. 5. Of the two Pottingers in which were the spirits of Harts-horn, and Sal Armoniack, though both were coagulated, yet that with the spirit of Sal Armoniack was the most florid. 6. That with the Oleum Tar • ari per deliquium continued red, but lost its diaphaneity at the top almost quite. 7. That with the Sal prunellae after the coagulated Mass had subsided, had on the top of it in the middle of the Glass, to the bredth of six-pence, a concrete gelly, exactly resembling that of the clearest Harts-horn, not boyled up to its greatest heighth; from hence protended certain filaments, with which it was fastned to the mass of blood, which was buoyed up thereby, so that it touched not the bottom; the jelly was insipid and stuck to my finger, when I touched it: whether that little which did so adhere took off from the equipollency of the two bodies; or whether I broke casually some of the protended filaments, or from what other cause I know not; but after a while the Mass sunk quite to the bottom, and drew the gelatine below the surface of the water. 8. Upon the pouring out of the blood, that with the Queens-Bath water happened to seem of a pure Claret, like Bourdeaux wine, no setling, or floating filaments, but something red, which resembled exactly the flying Lee in botled C • aret. 9. That of the Kings-Bath-water appeared as the former, only at the latter end, as it was poured out, there was a certain gelutine mixed with it, and sticking to the sides, that for colour and consistence exactly resembled the jelly of red currants. 10. That with the spirit of Sal Armoniack upon effusion, appeared like deep Bourdeaux wine, and so from top to bottom without any alteration. 11. Upon the effusion of that with the salt of Wormwood, it appeared also like to Bourdeaux wine; but towards the bottom there was Gelatine red, like that of red currants, more tenacious and in greater quantity then was in that mixture with the Kings-Bath-water. 12. That with the sal fraxini poured out like common or less deep Claret: at the bottom there was no Gelatine, but it ran a little thicker like to Tent wine. 13. That with the Oleum Tartari per deliquium, upon its first effusion ran like Claret a little decayed: but the most of it dropped, as if it were a weak Gelatine, and so continued to the last, being almost of as deep colour as a ripe Mulberry; I poured upon some of the said jelly almost as much of the spirit of Sal Armoniack, and it immediately dissolved all the • elly, and made it fluid, yet so as that the bloody crassament appeared unequally mixed, some parts being more deep and opac • us then others. 14. I took the Pottinger in which was the blood with the spirit of Harts-horn affused to it, having separated the mass from the sides of it, I poured out the Serum, which was as black as common Ink: the surface was red, but not so florid as that with the affused spirit of Sal Armoniack: most of the melancholy blood seemed dissolved into that black Serum, the super-incumbent mass being thin. 15. That blood on which the spirit of Sal Armoniack was poured in the Pottinger, appeared from top to bottom red, only in the bottom there were some little spots of a blackish and darker red then the other parts: on the surface there was a Gebatinous pellicle generated: the Serum was of a citri • e colour: the consistence of the coagulated mass of blood here was more • enacious and fibrous then in that other Pottinger with the affused spirit of Harts • horn: There was no pellicle discoverable upon that with the spirit of Harts-horn; upon that with the spirit of Sal Armoniack so tough an one, that it would bear up a little way in your hand the whole mass of blood adhering to it. 16. The blood which was kept in a Pottinger without any mixture, being placed in an arched fire on a fire-shovel burned with a bright and continued flame • as if it had been Turpentine, but crack 〈◊〉 • ike a green bay-leaf cast into the fi • e: and so it did being cast immediately into the fire, but the crackling was less durable, by reason of the vivid fire into which it was cast. It is to be noted that this pottinger having been removed into the Sunne, all the Serum was exhaled or incorporated into 〈…〉 which was grown to the bottom of the Pottinger, and dried there, so that I scraped it off: whether that might adde to the Phaenomena I know not. 17. The blood in that Pottinger where the spirit of Harts- • orn was affused, being taken out and placed in an arched fire, rose up with an equal intumescence, as a cake doth in an Oven; it crackled much less then the unmixed mass of blood: It burned slowly, with a continual but not vivid flame, and in such a manner as if the mass had never taken fire, but only the smoke issuing from it; for one might easily see an interstice betwixt the mass and hovering flame all the while, till it came to a perfect Ignition. 18. The mass which had spirit of Sal Armoniack affused unto it, being placed in an arched fire, did rise with an equal intumescence, but greater then that with the spirit of Harts-horn: it crackled less then that with spirit of Harts-horn: the flame at first resembled that of the other; afterwards instead of hovering about, it seemed to issue immedia • ely from the blood, and not to appear like a smoke that took fire within the arch; the flame then was vivid, and continued. 19. The fire being an exceeding quick fire, I poured some of the s • rous blood that was in the Pottinger, impregnated with the affusion of the spirit of Sal Armoniack, and as it dried it took fire presently, the flame resembled that of the former mass, only it wasted faster then that, being cast upon so quick a fire: The black Serum of the coagulated mass with affused spirit of Harts-horn, though cast into the same fire, would scarce burn at all. 20. I took some of the mass that was impregnated with the Sal prunellae, and placed it in an arched fire (the Serum or Solution poured of • from it was insipid) it rose with an unequal intumescence copling, like a loaf, in the midst: I brought it to a perfect ignition and coale, yet did it not crackle at all, neither burn till the last, and then but a little, and with an interrupted flame which seised now on this, now on that part: nay, there was but very little sign of any Sal prunellae in it to sputter as it burned. 21. I told you how I poured some spirit of Sal Armoniack, upon the mixture of blood and a Solution of Allom, and of the odd coa • ulation that hapned thereupon into white massulae which seemed like flesh when the blood is wasted out of it: I took of those incoherent flakes or massulae, and putting them to burn in an arched fire upon the fire shovell, it run all off, upon a great ebullition, into the fire: I took the red hot fire-shovell, and placed some more upon it, which seemed to burn as Allom doth in the like case, and so stayed on it: but being put into the arched fire, and brought to ignition, it would neither flame, nor crackle, nor left any visible quantity of coale or ashes behinde it, as if it had almost all evaporated. 22. These were the Phaenomena which I had opportunity to take notic • of at that time: but I also left a Solution of the Alcali of Nitre of about three ounces with the Apothecary, if any else came to bleed there in my absence: upon bleeding, an healthy young man that was somewhat indisposed, some was suffered to stream into that Solution: at first it was of a florid red, but paler then blood usually is, resembling a bastard-scarlet: after some days standing I found it of a deeper red from top to bottom: one half of it was transparent like to the duller and more decayed sort of Claret: the other half seemed like Yent-wine, not diaphanous: on the surface there was a crem • r which extended it self almost all over it: Upon pouring it out, it appeared all to be of a blood-red, only that which • an last was of a deeper dye: at the bottom there was a kinde of Gelatine like to that of red Currants, which rendred the one half of it opacous: it was no way dis-coloured, nor unequally mixt: the spirit of Sal Armoniack being poured on it, did render it fluid presently and transparent.

Having occasion after some weeks stay at the Bath, to ride in extream hot weather above 200 miles in a few days, and being tired with watching and the journey, and being wet very much with a great shower of rain at my return, I went immediately into the Cross-Ba • h for half an hour, to prevent any inconveniences that might befal me upon such travel: but at my coming out of the Bath I felt so violent a defluxion into my throat, and the adjacent Glandules, that I apprehended some danger of a Squinoncy, which yet I avoided by bleeding, purging, and other means together, with the use of the same Bath after all: when I was to bleed, I was willing to try some further Experiments in Liquors; different from the former, and the Observations I made were these.

1. I caused two veins to be opened in the left arm at once, and received one Pottinger out of the Mediana, and the other out of the Cephalica: my intent in that was to observe (as I had done once before in my self) whether the blood of two veins in the same arm would yield different b • ood: if so, then I thought that it might not be indifferent in what vein a man bleeds, though they all arise from one trunk of the vena cava; and that we might justly have regard to those cautions of our observing Ancestors, not to bleed those veins promiscuously, but some in one case, and some in another. I was confirmed in those sentiments by the Phaenomena I met with a second time in the trial, as other observations have satisfied me about the doctrine of revulsion, and its truth. Having taken one Pottinger out of the Mediana, and another out of the Cephalica, I stopped the Mediane, and continued to bleed into the liquors out of the Cephalick. In the first, issuing out of the two bloods, I could finde no difference in the colour or consistence; but after standing three or four houres, that of the Mediane had much less of Serum in it: the Serum thereof seemed Limpid in the Pottinger: but that of the Cephalick was citrine coloured: that of the Mediane somewhat of a volatile saline pungency upon the tongue, different from the taste, which the other Serum had, that being very salt: that of the Mediane had a blewish Gelatine gathered upon the top of the condensed mass of blood; the other had none, but was of a f • orid red on the top. After two days I came to look on them again, and upon turning the coagulated mass of blood in the pottinger, that of the Mediana had much more of black towards the bottom, then the other: and also a thinner surface of red then that of the Cephalick. 2. To carry on the Experiment of mixing several liquors with blood, I bled into some ounces of Aqua mirabilis, which grew deep coloured almost unto the top, which was transparent and of the colour of Mant-wine almost: after some houres the Liquor became of a bright beautiful • laret-colour almost unto the bottom, where there was an opacous, dark-red setling, with an enaeorema of contexed • ilaments pretended to the top. The Wasps flocked to that glass in great numbers, and drowned themselves in it, not medling with any other of the subsequent glasses. After two days was little changed, only the beautiful Claret was somewhat darkned. 3. I bled upon some ounces of Treacle-water, which turned as black as Ink presently, but continued the blood perfectly fluid: The red was so destroyed, that the Aluminous Solution did not equal it; there not being upon inclination of the glass the least sign of any incarnadine; and so it continued for two days, no variation happening. 4. I bled upon some ounces of Cinnamon-water, which turned of a pale red; is I held up the glass to the light, it seemed almost to the top opacously red as Tent • wine; but, if viewed otherwise it se • med of a paler red, approaching to bastard-scarlet. After a while it seemed as if all the blood were coagulated into one mass from top to bottom, subsiding a little within the tinged Cin • amon-wate •• Upon agitation and stirring with a knife, it appeared that th • • ibres of the blood were so destroyed, that this mass was no coherent thing, but broken into little massulae, or parcels of a pale red, such as the subsiding curds are in whey. After two days I viewed it, and found the Phaenomenon of the whole Glass to look cherry-coloured, but the incoherent massulae were of a pale red. 5. I bled into some ounces of Aqua Bezoarticae, that did coagulat • with the blood • so that • it all fell in one incoherent mass towards the bottom: but wheth • r there hapned to be a greater proportion of blood in the glass, or for some other cause, the coagulated blood filled almost all the water, much beyond what we observed in the Cinnamon • water: the consistence of the one, and the other massulae were like the curds in whey; these were of a pale red retaining to whitishness; and so it continued two days; the small quantity of water appearing in it giving no opportunity • or further Observations. 6. I bled upon some ounces of Nan • es-Brandy, it gave us a more tenacious curd then the former, of a pale red: but the mass and liquour was opacous towards the bottom, so as to appear like Tent-wine, in what light soever I placed it. After two days that of the Brandy which was fluid, (the curd not being answerable to the Aqua Bezoartica) was of a pretty florid red, the coagulated mass was of a brick colour. 7. I bled upon some ounces of Anise seed water drawn from the grounds of beer, it yielded a mixture of a deep bl • od red from top to bottom, somewhat transparent. The mass coagulated from top to bottom, the curd was of a deeper red then the others, and of such a tenaciousness as is to be found in the foft curd of possets. After two days it turned bl • ckish, the coherent curd • being of a little lighter red. 8. My indisposition, and other cares permitted me not to pros • cute these Experiments as I did the other: but one curiosity more possessed me, to put two drams of spirit of Harts-horn into a pottinger, and to bleed thereupon, to see if it would alter the Phaenomenon from what it is, if the spirit of Harts-horn be poured on the blood: I did so, and I found at this time that it kept my blood from coagulating into such masses as otherwise it would, but the blood turned blackishly-red, and in it there was observed a crimson gelatine, which run off the knife as jelly of red currants would, when beginning to cool. After two days it continued still fluid, but blackish. I have sundry times tried that way of putting spirit of Harts-horn into the pottinger first, and then caused them to bleed upon it with this success, that immediately it spoiles the red, giving it a more dirty colour • and casts up a mucous phlegme, (such as I never saw in any blood upon other Essays) just like what many spit and blow out of their noses in catarrhs: this covers all the pottinger, without any mixture of blood in it, and would be white, but that the subjacent blood gives it another muddy colour. The blood under it was always fluid, and unequally mixed with parts of a bright and blackish red. Whether my • ourney, or distemper prevented that appearance in my blood, I know not. 9. I had a Patient there which had unknowingly taken much of Mercurius dulcis in pills at London, to her great pre • udice several ways: and though she had taken golden-bullets, and u • ed other means to discharge her body of that troublesome Inmate, yet found little benefit: At the Bath I let her blood, and to try an Experiment I cast a Guinny into one of the middle Pottingers as she bled: I could observe no difference betwixt the blood preceding, and that therein: but in the afternoon I came and went to that pottinger which had the most florid and best coloured blood, and searching there found my gold, and that stained with white spots from the Mercury • on the lower side. Whether the separation of the Mercury, or some other efficacy in the Gold (of whose power in such cases I can give good instances) caused that difference in the bloods, I cannot tell, having never tried it since.

Being not well at Warwick • by reason of a violent defluxion into the Glandules of the Throat, I caused my self to ble • d Octob. 20.

1. I took six drams of spirit of Harts-horn, not very well rectified, nor clear of colour, and put it into a crystal-glass; and bled thereupon about half an ounce of blood; it turned of a dark red pres ••• ly, inclining much to black, though, as it stood, or as it was held on one • ide, you might perceive a lighter, but not florid red at the sides. It seemed fluid for two dayes; but as • poured it out it appeared to be very Gelatinous, and of colour like that which is become sanious, and degenerated into blackishness with keeping.

2. I bled upon the same liquor of Salt-peter, about half an ounce of blood, upon four ounces of liquor, at first the blood did turn on the surface to a bastard-scarlet (which is an effect • very thing of Nitre mixt with blood so produceth) afterwards the whole blood sunk to the bottom, the upper part being all of one colour and consistence, such as is observed in the Serum of the blood sometimes, when the supernatancy is whitish, and not transparent. Being poured from the blood, I found that coagulated into a mass, which was all of a very natural red all over, only spotted in many places underneath with black spots. The concretion was so brittle, that it would not hang together, nor endure any light pressure, but as it were melted, and seemed gelatinous.

3. I bled upon a Solution of the Alcali of Nitre; it appeared upon the first mixture like bastard-scarlet; then the blood sunk to the bottom, the top being transparent, yet of the colour of High-countrey-white-wine: the bottom seemed redder then that of the former; the limpid liquor being poured out, seemed all gelatinous, and had incorporated with it the serous part of the blood: the red at the bottom was fluid and not tenacious, but of the consistence that blood is of when it is hot, and newly received in a vessel out of the veins.

N.B. After I had poured out the blood and mixtures out of the several glasses, and that the glasses had stood a while, I observed that that of the raw Liquor of Nitre, which remained in the bottom, did turn of a most beautiful red, as ever I saw in any thing: but that with the spirit of Harts-horn, or Solution of Alcali, &c. did not vary: after two days all the remains of blood in the several glasses turned blackish and sanious, only that with the raw liquour altered not.

4. I bled upon the liquors of Salt-peter which had passed the ashes, and on that which had never passed the ashes: both were of the same blackish and sanious colour (after the first bastard-scarlet was past) both had on the top a certain cremor, which being cast into the fire discovered it self to be nitrous: both of them, though they were of su • h a dirty red inclining to black, yet were they of one consistence from top to bottom all fluid, nothing gelatinous, nor any one part blacker, or redder then the other. Which is very much, considering the difference of the two Liquors.

5. I bled upon the unctuous Mothers of Salt-peter, which turned at first to a bastard-scarlet: the blood did never mix with the Mothers, nor otherwise ting their colour, then as it cast a shadow by its innating on the surface of them. It coagulated on the top of the Mothers, being of colour all thorough exactly like to Ocher: the concretion was a quarter of an inch thick, a firm mass to se • to, like so much bees wax cast into a cake: I took it up in one mass with my knife but trying its tenaciousness, I found it as brittle as most short cakes are. Upon the surface, there was an appearance of certain striae, which might be saline. All the blood did not coagulate so, but underneath there was a quantity which in the glass was of equal dimensions with the other mass, it was of the colour of Oker, and fluid, and would not mix with the Mothers at all: I took of the mass, and tried to burn it in an arched fire twice or thrice, it boyled and bubled up upon the fire-shovel, like impure Niter, and so burned with a flashing, as if it had been most of it Peter, it never came to flame as blood doth usually; only one blaze as it were always hovered over it for a moment or two, not being continued to the body, otherwise then by a parcel of smoke issuing out them.

6. I took also two pottingers of blood, the first and the last of the blood I took away: there was no difference in the blood of one and the other; the coagulated mass well-coloured, of a good consistence, less of that black or melancholick crastament then is commonly found: the Serum well-coloured, of tast brinish: I placed it in an arched fire, it rose up with a globous intumescence (but crackled not so much as at Bathe; though very much, and like a bay-leaf) it burned with a continued, vivid, and lasting flam • .

I suffered a potti • ger of the same blood with which this last Experiment was made, to stand ten days or more, in which time it was quite dried up into a hard fryable mass, the top of which was almost as black as Ink, the bottom having somewhat of a dark red in it. I cast a piece of it into a quick coal-fire; therein it crackled like unto a bay-leaf, but burned with a short and weak flame. I placed another part of it upon a fire-shovel in an arched and quick fire, where it crackled as much as the other did (and more then that part of the same blood which was burned in the fore-going Experiment of blood newly congealed, and separated from the Serum, which was in this last case dried into the mass) and it did burn with a vivid and continued flame presently. Which accident I take notice of • to shew the different Phaenomena upon the diverse way of burning the blood. I took a third portion of the said congealed and firm mass of blood, and put it to some cold water in a Glass, and it dissolved most of it therein, and tinged the water of as beautiful a red as any claret, though otherwise • he mass were blackish, and had nothing of red but what was in the extimous crust of the bottom, which seemed of a most deep red inclining to black.

I suffered two or three spoonfuls of Hogs-blood to run into a large Venice-Glass, in which was halfe a pint of the Mothers of Peter; I suffered it to stand some days, and comeing then to see it, I observed that the Mothers were become opacous almost to the bottom, on the top was a mass of coagulated blood exactly resembling the colour of Oker; it was so firm, that I took it with my knife in one entire piece, but I found the top and bottom of the mass (which was pretty thick) to be very soft, but not as it were fibrous; the middle was more firm: I put some of it upon a fire-shovell in an arched and quick fire, when it boyled up, and ran about, and by its sputtering discovered a mixture of Salt-peter: but it did not flame at all, though I brought it to ignition. Examineing the remaining Mothers, I found a sanguin • mixture to float in, and stain the liquor of an Oker-colour, and some of it was aggregated into little masses or lumps, whose particles did not cohere by any tenacious fibres (indeed I have not been able to observe any tenaciously-fibrous coagulations in the blood of Hogs hitherto) but upon the least touch of my warm hand, they dissolved or yielded unto the least pr • ssure. Out of all which I intend to deduce, that some common Experiments may shew that, which no Chymical Fires give any light unto. That there is a great diversity betwixt the blood of other Animals, and that of Men: because that upon the same Liquors they disclose different Phaenomena; and consequently that the Transfusion is a rash and unsafe attempt.

I shall conclude with this intimation, that neither is the lood of several Animals, nor the blood of the same kinde of Animals the same; but in taste and colour of the Serum there will be often a sensible difference, and it is rational to think the like of the blood it self: nor do they burn or coagulate alike, or with the like Phaenomena: nor is the blood of the same Men always the same, though he continue within the latitude of Health; and in diseases Epidemical let two bleed, and there shall often be no affinity in the colour of their blood, The other day coming into my A • othecaries Shop, and finding one (not othe • wise very ill) going to bleed, I sent for a bottle of that Lixivium of Salt-peter which had passed the ashes, and into the first p • ttinger which he bled, which seemed to have little of crimson in it, but a Serum of a dark-blew colour; I poured a little of it, and it turned black, though it continued fluid: Into the third pottinger which seemed better b • ood, with a red colour, I poured some of the same liquor, and it improved the colour, and kept it from coagulaoion awhile; what hapned afterwards I had not leisure to observe. or in •• e Serum, the one being white and turbid, the other Limpid, the Serum of the third citrine-coloured. And if so, what regulations shall we have for this operation: shall a transfuse he knows not what, to correct he knows not what, God knows how? This may become indeed that sort of men, being the worst and most irrational Empirics the Sun ever shined upon, as I demonstrate more fully in my Letter to a Physician, in a Parallel betwixt them and the ancient Empirics.

Let them from these Observations draw their sophistical Conclusions for and against spirit of Harts-horn; for, and against spirit of Sal Armoniack; against Allom, and Treacle-water, and such like; till all the world come to admire th • m as much as I: And that there be a new History penned to render them as contemptible as this mag • ifies, by a Rhetorick that hath more of the nature of the Microscope, then of Truth.

Miscellaneous Additions by way of Postscript.

VVHatever may seem to be said from hence in favour of the spirit of Harts-horn, is not so valid as may be imagined: for I have mixed a little of the Solution of the Alcali of Nitre (which turned Syrup of Violets green, and rendred it less fluid) upon the blood of a man, which was blackish, waterish, and ill-coloured, after it began somewhat to coagulate, and I brought it to a new fluidity, and as vivid a red as ever I saw: and so it continued for 24 hours; at my return after two days, I found the blood in the Pottinger, (by reason of the Sun on the window) all coagulated, and become friable; but even that it had visible signs of a remaining redness, which the other blood that had nothing effused • etained not. Oyl of vitriol affused to the Serum of blood, tinged with the crimson part, doth improve the red for an instant or two, but then it turns black and coagulates •• to a soft mass, that admits the least impression; the fibres being destroyed: but yet it burns rather better, brighter, and quicker then otherwise; being poured on the surface of coagulated blood, on the top whereof was tough pellicle generated; it did not eat the pellicle, but in one night reduced the Mass, almost to the bottom, into a consistence like to Bees wax, which burnt well.

In Ianuary last 1669. I had another occasion to bleed, but though the Phaenomena of my blood upon the Mothers of Salt peter were the same as at first; yet in the other mixture with Salt-peter-liquors, they were not: the blood separately taken seemed not to differ from the former, only the Serum was a little yellower: it did burn as well as before, but crackled much less. At the same time I caused an old man to be let blood for a catarrh and pain in his shoulder, which he used to ease with bleeding; the blood seemed very good and well-coloured; after it had stood a while I had the leisure to view it, and upon one pottinger of coagulated blood, I poured twenty drops of spirit of Vitriol, whereupon immediately all the top turned as white as milk, even the bubbles which seemed of blood before: whereupon I took another pottinger, and separated half the blood from the Serum, and poured on the blood and Serum som spirit of Vitriol as before presently all the Serum became of colour and consistence like milk: the blood turned black, and hardened into a substance that cut like white-washed-wax: the other, at my return, I found of the consistence and colour of a common custard. The vitriolated Serum would not • lame: the vitriolated blood did burn with a brisk but short flame: the simple blood would scarce burn at all, but with air hovering and discontinued flame.

I took also some of the pure citrine Serum of my blood, which tasted not very salt; I set it in the window for some time: during the frost it coagulated into a body of the consistence of butter in the heat of Summer: it gathered no Ic • at all: the colour became less citrine; but still pellucid. I set it after some days to thaw; which it did immediately before the fire, but came not to its former fluidity, but like oyle: after that, it coagulated with the warmth before the fire, and seemed exactly like to boyled Turpentine, but that it wanted the smell: it would not flame at all (though crackled much, as salt) yet I brought it to ignition.

I did also take some Hogs blood again, and poured on the Mothers of Peter, it mixed not; only after some days some filamentary corpuscles subsided unto the middle of the liquor: the colour at first was a pale bastard scarlet: but after a day it turned to a darkish red, and so continued many days; and in its primitive fluidity, it suffering not any alteration, but being as fluid as when it first issued from the veins: it stood in the window all the frost, not changing or freezing at all. No more did another pottinger of my blood that was mixed with the liquor of Peter which had past the ashes: but that last blood turned very blackish.

In fire, notwithstanding any thing I have done or purposed about the nature of blood, I do now desist from the Enquiry: the result of my thoughts being this, that there is a continual va • iation in the blood upon every disease, and often without it, during a state of health: that the blood of Individuals of the same kinde differs not only from it self, but in each other individual: that no man can by reason of this consideration know what he would transfuse; nor what it is he would rectifie. In a word, that 'tis most prndential to insist upon Experienced Methods in Physick, and that all phancies about spirit, salt, sulphur, fermentative fires in th • heart, occasioned by heterogeneous mixtures, and the explications of the operations of Medicaments by the n • w Philosophers, either Chymical or others, ar • all vain, and cannot be allowed as a ground of practice, till justified by successful trials; seeing that not only the suppositions are false, but whilst the blood is sub diminio animae, effects upon it are different from what when it is separate: and I think I may thence conclude rationally, that 'tis not conceivabl • that the fabrick of our bodies is purely Mechanical: for the liquors would have the same effect on the blood in the body, and without: which they have not.

A REVIEW of the precedent Discourse against Mr. GLANVILL.

AFter I had written the present Discourse, I was so unwilling to give any offence to the world, and so apprehensive lest my just indignation for the affront Mr. Glanvill had put upon my Faculty, should transport m • beyond all fitting moderation, that I desired a Friend, (without further advising with me) to blot out whatever h • might in prudence think equitable; by reason of his great cautiousness, as well as thorough that great haste and continual interruptions wherein the Treatise was penned; I finde several passages either omitted totally, or not sufficiently explained; so as that I could not acquiesce in the publicati •• thereof, without some few additions, partly to prevent som • cavills that might (though weakly) be raised against it, and partly to put every thing past dispute hereafter; that so I might not have any further occasion to write against our Virtuos • , nor his Abettors have any thing to do but to call in his Libell against the Physicians, and do some reasonable justice to those he had so arrogantly and injuriously insulted over. I desire my Reader to pardon me, if I have not in some circumstantial embellishmeats and regularity of procedure answered his expectation, since in the main I am sure I have out-done it.

Whereas I charge Mr. Glanvill (page 2.) with not having read the Authors which he mentions. These words, Who can chuse but smile, when he reads how Apuleius improved the Mathematicks after Euclide? the whole passage should have run thus; Who can choose but smile when he reads how Apuleius improved Arithmetick? All that Apuleius did was to to translate something about Arithmetick into Latine, at such time as the Latines had no other Numerals then L.M.D.C, &c. And by reason of this performance of his doth Vossius give him a place amongst the Authors, not improvers of Arithmetick: and takes notice of him as the first that ever writ in Latine about that subject. Upon which account it was judiciously done of Vossius to mention him there; Vossius de Scient • Mathem. • 51. sect 1. but Mr. Glanvill is grosly mistaken her • t • name him, where he treats of such as advanced useful knowledge; which a bare Translation doth not. It is true, Vossius saith of Apuleius, Primus Arithmeticam Latinis literis illustravit: Ap • leius Arithmeticam Nic • machi Geras • ni Pythagorici Latine tran •• ulit teste Cassi • d • r • de mathem. discipl. cap. de Arithm. & Isidor • Hisp. Orig. iij. a. Jonss. de script. Hist. phil. l. 3. c. 13. p. 280. which words import no more then I say; and 'tis manifest, that what He did was but a Translation of Nichomachus. So Cassiodorus d • mathem. disciplinis. cap. de Arithmetica. Reliquae disciplinae indigent Arithmetica disciplina, quam apud Graecos Nicomachos diligenter exposuit. Hunc primum Madaurensis Apuleius, deinde magnificus vir Boethius Latino sermone translatum Romanis contulit lectitandum. The • ame is asserted by Isidorus Hispalensis. V •• si • s de s • ie • . math • m. c 10 sect. • . This might our Virtuoso have observed in Vossius, when he read him: and what Apuleius performed is so meanly thought of by Blanc • aus, Bl • nca • ns Mat • em. 〈…〉 . 15 that in his Chronicles of Mathematicians he affords him no place, though he mention the Arithmetical work of Boethius, The imputation I fix upon Mr. Glanvill, for not understanding what the Authors he mentions had writ, and about his not having ever seen them, is manifest to any man that shall not only trace him by Vossius, Vossius de scien • . Mathem. M • . Glanvill p. 4 • , 4 • , &c •• but consider the ridiculous characters he fixeth upon the Writers alledged, viz. Ptolomy of Alexandr •• made considerable improvements in Optics: and Alhazenus the Arabian is famous for what he did in it. From these Vitellio drew his, and advanced the Science by his own wit and their helps. S. Stevinns both invented and writ such in al • parts of • he pure and practical Mathemati • ks, in Geography, Germa • y, Navigation, Mechanicks, &c. that never did any one, no, nor all the Virtu • si in England or Europe, • ver equalled, or pursued: From hence 'tis apparent Mr. Glanvill, and his Abettors never read him: he was tho • i • st Proposer I know of, and before my Lord Bacon, of a Society to carry on Experiments in order to the rect • fying many err • u • s, and impr • ving many known truths: 〈◊〉 Admirer of the Ancients, and their learning. Stevinus corrected Euclid, Achazen, and Vitellio, in some fundamental Propositions • that were mistakes; and in the room substituted considerable inventions of his own. Roger Bacon writ acutely of Opticks. — Any man will grant, that he who gave so lame an account of these Authors, never was acquainted with them, nor understood particularly what they writ, or added of their own invention: whether new theoremes, or different and new demonstrations of old known truths. Whereas he saith that Roger Bacon was accused of Magick to Pope Clement the fourth, and thereupon imprisoned: but the accusation was founded on nothing but his skill in Mathematicks, and the ignorance of his Accusers.— Assertions of this nature are not so easily passed by, so many le • rned and judicious persons having reckoned him in the number of Magicians; such are Ioannes Wierus and other Daemonographers. J. Wierus de p •• st daem. l. 2. c. 2. That the said Writer might declaim against Magick, or de • y the possibility of it, and yet practise it, is an usual procedure with Vide Bpdin. in p • ae • . ad daemonomani • m. that sort of people: and that his works have in them sundry Prop • sitions that are superstitious and magical is granted by Delci • ; such haply was that which Franciscus See Gabr. Naudaeus his Histo • y of Magick ch. 17. Picus says he had read in his book of the sixth Science, where he affirms, that a man may become a Prophet, and foretel things to come by the means of the Glass Almucheti, composed according to the rules of perspective, provided he made use of it under a good constellation, and had before-hand made his body very even, and put it into a good temper by Chymistry.

As to what I say about Orontius, I adde the words of Sir H • Savile in his Lectures, p. 71. Iosephus Scaliger— home omnium mortalium, ne Orontio quidem excepto, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

Whereas I say (p. 3.) that the ancient Physicians did not only cure cut-fingers, and invent • d Diapalma and and other Medicaments in order thereunto. I adde (what I know not how was omitted) that it is notorious how all our Herbals and Druggists have explained the nature and use of Medicaments according to the Doctrine of the Elements, and qualities either arising therfrom, or from the peculiar mixture of the parts: and whosoever hath acted, or shall proceed according to those notions in compliance with the Ancients. shall not stand in need of any novel Method from the Virtuosi to salve a cut-finger.

What I have said in the first and second sheet concerning the Barometer (as they call it) that it doth not determine exactly, neither the weight nor pressure of the aire, winde, or clouds, is an opinion which the more I think upon, the more I am confirmed in; nor do I doubt that others will be as scrupulous as I in their assent to our dogmatizing Virtuoso, when they shall seriously consider what follows, and accommodate it to the Elasticity and gravity of the Atmosphear.

First, when our Virtuoso speaks of the Elasticity of the Air, he understands thereby a body whose constituent particles ar • of a peculiar configuration and texture, distinct from what can be ascribed to earth, water, or fire? That the Air near the earth is such an heap of little bodies lying one upon another, as may be resembled to a fleece of wooll; for this (to • mit o • her likenesses betwixt them) consists of many slender flexible hairs; each of which may indeed like a little Spring, be easily bent or rouled up; but will also, like a Spring, be still endeavouring to stretch it self out again. For, though both these Hairs, and the Aerial corpuscles to which we like them, do easily yield to external pressures; yet each of them (by vertue of its structure) is endowed with a power or principle of self-dilatation;

Mr. Boyle in his first part of Experiments o • th • Ai • e: Experim. 1.

I desire my Reader to take • otice about • he • la •• icity of th • Air, that the very names of • later and • lasticity a • e of • more ancient • ention then the being of the Society: Regins and Peeg • et • s use the te • ms: and that a • to the expansi •• motion of the Air, 'tis proposed b • seve • al Cartesians, and before them by Kircher de mayner. l. 2 part. 1. pr • g • m • . 3. See also Mersenn. and Schottus • mechanic p •• umat. hydraul: So th •• the So • i • ty ca • pre • end to nothing but the s • mili • ude of a fleece o • wo • ll, and the expli • ating it • y that way.

by vertue whereof, though the Hairs may by a m • ns hand be bent and crowded closer together, and into a narrower room then suits best with the nature of the body: yet whilst the compression lasts, there is in the fleece they compose or endeavour outwards, whereby it continually thrusts against the hand that opposes its expansion. And upon the removal of the external pressur • by opening the hand more or less, • age 59. the compressed wooll does as it were spontaneously expand or display it self towards the recovery of its former loose and free condition, till the fleece have either regain'd its former dimensions, or at least, approved them as near as the compressing hand, (perchance not quite opened) will permit. —Against this I except not only that this supposition is far from a sensible Philosophy; but that whosoever would weigh the Air exactly, and estimate the accession of weight which the Air receives from winds, clouds, or vapors (the thing Mr. Glanvill promiseth us) must weigh the Air singly first, and in its utmost degree of expansion, otherwise he can never tell what its gravity is, or what accessional it receives by its Elasticity, by exhalations and different mixtures: But this is not done by the Barometer (however it be essayed in the experiment of Aristotle very judiciously) but only an imaginary column or Cylinder of Air, and its pressure upon the Mercury is considered: which procedure seems to me as ridiculous, as if a man should lay a fleece of wooll, or any other body upon any thing, and there being above that an incumbent body of lead (or the like) bearing thereon, yet should he proceed to say that he weighed the fleece of wooll and not the incumbent lead: for as yet no discoveries have acquainted the world with the nature of that Aether which is above the Atmosphere, whether it gravitate or press upon the subjacent Air (which a very subtile but rapid body may do) nor what effects the Libration of the Moon and other Planets may have by way of pressure upon the contiguous bodies,Thus the Moon according to the Cartesians by its pressure upon the waters, causeth the Tides on Earth. which pressure may be communicated to the terrestrial Air: and without the determination hereof, it is as vain to pretend to weigh the Air by this Barometer, as to determine of the weight of a board that presseth a Cheese in the Vat, without considering the superincumbent stone. Neither are we informed sufficiently what the Figure of the Aether is, whether it make a convexe and so encompass the Atmosphear; or also be interspersed with, and differently move therein; nor what effects those motions and agitations of it have upon the grosser corpuscles of the Atmosphere, (not only a abating of their gravity somtimes, but adding to them a levitation: nor is it explicated yet what effects the corpuscular rays of the fixed Stars and Planets may have in or upon the Atmosphere, adding to its gravity, (as • tis just to imagine, since that eminent Virtuoso, the Pliny of our Age for lying, but a Virtuoso! could wash his hands in the beams of the Moon) or Elasticity, of which those intercurrent corpuscles seem not void (though not Aiery) which constit • te Thunder, 〈◊〉 K. D. of S • mp p. 42. Cha • lt • n de 〈◊〉 . Lightning, &c. or diminishing them both in order to the Phaenomena, which occurre daily. Secondly, it doth not yet appear by any thing alledged by our Experimental Philosophers, that for certain the Air which encompasseth the Earth is a distinct body of a different structure from the Earth and Water that compose the Terraqueous Globe. Isaac Vossius doth think the Air to be nothing else but watrish exhalations drawn up by the Sunne. 〈…〉 & 〈◊〉 c. 21 p. 94.— Credimus Aerem esse Aquam seu humorem dilatatum, ad legem aequilibrii quaquaversum se extendentem. If it b • so, it is a vain supposition which attributes such a structure to the Air,

〈…〉 q •• dam pe • pe • uò occ • pe • ant • s 〈◊〉 & spi • abilis substant • a. Kir • h • r • P • r 〈◊〉 . 2 dial. 2. c. 3.

• he 〈…〉 a kinde • f 〈…〉 pa • ticl • s d • ssolv • d • t to the Aether, an • agitated • y i •• just as the • incture of 〈…〉 is noth • ng 〈…〉 pa • ts o • tha • 〈…〉 by the 〈◊〉 • a • er. M • . Hook Mic • ogr o • s • . p. 1 • . 〈…〉 actione zolis & 〈◊〉 . qu • • um 〈…〉 , inter 〈…〉 l. • . p. 1. •• .

as is repugnant to the water: Others there are which make the Atmosphere to be an aggr • gate of heterogeneous particles exhal • d from this Globe, whose structure must be as discrepant as the vapours are: and what a difference there is in them we may guess by the infinite variety of Meteors, Rains, Snows, Hail, Winds, Dews, &c. and their component corpuscles. If this latter be true, (as 'tis probabl • that it is; at least that there is no more besides but an intercurrent Aether or materia subtilis of the Cartesians) what becomes of this Elasticity, or pressure of this Springy Air so much talked of? Thirdly, 'tis necessary to distinguish betwixt the pressure and weight of bodies: for, suppose were a man pressed under a bended stick, or other springy body compre •• ed, he shall f •• l a great oppression upon him, and be kept down to his great pain, not with the weight but spring of the said stick, or other spri • gy body: and whosoever by the violence of the compression would judge of the weight of the incumbent body, would expose himself to laughter. Fourthly, 'tis possible for a body without any springiness or accessional gravity, to press downwards above its weight:Acus • omnino parall ••• horizonti, qua subito atque magneti affricat • r, nullo modo fit gravior, tamen deprimitur, perind • ac si magnes esset acui subjectus. Finge • unc aliquem, qui haec a magne • e fieri nesciat, is profectò credet cum Aristotele acum tendere ad c • n • rum mund. Be • igard. d • terra: c • r • ulo 6. part. 3. thus a needle touched with a Loadstone declines from that line in which it hung parallel to the Horizon, without any addition of weight: 〈◊〉 is de •• nstrable from 〈◊〉 variety of its d • cl •• ation • nd r • stit •• ion: and 'tis as indubitable that such declination of it carries with it something of pressure. Fifthly, we are to consider the nature of the Earth, whether that be a Magnet, or no: for if it be such, (however the Magnetism be explained, whether according to the Cartesian Hypothesis, or that of Berigardus) instead of weighing the Air, we deceive our selves as grosly as if we took the impulse with which Iron runs to the Loadstone for its weight: and thus in some cases we shall weigh things by their ascent, which is inconsistent with the common notion of weighing things. Sixthly, to wave the unestablished notions of Gravity and Lenity, and to abstract from all the preceding considerations, I say, that even so this opinion of the Aerial Column pressing down upon the Mercury is false: since in a body so unequally mixed as the Air is often (and it cannot be disproved that 'tis ever otherwise) it is impossible to imagine that the pressure or gravitation is by way of a Column or Cylinder. Imagine the Experiment to be tried by six or more weights pressing at one time upon the Mercury, would any man in his wits say, that this joint pressure were cylindrical? consider but the variety of mixtures in the Air, (and the separate pr • ssures that are consequential thereunto • which the contemplation of the clouds will lead us into, and 'tis the same thing. Were a man swimming in that concourse of water in Hungary, where the unmixed rivers flow in one channel, and his body so placed that part of it were in one stream, and part in another,) would you say that the incumbent water did press upon him in a Column or Cylinder? But to proceed • urther, if it be true that the superiour part of the Air or Atmosph • re, which transcends the mountainous asperities of the Earth, hath a • other motion or lation then that which is more low, (explain it either the Aristotelian way, • ide • alilaum • y •• em. 〈◊〉 dial. • . • ag 32. 〈◊〉 in 4 • 0. or according to Galilaeo, and agreeably to the motion of the Earth) if this be true, (as I take it to be now) how can we determine of the Gravity of the neighbouring Air by this Experiment? and how vain is this notion of a Cylinder? for in a fluid agitated with different motions as the subject Air is by repercussion from the Hills and Plains, (which begets vibrations and undulations God knows what it suffers upon the ge • eration and motions of Meteors; and where the superior part hath a motion different oftentimes from the other, of whose rapidity we are as uncertain as of its structure, and texture, (and we see that the rapidity or swift motion of an heavy body takes it from its pressure and gravity how can any man talk of Aerial columns, much less pretend to weigh the Air incumbent, and to determine exactly of any accession of weight, as M. Glanvill professeth to do? Besides, if heavy bodies do not gravitate in a streight line, but describe the circumference of a Circle, or some such line, (as new Philosophers hold in opposition to Aristotle) and if the Atmosphere be to be reckon'd amongst the bodies that gravitate, Vide Galilaeum de system. mundi dial. 2. pag. 119. edit. in 410. Sectatoribu • Copernici opus est dicere (quippe qui ponunt orbem magn • m circulo ferri) motum gravi • deorsum ess • per lineam curvam vel • nstar quadratricis Nicomedis, vel circulari ut Galilae • s c • ntendit. Scipio Claramont. de univ • r • . l. • ij. c. 20. how can we imagine this gravitation to be performed by way of a column or cylinder? Moreover, this Atmosphere can no way be considered to press cylindrically, if we consider that in every part of it there are continual exhalations, and smoke ascending through it, so that the weight of it must needs be abated by the ascent of those vapors: and what we experiment here is not the weight of the Air properly, but the super-ponderancy or over-weight of it. The Atmosphere seems to me constantly to resemble a Glass in which water is poured on wine, and the wine is ascending thorough each part of the water indeterminately; if it be thus, and that the ascending vapours carry a great force with them, (which any man will grant who considers the weight of the smoke, V • de Sanctorii medic. static. Hanc Aeris concitationem demonstrat vel ipsa saliva • x 〈◊〉 demiss •• quae dilaceratur p • ope terram in quam co • citatus a • r impi • gen • • d salivam redit, c • mque discerpit. Berigard. circ. Pisar. pa • t. • . circ. 6. de terra. in comparison to what remains of the wood and coal that is burnt: and who statically regards the steams transpiring from our bodies: and how that spittle, which in an entire body issues from our mouths • descends till near the ground it be dissipated and distended) I cannot imagine how it can be said that w • thus measure all the degrees of compressi • n in the Atmosphere, and estimate exactly any accession of weight which the Air receives from winds, clouds, or vapors. To conclude, if the Air do thus press upon the Mercury, how comes it to pass that there is no difference when the Experiment is tried in a chamber (where the incumbent column is less then abroad) and in the open Air of the same levell? Why doth it not press up water (or other liquors) in the like Syphon to an heighth as different as is the disproporti • n betwixt the gravity of Mercury and water:Why d • th not this Cylinder of Air which so presseth upon the Mercury, depress a leaf of Gold, but 〈◊〉 it to flie up and dow • ? which I have not heard it doth; yet the proportion betwixt Mercury and water in gravity is 1 • . 13 • . In fine, how is that true which Mr. Hooke saith, viz. That he contrived an instrument to shew all the minute-variations in the pressure of the Air:Mr. Hooke in the Preface to his Micrography. by which he constantly found, that before and during the time of rainy weather, the pressur • of the Air is less, and in dry weather, but especially when an Eastern winde, (which having past over vast tracts of Land, is heavy with earthy particles) blows, it is much more: though these changes are varied according to very odd Laws. If this be true, (as I am apt to believe it is) with what face can our Virtuoso tell us,Pa • e 61. It is concluded, that such a Cylinder of the Air as presses upon the Mercury in the vessel, is of equal weight to about 29 digits of that ponderous body in the Tube. Thus it is when the Air is in its ordinary temper: but vapours, winds and clouds alter the Standard, so that the Quicksilver somtimes falls, som • times rises in the Glass, If you would see how true Mr Gla • vill speaks, reade Mr. Boyle his eighteenth Experiment, and the defence of it against Linus: there you will finde that the Mercurial Cylinder did in winter somtimes correspond with the weather Glass and somtimes 〈◊〉 : and the reason Mr. Boyle gives, is such a • takes 〈◊〉 • rom the certainty of Mr. Gl •• vill's CONCLUS • ON. proportionably to the greater or less accession of gravity and compression the Air hath received from any of those alterations: and the degree of increase beyond the Standard, is the measure of the additional gravity. Is not this prettily said by a man that writes a year after Mr. Hook, and more after Mr. Boyle? How unacquainted is He and his Assistants • even with the Writings of their fellow Virtuosi? And if we may be allowed to transfer the Fool's Cap from the Ancients for concluding too soon, may we no • crown the heads of our Virtuosi now therewith? And how careful the R.S. is in making good their promise to Olaus Borrichius, that what their Members should write, the whole Society would be resp • nsible, let any man judge that considers how Mr. Hooke, and Mr. Glanvill (I beg Mr. Hook's pardon for the unequal comparison) disagree; and Dr. Henshaw (another Virtuoso) differs also from Mr. Glanvill, saying, That the Quicksilver Tube will not give so exact an account of every small difference in the pressing Air, as the THERMOMETER! what confus • on shall we be reduced unto in time, should these contradict • o • s Experimentators proceed as they have done! I shall here adde, that I do conceive that this notion of an Aerial column gravitating upon the Earth, or subjacent body, was framed in imitation of the Hypothesis of Simon Stevinus, the Teacher of Mathematicks to Grave Maurice of Nassau, in his fourth book of Hydrostaticks, where he insists muc • upon this Aqueous Column; but 'tis observable that that judicious person, the better to make out his Theoremes, presupposeth such things as give some repute to my objections about the Aerial Cylinder or Column, viz. 1. Aquam omnibus partibus esse ponderitatis Homogeneae. 2. Cujusvis aquae superficiem planam & horizonti parallel • m esse. 3. Aquae fundo horiz • nti parallelo tantum insidet pondus, quantum est Aqueae Columnae cujus b • sis fundo, altitudo perpendiculari ab aquae superficie summa adimam demissae sit aequalis.

Out of this last Proposition, and the demonstration and consectaries thereof in him; 'tis manif • st, that he supposed not one of his assertions would hold (though the Phaenomena were the same in nature) as he worded and explained them, if that he did not free his aqueous Column from any oblique pressures, S Stevinus hydrostat. Elem. l 4 Theoorem 8. and make it rectangular. And as for his Postulatum, that the surface of the water is plain, flat and level; he confesses it is not so really, viz. Quatenus pars est sphaericae sive mundanae superficiei; mundanam autem superficiem dicimus sphaerae cujusvis mundo concentricae: he only professeth to assume it as true, because in hydrostatics, things happen as if it really were so; whereupon he scruples not to make use of a supposition, which is really, confessedly, and demonstrably false, as long as it conduceth to practice, and serves his turn as if it were true, without pursuing a more tedious, and not more useful Hypothesis agreeable to Archimedes. Id. ib. postulat. 6. Which I take notice of by way of Apology for my self, and those who think fit to acquiesce in, or not to blame such Methods as are effectual, though otherwise vain and groundless. Another thing is,Id. ib. postul. 7 Et profecto tam receptum • uerit h • c ipsa non admittere, quam postulantibus Astrologis terram esse mundi centrum. •• dem derogare • that He supposeth there that the Earth is the Center of the world. Out of all which I am more and more satisfied of the validity of my former doubts against this so much concluded upon Aerial Column, to the explanation whereof I finde no such cautions, or previous suppositions used, to take off the edge and force of such objections: neither indeed have I yet met with any thing of that subject proposed in a Scientifical way; and therefore much how it comes to be concluded upon so as Mr. Glanvill represents it to be.

Whereas I have said, that the gravitation of the Air (even Elementary) is an opinion of Aristotles, and that his Experiment was tried by Claramontius; I adde, that the verity of that trial (though indeed it extend only to the impure Atmosphere) is attested by Ricciolus in these words, Duo quarto Aquam,Ricciol. Almag • nov l. 2. c. 5. sect. 4. & Aerem nostrum habere aliquid levitatis gravitati admistum, ut vi illius adscendant, ut • int supra id quod est ipsis gravius; & vi hujus descendant. Hinc • it ut folles lusorii, & Aere addensat • bene inflati, etiam sine farinulae ac vim infusione, plus ponderent, quam flaccidi: ut exquisita trutina deprehendes: immo ego expendi vesicam bovinam, quae flaccida erat scrupulorum 4. & granorum quatuor, esse inflatam scrup. 4. grav. 6. quaere Aer additus per inflationem appendebat grana duo. Thus the incomparable Ricciolus, whom I may as well reckon amongst the Peripateticks, as Mr. Against H • b • c. • . Boyle doth Schottus: and how true that Aristotelean Experiment is Mr. Boyle demonstrates in his Experiments of Air. Exper. 6. and against H • bs c. 3. pneumatick discourses. And though the works of Galilaeo, Kepler, Mersennus, Gassendus, Pecquetus, Paschal, were lost, and were is ignorant as some Virtuosi of their trials about the weight of the Air; yet would not the Assertion have seemed so strange and incredible as Mr. Glanvill represents it to be; for though Maynenus deny it, yet he brings in this Objection. Democrit. revivise disp. 1. c. 2. p. 84. in 410. Aer est gravis, &c. go. probatur primo a Mathematicis, qui de Aeris pondere scripserunt, inveneruntque ejus ponderis momenta. 2. A Francisco Mendoza, qui in suo viridario problema instituit, An in Aere navigari possit? 3. A descensu lapidum & aliorum gravium, quae Aeris pondere praegrammata urgent suum descensum, & velocius in fine quam in principio moventur. 4. Experimento adducto a Bassone, qui follem inflatum citius descendere ait quam Aere vacuum, Circul. Pisa • . part. 6. circ. 7 • de nutritione. ob additum Aeris pondus. l. de motu. intent 1. art. 3. Berigardus also asserts the gravity of the Air, and justifies it by this Barometer, and the unequal ascent of the Mercury on the top, and at the foot of a mountain. I shall summe up all, that may take off from the novelty of the thing, and deprive the R.S. of the glory of pretending to any interest in the discovery in the words of Thomas Bartholinus de pulmon. sect. 3. p. 60.Sancto •• us was • Gal •• ist. Ingeniosus Sanctorius in inveniendis instrumentis Medicis, inter alia Com. in. 1 Fen. Avic. Stateram ponit, qua ventorum vim & impetum ponderat. Inventis aliquid addam. Vitream phialam lanci nostrae impone, & leni halitu inflato videbis quam parum ponderi accreverit. In instrumento Magdeburgico testatur Otho Geriche Consul Magdeburgensis & inventor ejus, ponderari posse Aerem hoc pacto; quanto levius est vitrum post Aerem extractum, tantum ponderabat A • r antea in eo contentus. Varios modos alios A • ris levitatem bilance expendendi tradit Caspar Ens Thaumat. Mathemat Probl. 93. c. 15. Vesicam bovinam se expendisse ait Joannes Bapt. Ricciolus Tom. 1. Almag. nov. l. 2. c. 5. num. 4. quae flaccida erat scrupulorum quatuor & granorum quatuor: & deprebendisse • andem inflatum scrupul • rum 4. & granorum 6. Marcius Mersennus in Phaenom. Propos. 29. asserit se Geometris praes • ntibus & adjuvantibus ponder asse bilance. Aeolipilam aeneam satis calefactam, & prop • modum candentem, omnique humore destitutam & quam minimum Aeris continentem; deprebendisseque pondus fuisse unoiarum quatuor, drachmarum 6. & granorum 15. postquam vero naturaliter refrixisset Aeolipila, & Aer antea rarefactus rediisset ad pristinum ac naturalem suum statum, iterum ponderasse ipsam, & invenisse pondus praecedente pondere majus fuisse quatuor gravis. Plura in hanc rem congessit. cl. Casp. Schottus in Mechan. p. 1. protheor. 4. c. 6.

I have not Schottus by me at present; neither is there need of any further Inquiries; for I have sufficiently demonstrated that the Gravitation of the Air is an opinion of Aristotle, Averroes, and other Peripateticks, though not generally received by that sort of Peilosophers: and that it was truly and experimentally demonstrated by them, especially as far as the Atmosphear is concerned in the Question. I have also made it apparent, that the Barometer, or Mercurial Experiment doth not discover the weight of the Air with any certainty; much less, all the degrees of it: That the pressure of the Air is not by way of a Cylinder or Column; and that the Barometer had not its original but denomination from the R.S. they were, as I may term them, the God • fathers, not Parents. The World may justly say of the Honourable Mr. Boyle, that he hath improved the Experiments of his Predecessors, and represented them more accurately; and of Mr. Glanvill and his Assistants what it pleaseth.

In the marginal note (page 15.) where I say, that perhaps it is not true that Aristotle had any hand in, or was privy to the impoisoning of Alexander; I adde that Pausanias after he had spoke of the Stygian water, and its strange property, doubts whether Alexander were made away by such means, or no: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . This he says (in Arcadic) without reflecting any way upon Aristotle as one concerned in the report. And Arrianus who writ the life of Alexander, out of the Memoires of Ptolomaeus Lagides (who was present when that great Prince died) avows, that he died of a surfet: yet he relates sundry rumors about his death, one whereof is, that Aristotle (being fearful of Alexander after the death • of Calisthenes) should prepare the poison for Antipater, to be sent him: but concludes thus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Arrian. de expedit. Alexandr. l. 7.

Whereas I reflect (page 16.) upon that passage of Plato, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and what Mr. Glanvill saith, That without Geometry we cannot in any good degree understand the Artifice of the Omniscient Architect in the composure o • the great World and our selves: Mr. G • anvill p. 25. and that the Universe must be known by the Art whereby it was made. — There should have been a Chasme made for some passages, I know not why omitted. I adde therefore, that it is not revealed unto us that God made the Universe according to that Art, and it seems an Additional to the first Fiat, or let there be— in Genesis, to say his commands were regulated by the rules of Geometry, and his powerful and omnipotent word confined thereunto. Had Mr. Glanvill been pleased to consult the fathers, he would have found that this Tenet of his is no primitive notion: and that particularly Eusebius hath refuted it, Euseb. de p • aep. Ev • ng l. 14 c. 4. denying that God in his Works is obliged to Geometrical numbers; and that Socrates (whose authority is greater then Plato's) did place no great value on those Sciences: that the first Christians did slight the knowledge of them as useless to Piety and knowledge of God; because my opinion about these things is agreeable to that of the first Christians, and of Socrates; I shall insert the whole passage, as it is translated into Latine in the Paris Edition.

Euseb. praep. Evangelicae l. 14. c. 10, 11. edit. Paris. 1628.

Primum tamen quoniam Mathematica illa sua tantopere jactare solent, prorsusque necessarium esse dicti • ant, ut quisquis comprehendendi veri studio tenebitur, A • tron • miam, Arithmetriam, Geometriam, Musicam, illa nimirum ipsa, quae ad eos a Barbaris profecta esse jam ostendimus, persequatur: (his enim qui carebit, doctum perfectumque Philosophum esse neminem, imo rerum veritatem ne primoribus quidem labris digustare posse, nisi qui harum ante rerum animo cognitionem impresserit:) deinde hanc suarum artium peritiam magnificentius ostentantes, aethere sese medio sublimies propemodum incidere, numerisque suis ipsum quoque Deum circumferre arbitrantur: nos vero qui similium disciplinarum amore non flagremus, nihil a pecudibus abesse existimant, deique propterea nunquam nunquam reipaulo gravioris notitiam percepturos esse pronunciant: Age, hoc ipsum quam pravum sit atque distortum, vera laminis loco ratione proposita, sic tanquam ad libellam & regulam exigamus. Erit ea quidem ejusmodi, quae Graecos, innumerabiles, infinitosque Barbaros complexa; alios tametsi his artibus doctrinisque paratos, nec Deum unquam, nec honestae vitae rationes, nec omnino praeclarum & utile quid percepisse; alios, ut ab omnium disciplinarum studio destituti essent, religiosissimos tamen ac sapientissimos extitisse demonstret. Enimvero quaenam hoc in genere Socratis illius, qui ab istis omnibus tantopere celebratur, sententia fuerit, e Xenophonte intelliges, si modo ei suis in Memorabilibus haec scribente fidem adhibebis.

Docebat, inquit ille, praeterea, quatenus cujusque rei peritum esse hominem bene institute oporteret: principio Geometricae dandam eatenus operam esse dicebat, ut siquando res pasceret, dimensam rite terram vel accipere ab alio, vel alii tradere, vel eam dividere, vel opus aliquod designare posset. Id porro tam esse ad discendum facile, ut qui dimensionem attendere voluerit, idem simul & quanta sit terrae magnitudo assequi possit, & quaenam ejus metiendae ratio breviter admodum expediteque cognoscere. At ejusdem in Geometricae studio, ad illas usque descriptiones intellectu difficiliores quenquam progredi, Socrati non placebat. Cui enim bono futurae illae essent, videre se, tametsi ne illarum quidem imperitus esset, rogabat. Enimvero, ad exhauriendam hominis vitam cum satis illas esse, tum aliarum interim & plurimum & utiliorum doctrinarum studia impedire. Astronomiam similiter eatenus complecti solum jubebat, ut noctis, mensis, annique tempora cognosceres, atque hujus cognitionis ope, siquando vel iter, vel navigatio suscipienda esset, vel agendae forent excubiae, vel in aliud quidlibet quod noctis, mensis, annique spatio fieri solet, incumbendum, signis ad ea omnia suis quaeque temporibus obeunda, certioribus uterere. Atqui haec nihilo difficilius tam ex nocturnis venatoribus, quam ex navium gubernatoribus, & aliis quamplurimis resci • i posse, a quibus eorum peritiam suae cujusque partes officiumque deposcat. At eandem artem eo usque persequi, dum ea quae non eodem motu circumferantur, stellasque simul errantes & vagas distinguere noveris, adeoque in earum abs terra intervallis, conversionibus causisque rimandis aetatem viresque consumere, id vero graviter imprimis ac serio prohibebat, quod multum hujus • tiam opere pretium videret, tametsi ne in istis quidem rebus hospes ipse ac peregrinus esset. Addebat, conficiendae hominis vitae illas quaeque satis futuras, quae interim a pluribus utilioribusque studiis avocarent. Postremo quibus coelestia quaeque rationibus Numen moderetur, investigari nolebat, quod cum eo ab hominibus aspirari non posse, tum minus cum diis probari existimaret, qui quae prompta notaque esse noluissent, inquireret. Nec minus illi, quem ea vehementius cura destineret, insaniae periculum imminer • dicebat, quam Anaxagorae, qui explicatus a se deorum Machinas tantopere gloriabatur.

I shall adde, that if God Almighty be regulated by the rules of Geometry, and mechanical motion in the management of this world, and that the fabrick of things is necessarily established upon those Hypotheses, I cannot any way comprehend how God can do any miracles: how the Sun should stand still at the command of Ioshuah, or the shadow go back on the dial of Ahaz: or how there could be a general deluge; or such an Eclipse as is related at the death of our Saviour: or that the fire should not burn, or destroy the three children: in which, and other cases, if God were not tied up to this Art, I do want proof (till he declare it) that at ot • er times he acts altogether agreeably to it. This opinion of mine hath been hitherto the most Christian Assertion, and held most consonant to Piety, and hath been amply maintained of late by Dr. Henry More, in opposition to what the Royal Society lays down in their History; That Generation, Corruption, Alteration, and all the vicissitudes of Nature,

Mr. Sprat pag. 312.

I wonder that such effects should be attributed by them to the bare co • course and meeting of corpuscles of differing figures, magnitudes and velocities; without taking notice of that alteration of texture, and of the figures of the concurrent particles, without which Carte • ianism, nor the other Mechanical Philosophies can subsist: and not so without allowing the constant assistance of God, directing and ordering lay-Mechanism. So des Cartes Princ. Philos part. 2. Deus materiam • imul cum motu & quicte in principio creavit; jamque per Solem su • m concursum ordinarium tantundem motus & quietis in ea tota, quantum tunc posuit conservet. Oh! rare and sensible explication of things! God Almighty in a peculiar matter agitates matter! must we thus explain the secondary and mediate creation of the world in six days, whereas the like productions have not hapened in so many thousand years as are lapsed since! Besides, whatever our Virtuoso thinks of the Eternal Generation and Incarnation of the Son of God; He doth not except in this Assertion the Generation of mankinde in the ordinary and natural way.

are nothing else but the effects arising from the meeting of little bodies, of differing figures, magnitudes and velocities. Then which opinion there can be nothing more pestilent and pernicious; and Dr. More, albeit a Member of this Society heretofore, (for he allows nothing to it now) yet a pious one, professeth that this Mechanical Philosophy doth incline to Atheism: neither would he approve of those deductions as necessary, but ridiculous, when I upbraided him lately with that non-sensical and illiterate History, Mr. Sprat p. 348. 'Tis true, his, [viz. The Experimental Philosophers] employment is about material things. But this is so far from drawing him to oppose invisible Beings, that it rather puts his thoughts into an excellent good capacity to believe them. In every work of Nature that he handles, he knows that there is not only a gross substance, which presents it self to all mens Eyes; but an infinite subtilty of parts, which come not into the sharpest sense. So that what the Scripture relates of the purity of God, of the spirituality of his Nature, and that of Angels, and the souls of men, cannot seem incredible to him, when he perceives the numberless particles that move in every mans Blood, and the prodigious streams that continually flow unseen from every body: having found that his own senses have been so far assisted by the Instruments of Art, he may sooner admit that his minde ought to be raised higher by an Heavenly light, in those things wherein his senses do fall short. If (as the Apostle says • the invisible things of God are manifested by the visible: then how much stronger Arguments has he for his belief, in the eternal Power and Godhead, from the vast number of creatures that are invisible to others, but are exposed to his view by the help of his Experiments? My censure upon this place is, that if his Experimentator have any skill in Logick or the ways of arguing, though from the Rules of Mechanism, and the contemplation of visible bodies, he may proceed to the allowance of invisible and insensible corpuscles, yet shall he still confine his progress and ascent within the nature of matter and corpuscles, and never apprehend (upon those grounds) the being and operations of an immaterial, omnipresent Deity acting by the Word of his Power and Will: nor the incorporeal nature of the soul of man. Such a Transition ad genus a genere, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he that owns those principles cannot assent unto, if he understands himself, and argue not so as to alledge, One Proposition for sence, The other for convenience.

Where I speak of Archytas (pag. 18.) that he was a practical and Mechanical Philosopher, contrary to what Mr. Glanvill asserts (pag. 27.) I shall adde his life; As it is "briefly written in Ricciolus thus. Archytas Tarentinus Pythagoreus nobilis, Ricciclus in Chroni • part. 2. • rae • i • es ad Almag • st. 1. 〈◊〉 in Archytas. Mathematicarum peritissimus, quem ut una cum Timaeo cognosceret Plato, in Italiam navigavit, ut ait Cicero. In Mechanicis excelluit, & vi illarum quinquies vicit hostes in praelio, ut nihil dicam de columba lignea, quam libramentis ad violatum compulit; sed in Cosmographia at Geometria practica excelluisse indicat illud Horatii lib. 1. odorum.

Te maris ac terrae numeroque carentis arenae, Mensorem cohibent Archyta.

Nei • her is Mr • Glan • ill mistaken there in reference to Ar • hytas only • Blancanus saith of Archytas, that he was Mechanica Inventor, • n Chrono • . mathem. •• cul. 5. And Will. Snellius in his P • eface to the Hypomn. mathem. of S. Stevinus, doth reckon upon Archytas and E • doxus as eminent for practical Mechanicks. what • he saith abo •• E • doxus Gnidius is false: who was a M • c • anician also, and amongst other discoveri • s, Inv • nit • tiam Ara ••••• , • orologium videlicet solar • , in quo lin • ae borariae, & arcus signorum in modum ara •• c • se secant, Blancan. in Chronol. Mathemat. Sevil. • .

Whereas I say (page 22 • ) that the Royal Society were not the first that applied themselves to the observing the formes of Animals, &c. by the Microscope: I adde that Zucchius did not only prece •• • them in the attempt, but seems to have had b • tter glasses to that purpose then th • y: for whereas Mr. Hooke in his description of a Flea says of the Eyes only thi • , that the head is on either side beautified with a quick and round black eye: the more accurate Zucchius saith,Mr. Hook microg • aph. p. • 10. Zucchius philos. opt. part 2. cap. 2. s • ct. 2. p. 39. Novissime Microscopio parato ab axc • llentissimo Vitrorum in omnes for •• as ad proposit • s • sus farmatore D. Eustachio Divinio Septempedano, spectavi me • s oculis senesco • •• bus Oculum pulicis, disti • ctis in eo alhescente Selerotide a Cornea, & per cornea • I ride • culi • And in the description of the feet of a Fly, and the feather of a Peacock I observe that there is such a difference betwixt those two Writers, that as one of them must •• eds be in an errour, so I am apt to think that our Virtu • s • is the person: see Mr. Hooke p. 167, 168, 169, 170. and Zucchius Philos. opt. part. 2. tr. 3. c. 7. sect. • . pag. 349 • 350. If England do yield better Microscopes then those of Eustachius Divini • s, then I am ready to change my judgement.

Where Mr. Glanvill speaks of going to the World of the Moon, and I animadvert upon the difficulti • s of the journey, and that his lodging will be too • ot for him; adde in the Text these words page 43.

Besides the other difficulties of the journey, 'tis further considerable, that from the Centre of the Earth to the Moon, according to the calculation of Tych • Brabe, there is near 56 semidiameters of the Earth, Van Ettens Mathem. recreations pag. 220, 221. which is about 192416 miles: and admit it be supposed that Mr. Glanvill fli • 20 miles every day in ascending towards that world, he should be above 15 years before he could come to the Orbe of the Moon.

Where I speak against the accommodating of Scripture to common railing, p. 49. I adde, that not only the Council of Trent (— fas est & ab hoste doceri) hath prohibited Sess. 4. that any should apply the holy Scripture ad scurritia, fabulosa, vana, adulationes; but also that the first Council at Millain, forbids the using it ad jocum, ostentationem, contumeliam, superstitionem, impietatem. And, to upbraid our Divine-Railleurs a little more, an ancient African Council decrees. Si Glericus, aut Monachus verba scurritia, jocularia risumque moventia loquitur, acerrime corripiatur. The words of which Canon, (viz. Scurritia & jocularia) are by a learned Frenchman rendred raillery. —"Nous avons le Canon d' un ancient Concile d' Afrique, qui parle en ces termes: Si quelqu' un du Clerge ou siun Religie • se dit des paroles de raillerie, des choses plaisantes & enjouces, qui' il soit chastie tres severement. Qu' eussent • it a vostre avis ces bons Peres si ces railleries eussent este terees de l' Escriture? This Question hath been agitated with much wit and address in French, betwixt Mr. de Girac and Mr. Costar in sundry books, wherein any man of common reason and piety, will give the advantage to adversary of Voiture, who is justified by the concurrent opinion of Balzac in his remarks sur les deux sonnets: and to these Writers I refer our Virtuosi, such as reckon upon all other learning as Pedantry, may inform themselves thence as out of Writers which transcend not their breeding and studies.

Whereas (pag. 58.) I speak somewhat in commendation of the ancient Aristotelean Monks, I finde that their est • em is much advanced by the learned Gabriel Naudaeus in these words. After the last taking of Constantinople, Learning, began to creep out of Monasteries,Gabr. Naudaeus H • st. of Magick. c. 7. which for all the time before had been (as it w • re) publike Christian Schools, where not only youth, but also such men as would apply themselves that way, were instructed in all manner of Disciplines, Sciences, and Morality, and that to such an height, that not content with that so famous Quadrivium of the Mathematicks, which, besides all that is now shewn in Colledges, was then taught, Medicine both as to Theory and Practice, was so well cu •• ivated, that we need no more to convince us how expert they were therein, then the Writings of Aegidius, Constantine, and Damascene, Joanni ••• s, •• ter of Spain • and Turisanus. So that it w • re • as • e for me to ans • er t •• m who charge th • m with illiterature and ignorance.

Where I speak out of G. Hofman and others, that it is sufficient for a Physician that he proc • ed upon such rules and methods as may most commodiously guide him in his practice, without b • ing solicitous whether they be rigorously and philos • phically true: pag. 75. I adde, that there are others as eminent as any that ever pretended to cure, which concurre with me in this opinion. A • Avicenna and Riolanus; the words of the latter in his Examen of H • rvey, c. 9. are these. — Quapropter cum Avicenna doctr. 6. cap. distingu • sermonem utilem a vero; Medicus qua Medicus, inquit ille; non curat, quid in veritate sit, sed contentus est Phaenomenis quibusdam, quae sunt satis illi in curatione marb • rum.

I adde unto the passages (pag. 97.) which relate unto the diligence of the Ancients in Di ••• ctions, this: That the Ancients, and particularly the P ••• pateticks were very curious and inquisitive into Anatomy appears by this passage out of Chalcidius, in his discourse upon the Timaeus of Plato; he lived about one thousand one hundred and seventy years ago, and the passage (which relates to the Platonick notion about vision) in the Latin Edition of Meur • i • s, (pag. 340) runs thus. Q • are faciendum ut ad certam explorationem Platonici dogmatis commentum ve • us advocetur medicorum, & item Physicorum, illustrium sane virorum, qui, ad comprehendendam s • n • naturae solertiam, actus humani corporis, facta membrorum exsectione, rimati sunt: qui existi •• abant, it • d • mum se suspici • nibus, atque opinionibus certiores futur • s, si tam rationi visus, quam visui ratio concineret. Demonstranda igitur oculi natura est: de qua cum plerique alii, tum Al • maeus Crotoniensis, in Physicis exercitatus, quique primus exsectionem aggredi est ausus; & Callisthenes, Aristotelis auditor; & Herophilus, multa, & praeclar • in lucem protulerunt. Out of which it is manifest that the Ancients (especially the Aristotelians; for such were Calisthenes and Herophilus) did with some curiosity examine the Phaenomena of nature, and regulated their opini • ns by sensible experiments; and that this was the practice of most of the eminent Physicians and Naturalists of old.

The Letter of Hippocrates to Damaget • s mentioned pag. 89. (though cited as genuine by Gal • n) is suspected by Io. Baptista Cartes. miscell. medic. dec. 1. c. 4. Caeterum & haec Epistola, quae sub nomine Hippocratis circumfertur, suspecta est mihi, primum quia Diogenes Laertius lib. 9. in vita Democriti scribit illum nequaquam rident • m, quanquam concedat ab Hippocrate fuis • e visitatum (non quidem ut ipsum sanaret) quo tempore jam Democritus erat decrepitus, nec amplius aptus sectioni cadaveram: nam Hippocrates 436 annos • ate Christum natus; Democritus vero 492 ita ut ita ut Democritum nativitate secutus sit Hippocrates 56 annis: & tum sive ad videndum, sive ad sanandum eum conveniret, vigesimum quintum annum attigisse verisimile videtur: cum tunc temporis Hippocrates medici famam ad • ptus. esset, quod non potera • nisi per longum temporis cur • um & varia experimenta in Medicina facta sibi comparare. — Sed probandam provectio • em Hippocratis aetatem, & majorem senectam Democriti, ejusdem Laertii testimonium extat dicentis; Ultimum, quod in vita Democriti legitur dictum, aut factum, fuisse illam cum Hippocrate collocutionem: atque annum agentem 109. ab hujus vitae Statione decessisse. I finde also that Menagius suspects those L • tters, though he confess them to be very ancient. Menag. in Diog. Laert. l. 9. p. 238. Extant • odie Hippocratis de sua ad Democritum profectione Epistolae, sed supposititiae, licet perantiquae.

Whereas I say pag. 114. that I have observed in some that their pulses have suffered no alteration, at least kept no time, or palpitated as did their hearts. I shall illustrate this with an observation in a young Lady, which I had too fatal an opportunity lately to make: she died of a very malignant Feaver joyned with the Measils: two nights before she died I watched with her, and frequently observing the variety of her pulse, I determined to minde whether there were any such alteration in the beating of the Heart, as I then observed in her Arteries:. I laid my hand upon her Breast, and I found that her heart did not beat as usually it doth, the bone erecting it self, and impelling the left side, but it seemed like a great bullet (transcending any proportion that is natural to the Heart) a • it rolled in the Thorax from the right to the left side (as much one way as the other) with an uniform and equable revolution, and thus it continued to do for an houre; during which time I observed all the varieties almost that are recorded about evil pulses: as quick, slow; great, small; unequal, deficient, dicr • tus, &c. Nor is this new; for Riolanus saith in Exam. Harvey c. 3. Notavi multoties in palpitationibus cordis vehementibus arterias non sequi motum Cordis, sed bis terve pulsare Cor pro una diastole Arteriarum: quod indicat Arterias in sanis & aegris corporibus, non semper sequi motus cordis. So doth Mercatus teach, Fit interdum palpitatio cordis nihil mutatis pulsibus. Tom. 2. de Philos. differ. l. 2. tr. 1. c. 28. & tom. 3. l. 2. c •• j.

Since the writing hereof, being casually in the shop where an old man was blooded, who upon the healing up of an old sore in his leg, was very ill: I observed his blood to have very little of what was c • im •• n in it: but it seemed all a fluid Serum to the bottom, (which was pellucid, not of a turbid white,) in some Pottingers: in one Potting • r • that ran last, it was coagulated into a thicker mass, on the top whereof was coagulated a translucid gelati •• over most of the Pott •• ger, the rest being of • 〈◊〉 Serum like to the other: • took some spirit of Vitri • k and poured a pretty quantity, ( • iz. about 20 drops) on that which was partly coagulated upwards, partly not: and all that part which was not blood, did coagulate into a mass like unto the white of an Egge when hardened by the fire, but without that sm • ll which is usual to it when coagulated u • on a gen • l • • i • e: the blood under it coagulated into a co ••• ence much l • ke wa • : but of a dark red inclining to bla • k: into another Pottinger I poured some of the salt-peter-liquor that had passed the As • es; but this latter caused no change at all: I then poured on the same some spirit of Vitriol, as in the other, and it did immediately turn lacteous, and coagulated into a mass like to that of ordinary custards: and the blood under, which seemed but very little, and scarce coagula • ed, appeared thereupon as a large quantity, equalling three parts of the Pottinger, upon which all the Serum was thus coagulated. I went to b •• n these: that blood which had only spirit of Vitriol did not crackle, and scarce burn: though a little it did: the pure coagulated Serum did not burn at all, yet crackled like decrepitating Salt, a little: that with the spirit of Vitriol and Lixivium of Ni • re, did burn with a vivid and lasting flame a long time.

I think my self obliged to adde one thing more where I speak as if Dr. Willis had had little to do in the discoveries of Dr. Lower about Anatomy: that although that great Physician had not leisure of attend the Anatomical Inquiries, yet did he propose new matter for improving the discoveries, and put Dr. Lower upon continual investigation, thereby to see if Nature and his Suppositions did accord: and although that many things • id occur beyond his apprehension, yet was the grand occasion of that work, and in much the Author. This Intelligence doth not cross what I related before from good testimony; yet I thought my self obliged to declare the whole truth, and such I beleeve this to be. I must also profess that I think the Sinus venarum vertebrales, whose invention I ascribe to Dr. Lower, may without considerable injury be ascribed unto Fallopius in his Anatomical Observations pag. 193. edit. Coloniens. 1562. in 80. Thus much I thought fitting to annex, lest the Virtuosi should censure me as partial to my old School-fellow Dr. Lower, or swayed by any regard then that of Truth.

The Hogs-blood which I last mentioned as poured upon the Mothers of Salt-peter; after it had stood above three weeks unmixed, did at last cast down about half of it self below the Mothers, it continuing in that place it turned crimson: that on the top did not change its colour, but on the surface there gathered a crust or mass, not very thick (as before) nor of so solid a coasistence.

FINIS.

To divert my Reader after so tedious a discourse, I shall here adde the Letter of Coga their Patient, that they may see how efficacious the Transfu • ion hath been on him, and what returnes he makes for his Cure.

To the Royal Society the VIRTUOSI, and all the Honourable Members of it, the Humble Address of AGNUS COGA.

YOur Creature (for he was his own man till your Experiment transform'd him into another species) amongst those many alterations he finds in his condition, which he thinks himself oblig'd to represent them, finds a decay in his purse as well as his body, and to recruit his spirits is forc't to forfeit his nerves, for so is money as well in peace as warre. 'Tis very miserable, that the want of natural heat should rob him of his artificial too: But such is his case; to repair his own ruines, (yours, because made by you) he pawns his cloaths, and dearly purchases your sheeps blood with the loss of his own wooll. In this sheepwrack't vessel of his, like that of Argos, he addresses himself to you for the Golden Fleece. For he thinks it requisite to your Honours, as perfect Metaplasts, to transform him without as well as within. If you oblige him in this, he hath more blood still at your service, provided it may be his own, that is may be the nobler sacrifice.

The meanest of your Flock, AGNUS COGA.

ERRATA.

PAge 2 Line • 1 blo • out after Euclid. p. • l. 13 read vetustissima • p. 4. 35 r. e • actisque p. • blot out the Margi • a • note p. 9 l. 14 r. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ibid l. 13 r diaceltat • st • n ib. l. 34 r. Methinks I already live in th • se • imes when the Virtuosi are as absurd as that R • mish Monk p. 13 l. 17 • cryptical p. 14 l. 22 r. Odorde p. •• • 22 r. • agdad, Fez and Cordova p. 17 l. 15 r ind • m • nstrable ibid. l. 31 r. rigorous p. 2 • l. 34 r. Savonarola •• 2 l. penult. r be very defective p. 23 • l. 3 r • Anian p. 28 in the Margin r. Spharice cavum ib. l. 29 r. none p. 29 • 19 r. and thereupon &c. in the Marg. citation ou • of Zucchius l. 9 r. vitiatas p. 30 l. • 6 r. prius p. 31 l • 2 r. Sarsuis p. 32 l 32 r. construximus l. penult. r. ali • s p. 33 l. 8 r. album ibid. l. 17 r apparentiam ibid. l. 7 • r. vi • rorum ibid. l • 31 after Telesco • iis adde a • is • nt ibid. l. ul • r. elicis p • 38 l. 15 r. in p. 39 l. 5. r. Iocantry ib. Marg. pessum i • ura p. 40 l. 3 • r. thorough three p. 41 l. 20 r. • n p. 47. l. 33 r. • ubis Margin after • rsci • blot out the • ull stop, and for p. 2 •• . r. page 234 p. 48 l. 3 • . blot out perhaps p 49. Margin r. Mushei • . ib. l. 2 • . r. most Comi • al Gentlemen p. 5 • l. 22 r. natione Graecum ib. l. 27 r. Genere ib. l. 31 for free r. ignorant ib. l. ult. r. Trallia • us p. 56 l. 25 r utrorumque p 57 l. 2 r Fre • singensis ib. l. 3 r. capiendis. p. 59 l. • 8. r 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ib. l. 20. r. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , & l. 21. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ib. l. 31 r. Minde • erus p. 60. l. 19. r. Theophrast • p 62. l. 10. r. Sandaracham ib l. 1 • . • Thamyras. ib. l. 14. r. faeces vini p 63. l. 19. r. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 p 66. l. 2 r. Cordus p. 67. l. 22. r. • cescat ib. l. 33. • . 〈◊〉 p. 69 Margin r. Billich de ferment • sect. 89 p. 67 l. • 6 r. Norica • um • Institutoriam p. 77 l. 33 r. Alemae • us p. 80 l. 32 r. versat • s p. • 4 l • 7 r. Osteologists p. 88 l. 34 quad • upedibus p. • 9 l. 3 r. tentatas ib. l. 9 • . aliter • is p 95 r. about ib. l 35 r subclavian ib. l. penul • , after equals adde him p. 9 • . l. 17 r mediately p. 93 l. antepen. • or who r. well p. 106 l. 13. r. alimentum p. 113 for indeclines • rude lines ib. l. 3 • r now p. 117 l. 8 r. the same • b. l. 13 r. about p. 122 l 1 • adde impresperous before eff • ct ib l. 19 for and r. 〈◊〉 p. 124 l. 4. for urine r. vein p. • 5. l. 20 for them r. thence ib. l. 25 r. crassament p. 153 l. 15 after a adde Man p. 154 l. 7 blot out it p. 155 l. • 7 r. In sine p. 156 l. 5 r. dominio p 159 l. 1 • r • elrio p. 160 l. 29 for or r. an ib. l. 37 r. approched p. 163 l. 6, 7, 8 • lot out which 〈◊〉 demonstrable from the variety of its declination and restitution p. 163 l. 20 r. Levity p. 167 l 23 a • ter therefore add wonder ib. l. 29 for duo r. dic • p. 168 l. 6 befo • e c were adde we ib. l 9 r. Magnenus ib. l. 15 r p •• gravata p. •• 9 l. 1 r. Marinus ib. l. 10 r. grani • p. 174 l. 30 r. vola • um l. 31 for at r et p. 174 • 2 r raillery ib. • . • r. scurrili • ib. l. 5 before Council adde Provincial p. 1. 5 l 27 r ar •• s p. 1 • 8 • l. • r. Damagetus ib. l. 2 r. Cortes ib. l. 36 r. cone p 179 l. 13 for Philes r Puls p. 178 l. ult. r. consistence.

These are most of the material Errata which I have had leisure to take notice of: th • re are several of the Ma • ginal Notes and Citations which a • e not placed opposite to the plac • s they refer unto; an understanding Reader and Adversary will easily judge thereof: and i • any man take any advantages from any probable Errata or such like • a • lu • e • as my haste or the Licensers d • sh may have occasioned, (th • ugh not taken notice of here nei • her have I ever seen all the Sheets) I know not how to help my self 〈◊〉 this Premonition avail m • not.