SOME CONSIDERATIONS touching the VSEFULNESSE Of EXPERIMENTAL Natural Philosophy,  
Proposed in Familiar Discourses to a Friend, by way of Invitation to the Study of it.  
OXFORD Printed by HEN: HALL. Printer to the University, for RIC: DAVIS. Anno Domini 1663.   

OF THE VSEFULNESSE OF Experimental Philosophy.   

The PUBLISHER to the Reader.  
IT is, Courteous Reader, part of the satire of Petronius against the Vice of his own Time. Priscis temporibus, cum adhuc nuda Virtus placeret, vigebant Artes ingenuae, summumque certamen inter homines erat, ne quid profuturum saeculis diu lateret. Democritus omnium Herbarum succos expressit, & ne lapidum virgultorumque vis lateret, aetatem inter Experimenta consumpsit. Other Examples of the like Industry he brings, and then concludes against the Laziness and Luxury of his own Age. At Nos, saith He, ne paratas quidem Artes audemus cognoscere, sed accusatores Antiquitatis vitia tantum docemus & discimus. It was for want of a Democritus or two that he casts this hard Censure upon his own Time. For, notwithstanding all his Harangue in Commendation of some Ages which were ancient to his Own, It is evident out of History, that there was never at once any great Number, who seriously and in earnest for the Benefit of Mankind applied themselves to these severe Scrutinyes of Natural Bodies. It is true that now and then, in all Centuries from the Beginning of the World, there have appeared some Persons of a Nature more refined, as if indeed (according to that Fancy of the Old Poets) some Prometheus had made them either of another Metal, or of another Temper, from the Vulgar, utterly above all Mixture with, or Embasement by the common Fashions of this World; who did make it the End of their Lives, by Severing and Mixing, Making and Marring, and multiplying Variety of Experiments on all Bodies, to discover their hidden Virtues, & so to enlarge the Power & Empire of Man. But these were ever very few and singular. Even in that so much celebrated Time of Democritus these Studies were so rare, that his usual Exercise of the Anatomy of Beasts was looked upon, as that which made the Soundness of his Mind questionable, even as a Spice of Madness in him: and probably much more might the Vulgar of his Age have been amused, had they seen him torturing Minerals and Metals in the more toilsome Anatomy of Fire.  
Now if it be a dishonourable Crimination to an Age, that it hath brought out no Persons who make it their great Endeavour Ne quid profuturum saeculis lateat: and if the Discovery of one or two persons of this Kind be enough to expiate for, and take off the Dishonour of the Proletarian Laziness and Luxury of the Rest, I think I may justly esteem that the exhibiting to the World the History of the Studies of the Honourable Author of this Piece may serve to be the Apology and Defence of our Age against such Censures as that wherewith the newly cited Satirist stained his own Time.  
And this was one great Reason that hath made me very forward to promote the Publication of This, and divers other Writings of the same Noble Author. For were there only Tokens of Endeavour in Them, the proof of This Endeavour (even without Attainment) ought to wipe off all Imputations of this nature. But this Motive (though I do account that by exhibiting this Expiation I do somewhat oblige the Age, whose Honour is thereby defended, yet) was far from being the most great and forcible. For the Excellence of the Works themselves, even as soon as they fell from the pen of the Author, did long since in all Equity set an Imprimatur on them. 
Nec sumunt aut ponunt secures  
Arbitrio popularis Aurae.  Epicurus▪ when he was casting up the account of his life, upon the very Day of his Death, mentions a very great pleasure that he even then took in two Parts of his former Studies: And these were his Rationes, and his Inventa; Points well argued, and things happily sound out. The two very same particulars are principally conspicuous in this ensuing Piece. There are good Conclusions against the Enemies of the Being and Providence of God in the First Part, and in the Second there be Notices of divers Inventa profitable to the Use of Man. By the one sound Notions are proposed to the Readers apprehension from the Contemplation of God's Creation and Government of the World, and thereby good Matter is suggested to his Affection for the Advancement of his Devotion; by the Other, the●e are divers things delivered, which may tend to enlarge Man's power of doing Good: By them, in the whole, both our Honour to God, and our Charity to our Neighbours may be assisted: in which two the Substantial part of all the most Noble, not only Human but Christian Virtues, both Speculative and Practical, are certainly contained.  
I must not omit, that an Argument of this Nature, at this Time, may justly be commended for its Seasonableness, when divers Persons, who know not the way of Experimental Philosophy, and are loath now to give themselves the trouble of learning it, have been making some attempts, very unthankfully, to traduce both It, and its Promoters.  
These Considerations passed with me for Reasons, and had upon me this force and Prevalence, that as soon as I had the Author's leave, I durst not forbear the committing of them to the Press, notwithstanding his Many arguments, which were plausible enough to the Contrary: as, namely, that much of the First Part was written when he was of so immature Years, that should I be particular concerning his Age then, to any person who hath read the Piece, the Paucity of such Instances might justly make me despair of begetting Credit to my Relation. Another Objection was, That, though his Method did of necessity lead him to it, yet it might be looked upon as unbecoming for Him to meddle with the Physician's Art, of which he never did (nor could, by reason of his Native Honour) make any Profession. But these Oppositions being raised upon points of Curiosity in Ceremony and outward Decorum, were of little weight, when the forementioned Noble Offices of Charity and doing good were in the other Scale.  
The greater Question was. Suppose them to be published, But why now? Why so soon? Should not rather the Edition have been delayed, until it might have come out together with The second Section of the second Part? (which discovers the Use that may be made of Experimental Learning, to advance the Empire of Man over other Creatures) or until the Common Preface, and some other little Tracts, all written long since, and intended to accompany this, might be revised by the Author; or at least until the Author might have had leisure to have made some more new & full Animadversions to the Receipts & Processes contained in the Appendix? The Consideration which answered this Objection was, That this Piece, as now printed alone, would make (as you see it doth) a very competent Book, which would have by itself the perfection, if not of the Whole yet of a more principal part; and of that part, which to Professors or Candidates of Learning is most desirable. And then the Author's Avocations and other Studies being so many, that we could prefix no certain time for the compliment of the mentioned remaining parts, I was loath to hazard the Preservation of These by deferring the Impression; since I know there is no Security of the continuance of those Writings which are reposed only in single, or at most in few written Copies. I remember, the Author had once lost for a good while one of these very Essays which are now here Printed, and put beyond that Danger for the future. Besides other Casual accidents, the very Contingency of Humane life, and the chance of a Man's papers after Death, (For to them the Question of King Solomon is most proper and pertinent, Who knows whether then they may happen to fall into the hands of a Wise man or a Fool?) were of force enough to persuade me to secure these, when it was in my power, unto the Common Use. Would not Printing in all probability have preserved unto Us that Universal History of Vegetables from the Cedar of ●ibanus unto the Moss that groweth upon the Wall, written by that Wise and Learned King, and the loss of which we now in vain lament? Would not Printing have saved that Excellent Book of Democritus, which he inscribed his XEIPOKMHTA or EXPERIMENTS of his own personal Trial, so utterly lost, that the Name of the piece is not mentioned among the Catalogue of his Writings in Laertius? And may not the Printing of this Piece be a means of the preservation (besides the Notional part) of divers very useful XEIPOKMHTA of the Honourable Author, who hath been ever unwearied in the Trial of all probable Experiments, that may increase the Light or advance the Profit of Mankind?  
But before I leave the Reader, I must give him this single Advertisement, that the Passages included within the Paratheses or Crotchetts, as the Press styles them, that is, between any two such Marks as these [] were inserted long since the writing of these Essays, upon the Relection of some parts of the Book before He sent it to me: Which I therefore did so distinguish, and do intimate, that there may appear no inconsistency in our Author, and the Reader may not marvel to find somethings very Recent in a Book written several Years ago. Farewell.  
RO: SHARROCK.   

The Author's ADVERTISEMENT about the following ESSAYS.  
THat the Title of the following Treatise might not raise in the Reader an Expectation of more than he will find in the Book, I think myself obliged to inform him, That, though it come not forth before, divers parts were sent to the Press in 1660, or 1661., and this present Y●ar 1663., yet the very Last Essay of it was written divers Years before. Since when those Papers were left, sometimes in the hands of Friends, and sometimes in distant places where I could not come at them: which I mention, that the Reader may neither wonder nor blame Me, if he now meet with some things in them that have already been published by others, or are more vulgarly known then my way of mentioning them implies. For it may, this notwithstanding, very well be, that when I writ them, no body had yet lighted on some of them, and that others of them did then but begin to be taken notice of. And as for the Five first Essays, which treat of The Usefulness of Natural Philosophy to the Mind of Man, though by my addressing them all the way to the Gentleman I call Pyrophilus, they may seem to have been Originally written to the same Person, and about the same time with the Essays, that make up the Second Part; yet indeed a great Portion of the First part was written, as I remember, 10 or 12 years ago, (when I was scarce above 21 or 22 years old) to another Friend, to whom the Considerations that served to confirm Piety, and excite Devotion, were far more acceptable than those that were more purely physiological: so that having, whether through laziness, or w●nt of leisure contented myself to substitute the name of Pyrophilus for that of my other Friend (who was not unwilling I should do so) in a Discourse written when I was so Young; I would not have the Reader think, that I do now so approve of all those Youthful Discourses (which I therefore suffer to pass abroad without a Name) as to think all the Tenets they proposed to be irrefragable T●uths, or all the Reasonings they contain, to be Demonstrative; & that I would at present have my Judgement estimated according to their Cogency. But yet I do without much Reluctancy comply with those Friends, who would by no means consent, that the Five first Essays of this Treatise should not come forth with the Rest; partly because not writing all things for all Readers, I hold it not unfit to publish something to gratify those, who desire with me to be both excited and assisted to admire and praise the Great and Wise Author of all things; partly because the Treatise would seem maimed and incomplete, if the latter Essays should come abroad without the Rest; and partly too because Learned Men have been pleased to assure me, that those Essays are not destitute of Notions and Ratiocinations, that are not altogether vulgar or contemptible. However those Readers, that either cannot relish, or at least desire not any thing, but what is merely physiological, may, thus advertised, pass by the former part of this Treatise, and content themselves to read over the Latter, though they who shall take the Pains to read Both, will not perhaps think their Labour lost: Since I have taken Care to leave even the former Part as little disfurnished with Experiments and useful Notions, as, the Argument considered, I conveniently coul●. And since also for the Paucity of such things in the First Part, I have endeavoured to make amends in the Second, which is almost wholly Physiological; concerning which nevertheless I shall admonish the Reader. And indeed the whole Tenets that make up the following Book, are by no means to be looked upon as Published for an accurate Treatise of the usefulness of true Physiology, but as Familiar Writings, that want only the formality of Salve and Vale to pass for Physiological and Medical Epistles; consisting of such loose Observations, as I thought might be this way preserved, and did not so properly belong to my other Writings as they seemed fitted for the use, and whereto I have applied them; namely, that being drawn up together into one Treatise, their Union might enable them to make the greater Impression, and might (somewhat at least) recommend that sort of Learning to a Beginner. And one thing that must be especially comprehended in this Admonition is, that the Particulars I have mentioned, to show of what use Chemical Experiments may be to a Physician, are not, possibly, the chiefest that even I could set down, if I were not restrained by some justifiable Considerations; especially till I see what Entertainment, the things I now venture abroad, will meet with there: Some of those I reserve, appearing such to me, that I confess I do not slight them enough to be fond of obtruding them upon the Public, if I thought they would not be welcome to it. And I do so little desire to have, what I have written, looked upon as the most that can be said, to show the Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy, that I scruple not to acknowledge there are things which incline me to suspect, that some in the world, though not particularly known to me, may have Arcana, to which most of the Processes I reserve, as well as all that is commonly known in Chemistry, may prove little more than Trifles.   
Of the USEFULNESSE of EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY, Principally as it Relates to the MIND of MAN.  

THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHY wont to be taught in most Schools, being little other than a Systeme of the Opinions of Aristotle, and some few other Writers, is not, I confess, Pyrophilus, very difficult to be Learned; as being attainable by the perusal of a few of the more Current Authors. But, Pyrophilus, that EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY, which you will find Treated of in the following Essays, is a Study, if duly prosecuted, so difficult, so chargeable, and so toilsome, that I think it requisite, before I propose any particular Subjects to your Inquiries, to possess you with a just value of true and solid physiology; and to convince you, That by endeavouring to addict you to it, I invite you not to misspend your time or trouble on a Science unable to merit and requite it. In order, Pyrophilus, to the giving you this satisfaction, Give me leave to mind you, that it was a saying of Pythagoras, worthy so celebrated a Philosopher, That there are two things which most ennoble Man, and make him resemble the Gods; To know the Truth, and To do Good. For, Pyrophilus, that Diviner part of Man, the Soul, which alone is capable of wearing the Glorious Image of its Author, being endowed with two chief Faculties, the Understanding and the Will; the former is blest and perfectionated by Knowledge, and the latter's Loveliest and most improving property is Goodness. A due Reflection upon this excellent Sentence of him to whom Philosophers owe that modest name, should, me thinks, Pyrophilus, very much endear to us the Study of Natural Philosophy. For there is no Humane Science th●t does more gratify and enrich the Understanding with variety of choice and acceptable Truths; nor scarce any that does more enable a willing mind to exercise a Goodness beneficial to others.  
To manifest these truths more distinctly, Pyrophilus, and yet without exceeding that Brevity my Avocations and the bounds of an Essay exact of me, I shall, among the numerous advantages accrueing to Men from the Study of the Book of Nature, content myself to instance only in a Couple, that relate more properly to the Improving of men's Understandings, and to mention a few of those many, by which it increases their Power.  
The two chief advantages which a real acquaintance with Nature brings to our Minds, are, First, by instructing our Understandings and gratifying our Curiosities; and next, by exciting and cherishing our Devotion.  
And for the first of these, since, as Aristotle teacheth, and was taught himself by Common Experience, all Men are Naturally desirous to Know: that Propensity cannot but be powerfully engaged to the Works of Nature, which being incessantly present to our senses, do continually solicit our Curiosities: Of whose potent inclining us to the Contemplation of Nature's Wonders, it is not perhaps the inconsiderablest Instance, That though the Natural Philosophy hitherto taught in most Schools, hath been so Litigious in its Theory, and so barren as to its Productions; yet it hath found numbers of Zealous and Learned Cultivators, whom sure nothing but men's inbred fondness for the Object it converses with, and the end it pretends to, could so passionately devote to it.  
And since that (as the same Aristotle taught by his Master Plato well observes) Admiration is the Parent of Philosophy, by engaging us to inquire into the Causes of the things at which we marvel; we cannot but be powerfully invited to the Contemplation of Nature, by living and conversing among Wonders, some of which are obvious and conspicuous enough to amaze even ordinary Beholders; and others admirable and abstruse enough to astonish the most inquisitive Spectators.  
The bare prospect of this magnificent Fabric of the Universe, furnished and adorned with such strange variety of curious and useful Creatures, would, suffice to transport us both with Wonder and Joy, if their Commonness did not hinder their Operations. Of which Truth Mr Stepkins, the famous Oculist, did not long since supply us with a memorable Instance: For (as both himself and an Illustrious Person that was present at the Cure informed me) a Maid of about Eighteen years of Age, having by a couple of Cataracts, that she brought with her into the World, lived absolutely blind from the moment of her Birth; being brought to the free Use of her Eyes, was so ravished at the surprising spectacle of so many and various Objects, as presented themselves to her unacquainted Sight, that almost every thing she saw transported her with such admiration and delight, that she was in danger to lose the eyes of her Mind by those of her Body, and expound that Mystical Arabian Proverb, which advises, To shut the Windows, that the House may be Light.  
But if the bare beholding of this admirable Structure is capable of pleasing men so highly, how much satisfaction, Pyrophilus, may it be supposed to afford to an Intelligent Spectator, who is able both to understand and to relish the admirable Architecture and skilful contrivance of it: For the Book of Nature is to an ordinary Gazer, and a Naturalist, like a rare Book of Hieroglyphics to a Child, and a Philosopher: the one is sufficiently pleased with the oddness and Variety of the Curious Pictures that adorn it; whereas the other is not only delighted with those outward objects that gratify his sense, but receives a much higher satisfaction in admiring the knowledge of the Author, and in finding out and enriching himself with those abstruse and veiled Truths dexterously hinted in them.  
Yes, Pyrophilus, as the Understanding is the highest faculty in Man, so its Pleasures are the highest he can naturally receive. And therefore I cannot much wonder that the famous Archimedes lighting in a Bath upon an Expedient to resolve a perplexing difficulty in Natural Philosophy, should leap out of the Bath, and run unclothed like a madman, crying nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I have found it, I have found it. Nor do I so much admire as deplore the fatally venturous Curiosity's of the Elder Pliny, who, as the Younger relates, could not be deterred by the formidableness of the destructive flames vomite● by V●suvius, from indevoring by their Light to read the Nature of such Vulcanian Hills; but in spite of all the dissuasions of his Friends, an● the affrighting eruptions of that hideous Place, he resolved that Flaming Won●er should rather kill him, then escape him; and thereupon approached so near that he lost his Life to satisfy his Curiosity's, and fell (if I may so speak) a Martyr to physiology. For we daily see Alchemists hazard their L●ves on Mineral Experiments in Furnaces, where though the fires are not so vast and fierce, as those that Pliny went to consider; yet the (dangerous when not pernicious) Fumes do sometimes prove as fatal.  
One would think, Pyrophilus, that the conversing with dead and stinking Carcases (that are not only hideous objects in themselves, but made more ghastly by the putting us in mind that ourselves must be such) should be not only a very melancholy, but a very hated employment. And yet, Pyrophilus, there are Anatomists who dote upon it; and I confess its Instructiveness has not only so reconciled me to it, but so enamoured me of it, that I have often spent hours much less delightfully, not only in Courts, but even in Libraries, then in tracing in those forsaken M●nsions, the inimitable Workmanship of the Omniscient Architect.  
The curious Works of famous Artificers, are wont to invite the Visits, and excite the wonder of the generality of inquisitive Persons. And I remember, that in my Travels, I have often taken no small pains to obtain the pleasure of gazing upon some Masterpiece of Art: But now, I confess, I could with more delight look upon a skilful Dissection, than the famous Clock at Strasburg. And, methinks, Aristotle discourses very Philosophically in that place, where p●ssing from the consideration of the sublimest productions of Nature, to justify his diligence in recording the more homely Circumstances of the History of Animals, he thu● discourses: R●stat (says he● ut d● animanti natura d●sseramus, 
A●ist: de Part: Aa●m: l●b. 1. c. 5.  nihil p●o viribus omitten●es v●l viliu● vel nobilius. Name & in iis quae hoc in g●nere minùs grata nostro occurrunt sensui, Natura parens & author omnium miras excitat voluptates hominibus, qui intelligunt causas & ingenuè Philosophan●ur. Absurdum enim nulla ration● p●obandum est, si imagines quid●m rerum naturalium non sine delectatione p●optereà inspectamus, quòd ingen●um contempla●ur quod illas condiderit, id est, artem pingendi aut fingendi; rerum autem ipsarum naturae ingenio miráque solertia constitutam contemplationem non magis prosequamur atque exosculemur, modo causas perspicere valeamus: It remains (saith he) that we discourse of the natures of Animals, being circumspect to omit none, either of the nobler or inferior sort: For even from those Creatures which less please our sense, does the universal Parent, Nature, afford incredible contentments to such Persons, as understand their causes, and Philophize ingenuously. Since it were absurd and inconsistent to reason, if we should behold the Portraitures of Natural things with delectation, because we observe the accuratness wherewith they are designed, namely, the skill of Painture or Sculpture; and not much more affect and pursue the contemplation of things themselves, contrived by the exquisite Artifice and Sagacity of Nature, provided we be able to understand their causes. And the better to make out to you, Pyrophilus, the delightfulness of the study of Natural Philosophy, let me observe to you, That those pleasing Truths it teacheth us, do highly gratify our intellectual Faculties, without displeasing any of them: for they are none of those Criminal Pleasures, which injured and incensed Conscience does very much allay, even in the Fruition, and turns into Torments after it. Nor are the Inquiries I am recommending of that trifling and unserviceable sort of Employments, which though Conscience condemns not as unlawful for a Christian, Reason disapproves as not worthy of a Philosopher; and wherewith to be much delighted, argues a weakness; as to be pleased with Babies and Whistles, supposes unripe and weak Intellectuals: But the contemplation of Nature, is an Employment, which both the Possessors of the sublimest Reason, and those of the severest Virtue, have not only allowed, but cultivated. The Learne● Author of the Book De Mundo, ascribed to Aristotle, begins it w●th this Elogium of Natural Philosophy: Mihi quid●m saepe (says he) divina quaedem res, Alexander, admirationeque digna visa est Philosophia; praecipuè vero in ea parte in qua sola ipsa sublime sese t●llens ad contemplandas rerum naturas, magno illic studio contendit existentem in ●is veritatem pernoscere. Philosophy (saith he) O Alexander, hath oftentimes seemed to me a Divine and Admirable Thing; but chiefly, that part of it, which aspires to contemplate the Natures of things, employing its utmost power in searching out the truth contained in them. The reasonableness of which Commendation, he handsomely enough prosecutes in the subsequent Discourse: To which I shall refer you, that I may proceed to mind you, that Pythagoras, Democritus, Plato, and divers others of those whose Wisdom made after-ages reverence Antiquity, did not only esteem the Truths of Nature worth studying for, but thought them too worth Travelling for as far as those Eastern Regions, whose Wisemen were then cried up for the best Expositors of the obscure Book of Nature. And that severe Teacher, and persuasive Recommender of the strictest Virtue, Seneca (whose eminent Wisdom made him invited to govern Him that was to govern the World, and who so often and so excellently presses the husbanding of our time) does not only in several Passages of his Writings praise a contemplation of Nature, but Writes himself seven Books of Natural Questions, and addresses them to that very Lucilius, whom in his Epistles he takes such pains to make completely Virtuous; and in his Preface, after he had said according to his manner, loftily, Equidem tunc Naturae rerum gratias ago, cum illam non ab hac parte video, quae publi●a est, 
Seneca in P●aes. lib. I. Nat: Quaest  sed cum secretiora ejus intravi, cum disco quae Universi Materia sit, quis Author, aut Custos, etc. Then do I pay my acknowledgements to Nature, when I behold her not on the outside, which is obvious to public view, but am entered into her more secret Recesses; when I understand what the Matter of the Universe is, who its Author, and Preserver, etc. He concludes in the same strain, Nisi ad haec admitterer, non fuerat operae pretium nasci: Haddit I been debarred from these things, it would not have been worth coming into the World. And to add what he excellently says in another Treatise, Ad haec quaerenda natus (says he, having spoken of Inquiries concerning the Universe) aestima quam non multùm acceperit temporis, etiam si illud totum sibi vindicet, cui licet nihil facilitate eripi, nihil negligentia patiatur excidere; licet horas suas avarissime servet, & usque in ultimae aetatis humanae terminos procedat, nec quicquid illi ex eo quod Natura constituit fortuna concutiat; tamen homo ad immortalium cognitionem nimis mortalis est. Ergo secundum Naturam vivo, si totum me illi dedi, si illius Admirator Cultorque sum. Natura autem utrumque facere me voluit & agere, & contemplationi vacare. Being born designedly for searching out these things, 
Sen: de Otio Sa●. c. 32.  consider that the portion of time allotted to Man, is not great, if this study should engross it all; since though he should preserve his hours with the greatest frugality all his life-time, not suffering any to be stolen from him, or slide away negligently, and never be disturbed by Accidents of Fortune in th● Employment Nature has appointed him, yet is he too Mortal to attain the knowledge of Immortal Things. Wherefore, I live agreeably to Nature, when I give up myself wholly to Her, and am Her Admirer and Adorer. Moreover, Nature hath designed me to act, and employ myself in Contemplation. How far Religion is from dis-approving the Study of Physiology, I shall have occasion to manifest ere long, when we shall come to show, That it is an act of Piety to offer up for the Creatures the Sacrifice of Praise to the Creator; For, as anciently among the Jews, by virtue of an Aaronical Extraction, Men were born with a Right to Priesthood; so Reason is a Natural Dignity, and Knowledge a Prerogative, that can confer a Priesthood without Unction or Imposition of Hands. And as for Reason, that is so far from making us judge that Employment unworthy of Rational Creatures, that those Philosophers (as Aristotle, Epicurus, Democritus, etc.) that have improved Reason to the greatest height, have the most seriously and industriously employed it to investigate the Truths, and promote the study of Natural Philosophy.  
And indeed, that noble Faculty called Reason, being conscious of the great progress it may enable us to make in the knowledge of Nature's Mysteries, if it were industriously employed in the study of them, cannot, but like a great Commander, think itself disobliged by not being considerably employed. And certainly we are wanting to ourselves, and are guilty of little less than our own Degradation, that being by God's peculiar vouchsafement, endowed with those noble Faculties of Understanding, and Discoursing, and placed amidst a numberless variety of Objects, that incessantly invite our Contemplations, can content ourselves to behold so many Instructive Creatures which make up this vast Universe, whose noblest Part we are designed to be, with no more, or but little more discerning Eyes then those less favoured Animals, to whom Nature hath denied the Prerogative of Reason, as we deny ourselves the use of it. Aristotle well observes, that among Animals, Man alone is of an erected Stature; and adds, That it is because his Nature hath something in it of Divine: Officium autem Divini (infers he) est intelligere atque Sapere: 
De Part. Anim. lib. 4. c. 1●.  The Qualifications of a Divine Being, are Understanding and Wisdom. And it cannot but misbecome the dignity of such a Creature to live Ignorant or Unstudious of the Laws and Constitutions of that great Commonwealth (as divers of the Ancients have not improperly styled the World) whereof he is the eminentest part: And were we not lulled asleep by Custom or Sensuality, it could not but Trouble, as well as it Injures a reasonable Soul to Ignore the Structure and Contrivance of that admirably Organised Body in which she lives, and to whose intervention she owes the Knowledge she hath of other Creatures.  
'Tis true indeed, that even the generality of Men, without making it their design, know somewhat more of the Works of Nature, than Creatures destitute of Reason can, by the advantage of that Superior Faculty, which cannot but even unurged, and of its own accord make some, though but slight, reflections on the Information of the Senses: But if those Impressions be only received and not improved, but rather neglected; and if we (contenting ourselves with the superficial account given us of things by their obvious Appearances and Qualities) are beholding for that we know, to our Nature, not our Industry, we faultily lose both one of the noblest Employments, and one of the highest Satisfactions of our rational Faculty: And he that is this way wanting to himself, seems to live in this magnificent Structure, called the Universe, not unlike a Spider in a Palace; who taking notice only of those Objects that obtrude themselves upon her Senses, lives ignorant of all the other Rooms of the House, save that wherein she lurks, and discerning nothing either of the Architecture of the stately Building, or of the Proportion of the Parts of it in relation to each other, and to the entire Structure, makes it her whole business, by intrapping of Flies to continue an useless Life; or exercise herself to spin Cobwebs, which though consisting of very subtle Threads, are unserviceable for any other than her own trifling uses. And that the contemplation of the World, especially the higher Region of it, was designed for Man's Employment by Nature's Self, even the Heathen Poet (perhaps instructed by Aristotle) could observe, who Sings, 

Pronaque cum spectent Animalia caetera terram,  
Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri  
Jussit, & erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.   

Wise Nature, framing Brutes with downward looks,  
Man with a lofty Aspect did endue,  
And bade him Heaven with its bright Glories view.   I might annex, Pyrophilus, the Story Josephus tells us in the beginning of his Jewish Antiquities, that 'twas the holy Seth and his Posterity (who are in Genesis styled the Sons of God) that were the Inventors of Astronomy, whose more Fundamental Observations (to perpetuate them to Mankind, and sever them from the foretold destructions by Fire and Water) they engraved upon two Pillars, the one of Brick, the other of Stone; the latter of which our Historian reports to have been extant in Syria in his time. And it is an almost uncontrolled tradition, that the Patriarch, whom God vouchsafes to style his Friend, 
Isaiah 41. ●. james 11.23.  was the first Teacher of Astronomy and Philosophy to the Egyptians, from whom, long afterwards, the Grecians learned them. Berosus himself records him to have been skilled in the Science of the Stars, as he is cited by Josephus, (Ant. lib. 1. c. 8.) who a little after speaking of Abraham and the Egyptians, expressly affirms, that Numerorum scientiam & sid●rum benignè illis communicavit: Nam ante Abrahami ad se adventum, Aegyptii rudes erant hujusmodi disciplinarum; quae à Chaldeis ad Aegyptios profectae, hinc ad Graecos tandem pervenerunt.  
But, Pyrophilus, to put it out of question that the sublimest reason needs not make the Possessor of it think the study of physiology an Employment below him, that Unequalled Solomon, who was pronounced the Wisest of men by their omniscient Author, did not only Justify the Study of Natural Philosophy by addicting himself to it, but ennobled it by teaching it, and purposely composing of it those matchless Records of Nature, from which I remember some Jewish Authors relate Aristotle to have borrowed divers; which (if it be true) may well be supposed to be the choicest pieces that adorned his Philosophy, and which Providence perhaps deprived the World of, upon such a score as it did the Jews of the Body of Moses, lest men should Idolise it; or as some Rabbis are pleased to inform us, lest vicious men should venture upon all kinds of Intemperance, out of Confidence of finding out by the help of those excellent Writings the Cure of all the Distempers their dissoluteness should produce.  
And, Pyrophilus, yet a little further to discover to you, the Delightfulness of the Contemplations of Nature's works, Give me leave to mind you of their almost unimaginable Variety, as of a Property, that should methinks not faintly recommend Natural Philosophy, to curious and active Intellectuals.  
For most other Sciences, at least as they are wont to be taught, are so narrow and so circumscribed, that he who has read one of the best and recentest Systems of them, shall find little in the other Books published on those subjects, but disguised repetitions; and a diligent Scholar may in no long time learn as much as the Professors themselves can teach him. But the objects of Natural Philosophy, being as many as the Laws and Works of Nature are, so various and so numberless, that if a Man had the Age of Methuselah to spend, he might sooner want time then matter, for his Contemplations: And so pregnant is each of that vast multitude of Creatures, that make up the Naturalists Theme, with useful matter to employ men's study, that I dare say, that the whole life of a Philosopher spent in that alone, would be too short to give a full and perfect account of the Natural Properties and Uses of any one of several Minerals, Plants, or Animals, that I could name. 'Tis an almost incredible variety of Vegetables, that the teeming Earth, impregnated by Gods Producat Terra, does in several Regions produce. Botanists have a pretty while since, reckoned up near 6000 Subjects of the Vegetable Kingdom; since when, divers other not-described Plants have been observed by Herbarists; the chief of which will, I hope, be shortly communicated to the World, by that Curious and Diligent Botanist my Industrious Acquaintance, Dr. How, to whom I not long since presented a peculiar and excellent kind of Pepper, whose Shell tastes not unlike Cinnamon, and smells so like Cloves, that with the Odour I have deceived many, which he confessed to be new even to him; it having been lately gathered in Jamaica (where it abounds) and presented me by the inquisitive Commander of the English Forces there. And yet, Pyrophilus, this great variety of Simples could not deter either Ancient or Modern Inquirers from Writing entire Treatises of some particular Ones. So Pliny tells us, 
a Pli●. lib. 25▪ cap. 8.  That Themison the Physician published a Volume (for so he called it) of that vulgar and despised Herb called Plantain: So the same 
b Id. lib. 18. cap. 26.  Author tells us, That Amphilochus▪ writ a Volume De Medica Herba, & Cytisa; and King 
c Id: lib. 25. cap. 7.  Juba another, of a sort of Nymphaea by him found on Mount Atlas. And in our Times, not to mention those many Books that have been written by Physicians, Of the Structure of Man's Body, and De Usu Partium: Carolus Rosenbergius writ some Years since an entire Book of Roses, which he calls his Rhodologia: Martinus Blochwitius since published another Book of Elder, under the Title of Anatomia Sambuci. Among the Chemists, Angelus Sala published in distinct Treatises, his Vitriologia, Tartarologia, Saccharologia: Untzerus also writ peculiar Tracts, De Mercurio, De Sulphur, De Sale. And Paracelsus himself vouchsafed distinct Treatises to Hypericon, Persicaria, Helleborus, and some other particular Plants. Basilius Valentinus (one of the most Knowing and Candid Chemical Writers) published long since an excellent Treatise of Antimony, inscribed Currus Triumphalis Antimonii; but though in his other he hath also taught us divers other things concerning it, yet he left so much undiscovered in Antimony, that Angelus Sala was thereby emboldened to publish his Anatomia Antimonii. And Hamerus Poppius (if that be his true name) Johannis Tholdius, and the experienced Alexander van Suchten, thought fit to write entire Treatises of that same Mineral; by which if they seem to Eclipse the diligence of Basilius, at least they bore witness to his Judgement: for modestly inviting his Readers to make further inquiries into the Nature and Preparations of that abstruse Mineral, He gives this account of his leaving many things unmentioned, That the shortness of Life makes it impossible for one man throughly to learn Antimony, in which every day something of new is discovered. And I remember, that having lately given a Chemist, upon his request, some Directions for drawing, not an imaginary Mercury of Antimony, as those which are wont to be taught by Chemists, but a real fluid Quicksilver; he some days since brought me about an Ounce of it (which you may command when you please) as the first Fruits of Directions, differing enough from those which I have hitherto met with in Authors A peculiar way likewise of separating from Antimony, not such a Substance as those which are as improperly as vulgarly called Antimonial Sulphurs, but a really combustible Body, which looks and burns so like common Brimstone, that it is not easily distinguishable from it, we shall elsewhere, God willing, Pyrophilus, teach you. And I remember, that whereas according to the way mentioned by Basilius in his Currus Triumphalis, and both generally transcribed by Authors, and formerly practised by ourselves, the Tincture of the Gl●ss of Antimony is very tedious to make, being to be drawn with Spirit of Vinegar, I once made a Menstruum to draw it more expeditiously, which having not hither to met with in any of the Authors I have read, I shall not conceal from you: Taking then an arbitrary quantity of the best French Verdegreece, and distilling it orderly in a strong naked Fire, I found the extorted Liquor to extract (even in an ordinary digesting heat) from powdered Antimonial Glass, a Blood-red Tincture in three or four hours; and my curiosity leading me to abstract the Menstruum from the ting Powder, and put it again upon pulverised Glass, I found it again highly Tincted in a very few hours. And prosecuting the Experiment, I found that by drawing off the Menstruum, and ●igesting Spirit of Wine upon the remaining Calx, I could soon obtain a red Tincture, or Solution, From which some Chemists, if I should tell them what I have now told you, would perhaps expect no ordinary Medicine. But this, I suppose, you will think less strange, then that with a Liquor easily separated, by a way which I may elsewhere teach you, from an obvious Vegetable, of which you may safely eat a whole Pound at a time, I have drawn a deep red Tincture, even from crude Antimony, and th●t in not many hours, and without heat.  
And to these Experiments of Antimony, I might (partly from the communication of my Friends, and partly from some trials of my own) add divers other undivulged Experiments relating to that Mineral; if it were not now more seasonable, reserving them for other Papers, to mind you, That the Learned Kircherus hath enriched us with a great Volume in Folio, of Light and Shadows; and another in Quarto, of the Load stone: and yet none of these have so exhausted the Subjects they have treated of, but that an after-Enquirer may be able to recruit their Observations with many new ones, perhaps more numerous or more considerable than the former: As after our Learned Countryman Gilbertus had written a Volume of the Loadstone, the Jesuit Cabeus was not by that deterred from writing another of the same Subject: And though since Cabeus, the Ingenious Kircherus have so largely prosecuted it in his Voluminous Ars Magnetica, yet he has not reaped his Field so clean, but that a careful Gleaner may still find Ears enough to make some Sheaves. And what I have lately tried or seen, makes me think it very possible to recruit those many of Kircherus, with some further Magnetical Experiments unmentioned in his Book. And I have, the very day I writ this, made in that admirable Stone a not-inconsiderable Experiment, not extant (that I remember) there: For taking an oblong Loadstone, and heating it red-hot, I found the attractive Faculty in not many minutes, either altogether abolished, or at least so impaired and weakened, that I was scarce, if at all, able to discern it. But this hath been observed, though not so faithfully related, by more than one; wherefore I shall add, That by refrigerating this red-hot Loadstone either North or South, I found that I could give its Extremes a Polarity (if I may so speak) which they would readily display upon an excited Needle freely placed in Aequilibrium: And not only so, but I could by refrigerating the same ●nd sometime North & sometime South, in a very short time change the Poles of the Loadstone at pleasure, making that which was a quarter of an hour before the North-pole, become the South; and on the contrary, the formerly Southern Pole become the Northern: And this change was wrought on the Loadstone, not only by cooling it directly North and South, but by cooling it perpendicularly; that end of it which was contiguous to the Ground, growing the Northern Pole, and so (according to the Laws Magnetical) drawing to it the South en● of the Needle; and that which was remotest from it, the contrary one: As if indeed the Terrestrial Globe, were, as some Magnetic Philosophers have supposed it, but a Great Magnes, since its Effluviums are able, in some Cases, to impart a Magnetic Faculty to the Loadstone itself. Some other Experiments of this nature, not extant in Kircherus, we may have elsewhere fit opportunity to mention. And indeed, that Enigmatical Mineral (if I may so call it) the Loadstone, is a subject so fertile in Rarities, that I hear, he himself is Reprinting that accurate Treatise, with new and large Additions.  
Nor are the smallest and most despicable productions of Nature so barren, but that they are capable both to invite our Speculations, and to recompense them. Pliny in the eleventh Book of his Natural History, where he treats of Infects, is a little after the entrance, transported with an unwonted admiration of the Workmanship of Nature in them: Nusquam alibi (says he) spectatiore Naturae rerum artificio: In nothing elsewhere (saith he) is the workmanship of Nature more remarkable then in the contexture of these little Creatures. And after a Wonder, not unworthy a Philosopher, he concludes, Rerum Natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota est: Nature in her whole Power is never more wholly seen then in her smallest Works. To which Epiphonema he adds this Sober and Philosophical Admonition, Quapropter, quaeso ne haec legentes, quoniam ex his spernunt multa, etiam relata fastidio damnent, cum in contemplatione Naturae nihil possit videri supervacaneum: Wherefore I would request the Perusers of these Discourses, that although the subjects we treat of are contemptible in their eyes, they would not therefore disdain the relations we shall make of them; since nothing ought to seem superfluous in the contemplation of Nature. I remember that it is from the consideration of so despicable a part as the skin of the Sole of the Foot, that Galen takes occasion to magnify the Wisdom of God in those excellent terms that we shall have occasion to mention hereafter. And, as he says rarely well, though some Creatures seem made of much courser Stuff than others, yet even in the vilest the Makers Art Shines through the despicableness of the Matter. For Idiots admire in things the Beauty of their Materials, but Artists that of the Workmanship: To which, after a great deal of Philosophical Discourse, he adds, N●que oculo nec cerebro deterius est pes constructus, si utraque pa●s ad actiones, cujus gratia fuit facta, se habeat optimè; neque cerebrum sine pede se probe haberet, neque pes sine cerebro: Eget enim, opinor, illud vehiculo, hic autem sensu: Nor is the Foot worse contrived than the Brain or Eye, provided each part be duly disposed for performance of the actions to which it was designed: Since the Brain could not conveniently want the Foot, nor the Foot the Brain: For, I conceive, that one stands in need of a support for local motion, and the other of a source from whence to derive the faculties of Feeling. To which we may annex that Judicious reasoning of Aristotle, who descending from the Contemplation of the sublimer Works of Nature, to treat of the Parts of Animals, thus endeavours to keep his Readers from thinking that the Object of it must render that Enquiry despicable: Restat (says he) ut de animante Natura disseramus: And having set down those Words which you have not long since read in connection to these, he thus prosecutes his Discourse: Quamobrem, viliorum animalium disputationem perpensionemque fastidio quod am puerili sprevisse, molesteque tulisse dignum nequaquam est: Cum nullares sit Naturae, inqua non mirandum aliquod habeatur. Et quod Heraclitum ferunt dixisse ad eos, quicum alloqui eum vellent, quòd fortè in Casa furnaria quadam caloris gratia sedentem vidissent, accedere temperarunt, ingredi enim eos fidenter jussit, Quoniam, inquit, ne huic quidem loco Dit desunt immortales; Hoc idem in indaganda quoque natura animantium faciendum est. Aggredi enim quaeque sine ullo pudore debemus; cum in omnibus Naturae numen, & honestum pulchrúmque insit Ingenium; Wherefore it is altogether unseemly to reject with a kind of Childish nicety, or be offended at the Discourse and Speculation of inferior Animals; Since there is nothing in all Nature, but contains in it somewhat worthy of Admiration. And as it is recorded of Heraclitus, that seeing some persons desirous to speak with him, refuse to approach towards him, because they beheld him warming himself in a miserable Cottage, he bade them come in without scruple, since here also (said he) are the Immortal Gods present: So in like manner ought we to be highly persuaded of the Dignity of Animals, when we make Enquirtes into their Natures. Which we ought in no wise to be ashamed of; since the mighty Power and laudable Wisdom of Nature is conspicuous in all things. Nay Paracelsus himself, as haughty as he was, was Philosopher enough not to disdain to write a Book De Mysteriis Vermium; wherein, though according to His manner he have set down many extravagances, he is more Candid in the Delivery of several Remedies (which Experience hath recently taught us to be more effectual than probable) then in most other of his Writings: And in that Treatise he justly reprehends the Laziness and Pride of those Physicians, who not only neglect and scorn Inquiries of Nature themselves: but when the fruits of such Inquiries are presented them by others, instead of a grateful acceptance, receive them with contempt and derision. To which a while after he adds, what is most true, That God hath Created nothing so Vile, Despicable, Abject, or Filthy in the World, that may not make for the Health and Use of Man. And certainly what ever God himself has been pleased to think worthy his Making, its Fellow-creature, Man, should not think unworthy of his Knowing. Nor is it a disparagement to a Humane Notion, to represent a Creature, which has the Honour to have been framed according to a Divine Idea: and therefore the Wisest of Men in His Natural History, scruples not to write as well of abject Reptil's, as of Lions, Eagles, Elephants, and other Noble Animals: and did not only Treat of the tall Cedars of Lebanon, but that despicable Plant (whatever it be that is designed by the Hebrew Ezob) which grows out of the Wall. For my part, If I durst think my Actions fit to be Examples, I should tell you, that I have been so far from that effeminate squeamishness, that one of the Philosophical Treatises, for which I have been gathering Experiments, is of the Nature and Use of Dungs. And though my condition does (God be praised) ennable me to make Experiments by others Hands; Yet have I not been so nice as to decline dissecting Dogs, Wolves, Fishes, and even Rats and Mice, with my own Hands. Nor when I am in my Laboratory do I scruple with them naked to handle Lute and Charcoal.  
I should here, Py●ophilus, cease to entertain you with Discourses of the pleasantness of Natural Philosophy, but that I remember I have not yet told you, that the Study of physiology is not only Delightful, as it teaches us to Know Nature, but also as it teaches us in many Cases to Master and Command her. For the true Naturalist (as we shall see hereafter) does not only Know many things, which other men Ignore, but can Perform many things that other men cannot Do; being ennabled by his skill not barely to understand several Wonders of Nature, but also partly to imitate, and partly to multiply and improve them. And how Naturally we affect the Exercise of this Power over the Creatures may appear in the Delight Children take to do many things (which we may have occasion to mention elsewhere) that seem to proceed from an Innate Propensity to please themselves in imitating or changing the Productions of Nature.  
And sure 'tis a great Honour that the Indulgent Creator vouchsafes to Naturalists, that though he gives them not the power to produce one Atom of Matter, yet he allows them the power to introduce so many Forms (which Philosophers teach to be nobler than Matter) and work such changes among the Creatures, that if Adam were now alive, and should Survey that great Variety of Man's Productions, that is to be found in the shops of Artificers, the Laboratories of Chemists, and other well-furnished Magazine● of Art, he would admire to see what a new world, as it were, or set of Things has been added to the Primitive Creatures by the Industry of His Posterity.  
And though it be very true, that Man is but the Minister of Nature, and can but duly apply Agents to Patients (The rest of the Work being done by the applied Bodies themselves) yet by His skill in making those Applications, he is able to perform such things as do not only give him a Power to Master Creatures otherwise much stronger than himself; but may ennable one man to do such wonders, as another man shall think he cannot sufficiently admire. As the poor Indians looked upon the Spaniards as more than Men, because the knowledge they had of the Properties of Nitre, Sulphur and Charcoal duly mixed, ennabled them to Thunder and Lighten so fatally, when they pleased. And this Empire of Man, as a Naturalist, over the Creatures, may perchance be to a Philosophical Soul preserved by reason untainted with Vulgar Opinions, of a much more satisfactory kind of Power or Sovereignty then that for which ambitious Mortals are wont so bloodily to contend. For oftentimes this Latter, being commonly but the Gift of Nature or Present of Fortune, and but too often the Acquist of Crimes, does no more argue any true worth or noble superiority in the possessor of it, than it argues one Brass Counter to be of a better Metal than its Fellows, in that it is chosen out to stand in the Account for many Thousand Pounds more than any of them. Whereas the Dominion that physiology gives the Prosperous Studier of it (besides that it is wont to be innocently acquired, by being the Effect of his Knowledge) is a Power that becomes Man as Man. And to an ingenious spirit, the Wonders he performs bring perchance a higher satisfaction, as they are Proofs of his Knowledge, then as they are Productions of his Power, or even bring Accessions to his Store.   

ESSAY II. OF THE SAME.  
THe next Advantage, Pyrophilus, that we mentioned the Knowledge of Nature to bring to the Minds of Men, is, That it therein excites and cherishes Devotion; Which when I say, Pyroph. I forget not that there are several Divines (and some of them Eminent ones) that out of a Holy Jealousy (as they think) for Religion, labour to deter men from addicting themselves to serious and thorough Inquiries into Nature, as from a Study unsafe for a Christian, and likely to end in Atheism, by making it possible for Men (that I may propose to you their Objection as much to its Advantage as I can) to give themselves such an Account of all the Wonders of Nature, by the single Knowledge of Second Causes, as may bring them to disbelieve the Necessity of a First. And certainly, Pyrophilus, if this Apprehension were well grounded, I should think the threatened Evil so considerable, that instead of inviting you to the Study of Natural Philosophy, I should very earnestly Labour to Dissuade you from it. For I, that had much rather have Men not Philosophers then not Christians, should be better content to see you ignore the Mysteries of Nature than deny the Author of it. But though the Zeal of their Intentions keep Me from harbouring any unfavourable Opinion of the Persons of these Men, yet the Prejudice that might redound from their Doctrine (if generally received) both to the Glory of God from the Creatures, and to the Empire of Man over them, forbids Me to leave their Opinion unanswered; though I am Sorry that the Necessity of Vindicating the Study I recommend to You from so Heinous a Crime as they have accused it of, will compel me to Theologize in a Philosophical Discourse: Which that I may do, with as much Brevity as the Weight and Exigency of my Subject will permit, I shall Content myself only in the Explication of my own Thoughts, to hint to you the grounds of Answering what is alleged against them.  
And First, Pyrophilus, I must premise, That though it may be a Presumption in Man, (who to use a Scripture Expression, Is but of Yesterday, and knows Nothing, because his Days upon the Earth are but as a shadow) precisely and peremptorily to define all the Ends and Aims of the Omniscient God in His Great Work of the Creation; Yet, 
Job 8.9.  perhaps, it will be no great venture to suppose that at least in the Creating of the Sublunary World, and the more Conspicuous Stars, two of God's Principal Ends were, the Manifestation of His own Glory, and the Good of Men. 
Prov. 16.4.  For the First of these; The Lord hath made all things for himself, says the Preacher; For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, says the Apostle. And, Thou hast Created all things; and for Thy Pleasure they are and were Created, 
Rom. 11.36.  say the Twenty four Prostrate Elders (Representatives, perhaps, of the whole Church of both Testaments, propagated by the Twelve Patriarches, and the like number of Apostles) to their Creator, which Truth, were it requisite, might be further confirmed by several other Texts, which to decline needless prolixity, I here forbear to insist on. Consonantly to this we hear the Psalmist Proclaiming that The Heavens Declare the Glory of God, and the Firmament showeth his Handiworks. To which purpose we may also observe, 
Psal. 19.1.  that though Man were not Created till the close of the sixth Day (the Residents Arrival being Obligingly Suspended till the Palace was made ready to entertain Him) yet that none of God's works might want Intelligent Spectators and Admirers, the Angels were Created the First Day, as Divines generally infer from the Words of God in Job; Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth? and a little after; When the Morning Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy. 
Job 3●. 5, 7.  Where by the Morning Stars and Sons of God are supposed to be meant the newly Created Angels; one of whose earliest exercises was, it seems, to applaud the Creation, and take thence occasion to sing Hymns to the Almighty Author of it. I should not, Pyrophilus, add any thing further on this subject, but that having since the writing of these thoughts met with a Discourse of Seneca's, very consonant to some of them, I suppose it may tend to your delight as well as to their advantage, if I present you some of the Truths you have seen in my courser Languag, dressed up in his finer and happier Expressions. Curiosum nobis (saith he) natura ingenium dedit, & artis sibi pulchritudinísque conscia, spectatores nos tantis rerum spectaculis genuit, 
Sen. de Otio Sap. Cap. 32.  perditura fructum sui, si tam magna, tam clara tam subtiliter ducta, tam nitida & non uno genere formosa solitudini ostenderet; Ut scias illam spectari voluisse, non tantum aspici, vide quem locum nobis dedit; nec erexit tantummodo hominem, sed etiam ad contemplationem Viae facturum; ut ab ortu sidera in occasum labentia prosequi posset & vultum suum circumferre cum toto, Sublime illi fecit caput, & collo flexibili imposuit. Deinde sena per diem, sena per noctem signa produxit; nullam non partem sui explicuit, ut per haec quae obtulerat ejus oculis cupiditatem faceret etiam caeterorum: nec enim omnia nec tanta visimus quanta sunt, sed acies nostra aperit sibi investigando viam, & fundamenta veri jacit, ut inquisitio transeat ex apertis in obscura, & aliquid ipso Mundo inveniat Antiquius. And lest you might be offended at his mentioning of Nature, and silence of God, give me leave to inform you, that about the close of the Chapter immediately preceding that, whence the Passage you come from Reading is transcribed, having spoken of the Inquiries of Philosophers into the Nature of the Universe, he adds, Haec qui contemplatur, quid Deo praestat? ne tanta ejus Opera sine teste sint.  
And to proceed to that which we have formerly assigned for the Second End of the Creation; That much of this Visible World was made for the use of M●n, may appear, not only from the time of his Creation (already taken notice of) and by the Commission given to the first Progenitors of Mankind, to replenish the Earth, and subdue it, and to have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea, and over the Fouls of the Air, and over all the Earth, and over every living thing that creepeth or moveth on the Earth: 
Gen. 1. 2●, 29.  But also by God's making those noble and vast Luminaries, and other Bodies that adorned the Sky to give light upon the Earth, though inferior to them in Dimensions, and to divide between the Day and between the Night, and to be for Signs, and for Seasons, and for Days, and for Years. 
Gen. 1.14, 1●, 16.  To this agrees that Passage in the Prophet, Thus saith the Lord that Created the Heavens, God himself that formed the Earth, and made it, He hath established it, He Created it not in Vain, He form it to be Inhabited, etc. And the Inspired Poet speaks of Man's Dignity in very comprehensive Terms, 
Is. 45. 2●.  For thou (says he to his Maker) hast made him little lower than the Angels, and hast Crowned him with Glory and Honour; 
Psa●. 5. ●, 6.  Thou madest him to have Dominion over the Works of thy Hands, thou hast put all things under his Feet.  
The same truth may be confirmed by divers other Texts, which it might here prove tedious to insist on. 
G●n. 2.28, 26, 29. Ps●● 8 7. Heb 2 7. job 5 3. Ho. 2.28, 21, 22. Rom. 8 28. 2 Cor 3.22. 2 Tim. 4 3.  And therefore I shall rather observe, that consonantly thereunto, God was pleased to consider man so much more than the Creatures made for him, that he made the Sun itself at one time to stand still, and at another time to go back, and divers times made the parts of the Universe forget their Nature, or Act contrary to it; And has (in sum) vouchsafed to alter by Miracles the Course of Nature, for the instruction or relief of Man (As when the Fire suspended its destructive Operation, whilst the three resolute Jews with their Protector walked unharmed in the midst of those flames that destroyed the Kindlers; 
2 King, 6.5, 6.  and as the heavy Iron emerged up to the swimming piece of wood, miraculously by Elisha made Magnetical.) And you may also, Pyrophilus, take notice, that when Adam had transgressed, immediately the ground was cursed for his sake. And as it is not unusual in Humane Justice to raze the very houses of Regicides and resembling Traitors; So when the provocations of Sodom swelled high enough to reach Heaven, God did not only Destroy the Inhabitants from the Face of the Earth, but for the Inhabitants Sins destroyed the very Face of the Earth. So when in Noah's time a Deluge of Impiety called for a Deluge of Waters, God looking upon the living Creatures as made for the Use of Man, stuck not to Destroy them with him, and for him; but involved in his Ruin all those Animals that were not necessary to the perpetuation of the Species, and the Sacrifice due for Noah's preservation. And so when (in the Last days) the Earth shall be replenished with those Scoffers mentioned by St Peter, who will walk after their own Lusts, 
2 Pet. 3.3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.  and deride the Expectation of God's foretold coming to Judge and Punish the Ungodly, their Impiety shall be as well punished as silenced by the unexpected Flames (perhaps hastened by that very impiety) that shall either Destroy or Transfigure the World. For as by the Law of Moses, 
Leu. 13.54, 55.  the Leprous Garment which could not be recovered by being washed in Water, was to be burnt in the Fire, so the World which the Deluge could not Cleanse, a general Conflagration must Destroy.  
Nor is reason itself backward to countenance what we teach. For it is no great presumption to conceive, that the rest of the Creatures were made for Man, since He alone of the Visible World is able to enjoy, use, and relish m●ny of the other Creatures, and to discern the Omniscience, Almightiness and Goodness of their Author in them, and return Him praises for them. 'Tis not for themselves that the Rubies fl●me, other Jewels sparkle, the Bezar-stone is Antidot●●l; n●r is it for their own advantage that fruitful trees spend ●nd exhaust themselves in Annual profusions. The Light which he diffuses through the World is useless to the Sun himself, whose inanimate being makes him incapable of delighting in his own splendour; which he receives but to convey it to the Earth, and other by him illuminated Globes: whence probably the Hebrews called him Shemesh, which Grammarians derive from the Root Shemash signifying in the Chaldean Tongue, to serve, or minister to; the Sun being the great Minister of Nature, and Servant general of the Universe. And as Animals alone among the Creatures seem to have a proper sense of, and complacency in, their own Being; So Man alone among Animals is endowed with Reason, at least such a pitch of it, as by which he can discern God's Creatures to be the Gifts of God, and refer them to their Creator's Glory. This truth I find not only embraced by Christians, but assented to even by Jews and Heathens; Among the Jews my Learned Acquaintance, Manasseh Ben Israel, 
I● P●obl. de Create.  professedly labours to prove it by Scripture and Tradition (though in some of his Arguments he might appear more a Philosopher, if he would have appeared less a Rabbi) and among other passages I remember he alleges that, wherein the Wise man says (as our Translators English it) That the Righteous is an everlasting Foundation; which he renders, Justus est columna Mundi, 
Prov. 10.25. Gen. 6.9.  The Just Man is the Pillar of the World. And indeed if the Context did not somewhat disfavour the Interpretation, the Hebrew words [tzaddîk yesôd olâm] would well enough bear the sense assigned them. Congruously whereunto, I remember that when Noah (who is called in Scripture a Righteous man, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Herald, or Proclaimer of Righteousness) offered up that noble Sacrifice of all the sorts of clean Beasts and Fowls, as a Thank-offering for the Reprieve of the World, God is said to have smelled a Savour of Rest, 
2 P●t. 2.15.  and to have resolved in his Heart never to Curse the ground for Man's sake, 
Gen. 8.21, 22.  but to continue the vicissitudes of Summer, and Winter, Day, and Night, &c, as long as the Earth shall remain. And among the Philosophers themselves, the Truth we are now manifesting, has not been altogether ignored. For though Seneca somewhere, more wittily then truly, says, Non causa mundo sumus hyemem aestatémque referendi; 
2 do De Ira cap. 27.  suas ista leges habent, quibus divina exercentur. Nimis nos suspicimus, si digni nobis videmur, propter quos tanta moveantur: Yet Lactantius (not to mention other Authors) tells us that the Stoics generally believed the World to have been made for man. 
De Ira Dei cap. 13.  Vera est (says he) sententia Stoicorum, qui ajunt nostra causa Mundum fuisse constructum. Omnia enim quibus constat, quaeque generat ex se Mundus, ad utilitatem hominis accommodata sunt. And Seneca himself speaks elsewhere almost as if he had read and believed the beginning of Genesis; Dii (says he) non per negligentiam nos genuere, 
De B●n●s. cap. 23.  quibus tam multa genuerant: Cogitavit enim nos ante Natura quam fecit.  
Nor were the Stoics the only Philosophers to whom the Contemplation of the Universe discovered this End of it. For to instance now in Cicero only; 
2 do De Nat. Deo●.  Quorum igitur causâ (says that great Orator) effectum esse mundum? Eorum scilicet Animantium, quae ratione utuntur: Hi sunt Dii et Homines, quibus profecto nihil est melius.  
Having thus premised, Pyrophilus, that two of God's principal aims in the Creation, were the manifestation of his own Glorious Attributes, and the Welfare of his noblest Visible Creature, Man; It will not be perhaps difficult for You to discern, that those who labour to deter men from sedulous Inquiries into Nature, do, (though I grant, designelessely) take a course which tends to defeat God of both those mentioned Ends.  
For to speak first to the Last of them; that man's external fruition of the Creatures, and the Delight and Accommodation which they may afford him, must be highly prejudiced and impaired by his ignorance of that Natural Philosophy, wherein his Dominion over the Creatures chiefly consists, what we sh●ll say hereafter concerning the usefulness of the Knowledge of Nature to humane Life, will sufficiently evince. But such an Animal fruition (if I may so call it) of the Works of Nature, affords not Man all the good that God designed him in them. For Religion being not only the great Duty of Man, but the grand Instrument of his future Happiness, which consists in an Union with and Fruition of God, during that endless Term that shall succeed the expiration of his transitory Life on Earth; what ever increases or cherishes his Religion deserves to be looked on as a great contributer to his Happiness. And we may therefore venture to affirm that the knowledge of the Creatures does less advantage Man, as it ennables him to Master them; then as it Assists him, by admiring and serving him, to become Acceptable to their Author. And what ever our distrustful Adversaries are pleased to surmise to the contrary, certainly God intended that his Creatures should afford not only Necessaries, and Accommodations to our Animal part, but Instructions to our Intellectual. The World is wont to be styled not unfitly by Divines, The Christians Inn; but perchance it may be altogether as properly called his Ship: for whereas both Appellations suppose him a Traveller, the Inn, though it refresh him in his Journey, does not further him in it, but rather retard his progress by detaining him in one place; whereas a Ship not only serves the Passenger for an Inn when he is weary, but helps to convey him towards his Journey's End. And according to this Notion, to suppose that God hath placed in the World innumerable things to feed Man, and delight him, and none to instruct him, were a conceit little less injurious to God, than it were to a wise Merchant, that sends Persons, he loves, to a far Country, to think that he would furnish their Cabinets with plenty of Provisions, soft Beds, fine Pictures, and all other accommodations for their Voyage, but send them to Sea disprovided of Sea-Charts and Mariners Compasses, and other requisite helps to steer their Course by, to the desired Harbour.  
And indeed so far is God from being unwilling, that we should Pry into his Works, that, by divers Dispensations he imposes on us little less than a necessity of studying them. For first he begins the Book of Scripture with the Description of the Book of Nature; of which he not only gives us a general account, to inform us that he made the World; since for that end the very first Verse in the Bible might have sufficed: But he vouchsafes us by retail the Narrative of each Day's Proceedings, and in the two first Chapters of Genesis, is pleased to give nobler hints of Natural Philosophy, than men are yet perhaps aware of. Though that in most other places of the Scripture, where the Works of Nature are mentioned but incidently, or in order to other purposes, they are spoken of rather in a Popular then Accurate manner, I dare not peremptorily deny, being unwilling to interest the reputation of Holy Writ (designed to teach us rather Divinity than Philosophy) in the doubtful contentions of Naturalists, about such matters as may (though the History of the Creation cannot) be known by the mere Light of Natural Reason. We may next observe, that God has made some knowledge of his Created Book, both conducive to the belief, and necessary to the Understanding, of his Written one: Our Saviour making it one cause of the Sadduces great Error about the Resurrection, that they knew not the Power of God. And the Scripture being so full of Allusions to, and comparisons borrowed from the properties of the Creatures, that there are many Texts not clearly Intelligible without some knowledge of them; as may appear even by the first Gospel (The Promise that the Seed of the Woman should Bruise the Serpent's Head, and have his Heel bruised by that subtle Creature) preached to fallen Man in Paradise, and by the representation of the World's Four great Monarchies, and the Genius of each of them, under the Notion of Four Beasts, in daniel's prophetic Vision: and that often repeated Precept of our great Master to his Disciples, is couched in an expression alluding to the properties of Animals: For where he commands them to be Wise as Serpents, and Harmless as Doves, he does not only recommend to them a Serpentine wariness in declining dangers, but seems also to prescribe not alone an inoffensiveness towards others (the conspicuousness of which quality in Pigeons have made them, though erroneously, be supposed to have no Gall) But also as harmless a way of escaping the dangers they are actually engaged in, as that of Doves, who being pursued by Birds of Prey, endeavour to save themselves not by fight but, only by flight.  
And indeed so many of the Texts in Scripture are not to be competently illustrated, without some knowledge of the properties of the Creatures related to in them, that I wonder not, that Levinus Lemnius, Frantzius, Rueus, and other Learned Men have thought it requisite to publish entire Treatises, some of the Animals, others of the Stones, and others of the other Works of Nature mentioned in Scripture: Only I could wish that they had been as wary in their Writings, as commendable for their Intentions, and had not sometimes admitted doubtful or fabulous accounts into Comments upon that Book, whose Prerogative it is to teach nothing but Truth.  
Nor ought their Labours to deter others from cultivating the same Theme; For as (such is God's condescension to Humane weakness) most of the Texts, to whose Exposition Physiologie is necessary, may be explicated by the knowledge of the external, or at least more easily observed qualities of the Creatures; So, that there are divers not to be fully understood without the Assistance, of more penetrating indagations of the Abstrusities of Nature and the more unobvious properties of things, an Intelligent and Philosophical peruser will readily discern.  
Now if you should put me upon telling you, Pyrophilus, what those Attributes of God are, which I so often mention to be visibly displayed in the Fabric of the World, I can readily answer you, that though many of God's Attributes are legible in his Creatures, yet those that are most conspicuous there, are his Power, his Wisdom, and his Goodness, in which the World, as well as the Bible, though in a differing, and in some points a darker way, is designed to instruct us, which that you may not think to be affirmed gratis, we must insist a while on each of the Three.  
And fi●st, How boundless a power, or rather what an Almightiness is eminently displayed in Gods making out of Nothing all Things, and without Materials or Instruments constructing this Immense Frabrick of the World, whose Vastness is such, that even what may be proved of it, can scarcely be conceived, and after a Mathematical Demonstration, its Greatness is disinherited? Which yet is, I confess, a wonder less to be admired then the Power expressed by God in so immense a Work, which nevertheless some modern Philosophers (whose opinions I find some Cabalists to countenance) suppose to be not the only Production of God's Omnipotence. Not to mention Elephants, or Whales, some of which an Hyperbolist would not scruple to call moving Mountains and Floating Islands; and to pass by those stupendous Hills, and those Seas, where the Light loses itself, as Objects which their nearness only represents so Bulky; let us hasten to consider, that whereas the Terrestrial Globe we Men inhabit, contains, besides all those vast Kingdoms the Unions of some of which constituted the World's four celebrated Monarchies, those spacious (since detected) American Regions, that have been deservedly styled The New World: And that whereas the Common Account makes the circuit of this Terrestrial Globe to be no less than 22600 Italian miles, consisting each of 1000 Geometrical Paces (which number the more recent account of the accurate Gassendus makes amount to 26255 Miles of the same measure) whereas, I say, this Globe of Earth and Water seems to us so vast, Astronomers teach us, that it is but a Point in comparison of the Immensity of Heaven; which they not irrationally prove by the Parallaxis (or Circular difference betwixt the place of a Star, supposed to be taken by two Observations, the one made at the Centre, and the other on the surface of the Earth) which Gassendus confesseth to be undiscernible in the fixed Stars: as if the Terrestrial Globe were so mere a Point, that it were not material, whether a fixed Star be looked upon from the Centre, or from the surface of the Earth. This may lessen our wonder at the Ptolomaeans, making the Sun (which seems not half a Foot over) to be above a hundred sixty and six times bigger than the Earth; and distant from it One thousand one hundred sixty and five Semidiameters of the Earth, each of which contains, according to the aforementioned computation of Gassendus, 4177 Miles; and at their supposing the fixed Stars (whose distance the same Author, as a Ptolomaean, supput's to be 19000 Semidiameters of the Earth) so great, 
Gassend. Inst. Astr. lib. 2. c. 13.  that they conclude each of the fixed or smallest Magnitude to be no less than 18 times greater than the whole Earth, & each Star of the First or Chief Magnitude to exceed the Terrestrial Globe 108 times. And as for the Coperricans (that growing Sext of Astronomers) they, as their Hypothesis requires, suppose the vastness of the Firmament to be exceedingly greater than the Ancients believed it. For Philippus Lansbergius, who ventured to assign Distances and Dimensions to the Planets and Fixed Stars (which Copernicus forbore to do) supposes as well as his Master, 
Gashed. lib. 3. ca●. 11.  that the Great Orb itself (as the Copernicans call that in which they esteem the Earth to move about the Sun) though its Semi-Diameter be supposed to be 1500 times as great as that of the Earth, is but as a Point in comparison of the Firmament or Sphere of the Fixed Stars; which he supposes to be distant from the Earth no less than 28000 Semidiameters of the Great Orb, that is, 42000000 of Semidiameters of the Earth; or according to the former Computation of common Miles 175434000000, which is a Distance vastly exceeding that which the Ptolomaeans ventured to assign, and such as even imagination itself can hardly reach to. I confess indeed, that I am not so well satisfied with the exactness (nor perhaps with the Grounds) of these kind of Computations, by reason of the Difficulty I have met with in making exact Celestial Observations with either Telescopes, or other Instruments, sufficiently witnessed, by the great disparity remarkable betwixt the Computations of the best-Artists themselves. But on the other side I am not sure, but that even the Copernicans ascribe not too great a distance to some of the Fixed Stars; since (for aught we yet know) those of the sixth Magnitude, and those which our Telescopes discover (though our bare Eyes cannot) are not really less than those of the first Magnitude, but only appear so by reason of their greater Distance from our Eyes; as some Fixed Stars seem no bigger than Venus and Mercury, which are much lesser than the Earth. And therefore upon such Considerations, and because the modestest Computation allows the Firmament to be great enough to make the Earth but a Point in comparison of it; it will be safe enough, as well as just, to conclude with the Psalmist, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.  
The next Attribute of God that shines forth in his Creatures, is his Wisdom; which to an intelligent Considerer appears very manifestly expressed in the World, whether you contemplate it as an Aggregate or System of all Natural Bodies, or consider the Creatures it is made up of, both in their particular and distinct Natures, and in Relation to each other, and the Universe which they constitute. In some of these the Wisdom of God is so conspicuous, and written in such large Characters, that it is legible even to a vulgar Reader: But in many others the Lineaments and Traces of it are so delicate and slender, or so wrapped up and covered with Corporeity, that it requires an attentive and intelligent Peruser. So numberless a multitude, and so great a variety of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, Stones, Metals, Minerals, Stars, etc. and every one of them plentifully furnished and endowed with all the Qualifications requisite to the Attainment of the respective Ends of its Creation, are productions of a Wisdom too limitless not to be peculiar to God: To insist on any one of them in particular (besides that it would too much swell this Discourse) might appear injurious to the rest; which do all of them deserve that extensive Exclamation of the Psalmist, How manifold are thy works, O Lord; in Wisdom hast thou made them all. 
Psal. 104.24.  And therefore I shall content myself to observe in general, That as highly as some Naturalists are pleased to value their own knowledge, it can at best attain but to understand and applaud, not emulate the Productions of God. For as a Novice, when the curiousest Watch the rarest Artist can make, is taken in pieces and set before him, may easily enough discern the Workmanship and Contrivance of it to be excellent; but had he not been shown it, could never have of himself devised so skilful and rare a piece of Work: So, for instance, an Anatomist, though when by many and dexterous Dissections of humane Bodies, and by the help of Mechanical Principles and Rules (without a competent skill wherein, a Man can scarce be an Accomplished and Philosophical Anatomist) he has learned the Structure, Use and Harmony of the parts of the Body, he is able to discern that matchless Engine to be admirably contrived, in order to the exercise of all the Motions and Functions whereto it was designed: And yet this Artist, had he never contemplated a humane Body, could never have imagined or devised an Engine of no greater Bulk, any thing near so fitted to perform all that variety of Actions we daily see performed either in or by a humane Body. Thus the Circular motion of the Blood, and structure of the Valves of the Heart and Veins (The consideration whereof, as himself told me, first hinted the Circulation to our Famous Harvey) though now Modern Experiments have for the main (the Modus seeming not yet so fully explicated) convinced us of them, we acknowledge them to be very expedient, and can admire God's Wisdom in contriving them: Yet those many Learned Anatomists, that have for many succeeding Ages preceded both Dr Harvey, and Columbus, Caesalpinus, Padre Paulo, and Mr Warner (for each of these four last are supposed by some to have had some notion of the Circulation) by all their diligent contemplation of humane Bodies, never dreamed (for aught appears) of so advantageous an use of the Valves of the Heart, nor that nimble Circular motion of the Blood, of which our modern Circulators think they discern such excellent Use, not to say, Necessity.  
And though it be true, that the greater Works of God do as well declare his great Wisdom as his Power, according to that of the Inspired Philosopher; 
Prov. 13.19, ●0  The Lord by Wisdom hath founded the Earth, by Understanding hath he established the Heavens. By his Knowledge the depths are broken up, and the Clouds drop down the Dew: Yet does not his Wisdom appear less in lesser Creatures; for there is none of them so little, but it would deserve a great deal of our Wonder, did we attentively enough consider it. And as Apelles (in the Story) was discovered by the skilful Protagoras, by so neat and slender a Line, that Protagoras, by being scarce able to discern it, discerned it to have been drawn by Apelles: So God, in these little Creatures, oftentimes draws traces of Omniscience, too delicate to be liable to be ascribed to any other Cause. I have seen Elephants, and admired them less than the structure of a dissected Mole, which hath better Eyes than those, that will not see a designation in the dimness of its Eyes (made only to see the Light, not other Objects by the help of it) and the unwonted posture of its Feet, given it not to run on the Ground, but to dig itself a way under Ground. And, as despicable as their Littleness makes the Vulgar apt to think some Creatures, I must confess my wonder dwell not so much on Nature's Clocks (if I may so speak) as on her Watches, and is more exercised in the coyness of the sensitive Plant, and the Magnetical Properties of a small and abject Loadstone, than the bulk of the tallest Oaks, or those vast Rocks, made famous by Shipwrecks. I have passed the Alps, and have seen as much to admire at in an Anthill, and have so much wondered at the Industry of those little Creatures themselves that inhabited it, that I have ceased to wonder at their having given a Theme to Solomon's Contemplation. Those vast Exotic Animals which the Multitude flocks to see, and which Men give Money to be allowed to gaze on, have had many of them less of my Admiration, than the little Catterpillar (as Learned Naturalists esteem it) to which we are beholden for Silk. For (not to mention all the Observables crowded by Nature in that little Worm) I thought it very well deserved my wonder (when not long since I kept some of them purposely to try Experiments) how this curious Spinster, after he had buried himself alive in the precious Tomb he had wrought for himself out of his own Bowels, did cast off his former Skin and Legs, and, in show, his former Nature, appearing for divers days but an almost movelesse Maggot; till at length, divesting this second Tegument also (in which Nest, Phenix-like, he had been regenerated out of his own Remains) he came forth (if I may so speak) out of this attiring Room under another form, with Wings, Eyes, and Legs, etc. to act a new part upon the Stage of the World; which (having spent some days without feeding (that I could observe) in providing for the propagation of his Species) he forsakes and dies. And I the rather mention the Silkworm, because that there have been of late divers subtle Speculators, who would fain persuade us, That Animals do nothing out of Instinct, or, if you please, innate or seminal Impressions; but Spin, build Nests, and perform all the other Actions for which they are admired, barely by Imitation of what they have seen done by others of the same Kind. But in the Silkworm (at least here in England) this plausible Opinion will not hold: For the Silkworms I kept, were not hatched but in the Spring, out of Eggs laid some Days in the Sun; and the Worms that laid those Eggs, being every one of them dead the Winter before, it was impossible these new Silkworms, when they first began to spin their scarce imaginable fine Web, and enclose themselves in Oval Balls of a very Artificial Figure and Texture, should have wrought thus by Imitation; there not having been for many Months before, in the place where they were hatched (nor perhaps in the whole Country) any Silkworms alive which they might imitate. But I must leave these curious Spinsters to their Work, and proceed to tell you, That Seas and Mountains, with the other Hyperboles of Nature (if I may so term them) proclaim indeed God's Power, but do not perhaps more manifest his Wisdom, than the contrivance of some living Engines, and (if I may so call them) Breathing Atoms, that are so small that they are almost all Workmanship; so that, as before, in the Psalmists Expression we truly said of God's Greatness, That it was unsearchable; we may now as truly say of his Wisdom in the Prophet's Words, and in the same Text where he represents him as the Creator of the ends of the Earth, 
Isa. 40.28.  That there is no searching of his Understanding.  
And if I durst, Pyrophilus, make this part of this Essay of a length too disproportionate to the rest, I could easily, as well as willingly, represent to you divers things which might serve to Illustrate the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Eph. 3.10.  manifold Wisdom of God (as St. Paul speaks on another occasion) But though I dare not expatiate on this Subject, yet neither dare I altogether conceal from you, that I have sometimes admired to see what scarce imaginable variety of living Engines his Plastic skill (if I may so speak) has been able to produce, (especially in the Waters) without scarce any other resemblance betwixt them, then that they are each of them excellent in its own Kind, and completely furnished according to the exigency of its Nature. And that which much increases this Wonder, is the disproportion of those living Engines, wherein the great [Yotzêr hakkôl] Former of all things (as the Scripture justly calls God) has been pleased to display an almost equally skilful Contrivance. 
Jer. 10.16.  Amongst Terrestrial Animals we have the Elephant, of whose stupendious vastness such strange things are related, even by eminent Writers, that I know not well how either to disbelieve them, or give credit to them: And therefore we shall content ourselves to mention that which is left on Record by the accurate Gassendus in the Life of Peireskius; 
Gassend▪ in Vit. Pe●resk●, lib. 4.  For this matchless Gentleman having caused an Elephant, in the Year 1631, to be weighed in a Scale, purposely provided, he was found to weigh, of the Roman Pounds (consisting of twelve Ounces apiece) very near Five thousand: And yet surely that this Elephant was very far from being one of the largest of that sort of Beasts, he that shall consider the bigness and length of some of their Teeth, as they are commonly called, which are to be seen at divers places, both in England and elsewhere, and is not resolved not to believe the consonant Relations of Eastern Travellers (among whom Linschoten tells us there have been some Teeth found to weigh Two hundred pounds apiece, each pound consisting of twenty four Ounces) may be easily persuaded. On the other side let us reflect upon the smallness of some Terrestrial Animals; and not to mention that little white Creature bred in Wax, which Aristotle call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and speaks of as supposed to be the least of all living Creatures whatsoever: Let us consider those little Mites that are bred in mouldy Cheese; for divers of these scarce amount to the weight of a Grain, and every Pound containing Five thousand seven hundred and sixty Grains; supposing each Mite did weigh a whole Grain, yet that formerly mentioned small Elephant would exceed him near 28800000 times. And yet though a Mite seem but a moving Atom, and unless there be divers together, is not easily discerned by the unassisted Eye; yet in an excellent Microscope I have, you know, several times both seen and shown to others, even in a gloomy Day, and a disadvantageous Place, not only the Limbs of this little Animal, but the very Hair growing upon his Legs. Now let us but consider how strangely skilful and delicate a Workmanship must be employed to contrive into so narrow a compass, the several Parts Internal and External, requisite to make up this little Animal; how many must go to the texture of the Eyes, and other Organs of Sense; how many to the Snout (which he has, not unlike a Hog) and the several parts of it; how many to the Stomach and Guts, and the other Inward Parts addicted to the digestion of Aliment, and exclusion of Excrements; and to be short, how inimaginably subtle must be the Animal Spirits running too and from Nerves suitable in such little Legs: And if, as we have observed them to multiply by Eggs, the little Creatures be hatched in those little Eggs, after the manner of divers other Oviparous Animals, how much smaller than a hatched Mite must be a Mite upon the Animation of its delineated Parts? since in Hen's Eggs we have sometimes seen the Chick manifestly alive, and its Limbs clearly delineated, whilst yet it took up so small a portion of the Egg, that both the White and the Yolk (betwixt which it is generated, and not of the Chalaza or Tredle, as Aquapendente and other Moderns teach) seemed to be sometimes yet entire, as well as involved in their peculiar Membranes. But it is not so conspicuous in gradient Animals (if I may so speak) as in swimming ones; How vastly disproportionate Masses of Matter the wise Former of all things can fashion into living Engines. For Whales are much more stupendious Creatures than Elephants: And not to mention what Hartenius (apud Johnstonum) tells us of twenty sorts of Whales, whereof the eighteenth Species, which he calls Nordhwal, is by him related to be Ninety els long; but what els he means, I know not: Nor to mention those less incredible Accounts which are given of the vastness of Whales by our English Navigators, who are wont to Fish for them; I shall only set down what is related by one of the eminentest Modern Lyncean Philosophers, because he speaks as an Eye-witness, 
Jo: Fabe● Lynceu● in hi● Exposition of some Passages of p. 568.  when he tells us, That in the Year 1624., there was cast upon a place near Santa Severa, about 30 Miles from Rome, a dead Whale of 91 Psalms in length, and 50 in thickness: He adds, That its Mouth was 16 Palms long, and 10 high; in which, being opened and kept gaping; a Man on Horseback might find competent room; this Mouth being used to harbour a Tongue of twenty Palms (which may make out fifteen Foot) in length. The same inquisitive Writer adds, That four Years before, near the Island of Corsica, not far from the Coast of Italy, another Whale was cast, One hundred Foot long; which being a Female, was found to be big with a Cub of thirty Foot long, 1500 pound weight. But that which will let you see, Pyrophilus, the disproportion betwixt there kind of Fishes and common Elephants, is, that which the same Author adds, That the Lord only, or Fat (as he speaks Carnea pinguedo) of this corpulent Creature, weighed One hundred and thirty five thousand pound, that is, above Twenty seven times the weight of the whole Elephant, which was caused to be weighed by Peireskius. And though the Omnipotent Creator be able to make swimming Creatures of such prodigious bigness, that the Ocean itself may seem to be but a proportionate Pond for such Fishes; yet is the same Omniscient Continuer, as able to make a swimming Engine more slender than a Cheese mite, and so little, that a small part of a Grain may outweigh divers of them. For, Pyrophilus, I must here acquaint you with a strange Observation, which I have been informed to have been some while since made in Italy by Panarola a Famous Physician in Rome, who is said, by the help of an excellent Microscope, to have discerned in Vinegar small Living Creatures, which he takes to be Worms. The mention of so unlikely an Experiment, made me engage some excellent Philosophers and Mathematicians to assist me in examining it: But though our Microscopes exceeded the best that were brought us over from Rome, yet all our diligence and attention did but make them conclude that Panarola's Eyes had been deluded. Notwithstanding which, causing a somewhat hollow bottom of pure Crystalline Glass to be fitted to my Microscope, I prosecuted the Enquiry myself; and at length was so lucky, as not only to discover these little Creatures with a Microscope, but by holding the Liquor in a Crystal Viol., almost upon the strong Flame of a Candle, to discover multitudes of them with my naked Eyes, as weak as they are. But though I have already convinced those that formerly derided such Observations, as not to be made with the best Microscope, yet the great weakness of my Sight has not permitted me to perfect my Observations concerning these Creatures. And therefore reserving the more particular mention of this odd Observation till another time, I shall now only tell you as much as is pertinent to our present purpose; namely, That having with a certain parcel of strong White-wine Vinegar (for 'tis not in every Vinegar that they are constantly to be found) filled up to the top thin Viols with long and slender Necks; and having likewise with the same Liquor filled other small Crystalline Viols, though short-necked, and held them betwixt my Eye and the Sun, or a Window open towards it, or very near a great Candle, I have often in these Glasses, especially in their slender Necks, after having a while fixed my Eye on them (attention being in this case very necessary) admiringly observed great numbers (and sometimes as it were Shoals) of living Creatures, which seemed to be rather Fishes than Worms; for they swim freely up and down the Liquor, and often hover about the top of it, with a wriggling motion, like that of Eels, to which likewise their long and slender shape resembles them. And though these swimming Creatures be not all exactly of a size, yet some of them seemed slenderer than any sort of living ones, that hath hitherto been taken notice of by the unassisted Eye: And I remember, that having looked in a good Microscope upon one of them, and a Cheese-mite much about the same time, the Fish appeared so slender, that we judged it not much thicker than one of the Legs of the Mite: So that considering what a vast deal of matter the great Creator can manage and fashion into a Whale, and in how little room he can contrive all the parts requisite to constitute a Fish, we may justly say to him in the Psalmists Language, 
Psal. ●6. ●.  There is none like unto thee (O Lord) neither are there any works like unto thy works.  
The last of the three Properties of God, which we mentioned him to have manifested in the Creation, is his Goodness; Of which all his Creatures do in their due measure partake, partly by their having a Being vouchsafed them, and partly by their being preserved in it as long as their subordination to higher purposes, and to more powerful creatures do permit, by that supporting Influence of God which keeps them from relapsing into their first Nothing; according to that memorable Passage, where Nehemiah having mentioned God as the Creator of the Heavens, the Earth, the Seas, 
N●hem. 9.6.  and all the Creatures belonging to them, He calls Him the Preserver, or (as the Original has it) The enlivener of them all. And as for Animals, who are more capable of enjoying, though not most of them of discerning His bounty, His Goodness to them is more conspicuous. For besides that in Scripture he is called The Preserver both of Man and Beast, and accordingly is said to give food even to the young Ravens that cry, 
Gen. 8.1.  and to have after the Flood remembered not only Noah, but every living thing that was with him in the Ark, His Goodness to them is apparent by the plentiful and easily attainable provision he makes according to the exigence of their several Natures. For that innumerable swarm of various Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, and other Animals that People the Terrestrial Globe, and the contiguous parts of the World, and by his endowing each of them, with all the Qualifications requisite to the perpetuation of their Species, and the preservation of their Lives, as far forth as is consistent with his Ends in their Creation. But most resplendent does the Goodness of God appear towards his Favourite Creature, Man, whom having vouchsafed to ennoble with his own Image, he makes most of the Creatures of the world visible to us, pay homage to him, and in some manner or degree do him service: God's liberality at once bestowing on him all those Creatures by endowing him with a Reason enabling him to make use of them; so that even those Creatures which he is not able to subdue by his Power, he is able to make serviceable to him by his Knowledge; as those vast Globes of Light, which are so far above him, that their Immensity and Brightness can scarce render them visible to him, are by man's Mathematics forced to give him an account of all their Motions, and waiting upon his Dial's keep time for him; and even the defects of such works of Nature, are by man's skill made serviceable to him, as the Eclipses of the Moon serve Geographers notably in that difficult and useful work of finding Longitudes. The Stars serve for Candles to give man light, and the Celestial Orbs are his Candlesticks. He breathes the Air, the Fire warms him, and serves him not only in his Kitchen, but to master most other Bodies in his furnaces. The Clouds water his Land, the Earth supports him and his Buildings, the Sea and winds convey him and his Floating-houses to the remotest parts of the World, and enable him to possess every where almost all that Nature or Art has provided for him any where. The Earth produces him an innumerable multitude of Beasts to feed, cloth, and carry him; of Flowers and Jewels to delight and adorn him; of Fruits, to sustain and refresh him; of Stones and Timber, to lodge him; of Simples, to cure him; and in sum, the whole sublunary World is but his Magazine. And it seems the grand business of restless Nature so to constitute and manage his Productions, as to furnish him with Necessaries, Accommodations, and Pleasures.  
Of such a Number of Plants, Animals, Metals, Minerals, etc. that people and enrich the Terrestrial Globe, perhaps there is not any one, of which Man might not make an excellent use, had he but an insight into its Nature: nor are the most abject and despicable therefore the least useful. There is not any Stone, no not the sparkling Diamond itself, to whom Man is so much beholden, as he is to the dark & unpromising Loadstone, without which the New-World probably had never been detected, and many Regions of the Old World would have little or no commerce with each other. Nor have the Lion, the Eagle, and the Whale, joined all together (though reputed the Chief of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes) been so serviceable to M●n, as that despicable Insect, The Silkworm. And if we impartially consider the Lucriferousness (if I may speak in my Lord of St Alban Stile) of the properties of Things, and their Medical Virtues, we shall find, That we trample upon many things, for which we should have cause to kneel, and offer God Praises, if we knew all their Qualities and Uses: But of this subject we may elsewhere purposely treat.  
To which I must only add, Pyrophilus, That you will injure Nature, if you suppose, either that all the Concretes, endowed with excellent Properties, have long since been notorious, or that all the Medicinal Virtues of Simples, commonly used, are already known; or that all those Concretes are destitute of considerable Properties, to whom none have been yet ascribed by eminent Authors. For almost every day either discloses new Creatures, or makes new Discoveries of the usefulness of things; almost each of which hath yet a kind of Terra incognita, or undetected part in it: How many new Concretes, rich in Medicinal virtues, does the New World present the Inquisitive Physicians of the Old? Notatu dignum (says the Ingenious Piso, in his newly published Medicina Brasileensis, lib. 1.) quod eximiae tot arbores, frutices, & innumerae herbae, figura, foliis & fructibus a veteris orbis Vegetabilibus, paucis exceptis, dissimillimae appareant. Idem de avibus, animantibus & piscibus deprehenditur, ut & insectis alatis, atque alis destitutis; quae ineffabili colorum pulchritudine & portentosa multitudine generantur, partim nota nobis, partim incognita. And of the known American Simples, How many latent Virtues does experience from time to time discover? And (to mention now no others) the Febrifugal property of that Peruvian Tree, called by the Natives Gannanaperide, whose Bark, called commonly China Febris, has been at Rome, and freshly also at London, found so wonderfully effectual against those stubborn Diseases, Quartain Agues; and though a Learned Author endeavours to depreciate it, by alleging, That it is wont rather to suspend the Fits, then truly cure the Disease, which after awhile will return again; yet, besides that, it may be often very beneficial to a weakened Patient, to have his Fits put off, the Physician thereby also gaining Opportunities to employ strengthening and preventing Remedies: Besides this, I say, if you will credit that great Person, Sir Kenelm Digby, it is rather the Patients or Doctor's fault, than the Medicines, if the Disease return. For having purposely consulted him about this Objection against the Use of the Cortex Febrifugus, he solemnly assured me, That of betwixt Twenty and Thirty Persons, that he had himself cured of quartans by this Remedy, not so many as Two fell into a Relapse.  
And now I am upon the more freshly discovered Virtues of American Drugs, I might acquaint you with the admirable Properties, not only in Diseases, but even in Wounds of a certain Mineral, which (though careful examination of it has not yet taught me to what Species of Stones to reduce it) you cannot but have heard mentioned with wonder, under the name of Sir Walter Raleighs Stone, which my Father, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, enjoyed, and did strange things with for many years, and by his Will bequeathed (as the highest Legacy he could leave him) to his dearest Friend, the most Learned and Famous B● Usher, Primate of Ireland: But of this Stone, the merit of the subject makes me reserve what I have to say, to a Discourse, wherein I may be allowed to say more to it then now I dare: and therefore I shall proceed to tell you, that 'tis not in the Simples of the New World only, that new Medicinal properties may be discovered; for even those which daily obtrude themselves upon our careless Eyes, or are trampled under our regardless Feet, may possess Virtues, to which the major part of Botanists are mere Strangers. To which purpose, I remember that I have often gathered a little short-lived and despicable Plant, with which alone (slightly infused in Beer) I lately knew a young Kinsman of Sir Kenelm Digbies, in few Days, and without pain, as both Himself, his Mother, and his Physician assured me, cured of that stubborn and seldom vanquished Disease of the King's Evil, against which it doth Wonders; and yet having consulted not only some of the famousest and recentest Herbals, both English and Latin, about this, but also enquired of two or three eminent Herbarists, I could find neither any such Virtue, nor almost any at all, ascribed by Authors to that excellent Plant.  
And whereas God's bounty to Man in the Creatures, seems a little clouded and straightened by his permitting some Poisonous Plants and Venomous Animals to have a Being in Nature; to that it may be replied, First, That many Poisonous Bodies contain their own Antidotes; insomuch that the diligent Piso, who hath had great opportunities to examine the Effects of both, ventures to say, treating of the Poisons and Antidotes to be met with in Brasil, Equidem vix dixeris, Venena an Alexiteria plura sint pronata: and a little lower, Sic folia, flores, & fructus herbarum Tangaraca & Juquerii, venena Brasiliae facile prima, propriam suam unaquaeque radicem oppositum habet Antidotum: and a little after, Barbari viperarum pinguedinem & capita, tum & integra Insecta quae vulnera intulerint, ex arte parata, audacter & felici cum successu venenatis ictibus applicant; adeoque per ipsos effectus comprobare nituntur in omni veneno contineri suum Antidotum: And next, that the noxiousnesse of many (and therefore not improbably of all of them) is not so incorrigible, but that by Man's Art and Chemical Preparations, they may be made, not only innocent and harmless, but useful too. This Truth, Pyrophilus, Antimony and Quicksilver, and some other noxious Bodies (which Men have learned to make Medicinal) have already taught our Modern Physicians; who prescribe, even in their Dispensatories, divers Medicines made out of those churlish Minerals, to which, in the ensuing Discourses, you will find divers others (perhaps not inferior) added. That Opium is reckoned by Physicians among Poisons, I need not tell you; and yet such powerful Remedies may be made with it for many desperate Cases, especially in hot Countries, that the good it may do, so much exceeds the harm, that Physicians would be sorry there were none of it in the World. The Oil of Scorpions is not only Antidotal against their Stings, but is witnessed, by experience, to be very useful to bring away the descending Stone of the Kidneys, and to remedy divers ot●er Mischiefs, besides those that Scorpions can do. And to these I shall need but to add one instance more, because of the nobleness of that single one, and that is the Root Mandihoca, so common all over the West Indies: for Nature is so far from having been a Stepmother to Man in making th●t Plant abound so much in those Countries, though in its c●ude simplicity (as the Helmontians speak it be confessedly a rank Poison, that she hath scarce in any one Plant been so bountiful to the Americans. For by a slight and easy preparation, which we shall hereafter mention, it affords many populous Nations almost all the Bread they eat, and some of them a good part of their Drink; th● Root freed by a strong Press from the noxious Juice, and dried, affording them that Cassavie Meal, whereof they m●ke their Bread; which by the taste and colour I could not discern to be other then good. Nor is this the only use this Poisonous Plant affords them: For the above-commended Piso gives us this short, but comprehensive Character of it; concinnatur· (lib. 3º) But concerning the use that may be made of Poisonous Cre●tu●es, we elsewhere professedly discourse: And shall therefore now proceed to observe to you here, that I have not yet mentioned to you the instance which most manifests the greatness of the Good which God intended Man in the Creatures: For, not content to have provided him all that was requisite either to Support or Accommodate him here, he hath been pleased to contrive the World so, that (if Man be not wanting to himself) it may afford him not only Necessaries and Delights, but Instructions too; For each Page in the great Volume of Nature is full of real Hieroglyphics, where (by an inverted way of Expression) Things stand for Words, and their Qualities for Letters. The Psalmist observes, 
Psal. 19.1.  That the Heavens declare the glory of God: And indeed, they celebrate his Praises, though with a soundless Voice, yet with so loud a one (and which gives us the Moral of Plato's exploded notion of the Music of the Spheres) to our intellectual Ears, that he scruples not to affirm, that There is no Speech nor Language where their voice is not heard (or as Junius and Tremellius render it, without violence to the Hebrew Text, There is no Speech nor Words; yet without these their Voice is understood) and that their Line is gone throughout all the earth; that is (as the Learned Diodati expounds it) their Writing in gross and plain Draughts, and their Words to the end of the World: Their Language having so escaped the confusion of Tongues, that these Natural and Immortal Preachers give all Nation's occasion to say of them, as the Assembly at Pentecost did of the Inspired Apostles, 
Acts 2.11.  We do hear them speak in our Tongues the wonderful Works of God.  
Nor can we without listening to these Sermons, derive the entire (perhaps not the chiefest) Benefit designed us in the Creatures: For sure, that God, who hath composed us both of Body and Soul, hath not confined the uses of so many admirable Creatures, and so much inimitable Workmanship to that ignoble part of Man which coupleth him to the Beasts, with the neglect of that Diviner Portion, which allies him to the Angels; vouchsafing to the Lord of the Creature● in the fruition of this his Palace, no higher Prerogative than he is pleased to allow to the Brutes, that serve but to complete the variety requisite for its embellishment. Of this Opinion I lately found that excellent Writer, St Austin, to have been before me: For, Non debes uti oculis (says he) ut pecus, tantum ut videas, quae addas ventri, non menti: utere, ut homo, intend Coelum, & intend Facta, & quaere Factorem; aspice quae vides, & quaere quem non vides, crede in eum quem non vides, propter ista quae vides. Nolite fieri sicut equus & mulus, etc.  
Nor can the Creatures only inform Man of Gods Being and Attributes (as we have already seen) but also instruct him in his own Duties: 
D. Aug. Hom. 3.  For we may say of the World, as St Austin did of the Sacraments, that it is Verbum visibile. And certainly, God hath never so confined himself to instruct Men by Words or Types, as not to reserve himself the liberty of doing it by things: Witness his appointing the Rainbow to Preach his Goodness to all Nations, and fortify the Faith of Mankind against the fear of a second Deluge. 'Tis something to high a saying for an Heathen, that of Plato, where he teaches, That the World is God's Epistle, written to Mankind. For by Solomon God sends the Sluggard to school to the Ant, to learn a provident Industry: Christ commands his Disciples to learn of Serpents and Pigeons prudence and inoffensiveness: The same Divine Teacher enjoins his Apostles to consider the Lilies, or (as some would have it) the Tulips of the Field, and to learn thence that difficult Virtue of a distrustless reliance upon God: 
1 Cor. 15.36, 37.  And St Paul seems almost angry with the Corinthians, That their Faith, in so abstruse Mysteries as that of the Resurrection, was not informed and strengthened, by considering the meliorating death of Corn committed to the Earth: And the Royal Poet learns Humility, by the Contemplation of the most elevated parts of Nature; When I consider (says he) the Heavens, the work of thy Fingers, the Moon and Stars which thou hast ordained, 
Psal. 8.3, 4.  What is Man, that thou visitest him? Thus you may see that God intended the World should serve Man, not only for a Palace to live in, and to gaze on, but for a School of Virtue; to which his Philanthropy reserves such inestimable Rewards, that the Creatures can, on no account, be so beneficial to Man, as by promoting his Piety, by a competent degree of which, God's goodness hath made no less than Eternal Felicity attainable.   

ESSAY III. Containing a Continuation of the Former.  
HAving thus, Pyrophilus, endeavoured to evince, that the Opinion that would deter Men from the scrutiny of Nature, is not a little prejudicial to Man's Interests, and does very much lessen the Advantages he may derive from the Creatures, both in relation to his accommodation in this Life, and his Felicity in the next: Let us proceed to consider, whether the Doctrine we oppose do not likewise tend, in its own nature (though not in the Intentions of its Patrons) to defeat God of much of that Glory which Man both aught and might ascribe to him, both for himself and the rest of the Creatures. How unlikely is it that we should be able to offer to God that Glory, Praise, and Admiration, he both expects and merits from such a contemplation of the Creatures, as though it be requisite to the true knowledge of their Nature and Properties, is yet supposed either pernicious, or at least dangerous, You, Pyrophilus, or any other impartial Person may easily determine.  
For the Works of God are not like the Tricks of Jugglers, or the Pageants that entertain Princes, where concealment is requisite to wonder; but the knowledge of the Works of God proportions our admiration of them, they participating and disclosing so much of the inexhausted Perfections of their Author, that the further we contemplate them, the more Footsteps and Impressions we discover of the Perfections of their Creator; and our utmost Science can but give us a juster veneration of his Omniscience. And as when some Country Fellow looks upon a curious Watch, though he may be hugely taken with the rich Enamel of the Case, and perhaps with some pretty Landscape that adorns the Dial-plate; yet will not his Ignorance permit him so advantageous a Notion of the exquisite Maker's skill, as that little Engine will form in some curious Artist, who besides that obvious Workmanship that first entertains the Eye, considers the exactness, and knows the use of every Wheel, takes notice of their proportion, contrivance, and adaptation altogether, and of the hidden Springs that move them all: So in the World, though every Peruser may read the existence of a Deity, and be in his degree affected with what he sees, yet is he utterly unable to descry there those subtler Characters and Flourishes of Omniscience, which true Philosophers are sharp-sighted enough to discern. The existence of God is indeed so legibly written on the Creatures, that (as the Scripture speaks in another sense) He may run that reads it; 
Habb. 2.2.  that is, even a perfunctory Beholder, that makes it not his business, may perceive it. But that this God has manifested in these Creatures a Power, a Wisdom, and a Goodness worthy of himself, needs an attentive and diligent Surveyor to discover. How different notions of God's Wisdom do the Eggs of Hens produce in the ordinary Eaters of them, and in curious Naturalists, who carefully watch and diligently observe from time to time the admirable progress of Nature in the Formation of a Chick, from the first change appearing in the Cicatricula (or little whitish speck discernible in the Coat of the Eggs Yolk) to the breaking of the Eggshell by the perfectly hatched Bird, and on Nature's exquisite method in the order and fashioning of the parts, make such Philosophical reflections as you may meet with (not to mention what Aristotle and Fabricius ab Aquapendente, have observed on that subject) in the Ingenious Treatise of Generation, which our accurate and justly Famous Anatomist, Dr Highmore, has been pleased to Dedicate to me; and in the excellent Exercitations, De Ovo, of that great Promoter of Anatomical Knowledge, Dr Harvey. And whereas it may be alleged, That the Attributes of God, which are not taught us, but after much speculation of the World, are things of which no Man but an Atheist doubts; to this it may be replied, That besides that, it ill becomes the sense we ought to have of our weakness to despise any helps vouchsafed us of God to assist us to know or serve him; besides this, I say, God loving, as he deserves, to be honoured in all our Faculties, and consequently to be glorified and acknowledged by the acts of Reason, as well as by those of Faith, there must be sure found a great disparity betwixt that general, confused, and lazy Idea we commonly have of his Power and Wisdom, and the distinct, rational, and affecting notions of those Attributes which are formed by an attentive inspection of those Creatures in which they are most legible, and which were made chiefly for that very end. The Queen of Sheba had heard in her own Country a very advantageous Fame of the Wisdom of Solomon; but when the curiosity of a personal Visit made her an Eye-witness of those particular both exquisite Structures, and almost Divinely prudent Conducts and Contrivances wherein that Wisdom did inimitably display itself, she then broke forth into Pathetic and Venerating Exclamations, that acknowledged how much juster and improved a Character (of his Wisdom) her Eyes had now given her, then formerly her Ears had done.  
Very like a Philosopher, methinks, does the Great Mercurius Trismegistus (if we grant him to be the Author of the Books ascribed to him) speak, when he tells his Son, There can be no Religion more true or just, 

Merc. Trism. lib. 1.  
Englished by Dr. Everard.   then to know the things that are, and to acknowledge thanks for all things to him that made them; which thing I shall not cease to do: (he continues) Be Pious and Religious, O my Son! for he that does so is the best and highest Philosopher; and without Philosophy it is impossible ever to attain to the height and exactness of Piety and Religion. And 'twas perhaps, Pyrophilus, to engage us to an industrious industrious indagation of the Creatures, that God made Man so indigent, and furnished him with such a multiplicity of Desires; so that whereas other Creatures are content with those few obvious and easily attainable necessaries, that Nature has almost every where provided for them; In Man alone, every sense has store of greedy Appetites, for the most part of Superfluities and Dainties, that to relieve his numerous Wants, or satisfy his more numerous Desires, He might be obliged with an inquisitive Industry to Range, Anatomize, and Ransack Nature, and by that concerned survey come to a more exquisite Admiration of the Omniscient Author. To illustrate this subject yet a little further, Pyrophilus, give me leave to observe to you, That Philosophers of almost all Religions have been, by the contemplation of the World, moved to consider it under the notion of a Temple: Ne adoremus (says Plutarch) Elementa, Coelum, solemn, Lunam, etc. specula sunt haec, in quibus artem illius singularem intueamur, qui mundum condidit, & adornavit; nec est aliud Mundus quam Templum ejus: Let us not venerate the Elements, the Heaven, the Sun, the Moon, etc. these are but Miroirs, wherein we may behold his excellent Art, who framed and adorned the World; nor is the World any thing else but his Temple: Homines (says Cicero) tuentur illum Globum, quem in Templo hoc medium vides, qui terra dicitur: Men abide upon that Globe which you see in the m●ddle of this Temple, and is called the Earth; which Macrobius handsomely thus expounds: Quicquid humano aspectui subjicitur, Templum ejus vocavit qui solâ ment concipitur, ut qui haec veneratur ut templa, cultum tamen maximum debeat Conditori, sciatque quisquis in usum Templi hujus inducitur, ritu sibi vivendum sacerdotis: All that humane view reaches, he terms his Temple, who is apprehended by the mind alone; to the end that who so reuerences these things as Temples, might render the greatest worship to the Maker; and every one that is brought to converse in this Temple, might know himself obliged to live like a Priest.  
And the Lofty Seneca (to mention now no other Heathens) in divers passages of his excellent Writings, styles the World a Temple; and I remember in his Treatise, De Beneficiis, he avers in terms not unworthy his Mind or his Subject, Totum mundum Deorum esse immortalium Templum, 
Sen. li. 7. cap. ●.  solum quidem amplitudine illorum ac magnificentiâ dignum. That the whole World is the Temple of the immortal Gods, being alone worthy of their Grandeur and Magnificence. The assent of the Jewish Philosophers, to this Notion, you may be pleased to receive from their Eloquent Philo, 
Philo Jud. de Monarchia.  who not only gives the World the Name of Temple, but gives us this account of that appellation; Templum Dei supremum & verè tale existimare totum hunc mundum, qui sacrartum quidem habet, purissimam rerum naturae partem, Coelum; ornamenta, stellas; sacerdotes, administros potentiae ejus, Angelos, & incorporeas animas. The whole World is to be accounted the chiefest Template of God; the Sanctum Sanctorun of it is the purest part of the Universe, Heaven; the ornaments, the Stars; the Priests, the Ministers of His Power, Angels, and immaterial Souls. And as for Christian Philosophers, I suppose it would be needless to enumerate the passages wherein they adapt the Notion of the World already mentioned; and therefore I shall content myself to add, 
Heb. ●. 2, 5.  that the Scripture itself seems to Authorize it by representing to us in the 8th and 9th Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Mosaical Tabernacle, as an adumbration of that Great Temple of the World; and particularly there is a signal Text in the latter of those Chapters, 
Heb. 9.24.  where it is said that Christ is not entered into Holy places made with Hands [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] which are copies of the true [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.  
Upon what account, Pyrophilus, I esteem the World a Temple, I may elsewhere have occasion to Declare; but this for the present: It will not be rash to infer that if the World be a Temple, Man sure must be the Priest, ordained (by being qualified) to celebrate Divine Service not only in it, but for it. For as in Schools, when the Prince or some munificent Benefactor confers some large possession or rich annuity upon the Foundation, though all the Boys be concerned in the benefit, yet because most of them are too young to be sensible of it, or too unlearned to be able to make the retribution of a handsome acknowledgement, either the Master or that other person of the Society, who is most capable and the best spoakesman, is by a kind of natural right engaged to the duty of returning praise and thanks, not for himself alone, but in the name of all the rest: So in the World, where there are so many inanimate and irrational Creatures, that neither understand how much they owe to their Creator, by owing him even themselves, nor are born to a condition enabling them to acknowledge it; Man, as born the Priest of Nature, and as the most obliged and most capable member of it, is bound to return Thanks and Praises to his Maker, not only for himself but for the whole Creation. In which sense we may reconcile those two current Assertions, That God made all things for His own Glory, and that God made all things for Man, and Man for himself. Since whether or no Man be a Microcosm or Little World in Paracelsus' sense, if not as a resembler, yet as a representer of the Macrocosm or Great World, he presents with his own adorations the Homages of all the Creatures to their Creator, though they be ignorant of what is done, as Infants under the Law were of the sacrifices offered on their account. And in this Relation may the Creatures answer the Solemn invitation made them in the whole 148 Psalms, and numerous other Scriptures: which they may do (to borrow a barbarous but significant School-terme) objectively, though not formally; I mean, by proving occasions, though not singers of his praises, and being such objects as prompt and invite Man to pay God that praise upon their score, which they cannot actually pay him themselves; even God's mutest works being capable of being said to praise him in the same sense (though in an incomparably transcendenter degree) that Solomon says of his virtuous Woman (in the last Verse of the Proverbs) Let her own Works praise her in the Gates; that is, 
Prov. 3●. ●3.  give the considerers of them occasion to extol her: and thus by man's referring the knowledge of the Creature to the Creator's Glory, it becomes in some sense, and congruously to its own Nature, the praiser of its Maker, as may seem intimated in this OEconomy of the Last part of one of the Psalms, Bless the Lord, all ye His Hosts, 
Ps. 103:  the Ministers of His that do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His Works, in all places of His Dominion: Bless the Lord, O my Soul. Where by shutting up the rest of God's Creatures betwixt Angels and Man's Soul, he seems to insinuate that the irrational Creatures bless the Lord by the mouth of those that are Intelligent.  
And truly, Pyrophilus, I fear it may relish a little of selfishness, to make such a disparity betwixt Perfections, all of them equal, because all of them infinite, as to let God's mercy, because it most advantages us, so to engross our thoughts, and wonder, as to make us neglect the contemplation of those other Glorious Attributes, his Power and his Wisdom, which were those that exacted both Man and Angel's adoration, before sin gave occasion to the exercise of the first. And I shall not scruple to confess unto you, that I dare not confine the Acts of Devotion to those which most men suppose to comprise the whole exercise of it; not that I at all undervalue, or would depreciate any, even the meanest practices of Devotion, which either Scripture or reason consonant to it recommends; but that I esteem that God may be also acceptably (and perhaps more nobly) served and glorified by our entertaining of high, rational, and as much as our nature is capable of worthy notions, attended with a profound and proportionable admiration of those divine Attributes and Prerogatives for whose manifesting he was pleased to construct this vast Fabric.  
To which purpose I consider, that in the Life to come, when we shall questionless glorify God exactliest, we shall have little either need or use of Faith, Prayer, Liberality, Patience, and resembling Graces; but our Worship will chiefly consist in elevated Notions, and a prostrate Veneration of God's Omnipotence, Wisdom, Goodness, and other Perfections; and such a one as this is represented in the Apocalypse, to be the present employment of the Blessed Spirits in Heaven, where the Elders that assist about the Throne of God, are described, casting their Crowns before it, and saying to him that sits on it, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory, and Honour, and Power: for thou hast created all things, 
Rev. 4.11.  and for thy pleasure they are and were created.  
By this time, Pyrophilus, I hope you begin to think, that the Doctrine that tends to deter Men from enquiring into Nature, is as well derogatory from God's Glory, as prejudicial to Man's Interests. And indeed, I purposed to content myself with the having dispersed throughout the past Discourse, the grounds of answering their Objection against the study of Physiology, who pretend it is apt to make Men Atheists: But because I am much concerned to have you satisfied of so important a Truth, as that which we have hitherto been labouring to evince, I must beg your leave, Pyrophilus, to add, ex abundanti (as they speak) to what has been already alleged, some things that may more directly answer the Objection of our Adversaries, and manifest how little their severity is befriended, either by Scripture, Reason, or Experience.  
And first, it seems not at all probable, That if the Omniscient Author of Nature knew that the study of his Works did really tend to make Men disbelieve his Being or Attributes, he would have given Men so many Invitations, and almost Necessities, to study and contemplate the Nature of his Creatures: Of these Invitations divers have been mentioned already, and more might be added to them, if we thought it requisite. But what has been above alleged, will make us forbear the annexing of any, save that of the ancient Institution of the Sabbath, which many eminent Divines do not groundlessly hold to have been ordained to commemorate the Creation, and give Men the opportunity every Seventh Day to contemplate God in his Works, as he himself was pleased to rest on the first Seventh Day, and contemplate Himself in the works of the first six. And though our Western Churches, for certain Reasons (not here to be enquired into) have long since disused the Solemnising of the Saturday, and appointed the Sunday for the Celebration of both the Works of the Redemption, and Creation of the World together; yet 'tis evident enough that the Primitive Christians did for the most part keep the Saturday as Holiday, as well as the Sunday: For that ancient Book (whoever be resolved to have written it) which goes under the Name of Clement's Constitutions, affords us, among others, these two memorable Passages to our purpose: And first, 
Lib. 7. cap. 24.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (says he) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Keep the Sabbath and the Lords Day as holidays; that being dedicated to the remembrance of the Creation, and this to that of the Redemption: To which we shall add this second Passage of the same Author, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Let Servants work for five days; but on the Sabbath, and the Lordsday, let them attend in the Church the Doctrine of Godliness. To which purpose, I remember the most Learned Grotius observes, 
See of the Abyssine or Aethiopian Christians; and likewise of the Maron●tes in the East, in reference to their Celebration of the Saturday, Alex: Rasse in his view of all Religions, and the Authors by him cited.  That the converted Emperor Constantine, forbade the compelling Christians to appear before Tribunals on either of those Days, as being their Festivals: Nay, and if Modern Travellers do not mis-inform me, I find that divers of the Eastern Churches, particularly the Abyssine Christians, to this day do as well sanctify the Sabbath-day in commemoration of Gods having created the World, as the Lordsday to commemorate the Resurrection of Christ. And as for the Jews sense of the Fourth Commandment, some of the Learnedest of their Critics are pleased to distinguish betwixt the Words Zachôr and Smôr, Remember and Keep, employed in the Command of solemnising the Sabbath: For, the remembering of it they hold to be an act of Religion, performable by all Mankind that are capable of it, and acquainted with its having been commanded; though the keeping of it Holy they suppose only enjoined to the Israelites: On, which occasion, I remember I was one Sabbath-day entertained at his own Lodgings, by a Learned Jew (who taught me the Holy Language) with Meat then newly dressed: to remove my wonder at which, he told me, That it was dressed by Christians, who, being Gentiles, were not obliged to the strict and legal observation of the Sabbath. But whatever be to be thought of this Jewish Notion, yet questionless if the Fourth Commandment do not, at least, divers other Passages of Scripture do much discountenance their severity, who would fright Men from the indagation of Nature. And he that shall duly consider divers Texts obvious enough in the Book of Job, and the Psalms (besides other parts of the Bible) will not readily conclude, that Natural Philosophy and Divinity are at such variance, as the Divines we deal with would persuade us. 
Rom. 1.20.  St Paul seems to inform us, that the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal Power and Godhead: So that they that were mentioned before are without excuse. And though I ignore not, that not only several of the Socinians following their Master Socinus, but some few Orthodox Writers, are pleased to give a very differing Interpretation of that Text, and make the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to signify those things of God that have been Invisible ever since the Creation of the World, and referring the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to things not made, as we Translate it, but done (as the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles) yet I see no necessity why the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be taken in a sense exclusive of the Creation, and not at least admitted to take in all the Ways and Methods employed by God to manifest the invisible things there intimated unto Man: And certainly, however St Paul may be supposed to appear but darkly, yet Job was clearly of a differing Opinion from theirs, who teach, That the study of Nature leads to Atheism: For ask now the Beasts (says he) and they will teach thee, 
Job 12.7, 8, 9  and the Fowls of the Air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the Earth, and it shall teach thee, and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? And consonantly hereunto (which 'twere not amiss for our Adversaries to take notice of) we may observe, That almost all the Writers of Natural Theology, and the most also of those that have laboured to demonstrate the Truth of Christian Religion (divers of whom have been as well Profound Divines, as otherwise Eminent Scholars) have undertaken to evince, by the consideration of the Universe, both that there is a God, and that he is the Author of it: Which I the rather mention, Pyrophilus, because I would not be mistaken, as if I disputed against Divines in general, or were guilty of the least Irreverence towards a Faculty, in whose Study I have thought myself obliged, as a Christian, to spend much of my time; and especially, I would not appear dis-respectful to Divines in England, where they have already been but too much vilified, though questionless for their Sins against God, yet, I fear, not without the Sin of their Oppressors.  
In the next place I consider, That since Physiology is said to tempt to Atheism, but by enabling Men to give an account of all the Phaenomena of Nature, by the knowledge of Second Causes, without taking in the First, it will not be so easy a matter as many presume, for the contemplation of Nature, to turn a considering Man Atheist. For we are yet, for aught I can find, far enough from being able to explicate all the Phaenomena of Nature by any Principles whatsoever. And even of the Atomical Philosophers, whose Sect seems to have the most ingeniously attempted it, some of the eminentest have themselves freely acknowledged to me, their being unable to do it convincingly to others, or so much as satisfactorily to themselves: And indeed, not only the Generation of Animals is a Mystery, which all that Naturalists have said to explain it, hath been far enough from depriving of that Name; but we see that to explicate all the various Phaenomena that belong to that single inanimate, and seemingly homogeneous Body, Mercury, so as not to make any Hypothesis assumed to make out one of its Properties or Effects incongruous to any other Hypothesis requisite to the explanation of any of the rest, hath been hitherto found so difficult, that if our Posterity be not much happier Unriddlers, than our Forefathers, or we have been, it is like to prove a Task capable of defeating the Industry and Attempts, I say not of more than one Philosopher, but of more than one Age; even our Chemical Tortures hitherto, having, from that deluding Proteus, forced no Confessions that bring us not more Wonder then Satisfaction, and do not Beget almost as many Scruples as they Resolve.   

ESSAY IV. Containing a requisite Digression concerning those that would exclude the Deity from intermeddling with Matter.  
I Ignore not that not only Leucippus, Epicurus, and other Atomists of old, but of late some Persons, for the most part Adorers of Aristotle's Writings, have pretended to be able to explicate the first Beginning of Things, and the Worlds Phaenomena, without taking in, or acknowledging any Divine Author of it: And therefore, though we may elsewhere, by the assistance of that Author, have an opportunity to give You an Account of our unsatisfiedness with the Attempts made by some bold Wits in favour of such Pretensions; Yet since the main Truth We plead for, in this Discourse, is so nearly concerned in what hath been taught by those that would keep God from being thought to have any share in the Production of the Universe; I can scarce forbear (as unwilling as I am to digress) to represent to You, on the present occasion, a few Considerations which may assist You, if not to lessen the Arrogance of such Persons, at least, to keep Yourself from thinking their Evidence as great as their Confidence is wont to be. Now of the Philosophers we speak of, some being Atomists, and others not, it will be requisite to say something to each of the two sorts: And because we not long since, in an Illustrious Company, where You, Pyrophilus, are not unknown, met with one of them, who avowedly, grounded his Opinions on the Aristotelean or vulgar Physiology, We shall first recommend to You two or three Considerations concerning such arrogant Peripatetics (For I speak not of that Sect in general, of which I know there are divers excellent Men.)  
First then, You will in many Passages of the following Essays, find, that dive●s things that have been very Magisterially taught, and confidently believed among the Followers of Aristotle, are Errors or Mistakes; and that as several, even of the obvious Phaenomena of Nature, do contradict the common Peripatetic Doctrine, so divers, at least of those that are more abstruse, are not explicable by it; and as confidently as these his Followers talk of the expounding the very Riddles of Nature; yet I remember that he himself somewhere (for I cannot call to mind the place) did not scruple to confess, that As the Eyes of Owls are to the splendour of the Day, so are those of our Minds even to things obvious and manifest.  
I shall next take notice, That Philosophers, who scorn to ascribe any thing to God, do often deceive themselves, in thinking they have sufficiently satisfied our Inquiries, when they have given us the nearest and most immediate caus●s of some things; whereas oftentimes the assignment of those Causes is but the manifesting that such and such Effects may be deduced from the more Catholic affections of things, though these be not unfrequently as abstruse as the Phaenomena explicated by them, as having only their Effects more obvious, not their Nature better understood: As when, for instance, an account is demanded of that strange supposed Sympathy betwixt Quicksilver and Gold; in that we find, that whereas all other Bodies swim upon Quicksilver, it will readily swallow up Gold, and hide it in its Bosom. This pretended Sympathy the Naturalist may explicate, by saying, That Gold being the only Body heavier than Quicksilver of the same bulk, the known Laws of the hydrostatics make it necessary, that Gold should sink in it, and all lighter Bodies swim on it: But though the cause of this Effect be thus plausibly assigned, by deducing it from so known and obvious an affection of Bodies, as Gravity, which every man is apt to think he sufficiently understands; yet will not this put a satisfactory period to a severe Inquirers Curiosity, who will, perchance, be apt to allege, 

Physiologo qui veritatem contemplatur ultimarum causarum cognitio non finis est, sed initium ad primas supremasque causas proficiscendi. Pluta●ch: lib. de primo Frigido.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aristot. Ethic. Nicom. lib. 3. cap. 8.   That though the Effects of Gravity indeed be very obvious, yet the Cause and Nature of it are as obscure as those of almost any Phaenomena it can be brought to explicate. And that therefore he that desires no further account, desists too soon from his Inquiries, and acquiesces long before he comes to his Journeys end. And indeed, the investigation of the true nature and adequate cause of gravity, is a task of that difficulty, that in spite of aught I have hitherto seen or read, I must yet retain great doubts whether they have been clearly and solidly made out by any Man. And sure, Pyrophilus, there are divers Effects in Nature, of which, though the immediate Cause may be plausibly assigned, yet if we further inquire into the Causes of those Causes, and desist not from ascending in the Scale of Causes till we are arrived at the top of it, we shall perhaps find the more Catholic and Primary causes of Things, to be either certain, primitive, general and fixed Laws of Nature (or rules of Action and Passion among the parcels of the Universal Matter) or else the Shape, Size, Motion, and other primary Affections of the smallest parts of Matter, and of their first Coalitions or Clusters: especially those endowed with seminal Faculties or Properties, or (to dispatch) the admirable conspiring of the several parts of the Universe to the production of particular Effects; of all which it will be difficult to give a satisfactory Account, without acknowledging an intelligent Author or Disposer of Things.  
And the better to clear so weighty a Truth, let us further consider on this occasion, That not only Aristotle, and those that, misled by his Authority, maintain the Eternity of the World, but very many other Philosophers and Physicians, who ascribe so much to Nature, that they will not be reduced to acknowledge an Author of it, are wont very much to delude both themselves and others in the account they presume to give us, as satisfactory of the Causes or Reasons of very many Effects: I will not instance in the Magnetic Properties of Things, nor any of those numerous abstrusities of Nature, which 'tis well known that the Aristoteleans are wont to refer to Sympathy, Antipathy, or Occult Qualities, and strive to put Men off with empty Names, whereby they do not so much lessen our Ignorance, as betray their own.  
But I shall instance in those more obvious Phaenomena, of which they suppose they have given us very satisfactory Accounts: If you ask one of those I speak of, whence it comes to pass that if a Man put one end of a long Reed into a Vessel full of Water, and suck at the other end, his Mouth will be immediately filled with that Liquor; he will readily tell you, That the Suction drawing the Air out of the cavity of the Reed, the Water must necessarily succeed in the place deserted by the Air, to prevent a Vacuity abhorred by Nature. If you likewise ask such a Man, Why to Women about a certain Age, their Purgationes Menstruae do commonly supervene, he will think he has sufficiently answered you, when he has told you, that about that Age, beginning to beripe for Procreation, Nature has wisely provided that their superfluous Blood should be sent to the Uterine Vessels, partly to disburden the Mass of Blood of an useless load, and partly to contribute Matter, or at least afford Nourishment in case of Conception. But though these Solutions are wont to be acquiesced in by such as those that give them, yet I see not how they can satisfy a rigid Reasoner. For not now to mention what may be objected against them out of some Modern Mechanical and Anatomical Observations, let us a little consider, that to say that the ascent of the Water in the first Problem, proceeds from Nature's Detestation of a Vacuity, supposes that there is a kind of Anima Mundi, furnished with various Passions, which watchfully provides for the safety of the Universe; or that a Brute and Inanimate Creature, as Water, not only has a power to move its heavy Body upwards, contrary (to speak in their Language) to the tendency of its particular Nature, but knows both that Air has been sucked out of the Reed, and that unless it succeed the attracted Air, there will follow a Vacuum; and that this Water is withal so generous, as by ascending, to act contrary to its particular inclination for the general good of the Universe, like a Noble Patriot, that sacrifices his particular Interests to the public ones of his Country.  
But to show Men by an easy Experiment how little Attraction is performed to avoid a Vacuum, I have sometimes done thus; I have taken a slender Pipe of Glass, of about four Foot long, and putting one of the open ends of it into a Vessel full of Quicksilver, I have sucked as stronly as I could at the other, and caused one to watch the ascent of the Quicksilver, and mark where it was at the highest, and I found not that at one suck, I could raise it up much above a Foot; and having caused a couple of strong Men, one after another, to suck at the same end of the same Pipe, I found not that either of them could draw it up much higher. Nor did it appear that by repeated Suctions, though the upper end of the Pipe were each time stopped, to hinder the relapse of the Quicksilver, it could at all be raised above the seven and twenty Digits at which it used to subsist in the Torrecellian Experiment De Vacuo: Whereas the same end of that Tube being put into a small Vessel of Water, I could at one suck make the Water swiftly ascend thorough the perpendicularly held Tube into my Mouth, which argues, that the ascension of Liquors upon Suction, rather depends upon the pressure of the Air, and their respective measures of Gravity and Lightness compared to that Pressure, than it proceeds from such an abhorrency of a Vacuum as is presumed.  
And so likewise in the other Question proposed, it is employed, that there is in a Female Body something, that knows the rule of Physicians, that of a Plethora, the Cure is the convenient Evacuation of Blood, and that this intelligent Faculty is wise enough also to propose to itself the double end abovementioned, in this Evacuation, and therefore will not provide a Quantity of Blood great enough to require an Excretion, nor begin it till the Female be come to an Age wherein 'tis possible for both the Ends to be obtained; & that also this presiding Nature is so charitable, as that Mankind might not fail, it will make the Female subject to such Monthly Superfluities of Blood, from which Experience informs us, that a whole Set of Diseases peculiar to that Sex, does frequently proceed. And in a word, there is a multitude of Problems, especially such as belong to the use of the Parts of a humane Body, and to the Causes and Cures of the Diseases incident thereunto, in whose Explication those we write of, content themselves to tell us, That Nature does such and such a thing, because it was fit for her so to do; but they endeavour not to make intelligible to us, what they mean by this Nature, and how mere, and consequently bruit, Bodies can act according to Laws, and for determinate Ends, without any knowledge either of the one or of the other. Let them therefore, till they have made out their Hypothesis more intelligibly, either cease to ascribe to irrational Creatures such Actions as in Men are apparently the Productions of Reason and Choice, and sometimes even of Industry and Virtue; or else let them with us acknowledge, that such Actions of Creatures in themselves Irrational, are performed under the superintendence and guidance of a Wise and Intelligent Author of Things. But that you may not mistake me, Pyrophilus, it will be requisite for me, to acquaint you in two or three words with some of my present thoughts concerning this subject: That there are some Actions so peculiar to Man, upon the account of his Intellect and Will, that they cannot be satisfactorily explicated after the manner of the Actings of mere corporeal Agents, I am very much inclined to believe: And whether or no there may be some Actions of some other Animals, which cannot well be Mechanically explicated, I have not here leisure or opportunity to examine. But for (most of) the other Phaenomena of Nature, methinks we may, without absurdity, conceive, That God, of whom in the Scripture 'tis affirmed, That all his Works are known to him from the Beginning; having resolved, 
Acts 15.18.  before the Creation, to make such a World as this of Ours, did divide (at least if he did not create it incoherent) that Matter which he had provided into an innumerable multitude of very variously figured Corpuscles, and both connected those Particles into such Textures or particular Bodies, and placed them in such Situations, and put them into such Motions, that by the assistance of his ordinary preserving Concourse, the Phaenomena, which he intended should appear in the Universe, must as orderly follow, and be exhibited by the Bodies necessarily acting according to those Impressions or Laws, though they understand them not at all, as if each of those Creatures had a Design of Self-preservation, and were furnished with Knowledge and Industry to prosecute it; and as if there were diffused through the Universe an intelligent Being, watchful over the public Good of it, and careful to Administer all things wisely for the good of the particular Parts of it, but so far forth as is consistent with the Good of the whole, and the preservation of the Primitive and Catholic Laws established by the Supreme Cause. As in the formerly mentioned Clock of Strasburg, the several Pieces making up that curious Engine, are so framed and adapted, and are put into such a motion, that though the numerous Wheels, and other parts of it, move several ways, and that without any thing either of Knowledge or Design; yet each performs its part in order to the various Ends for which it was contrived, as regularly and uniformly as if it knew and were concerned to do its Duty; and the various Motions of the Wheels, and other parts concur to exhibit the Phaenomena designed by the Artificer in the Engine, as exactly as if they were animated by a common Principle, which makes them knowingly conspire to do so, and might, to a rude Indian, seem to be more intelligent than Cunradus Dasypodius himself, that published a Description of it, wherein he tells the World, That he contrived it, who could not tell the hours and measure time so accuratly as his Clock. And according to this Notion, if you be pleased to bear it in your memory, Pyrophilus, you may easily apprehend in what sense I use many common Phrases, which custom hath so authorized, that we can scarce write of Physiological subjects without employing either them, or frequent and tedious Circumlocutions in their stead: Thus when I say, that a stone endeavours to descend towards the Centre of the Earth, or that being put into a Vessel of Water, it affects the lowest place: I mean that not such a Mathematical Point as the Centre of the Earth, hath power to attract all heavy Bodies, the least of which, it being a point, it cannot harbour; or that a Stone does really aim at that unknown and unattainable Centre; but that, as we say, that a Man strives or endeavours to go to any place, at which he would quickly arrive, if he were not forcibly hindered by some Body that holds him fast where he is, and will not let him go: So a Stone may be said to strive to descend, when either by the Magnetical Steams of the Earth, or the pressure of some subtle Matter incumbent on it, or by what ever else may be the cause of Gravity, the Stone is so determined to tend downwards, that if all Impediments, interposed by the Neighbouring Bodies, were removed, it would certainly and directly fall to the ground; or being put into a Vessel with Water, or any other Liquor much less heavy than itself (for on Quicksilver, which is heavier, Stones will swim) the same Gravity will make it subside to the bottom of the Vessel, and consequently thrust away its bulk of Water, which though heavy in itself, yet because it is less ponderous than the Stone, seems to be light. And so in our late instance in the Clock, if it be said that the Hand that points at the Hours affects a circular motion, because it constantly moves round the Centre of the Dial-plate, 'tis evident that the inanimate piece of Metal affects not that motion more than any other, but only that the impression it receives from the Wheels, and the adaptation of the rest of the Engine, determine it to move after that manner. And although if a Man should with his Finger stop that Index from proceeding in its course, it may be said, in some sense, that it strives or endeavours to prosecute its former Circular Motion; yet that will signify no more, then that by virtue of the Contrivance of the Engine, the Index is so impelled, that, if the Obstacle, put by the Finger of him that stops it, were taken away, the Index would move onwards, from that part of the Circle where it was stopped, towards the mark of the next Hour. Nor do I by this, Pyrophilus, deny that it may in a right sense be said, as it is wont to be in the Schools, that Opus Naturae est opus Intelligentiae: Neither do I reject such common Expressions as Nature always affects and intends that which is best, and Nature doth nothing in vain. For since I must, according to the abovementioned Notion, refer many of the actions of irrational Creatures to a most wise Disposer of Things, it can scarce seem strange to me, that in those particulars in which the Author intended, and it was requisite that irrational Creatures should operate so and so for their own Preservation, or the Propagation of their Species, or the public good of the Universe, their Actions being ordered by a Reason transcending Ours, should not only oftentimes resemble the Actings of Reason in Us, but sometimes even surpass them. As in effect we see that Silkworms and Spiders can, without being taught, spin much more curiously their Balls and Webs, than our best Spinsters could; and that several Birds can build and fasten their Nests more Artificially than many a Man, or perhaps any Man could frame and fasten such little and elaborate Buildings. And the Industries of Foxes, Bees, and divers other Beasts, are such, that 'tis not much to be wondered at that those Creatures should have Reasons ascribed to them by divers Learned Men, who yet perhaps would be less confident, if they considered how much may be said for the Immortality of all rational Souls. And that the subtle Actings of these Beasts are determined to some few Particulars requisite for their own Preservation, or that of their Species; whereas on all other occasions, they seem to betray their want of Reason, and by their Voice and Gestures seem to express nothing, but the Natural Passions, and not any Rational or Logical Conceptions. And therefore, as when (to resume our former comparison) I see in a curious Clock, how orderly every Wheel and other part performs its own Motions, and with what seeming Unanimity they conspire to show the Hour, and accomplish the other Designs of the Artificer, I do not imagine that any of the Wheels, etc. or the Engine itself is endowed with Reason, but commend that of the Workman who framed it so Artificially. So when I contemplate the Actions of those several Creatures that make up the World, I do not conclude, the inanimate Pieces, at least, that 'tis made up of, or the vast Engine itself, to act with Reason or Design, but admire and praise the most wise Author, who by his admirable Contrivance can so regularly produce Effects, to which so great a number of successive and conspiring Causes are required.  
And thus much, Pyrophilus, having been represented concerning those, that rejecting from the Production and Preservation of Things, all but Nature, yet embrace the Principles of the vulgar Philosophy, you will perhaps think it more then enough: but Object, That what is not to be expected from the barren Principles of the Schools, may yet be performed by those Atomical ones which we ourselves have within not very many Pages seemed to acknowledge Ingenious. And I know indeed, that the modern Admirers of Epicurus confidently enough pretend, that he and his Expositors have already, without being beholding to a Deity, clearly made out, at least the Origine of the World, and of the principal Bodies 'tis made up of: But I confess, I am so far from being convinced of this, that I have been confirmed rather, then unsettled in my Opinion, of the difficulty of making out the Original of the World, and of the Creatures, especially the living Ones that compose it, by considering the accounts which are given us of the Nativity (if I may so speak) of the Universe, and of the Animals, by those great Denyers of Creation and Providence, Epicurus, and his Parapharst Lucretius: Whose having shown themselves (as I freely confess they have) very subtle Philosophers in explicating divers Mysteries of Nature, ought not so much to recommend to us their impious Errors, about the Original of Things, as to let us see the necessity of ascribing it to an Intelligent Cause. This then is the account of this matter, which is given us by Epicurus himself, in that Epistle of his to Herodotus, which we find in Diogenes Laertius: Quod ad Meteora attinet existimari non oportet, aut motum, aut conversionem, aut Ecclipsin, aut or●um occasumuè, aut al●a hujuscemodi ideo fieri quod sit Praefectus aliquis, qui sic disponat, disposuerituè ac simul beatitudinem immortalitatemque possideat: And having interposed some Lines, to prove that the Providence of God is not consistent with his Felicity, he adds, Quare opinandum est, tum cum Mundus procreatus est, factos fuisse eos circumplexus convolventium se Atomorum, ut nata fuerit haec necessitas, quâ circuitus tales obierint: And elsewhere in the same Epistle, Infiniti (says he) sunt mundi, alii similes isti, alii vero dissimiles. Quip Atomies cum sint infinitae, ut non multo ante demonstratum est per infinitatem spatiorum, & alibi aliae, ac procul ab hoc ad fabrefactionem Mundorum infinitorum variè concurrunt. And lest this Epicurean Explication of the World's Original should seem to owe all its unsatisfactoriness to its obscure brevity, we shall not scruple to give you that elegant Paraphrase and Exposition of it, which Lucretius has delivered in his 5th Book, De Rerum Natura: 
Sed quibus ille modis, conjectus, materiai  
Fundarit Coelum, ac Terram Pontique profunda  
Solis, Lunai cursus ex ordine ponam,  
Nam certe, neque conciliis primordia rerum  
Ordine se quaeque atque sagaci ment locarunt,  
Nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigere profectò:  
Sed quia multa modis multis primordia rerum  
Ex infinito jam tempore percita plagis,  
Ponderibusque suis, consuerunt concita ferri,  
Omnimodisque coire, atque omnia pertentare,  
Quaecunque inter se possent congressa creare;  
Propterea fit, ut magnum volgata per aewm,  
Omnigenos coetus & motus experiundo,  
Tandem conveniant: ea quae conjuncta repentè  
Magnarum rerum fiant exordia soepè  
Terrai maris, & coeli generisque animantum.   
The Hypothesis expressed in these Verses (which please our Author so well, that he has almost the same Lines in several other places of his Poem) he prosecutes and applies to some particular parts of the Universe in the same 5th Book: But whilst he thus refuseth to allow God an Interest in the World's production, his Hypothesis requires that we should allow him several things, which he doth assume, not prove: As First, That Matter is Eternal. 2. That from Eternity it was actually divided, and that into such insensibly small parts, as may deserve the name of Atoms; whereas it may be supposed, that Matter, though Eternal, was at first one coherent Mass, it belonging to Matter to be divisible, but not so of necessity, to be actually divided. 3. That the number of these Atoms is really infinite. 4. That these Atoms have an inane Infinitum (as the Epicureans speak) to move in. 5. That these Atoms are endowed with an almost infinite variety of determinate Figures, some being round, others cubical, others hooked, others conical, etc. whereas not to mention beforehand what we may elsewhere object, besides against this Assumption, he shows not why, nor how this Atom c●me to be Spherical rather then Conical, and another Hooked rather than Pyramidal: But these Assumptions I insist not on, because of two others much more considerable, which our Author is fain to take for granted in his Hypothesis: For 6ly, He supposes his Eternal Atoms to have from Eternity been their own Movers, whereas it is plain that Motion is no way necessary to the Essence of Matter, which seems to consist in extension: For Matter is no less Matter, when it rests, than when it is in motion; and we daily see many parcels of Matter pass from the state of motion to that of rest, and from this to that, communicating their motion to Matter that lay still before, and thereby losing it themselves. Nor has any Man, that I know, satisfactorily made out how Matter can move itself: And indeed, in the Bodies which we here below converse withal, we scarce find that any thing is moved but by something else; and even in these motions of Animals that seem spontaneous, the Will or Appetite doth not produce the motion of the Animal, but guide and determine that of the Spirits, which by the Nerves move the Muscles, and so the whole Body, as may appear by the weariness and unweildiness of Animals, when by much motion the Spirits are spent. And accordingly I find that Anaxagoras, though he believed, as Aristotle did after him, that Matter was Eternal, yet he discerned that the notion of Matter not necessarily including motion, there was a necessity of taking in a Mens, as he styles God, to set this sluggish Matter a moving. And I remember Aristotle himself, in one place of his Metaphysics, 
Aristot: Metaphys: lib. 12. cap. 6.  disputing against some of the ancienter Philosophers, asks, Quonamque modo movebuntur si nulla erit actu causa? non enim ipsa materia seipsam movebit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rerum opifex Virtus: But though elsewhere I have met with Passages of his near of kin to this, yet he seems not to express his Opinion uniformly and clearly enough to engage me to define it or make a Weapon of it: And therefore I shall rather proceed to take notice, That according to the Epicurean Hypothesis, not only the motion, but the determination of that motion is supposed. For Epicurus will have his Atoms move downwards, and that not in parallel Lines, lest they should never meet to constitute the World, but according to Lines somewhat inclining towards one another; so that there must be not only motion, but gravity in Atoms, before there be any Centre of gravity for them to move towards; and they must move rather downwards then upwards, or side-ways, and in such Lines as nothing is produced capable of confining them to. Which are Assumptions so bold and precarious, that I find some, even of his Admirers, to be ashamed of them: Which will save me the labour of arguing against them, and allow me to take notice in the 7th place, That this Epicurean Doctrine supposes that a sufficient number of Atoms, and their motion downwards being granted, there will need nothing but their fortuitous concourse in their fall, to give a Being to all those bodies that make up the World. Indeed, that the various coalitions of Atoms, or at least small Particles of Matter, might have constituted the World, had not been perhaps a very absurd Opinion for a Philosopher, if he had, as Reason requires, supposed that the great Mass of lazy Matter was Created by God at the Beginning, and by Him put into a swift and various motion, whereby it was actually divided into small Parts of several Sizes and Figures, whose motion and cross of each other were so guided by God, as to constitute, by their occursions and coalitions, the great inanimate parts of the Universe, and the seminal Principles of animated Concretions. And therefore I wonder not much that the Milesian Thales (the first of the Grecian Philosophers (as Cicero informs us) that enquired into these matters) should hold that Opinion which Tully expresses in these Words: 
De Nat: Deorum, lib. 10.  Aquam dixit esse initium rerum, Deum autem eam Mentem quae ex aqua cuncta finxerat: And that of Anaxagoras, the same Author should give us this account, 
Idem ibidem.  Omnium rerum descriptionem & modum mentis infinitae vi ac ratione ratione designari & confici voluit: For though these great Men exceedingly erred, in thinking it necessary that God should be provided of a pre-existent, and by him not created Matter to make the World of, yet at least they discerned and acknowledged the necessity of a Wise and Powerful Agent to dispose and fashion this rude Matter, and contrive it into so goodly a Structure, as we behold, without imagining with Epicurus, that chance should turn a Chaos into a World. And really it is much more unlikely, that so many admirable Creatures that constitute this one exquisite and stupendous Fabric of the World should be made by the casual confluence of falling Atoms, justling or knocking one another in the immense vacuity, then that in a Printers Working-house a multitude of small Letters, being thrown upon the Ground, should fall disposed into such an order, as clearly to exhibit the History of the Creation of the World, described in the 3 or 4 first Chapters of Genesis, of which History, it may be doubted whether chance may ever be able to dispose the fallen Letters into the Words of one Line. I ignore not that sometimes odd Figures, and almost Pictures may be met with, and may seem casually produced in Stones, and divers other inanimate Bodies: And I am so far from denying this, that I may elsewhere have opportunity to show You, that I have been no careless Observer of such Varieties.  
But first, even in divers Minerals, as we may see in Nitre, Crystal, and several others, the Figures that are admired are not produced by chance, but by something analogous to seminal Principles, as may appear by their uniform regularity in the same sort of Concretions, and by the practice of some of the skilfullest of the Saltpetre Men, who when they have drawn as much Nitre as they can out of the Nitrous Earth, cast not the Earth away, but preserve it in heaps for six or seven Years; at the end of which time, they find it impregnated with new Saltpetre, produced chiefly by the seminal Principle of Nitre implanted in that Earth. To prove that Metalline Bodies were not all made at the beginning of the World, but have some of them a Power, though slowly to propagate their Nature when they meet with a disposed Matter; you may find many notable Testimonies and Relations in a little Book of Physico-Chymical Questions, Written by Jo: Conradus Gerhardus, a German Doctor, and most of them recited (together with some of his own) by the Learned Sennertus: But lest you should suspect the Narratives of these Authors, as somewhat partial to their Fellow Chemists Opinions, I shall here annex that memorable Relation which I find Recorded by Linschoten, and Garcias ab Horto, a pair of unsuspected Writers in this case concerning Diamonds, whereby it may appear that the seminal Principles of those precious Stones, as of Plants, are lodged in the Bowels of the Mine they grow in: Diamonds (says the first, in that Chapter of his Travels where he treats of those Jewels) are digged like Gold out of Mines, where they digged one year the length of a Man into the Ground, within three or four years after there are found Diamonds again in the same place, which grow there; sometimes they find Diamonds of 400 or 800 Grains. 
Simpl: in India nascenti. lib. 1. cap. 47.  Adamantes (says the latter) qui altissimè in terrae visceribus, multisque annis perfici debebant in summo fere solo generantur & duorum aut trium annorum spatio perficiuntur: Nam si in ipsa fodina hoc anno ad cubiti altitudinem fodias Adamantes reperies. Post biennium rursus illic excavato ibidem, invenies Adamantes. And next, how inconsiderable, alas, are these supposed Productions of Chance, in comparison of the elaborate Contrivances of Nature in Animals? since in the Body of Man, for instance, of so many hundred Parts it is made up of, there is scarce any that can be either left out, or made otherwise then as it is, or placed elsewhere then where it is, without an apparent detriment to that curious Engine; some of whose parts, as the Eye, and the valves of the Veins, would be so unfit for any thing else, and are so fitted for the uses that are made of them, that 'tis so far from being likely that such skilful Contrivances should be made by any Being not intelligent, that they require a more than ordinary Intelligence to comprehend how skilfully they are made.  
As for the account that Lucretius, out of Epicurus, gives us of the first Production of Men, in I know not what Wombs adhering to the Ground, and which much more becomes him as a Poet, then as a Philosopher, I shall not here waste time to manifest its unlikelyness, that witty Father 
* Tanta ergo qui videat, & talia potest existimare nullo aff●cta esse consilio, nulla p●ov●●●nt●a, nulla rat●one divinâ, s●d 〈◊〉 subtil●bus ex 〈…〉 ●ss● tanta m●racula▪ Nun p●od●g●o simile est, aut natum esse hom●nem qui haec d●ceret, ut Lucippum, aut ext●t●●s● qui creder●t, ut Democ●itum, qui aud●tor ejus fu●t, vel Ep●cu●●m in quem v●nita● omni●●e Lucippi fonte profluxit. lib. 2. cap. 11  Lactantius having already done that copiously for me. And indeed it seems so pure a Fiction, that were it not that the Hypothesis he took upon him to maintain, could scarce afford him any less extravagant account of the Original of Animals, The unsuitableness of this Romance, to those excellent Notions with which he has enriched divers other parts of his Works, would make me apt to suspect, that when he writ this part of his Poem, he was in one of the Fits of that Frenzy, which some, even of his Admirers, suppose him to have been put into by a Philtre given him by his either Wife, or Mrs Lucillia; in the Intervals of which, they say, that he writ his Books.  
And here let us further consider, That as confidently as many Atomists, and other Naturalists, presume to know the true and genuine Causes of the Things they attempt to explicate, yet very often the utmost they can attain to in their Explications, is, That the explicated Phaenomena May be produced after such a Manner as they deliver, but not that they really Are so: For as an Artificer can set all the Wheels of a Clock a going, as well with Springs as with Weights, and may with violence discharge a Bullet out of the Barrel of a Gun, not only by means of Gunpowder, but of compressed Air, and even of a Spring. So the same Effects may be produced by divers Causes different from one another; and it will oftentimes be very difficult, if not impossible for our dim Reasons to discern surely which of those several ways, whereby it is possible for Nature to produce the same Phaenomena she has really made use of to exhibit them. And sure, he that in a skilful Watch-makers Shop shall observe how many several ways Watches and Clocks may be contrived, and yet all of them show the same things, and shall consider how apt an ordinary Man, that had never seen the inside but of one sort of Watches, would be, to think that all these are contrived after the same manner, as that whose Fabric he has already taken notice of; such a Person, I say, will scarce be backward to think that so admirable an Engineer as Nature, by many pieces of her Workmanship, appears to be, can, by very various and differing Contrivances, perform the same things; and that it is a very easy mistake for Men to conclude, that because an Effect may be produced by such determinate Causes, it must be so, or actually is so. And as confident as those we speak of use to be, of knowing the true and adequate Causes of Things, yet Epicurus himself, as appears by ancient Testimony, and by his own Writings, was more modest, not only contenting himself, on many occasions, to propose several possible ways whereby a Phaenomenon may be accounted for, but sometimes seeming to dislike the so pitching upon any one Explication, as to exclude and reject all others: And some Modern Philosophers that much favour his Doctrine, do likewise imitate his Example, in pretending to assign not precisely the true, but possible Causes of the Phaenomenon they endeavour to explain. And I remember, that Aristotle himself (what ever confidence he sometimes seems to express) does in his first Book of Meteors ingeniously confess, that concerning many of Nature's Phaenomena, he thinks it sufficient that they May be so performed as he explicates them. But granting that we did never so certainly know in the general that these Phaenomena of Nature must proceed from the Magnitudes, Figures, Motions, and thence resulting Qualities of Atoms, yet we may be very much to seek as to the particular Causes of this or that particular Effect or Event: For it is one thing to be able to show it possible for such and such Effects to proceed from the Various Magnitudes, Shapes, Motions, and Concretions of Atoms, and another thing to be able to declare what precise, and determinate Figures, Sizes, and Motions of Atoms, will suffice to make out the proposed Phaenomena, without incongruity to any others to be met with in Nature: As it is one thing for a Man ignorant of the Mechanics to make it plausible, that the motions of the famed Clock at Strasburge are performed by the means of certain Wheels, Springs, and Weights, etc. and another to be able to describe distinctly, the Magnitude, Figures, Proportions, Motions, and (in short) the whole Contrivance either of that admirable Engine, or some other capable to perform the same things.  
Nay, a Lover of disputing would proceed farther, and question that way of reasoning, which even the eminentest Atomists are wont to employ to demonstrate that they explicate things aright.  
For the grand Argument by which they use to confirm the truth of their Explications, is, That either the Phaenomenon must be explicated after the manner by them specified, or else it cannot at all be explicated intelligibly: In what sense we disallow not, but rather approve this kind of Ratiocination, we may elsewhere tell you. But that which is in this place more fit to be represented, is, That this way of arguing seems not in our present case so Cogent, as they that are wont to employ it think it to be: For besides that, it is bold to affirm and hard to prove that, what they cannot yet explicate by their Principles, cannot possibly be explicated by any other Men, or any other Philosophy; besides this, I say, that which they would reduce their Adversaries to, as an Absurdity, seems not to deserve that name: For supposing the Argument to be conclusive, That either the proposed Explication must be allowed, or Men can give none at all that is intelligible, I see not what absurdity it were to admit of the consequence: For who has demonstrated to us, That Men must be able to explicate all Nature's Phaenomena, especially since divers of them are so abstruse, that even the Learned'st Atomists scruple not to acknowledge their being unable to give an account of them. And how will it be proved that the Omniscient God, or that admirable Contriver, Nature, can exhibit Phaenomena by no ways, but such as are explicable by the dim Reason of Man? I say, Explicable rather then Intelligible; because there may be things, which though we might understand well enough, if God, or some more intelligent Being then our own, did make it h●s Work to inform us of them, yet we should never of ourselves find out those Truths. As an ordinary Watchmaker may be able to understand the curiousest Contrivance of the skilfullest Artificer, if this Man take care to explain his Engine to him, but would never have understood it if he had not been taught. Whereas to explicate the Nature and Causes of the Phaenomena we are speaking of, we must not only be able to understand, but to investigate them.  
And whereas it is peremptorily insisted on by some Epicureans, who thereby pretend to demonstrate the excellency and certainty of their Explications, that according to them, Nature is declared to produce things in the way that is most facile and agreeable to our Reason: It may be replied, That what we are to inquire after, is, how Things have been, or are really produced, not whether or no the manner of their Production be such, as may the most easily be understood by us: For if all things were, as those we reason withal maintain, casually produced, there is no reason to imagine that Chance considered what manner of their Production would be the most easily intelligible to us. And if God be allowed to be, as indeed he is, the Author of the Universe, how will it appear that He, whose Knowledge infinitely transcends ours, and who may be supposed to operate according to the Dictates of his own immense Wisdom, should, in his Creating of things, have respect to the measure and ease of Humane Understandings, and not rather, if of any, of Angelical Intellects, so that whether it be to God, or to Chance, that we ascribe the Production of things, that way may often be fittest or likeliest for Nature to work by, which is not easiest for us to understand.  
And as for the way of arguing, so often employed (especially against the Truth we now contend for) and so much relied on by many Modern Philosophers, namely, That they cannot clearly conceive such or such a thing proposed, and therefore think it fit to be rejected; I shall readily agree with them in the not being forward to assent to any thing, especially in Philosophy, that cannot well be conceived by knowing and considering Men: But there is so much difference among Men, as to their faculty of framing distinct Notions of th●ngs, and through men's partiality or lazyness, many a particular Person is so much more apt, than these Men seem to be aware of, to think, or at least, to pretend, that he cannot conceive, what he has no mind to assent to, that a Man had need be wary how he rejects Opinions, that are impugned only by this way of Ratiocination, by which, I hope, it will not be expected that we should be more prevailed with, than that Sect of Philosophers that employs it most. And among those that resolve the Phaenomena of Nature into the Mechanical Powers of Things, or the various Figures, Sizes and Motions of the parts of Matter; I meet with some, as the Epicureans, who tell us, They cannot frame a Notion of an Incorporeal Substance or Spirit, nor conceive how, if the Soul were such, it could act upon the Body: And yet others that seem no less speculative, seriously and solemnly profess, That they can conceive a clear and distinct Notion of a Spirit, which they believe the humane Soul, that regulates at least, if not produces divers Motions of the Body, to be; denying on the other side, That it can be clearly conceived, either that any thing that is only material can think, or that there can possibly be any Vacuum (that is, Place without any Body) in the Universe; both which the Epicureans profess themselves not only to conceive as Possible, but to believe as True.  
And thus much, Pyrophilus, it may suffice to have said in relation to those who would reject God from having any thing to do, either in the Production or Government of the World, upon this ground, that they, if you will believe them, can explicate the Original and Phaenomena of it without him; but 'tis not all, nor the greatest part of the Favourers of the Atomical Philosophy, that presume so much of themselves, and derogate so much from God: To say therefore something to the more moderate and judicious of that Persuasion, we will candidly propose on their behalf the most plausible Objection we can foresee against the Truth we have been all this while pleading for. They may then thus argue against us, That though the Atomists cannot sufficiently demonstrate from what Natural Causes every particular Effect proceeds, and satisfactorily explicate after what determinate manner each particular Phaenomenon is produced; yet it may suffice to take away the necessity of having recourse to a Deity, that they can make out in general, That all the things that appear in the World, may, and must be performed by merely corporeal Agents; or if you please, That all Natures Phaenomena may be produced by the parcels of the great Mass of Universal Matter, variously shaped, connected, and moved. As a Man that sees a screwed Gun shot off, though he may not be able to describe the number, bigness, shape and coaptation of all the Pieces of the Lock, Stock, and Barrel, yet he may readily conceive that the Effects of the Gun, how wonderful soever they may seem, may be performed by certain pieces of Steel or I●on, and some parcels of Wood, of Gun powder, and of Lead, all fashioned and put together according to the exigency of the Engine, and will not doubt, but that they are produced by the power of some such Mechanical Contrivance of things purely Corporeal, without the assistance of spiritual or supernatural Agents.  
In answer to this Objection, I must first profess to you, That I make a great doubt whether there be not some Phaenomena in Nature, which the Atomists cannot satisfactorily explain by any Figuration, Motion, or Connection of material Particles whatsoever: For some Faculties and Operations of the reasonable Soul in Man, are of so peculiar and transcendent a kind, that as I have not yet found them solidly explicated by corporeal Principles, so I expect not to see them in haste made out by such. And if a spiritual Substance be admitted to enter the Composition of a Man, and to act by and upon his Body; besides that, one of the chief and fundamental Doctrines of the Epicureans (namely, That there is nothing in the Universe but Corpus and Inane) will thereby be subverted; it will appear that an Incorporeal and Intelligent Being may work upon Matter, which would argue, at least a possibility that there may be a spiritual Deity, and that he may intermeddle with, and have an influence upon the Operations of things Corporeal: But to insist no longer on this, let us give a further and direct Answer to the proposed Objection, by representing, That although as things are now established in the World, an Atomist were able to explain the Phaenomena we meet with, by supposing the parts of Matter to be of such Sizes, and such Shapes, and to be moved after such a manner as is agreeable to the Nature of the particular Phaenomenon to be thereby exhibited, yet it would not thence necessarily follow, That at the fi●st production of the World, there was no need of a most powerful and intelligent Being to dispose that Chaos, or confused heap of numberless Atoms into the World, to establish the universal and conspiring Harmony of things; and especially to connect those Atoms into those various seminal Contextures, upon which most of the more abstruse Operations, and elaborate Productions of Nature appear to depend: For many things may be performed by Matter variously figured and moved, which yet would never be performed by it, if it had been still left to itself without being, at first at least, fashioned after such a manner, and put into such a Motion by an Intelligent Agent. As the Quill that a Philosopher writes with, being dipped in Ink, and then moved after such and such a manner upon White Paper, all which are Corporeal things, may very well trace an excellent and rational Discourse; but the Quill would never have been moved after the requisite manner upon the Paper, had not its motion been guided and regulated by the Understanding of the Writer: Or rather, yet once more to resume our former Example of the Strasbourgh Clock, though a skilful Artist, admitted to examine and consider it, both without and within, may very well discern that such Wheels, Springs, Weights, and other Pieces of which the Engine consists, being set together in such a coaptation, are sufficient to produce such and such Motions, and such other Effects as that Clock is celebrated for, yet the more he discerns the aptness and sufficiency of the parts to produce the Effects emergent from them, the less he will be apt to suspect that so curious an Engine was produced by any casual concurrence of the Parts it consists of, and not rather by the skill of an intelligent and ingenious Contriver; or that the Wheels, and other parts, were of this or that Size, or this or that determinate Shape, for any other reason, then because it pleased the Artificer to make them so; though the reason that moved the Artificer to employ such Figures and Quantities, sooner than others, may well be supposed to have been, that the Nature of his Design made him think them very proper and commodious for its accomplishment, if not better than any other suited to the several Exigencies of it.  
If an Epicurean should be told, that a Man, after having been for some days really dead, became alive again, I think it will not be doubted, but that he would reject such a Relation as impossible, and therefore too manifestly false to be believed by any Man in his Wits: And yet, according to his Principles, the Man, as well Soul as Body, consisted only of divers Particles of the Universal Matter, by various Motions brought together, and disposed after a certain manner: And consequently, he must ground his persuasion that 'tis impossible to redintegrate the Engine once spoiled by death, upon this, That as Chance cannot with the least probablity be presumed to have produced such a strange Effect; so according to him, there can be no Cause assigned, knowing and powerful enough, to rally and bring together again the disbanded and scattered parcels of Matter (or substitute other equivalent ones) that together with the remaining Carcase, composed the dead Man, so to reunite them to the rest; and lastly, so to place and put into Motion both the one and the other, as were requisite to make a living Man once more result from them. I know that this Example reaches not all the Circumstances of the Controversy we have been debating; but yet, if I mistake not, it will serve the turn for which I propose it: For, not now to insist upon this inference from it, That a considering Man may confidently reject a thing that is not absolutely impossible, provided it be highly incredible; not to insist on this, I say, the thing I aim at in the mention of it, is only to show, That such things may possibly be effected by Matter and Motion, as no wise Man will believe to have been produced by a bare Agitation of the Particles of Matter, not guided by the superintendency of a Powerful and Knowing Director.  
Now that the Atoms, or Particles of Matter of which the World consists, made no agreement with each other to convene and settle in the manner requisite to constitute the Universe, Lucretius does not so properly confess, as affirm, in that forecited Passage where he judiciously tells us, That 
— Certè neque consiliis Primordia rerum  
Ordine se quaeque, atque sagaci ment locarunt:  
Nec quos quaeque darent Motus pepigêre profecto.   
And the thing itself is manifest enough, from the Nature of Atoms confessedly inanimate and devoid of understanding.  
So that although we should grant, Pyrophilus, the possible Emergency of the innumerable Effects we admire in the World, from the various Properties and Coalitions of Atoms, yet still you see the formerly mentioned difficulty (touching the Resulting of All things from Matter left to itself) would recur; and it would as well be incredible that an innumerable multitude of insensible Particles, as that a lesser number of bigger Parcels of Matter, should either conspire to constitute, or fortuitously justle themselves into so admirable and harmonious a Fabric as the Universe, or as the Body of Man; and consequently it is not credible that they should constitute either, unless as their motions were (at least, in order to their seminal Contextures and primary Coalitions) regulated and guided by an intelligent Contriver and Orderer of things. And I should so littte think it a Disparagement to have but so much said of any Hypothesis of mine, that I suppose I may affirm it, without offending either the most sober, or the generality of the Atomical Philosophers, to whom, and to their Doctrine, my Writings will manifest me to be no otherwise affected than I ought.   

ESSAY V. Wherein the Discourse interrupted by the late Digression, is resumed and concluded.  
IT remains now, Pyroph: that we at length return into the way from whence the foregoing Digression has, I fear, too long diverted us, and that to prosecute and finish our Discourse, we take it up where we left it and were tempted to digress, namely, at the end of the III Essay; betwixt which, and the beginning of this V, all that has been interposed may be looked upon but as a long Parenthesis.  
In the third place than I consider, That whether or no it be true which our Antagonists suggest, that there are some things in Nature which tempt Philosophers more than they do the Vulgar, to doubt or deny a God; yet certainly there are divers things in Nature that do much conduce to the evincing of a Deity, which Naturalists either alone discern, or at least discern them better than other Men: For besides the abstruse Properties of particular Bodies, not discovered by any but those that make particular Inquiries into those Bodies, there are many things in Nature, which to a superficial Observer seem to have no relation to one another; whereas to a knowing Naturalist, that is able to discern their secret Correspondencies and Alliances, these things which seem to be altogether Irrelative each to other, appear so Proportionate and so Harmonious both betwixt themselves, and in reference to the Universe they are parts of, that they represent to him a very differing and incomparably better Prospect then to another Man: As he that looks upon a Picture made up of scattered and deformed pieces, beholding them united into one Face, by a Cylindrical Looking-glass aptly placed, discerns the skill of the Artist that drew it, better than he that looks only on the single parts of that Picture, or upon the whole Picture, without the uniting Cylinder. Which brings into my mind, That whereas in the Sacred Story of the Creation, when mention is made of Gods having considered the Works of each of the first six Days, at the end of it, it is said of the Work of every Day, That God saw that it was good (except of the second Day, because the separation of the Waters was but imperfectly made on that day, and completed in the next, on which it is therefore twice said, That God saw that it was good) whereas, I say, when God looked upon his Works in particular, it is only said, That he saw that they were good; when He is introduced at the close of the Creation, as looking upon, and surveying his Creatures in their Harmony, and entire System, it is emphatically said, That he saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. And if Aristotle be indeed the Author of the Book De Mundo ad Alexandrum, which passes for his, and is said to have been Written by him towards the end of his Life, it would not be unworthy our Observation to take notice, how he that in his other Writings is wont to talk of God's Interest in the Creatures darkly, and hesitantly enough, is wrought upon by the Contemplation of the Universe, as it is an orderly Aggregate or System of the Works of Nature, to make Expressions of the Divine Architect, which are not unworthy of Aristotle, though being merely humane they cannot be worthy of God. Amongst many I shall single out some; and I hope, Pyrophilus, you will excuse me, if in this Essay, and some of the precedent ones, I do contrary to my custom, employ pretty store of Passages taken out of other Authors. For first, the nature of my Design makes it requisite for me to show what Opinion the Heathen Philosophers had of the Study of Physiology, and what Power their Contemplation of Nature had to engage them to Acts of Religion. And next, since divers of the same Passages wherein they had set down their Opinions, contained also the Grounds and Reasons of them, whereby they have anticipated much of what we should say upon the same subjects, I was unwilling to deprive you of their pertinent Ratiocinations, or rob them of the Glory of what they had well Written. And this necessary Apology premised, let us proceed to consider his Passages; and first, 
Arist: de Mundo, Cap. 6:  Restat (says he) ut summatim de Causae disseramus, quae cunctarum ipsa rerum vim habet tutricem & continentem, quemadmodum caetera perstrinximus: Flagitii enim instar esset, cum de mundo dicere instituerim, tractatu si minus exquisito fortasse, at certe qui sat esse possit ad formulam doctrinae crassiorem, intactam praecipuam mundi partem principemque praeterire. And a little after, Etenim (says he) cunctarum quae rerum natura complectitur, cum servator est Deus, 
Ibidem.  tum vero quaecunque in hoc mundo quoquomodo perficiuntur eorum omnium idem est Genitor: Non sic tamen ipse ut opificis in morem, animalisque lassitudinem sentientis labore affici possit, ut qui ea facultate utatur, quae nulli cedat difficultati, cujus ipse vi facultatis omnia in potestate continet, nec minus etiam quae longius ab ipso videntur esse summo●a: To which purpose he elsewhere says, Augustius decentiusque existimandum est, 
Eodem Cap.  Deum summo in loco ita esse collocatum: Numinis ut tamen ejus vis per universum mundum pertingens, tum solemn, Lunamque moveat, tum Coelum omne circumagat, simulque causam praebeat eorum quae in Terra sunt salutis atque incolumitatis: And in the same Book he adds, 
Eodem Cap.  Ut vero summatim loquamur quod in navi Gubernator est, quod in Curru agitator, quoth in Choro preceptor, quod denique lex in Civitate, & dux in exerctiu, hoc Deus est in mundo. Nisi si hactenus interest, quod labour, & motus multiplex illos exercet, & curae angunt variae, cum huic illaborata succedunt onnia, omnis molestiae expertia. And certainly he that is a stranger to Anatomy, shall never be able to discern in the circulation of the blood, the motion of the Chyle, and the contrivance of all the parts of a humane Body, those Proofs, as well as Effects, of an Omniscient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Artist, which a curious Anatomist will discover in that elaborate and matchless Engine: as I remember, I had occasion not long since to take notice of in the shape of that strange Muscle (the obturator internus) which some call from its Figure Marsupialis, serving to the motion of the Thigh. For this Muscle seems so made, as if Nature had designed in it, to manifest, That she is skilled in the Mechanics, not only as a Mathematician that understands the powers of Distance, Weight, Proportion, Motion and Figure; but as an Artificer, or Handicrafts man, who knows by dextrous Contrivances to furnish the more endangered parts of his Work, with what is more useful to make it lasting: There being (to omit other Observables, belonging to that Muscle) a deep notch made in the Coxendix, to shorten the way betwixt the two extremities of the Muscle, and make it bear upon the Bone with a blunter Angle. And because the Tendon is long, lest, notwithstanding the former provision, it should be apt to fret out upon the edge of the Bone, Nature has provided for it a Musculous piece of Flesh, wherein it is as it were sheathed, that so it might not immediately bear, and grate upon the Bone; just as our Artificers use to sow Cases of Leather upon those parts of silken Strings, which being to grate upon harder Bodies, were otherwise endangered to be fretted out by Attrition.  
And a like skilfulness of Nature in the Mechanical Contrivance of the Parts, is more obviously discernible in the Structure of that admirable Engine, by which such variety of other Engines are made, the Hand: where (not to mention the Ligamentum latum, or Wrist-band, that keeps the Tendons that move under it from inconveniently starting up upon the Contraction of the respective Muscles) the wonderful perforations that are made through the Tendons of the Musculi per forat, by those of the Musculi perforantes, for the more commodious motion of the Joints of the Fingers, may conspicuously manifest the Mechanical Dexterity of Nature; as it may her Husbanding (if I may so speak) of her Work, That in a F●●tus, whilst it lies in the Womb, because the Lungs are not to be displayed as afterwards, and so the Blood needs not circulate thorough Them from the right Ventricle of the Heart, into the left, for the use of Respiration, as it must in grown Animals, she contrives a nearer way; and by certain short Pipes, peculiar to such young Creatures, she more commodiously performs in them the Circulation of the Blood, proportioned to their present condition; and afterwards, when the Animal is brought out of the Womb into the open Air, and put upon the constant exercise of his Lungs, these temporary Conduit-pipes little by little vanish. So careful is Nature not to do things in vain.  
And therefore I do not much wonder, that Galen, though I remember he somewhere (unprovokedly and causelessly enough) derides Moses, and seems not over much inclined to make Religious acknowledgements; yet when he comes to consider particularly the exquisite Structure of a humane Body, should break forth into very elevated, and even pathetical Celebrations of God, and tell us, That in his Books, 
Galenus, lib. 30. De usu Partium.  De usu Partium, he composed Hymns to the Creator's praise. And certainly, he that shall see a skilful Anatomist dextrously dissect that admirable part of Man, the Eye, and shall consider the curious Contrivance of the several Coats, Humours, and other Parts it consists of, with all their adaptations and uses, would be easily persuaded, That a good Anatomist has much stronger Invitations to believe, and admire an Omniscient Author of Nature, than he that never saw a Dissection, especially if he should see how all of these concur to make up one Optical Instrument to convey the Species of the visible object to the Optic Nerve, and so to the Brain; as I have, with pleasure considered it, in the recent Eye of a Cat (for with keeping, it will grow flaccid) cut cleanly off, where the Optic Nerve enters the Sclerotis, and is going to expand itself into the Retina, for holding this Eye at a convenient distance betwixt yours and a Candle, you may see the Image of a Flame lively expressed upon that part of the back side of the Eye at which the Optic Nerve enters the abovementioned Sclerotis: Some thing of this kind we have also shown our Friends with the eyes of dead Men, carefully severed from their heads; and with the (dexterously taken out) Crystalline humour of a Humane Eye, we have often read, as with a Lens or Magnifying glass. And to assist you in so pleasing a speculation, as that of the Eye, we shall add, That by reason Ox Eyes are much larger, and much easier to be had then humane ones, we are wont to make much use of them, and to discern some things better in their Coats, we immerse them for a little while in boiling Water, and to be able to consider the form and bigness of the Vitreous and Crystalline humours, better than the fluidity of the one, and the softness of the other are wont to allow Anatomists to do; we have sometimes, by a way hereafter to be set down, speedily frozen Eyes, and thereby have turned the Vitreous humour into very numerous and Diaphanous Films (as it were of Ice, and the Crystalline into a firm Substance, but (which perhaps you will wonder at) not Transparent. An eye thus frozen, may be cut along that which Optical Writers call the Optical Axis, and then it affords an instructive Prospect, which we have not been able to obtain any other way. But because, notwithstanding this Expedient in the Eyes of Men, and the generality of Terrestrial Animals, the Opacousness of the Sclerotis hinders the Pictures that outward Objects (unless they be lucid ones) make with in the Eye to be clearly discerned. We think ourselves obliged to that excellent Mathematician of your Acquaintance, Pyrophilus, who, upon some Discourse we had with him concerning this Subject, lately advised us to make use of the Eyes of white Rabbits (for if those Animals be of another colour, he says, their Eyes will not prove so fit for our purpose) For having held some of these Eyes at a convenient distance betwixt my Eyes and the Window, I found them to be so transparent, That the rays proceeding from the Panes of Glass, Iron Bars, etc. of the Window, passing through the Crystalline humour, and in their passage refracted, did on the Retina exhibit in an inverted Posture, according to the Optical Laws, the contracted, but lively Pictures of those external Objects; and those Pictures, by reason of the transparency of the Sclerotis, became visible through it to my attentive Eyes: As in a darkened Room the shadows of Objects without it, projected on a fine sheet of Paper, may, by reason of the thinness of the Paper, be seen thorough it by those that stand behind it. By Candle-light we could see little in the bottom of these eyes, but lucid Objects, such as the flame of the Candle, which appeared tremulous, though inverted; but by Daylight we could manifestly discern in them both the motions of very neighbouring Objects, and the more vivid of their colours.  
And really, Pyrophilus, it seems to me not only highly dishonourable for a Reasonable Soul to live in so Divinely built a Mansion, as the Body she resides in, altogether unacquainted with the exquisite Structure of it; but I am confident, it is a great obstacle to our rendering God the Praises due to him, for his having so excellently lodged us, that we are so ignorant of the curious Workmanship of the Mansions our Souls live in; for not only the Psalmist, from the consideration of the Divine Art displayed by God, in the moulding and fashioning his Body in the Womb, takes a just occasion to celebrate his Maker, I will praise thee (says he) because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvellous are thy works, and that my Soul knoweth right well: My substance was not hid from thee, 
Psal. 139 v. 14, 15, 16.  when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought (with as much curiosity as Tapstery or Embroidery, as the Hebrew Rukkamti seems to import) In the lowest parts of the Earth, thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them. But even from Galen himself Anatomical Reflections have been able to extort Expressions of Devotion: Cum igitur (says he) quoth in omnibus recte fit, omnes ad artem referunt, 
Galen de plac: Hippolito: & Plat: Libr: 7.  quod ●utem in uno, aut duobus non ad artem, sed fortunam; merito ex nostri structura corporis licet admirari summam artem, aequitatem, & vim naturae, quae nos construxit. Constat siquidem corpus nostrum ex ossibus pluribus quam ducentis, ad singula ossa vero pervenit nutriens vena; sicut ad musculos: cum hâc etiam arteria, & Nervi; pariaque adamussimsunt, & animo similia in dextra animantis parte sita, iis quae in altera sunt; Os ossi, Musculus musculo, Vena vena, Arteria arteriae, ac Nervus nervo; idque exceptis visceribus, atque nonnullis particulis quae habere propriam descriptionem videntur. Duplices itaque corporis nostri parts, omnino inter se sunt similes, & magnitudine & conformatione, sicuti & consistentia quam voco juxta mollitiem, duritiemque differentia. Quemadm●dum igitur de Humanis effectibus judicium facimus, ex navi summa arte constructa cognoscentes peritiam artificis, ita etiam de Divinis facere convenit, corporisque nostri Opificem admirari, quicunque tandem is Deorum existat, etiamsi eum non videmus.  
Perhaps it may be truly said yet further, That although in humane Bodies, many Wonders, as we have lately mentioned, have been discovered to us by Anatomy, yet Anatomy itself has not discovered to us all the Wonders to be met with in a humane Body, nor will detect them, till Anatomists be skilled in some other things over and above that of dexterously Dissecting: For it seems very probable, that the excellent contrivance of some parts will never be fully apprehended, without a competent knowledge of the Nature of those Juices tha● are to pass thorough them, and some of them receive their beginning or some alteration in them; And the Nature of these Juices will scarce be exactly known, without some skill in divers parts of Physiology, and especially in Chemistry. Besides, the reason of the Origination, Shape, Bulk, Length, Progress, and Infection of each particular Muscle, can hardly be well accounted for, without some skill in the Principles of Mechanics, and in the nature and properties of Levers, Pulleys, etc. Moreover, there is a certain Harmonious Proportion betwixt the parts of a humane Body, in reference both to the whole, and to one another, which is not wont to be heeded by Anatomists, but much taken notice of by Statuaries and Painters: For they reckon, that when a Man's Arms are displayed, the distance betwixt his middle Fingers is equal to the height of his Body; so they reckon sometimes seven, sometimes eight lengths of the Head, to the length of the Body, and four times the length of the Nose to that of the Head, as three times the same length to that of the Face: And divers such Observations we have met with among them, which we shall not now insist on, but rather tell you, That without some skill in Optics, it will be hard for an Anatomist to show the Wisdom of God in making the Crystalline humour of the Eyes of Men, only of a somewhat convex or lenticular form, rather than as those of Fishes of an almost perfectly Spherical one. Nor do I remember that in Anatomy Schools I have heard any account given of this difference, which yet tends much to manifest the Wisdom of the Author of Nature, who has so excellently suited the Eyes of Animals to the several parts of the Universe he designed them to inhabit. For Men, and other Terrestrial Animals living in the Air, the Beams of Light, reflected from visible Objects, and falling over the Cornea and the Aqueous humour, do necessarily suffer a Refraction there, as coming from the Air, which is a thinner Medium into a thicker, and so there needs the less of further Refraction to be made by the Crystalline humour, and consequently its Figure needs to be but moderately convex; whereas Fishes living constantly in the Water, the Medium, through which they see things, is almost of a like thickness with the Cornea and Aqueous humour; so that there being little or no Refraction made in their Eyes but by the Crystalline itself, it was necessary that that should be exceedingly convex, that it might make a very great Refraction, and thereby unite the Beams nearer at hand; which if the Crystalline were less convex, would tend to a point of Concourse beyond the Retina, and consequently paint on it but a languid and confused Picture of the Object they should represent.  
As for Paracelsus, certainly he is injurious to Man, if (as some eminent Chemists expound him) he calls Man a Microcosm, because his Body is really made up of all the several kinds of Creatures the Macrocosm or greater World consists of, 
Lib. 3. De usu Part.  and so is but a Model or Epitome of the Universe: For (to omit that the Ancients (as Galen informs us) gave the Title of Microcosmes to Animals in general) 'tis the Glory and Prerogative of Man, that God was pleased to make him not after the World's Image, but His own. On which occasion, give me leave to tell you, That however, the consideration of the dignity conferred on us in the Image of God, (in whatever that Image be resolved to consist) should, methinks, be some engagement to us to look upon ourselves as belonging unto God; As our Saviour, from the Image of Caesar stamped upon a Coin, pronounced it fit to render unto Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God, those of God.  
In the fourth place, I consider that the universal experience of all Ages manifests, That the contemplation of the World has been much more prevalent to make those that have addicted themselves to it, Believers, than Denyers of a Deity: For 'tis very apparent that the old Philosophers, for the most part, acknowledged a God, and as evident it is by their want of revelation, by many Passages in their Writings, and by divers other things not now to be insisted on, That the consideration of the works of Nature, was the chief thing that Induced them to acknowledge a Divine Author of them. This Truth I could easily make out, were I at leisure to transcribe Testimonies, which, because I am not, I shall content myself to mention to you one, which may well serve for many, it being a Confession made by Aristotle, or whatever other Learned Philosopher it was, who writ the Book De Mundo, That Gods being the Architect and Upholder of the World, was the general belief of the Ages that preceded his: Vetus (says he) sermo est à majoribus proditus, inter omnes homines, universa tum ex Deo tum per Deum constituta fuisse, atque coagmentata, 
Libro de Mundo, Cap. 6.  nullamque naturam satis instructam ad salutem esse posse, quae citra Dei praesidium, suae ipsa demum tutela permissa sit: And as for both the Opinion of that eminent Author himself, and the Grounds of it, he speaks of God and the Creation almost in the terms of St Paul: 
Alibi eodem Cap.  Proinde (says he) haec etiam de Deo sentienda nobis sunt, illo quidem, si vim spectes, Valentissimo, si decorem, Formosissimo, si vitam Immortali, denique si virtutem Praestantissimo. Quapropter cum sit inconspicabilis naturae omni interiturae, ipsis nihilominus ipse cernitur ab operibus, atque ea quidem quae aëre quoquomodo affecto, quae in terra, quae in aqua, ea certe Dei opera esse merito dixerimus; Dei inquam opera, eum imperio summo Mundum, ac pro potestate obtinentis, Ex quo deo ut inquit Empedocles Physicus.  
Omnia quotquot erunt, quot sunt praesentia, quotque  
Orta fuere antehac stirpes, hominesque feraeque  
Ind etiam volucres, piscesque humoris Alumni.  
And those few Philosophers (if ever there have been any at all) that have been really Atheists, are no ways considerable for their number, in respect of those that have asserted a Deity; and their Paradoxes have been looked upon as so Irrational, that as soon as they have been proposed, they have been disdainfully rejected and condemned by all the rest of Mankind, who have looked upon the Patrons of them as Monsters rather than Philosophers. And if there be, at this day, any Nations (as Navigators inform us there are in Brasil, and some other parts of the Indies) that worship no God, they consist not of Naturalists, but Bruit, and Irrational Barbarians, who may be supposed rather to ignore the Being of God, then deny it; and who at least are little less strangers to the Mysteries of Nature, then to the Author of it. And if it be a Truth that there are really such Atheistical People, it may serve to recommend to us the Study of Physiology, by showing us, That without the help of any such innate belief, or persuasion of a God, as is supposed connatural to Man, Reason exercised upon the Objects the Creation presents us with, is sufficient to convince Philosophers of a Deity; and indeed such a care has God taken, to make his Being conspicuous in his Creatures, that they all seem loudly and unanimously to speak to their attentive Considerers, in the Psalmists Language, Know ye that the Lord, he is God: 
Psalm C. 3.  'tis he that hath made us, and not we ourselves: And as it is said, 
Judg. V. 20.  That the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera, so it may be truly said, That not only the Stars, but all the rest of the Creatures do in their courses fight against the Atheists, by supplying an unprejudiced Considerer of them with Weapons fit to overthrow his impious Error. To which purpose, I remember Aristotle, in his Book De Mundo, makes use of a pretty Simile to declare the conspicuousness of the Creator in his Creatures: Fama est (says he) Phidiam illum statuarium, 
Cap. 6.  quum Minervam illam quae est in Arce, coagmentaret, in medio ejus scuto faciem suam expressisse, oculosque fallenti artificio ita devinxisse simulachro, eximere ut inde ipsam siquis cuperet, minime posset, aliter quidem certe, quam ut ipsum solveret simulachrum, opusque ejusmodi compactile confunderet; Hanc eandem rationem Deus habet in Mundo ut pote qui universorum coagmentationem cohaerentem cohibeat & coarctet, incolumitaetemque Universitatis conservet; Nisi quatenus non medio ille loco in Terra scilicet, ubi Turbida Regio est, sed in excelso situs est, purus ipse in puro loco.  
But to declare how Atheists may be reduced either to confess a first Cause, or to offer violence to their own Faculties, by denying things as certain as those, which 'tis apparent that (in other cases) themselves firmly assent to, would require a Discourse too large to be proper to be prosecuted here; and therefore if I have not, in another Treatise, an opportunity of insisting on that subject, I must content myself to refer you for further satisfaction on it, to the Writers of Natural Theology.  
Nor does Physiology barely conduce to make Men believe the existence of a Deity, but admire and celebrate the Perfections of it: And the noblest Worship from that greater part of the World, to which God did not vouchsafe any explicit and particular Revelation of his Will, hath been paid Him, by those whom the beauty of this goodly Temple of the Universe, transported with a rational Wonder at the Wisdom, Power, and Goodness of the Divine Architect. And this kind of Devotion being commonly proportionate to the discoveries of Nature that begot it, it needs not seem strange, that divers of the best Philosophers amongst the Heathens, should be the greatest Celebrators of God: And 'twas therefore perhaps not without cause that the Indian Gymnosophists, the Persian Magis, the Egyptian Sacrificers, and the old ●auls Decides, were to their People's both Philosophers and Priests; and that in divers Civilised Nations, Philosophy and Priesthood were so allied, that those whose Profession should give them most interest in the definition of Man, made a more strict profession of celebrating and praising God. I might easily, with divers Instances, manifest how great a Veneration the Study of the Creatures has given Philosophers, for those Attributes of God that are stamped upon them, and conspicuous in them: But my willingness to hasten to the more Experimental part of what I have to say concerning the usefulness of Physiology, makes me content myself to present you with a couple, or a leash of Authorities, for proof of what has bee● alleged; the first shall be of Galen, in his third Book De usu Partium, where treating of the Skin that invests the sole of the Foot: Cutem ipsam (says he) non laxam, aut subtilem, a●t mollem, sed constrictam, & mediocritèr duram, sensilemque ut non facile pateretur subdidit pedi sapientissimus Conditor noster: Cui commentarios hos, ceu hymnos quosdam compono, & in e● pietatem esse existimans, non si Taurorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ei plurimus quispiam sacrificarit, & casias aliaque sexcenta unguenta suffumigarit: Sed si noverim ipse primus deinde exposuerim aliis quaenam sit ipsius Sapientia, quae Virtus, quae Providentia, quae Bonitus; ignorantia quorum summa Impietas est, non si à sacrificio abstineas. Quod enim cultu convenienti exornavit omnia, nullique bona inviderit id perfectissimae Bonitatis specimen esse statu●, Invenisse autem quo pacto omnia adornarentur summae Sapientiae est, at effecisse omnia quae voluit Virtutis est invictae. To which Illustrious Passage he annexes much more, worthy of Galens Pen, and your perusal.  
To this let me add, in the second place, that of Hermes Trismegistus, almost at the very beginning of his first Book, Englished by Dr. Everard: He that shall learn and study the things that are, and how they are ordered and governed, and by whom, and for what cause, or to what end, will acknowledge thanks to the Workman, as to a good Father, an excellent Nurse, and a faithful Steward; and he that gives Thanks shall be Pious or Religious, and he that is Religious shall know both where the Truth is, and what it is; and learning that, he will be yet more and more Religious: To which I cannot but add a resembling Passage of that great Hermetical Philosopher (as his Followers love to call him) Paracelsus: Oppido (says he) admire abilis, in suis Operibus, 
Parac●l: de Mineral; Tract. 1.  Deus est; à quorum contemplatione nec interdiu, nec noctu desistendum, sed jugiter illorum indagationi vacandum est, Hoc enim est ambulare in Viis Dei. All which bears witness to, and may, in exchange, receive Authority from that remarkable passage of that Great and Solid Philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon, 
Sir Francis Bacon Advan: of Learning, Lib. 1.  who scruples not somewhere to affirm," That it is an assured Truth, and a conclusion of Experience, That a little or superficial taste of Philosophy, may, perchance, incline the mind of a Man to Atheism, but a full Draught thereof, brings the Mind back again to Religion. For in the entrance of Philosophy, when the Second Causes, which are next unto the Senses, do offer themselves to the Mind of Man, and the Mind itself cleaves unto them, and dwells there, a forgetfulness of the Highest Cause may creep in: But when a Man passeth further, and beholds the Dependency, Continuation, and Confederacy of Causes, and the Works of Providence, then according to the Allegory of the Poets, he will easily believe that the highest Link of Nature's Chain must needs be tied to the foot of Jupiter's Chair; or (to speak our Chancellor's thoughts more Scripturally) That Physiology, like jacob's Vision, discovers to us a Ladder, 
Gen. 28.  whose top reaches up to the footstool of the Throne of God: To which he deservedly adds, Let no Man, upon a weak conceit of sobriety, or ill-applyed moderation, think or maintain that a Man can search too far, or be too well studied in the Book of God's Word, or in the Book of God's Works, Divinity, or Philosophy: But rather le● Men awake themselves, and cheerfully endeavour and pursue an endless progress or proficiency in both; only let them beware lest they apply Knowledge to Swelling, not to Charity; to Ostentation, not to Use: And again, That they do not unwisely mingle and confound these distinct Learnings of Theology and Philosophy, and their several Waters together.  
In the fifth place, Pyrophilus, I consider, that when the Divines we are answering suppose Physiology likely to render a Man an Atheist, they do it (as hath above been noted already) upon this Ground, That Natural Philosophy may enable him to explicate both the regular Phaenomena, and the aberrations of Nature, without having recourse to a first Cause or God. But though this supposal were as great a Truth, as we have endeavoured to make it a Mistake, yet I see not why a Studier of Physiology, though never so great a Proficient in it, may not rationally be an utter Enemy to Atheism: For the Contemplation of the Creatures, is but one of the ways of coming to be convinced that there is a God; and therefore, though Religion were unable to make use of the Argument drawn from the Works of Nature, to prove the existence of a Deity, yet has she other Arguments enough besides, to keep any Considerate and Impartial Man from growing an Atheist. And here give me leave, for the sake of these Divines, to observe, That though the Devils be Spirits, not only extremely knowing in the Properties of Things (by their hidden skill in Physiology, by which they teach Magicians, and their other Clients, to do divers of the strange things for which they are admired) But also unmeasureably proud, and willing to pervert their knowledge to the cherishing of Atheism; yet St. James informs us, That they themselves believe there is a God, 
Jam. 11.19.  and tremble at him; which argues, either that skill in Natural Philosophy does not necessarily lead to Atheism, or that there are other Arguments, besides those drawn from Science, sufficient to convince the most refractory of the existence of a Deity.  
But not to insist on any thing of this nature, nor so much as to mention what proofs the consideration of our own Minds, and their inbred Notions, may afford us of a Deity, I shall content myself to mind you, That the several Patefactions which God has been pleased to make of himself, to Man especially, those made by seasonably accomplished Prophecies, and by Miracles, do not only demonstrate the Being, but the Providence, and divers of the Attributes of God. And indeed, methinks, the Divines we reason with may well allow these Patefactions to be capable of evincing the existence of a God, since they are sufficient, and, for aught I know, the best Arguments we have to convince a rational Man of the truth of the Christian Religion. For the Miracles of Christ (especially his Resurrection) and those of his Disciples, by being Works altogether supernatural, overthrow Atheism; and being owned to be done in God's Name, and to authorise a Doctrine ascribed to his Inspiration; his Goodness, and his Wisdom, permit us not to believe that he would suffer such numerous, great, and uncontrolled Miracles, to be set as his Seals to a Lie, and delude Men little less then inevitably into the belief of a Doctrine not true. And as for the Miracles themselves (especially that of Christ's Resurrection, so much, and so deservedly insisted on by Peter to the Jews, and Paul to the Gentiles) the truth of them is so ascertained to us by many of the solemnist, and most authentic ways of Attestation, whereby the certainty of Matters of Fact is capable of being satisfactorily made out, that 'tis hard to show how these Testimonies can be denied, without denying some acknowledged Principle of Reason, or some other received Notion, which these Contradictors Opinions or Practice manifest them to look upon as a truth. And upon this account, so much might be said to evince the reasonableness of assenting to the Christian Religion, and to show, that as much may be said for it, as need be said for any Religion, and much more than can be said for any other; that it need be no wonder, that, as Learned Men as ever the World admired, have not been many of them Embracers, but some of them Champions of it. But having more fully, in another Treatise, discoursed of this subject, I shall content myself to make this Inference from what has been alleged, that since the most Judicious Propugners of Christianity have held and found, that, upon the score of God's miraculous Revelations of himself, rational Men might be brought to believe the abstruser Articles of the Christian Religion, those Revelations cannot but be sufficient to convince them of so fundamental and refulgent a Truth (which all the others suppose) as that of the existence of God.  
In the sixth and last place, I will here add (on this occasion) that an insight into Physiological Principles, may very much assist a Man to answer the Objections of Atheists, against the Being of a Deity, and the Exceptions they make to the Arguments brought to prove that there is one: For though it has long been the custom of such Men, to talk as if themselves, and those of their mind, were not alone the best, but almost the only Naturalists; and to perplex others with pretending, th●t, whereas it is not conceivable how there can be a God, all things are by the Principles of the Atomical Philosophy, made clear and facile. Though this, I say, have long been used among the Opposers of a Deity, yet he that not regarding their confidence, shall attentively consider the very first Principles of things, may plainly enough discern, that of the Arguments wherewith Natural Philosophy has furnished Atheists, those that are indeed considerable, are far fewer than one would readily think; and that the difficulty of conceiving the Eternity, Self-existence, and some other Attributes of God (though that afford them their grand Objection) proceeds not so much from any absurdity belonging to the Notion of a Deity, as such; as from the difficulty which our dim humane Intellects find to conceive the Nature of those first Things (whatever we suppose them) which, to be the Causes of all others, must be themselves without cause: For he that shall attentively consider, what the Atomists themselves may be compelled to allow concerning the Eternity of Matter, the Origine of local Motion (which plainly belongs not to the Nature of Body) the Infinity or Boundlesness of space, the Divisibleness or non-Divisibility of each Corporeal Substance into infinite Material Parts, may clearly perceive that the Atomist, by denying that there is a God, cannot free his Understanding from such puzzling Difficulties as he pretends to be the Reasons of his Denial. For instead of one God, he must confess an infinite number of Atoms to be Eternal, Self-existent, Immortal, Self-moving, and must make Suppositions, encumbered with Difficulties enough to him that has competently accustomed his Thoughts to leave Second Causes beneath them, and contemplate those Causes that have none. But I am unwilling to swell this Essay, by insisting on such Considerations as these, especially since you may find them more aptly deduced in other Papers, some of which treat of the Truth of Christian Religion, and others are designed for the Illustration of some things in this & the foregoing Essays. For I must confess to you, Pyrophilus, that by reason of the sundry Avocations, I have been so diverted from proposing some of the Reasons I have employed, to their best advantage, that I myself, at another time, could have both mentioned them with lesser disadvantage, and have added divers others: And therefore I have not only had thoughts of enlarging upon some Passages of our past Discourse, but I long since made a Collection (though it be not now in my power) of Observations, and Experiments to elucidate a Point in one of those Discourses, whereby may be enervated one of the three chief Physiological Reasonings, that I have met with among the Atheists.  
Upon consideration of all the Premises, I confess, Pyrophilus, that I am inclined to think there may, perhaps, be more cause to apprehend, that the delightfulness of the Study of Phisiology should too much confine your Thoughts and Joys to the Creatures, then that your Proficiency in it should bring you to disbelieve the Creator: For I have observed it to be a fault, incident enough to Ingenious Persons, to let their minds be so taken up, and, as it were, charmed with that almost infinite variety of pleasing Objects, which Nature presents to their Contemplation, that they too much dis-relish other Pleasures and Employments, and are too apt to undervalue even those wherewith the improved Opportunities of serving God, or holding Communion with Him, are capable of Blessing the Pious Soul.  
But, Pyroph: though comparatively to Fame, and Mistresses, and Bags, and Bottles, and those other transient, unsatisfactory, (in a word) deluding Objects, on which the greatest part of mistaken Mortals, so fond dote, the entertaining of our Noblest Faculties, with Objects suited to them, and proper both to gratify our Curiosity, and to enrich our understandings, with variety of acceptable and useful Notions, affords a satisfaction that very well deserves the choice and preferrence of a rational Creature: Yet certainly, Pyrophilus, as God is infinitely better than all the things that he has made, so the Knowledge of Him is much better than the knowledge of them; and he that has placed so much delightfulness in a Knowledge, wherein he allows his very Enemies to become very great Proficients, has sure reserved much Higher, and more contenting Pleasures to sweeten and endear those Disclosures of Himself, which He vouchsafes to none but those that love Him, and are loved by Him.  
And therefore, Pyrophilus, though I will allow you to expect from the Contemplation of Nature a greater satisfaction, then from any thing you need decline for it▪ yet I would not have you expect from it any such satisfaction as you may entirely acquiess in, for nothing but the enjoyment of Him that made the Soul for Himself can satisfy it, the Creatures being as well uncapable to afford us a complete Felicity by our Intellectual Speculations of them, as by our sensual Fruitions of them; for though the knowledge of Nature be preferable by odds to those other Idols which we have mentioned, as inferior to it, yet we here attain that knowledge, but very imperfectly, and our acquisitions of it cost us so dear, and the Pleasures of them is so allayed with the disquieting Curiosity they are wont to excite, that the wisest of Men, and greatest of Philosophers among the Ancients, scruples not, upon his own experience, 
Eccles. 1.13.  to call the addicting of one's heart to seek and search out by Wisdom, concerning all things that are done under the Heaven, a sore travel given by God to the sons of Men, to be exercised (or, as the Original hath it, to afflict themselves) therewith: And the same experienced Writer elsewhere tells us, That he that increases knowledge, 
Eccles. 1.18.  increases sorrow. And 'twas perhaps for this reason that Adam was formed out of Paradise, and afterwards by God brought into it, to intimate, That Felicity is not a thing that Man can acquire for himself, but must receive as a free gift from the liberal Hand of God: And as the Children of the Prophets sought translated Elias with very great diligence, but with no success, 
2 Kings cap. 2.  so do we as Fruitlessly as Industriously, seek after perfect Happiness here, both they and we, missing of what we seek for the same reason; because we seek for that on Earth, which is not to be found but in Heaven: And this I forewarn you of, Pyrophilus, not at all to discourage you from the study of Physiology, but to keep you from meeting with that great Discouragement of finding in it much less of satisfaction than you expected, and overgreat expectation from it, being one of the disadvantagiousest Circumstances with which it is possible for any thing to be enjoyed.  
But at length, Pyrophilus, though late, I begin to discern into how tedious a digression my zeal for Natural Philosophy, and for you, has misled me, and how it has drawn from my Pen some Passages, which may seem to relish more of the Preacher, than the Naturalist; yet I might allege divers things to justify, or, at least, extenuate what I have done: As first, That if in making this Excursion I have erred, I have not done so without the Authority of great Examples; for not only Seneca doth frequently both season his Natural Speculations with Moral Documents and Reflections, and owns, that he purposely does so, where he says, Omnibus rebus, 
Seneca Nat: Quaest: lib. 2. cap. 59  omnibusque sermonibus aliquid salutare miscendum est, cum imus per Occulta Naturae, etc. but even Pliny (as far as he was from being guilty of overmuch Devotion) does from divers Passages in his Natural History, allow himself to take occasion to inveigh against the Luxury, Excesses, and other Epidemical Vices of his time. And I might next represent, that perhaps the endeavouring to manifest, that the knowledge of the Creatures should, and how it may be referred to the Creator's Glory, is not altogether impertinent to the design I have of promoting Physiology, for it seems consonant both to God's Goodness, and that repeated Axiom in the Gospel, which tells us, That he that improves his Talents to good uses, shall be entrusted with more, That the employing the little Knowledge I have in the service of Him I owe it to, may invite Him to increase that little, and make it less despicable. And perhaps it is not the least cause of our ignorance, in Natural Philosophy itself, that when we study the Great Book of Nature, called The Universe, we consult, peradventure, almost all other Expositors to understand its Mysteries, without making any address for instruction to the Author, who yet is justly styled in the Scripture, 
Jam. 1.17.  That Father of Lights (in the plural Number) from whom descends every good and every perfect Gift, not only those supernatural Graces, that relate to another World, but those intellectual Endowments, that qualify Men for the prosperous Contemplation of this: And therefore in the Evangelical Prophet, 
Isa. 28.25, 26.  he is said, to instruct even the Plough man, and teach him the skill and understanding he displays in his own Profession. And though I dare not affirm, with some of the Helmontians and Paracelsians, that God discloses to Men the Great Mystery of Chemistry by Good Angels, or by Nocturnal Visions, as he once taught Jacob, to make Lambs and Kids come into the World speckled, 
Gen. 31.  and ring-streaked; yet persuaded I am, that the favour of God does (much more than most Men are aware of) vouchsafe to promote some men's Proficiency in the study of Nature, partly by protecting their attempts from those unlucky Accidents which often make Ingenuous and Industrious endeavours miscarry; and partly by making them dear and acceptable to the Possessors of Secrets, by whose Friendly Communication they may often learn that in a few Moment's, which cost the Imparters many a Years toil and study; and partly too, or rather principally, by directing them to those happy and pregnant Hints, which an ordinary skill and industry may so improve as to do such things, and make such discoveries by virtue of them, as both others, and the person himself, whose knowledge is thus increased, would scarce have imagined to be possible: And in effect, the chiefest of the Secrets that have been communicated to me, the Owners have acknowledged to me to have been attained, rather, as they were pleased to speak, by accidental Hints, then accurate Inquiries: confessions of this nature I have divers times met with in the Writings of the more Ingenious of the Chemists, and of other Naturalists, and by one of these accidental Hints, of late, the acute and lucky Pecquet was directed to find the newly discovered Lactea Thoracica, as before him Asellius found without seeking, as himself confesseth, the Lactea Mesenterica; and by an accident too (as himself hath told me) did our industrious Anatomist, Dr. Jolive, first light upon those yet more freshly detected Vessels, which afterwards the Ingenuous Bartholinus, without being informed of them, or seeking for them, hath met with, and acquainted the World with, under the name of Vasa Lymphatica; and the two great Inventions of the later Ages, Gunpowder, and the Lodestones respect unto the Poles, are supposed to be due rather to Chance, than any extraordinary skill in Philosophical Principles (which indeed would scarce have made any Man dream of such extravagant Properties, as those of Magnetic Bodies) As if God designed to keep Philosophers humble, and (though he allow regular Industry, sufficient encouragement, yet) to remain Himself dispenser of the chief Mysteries of Nature.  
To what hath been represented, Pyrophilus, I might add much more to excuse my Excursions, if I were not content to be beholden to you for a Pardon, and to invite you to grant it me, I shall promise you to be very careful not to repeat the like offence; and whereas most Chemical Writers take occasion from almost every Discovery or Process they acquaint us with, to digress and wander into tedious, and too often dull and impertinent Theological Reflections or Sermons. I have troubled you with almost all that I have to say (to you) of Theological at once, and I have endeavoured to sprinkle it as far as the subject would allow me, with some Passages Experimental. And indeed I should not at all have engaged myself into so long a Discourse of the not only Innocency, but Usefulness of the knowledge of Nature, in reference to Religion, but that I could not acquiess in what I had met with on that subject in any of the Writers I have perused, Divines being commonly too unacquainted with Nature, to be able to manage it Physiologically enough, and Naturalists commonly esteeming it on part of their work to treat of it at all. And therefore I scruple not to confess freely to you, Pyrophilus, that, as I shall think myself richly rewarded for all the ensuing Essays, if the past Discourse but prove so happy as to bring you to value, and to make the Religious use of the Creatures recommended to you in it: So I had rather any of my Papers should be passed by unperused, than those parts of these Essays that treat of that use. And indeed 'tis none of the least of Satisfactions, I hope, to derive from my Physical Composures, that by premising before them the now almost finished Discourse, I have done my hearty endeavour to manifest and recommend the true use of all the Discoveries of Nature, which either my Inquiries, or your own, may afford you. And indeed for my part, Pyrophilus, I esteem the Doctrine I have been pleading for of that importance, that I am persuaded, That he that could bring Philosophical Devotion into the request it Merits, should contribute as much to the solemnising of God's Praises, as the Benefactor of Choristers and Founders of Chauntries, and not much less than david's so celebrated designation and settlement of that Religious Levitical Music, instituted for the solemn Celebration of God.  
For the sensible Representations of God's Attributes to be met with in the Creatures, occurring almost every where to our observation, would very assiduously solicit us to admire Him, did we but arightly discern Him in them: And the Impressions made on the Mind by these Representations, proceeding not from a bare (and perhaps languid) whether Belief or Notion of the Perfections expressed in them, but from an actual and operative intuition of them, would excite an admiration (with the Devotion springing thence) by so much the more intense, by how much (it would be) more rational. And sure, Pyrophilus, so much admirable Workmanship as God hath displayed in the Universe, was never meant for Eyes that wilfully close themselves, and affront it with the not judging it worthy the speculating. Beasts inhabit and enjoy the World: Man, if he will do more, must study, and (if I may so speak) Spiritualise it: 'Tis the first act of Religion, and equally obliging in all Religions: 'Tis the duty of Man, as Man; and the Homage we pay for the Privilege of Reason: Which was given us, not only to refer ourselves, but the other Creatures, that want it, to the Creator's Glory. Which makes me sometimes angry with them who so busy themselves in the Duties and Employments of their second and superinduced Relations, that they will never find the leisure to discharge that Primitive and Natural Obligation, who are more concerned as Citizens of any place, then of the World; and both worship God so ba●ely as Catholic or Protestants, Anabaptists or Socinians, and live so wholly as Lords or Councillors, Londoners or Parisians, that they will never find the leisure, or consider not that it concerns them to worship and live as Men. And the neglect of this Philosophical Worship of God, for which we are pleading, seems to be culpable in Men proportionably to their being qualified, and comply with that invitation of the Psalmist, to sing Praises to God with understanding, 
Psal. 47.7.  or (the Expression in the Original being somewhat ambiguous) to sing to him a learned Canticle, as he elsewhere speaks, 
Psa. 150.2.  to praise him according to his excellent Greatness. For Knowledge being a gift of God, entrusted to us to glorify the Giver with it, the Greatness of it must aggravate the neglect of employing it gratefully; and the sublimest Knowledge here attainable will not destroy, but only heighten and ennoble our admiration, and will prove the Incense (or more spiritual and acceptable part, of that Sacrifice of Praise (for those reflections which their Nature makes only acts of Reason, their End may make acts of Piety) wherein the Intelligent Admirer offers up the whole World in Eucharists to its Maker. For admiration (I do not say astonishment or surprise) being an acknowledgement of the Objects transcending our Knowledge, the learneder the transcendent Faculty is, the greater is the admired Objects transcendency acknowledged: And certainly, God's Wisdom is much less glorified by the vulgar astonishment of an unlettered Starer (whose ignorance may be as well suspected for his Wonder, as the excellency of the Object) then from their learned Hymns, whose industrious Curiosity hath brought their understandings to a prostrate Veneration of of what their Reason, not Ignorance, hath taught them not to be perfectly comprehensible by them.  
And as such Persons have such piercing Eyes, that where a transient or unlearned glance scarce observes any thing, they can discern an adorable Wisdom, being able (as I may so speak) to read the Stenography of God's omniscient hand; so their skilful Fingers know how to choose, and how to touch those Strings that may sound sweetest to the Praise of their Maker. And on the opened Body of the same Animal, a skilful Anatomist will make reflections, as much more to the honour of its Creator, than an ordinary Butcher can; as the Music made on a Lute, by a rare Lutanist, will be preferable to the noise made on the same Instrument by a Stranger unto Melody. And give me leave to tell you, Pyrophilus, that such a reasonable Worship (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) of God (to use St. Paul's Expression, 
Rom. 12.1.  though in an other sense) is perhaps a much nobler way of adoring him, than those that are not qualified to practise it, are aware of, and is not improper even for Christians to exercise: For, Pyrophilus, it would be considered, That as God hath not by becoming (as the Scripture more than once styles him) our Saviour laid by his first Relation to us as our Creator (whence St. Peter exhorts, 
Tim. 1.1. Tit. 2.10.  even the suffering Christians of his time, 
1 Pet. 4.19.  to commit their Souls to God under the notion of a Faithful Creator) so neither hath he given up his right to those Intelligent Adorations from us, which become us upon the account of being his rational Creatures; neither are such performances made less acceptable to him by the filial relation into which Christ hath brought us to him, that Glorious relation as well endearing to him our services as our persons.  
And let me add, Pyrophilus, that not only Galen (as we have seen already) tells us, That the discerning one's self, and discovering to others the Perfections of God displayed in the Creatures, is a more acceptable act of Religion, than the burning of Sacrifices or Perfumes upon his Altars; and not only Trismegistus forbidding Asclepius to burn Incense, 
Hermes Tresmeg. In Asclep. cap. 15.  tells him, That the Thanks and Praises of Men, are the noblest Incense that can be offered up to God: But God himself (in his written Word) is pleased to say, That he that sacrificeth Praise (for so 'tis in the Original) honoureth him: And the Scripture consonantly mentions as a very acceptable part of Religious Worship, the Sacrifice of Praise, and the Calves of our Lips: By offering up of which, 
Hebr. 13.15.  we make that true use of the Creatures, of so referring them to their Creator's Glory, that (to conclude this Discourse by Crowning it (as it were) with that excellent Circle mentioned by the Apostle) As all things are of him, 
Rom. 11.36.  and Through him, so they may be To him: to whom be Glory for ever Amen.   

The Citations Englished.  
P. 24. Seneca de Otio Sap. Cap. 32. NAture, conscious to herself of her own Beauty and Artifice, hath given us a curious searching Wit, and to so excellent and great shows, begat us to be Spectators; otherwise, she would have lost the Fruit of herself, if to a desert and solitude she should have set forth so magnificent, so famous, so finely drawn, so fair and many ways beautiful Pieces. That you may know she would not only have them seen, but looked upon, take notice of the place she hath given us: For she hath not only made Man of an upright Stature, but being so made, for better Contemplation, that he might follow with his Eye the course of the Stars, from the Rising to the Setting, and carry about his Looks, together with his whole Body, she hath both given him a tall Head, and placed that upon a flexible Neck: Then she shows six Constellations by Day, and six by Night; She hath laid open every part of herself, that by those things which she hath offered to the Eyes of Man, she might breed a desire of knowing the rest. Yet neither do we see all her Works, nor those that we see, do we see in those Proportions which they truly have: But our Sight, by searching, does open a way unto itself, and lay the grounds of Truth, that so Inquiry may pass from things that are plain to things that are obscure, and find somewhat more Ancient even then the World itself, See Sen. de Vita Beata, Cap. 32.  
Pag. 28. What does he that contemplates the Nature of the Universe, of honour unto God? This, that his great Works are not without a Witness.  
P. 28. Sen. 2. de Ira. cap. 27. We are not the cause of the seasons and returns of Summer and Winter to the World: These have their own Laws, accommodated to the Exercise of Divine Being's: We arrogate too much honour to ourselves, if we esteem ourselves worthy that such vast Bodies should fulfil such Motions for our sakes.  
Ib. Lactantius de Ira Dei, cap. 13. True is the Opinion of the Stoics, that say, How that for our sakes the Wo●ld was made for all things that are, and the World doth by itself generate, are accommodated to the Advantage of Man.  
Ib. Seneca de Benef. cap. 23. The Gods were not careless or unconcerned in the making of Man, for whom they made so many other Creatures: For Nature designed us, and drew us out in Idea before she made us.  
Ib. Cicero 2. De Nat: Deorum. And for whose sake then was the World made? For those Being's that have Reason and Intelligence viz. Gods and Men, than whom no Being is more excellent.  
P. 43. Piso in Medicina Brasil: Lib. 1. It is observable, That so many excellent Trees, Shrubs, and an innumerable company of Herbs, some few excepted, should all appear so unlike the Vegetables of the Anciently known World, both in Figure, Leaf and Fruits: And the same Observation is made of Birds, Beasts and Fishes; and of Infects both Flying and Creeping, which are monstrously numerous, and of unspeakable Beauty in Colour, some known to us, and some unknown.  
P. 47. Piso, ib. You can scarce determine, whether in these Countries there are found mote Poisons or Antidotes: The Leaves, Flowers, and Fruits of the Herbs Tangarack and Juquer, the two most potent Venom's of Brasil, each of these hath its proper Root for an opposite Antidote— The Barbarians apply the Fat and Heads of Vipers, and the whole Bodies of those Infects, prepared according to Art, that stung or struck any Person, and that with boldness, and happy success, to the Wounds made by them, and so by the effects do attempt to prove, That in every Venom it's own Antidote is contained.  
P. 49. Piso, ib. From the Root Mandihoca, that abounds with a very potent Poison, there is made not only excellent Aliment, but even Antidote too.  
P. 50. Ex Augustino. You ought not to use your Eyes as a Bruit, only to take notice of Provisions for your Belly, and not for your Mind: Use them as a Man: Pry up into Heaven: See the things made, and inquire the Maker: Look upon those things you can see, and seek after Him whom you cannot see, and believe on Him you cannot see, because of those things you see: And be not like the Horse and Mule, etc.  
P. 75. Epicurus in Epist: ad Herod: in Laertio. As to the Meteors, you ought not to believe that there is either Motion, or Change, or Eclipse, or the rise or setting of them, because of any superior Precedent, which doth, or hath so disposed of it, and himself possesses all the while Happiness and Immortal Life: Wherefore you must think, that when the World was made, those implications and foldings of Atoms happened, which caused this necessity, that these Bodies should pass through these Motions. There are infinite Worlds, some like this, some unlike it: For since Atoms are infinite (as I newly showed from the infiniteness of the Spaces) some in one, others in others, distant parts of these Spaces far from us, variously concur to the making of infinite Worlds.  
P. 75. Lucretius, Lib. 5. 

But how at first, when Matter thus was whirled,  
Heaven, Earth, and Sea, the high and lower World,  
The Sun and Moon, and all were made, I'll show:  
For sure the first rude Atoms never knew  
By sage Intelligence, and Council grave,  
T'appoint the places that all Being's have:  
Nor will I think, that all the Motions here  
Ordered at first by fixed Agreements were,  
But th' Elements that long had beat about,  
Been buffeted, now in, now carried out:  
Screwed into every hole, and tried to take,  
With any thing, in any place to make  
Somewhat at last; after much time and coil,  
Motions and Meetings, and a world of toil  
Made up this Junto. And thus being joined:  
And thus in kind Embraces firmly twined,  
And linked together, they alone did frame,  
Heaven, Earth and Sea, and th' Creatures in the same.    
P. 77. Aristot: Metaph: 12. c. 6. How shall things be moved if there be no actual cause: For Matter cannot move itself, but requires to be moved by a Tectonic ' thing-creating Power.  
P. 78. Ciceronis de Thalete. He said, Water was the Principle of all things, but God was that Intelligence, that made all things out of Water: Ejusdem de Anaxagorâ: The delineation and manner of all things he thought to be designed and made by the power and reason of an infinite Intelligence.  
P. 80. Garcias ab Horto, L. 1. simp: c. 47. Diamonds, which ought to be brought to perfection in the deepest Bowels of the Earth, and in a long tract of Time, are almost at the top of the Ground, and in three or four Years space made perfect: For if you dig this Year but the depth of a Cubit, you will find Diamonds; and after two Year dig there, you will find Diamonds again.  
P. 93. Arist: de Mundo. cap. 6. It remains that we speak briefly concerning that 〈◊〉, whose Power preserves and supports all things, in like manner, as we have compendiously handled other matters: For it would seem criminal to pass over the chief part of the World untouched, having designed to discourse of the Universe in a Treatise, which, if less accurate, yet certainly may be sufficient for a rough platform of Doctrine.  Ibid. 
For God is both the Preserver of all things contained in the Universe, and likewise the Producer of every thing whatsoever which is any wise made in this World: Yet not so as to be sensible of labour, after the manner of a Workman, or a Creature, which is subject to weariness; for he is endued with a power which is inferior to no difficulty, and whereby he contains all things under his authority, even such as seem most distant from him.  
'Tis more magnificent and agreeable to conceive God, so resident in the Highest Place, that nevertheless his Divine Energy being diffused throughout the whole World, moves both the Sun and Moon, turns round the whole Globe of Heaven, and affords the causes of Safety and Preservation of such things as are upon the Earth.  
But to sum up all in brief; what the Pilot is in a Ship; what the Driver in a Chariot; what the chief Singer is in a Dance: finally, what Magistracy is in a Commonwealth, and the General in an Army, That is God in the World: Unless there be this difference, That much toil and manifold cares perplex them; but all things are performed by God without labour or trouble.  
P. 98. Galen. de Plac: Hipp: & Plat: Lib. 7. Whereas therefore (saith he) all Men ascribe that to Art, which is made aright in all respects; but that which is so only in one or two, not to Art, but Fortune: The structure of our Body gives us cause to admire the excellent Art, exactness and power of Nature which framed us. For our Body consists of above Two hundred Bones; to each of which tends a Vein for conveying of nourishment (in like manner as to the Muscles) which is accompanied with an Artery and a Nerve, and the parts are exactly pairs, and those placed in the right side of an Animal, are wholly alike to those in the other, Bone to Bone, Muscle to Muscle, Vein to Vein, Artery to Artery, and Nerve to Nerve; excepting only the Bowels, and some other parts, which seem to have a peculiar construction. So that the parts of our Body are double, and altogether alike among themselves, both in greatness and shape, as also in consistence, which I place in the diversity of softness and hardness. As therefore we use to judge of things made by Men, acknowledging the skill of a Workman, by the building of a Ship with extraordinary Art; so also it behoveth to do in those of God, and to admire the Framer of our Body, whosoever of the Gods he were, although we do not see Him.  
P. 101. Arist: de Mundo, Cap. 6. 'Tis an ancient Tradition (saith he) diffused amongst all Mankind from our Ancestors, That all things were made and produced of God, and by God; and that no Nature can be sufficiently furnished for its own safety, which is left without the support of God, to its own protection.  
P. Ead: Thus therefore we ought to conceive of God; If we consider His Power, He is Omnipotent; if His Shape, most Beautiful; if His Life, Immortal; and finally, if His Virtue, most Excellent. Wherefore though undiscernible by any corruptible Nature, yet He is perceived by such, in His Works; and indeed those things which are produced in the Air, by any mutation whatsoever; in the Earth, or in the Water, we ought deservedly to term the Works of God; which God is the absolute and sovereign Lord of the World, and out of whom (as saith Empedocles the Naturalist)  
All things beginning have, which e'er shall be,  
Are present or to come, Plants, Men and Beasts,  
And Fowl, and Fish the offspring of the Sea.  
Pag. 102. Arist: de Mundo, Cap. 6. 'Tis reported, That when Phidias, the excellent Statuary, made the Image of Minerva, which is in the Castle at athens, he contrived his own Picture in the middle of her Shield, and fastened the Eyes of it to the Statue by so cunning Workmanship, that if any one were minded to take it away, he could not do it without breaking the Statue, and disordering the connection of the Work. After the same manner is God in the World, retaining and upholding the coherence of all things, and preserving the safety of the Universe: Only, He is not in the midst of it (namely the Earth) which is a turbulent Region, but in the highest place, which is suitable to His Purity.  
P. 103, 104. Galen de Usu partium. Our most wise Creator hath placed under the Foot a skin, not loose, or thin, or soft, but close, and of indifferent hardness and sense, to the end it might not easily suffer injury: To Him I compose these Commentaries as certain Hymns, esteeming Piety not to consist in Sacrificing many Hecatombs of Oxen to Him, or burning Cassia, and a thousand other Perfumes; but in this, first to know myself, and then to declare to others, what His Wisdom, Power, Providence and Goodness is: the ignorance of which, not the abstaining from Sacrifice, is the greatest Impiety. For I account it an evidence of most perfect goodness, that He hath furnished all things with convenient ornament, and denied. His benefits to none. Now, to have devised how all things might be handsomely framed, is the part of highest Wisdom; but to have made all things which he would, of insuperable Power.  
P. 104. Paracelsus de Mineral: Tract. 1: God is very admirable in His Works; from the Contemplation of which we ought not to desist Night or Day, but continually be employed in the inquisition of them. For this is to walk in the ways of God.   

The INDEX to the First part.  

THe reason why the Author endeavours to possess Pyrophilus with the true value of Experimental Philosophy. 1  
That Experimental Philosophy is conducive to the improving of man's Understanding, and to the increasing of man's power. 2  
Arguments to prove that Man's Curiosity for Knowledge is much thereby gratified. ibid.  
A relation of the transport & surprisal of a Maid born blind; when being about 18. years old she obtained the first sight of the various Objects this world presented her with. 3  
That the knowledge of the inward Architecture and contrivanecs of Nature is more delightful than the sight of the outward shapes. 4  
Examples and Instances of the prevalence ●f the pleasure that arises from the attainment of Knowledge. 4  
That the knowledge of the most curious Artificial works is not more delightful than the knowledge of Natural. 5. That the delight herein is altogether inoffensive. 6  
Instances of the Esteem divers ancient Philosophers had for it. 6, 7  
How this study consists with Religion. 8  
The absurdity of not employing humane faculties on the contemplation of those Objects to which they are fitted. 9 Illustrated by the similitude of a Spider in a Palace, taking notice of nothing besides her own Cobweb. 10  
The Opinions that Seth, Abraham, Solomon, Ovid had of man's fitness for the study of Astronomy, and other Physiology. 11  
Why Providence might deprive us of Solomon's Physiology. 11  
Of the delight that may arise from the variety of Objects which Nature produc●th. 12  
That there be above 6000 Subjects of the Vegetable Kingdom. ib.  
Of an excellent Jamaica Pepper newly brought over. ib.  
How many Treatises are already made of Antimony, which yet hath not been perfectly discovered. 13  
Of a real Mercury of Antimony. 14. and a real combustible Sulphur of Antimony that burns like ordinary Brimstone. 14  
A new Tincture of Antimonial Glass, with the entire process to draw it. 14  
Of Gilbertus, Cabeus, and Kircher, who successively writ the Experiments of the Loadstone. 15  
Of some new Experiments hitherto undiscovered of that Stone. ib.  
That admirable speculations may arise from the most despicable productions of Nature. 16, 17  
What ever God has thought worthy of making, man should not think unworthy of knowing. 18, 19  
Of the Dominion and Power that Physiology gives the prosperous studiers of it. 20, 21  
That the Knowledge of Nature excites and cherishes Devotion. 22  
The Ends of God's Creation, his own Glory. 23, 24  
That Man's Good is a second Eudina, proved by Scripture. 25. The same proved by Reason and Authority. 26, 27, 28  
How the Sun [Shemesh] is the great minister of the Universe. 27,  
That accommodation and delight which the Creatures might afford Man is much impaired by the want of Natural Philosophy. 29  
That the instructions to our Intellectual part are more considerable than the accommodations we have from Nature to our Animal part. ib.  
Of the Hints of Natural Philosophy in the History of the Creation, and other references to it in other places. 30, 31  
How God's Power is conspicuous in the Creatures. 32, 33, 34. How God's wisdom is conspicuous in them. 34  
Particular Observations of the structure of Humane Body. 35  
Of the eyes and feet of Moles. 36  
Of the Silkworm. 37. That it worketh by Instinct and not by Imitation. 37, 38  
Of the vastness of the Elephant, and its disproportion to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and such like Mites. 39, 40  
Of the vastness of the Whale, and its disproportion to the small Worms or Fishes lately discovereed in Vinegar. 41, 42  
How God's Goodness is conspicuous in his Creatures, by his provision of accommodations for them all; but especially for his Favourite, Man. 43, 44, 45  
Of the unknown and new detected Properties and Virtues of divers Concretes. 45  
Of the Peruvian Bark, commonly called the Jesuits Powder, and other Concretes observable for their unknown Properties. 46  
Of the use of divers noxious Concretes, and that they contain their own Antidotes. 47, 48  
Of that excellent West Indian root Mandihoca. 48  
How we are by the Creatures instructed to Devotion. 40, 50, 51  
That their Opinion who would deter men from the scrutiny of Nature tends to defeat God of much of that Glory Man should ascribe unto him. 53, 54, 55  
That Philosophers of all Religions have considered the World under the notion of God's Temple. 56  
That in this Temple Man must be the Priest. 57, 58  
The contemplation of God's mercy ought not so to engross our thoughts, as to make us neglect the Glory of his Power and Wisdom. 59  
That the study of Physiology is not apt to make men Atheists. 60.  
Proved further from the ancient Institution of the Sabbath. 61  
That Physiology cannot explicate by second causes all the Phaenomena of Nature, so as to exclude the first. 63. Proved by the Instance of the unknown nature Mercury, etc. 64  
That same of the Peripatetic Sect are guilty of this endeavour. 65  
That their Hypothesis is very full of mistakes. 66  
That these excluders of the Deity make but imperfect explications of the Phaenomena of Nature. ib. And do not explain the Scale of Causes to the last Cause. 67  
Instances of things wherein their account is not satisfactory: 68 as 1. In the particulars, the causes of which they assign Occult Qualities. ib. 2. when they assign Nature's abborrency of Vacuity to be the cause that Water doth ascend in Suction. ib. whereas the contrary is proved in the Suction of Quick silver, 69 3. When they assign the causes of the Purgationes Menstrnae. 69, 70 And when in other cases they ascribe to irrational Creatures such actions as in men are the production of Reason and Choice. 70  
The Author's conceit concerning God's Creation of the parts of the World, and so placing them, that they (by the assistance of his ordinary concourse) must needs exhibit these Phaenomena. 71. Illustrated by the Clock at Strasburg. ib.  
How far such borrowed & Metaphorical Phrases, which Custom h●s authorized, may be used. 72  
Quicksilver being heavier than Stones, they swim thereon, yet sink in lighter liquors. 72  
That the Instances of the Actions of divers Creatures resembling Reason commend the Wisdom of God. 73, 74  
Defects in the Explication of Nature by the Epicureans, who deny the concurrence of God. 75, 76, 77, 78  
That the figures in Nitre, Crystal, and divers Minerals are produced not by chance, but by somewhat Analogous to seminal principles. 79  
That the Generation of Animals is much less to be accounted the production of Chance. 80  
That the Hypotheses of Philosophy only show that an effect may be produced by such a cause, not that it must. 81  
That to a perfect Knowledge there must not only appear the possible, but the definite and real, not only the general, but the particular causes. 82  
Some defects in the ways of Reaoning used by the most eminent Atomists. 83, 84, 85  
The most plausible argument of the Opposers of a Deity considered. 86, 87, 88, 89  
That there are some things in Nature which conduce much to the evincing of a Deity, which are only known to Naturalists. 91. Explained by the comparison of the Uniting scattered pieces of Paint into one face by a Cylindrical Looking Glass. 92  
The Testimony of the Author of the Book De Mundo ascribed to Aristotle introduced. ib.  
Of the admirable contrivance of the Make of the Musculus Marsupialis. 94. and of the parts of the Hand. ib.  
The contrivance for the Circulation of the Blood in a Foetus before the use of Respiration. 95  
Galen's Speech, That his Books De Usu Partium were as Hymns to the Creator. ib.  
The Fabric of the Eye considered: ib.  
Some Experimental Observations of the Eye, and the use of its parts in order to Vision. 96  
The way to prepare the Eyes of Animals for the better making observations on them. ib.  
Some particulars wherein the Eyes of white Rabbits are better than others for Observation. 97  
That it is dishonourable for the Soul to be unacquainted with the exquisite structure of the Body, being its own Mansion. 97. Proved out of Instances in the Psalmist and Galen. ib.  
Why the anterior part of Fishes Eyes ought to be more Spherical than those of men. 99  
That God made Man not after the World's Image, but his Own. 100  
That the Image of God on us should engage us to esteem ourselves us belonging to God. ib.  
Arguments from Authority, and the Experience of all Ages, That the Contemplation of the World has addicted Man to the Reverence of God. 100  
That those People who worship not God, are not Naturalists but Barbarians, and that their Atheism doth continue for want of the Contemplation of the World. 101  
A comparison of the Image of God on the Creature, to that of Phidias on Minerva's Shield. 102  
The noblest worship that has been paid to God from such who have not had particular Revelation of his will, has arose from the speculation of God's Wisdom, Power, and Goodness in the fabric of the Creature. 103. The Testimonies of Galen, Hermes, Paracelsus, L. Bacon. 104.  
That Religion has other Arguments besides those drawn from the works of Nature, enough to keep any considering man from Atheism. 106  
That the Difficulty of conceiving the Eternity, Self-Existence, and other Attributes of one God, is less than to conceive infinite, eternal, self-existent, and self-moving Atoms. 108  
As God is infinitely better than all his Creatures, so the Knowledge of him is better than the Knowledge of his Creatures. 110  
The Imperfection and Disquiet that there is in humane Science. 110, 111  
How the Favour of God conduces to promote men's. Proficiency in the study of Nature. 112  
The Reason of the Authors so long Discourse on this Subject. 114  
Beasts inhabit and enjoy the World, 'tis Man's duty to Spiritualise it. 115  
That it being the prime Duty of Man to give God the Honour of his Creatures, it is to be preferred before secondary Duties. ib.  
That the different greatness in the Knowledge make a like difference in the Honour given to the Creator. 117  
God, by becoming our Saviour, has not laid aside the Relation of a Creator. 117  
That he, who sacrificeth Praise, honoureth God. ib.  
The Conclusion. 118    

ERRATA in the First Part.  
Pag. 24. lin. 22. lege contemplationem factum. p. 62. l. 28. l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 69. l. 7. l. his private Interests. l. 28. of the Air against the Suckers chest. p. 73. l. 32. have Reason. l. 34. Souls. And. p. 75. l. 3. of Animals. p. 77. l. 5. principally in Extension. p. 75. l. 4. any Centrum gravium. p. 79. l. 24. are not unquestionably produced by chance but perhaps. p. 81. l. 6. deal *. l. 11. Animals; the. p. 85 l. 15. Ratiocination. By. l. 17. most. p. 87. l. ult. l. Things or their Motions. p. 88 l. 15. Parts it. p. 94. l. 32. Musculi perforati. p. 98. l. 8. sunt & omnino. l. 33. Insertion of. p. 99 l. 17. perfectly Spherical one as to the Anterior part which is obverted to the outward Objects. p. 107. l. 15. Not only.   

OF THE VSEFULNESSE OF Natural Philosophy.  
The Second Part.  
Of its usefulness to promote the Empire of Man over things CORPOREAL.  
OXFORD, Printed by HEN: HALL. Printer to the University, for RIC: DAVIS. In the year of our Lord, 1663.   

OF THE VSEFULNESSE OF Natural Philosophy.  
The Second Part.  
The first SECTION. Of its usefulness to PHYSIC.   

ESSAY I. Containing some Particulars tending to show the usefulness of Natural Philosophy to the Physiolological part of Physic.  
AFter having, in the former part of this Treatise, Pyrophilus, thus largely endeavoured to manifest to you the advantagiousness of Natural Philosophy to the mind of Man, we shall now proceed to speak of its Usefulness, both to his Body and Fortune. For I must ingeniously confess to you, Pyrophilus, That I should not have near so high a value as I now cherish for Physiology, if I thought it could only teach a Man to discourse of Nature, but not at all to master Her; and served only, with pleasing Speculations, to entertain his Understanding without at all increasing his Power. And though I presume not to judge of other men's knowledge, yet, for my own particular, I shall not dare to think myself a true Naturalist, till my skill can make my Garden yield better Herbs and Flowers, or my Orchard better Fruit, or my Fields better Corn, or my Dairy better Cheese than theirs that are strangers to Physiology. And certainly, Pyrophilus, if we seriously intent to convince the distrustful World of the real usefulness of Natural Philosophy, we must take some such course, as that Milestan Thales did, who was by the Ancients reckoned among the very first of their Naturalists, and their seven celebrated Wisemen: Of this Thales it is reported, That being upbraidingly demanded what advantage the Professors of Astrology could derive from the knowledge of it; he Astrologically foreseeing what Year it would prove for Olives, before any wont signs of it did appear to Husbandmen, Ingrossed, by giving earnest, the greater part of the Olives, which the next Season should afford to Chios and Miletus; And being thereby enabled, when most Men wanted Oil, to sell his at his own rates, he made advantage enough of his skill, to let his Friends see, That Philosophers may have the acquisition of Wealth more in their power then in their aim.  
Me thinks, it should be a disparagement to a Philosopher, when he descends to consider Husbandry, not to be able, with all his Science, to improve the precepts of an Art, resulting from the lame and unlearned Observations and Practice of such illiterate Persons as Gardeners, Ploughmen, and Milkmaids. And indeed, Pyrophilus, though it be but too evident, that the barren Philosophy, wont to be taught in the Schools, have hitherto been found of very little use in humane Life; yet if the true Principles of that fertile Science were thoroughly known, considered and applied, 'tis scarce imaginable, how universal and advantageous a change they would make in the World: For in Man's knowledge of the nature of the Creatures, does principally consist his Empire over them. (his Knowledge and his Power having generally the same limits) And as the Nerves, that move the whole Body, and by it, that great variety of Engines employed by Man on his manifold occasions, proceed from the Brain; so all the operations, by which we alter Nature and produce such changes in the Creatures, flow from our knowledge of them. Theological inquiries excepted, there is no ●mployment wherein Mankind is so much and so generally concerned, as 'tis in the study of Natural Philosophy. And those great Transactions which make such a noise in the World, and establish Monarchies or ruin Empires, reach not to so many Persons with their influence, as do the Theories of Physiology.  
To manifest this Truth, we need but consider, what changes in the Face of things have been made by two Discoveries, trivial enough; the one being but of the inclination of the Needle, touched by the Loadstone, to point toward the Pole; the other being but a casual Discovery of the supposed antipathy between Salt-Peter and Brimstone: For without the knowledge of the former, those vast Regions of America, and all the Treasures of Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones, and much more Precious Simples they send us, would have probably continued undetected; And the latter, giving an occasional rise to the invention of Gunpowder, has quite altered the condition of Martial Affairs over the World, both by Sea and Land. And certainly, true Natural Philosophy is so far from being a barren speculative Knowledge, that Physic, Husbandry, and very many Trades (as those of Tanners, Dyers, Brewers, Founders, etc.) are but Corollaries or Applications of some few Theorems of it.  
If I had not a great respect for the Great Hypocrates, I should venture to say, That some of those rigid Laws of Draco (whose severity made Men say, That they were written in Blood) have, perhaps, cost fewer Persons their Lives, than that one Aphorism of Hypocrates, which teaching, That if a teeming Woman be let Blood, she will miscarry, has for divers Ages prevailed with great numbers of Physicians, to suffer multitudes of their Female Patients to die under their hands, who might propably have been rescued by a discreet Phlebotomy, which experience has assured us (whatever the close of 
* Hippo. Apho 31. lib. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the Aphorism says to the contrary) to have been sometimes not only safely, but usefully employed, even when the Infant is grown pretty big. But my respect for so great a Person as Hypocrates, makes me content it should be thought, That till of late, Physicians have for the most part mistaken their Dictator's meaning in this Aphorism, provided it be granted me, That through this mistake numbers of teeming Women have been suffered to perish, who might probably, by the seasonable loss of some of their Blood, have prevented that of their Lives.  
And if an Error, which occasioned only a fault of omission, hath been so prejudicial to Mankind, I suppose you will readily grant that those Errors of Physicians, that are apt to produce faults of commission, and rash attempts, may prove much mo●e hurtful. And so much I find to be acknowledged by Galen, in that honest and excellent Passage of his, in his Comment upon the Aphorisms, 
Commen●: in Aph: 1. lib. 1.  where having mentioned the danger of trying conclusions upon Men, by reason of the nobleness of the Subject; and having added, That the Physician's Art is not like that of a Potter, a Carpenter, or the like, where a Man may freely try what he pleases to gratify his curiosity, or satisfy himself about his Notions, because that if he spoils (for instance) the Wood he works on, no Body is endangered by his miscarriage: He thus concludes, In corpore autem Human● ea tentare, quae non sunt experientum comprobata periculo non vacat; cum temeraria experientiae finis sit totius Animantis internecio.  
And indeed, since the Physician borrows his Principles of the Naturalist, I cannot but somewhat admire to see divers Persons, who are by themselves and others thought such wise Men, think the study of Natural Philosophy of small concernment: for when by their Policy or good Fortune they have acquired never so much Wealth or Power, and all other transitory Goods, and are blest with Children to inherit them, if the Principles of Natural Philosophy be mislaid, we oftentimes see the ignorance or the mistake of a Doctor, deprive them of all at once, and show how dangerous it is to be solicitous of the means of attaining the accommodations of Life, with the contempt of that Knowledge which in very many cases is humanely necessary to the preservation of Life itself.  
But, Pyrophilus, though our unintended prolixity in the former part of our Discourse concerning the Usefulness of Physiology, oblige us to the greater brevity in this latter part of it; yet to show you, That of the two things, which you may remember we told you Pythagoras pronounced most God like in Man (The Knowledge of Truth, and the Doing of Good) Physiology as well qualifies us for the latter, as it inriches us with the former. It will not be amiss a little more particularly (though as succinctly as so copious a Subject will permit) to consider the probability there is that no small Improvement may be made by men's proficiency in Experimental Knowledge of those Arts which are the chiefest Instruments of Man's dominion over the Creatures. These Arts (to divide them not accurately, but popularly) do serve either to relieve Man's necessities, as Physic and Husbandry; or for his accommodation, as the Trades of Shoemakers, Dyer's, Tanners, etc. or for his delight, as the Trades of Painters, Confectioners, Perfumers, etc. to all which Arts, and many others allied to them, Philosophical Experiments and Observations, may, by a knowing Naturalist, be made to extend a meliorating Influence.  
If I should, Pyrophilus, say this, without offering any thing at all by way of Proof that I say it not inconsiderately, You would, I fear, believe, that I deliver it too slightly for a Matter of that moment: And if, on the other side, I should in this Discourse present to you all the Particulars that I think I could, without Impertinency, employ to countenance what I have said, it would swell this Treatise to a Volumn, and defraud divers of my other Essays. And therefore I hold it not unfit to choose a middle way, and set down, on this occasion, either only or chiefly those things which do the most readily occur to me, and do not so properly belong to the rest of my physiological papers. And to avoid Confusion, I shall, according to the Division newly proposed, employ one Section of this Second part of the present Treatise, in setting down such things as relate to the Improvement of Physic: And in the other Section, deliver such particulars as concern those other useful Arts that depend upon Natural philosophy. But in regard that (as I have already intimated) the following Discourse is to consist chiefly of those things that belong not to any of my other Essays, You will not, I presume, expect that I should handle any subject fully or Methodically on this occasion: Which warning I especially intent for that part of the ensuing Discourse that relates to physic. For you will easily believe, that I am far from pretending to be a Doctor in that Faculty: And accordingly, in this and the four following Essays, I shall only throw together divers such particulars as not belonging to my Writings, would, perhaps be lost, if I did not lay hold on this Opportunity for their preservation, of which they are not altogether judged unworthy by some knowing Men, whose Encouragements, to mention them to you, have dissuaded me from wholly passing by, in this Discourse Matters properly Medical, what scruples soever I had to venture at speaking of them, Especially since I have not now the Conveniency to furnish these Essays with divers Particulars (by some thought not inconsiderable) which I may, perhaps be invited to add to them hereafter, if I find by your Reception of these that the others are like to be welcome.  
To say something then of Physic, and to suppose the fitness of the now received division of it into five Parts: The Physiological (the Physician taking that in a stricter sense than Philosophers, and then we do every where, save in this Essay) Pathological, Semeiotical, Hygieinal and Therapeutical, let us briefly take notice how each of these is indebted to, or capable of being improved by experienced Naturalists. And indeed, such is the affinity between Natural Philosophy and Physic, or the dependence of this on that, that we need not wonder at the judicious Observation of Aristotle, 
Arist. lib. de sensu & sensili, cap. 1.  where he thus writes, Naturalium ferè plurimis & Medicorum, qui magis Philosophicè artem prosequuntur, illi quidem finiunt ad ea, quae de Medicina; high verò ex iis qua de Natura, incipiunt quae de Medicina. But we must instance these things more particularly: And first for Physiology, 'tis apparent, That the Physician takes much of his Doctrine in that part of his Art from the Naturalist: 〈◊〉 to mention now no other parts of Physiology, in its stricter acception, the experience of our own age may suffice to manifest, what light the Anatomical doctrine of Man's Body may receive from Experiments made on other subjects. For since it were too barbarous, and too great a violation of the Laws, not only of Divinity but Humanity, to dissect humane Bodies alive, as did Herophilus and Erasistratus, who (as I find in some of the Ancients) obtained of Kings the Bodies of Malefactors for that purpose, and scrupled not to destroy Man to know him; And since, nevertheless divers things in Anatomy, as particularly the motion of the Blood and Chyle cannot be discovered in a dead dissected Body (where the cold has shut up and obliterated many Passages) that may be seen in one opened alive; it must be very advantageous to a Physicians Anatomical knowledge, to see the Dissections of Dogs, Swine, and other live Creatures, made by an inquisitive Naturalist: Consonantly whereunto we may remember, that the discoveries of the milky Vessels in the Mesentery by Asellius, of those in the Thorax by Pecquet, and of the Vasa Limphatica by Bartholinus, were first made in Brute Bodies, though afterwards found to hold in humane ones. Nor is it a small convenience to the Anatomist, that he may in the Bodies of Bruits make divers instructive Experiments, that he dares not venture on in those of Men; as for instance, that late noble, and by many not yet credited Experiment of taking out the Spleen of a Dog without killing him: For that this Experiment may be very useful, we may elsewhere have occasion to show. And that it is possible to be safely made (though many, I confess, have but unprosperously attempted it, and it hath been lately pronounced impossible in Print) ourselves can witness. And because I have not yet met with any Author that professes himself not to relate this Experiment (of the exemption of a Dog's Spleen) upon the credit of others, but as an eye-witness; I am content to assure you, That that dextrous Dissector, Dr Jolive (of whom we formerly made mention) did the last Year, at my request, take out the Spleen of a young Setting-dog I brought him: And that it might not be pretended, the Experiment was unfaithfully or favourably made, I did part of it myself, and held the Spleen (which was the largest in proportion to his Body that ever I saw) in my Hand, whilst he cut asunder the Vessels, reaching to i●, that I might be sure there was not the least part of the Spleen left unextirpated, and yet this Puppy, in less than a Fortnight, grew not only well, but as sportive and as wanton as before: which I need not take pains to make you believe, since you often saw him at your Mother's House, whence at length he was stolen. And though I remember the famous Empiric Fiorovanti, in one of his Italian Books, mentions his having been prevailed with by the importunity of a Lady (whom he calls Marulla Greca) much afflicted with Splenetic distempers, to rid her of her Spleen; and adds, That she outlived the loss of it divers Years. Yet he that considers the situation of that part, and the considerableness of the Vessels belonging to it in humane Bodies, will probably be apt to think, that though his relation may be credited, his venturousness ought not to be imitated. The Experiment also of detaining Frogs under Water for very many hours (sometimes amounting to some days) without suffocation, may, to him that knows that Frogs have Lungs and Breath as well as other Terrestrial Animals, appear a considerable discovery, in order to the determining the Nature of Respiration. Besides, the scrupulousness of the Parents or Friends of the deceased Persons, deprives us oftentimes of the Opportunities of Anatomising the Bodies of Men, and much more those of Women, whereas those of Beasts are almost always and every where to be met with. And 'twas, perhaps, upon some such account, that Aristotle said that the external parts of the Body were best known in Men, the internal in Beasts, Sun● enim (says 
Arist. Hist. Ani. l●b. 1. cap. 16.  he, speaking of the inward parts) hominum imprimis incertae atque incognitae: quamobrem ad caeterorum animalium partes quarum similes sunt humanae referentes eas contemplari debemus. And questionless in many of them, the frame of the parts is so like, that of those answerable in Men, that he that is but moderately skilled in Andratomy (as some of the Moderns call the Dissection of Man's Body, to distinguish it from Zootomy, as they name the Dissections of the Bodies of other Animals) may, with due diligence and industry, not despicably, improve his Anatomical knowledge. In confirmation of which truth, give me leave to observe to you, That though Galen hath left to us so many, and by Physicians so much magnified Anatomical Treatises, yet not only divers of those Modern Physicians, that would eclipse his Glory, deny him to have learned the skill he pretends to, out of the inspection of the Dissected Bodies of Men or Women, or so much as to ever have seen a humane Anatomy. But I find even among his Admirers, Physicians that acknowledge that his Knives were much more conversant with the Bodies of Apes, and other Bruits, then with those of Men, which in his time those Authors say 'twas thought little less than Irreligious, if not Barbarous, to mangle; which is the less to be wondered at, because even in this our Age, that great People of the Muscovites, though a Christian and European Nation, hath denied Physicians the use of Anatomy and Skeletons; the former, as an inhuman thing; the latter, as fit for little but Witchcraft, as we are informed by the applauded Writer Olearius, Secretary to the Embassy lately send by that Learned Prince, 
Voyage de Muscovie & de Perseus, pag. 128  the present Duke of Holsteine, into Moscovia and Persia. And of this, the same Author gives us the instance of one Quirin, an excellent Germane Chirurgeon, who, for having been found with a Skeleton, had much ado to scape with his Life, and was commanded to go out of the Kingdom, leaving behind him his Skeleton, which was also dragged about, and afterwards burnt.  
To these things we may add, Pyrophilus, that the diligence of Zootomists may much contribute to illustrate the Doctrine of Andratomy, and both inform Physicians of the true use of the parts of a humane Body, and help to decide divers Anatomical Controversies. For as in general 'tis scarce possible to learn the true Nature of any Creature, from the consideration of the single Creature itself: so particularly of divers parts of humane Body 'tis very difficult to learn the true use, without consulting the Bodies of other Animals, wherein the part inquired after is by Nature either wholly left out as needless, or wherein its differing bigness, or situation, or figure, or connection with, and relation to other parts, may render its use more conspicuous, or at least more discernible.  
Th●s Truth may be somewhat illustrated by the following Observations, which at present offer themselves to my thoughts upon this occasion.  
The Lungs of Vipers, and other Creatures (whole Hearts and whose Blood, even whilst it circulates, we have always found, as to sense, actually cold) may give us just occasion to inquire a little more warily whether the great use of Respiration be to cool the Heart.  
The sudden falling and continuing together, which we may observe in that part at least of a Dogs Lungs, that is on the same side with the Wound, upon making a large Wound in his Chest, though the Lungs remain untouched, is a considerable Experiment, in order to the discovery of the principal Organ of Respiration.  
If you dexterously take out the Hearts of Vipers, and of some smaller Fishes, whose coldness makes them beat much more unfrequently and leisurely, than those of warm Animals, the contraction and relaxation of the Fibres of the Heart may be distinctly observed, in order to the deciding or reconciling the Controversy about the cause and manner of the Heart's motion, betwixt those Learned modern Anatomists, that contend, some of them, for Dr. Harvey's Opinion; and others, for that of the Cartesians.  
Towards satisfying myself in which difficulty, I remember, I have sometimes taken the Heart of a Flounder, and having cut it transversly into two parts, and pressed out, and with a Linen cloth wiped off the Blood contained in each of them, I observed, that for a considerable space of time, the severed and bloodless parts held on their former contraction and relaxation. And once I remember that I observed, not without Wonder, That the severed portions of a Flounder Heart, did not only, after their Blood was drained, move as before, but the whole Heart, observed for a pretty while, such a succession of motion in its divided and exsanguious pieces, as I had taken notice of in them whilst they were coherent, and as you may with pleasure both see and feel in the entire Heart of the same Fish.  
Some of the other Controversies agitated among Anatomists and Philosophers, concerning the use of the Heart, and concerning the principal seat of Life and Sense, may also receive light from some such Experiments, that we made in the Bodies of Bruits, as we could not of Men.  
And the first of these that we shall mention, shall be an Experiment that we remember ourselves formerly to have made upon Frogs: For having opened one of them alive, and carefully cut out his Heart, without closing up the Orifice of the Wound (which we had made wider than was necessary) the Frog notwithstanding leapt up and down the Room as before, dragging his Entrails (that hung out) after him; and when he rested, would upon a puncture leap again, and being put into the Water, would swim, whilst I felt his Heart beating betwixt my Fingers. The Hearts of others of them were taken out at an Incision, no greater than was requisite for that purpose; when we had stitched or pined up the Wound, we observed them to leap more frequently and vigorously then the former: They would, as before they were hurt, close and open their Eye lids upon occasion: Being put into a Vessel not full of Water, they would as orderly display their fore and hinder Legs in the manner requisite to swimming, as if they wanted none of their parts, especially not their Hearts; they would rest themselves sometimes upon the surface of the Water, sometimes at the bottom of it, and sometimes also they would nimbly leap, first out of the Vessel, and then about the Room, surviving the exsection of their Hearts; some about an hour, and some longer. And that which was further remarkable in this Expe●iment, was, that we could, by gently pressing their Breast and Belly with our Fingers, make them almost at pleasure make such a noise, as to the Bystanders made them seem to croak; but how this Experiment will be reconciled to the Doctrine ascribed to Mr. Hobbs, or to to that of the Aristotelians, who tell us, That their Master taught, the Heart to be the seat of Sense (whence also though erroneously, he made it the original of the Nerves) let those that are pleased to concern themselves to maintain all his Opinions, consider.  
And whereas Frogs, though they can move thus long without the Heart, yet they cannot at all bear the exemption or spoiling of the Brain; we will add what we have observed, even in hot Animals, whose Life is conceived to be much more suddenly dissipable, and the motion of each part much more dependent upon the influence of the Brain: We opened then an Egg, wherein the Chick was not only perfectly form, but well furnished with Feathers, and having taken him out of the Membrane that involved him, and the Liquors he swum in, and laid him on his Back on a flat piece of Glass, we clipped away, with a pair of Sciffers, the Head and the Brest-bone; whereby the Heart became exposed to view, but remained fastened to the Headless Trunk: and the Chick lying in this posture, the Heart continued to beat above a full hour, and the Ears seemed to retain their motion a pretty while after the Heart itself had lost his; the motion of none of the other Parts appearing many moments to survive the loss of the Head: and which is most considerable, the seemingly dead Heart was divers times excited to new, though quickly ceasing motion, upon the puncture of a Pin, or the point of a Penknife. And to evince that this was no casual thing, the next Day we dealt with the Chick of another Egg, taken from the same Hen, after the above recited manner; and when the motion of the Heart and Ears began to cease, we excited it again, by placing the Glass over the warm steam of a Vessel full of hot Water, bringing still new Water from off the Fire to continue the heat, when we perceived the former Water to begin to cool; and by this means we kept the Heart beating for an hour and an half by measure. And at another time, for further satisfaction, we did, by these and some other little industries, keep the Heart of a somewhat elder Chick, though exposed to the open Air, in motion, after we had carefully clipped off the Head and Neck, for the space of (if our memory do not much misinform us) two hours' an● an half by measure. Upon what conjectures we expected so lasting a motion in the Heart of a Chick, after it had lost the Head, and consequently the Brain, would be more tedious and less fit to be mentioned in this place, than the strange vivacity we have sometimes, not without wonder, observed in Vipers: Since not only their Hearts clearly severed from their Bodies may be observed to beat for some hours (for that is common with them to divers other cold Animals) but the Body itself may be sometimes two or three days after the Skin, Heart, Head, and all the Entrails are separated from it, seen to move in a twining or wriggling manner: Nay (what is much more) may appear to be manifestly sensible of punctures, being put into a fresh and vivid motion, when it lay still before, upon the being pricked, especially on the Spine or Marrow with a Pin or Needle.  
And though Tortoises be in the Indies many of them very large Animals, yet that great Traveller, Vincent le Blanc, in his French Voyages, giving a very particular account of those Tortoises, which the East Indian King of Peg● (who was much delighted with them) did, with great curiosity, cherish in his Ponds, adds this memorable Passage as an Eye-witness of what he relates: When the King hath a mind to eat of them, they cut off their heads, and five days after they are prepared; and yet after those five days they are alive, as we have often experienced. Now although I will not say, that these Experiments prove, that either 'tis in the Membranes that sensation resides (though I have sometimes doubted whether the Nerves themselves be not so sensible, chiefly as they are invested with Membranes) or that the Brain may not be confined to the Head, but may reach into the rest of the Body, after another manner than is wont to be taught: Yet it may be safely affirmed, that such Experiments as these may be of great concernment, in reference to the common Doctrine of the necessity of unceasing influence from the Brain, being so requisite to Sense and Motion, especially if to the lately mentioned Particulars we add on this occasion what we have observed of the Butterflies, into which Silkworms have been Metamorphosed; namely, That they may not only, like common Flies, and divers other winged Infects, survive a pretty while the loss of their Heads, but may sometimes be capable of Procreation after having lost them: as I not long since tried (though not perhaps without such a Reluctancy as Aristotle would have blamed in a Naturalist) by cutting off the Heads of such Butterflies of either Sex. Quamvis enim Mas cui prius amputatum est caput nequaquam adduci posset (quaecunque Insecti illius est salacitas) ut Faeminam comprimeret: Decollata tamen Faemina marem alacriter admisit. Et licet post horas aliquot coitu insumptas ita requierit immota ut mortuam per multas horas cogitarem; non solum quia omnem penitus motum perdiderat, & in Thorace satis magnum apparebat foramen, quod à parte aliqua Corporis simul cum capite à trunco disruptâ factum videbatur; verum etiam quoniam eodem permansit statu idque per plures horas, ultra tempus quo, post coitionem cum Mare hujus generis Animalcula solent ordiri prolificationem. Tandem vero postquam jam diu de Vita ejus desperatum esset, Ova faetare tam confertim coepit ut vel exiguo temporis intervallo eorum plura in manu mea deponeret. An vero Prolifica sint futura nondum comperi.  
Their Opinion that ascribe the redness of the Blood to the colour of the Liver, through which it passes, is not discountenanced by the Livers of Men: But in Hen-eggs, about the third or fourth day after incubation (for we have found the circumstances of time much to vary) you may observe the Punctum saliens, or Heart, to be ever and anon full of conspicuously red Blood, before the naked Eyes can so much as discern a Liver, at least before they can discover in it any redness; a yellowness being all I could observe in the Parenchyma of the Livers of divers Chickens perfectly formed, and furnished with Feathers, though not great enough to make their way out of the Shell. And in divers great Fishes I have found the Vessels of the Liver full of very red Blood, though the Parenchyma or substance of it were white, or at least did not at all participate much less impart a sanguine colour.  
The Doctrine so unanimously delivered by Physicians and Surgeons, concerning the irreparable loss of the Limb of an Animal, once violently severed from the Body, will appear unfit to be admitted, without some restriction by what may be experienced in Lizards, in Lobsters and Craw-fish, and perhaps in some other living Creatures. For of Lizards it hath been often observed in hot Countries, and even in France, that their Tails being struck off will grow again. And the like hath been of old observed by Pliny, and the experienced Bontius delivers it upon his own knowledge in these words: Hoc in domesticis meis non semel animadverti dum filioli mei lusitabundi bacillo caudas iis decutiebant, quas tamen post diem unum aut alterum ad solitum pabulum revertentes vidi, caudasque iis paulatim reaccrescere.  
That the Claws likewise of Lobsters being torn off, another will sometimes grow in the room of it, is not only said by Fishermen, but hath been affirmed to me by very credible persons, one of which assured me, that he himself had observed it very often. And I am the more apt to believe it, because the like is to be met with among Craw-fish, which are so like Lobsters, that by many they are taken (though not considerately enough) to be but a smaller kind of them. For I remember, that going to look upon a Repository where a multitude of them was kept, and causing divers of the fairest to be drawn up, that I might take the stony concretions, commonly called Oculi Cancrorum, out of their Heads I observed one large Fish that had one of his Claws proportionable to the bulk of his Body, but the other so short and little, that the greater seemed to be four or five times as big as it; whereupon its good shape and fresh colour, seeming to argue it to be but young and growing, invited me to ask one of them that had the oversight of the Fish, whether he had formerly seen any Claws torn off to grow again; he affirmed to me, That in that sort of Fish it was very usual.  
I could also tell you how fruitlessly I have endeavoured to discover that stomachical Acidity, to which many of our Modern Physicians are pleased to ascribe the first digestion of the Nutriment of Animals, in the purposely dissected Stomaches of ravenous Sea-fish, in whose Stomaches, though our taste could not perceive any sensible acidity, yet we found in one of them a couple of Fishes, each of them about a Foot long, whereof the one, which seemed to have been but newly devoured, hath suffered little or no alteration in the great Fish's Stomach; but the other had all its outside, save the Head, uniformly wasted to a pretty depth, beneath the former surface of the Body, and looked as if it had been not boiled, or wrought upon by any considerable heat, but uniformly corroded, like a piece of Silver Coin kept a while in Aquafortis, according to the criminal tricks of Adulterators of Money.  
Yet I am loath, till I have perfected what I design in order to that enquiry, either to embrace or reject the Opinion I find so general among the Moderns, concerning the Solution of Meat in the Stomach by something of Acid. And I remember, that when I was considering what might be alleged for, as well as against that Opinion, I devised this Experiment, among others, in favour of it: I provided a Liquor, with which I drenched a piece of the Wing of a roasted Pullet, hav●ng first well crushed it between my Fingers, to make some amends for the omission of chewing it; and having a little incorporated the Liquor and the musculous Flesh, they immediately changed colour, and in about an hour, grew to be a kind of Jelly, in colour and consistence not unlike Quince Marmalade: This mixture, by the next Morn●ng, did, as I expected, turn to a deep Blood red, or sometimes rather a lovely purple Liquor, though all this while there had been no external heat employed to promote the action of the Menstruum. And the like Experiment I tried also with a piece of Mutton, with Bread, and a piece of Veal, and other edible things, which at that time occurred to me, and found the operation of the Liquor almost uniform, though it seemed to act most effectually upon Flesh. And to gratify in some measure your curiosity, Pyrophilus, I am content to tell you, that the Menstruum was drawn from Vitriol, and that with the bare Oil of it I have (though I could not with Aqua fortis) performed no less than what I have yet mentioned; but least this should be thought a digression, let it suffice to have, on this occasion, mentioned thus much upon the by.  
To what we lately took notice of concerning the Heart, may be added, That on the Sea-coast of Ireland, I observed a sort of Fishes, about the bigness of Mackerel, whose Hearts were of an inverted Figure, compared to those of other Animals, the basis or broad end of the Heart being nearest the Tail, and the accuminated part or apex being coherent to the great Artery, and respecting the Head.  
To all these trifling Observations, divers more considerable ones might be added, but they may be more seasonably insisted on elsewhere; and those already mentioned, may suffice to let you see, That the Naturalist by his Zootomy, may be very serviceable to the Physician in his Anatomical Inquiries.  
Nor is it only by the dissection of various Animals, that the Naturalist may promote the Anatomists knowledge, but perhaps also he may do it by devising ways to make the dead Bodies of Men, and other Animals, keep longer then naturally they would do: For since experience teaches us, That Men find it very easy to forget the originations, windings, branchings, insertions, and other circumstances of particular Vessels, and other parts of the Body, as well as those that study Botanics, are wont to complain of their easy forgetting, the shapes, differences, and alterations of smaller Plants, it cannot but be a great help to the Student of Anatomy, to be able to preserve the parts of humane Bodies, and those of other Animals, especially such Monsters as are of a very singular or instructive Fabric, so long that he may have recourse to them at pleasure, and contemplate each of them so often and so considerately, till he have taken sufficient notice of the shape, situation, connection, etc. of the Vessel, Bone, or other part, and firmly impressed an Idea of it upon his memory, We find ourselves much helped to retain in our memory, the figures and differences of Vegetables, by those Books which some curious Botanists make, wherein the Plants themselves, artificially dried, are displayed upon, and fastened to Leaves of white Paper; if it were not for one of those Books, wherein I have in one vast Volumn almost all the Plants of one of the chief Physick-gardens in Europe, I should every Year forget, by the end of Winter, to know again most of the smaller Plants I had learned to take notice of in the Spring. And by the way 'tis observable, how long Plants, by being carefully indeed, but barely dried in the shade betwixt Sheets of Paper, which help to soak up the superfluous moisture, may be preserved. For I have divers Years had an Herbal, wherein several of the Flowers, and other Plants, retain their native yellow and blue, etc. (but somewhat faint) though by the date it appeared to be 22 or 23 Years old. And I am apt to think, that it would be very possible for Anatomists also to preserve the Bodies they contemplate for a considerable time: For experience hath informed us in good number of such Animals, that Butterflies, and divers other flying Infects, may have their shape and colours preserved, I know not how long, by running them through in some convenient part with Pins, and therewith sticking them to the inside of large Boxes. And on this occasion, I remember, that having sometimes reflected upon the Lasting of Spiders, Flies, and other small living Creatures, that having been casually enclosed in Amber whilst it was soft, are ever preserved entire and uncorrupted, I thought it not amiss to try whether some Substance, like Amber (at least as to the newly mentioned use of it) might not easily be prepared by Art: And hereupon I quickly found, that by taking good clear Venice Turpentine, and gently evaporating away about a third part of it (sometimes more, sometimes less, according to the exigency of my particular purpose) I could make a reddish Gum, diaphanous and without Bubbles, which would melt with a very gentle heat, and easily (being suffered to cool) become again so hard as to be brittle. This resinous Substance should be melted with as little heat as is possible (and therefore should be first powdered) that the texture of the Vegetable or Animal Bodies to be cased over with it, might receive the less alteration: And when it is brought to the requisite degree of fluidity, than the Body to be preserved (being, if that be needful, stuck through with a Pin) must be gently plunged into it, and presently taken out and suffered leisurely to cool, being turned, from time to time, this way or that way, if there be occasion, that the investing Matter may be every where of an equal thickness upon it. And if at the first time the Case be not thick enough, it may again, when it is cold, be immersed into the liquid Matter (as Chandler's are wont to thicken their Candles, by dipping them frequently into melted Tallow) of which some will every way adhere to it. And though these Cases be inferior to Amber, in regard of their being more apt to be sullied by dust, or otherwise; yet that inconvenience may be easily remedied, by keeping them shut up in Glasses or Boxes, at those times when one hath not occasion to consider them: And their clearness (especially if they be thin) and their smooth surfaces, together with their exactly keeping out the Air from the Body they enclose, may, perhaps, make so cheap and easy an Experiment a not unwelcome trifle, especially considering how easily 'tis capable of Improvement.  
But to return to the Preservation of more bulky Bodies, 'tis a known thing, to the Collectors of Rarities, that the external Idea of Fish, Crocodiles, Birds, and even Horses, may be preserved for many Years, by taking out the more corruptible parts, and stuffing their prepared Skins with any convenient Matter. And that the internal membranous parts of Bodies may be long and easily kept from putrefaction, is not unknown to many Anatomists. And not to mention what we have tried of this sort, we have seen the Veins, Arteries, and Nerves of a humane Body, laid out in their natural situation upon three Board's, by the pains and skill of an accurate Anatomist of Milan. And elsewhere, Uterum vidimus atque omnia mulieris genitalia, together with the Bladder, all displayed upon a Board, preserved for many Years so entire, and in a situation so near the Natural, that this Scheme was far more instructive, than the most accurate Printed one could possibly be. We have likewise known the flesh of Vipers, kept not only sweet, but efficacious, for divers Years, by the smoke of a peculiar Powder, chiefly consisting of Aromatic Ingredients, and of which, you, Pyrophilus, may command the Composition.  
We have also seen the Skeleton of a Monkey, made, by an excellent French Chirurgeon of our acquaintance, whereon the Tendons and Fibres of the Muscles were so preserved, that it was looked upon as a rarity, very useful to show their Originations and Insertions, and to explain the motions of the Limbs: And perhaps there may be some way to keep the Arteries & the Veins too, when they are emptied of Blood, plump, and unapt to shrink overmuch, by filling them betimes with some such substance, as, though fluid enough when it is injected to run into the Branches of the Vessels, will afterwards quickly grow hard. Such may be the liquid Plaster of burnt Alabaster, formerly mentioned, or Ising-glass steeped two days in Water, and then boiled up, till a drop of it in the cold will readily turn into a still Jelly. Or else Saccarum Saturni, which, if it be dissolved often enough in Spirit of vinegar, and the Liquor be each time drawn off again, we have observed to be apt to melt with the least heat, and afterwards to grow quickly into a somewhat brittle consistence again. But I must not insist on these Fancies, but rather add, That I have known an Embryo, wherein the parts have been very perfectly delineated and distinguishable, preserved unputrified for several Years; and I think it still continues so, by being seasonably and artificially embalmed with Oil (if I much mis-remember not) of Spikes. And I have elsewhere seen a large Embryo, which after having been preserved many Years, by means of another Liquor (whose composition I do as yet but guess at) did, when I saw it, appear with such an admirable Entireness, Plumpness, and Freshness, as if it were but newly dead: And that which concurs to make me hope that some nobler w●y may be yet found out, for, the preservation of dead Bodies, is, that I am not convinced that nothing can powerfully resist Putrefaction in such Bodies, but things that are either saline and corrosive, or else hot; nor that the Embalming Substances cannot be effectually applied, without ripping open the Body to be preserved by them. For Josephus Acosta, a sober Writer, relates, That in certain American Mountains, Men, and the Beasts they ride on, sometimes are killed with the Winds, which yet preserve them from putrefaction, without any other help. So insensible a quantity of Matter, such as it may be, may, without Incision made into the Body, both pervade it, and as it were Embalm it. I know also a very experienced and sober Gentleman, who is much talked off for curing of Cancers in women's Breasts, by the outward Application of an Indolent Powder; some of which he also gave me, but I have not yet had the opportunity to make trial of it: And I shall anon tell you, that I have seen a Liquor, which without being at all either acid or caustick, is in some Bodies far mo●e effectual against Putrefaction, than any of the corrosive Spirits of Nitre, Vitriol, Salt, etc. and then any of the other saline Liquors that are yet in use. We have also tried a way of preserving Flesh with Musk, whose effects seemed not despicable to us, but must not here be insisted on.  
Nor were it amiss that diligent Trial were made what use might be made of Spirit of Wine, for the Preservation of a humane Body: For this Liquor being very limpid, and not greasy, leaves a clear prospect of the Bodies immersed in it; and though it do not fret them, as Brine, and other sharp things commonly employed to preserve Flesh are wont to do, yet it hath a notable Balsamic Faculty, and powerfully resists Putrefaction, not only in living Bodies (in which, though but outwardly applied, it hath been found of late one of the potentest Remedies against Gangrenes) but also in dead ones. And I remember that I have sometimes preserved in it some very soft parts of a Body for many Months (and perhaps I might had done it for divers Years, had I had opportunity) without finding that the consistence or shape was lost, much less, that they were either putrified or dried up: We have also, by mixing with it Spirit of Wine, very long preserved a good quantity of Blood, so sweet and fluid, that 'twas wondered at by those that saw the Experiment. Nay, we have for curiosity sake, with this Spirit, preserved from further stinking, a portion of Fish, so stale, that it shined very vividly in the dark; in which Experiment, we also aimed at discovering whether this resplendent quality of the decaying Fish would be either cherished, or impaired by the Spirit of Wine (whose operations in this trial we elsewhere inform you of) and it would be no very difficult matter for us to improve, by some easy way, this Balsamical Virtue of Spirit of Wine, in case you sh●ll think it worth while: But not to anticipate what I may more properly mention to you elsewhere, I shall at present say no more touching the Conservation of Bodies, since probably by all these, and some other Particulars, we may be induced to hope so well of humane Industry, as not to despair, that in time some such way of preserving the Bodies of Men, and other Animals, will be found out, as may very much Facilitate, and Advance too, anatomical Knowledge. Neither is it only by advancing This, that the Naturalist may promote the physiological Part of Physic: for since the Body consists not only of firm and consistent Parts, as the Bones, Muscles, Heart, Liver, etc. but of fluid ones, as the Blood, Serum, Gall, and other Juices. And since consequently to the complete Knowledge of the use of all the Parts we should investigate, not only the Structure of the Solid ones, but the Nature of the Fluid ones, the Naturalist may do much more than hath yet been done, towards the perfecting of this Kowledge, not only by better explicating what it is in general makes Bodies either Consistent or Fluid, but by examining particularly, and especially in a Pyrotechnicall way, the Nature of the several Juices of the Body, and by illustrating the Alterations that those Juices, and the Aliments they are made of, receive in the Stomach, Heart, Liver, Kidneys, and other Viscera. For although a humane Body being the most admirable Corporeal Piece of Workmanship of the Omniscient Architect, it is scarce to be hoped, but that even among the things that happen ordinarily and regularly in it, there will be many which we shall scarce be able to reach with our Understanding, much less to imitate with our Hands. Yet paradventure, if Chemical Experiments, and Mechanical Contrivances, were industriously, and judiciously, associated by a Naturalist profoundly skilled in both, and who would make it his Business to explain the Phaenomena of a Humane Body, not only many more of them then at first one would think, might be made more intelligible then as yet they have been; but divers of them (especially those relating to the motions of the Limbs and Blood) might be by artificial Engines (consisting as the Pattern not only of Solid but Liquid and Spirituous Parts) not ill represented to our very Senses: since a humane Body itself seems to be but an Engine, wherein almost, if not more than almost, all the Actions common to Men, with other Animals, are performed Mechanically. But of the difference of these living Engines from others, I may elsewhere have a fitter opportunity to discourse to You. For at present, Pyro: I have employed so much of the little time my Occasions will allow me to spend upon the Treatise I am now writing, in making out to you the Usefulnesse of Natural Philosophy, to the physiological Part of Physic, that I must not only not prosecute this Subject, but must both hasten to mention, and to mention the more cursorily its serviceableness to the four remaining Parts of the Physicians Art.   

ESSAY II. Offering some Particulars relating to the pathological Part of Physic.  
AND to say something in the next place of Pathology, that the Naturalists knowledge may assist the Physician to discover the nature and causes of several Diseases, may appear by the light of this Consideration, that, though divers Paracelsians (taught, as they tell us, by their Master) do but erroneously suppose, that Man is so properly a Microcosm, that of all the sorts of Creatures whereof the Macrocosm or Universe is made up, he really consists; yet certain it is that there are many Productions, Operations, and Changes of things, which being as well to be met with in the great, as in the little world, and divers of them disclosing their natures more discernably in the former, then in the latter; the knowledge of the nature of those things as they are discoverable out of man's body, may well be supposed capable of illustrating many things in man's body, which receiving some Modifications there from the nature of the Subject they belong to, pass under the notion of the Causes or Symptoms of Diseases. If I were now, Pyrophilus, to discourse to you at large of this Subject, I think I could convince you of the truth of what I have proposed. And certainly, unless a Physician be, (which yet I fear every one is not) so much a Naturalist, as to know how Heat, and Cold, and Fluidity, and compactness, and Fermentation, and Putrefaction, and Viscosity, and Coagulation, and Dissolution, and such like Qualities, are generated and destroyed in the generality of Bodies, he will be often very much to seek, when he is to investigate the causes of preternatural Accidents in men's bodies, whereof a great many depend upon the Presence, or Change, or Vanishing of some or other of the enumerated Qualities, in some of the Fluid or Solid Substances that constitute the body. And that the Explications of a skilful Naturalist may add much to what has hitherto commonly been taught concerning the Nature and Origine of those Qualities, in Physician's Schools, a little comparing of the vulgar Doctrine, with those various Phaenomena, to be met with among Natural things, that aught to be, and yet seem not to be, explicable by it, will easily manifest to you. And questionless 'tis a great advantage to have been taught by variety of Experiments in other bodies, the Differing ways whereby Nature sometimes produces the same effects. For since we know very little à priori, the observation of many such effects, manifesting, that nature doth actually produce them so and so, suggests to us several ways of explicating the same Phaenomenon, some of which we should perhaps never else have dreamed of. Which ought to be esteemed no small Advantage to the Physician; since he that knows but one or few of Nature's ways of working, and consequently, is likely to ignore divers of those whereby the proposed Disease (or Symptom of it) may be produced, must sometimes conclude, that precisely such or such a thing is the determinate Cause of it, and apply his Method of relieving his Patient accordingly; which often proves very prejudicial to the poor Patient, who dearly pays for his Physicians not knowing, That the Quality that occasions the Distemper, may be as probably, if not more rationally, deduced from an other Origine, then from that which is presumed. This will scarce be doubted by him that knows how much more likely Explications than those applauded some ages since, of divers things that happen as well within as without the body, have been given by later Naturalists, both Philosophers and Physicians: and how much the Theory of the Stone, and many other diseases, that has been given us by those many Physicians, that would needs deduce all the Phaenomena of diseases from Heat, Cold, and other Elementary Qualities, is Inferior to the Account given us of them by those ingenious Moderns, that have applied to the advancement of pathology, that Circulation of the Blood, the Motion of the Chile by the Milky vessels to the Heart, the consideration of the effects deducible from the Pores of greater bodies, and the motion and figuration of their minute parts, together with some of the more known Chemical Experiments: though both of those, and of the other helps mentioned just before them, I fear men have hitherto been far enough from making the best use, which I hope it will daily more and more appear they are capable of being put to. He that has not had the curiosity to inquire out and consider the several ways, whereby Stones may be generated out of the body, not only must be unable satisfactorily to explicate how they come to be produced in the Kidneys and in the Bladder, but will, perhaps, scarce keep himself from embracing such errors, because authorised by the suffrage of eminent Physicians, as the knowledge I am recommending would easily protect them from. For we find divers famous, and, otherwise, learned Doctors, who (probably because they had not taken notice of any other way of hardening a matter once soft into a stonelike consistence) have believed and taught that the Stone of the Kidneys is produced there by slime baked by the heat and dryness of the Part; as a portion of soft Clay may, by external heat, be turned into a Brick or Tile. And accordingly they have for cure, thought it sufficient to make use of store of Remedies to moisten and cool the Kidneys; which, though in some bodies this be very convenient, are yet far inferior in efficacy to those Nobler medicines, that by specific qualities and properties are averse to such coagulations as produce the Stone. But (not to mention what a Physician skilled in Anatomy would object against this Theory from the nature of the part affected) 'tis not unlike, the embraces of this Hypothesis would not have acquiesced in it, if they had seen those putrefactions out of the bodies of men, which we elsewhere mentioned. For these would have informed them, that a Liquor abounding with petrescent parts, may not only turn Wood (as I have observed in a petrifying Spring) into a kind of Stone, and may give to Cheese and Moss without spoiling their pristine appearance a strong hardness and weight; but may also produce large and finely shaped Crystalline bodies (though those I tried were much less hard than Crystal) in the bosom of the cold water, which brings into my mind, that I have divers times produced a body of an almost stony hardness in less than half an hour, even in the midst of the water, by tying up in a rag, about the quantity of a nutmeg, of well and recently calcined Alabastre, which being thus tied up and thrown into the bottom of a basin full of water, did there speedily harden into a Lapideous Concretion. And that even in the bodies of Animals themselves such concretions may be generated much otherwise then the Hypothesis we have been speaking of supposes, may appear by what happens to Craw-fish, which though cold animals, and living in the waters, have generated at certain seasons in their heads Concretions, which for their hard and pulverizable consistence, divers Authors call lapides Cancrorum, though in the Shops they are often but abusively styled Oculi cancrorum. And such strong concretions are affirmed to be generated in these Fish's every Year, which I the less scrupled at, because I have not found them at all times in the Head of the Fish. And besides, these and many more Concretions, that had they been observed by the Physicians we have been speaking of, might easily have kept them from acquiescing in, and maintaining their improbable explication of the manner of the Stones nativity: There is yet another kind of Coagulation, which may both be added to the former, and perhaps also serve to recommend the use of Chemical Experiments, in investigating the Causes of Diseases: This is made by the mixture of tightly dephlegmed Spirit of fermented humane Urine, with as exactly rectified Spirit of Wine; for upon the confusion of those two volatile Liquors in a just proportion, they will both of them, as after Lullius Experience hath informed us, suddenly coagulate into a white Mass, which Helmont calls Offa alba, and by which, he endeavours to declare the procreation of the Duelech: for supposing himself to have found in humane Urine a potential Aqua vitae, or Vinous Spirit, capable of being excited by a putrid Ferment, 
Helmont de Lith: cap. 3. & 4.  and coagulable by the volatile Salt of the same Urine, if there were any volatile Earth lurking in the Liquors, That being apprehended by the uniting Spirits, and coagulated with them both; he supposeth there may emerge from the union of those three Bodies such an anomalous Concretion, as he, after Paracelsus, calls Duelech.  
And th●t a subtle Terrestrious Substance may lurk undiscerned, even in limpid Liquors, may appear, not only in Wine, which rejects and fastens to the sides of the containing Vessel, a Tartar, abounding in Terrestrious Feculency; and in common Urine of healthy Men, which, though clear at its first emission into the Urinal, does, after a little rest there, let fall an Hypostasis, or Sediment, which, if distilled before fermentation, leaves in the bottom of the Cucurbite an Earthy Substance, and commonly some Gravel: but even in rectified Spirit of Urine itself, I have had opportunity to observe, That after very long keeping, there hath spontaneously precipitated a Feculency, copious enough in proportion to the Liquor that afforded it. Nay, in an other parcel of Spirit of Urine, that hath been kept much longer than that already mentioned, we observed the other day, that not only there was a Terrestrial residence fallen to the bottom of the Glass, but to the sides of it as far as the Liquor reached, there adhered a great multitude of small Concretions; which, as far as appeared by looking on them through the Crystal Viol., to whose insides they were fastened, were no other than little grains of Gravel, such as are often found sticking to the sides of Urinals, employed by calculous persons.  
To which we might add an Experiment of ours, whereby we are wont almost in a moment, by barely mixing together a couple of Liquors, both of them distilled and transparent, and yet not both of them salined to thick them very notably and permanently, insomuch that they seem not to precipitate each other; yet having once, for curiosity sake, distilled them with a pretty strong Fire, I obtained a great quantity (as I remember, a fourth of the whole mixture) of a blackish Mass, that was not only coagulated and dry, but even brittle: But of the coagulation of distilled Liquors, such as even Chemists themselves are not wont to look upon as at all disposed to coagulation, I may elsewhere have a better opportunity to entertain you, and therefore I shall forbear to do it now.  
And by this way, Pyrophilus, doth Helmont, if I understand him aright, attempt to make out the generation of the Stone in humane bodies: In which Theory, though some difficulties do yet keep me from acquiescing, yet, besides that perhaps what you will meet with by and by (about the distillation of the Duelech) may make you the less wonder at this explication. Besides this, I say, granting that none of the enumerated ways of Petrescency (if I may so speak) deserves to be looked upon as satisfactory; yet to give so much as an account, not very absurd, of a Disease so anomalous and abstruse, and hitherto so unluckily explicated by Physicians, is perhaps more difficult, than it were to give (at least) a plausible account of divers other Distempers.  
And possibly it may be safely enough affirmed, That not only Physiology, in its full extent, but that Handmaid to it, which is called Chemistry, may not a little contribute to clear up the nature of both of the digestions, and of those deficiencies or aberrations in them, which produce a great part of Diseases; especially if we allow what, as well Physicians, as Spagyrists agree in (whether warily enough or not, I shall not now dispute) viz. That whatever is separable from Bodies by the Fire, was, as a Constituent Element (or Principle) pre-existent in them.  
Perhaps I need not mind you, Pyrophilus, that 'tis usual with the merely Galenical Doctors themselves, to explicate the nature of Catarrhs, by comparing the Stomach to a seething Pot, and the Head to an Alembick, where the ascending Vapours, being, by the coldness of the Brain, condensed into a Liquor, sometimes distil upon the Lungs, and sometimes fall upon other weakened parts; in which explication, though for divers reasons I cannot acquiesce, yet it may suffice to show you how little scruple many Learned Men, not like to be partial in the Case, would make of employing Chemical Operations to illustrate the Doctrine of Diseases. And indeed, since the Liquors contained in the Body abound, divers of them, with saline or sulphureous parts, he that hath been by Chemistry taught the nature of the several sorts of Salts and Sulphurs, and both beheld and considered their various actions one upon another, and upon other Bodies, seems to have a considerable help to discourse groundedly of the Changes and Operations of the humours, and other Juices contained in the Body, which he hath not that hath never had Vulcan for his Instructor. He that finds that there may be acid Juices in the Stomach, and elsewhere (as is frequently evident in the sharp Liquors which many Stomaches cast up) and that there are also Sulphureous Salts in the Body (as is apparent in Blood and Urine, which abound with such.) He that knows that the Serum that swims upon the Blood out of the Body, is by a gentle heat immediately coagulable into a thick whitish Substance, not unlike a Custard; and that Chemically analized Blood yields store of volatile and sulphureous, but (as far as our trials have hitherto informed us) no acid saltness.  
He that knows that these animal Salts and Spirits may be so powerful, that we have been able with Spirit of Urine, or of Hartshorn, to make a red Solution of Flowers of Sulphur, and that with Spirit of Urine (though drawn without violence of Fire) we have (as we elsewhere more particularly declare) dissolved both in a very gentle heat, and in a very short time, the unopened Body of crude Copper, so as to make thereof a Solution of a rich, deep, and even opacous Blue: And that we have done almost the like with unrectified Spirit of Man's Blood.  
He that hath, as we have done, examined by Fire (especially produced by the help of a Burning-glass) that limpid Liquor that is to be found in the Limphatick Vessels, and hath taken notice of that odd consistence, smell, crackling, and other qualities discernible in it by heat.  
He that observes how acid Liquors lose their acidity, by working upon some Bodies; as when Spirit of Vinegar grows almost insipid upon the coral it hath corroded, and how those saline Liquors, by working upon certain Bodies, degenerate into Salts of another nature, as we have sometimes observed in Oil of Vitriol, working upon the fourth part of its weight of Quicksilver, and how the contrariety of acid and sulphureous Salts makes them sometimes disarm, sometimes, after some ebullition, precipitate each other; and sometimes unite into a third substance, of a differing nature from either of those from whose coalition it results, as we see in Tartarun Vitriolatum; and, as I have observed, in a Salt, I sometimes make to emerge from a due proportion of Oil of Vitriol and Spirit of Urine, freed, after conjunction, from their aqueous moisture: And He, in a word, that hath carefully analized and made trials on many parts, both of the Macrocosm and Microcosm, and heedfully applied his Experiments made on the former, to the illustration of the changes observable in the latter, shall be likely to explicate divers particulars in Pathology, more intelligibly than he that is a stranger to Chemistry.  
And though I am very unwilling to meddle with Medical Controversies, and am apt to think, that Chemists are wont to speak somewhat too slightingly of the humours of the humane Body, and allow them too little a share in the production of Diseases; yet (to skip other reasons) the strange stories related by Skenkius, and other eminent Physicians, of the corrosiveness of some Juices, which, rejected by Urine or Vomits, have been able to boil on Brass, fret Linen, and slain Silver; together with some odd Observations of this nature, ourselves have had opportunity to make, do very much incline us to believe, That the generality of former Physicians have ascribed too much to the Humours, under the notion of their being hot and dry, cold and moist, or endowed with such other Elementary Qualities, and have taken a great deal too little notice of the saline (if I may so speak) and Sulphureous Properties of things. And in this Opinion I am not a little confirmed by the authority of Hypocrates himself, both in other passages, and especially where he says, Non calidum, frigidum, humidum, aut siccum, esse quod magnam agendi, vim habet, verum amarum & salsum & dulce & acidum & insipidum & acerbum, etc. are the things which, though inoffensive to the▪ Body, whilst they duly allay each other, prove hurtful to it, and distemper it, when any of them comes to sever itself from the rest, and grow predominant. And indeed, if the Juices of the Body were more Chemically examined, especially by a Naturalist that knows the ways of making fixed Bodies volatile, and volatile fixed, and knows the power of the open Air in promoting the former of those Operations; it is not improbable, that both many things relating to the nature of the Humours, and to the ways of sweetening, acuating, and otherwise altering them may be detected, and the importance of such Discoveries may be discerned.  
And perhaps it would add to the usefulness of such an examination, if it were extended to the noxious Juices in distempered bodies: such as the rotten Phlegm spit up by those, whose Lungs are disaffected; the slimy excretions voided in the Lyantery, and the liquor that distends the abdomen in the Dropsy and Ascites: concerning which (to tell you that upon the by) I found that it was of a differing nature from either Water or Urine. For a paracentecis being made in the abdomen of one dangerously sick of this sort of Dropsy, I found that the Liquor would keep a pretty while without putrefaction, (nor did the Patient's body, when I afterwards saw it opened, smell almost at all, though the inside of the abdomen looked well near as black, as if it had been sphacelated:) and having steamed away some of it, whilst it was pretty fresh, over a somewhat slow fire; it first coagulated into a substance like Whites of Eggs, and, by a little farther evaporation, turned to such a glutinous substance, as tradesmen are wont to call Size; and being kept longer on the fire grew to be hard like fish glue, but more brittle, and transparent enough, but with a little tincture of a greenish yellow; and some of the forementioned liquor being distilled in a Retort, did towards the end of the operation so darken the vessel with a thick blackish oil, as hindered me from discerning what else perhaps I might have seen. And I suppose it may prove a useful instance to the former purpose, if I somewhat circumstantially annex here what occurred to me, when I was accidentally considering of the Calculus humanus.  
Having therefore obtained of a skilful Lithotomist of my acquaintance divers Stones, which he had cut out of men's bladders, I chose a couple of them (which were whitish almost, of equal bigness, and figure, which was near oval, and which together weighed about two ounces and an half, these with the help of a strong knife I carefully opened, to find whether or no either of them consisted of an entire and uniform matter, (as most other stones, and even some calculi humani do) and I found that each of them was made up of several shells, as it were, successively involving one another, like the rinds of an Onion, and such shells, but more soft, and more of a colour; we likewise observed in a great stone taken a while since out of an Ox's Gall, and sent us for a present; and though all of these were of an almost stony hardness, yet that hardness was not equal in them all; and in one of the stones we observed one of the rinds (to make use of that expression) to be of a differing colour both frm that which immediately embraced it, and from that which it immediately embraced: some of these rinds equalled in thickness the length of a barley corn, and others were somewhat thinner. Though they did closely embrace one another, yet they were actually separable, as well as visibly distinguishable. And proceeding very warily in the breaking one of these stones, we found that in the centre of it, there lay a small and soft oval stone, as it were the kernel of those conglomerated shells; and this kernel lay so loose, that with a little industry and patience we picked it out of the shell, and kept it by us as a rarity. This done, being desirous to know whither Chemical tortures would force these Concreats to a further confession of their nature, we caused them to be finely powdered, and put into a small but strongly coated glass Retort, whereunto luting a much larger Retort for a Receiver; we found that these two ounces and half of powder, being distilled for some hours in a naked fire, afforded us great store of volatile Salt (partly grey and partly white) which almost covered the inside of the Receiver, and a pretty quantity of reddish spirit, which in the Receiver itself soon coagulated into Salt, and having severed our vessels, we found in the neck of the Receiver a very little darkish oil, but in the neck of the Retort a greater quantity of the same adust Oil, incorporated with a pretty quantity of volatile Salt, whose smell did readily recall to my mind that peculiar kind of stink which I had sometimes taken notice of in the volatile Salt of unfermented Urine; nor were the taste of these two Salts unlike. The caput mortuum consisted of a fine, light, coal-black Powder, not unlike the finest sort of Soot; and by weighing but of six Drachmas, it informed us, that above two thirds of the distilled calculi humani had been, as being volatile, forced from the Terrestrial Parts, even in a close Vessel, wherein the caput mortuum, though it were left insipid enough, yet retained stink enough to make us think, it still contained pretty store of heavy Oil: as indeed, having put it into a Crucible, and kept it a competent while in a stronger fire, we found it reduced to about two Drachmas of a brittle Mass of insipid white Calx, which did not slack, or fall asunder like Lime when it is cast into Water.  
To this Example of the usefulness of Chemistry, to discover the unobserved, and otherwise scarce discoverable difference of the calculus humanus from other stones; we may venture to add, That though some Paracelsians do take too much liberty, when they crudely tell us, that there are arsenical, vitriolate, aluminous, and other mineral substances, generated in humane bodies, yet if they had more warily proposed their Doctrine, it would not perhaps appear so absurd, as they are wont to think it, who considering only the nature of the Aliments men usually feed upon, cannot conceive that such being but either Animals or Vegetables, can by so gentle a heat as that of man's body, (by which they suppose all the changes of the Aliments must be effected,) be Exalted to an energy like that of such bodies as are composed of active Mineral substances, and have some of them perchance acquired a violence of operation from the fire. But we see that Concretions, so like Stones, (which belong to the Mineral Kingdom,) as to pass generally for such, may be produced in the bodies not only of men but of sucking children, whose Aliment is fluid Milk: and it seems a mistake to imagine (how many soever do so) that Heat must needs be the Efficient of all the changes the matter of our Aliments may happen to undergo in a humane body: where there are Streiners, and Solvents, and new Mixtions, and perhaps Ferments, and divers other powerful Agents, which by successively working upon the assumed matter, may so fashion and qualify it, as, in some cases, to bring the more disposed part of it to be not unlike even fossil Salts, or other mineral substances. A very eminent person was lately complaining to me, that in the fits of a distemper, which almost as much puzzls her Physicians as herself, she sometimes vomits up something so sharp and fretting, that, after it hath burnt her throat in its passage, almost like scalding water, it doth not only Stain the Silver vessels that received it, but also work upon them, as if it were a Corrosive Menstruum. And there died a while since a very intelligent person, much employed in public affairs, who complained to me, that in the fits of the strange distemper he laboured under, he divers times observed, that, that part of his pillow which his breath passed along, would by the strange fuliginous Steams, which that carried off with it, be blacked over, as if it had been held in some sooty smoke or other.  
We may also consider, that the Rain-water, which in its passage through a Vine, or an Apricok-tree, or the like plants, is turned into a sweet fruit; in its passage through those plants that bear Lemons and Barberries, is transmuted into a liquor sharp enough to corrode, not only Pearls but Coral, lapides cancrorum, and other hard Concrets, as spirit of Vitriol would do. And writers of unsuspected credit, affirm, that an Indian fruit, (whose name I cannot readily call to mind) will speedily corrode and waste the very steel knives 'tis cut with, if its Juice be left long upon them: and we see that some sorts even of our Apples and Pears, will quickly black the blades of Knives on which the Juice is suffered to continue. And lest what I freshly mentioned about Limmon trees, should be questioned, I will here add, that I remember also that I have made not only some other hot and strongly tasted Herbs, but even a Ranunculus itself, to grow and increase notably in weight as well as bulk, though I fed it but with fair water: and allowed it nothing else to shoot its roots into. Wherefore since this plant is reckoned amongst those, that either are poisonous, or want but little of being so; and since its operation is so violent, that this sort of Vegetables, is taken notice of from the experience of Country people, to be able by outward application to draw blisters, and since nevertheless that which this plant, without any heat discernible by the touch, transmutes into so virulent a substance, is but so unactive a body as water; why may not such aliments, as may have in them divers parts of a far more operative nature, be in a humane body, by an unusual concourse of Causes and Circumstances, so altered and exalted, as to approach in operations (especially upon the more tender parts) to those of fossil Salts or other Minerals? So that a Chemist might upon such an account, without any great absurdity, teach some parcels of morbific matter to be of an arsenical, or a Vitriolate, or an Antimonial nature, especially since we see that sometimes Cancers, Ulcers, and sharp Juices generated in the body, do by their vitiating and wasting the invaded parts, but too much emulate the pernicious operations of Arsenic, and of fretting Salts: and the infusion of Antimony doth scarce more stimulate nature to disburden herself both upwards and downwards, then doth sometimes an humour, such as that which causes the Cholera morbus, and perhaps more violent diseases.  
And that such degenerations of Innocent aliments should sometimes happen in discomposed bodies, you will perhaps think the less strange, if you duly perpend what I lately mentioned, of the transmutation of Water into hot and vesicatory substances; and if thereto I annex, that from a single pound of so common and temperate an Aliment as Bread, I can by an easy way, (and that without addition,) obtain many ounces of a menstruum, which (as trial has informed) will work more powerfully upon bodies, more compact than some hard minerals, or perhaps Glass itself: then a wary Chemist would expect to see Aqua fortis do. These things I have mentioned, Pyrophilus, to intimate some of the Reasons, why I think Chemical Experiments may be usefully applied, to illustrate some things in pathology, either by imitating out of the body, the production of some sorts of morbific matter, or by such resolutions of that which is generated in the body, as may conduce to the discovery of its nature. And not that I think, as Spagyrists do, the experiments or notions of vulgar Chemists sufficient to explicate the whole doctrine either of Digestion or of Diseases: for it would be very difficult for them to make out the manner of Nutrition, or so much as how they that feed only on Vegetables, should (to propose the difficulty in their own Terms) have their Blood and Urine copiously enriched with a volatile sulphureous Salt, of which sort, plants are not wont to yield any in distillation. And much more difficult would it be for them by principles peculiar to Chemists to make out the propagation of Hereditary diseases: or how madness, & some other distempers, that do not visibly vitiate the organs of those functions that they pervert, should not only prove hereditary, but lurk very many years in the inheriting person's body, before they begin to disclose themselves: and sometimes too, be transmitted from the Grandfather to the Grandchild, and skip immediately the intervening Son. And therefore I say again, that I pretend not that Vulgar Chemistry will enable a Physician to explicate all or most of the pathological Phaenomena; but that True Chemistry may assist him to explicate divers of them, which can scarce be solidly explicated without it. And let me add, that he that throughly understands the nature of Ferments and Fermentations, shall probably be much better able than he that ignores them, to give a fair account of divers phaenomena of several diseases (as well Fevers as others) which will perhaps be never throughly understood, without an insight into the doctrine of Fermentation, in order to which, for that and other reasons, I designed my Historical notes touching that subject.  
Yet I am not sure, but there may be effervescences, (and perhaps periodical ones) in the Blood and other Juices of the body without Fermentation properly so called. For there may be divers other ways of begetting a praeternatural heat in the Blood. We often see that in Coughs, when the phlegm is rottten (as they speak) that is, when its former viscous texture is altered, it does no longer stick fast to the vessels of the Lungs, to which it obstinately adhered before. And so at certain times other humours in the body, either by growing more fluid themselves, or by some change in the Blood, whereby it becomes fitter to dissolve such humours, may swim in, and be circulated with, the mass of blood, and thereby occasion praeternatural heats: either by their indisposition to be well, and incorporated therewith: or by altering its texture: or disturbing the wont motion of its minute parts: or by opposing its due Rarefaction as it passeth through the Heart: or by obstructing the more slender Vessels, and so hindering the free Circulation of the Blood through them; perhaps also causing some Extravasation, as we see that wounds & bruises are attended with some inflammation, more or less, of the part affected;) or by some other of the ways not now to be declared. And trial hath taught me, that there are Liquors, in which the bare admixture of Milk, Oil, or other Liquors, nay or of cold water, will presently occasion a notable heat: and I sometimes employ a menstruum, in which nothing but a little flesh being put, though no visible Ebullition ensue, there will in a few minutes, be excited a Heat, intense enough to be troublesome to him that holds the Glass. And yet it seems not necessary that this should be ascribed to a true fermentation, which may rather proceed from the perturbed motion of the Corpuscles of the menstruum, which being by the adventitious liquor or other body put out of their wont motion, and into an inordinate one, there is produced in the menstruum a brisk confused Agitation of 〈◊〉 small parts that compose it; and in such an agitation, (from what cause soever it proceeds,) the nature of Heat seems mainly to consist. But to dispatch, I scarce doubt, but that if in the history of diseases, there were better notice taken of those Phaenomena, that agree not with the opinions already in request, as well as of those that are thought consonant to them; and if also Chemical trials were skilfully varied and judiciously applied to the illustrating of pathological Phaenomena, the former might be made conducing to the better explication of the latter: especially if the business were managed by a Naturalist well versed both in Chemical Experiments, and in Anatomy, and the history of Diseases, without being too much addicted either to the Chymist's notions, or the received opinions of Physicians.  
And as the Naturalist may thus illustrate pathology as a Chemist, so may he do the like as a Zoologer; for either the true knowledge of Anatomy must be much less useful to Physicians than they have hitherto believed, or else the discoveries made by recent Anatomists of the Asellian, Pecquetian, and Bartholinian vessels, by either overthrowing the received doctrine of Digestions, (from whose aberrations many diseases spring) or at least by making divers discoveries in relation to the aeconomy of Digestions unknown to the Ancients, most probably contribute much to the clearing up of divers pathological difficulties in the explication of some diseases; besides, that the very liberty of making those Experiments in live Beasts, which are not to be made but in living creatures, nor are allowable to be made in living men, may enable a Zoologist, by giving us a clearer account of divers parts of the body, to determine divers pathological difficulties springing from either our ignorance or mistakes of the use of those parts, as by the formerly mentioned Experiment of the exsection of a live dog's Spleen, and a watchful observation of all the diseases upon that Account, befalli●●●im and other Dogs so served; much light perhaps may be given to the doctrine of the use of the Spleen, together with the diseases supposed to depend on that part, which I fear is hitherto (to the no small prejudice of the Sick) by few Physicians throughly understood, and by many unhappily enough mistaken.  
And here we may represent unto you, Pyr: that not only the dissections of sound Beasts may assist the Physician to discover the like parts of a humane body, but the dissections of morbid beasts may sometimes illustrate the doctrine of the causes and seats of diseases. For that this part of Pathology has been very much improved by the diligence of modern Physicians, by dissecting the bodies of men killed by Diseases, we might be justly accused of want of curiosity, or gratitude, if we did not thankfully acknowledge; For indeed much of that improvement of Physic, (for which the Ancients, if they were now alive, might envy our new Physicians) may, in my poor opinion, be ascribed to their industrious scrutiny of the Seat and Effects of the peccant matter of Diseases in the bodies of those that have been destroyed by them.  
And that the instructions deducible from such observations may be either increased or illustrated by the like observations made in the bodies of Beasts, we have been inclined to think, partly by the having Chemically analyzed (as they phrase it) the blood of divers Bruits, as Sheep, Deer, etc. and found its Phlegm, Spirit, Salt, and Oil, very like that of humane blood; and partly by our having observed in the bodies of several Bruits, (not excepting Fishes) Worms, Imposthumes, and the like, some of which seemed manifestly to spring from such causes, as are wont to produce resembling distempers in men: and if the acute Helmont had been a more diligent dissector of Beasts, he would perchance have escaped the Error he after others run into (and into which his Authority hath tempted others to run) when he affirmed, that the Stone was a disease peculiar to men, for, that in the bodies of Beasts, especially very Old ones, Stones are sometimes to be found, not only several Butchers have assured me, but you may gather partly from that taken out of an Ox's Gall, which I have formerly mentioned, which was about the bigness of a Walnut) but principally from what I elsewhere delivered on purpose to disprove that fond assertion: and greater leisure may, upon another occasion, invite us to mention some pathological Observations made in diseased Beasts, by which, (were we not willing to hasten,) we might now perhaps much confirm what we have proposed touching the possibility of illustrating, by such Observations, the nature of some of the Diseases incident to humane bodies.  
And here we may also consider that there are divers Explications of particular Diseases, or troublesome Accidents proposed by Physicians, especially since the Discovery of the Bloods Circulation, wherein the Compression, Obstruction, or Irritation of some Nerve, or the Distension of some Vein by too much Blood, or some Hindrance of the free Passage of the Blood through this or that particular Vessel, is assigned for the cause of this or that Disease or Symptom. Now in divers of these cases the Liberty lately mentioned, that a skilful Dissector may take in Beasts, to open the Body or Limbs, to make Ligatures strong or weak on the vessels, or other inward parts, as occasion shall require, to leave them there as long as he pleaseth, to prick, or apply sharp liquors to any nervous or membranous part, and whenever he thinks convenient, to dissect the Animal again, to observe what change his Experiment hath produced there: such a Liberty, I say, which is not to be taken in humane bodies, may in some cases either confirm or confute the Theories proposed, and so put an end to divers pathological Controversies, and perhaps too occasion the Discovery of the true and genuine causes of the Phaenomena disputed of, or of others really as abstruse.  
To this let me add, that there is a whole classis of diseases to be met with in Physicians Books, which proceed not originally from any internal distemper of the Patient, but are produced by some exterior Poison, and are therefore wont to be called by Doctors, Morbi à veneno orti, to the more accurate knowledge of divers of which Diseases, Experiments made on Bruits may not a little conduce: For though I deny not that some things may be Poisons to Man, th●t are not so to some Beasts; and on the contrary (as we have more than once given to a Dog, without much harming him, such a quantity of Opium, as would probably have sufficed to have killed several Men) yet the greater number of Poisons being such both to Man and Bruits, the liberty of exhibiting them, when, and in what manner we please, to these (which we dare not do to him) allows us great opportunities of observing their manner of operation and investigating their Nature, as ourselves have tried, and that sometimes with unexpected events (as when lately a Cat ran mad, so that her Keeper was fain to kill her) upon a large dose of Opium which we caused to be given her.  
And on this occasion I shall not scruple to transcribe an Observation out of a Discourse, I some years since writ to a Friend, about the tu●ning Poisons into Medicines, because that Treatise, I am like, for certain reasons, to suppress: The words, as I there find them, are these,  
Before I take leave of Vipers (or Adders, as some will have, those that here in England commonly pass for Vipers) it will not be impertinent to tell you, That it may be justly doubted, whether they be to be reckoned amongst poisonous Creatures, in such a sense as those other venomous Creatures, who have in them a constant, and, if I may so speak, gross and tangible Poison; for it may be supposed, that the venom of Vipers consists chiefly in the rage and fury wherewith they by't, and not in any part of the Body, which hath at all times a mortal property: Thus the madness of a Dog makes his teeth Poisonous, which before were not so: And Authors of good repute supply us with instances of hurts in themselves, free from danger, that have been made fatal by a Venom created by the fierceness of the enraged (though not otherwise poisonous) Creatures that inflicted them. And Baccius, if I mistake not, in his Treatise De Venenis, tells us a memorable Story (whereof he affirms himself to have been an eye-witness) of a Man who was killed within three days, by a slight hurt received in his left hand, from an enraged Dunghill Cock: And that no parts of the Viper have any constant inherent Poison in them, I have been induced to suspect upon this Experiment; That dissecting some live Vipers, there came in accidentally a strange Dog, to whom I gave the Head, Tail, and Gall (which are the parts supposed to contain the Poison) of one of them, and the Head and Gall of another, wrapped up in meat; after which, I locked the little Dog up in my own Chamber, and watched him, but found not that he was sick, or offered to vomit at all, but only lapped up greedily some drink which he espied in the Room; nor was he alone very jocund, for divers hours that I kept him in, but liked his entertainment so well, that he would afterwards, when he met me in the Street, leave those that kept him to fawn on and follow me. And having since related this Experiment to an inquisitive Friend of mine, he assured me, That to satisfy himself further in this particular, he gave to a Dog a dozen Heads and Galls of Vipers, without finding them to produce in him any mischievous symptom: To which I shall add, That the old Man, you know, that makes Viper Wine, does it (as himself tells me) by leaving the whole Vipers, if they be not very great, perhaps for some months, without taking out the Galls, or separating any other part from them in the Wine, till it hath dissolved as much of them as it can.  
And though it may seem somewhat improper, whilst we are discoursing of Poisons, to insist on a remedy against them; yet the mention of Vipers recalling into my mind a memorable Experiment which I tried against the biting of Vipers, I shall choose rather to decline the dictates of Method, than those of Charity, which forbids me to suppress a remedy that may possibly rescue from sudden death, a Person or other fit to live, or unprepared to die, because it does not strictly belong to the Theme whereto it is referred. The remedy than is this, That as soon as ever a Man is b●iten (for if the Poison have had time enough to diffuse itself, and gain the Mass of Blood, I doubt the Experiment will scarce succced) a hot Iron be held as near the place as the Patient can possibly endure, till it have, as they speak, drawn out all the Venom: which Eye-witnesses assure me (for I have not yet seen that my se●f) will sometimes adhere like a yellowish spot to the surface of the Iron. But being upon competent grounds satisfied of the Experiment, to convince a Physician that mistrusted it, I last Summer hired a Man (who doubted it as little as I) to suffer himself to be bitten by a Viper; and having in the Physician's house and presence, picked out of a good number of them one of the blackest I could find (those of that colour being supposed the most mischievous) and commanded the fellow to provoke and anger it (which to my wonder he did, a pretty while before the Beast would fasten on him) At length, being by his very rude handling thoroughly exasperated, it bit him with great fury, as it seemed, for immediately his hand began to swell, and the injured part was grown tumid before we could take from the Fire, which was hard by, a knife that lay heating there; and having applied it as near as he could suffer it, for about ten or twelve minutes, we found that the swelling, though it decreased not, did not spread; and the Man glad of his money, without further Ceremony, went about his affairs, and told me since, That though the tumour continued a while, he had no other inconvenience attending it, and hath divers times got money by repeating the Experiment; though otherwise, by the casual bitings of Vipers, he hath been much distressed, and his Wife almost killed.  
But, Pyrophilus, to return to the Experiments of Poisons made on Beasts, we could wish Physicians were more diligent to make trials of them, not only by giving Beasts poisons at the mouth, but also by making external applications of them, especially in those parts where the Vessels that convey Blood more approach the surface of the Body, and also by dexterously wounding determinate Veins with Instruments dipped in Poisons (especially moist or liquid ones) that being carried by the circulated Blood to the Heart and Head, it may be found whether their strength be that way more uninfringed, and their operation more speedy (or otherwise differing) then if they were taken in at the mouth. For I remember sober Travellers have showed me some Indian Poisons, whose noxious efficacy they affirmed to be by great intervals of time, differingly mortal, according as the slight hurt made by the points of Arrows, infected with them, did open a capillary, or larger Vein, and were inflicted on a part more or less distant from the Heart; but having not yet made any trial of this myself, I dare not build upon it. Yet I find that the formerly commended Olearius, 
Voyage de Moscovie & de Perseus, pag. 334  in his Travels into Muscovie and Persia, takes notice of a venomous Insect in Persia, which the Natives call Encureck, and which he (how justly I know not) makes to be a kind of Tarantula, because it is, as that Creature, in shape almost like a Spider, and speckled, though of twice the bigness of a Thumb: This Insect (says he) instead of stinging or biting, lets his Venom fall in form of a drop of Water, which immediately produces insufferable pains in the part to which it fastens, and suddenly penetrating, as far as to the Stomach, sends up vapours to the Head, which sends again (to use his expression) so profound a sleep to all the Patient's limbs, that it is impossible to awaken him, but by one only Remedy, which is to crush one of these Creatures upon the hurt, whence he abstracts all the Poison. Some horrid and unusual symptoms of this Venom, which yet agree not so well with those that are wont to be produced in persons bitten by Tarantula's, our Author proceeds to mention; and furnishes us with a proof of what we were lately saying, when we told you that some things were poisonous to Men, which were not to some Beasts: by adding, as an admirable singularity, that the Sheep of those parts do not only eat these fatal Infects, but seek for them. I know also, by sad experience in myself, what an outward application even of Cantharideses can do; for having occasion to have a large blister drawn on my Neck, the Chirurgeon I employed, unknown to me, made use of Cantharideses, among other Ingredients of his vesicating Plaster, which a few hours after I had taken it, wakened me with excessive torment, to which it put me about the neck of my Bladder, so that I apprehended it might proceed from some Stone unable to get out; of which sudden and sensible pain, after I had a while in vain conjectured what might be the cause, I at length suspected that which was indeed the true one; and having sent for the Chirurgeon, he confessed to me, upon my demand, that he had put some Cantharideses in his Plaster, not thinking it would have had such an operation: whereupon I soon relieved myself, by drinking new Milk very well sweetened with Sugar candy.  

Postscript.  
TO enable you, Pyrophilus, to gratify those inquisitive Persons that have heard some, and yet but an imperfect Report, of a much noised Experiment, that was some Years ago devised at Oxford, and since tried in other places before very Illustrious Spectators; I am content to take the occasion afforded me, by what was in the foregoing Essay lately mentioned concerning the Application of Poisons, to inform you, That a pretty while after the writing of that Essay, I happened to have some Discourse about matters of the like Nature, with those excellent Mathematicians, Dr. I. Wilkins, and Mr. Christopher Wren; at which the latter of those Virtuosos told us, That he thought he could easily contrive a way to convey any liquid Poison immediately into the Mass of Blood. Whereupon, our knowledge of his extraordinary Sagacity, making us very desirous to try what he proposed, I provided a large Dog, on which he made his Experiment in the presence, and with the assistance of some eminent Physicians, and other learned Men: His way (which is much better learned by sight, than relation) was briefly this: First, to make a small and opportune Incision over that part of the hind-leg, where the larger Vessels that carry the Blood, are most easy to be taken hold of: Then to make a Ligature upon those Vessels, and to apply a certain small Plate of Brass (of above half an Inch long, and about a quarter of an Inch broad, whose sides were bending innardss) almost of the shape and bigness of the Nail of a Man's Thumb, but somewhat longer. This Plate had four little holes in the sides, near the corners, that by threads passed thorough them, it might be well fastened to the Vessel: And in the same little Plate there was also left an Aperture, or somewhat large Slit, parallel to the sides of it, and almost as long as the Plate, that the Vein might be there exposed to the Lancet, and kept from starting aside. This Plate being well fastened on, he made a Slit along the Vein, from the Ligature towards the Heart, great enough to put in at it the slender Pipe of a Syringe: By which I had proposed to have injected a warm solution of Opium in Sack, that the effect of our Experiment might be the more quick and manifest. And accordingly our dexterous Experimenter having surmounted the difficulties which the tortured Dogs violent struggle interposed, conveyed a small Dose of the Solution or Tincture into the opened Vessel, whereby, getting into the mass of Blood (some quantity of which, 'tis hard to avoid shedding in the operation) it was quickly, by the circular motion of That, carried to the Brain, and other pa●ts of the Body. So that we had scarce untied the Dog (whose four feet it had been requisite to fasten very strongly to the four Co●ners of the Table) before the Opium began to disclose its Narcotick Quality, and almost assoon as he was upon his feet, he began to nod with his head, and falter and reel in his pace, and presently after appeared so stupefied, that there were Wagers offered his Life could not be saved. But I, that was willing to reserve him for further observation, caused him to be whipped up and down the Neighbouring Garden, whereby being kept awake, and in motion, after some time he began to come to himself again; and being led home, and carefully tended, he not only recovered, but began to grow fat so manifestly that 'twas admired: But I could not long observe how it fared with him. For this Experiment, and some other trials I made upon him, having made him famous, he was soon after stolen away from me. Succeeding attempts informed us, that the Plate was not necessary, if the Finger were skilfully employed to support the Vessel to be opened; and that a slender Quill, fastened to a Bladder, containing the matter to be injected, was somewhat more convenient than a Syringe; as also that this notwithstanding, unless the Dog were pretty big, and lean, that the Vessels might be large enough and easily accessible, the Experiment would not well succeed: The Inventor of it afterwards practised it in the presence of that most Learned Nobleman, the Marquis of Dorchester, and found that a moderate Dose of the infusion of Crocus Metallorum did not much move the Dog, to whom it was given: but once that he injected a large Dose (about two Ounces or more) it wrought so soon, and so violently upon a fresh one, that within a few hours after he vomited up Life and all, upon the Straw whereon they had laid him. I afterwards wished, that not only some vehemently working Drugs, but their appropriated Antidotes (or else powerful liquid Cordials) and also some altering Medicines, might be in a plentiful Dose injected. And in Diuretics, a very ingenious Anatomist and Physician told me, he tried it with very good success. I likewise proposed, That if it could be done, without either too much danger or cruelty, trial might be made upon some humane Bodies, especially those of Malefactors. And some Months after a foreign Ambassador, a curious Person, at that time residing in London, did me the Honour to visit me, and informed me, That he had caused trial to be made, with infusion of Crocus Metallorum, upon an inferior Domestic of his that deserved to have been hanged; but that the fellow, as soon as ever the Injection began to be made, did (either really or craftily) fall into a Swoon; whereby, being unwilling to prosecute so hazardous an Experiment, they desisted, without seeing any other Effect of it, save that it was told the Ambassador, that it wrought once downward with him, which yet might, perhaps, be occasioned for fear or anguish: But the trials of a very dexterous Physician of my acquaintance in humane Bodies, will, perhaps, when I shall have received a more circumstantial account of them, be not unwelcome to you. And in Dogs, you may possibly from our own Observations, receive a further Account of an Experiment, of which, I now chiefly designed but to relate to you the Rise and first Attempts.    

ESSAY III. Containing some Particulars relating to the Semiotical Part of Physic.  
THe Semiotical part of the Physician's Art, seems capable of the least improvement by Natural Philosophy. In which yet, first the Naturalist may, by illustrating the Anatomical and Pathological parts, assist the Physician to make more certain conjectures from the signs he discovers of the constitution and distempers of his Patient. For you will easily believe that caeteris paribus, he that better knows the nature of the parts and juices of the Body, will be better able to conjecture at the events of Diseases, than he that is less skilled in them. And secondly, The Naturalist by improving the Therapeutical, may, at least, much change and alter the Prognostics of the duration, ferocity and event of Diseases. For, Pyrophilus, it would be considered, that the Predictions hitherto current in Authors, and commonly made by Physicians, suppose the use of the received Remedies, and the dogmatical method of Physic; but if there were discovered such generous and commanding Medicines, as, by powerfully assisting Nature, or nimbly proscribing the Morbific Matter that doth either produce or (though produced by them) cherish Sicknesses, might enable Nature to hinder the Disease from continuing its course, and acting almost all the Scenes of its Tragedy in the Body; Physicians need not, in acute Diseases, wait so often for a crisis to instruct their Prognostics, and the threatening Symptoms of Chronical Distempers would often prove false Prophets.  
To illustrate this but with a not ignoble instance, give me leave to tell you, That when that Peruvian Bark, that now begins to be somewhat taken notice of, under the name of The Jesuits Powder, had scarce been so much as heard of in this part of Europe, I went to visit a Virtuoso, who had been for some Months afflicted with a Quartan Ague, so violent and stubborn, that it had frustrated the skill, and almost tired the endeavours of the most eminent Doctors of this Nation; of one of which, who was then accidentally with his Learned Patient, I enquired how my Friend did, and was answered, That he hoped he would recover when the Season would give him leave; but in the Winter he knew no quartans cured. Yet the Gentleman acquainting me with his having procured some of the American Bark against Agues, which we mentioned in a former Essay, and I (after having tasted and considered it) having encouraged him, as I have others, to make Trial of it; as the strange Effects I have observed of it, hath divers times invited me to do: The candid and learned Doctor, not only opposed not my Persuasions, but added his own to them. And my Friend taking two Doses of this Powdered Bark, though it were at the unhopefullest Season of the Year (the Winter Solstice) and though he scarce found any sensible operation (unless a little by sweat) of the Peruvian Medicine, had by the first Dose his Fit very much lessened, and by the second quite removed. And though through some irregularities of Diet (to which that keen Appetite, like that of recovering Persons, which I have observed this Powder to be wont to produce, tempted him) he did, as I then foretold him he would, after missing eight or ten Fits, relapse, yet by the repeated use of the same Remedy, he again recovered, and hath continued so ever since. Having also lately persuaded the use of the same Medicine, in the same Disease, to one of the greatest Ladies in this Nation, she told me the other day, That it immediately, and in unlikely weather, freed her from those Fits, from whence she despaired to be delivered till the Spring. Having likewise sent some of it to a couple of Gentlemen, sick of the like Malady, I had word brought me; That the one had missed his Fits for a Month, though in the midst of Winter; and the other was by the first Dose cured, and continues so. And divers eminent Physicians, to whom I have commended this Specific, have used it with such success, that one of the severest of them, though he had formerly despised it, confessed to me, that in a short time he tried it upon eight or nine several Persons, without finding it to fail in any, though one of them especially, were, before he was called, judged irrecoverable; the obstinate Quartan being complicated with other almost as dangerous Distempers. And I confess, I somewhat wonder that Men have not the Curiosity to try the efficacy of this powerful Bark, in other Diseases than Agues: It being highly probable, That a Medicine, capable to prevail so strongly against so obstinate a Disease, as a Quartan (wherein most commonly divers of the considerabler parts of the Body are much affected) cannot be useless to several other Distempers. I deny not that those that have taken this Powder, have divers of them, after having missed six or seven Fits, relapsed into them (as it likewise happened to one of the Gentlemen I sent it to) yet (as I have elsewhere told you) it is much, and more than any common Remedy does to stop the Fits so long. Nor is it a small matter to be able to give the Patient so much breathing time, and allow the Physician the opportunity of employing other Remedies. And the Relapses we speak of are commonly cured by the same Powder: And we have known them prevented, when the Medicine hath been administered, not by unskilful Persons, but by a prudent Physician who knows how to assist it, by opening and gently purging Physic. Wherefore that which I should the most gladly be satisfied of, about this Remedy, is, whether or no it do indeed either proscribe the Morbific Matter, or so alter its Texture as to make it harmless; or else, whether it doth secretly leave such noxious Impressions upon the Spleen, Guts, or some other important Part, as may shorten Life, by producing in process of time, either the Scurvy, or the Dropsy, or some other formidable Disease. But because the Resolution of this Doubt must be a work of time, we must at present refer it to future Observations, And therefore shall now subjoin, that if the famous Riverius have not, in his learned Observations, flattered his own Febrifugum, 
Riverius in Observat:  whatever be resolved touching this Indian Bark, there will not want a safe Remedy which may allow Physicians to make more cheerful Predictions about the lastingness and event of Quartains, then have hitherto been usual.  
How painful and stubborn a Disease, the King's Evil is wont to prove, is scarce more known, then that 'tis seldom cured without a tedious course of Physic: And yet, by the Herb mentioned in one of the former Essays, the young Gentleman there spoken of, was cured in a short time, and with little or no pain or trouble. And that these are not the only Diseases in which Observations, tending to our present purpose, may be made, the following part of this Treatise will afford you opportunity to observe.  
I might add, Pyrophilus, that I was lately visited by an ancient Chemist, ennobled by divers eminent cures, who promises to me an Experiment of making very unusual, and yet rational Predictions in some abstruse Diseases, by a peculiar way of examining the Patient's Urine. But because some Chemists have written extravagantly enough upon a like subject; and because I have not yet made or seen the Experiment of it myself, I dare not yet give this new method of foretelling, for an instance of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy to the Semiotical part of Physic. Though I dare not deny but by precipitations, and some other ways not yet vulgarly practised of examining the Urine, made by the same Patient at several times, before, in, and after some notable alteration in his Body, divers things (especially in Favours, and other acute Diseases) relating to the state of it, may be discovered, especially if thereto be added a skilful and seasonable Chemical Examen of the other Excrements, and vitiated Substances of the Patient's Body.  
You will perchance expect, Pyrophilus, that on this occasion I should handle that controversy which is so hotly agitated, betwixt the Paracelsians and their Adversaries, concerning the curableness of all Diseases: But, for aught I can perceive, the difference betwixt the more sober Men of both parties, is more about Words than Things, and might be reduced to a much less distance, if Men could but calmly consider, That 'tis one thing to dispute, Whether all Diseases by curable; and another, Whether all Persons be recoverable: For a Disease may be called incurable, either in its own Nature, or by accident; that is, either because such a Disease is not to be cured in any Patient, or that it is so circumstantiated in this or that Patient, as not to be naturally curable in him. Now this distinction, duly considered, may conduce much to reconcile the two Opinions, if not the Parties that maintain them: For neither would a sober Paracelsian affirm (though Paracelsus himself doth somewhere seem to do so). That every Disease is curable in every Patient; there being some Palsies, Gouts, or Blindnesses, or the like, so obstinate, that (especially if they are born with a Man, or inherited from his Parents) the tone of some necessary or considerable part of the Body, being thereby rather abolished, then barely vitiated, it were a folly to promise recovery to such a Patient. And on the other side, a moderate Galenist, that is not unacquainted with the Discoveries which these latter Ages have made, of the power of Nature and Art, will not be forward to pronounce (as others do, and as the Paracelsians tax the Galenists too indiscriminately for doing) That the Gout (for instance) the Dropsy, the dead Palsy, the Stone, are Diseases universally incurable: Since, in the Writings of Erastus, and in the Observations of Schenkius, and others, there are Instances recorded of some Cures performed of the Dropsy, and one or two more of those stubborn Diseases, even by Galenical Remedies.  
But, Pyrophilus, though we cannot but disapprove the vainglorious Boasts of Paracelsus himself, and some of his Followers, who, for-all-that, lived no longer than other Men; Yet I think Mankind owes something to the Chemists, for having put some Men in hope of doing greater Cures, then have been formerly aspired to, or even thought possible, and thereby engage them to make Trials and Attempts in order thereunto. For not only before Men were awakened and excited by the many Promises, and some great Cures of Arnoldus de villa nova, Paracelsus, Rulandus, Severinus and Helmont, Many Physicians were wont to be too forward, to pronounce Men, troubled with such and such Diseases, incurable, and rather detract from Nature and Art, then confess that those two could do what ordinary Physic could not. But even now, I fear there are but too many, who though they will not openly affirm, that such and such Diseases are absolutely incurable; yet if a particular Patient, troubled with any of them, be presented, they will be very apt to undervalue (at least, if not) deride those that shall attempt and hope to Cure him.  
And I am apt to think, that many a Patient hath been suffered to die, whose Life might have been saved, if Physicians would have but thought it possible to save it. And therefore I think it were no ill piece of service to Mankind, if a severe Collection were made of the Cures of such Persons as have recovered after having been judged irrecoverable by the Doctors: That Men might no longer excuse their own Ignorance by the impotency of Nature, and bear the World in hand, as if the Art of Physic, and their skill, were of the same extent. And the Cures that seem performed by Nature herself, need not be left out of such a Collection: For still they show what is possible to be done by Natural means, to evacuate the Morbific matter, or alter its Nature (how dangerous soever it is grown) Or how far the tone of a part or strength of the Body may be vitiated or impaired, and yet be capable of some restitution. And such an observation I received from our most experienced Harvy, when, having consulted him about my weak Eyes, he told me, among other things (as a very remarkable one) that he had once a Patient (whose Name and Profession he told me, but I remember not) that had a confirmed Cataract in his Eye, and yet upon the use of Physic, to which he could not ascribe so wonderful an effect, that Cataract was perfectly dissipated, and the Eye restored to its wont Function. Which brings into my mind another Observation, imparted to me, a while since, by that excellent and experienced Lithotomist, Mr. Hollyer. who told me, that among the many Patients sent to be cured in a great Hospital (of which he is one of the Surgeons) there was a Maid of about eighteen Years of age, who, without the loss of motion, had so lost the sense of feeling in the external parts of her Body, that when he had, for trial sake, pinned her Handkerchief to her bare Neck, she went up and down with it so pinned, without having any sense of what he had done to her. He added, That this Maid having remained a great while in the Hospital without being cured, Dr. Harvey, out of Curiosity, visited her sometimes; and suspecting her strange Distemper to be chiefly Uterine, and curable only by Hymeneal Exercises, he advised her Parents (who sent her not thither out of poverty) to take her home, and provide her a Husband, by whom, in effect, she was according to his Prognostic, and to many men's wonder, cured of that strange Disease. That in acute Sicknesses, Persons given over by the Physicians, may recover, the more judicious, even of those Galenists, that are of a dispondent temper, will not deny. For not only Celsus gives us this sober admonition, Neque ignorare aportet in acutis morbis fallaces magis notas esse & s●lutis & mortis; But even Hypocrates himself, who was so skilful in Prognostics, confesses, that Morborum acutorum non in totum certae sunt praenunciationes neque salutis neque mortis: Whence the French have a Proverbial saying, that Il vaut mieux estre condamné par les Medecins, que par le Prevost des Mareschaux, as if in English we should say, It is better to be condemned to die by the Doctor, then by the Judge. And even in Chronical Diseases, where Events are wont much better to answer Physicians Predictions, there are sometimes such Cures performed, as may encourage humane Industry, and keep a sick Man's friends from forsaking the Cure of him, till Life itself have unquestionably forsaken him. For not only it hath been not unfrequently seen, that divers Persons, who have been given over by some Physicians, have been cured by others, perchance rather more lucky than more skilful: But those that have been given over, and that too (sometimes rather upon the believed incurableness of the Disease, than the personal Condition of the Patient) even by judicious and experienced Physicians, if such as are acquainted but with the ordinary Remedies, have been recovered by the use of extraordinarily powerful, and especially, Chemical Physic. Of such Cures I have sometimes met with a few, which, because I may elsewhere relate, I shall now only mention, on this occasion, what I have heard concerning the cures of Cancers, performed by Dr. Haberfeld, one of the principal Physicians of Bohemia. And among other relations, of this kind, made me by credible Persons. I cannot omit one, that was, Of a certain English Woman, of sixty and odd Years of age, who had long lain in an Hospital in Zeeland, sick of a Cancer in the Breast, and by this Doctor was, with one single inward Remedy, perfectly cured in the space of three Weeks. For this relation was made me by persons of very strict veracity; the one a Doctor of Physic, who was an Eye-witness of the Cure; the other a Child of Cornelius Drebell's, who not only saw the Cure, but knew the Woman before, and out of Charity brought her to him that healed her. The same Persons likewise informed me, That the Chemical Liquor the Doctor constantly made use of, does, in the Dose, of about a spoonful or two, work suddenly and nimbly enough by Vomit, but hath very quickly ended its operation, so that within an hour, or less, after the Patient hath taken it, he is commonly well again, and very hungry. And they having presented me some spoonfuls of this Liquor, I find the taste to be offensive enough, and not unlike that of Vitriol, which, by the taste and emetic operation, I guess to be, at least, its principal Ingredient, however it be prepared. The same Persons assured me, that having obtained of Dr. Haberfeld a good quantity of his Specific, they had been (in England, as well as elsewhere) partly Eye-witnesses, and partly Performers of wonderful Cures by the help of it alone, under God, in the Kings Evil. Insomuch that an eminent Gentleman of this Nation, now alive and healthy, hath been cured by it, when the King's Evil had brought his Arm to that pass, that the Surgeons had appointed a time to cut it off. And with the same Liquor, only taken inwardly, they profess themselves to have seen and done divers Cures of inveterate external Ulcers, whose proud Flesh, upon the taking of it, is wont to fall off, and then the Ulcer begins to heal at the bottom; but of the recent effects of this Liquor, we may elsewhere, perhaps, further entertain you. That Suffusions or Cataracts, may, by a manual operation, be cured even in a Patient that was born with them, I formerly told you, when I related the Cure done by my Ingenious Acquaintance, Mr. Stepkins, on a Gentlewoman of about eighteen Years of age, that brought a couple of Cataracts with her into the World. And I remember I was somewhile since in the company of another Woman, who told me, She was brought to Bed of five Children (if I much mistake not the number) successively; of which, she saw not any in a long while after, by reason of a couple of Suffusions, that had many Years blinded her; and yet now, by the help of a Dutch Oculist of my Acquaintance, she sees, and reads well, and hath freely enjoyed the restored use of her Eyes for some Years already.  
But these are rather Chirurgical, then Medicinal Cures, and therefore we shall subjoin the Mention of a very memorable Observation of the Learned Petronius, which being collated with that a little above recited, from Dr. Harvey, they may serve to keep each other from passing for incredible: 
Al●xand: Trajan Pet●onius. l●b. 5. De M●r: Gall●co, c. 1. apud Ske kium in Observe: lib. 1.  Quidam (says our Author) qui antequam Morbo Gallico afficeretur, altero oculo caecus erat, suffusione densissimâ (vulgus Cataractam vocat) oculum occupante, Hydrargyri inunctione à Morb● Gallico, & à suffusione, quod maximè mirum est, evasit. Neque à ratione alienum est inunctione illa Cataractas posse dissolvi, cum frequens Experientia doceat praeduros tumores ex pituita crassa & concreta, genitos, illitu Hydrargyri potenter dissolvi.  
I need not tell you what sad Prognostics Physicians are wont to make of Dropsies, especially of that sort which they call Ascites: And indeed the Event does but too frequently justify their Predictions, when none but ordinary Remedies are employed. But I remember, that being acquainted with an Ingenious Person that was very happily cured of a Dropsy, and enquiring who it was that had performed the Cure; I was informed, that that, and a multitude of the like had been wrought by a German Physician, of whom, and of his Remedy, I had heard much Commendation in Holland, where he lived: And though on divers occasions I found him a modest Man; and accordingly, when I asked him concerning his Cures of the Dropsy, he answered me, That he neither did, nor would undertake to cure so formidable a Disease; yet he scrupled not to tell me, That as far as he had hitherto tried, he had one Remedy which had not failed him, though he had tried it upon persons of differing Ages, Sexes, and Complexions. But of this Specific more hereafter. For, at present, I must proceed to take notice, that as incurable a Disease as the radicated Gout is thought to be (especially in Patients not very temperate) and as tedious a course of Physic as one would expect to be requisite to the Cure of it, in case it can be cured; Yet I have been several times visited by an honest Merchant of Amsterdam, who was there noted for his Wealth, and his skill in Art tinctoriâ: This Man, ten or twelve Years ago, had been for a long time so tormented with the Gout, both in Hands and Feet, that his Fits would sometimes vex and confine him for a great part of the Year, and not leave him without hard Knots, as unwelcome Pledges of their Return: But once, that he was tortured to a degree that made h●m much pitied, one came and informed him of an Empiric, who had received from a great Chemist who had lodged in his House, a Secret, with which he had already throughly cured many, in a short time: Whereupon sending for this Person, and offering him any thing for some relief; the other refused to take above ten Crowns, which, as it seems, was the usual rate for the Cure; and would not receive that neither, till the reality of it had been evinced by the Patients continuing above six Months well: And accordingly, with a very few Doses of a certain Powder and Tincture, the Merchant was quickly freed, not only from his Pains, but from his Gouty Tophy: And though he indulge himself the drinking of Rhenish Wine very freely, yet he never had a Fit since, as himself assured me one Morning, wherein, for Exercise sake, he walked five or six Miles to give me a Visit; adding, That the Man that cured him, dying suddenly, never could discover what the Secret was, wherewith so many had been freed from a Disease that does so often mock the skill of the greatest Doctors.  
I might, perhaps, if I had leisure, relate to you some other strange Stories, which may invite you to think, That as the Naturalists skill in Chemistry, and other Arts retaining to Physiology, may much assist him to discover more generous Remedies than are yet usual; so the Knowledge of such Remedies, may, in divers cases, make a happy Change in the Rules of Prognosticating what will prove the Course and Event of a Sickness. But I shall not, at present, particularly consider any more than one Disease, namely, The Stone in the Bladder. For whereas it is by most, even of the judicious Physicians, unanimously pronounced incurable by Physic, in what Person soever, if it deserve the name of a Stone, and be too big to be voided whole, the Remedilesness of this Disease may be justly questioned. I remember the famous Monardes', treating of the Seed of a Peruvian Plant, which they call Chalchoos, tells us, That it is highly esteemed by the Inhabitants of the Country it grows in, and affirmed not only to be diuretic, and to bring away Gravel, but to break the Stone in the Bladder itself, if it be not too much hardened: Ejusque rei (adds he) tam multa proferunt exempla ut admirationem mihi pariat: He tells us indeed, that he is of opinion that nothing but Section can cure the Stone of the Bladder. Aiunt tamen (saith he) illius semen (of the Calchoos) tritum, ex aquâ aliquâ ad eam rem idoneâ sumptum, calculum in lutum dissolvere, quod excretum denuo concressit & in lapideam duritiem convertitur. Adolescentem vidi cui hoc obtigisse scio, is cum vesicae calculo torqueretur, idque à Lithotomis qui calculum deprehenderant intellexissem, & ex Symptomatis quae patiebatur agnoscerem; hominem, veris initio, ad fontem, qui à Petro nomen habet, ablegavi, ubi cum duos menses haesisset à calculo liberatus redit & lutum omne quod paulatim ejecerat denuo in lapidum fragmenta concretum in charta secum retulit. Which passage I wonder such a Writer should immediately annex, to the Declaration of an Opinion that must appear confuted by it, to a Reader that considers not so much what is thought, as what is proved.  
The very learned and experienced Dr. Gerard Boot, of whose skill, you, Pyrophilus, have found very good effects in yourself, and who was one of the two Professors that writ the Philosophia naturalis reformata, had a very famous Remedy (which (now he is dead) I intent, God willing, to communicate) against the Stone; and with it he told me that he had very often cured that Disease in the Kidneys: but for the Stone in the Bladder, he thought it impossible to be dissolved, which circumstances I recite, that you may the more readily believe what he told me a little before his death, namely, That he had cured lately one Mr. Moulin of a real Stone in the Bladder; adding, That he could not brag of being the Inventor of that Remedy he had employed, having but lately learned it of a Country Gentleman, whom going to visit last Summer, he saw a Load of Persicaria, or Arsmart, brought to him by some of the Country People; and desiring to know what he intended to do with so vast a quantity of it, the Gentleman replied, That he yearly used as much, having by the Water of it, made by bare distillation in a common Rose-water Still, cured so many of the Stone, even in the Bladder, that he was usually solicited by Patients, numerous enough, to exhaust all the Liquor which he yearly prepared.  
What we, Pyrophilus, have observed concerning this excellent Liquor, of which we use to prescribe a draught every morning for some Months together, we may elsewhere have occasion to relate. But now we shall go on to tell you, that being some Years since in Ireland, I met with an ancient Empiric, who was very famous in those parts, for cutting of the Stone of the Bladder, and for curing sore Eyes: This Man having given (in the Parts where I than was, and whilst I was there) some good proof of his skill, I sent for him to me, upon the account of a suspicion I long had of the Stone in the Bladder, which, upon search, he assured me I was free from, and so (God be praised) I have afterwards found it. He was more a Traveller then a Scholar, and yet finding him, to my wonder, very modest and sober, I inquired of him, Whether he had never any where met with a Remedy that could dissolve the Stone in the Bladder, offering him much more for a Cure of that kind, than he would require as a Lithotomist: He answered me, That he could cure no Man of a confirmed Stone, but by the help of his Knife; but if the Stone consisted of a lump of Gravel not very firmly cemented together, he had, by a certain inward Remedy he used, and a dexterous way of crushing the Stone from without with his Fingers, so broken the Stone, partly by crumbling it, and partly by dissolving the Cement, as to make it voidable by Urine. And he added, That he had formerly cured a Citizen of Cork, of a good large Stone of the Bladder (for where I than was, he gave proof of his skill, in telling beforehand those he was to cut, the bigness and shape of the Stones that troubled them.)  
Passing afterwards by Cork, I sent an intelligent Servant to inquire after this Citizen, but he being casually absent, his Wife sent me, by my Man, a Relation very agreeable to that which he had made me: The Receipt I purchased of him, and, though it seem not very artificial, yet I suppose you will not quarrel with me for annexing so experienced a one, to the end of this Essay. But because this Remedy needed the assistance of a manual operation, We shall further proceed to tell you, That Cardan, 
De Li●h: c. 7. num: 14.  as he is quoted by Helmont (for I have not now his Works by me) relates, That in his time there rambled a Man over Lombardy, who did commonly, and in a few days, by a certain Liquor which he administered to his Patients, safely, speedily, and certainly, cure those that were troubled with the Stone in the Bladder: Adding (saith Helmont) his Judgement, That he doubted not of this Man's being in Hell, for having, when he died, envied Mortals so excellent an Art.  
I insist not on the Testimony that the same Helmont gives to Paracelsus of his curing the Stone, though he often handle him very severely in other places of his Writings, because that the Epitaph of Paracelsus (out of which he labours to prove his having cured the Stone) makes no express mention of it. Nor shall I enumerate those Passages from whence the same Helmont's Followers collect, That he himself was able to cure that Disease, by the resolution of Paracelsus his Ludus; but this experience hath evinced to me, that a much slighter preparation of that Stone, than was mentioned by Paracelsus and Helmont, hath been able to do more in that Disease than a wary Man would readily believe. But to detain you no longer on this subject, I shall only add, That Wilhelmus Laurembergius, a learned Physician, and Professor at Rostoch, hath told the World how he cured himself of a confirmed Stone of the Bladder, by the use of prepared Millepedes (by some in English called Woodlice) and other Remedies, which he hath particularly recorded in the History which he hath published, and I have seen of this admirable Cure: which having been epitomised by Sennertus, and other eminent Physicians, I shall not need to insist on it. And the Arguments alleged (even by the most Judicious) against the curableness of the Stone, though very plausible, seem not to me unanswerable; for whereas first, they appeal to the innumerable fruitless attempts that have been made to cure great Princes, and rich Men, without cutting, that Argument drawn from experience, may, by the former Experiments, be answered; especially since Horatius Augenius (upon whose account Laurembergius tried Millepedes) tells us, not only that he cured a young Man at Rome, that was going to be cut for the Stone, but that the Jesuit that chanced to confess this Youth, and persuaded him to the use of Millepedes, had experimented their efficacy both upon himself and others: And indeed, we ourselves have found them to be highly Diuretic and Aperitive.  
And whereas it is next objected, That Medicines must necessarily lose their efficacy before they can reach the Bladder, I confess, that for the most part, it is very true: But yet that it is possible for some Medicines to retain their Nature, after many alterations and digestions we have elsewhere declared. And in our present Case, we not only find that Turpentine and Asparagus, do manifestly affect the Urine (as I have often observed in my own, and almost any Man may observe it in his) But that which is most to our purpose, Rhubarb tinges the Urine of those that have taken any quantity of it. And lastly, whereas it may be yet further alleged, That not only there hath not been yet a Liquor found capable of dissolving so solid a Body as a Stone; but if there were, it must necessarily be so corrosive as to destroy the Patient, by fretting his Stomach, or Guts, or Bladder, which are parts so much more tender. To the first part of this plausible Objection it may be replied, That even good Vinegar will dissolve, not only those stony Concretions, called Lapides Cancrorum, which, like the Calculi we treat of, are form in the Bodies of Animals; but even the more hard and solid Body of Coral, which will lose but little of its weight, in a Fire that would waste a great part of the Duelech: And that the bare Juices of Vegetables (such as Lemons and Barberies) will readily dissolve both Pearl and Coral, is known even to the Apothecary's Boys. Indeed what Paracelsus and Helmont relate of their Alkahest, with which they prepare their Specific against the Stone, and with which the later of them, if not both, pretend to be able to reduce, not only the Stone they call Ludus, but all other Stones, Vegetables, Minerals, Animals, etc. into insipid Water, is so strange (not to say incredible) that their Followers must pardon me, if I be not forward to believe such unlikely things, till sufficient experience hath convinced me of their truth.  
But yet I must not conceal from you, That a Chemist, whom you have often seen, advised with me several times about the way of preparing this immortal Liquor (as Helmont calls it) and that, when we had agreed that such a way was the most promising, he prosecuted it so long, and so industriously, that at length he obtained, and showed me a Liquor, which (though it seemed to me far short of the Alkahest) I confess I admired; and not I alone, but our Ingenious Friend Dr. C. (who had been employed into several parts of Europe, by a rich and curious Prince, to purchase Rarities) agreed with this Chemist, to give Two hundred Crowns for a Pint of this Menstruum; and confessed to me withal, That he saw him, with this Liquor, not only dissolve common Sulphur, and bring it over the Helm, but reduce Antimony into sweet Crystals; with a few of which it was, that he (I mean Dr. C.) to the wonder of many, did, without Purge or Vomit, cure our good Friend Sir C. C. of a very radicated and desperate Disease, as the restored Patient soon after told me. And to the second part of this Objection it may be answered, That if we knew and considered well, how many of the operations of Natural Bodies depend upon the suitableness and difference of the Figures of their Parts, and the Pores intercepted between them, the number of impossibilities would not, perhaps, be thought so great, as by many Learned Men it is.  
That it is very possible for a Body to have an effect upon another determinate Body, without being able to operate, in like manner, upon a multitude of other Bodies, which may seem more easy to be wrought on by it; may appear by the Loadstone, which will draw and work only upon Iron, and (which is but refined Iron) Steel, but not upon wood or straws, or any of those innumerable Concrets that are lighter, and of a more open texture then the heavy and solid Body which it attracts. And to give you an instance that comes nearer to our case, Quicksilver, that will not corrode our skin, nor so much as taste sharp upon our tongue, will yet readily dissolve that most compact Body of Gold, which even Aqua fortis, that can insinuate itself into all other Metals, and corrode them, will not meddle with; though the same Quicksilver will not dissolve Iron, which yet Aqua fortis will very nimbly fret asunder. So that although I dare not confidently believe all that I have found averred even by eminent and learned Chemists, of their having made or seen Liquors, which, without appearing any way sharp to the Tongue, would dissolve Gold and Silver, and other hard compact Bodies; because I have not yet, myself, seen any severe and satisfactory trial made to evince the efficacy of insipid Dissolvents: yet, by reason of divers things I have read and heard, and of some things too I have seen, I dare not peremptorily deny the possibility of such Menstruums. And who knows, but that in Nature there may be found, or by Art there may be prepared, some Liquor, whose parts may have such a sutableness to the Pores of a humane Calculus, as those of Quicksilver have to the Pores of Gold, and yet may as little work upon the rest of the Body, as we have observed the same Quicksilver to do upon Iron (which yet is a much more porous and open Metal) even when it hath been distilled in Iron Vessels? And as to that part of the Objection wherein the strength of it chiefly lies, let me tell you, Pyrophilus, that I have sometimes, for curiosity sake, taken an Egg, and steeped it in strong Vinegar for some days, and by taking it out, and showing that the shell was so eaten away, that the Egg could be squeezed into unusual Forms, but the thin skin that involves the white continued altogether unfretted, I convinced an Ingenious Man, that the operations of Dissolvents are so determined by the various textures of the Bodies on which they are employed, that a Liquor, which is capable to corrode a more hard and solid Body, may be unable to fret in the least, an other more soft and thin, if of a texture indisposed to admit the small parts of the Menstruum. And I must confess to you, Pyrophilus, That one thing, among others, which hath made me backward to affirm with many Learned Men, that there can be no potent Dissolvent that is not corrosive enough to fret in pieces the parts of a humane Body, hath been a Story, which I divers years since chanched to meet with in the Learned Sennertus' Paralipomena, where, though he relates it to another purpose, yet it is so pertinent to our present design, and in itself so singular, not to say matchless, that I cannot forbear to mention it here on this occasion. He tells us then, That in the end of the Year, 1632. Johannes Nesterus, 
Medicus Rochlizensis.  an eminent Physician, and his great Friend, informed him, That there lived at that time in the Neighbourhood, and belonging to a Noble Man of those Parts, a certain Lorainer, whom he also called Claudius, somewhat low and slender, and about 58 Years of age: Hic (saith he) nihil foetidum, nihil injucundum abhorret; Vitra; Lapides, Ligna, Carbones, Ossa, Leporinos', & aliorum animalium pedes cum pilis, lineos, laneosque pannos, viva animalia & pisces adhuc salientes, imò etiam Metalla, patinas & orbs stanneos dentibus confringere & vorare saepissime visus est; Vorat praeterea lutum sevum & candelas sebaceas, integras testas cochlearum, animalium stercora, cum primis bubulum calidum adhuc, prout è matrè venit: potat aliorum Urinas cum Vino & cerevisia mixtas, Vorat foenum, stramen, stipulas & nuper duos mures viventes adhuc deglutivit, qui ipsius ventriculum ad semihoram usque creberrimis morsibus lancinarunt, & ut brevibus complectar, quicquid illi à Nobilibus devorandum offertur, vilissimâ mercede propositâ, dictum ac factum, ingurgitat, ita ut intra paucos dies integrum vitulum crudum & incoctum cum corio, & pilis se estaturum promiserit. Testis inter alios quamplurimos ipse ego sum, quip qui, etc. To this, and the following part of the Letter, Sennertus adds, That not having, during some Years, heard any thing concerning this Claudius, he sent about four Years after to the same Physician, Dr. Nesterus, to inquire what was become of him; and that the Doctor sent him back a Letter of the Minister of the Church of that place, by way of confirmation of all the formerly mentioned particulars, and answered himself, That the Lorainer whom he had long hoped to dissect, was yet alive, and did yet devour all the things mentioned in his former Letter; but not so frequently as before, his Teeth being grown somewhat blunter by age, that he was no longer able to break Bones and Metals. Some other examples of this nature, though none so strange, we have also met with in Writers of good credit, and especially that of the Glass-eater, recorded by Columbus in his excellent Anatomical Observations; of which also Sennertus makes mention, as we shall see by and by, and with which we may elsewhere entertain you to another purpose. And not long ago there was here in England a private Soldier (who, for aught I know, is yet alive) very famous for digesting of Stones: And a very inquisitive Man, that gave me the accuratest account I have met with concerning him, assures me, That he knew him familiarly, and had the curiosity to keep in his company for 24 hours together to watch him, and not only observed that he eat nothing in that time, save Stones (or Fragments of them) of a pretty bigness, but that his grosser Excrement consisted chiefly of a sandy Substance, as if the devoured Stones had been in his Body dissolved and crumbled into Sand. But let us not omit, that to the second Epistle abovementioned, Sennertus adds this Reflection, not impertinent to our purpose: Causam (says he) hujus voracitatis, etiam in cadavere, invenire proculdubio erit difficillimum. Posset quidem ad illud, quod in cadavere Lazari Vitrivoraces observavit Columbus, quidam confugere; & statuere quartam illam nervorum conjugationem, quae gustus gratia in hominibus à natura producta est, neque ad Palatum, neque ad Linguam pertendere. Verum hoc modo saltem gustûs aboliti causa redderetur, nondum vero causae daretur, cur res tam miras assumere sine ventriculi laefione, imo coneoquere potuerit. Quae proculdubi● in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & peculiari constitutione ventriculi & intestinorum quaerenda esset: quae tamen oculis investigari non potest sed saltem ex effectu patet. And indeed this memorable Story seems to argue, not only what we have already alleged it to prove, but also that a Menstruum, not so corrosive as to fret the Body, may dissolve Stones, Metals, and other compact Substances. And since one Liquor, prepared by Nature only, could in this Man's Stomach dissolve that great variety of Bodies above enumerated, why should it be thought that the Alkahest, or some other Menstruum wherein Nature is skilfully assisted, and to the utmost heightened by Art, should not be able to dissolve Concretes of very differing Textures. For though Chemists must acknowledge that such common Menstruums as will dissolve one Body, will not oftentimes meddle with another; as Aqua fortis will dissolve Silver, and not Gold, and if by Salarmoniack you turn it into Aqua Regis, it will indeed dissolve Gold, but than it will not Silver: Yet since that may be supposed to proceed rather from our want of skill to prepare the most potent Menstruum, then from the impossibility of one Menstruums dissolving great variety of Bodies; Why may not Nature and Art afford a Menstruum, whose variety of Parts, and Figures, and (perhaps also) Motion, may give it ingress into Bodies of very differing Textures? as in our former Instance, though Aqua Regalis will dissolve Gold, not Silver; and Aqua fortis Silver, but not Gold; yet Quicksilver will dissolve both, and Copper, Tin, and Led to boot.  
If I were not at present under some restraint, I might tell you, some things, that you would, perhaps, think no weak Confirmations of the past Discourse: And however, since I have observed it to be the main thing, that keeps judicious Men from seeking, or so much as hoping for nobler Dissolvents, that they are scarce to be persuaded there can be considerably piercing Menstruums, that are not proportionably corrosive: I will here acquaint you with a Liquor, that may, I presume, assist you to undeceive some of them. We take then ordinary household brown Bread (I like that of Rye, but I have divers times used that of Wheat) and when it is cut into slices, and somewhat dried, we almost fill a glass Retort with it, and placing that in a sand Furnace, by degrees of Fire, we draw off what will be made to come over, without much difficulty: The Oil, as useless to our purpose, being by a Tunnel, or a Filter, severed from the rest of the Liquor, we also, by a gentle heat, free the Spirit from some of its Phlegm, which yet sometimes we find no great necessity to do. And yet this Spirit, which you will easily believe is no such Corrosive as Aqua fortis, or other distilled Liquors of Mineral Salts, will work upon the hardest sorts of Bodies, and perform things that Chemists counted of the judiciousest, would not have us expect from the most sharp and corrosive Menstruums now in use. For with this we have, in a short time, and that in the cold, drawn Tinctures (which is done by the solution of the finer parts of the Concrete) not only from crude Corals, and some of the more open Minerals, but likewise from very hard Stones, such as Blood stone, and Granates (even unpowdered) Nay, and though Rubies seem to be the hardest Bodies yet known, save Diamonds (for I have learned from those that cut precious Stones, that they can grind other Gems with the Powder of Rubies, but not these with any Powder, save their own, and that of Diamonds) yet have, even these, afforded me in the cold, a not ignoble Tincture. And not to anticipate what I may elsewhere have occasion to tell you concerning the efficacy of this Menstruum, which is the same that I have intimated, without naming it, in the last, and another of the former Essays. I shall now only add, That an expert Chemist assures me, he hath, but tells me not how, done greater matters with it, or the like; and that to satisfy myself that these high Tinctures, proceeded not from the standing or digestion of the Menstruum (as we elsewhere observe concerning some other Liquors) I not only tried, that from some Minerals it will draw a much higher Tincture then from others, and from some scarce any at all, but that it would, if kept by itself, for many Months continue clear and limpid. What further use I have made, or think others may make of this odd Menstruum, I must not, as I said at present, express; but returning to what I was discoursing concerning the cure of the Stone, annex, That besides what hath been objected against the possibility of making a Liquor, which, without being highly corrosive, can be able to work upon Stone; It may indeed be also alleged against the hopes we seem to countenance, that what hath cured the Stone in one Man's Bladder, may be unable to do the like in another's: But first, the truth of that hath not been proved; and next, we highly value those Specificks that can remove Agues, Fluxes, and the like Diseases, though scarce any of them do alike succeed in all Patients, especially so as to secure them, during their whole lives, from ever relapsing into the like Disease; and besides all this, it will be no small matter to find that the Disease, in its own nature, is not incurable; and it would recompense men's Industry to be able to free, even a few Patients, from so painful and stubborn a Disease. Which I have rather than any other, chosen to insist upon, because it is so generally believed not to be curable by inward Remedies in any Person whatever.  
But I have entertained you so long on this subject, that I must reserve, for some other opportunity, what I have to say to you concerning the Dropsy, and some other Diseases, commonly put into the Catalogue of the incurable ones, and therefore shall now only tell you in general, That as on the one side I think the Arguments which Helmont and others draw from the Providence of God, for the curableness of all Diseases are not very cogent, and somewhat irreverent (For God being not obliged any more to continue Life or Health to sinful Man then to Beasts that never offended Him, we ought humbly to thank Him, if He hath, among His Creatures, dispersed Remedies for every Disease, but hath no right to accuse Him if He have not) so on the other side, I am not much convinced by the grand Argument alleged against Paracelsus, and the Chemists, that hold all Diseases to be in their own Nature curable; namely, That they themselves, many of them (no nor even their very Master) lived not to the Age attained by many Strangers to Chemistry.  
For this, That many of them (not destroyed by War, or outward accidents) died young enough, and consequently by Sickness; and that Paracelsus himself outlived not the 47th Year of his age, is a much stronger Objection against the Men, then against their Opinion; for it infers indeed plausibly, that they had not such Remedies as they boasted of (since probably, had they had any such, they would have cured themselves with them) but concludes not that no such Remedies can be prepared by any other. And this you will be the less apt to think irrational, if you consider, how much more learned, sober and experienced, it is possible for many a Man to be, than Paracelsus appears to have been: For he seems not by his Writings to have been any great Logician or Reasoner; he manifestly despised many parts of Learning, useful to a Physician; he lived not many Years, and spent divers of those few which he lived, in an unsettled and disadvantageous course of life; and yet this Paracelsus attained to some such Remedies, as both in his own, and after times, have made him a very considerable Person, in spite of all his indiscretions and deficiencies. And among his other Remedies, his famous Laudanum did such wonders, that Oporinus himself, in that short account, which seems to be rather a satire then a Narrative of his Life, hath this Passage of it: De Laudano (saith he) suo (ita vocabat pilulas instar murium stercoris, quas impari semper numero, in extrema tantum morborum difficultate, tanquam sacram medicinam exhibebat) ita gloriebatur, ut non dubitarit affirmare ejus solius usu se è mortuis vivos reddere posse; idque aliquoties dum apud ipsum fui, re ipsa declaravit. So signal a Testimony coming from one whom the Paracelsians call his fugitive Servant, hired by his Enemies to slander him, under pretence of writing his Life, deserves not to be slighted: and though it manifestly contains an Hyperbole, yet I do the less wonder at the Hyperbole, by reason of those strange things which your Mother, and divers other of your Friends, can tell you, they have seen performed in England by Helmont's Laudanum opiatum (though much inferior to that of Paracelsus.) And I remember, that a Friend of yours and mine, that is a great enemy to all kinds of Chemical Remedies, and was before also to Chemistry, having begged of me a little Bottle of it, which I had obtained from a Friend of the younger Helmont's, to whom he communicated the Preparation, gave me awhile after, an account of such Cures that had been performed, with that small quantity, upon almost dying Persons, as I think it not discreet for me, that was not an Eye-witness of them, to relate. And I remember too, that the same Friend of young Helmont's, being, at the persuasion of one Woman whom he had cured of a dangerous Consumption, called to another that was thought to be dying of an Asthma, came to advise with me whither he should meddle with so desperate a Patient; telling me, That she had been many Years sick of that stubborn Disease, which, in process of time, passing into an Orthopnea, had at last put her, by want of sleep (from which the violence of her sickness had very long kept her) into a Fever, and so desperate a condition, that it was scarce expected she should live till the next morning. But I, representing to him that her condition being avowedly desperate, he might exercise his Charity without danger to his Reputation; and persuading him to try Helmont's Laudanum, together with the Spirit of Man's Blood (which we elsewhere teach you to prepare) he gave her that Night a Dose of those Remedies, which made her both sleep and breath pretty freely; and a Week after, he coming to visit me, told me, he had casually met his Patient well and abroad in the Streets. 
Helmont in the Treatise which he entitles Butler.  But these are trifles to the Cures which Helmont relates to have been performed by our Irish Butler, for he tells us, That this Man, by slightly plunging a little Stone, he had, into Almond Milk or Oil, imbued those Liquors with such a sanative efficacy, that a Spoonful of the former cured (and that without acquainting him with what was given him) a Franciscan Friar (a very famous Preacher) of a very dangerous Erysipelas in the Arm, in one hour; and one drop of the latter, being applied in his presence, to the Head of an old Laundress, that had been sixteen Years troubled with an intolerable Hemicrania, the Woman was presently cured, and remained so, to his knowledge, for divers Years. He adds almost as strange a Cure done in one Night, upon a Maid of his Wife's, by anointing the part affected with four drops of that Oil: He further tells us, That the Master of the Glass-house at Antwerp, being troubled and made unwieldy with too much fat, begged some relief of Butler; who, having given him a little fragment of his little Stone, with order to lick it nimbly with the tip of his Tongue once every Morning, I saw (saith Helmont) within 3 weeeks, the compass of his waste lestned by a span, without any prejudice to his health. And to these, Pyr: he adds some other Narratives, which, though I confess I know not well how to believe, yet there are Circumstances which keep me from daring to reject them: For first, as he well observes, that which was most stupendous in this Remedy, was but the smallness of the quantity. Next, a Gentleman in France, being not long since reported to have a fragment of this Stone, and to have cured several Persons (and especially one very dignified) of inveterate Diseases, by letting them lick it; my Noble Friend Sir Kenelm Digby, then in France, was solemnly requested from hence to inquire into the truth of that Report, and answered, That he could not, upon examination, find it other then true. Besides, Helmont not only relates these Cures as an Eye-witness of them, but tells us, how upon an occasion that he mentions, he once suspected the efficacy of the Oil, and that, without expecting that it should do any thing, he anointed it on the right arm and the ankles of his own Wife, who had for some Months been tormented with great pains in the former, and very great tumours in the latter of those parts; and that almost in a trice, motion was restored to her arm, and all the oedema of her legs and feet vanished; adding, That at the time of his writing she lived healthfully, and had done so since that recovery, during nineteen Years: And this Story, she, long after her Husband's death, confirmed to our ingenious Friend Dr. C. who is acquainted with her, and much extols her: These Circumstances, may be assisted by two more very considerable ones; the one is, That Helmont is the more to be credited in these Relations, because mentioning Cures not performed by himself, but by another, and that by Remedies unknown to him, he seems by these Narrations, out of loyalty to truth, to eclipse his own Reputation: And the other is, that in a memorable Story which we may elsewhere relate to you (it being not here proper to insert so long a one) you'll find an eminent and strange testimony given to Butler's Secrets, by our famous Country man, Dr. Higgins, whose confession you will not doubt, if you consider how rare a Physician and Chemist he was, how familiarly he lived in the same House with Butler; and how studiously, at last, they endeavoured to take away each others Life.  
But whatever be to be thought, Pyr: of Helmont's Relation, we may well enough make this reflection on the other things that have been delivered concerning formidable Diseases, that since the power of Nature and Skill may reach much farther than many distrustful (not to say lazy) men have imagined, it will not be charitable to rely too much upon the Prognostics, even of famous Writers, when they tell us, That such and such Diseases, or Patients in such and such conditions cannot possibly be cured. But rather to follow the sober council of Celsus: Oportet (saith he) ubi aliquid non respondet, non tanti putare Authorem quanti aegrum, & experiri aliud atque aliud. 
De Medicina, lib. 3. cap. 10.  And this great Physician's authority I therefore make the most use of in the ensuing Essays, because he is accounted very judicious by the Lord Verulam, and other Writers that are unquestionably so themselves.   

ESSAY IV. Presenting some things relating to the Hygieinal Part of Physic.  
THat the Dietetical part of Physic, Pyrophilus, may, as well as the others, be improved by Natural Philosophy, were not uneasy to manifest, if my haste would permit it: For 'tis known, that Drinks make a very considerable part (sometimes, perchance, amounting almost to the one half of our Aliments) and most Drinks, as Wine, Beer, Ale, Mead, etc. consist of fermented Liquors: Now as on the one side the ignorance of the Doctrine of Fermentation, and of the wholesome way of both preserving Liquors and making them pleasant, doth questionless occasion more than a few Diseases, which in divers places may be observed evidently to proceed from the unwholesome quality of either ill made, or sophisticated Drinks; so on the other side, the distinct knowledge of the true nature and particular Phaenomena of Fermentation, would enable Men to prepare a great variety of Drinks, not only as harmless, but as beneficial, as pleasant.  
How much preparation may do to correct and meliorate both hard and liquid Aliments, is notably instanced by the account that we receive from both the French and English that inhabit the Barbados, St. Christopher's, and other caribs Islands, who solemnly inform us (what is attested also by Piso, and other Learned Travellers that write of it) that the Plant Mandioca (whose prepared Root makes Cassavy, and which we have also seen flourishing here in Europe) to which the Indians are so much beholden, is a rank Poison. And though I shall not too resolutely affirm it, to be a Poison properly so called; yet in confirmation of its being very noxious, I shall tell you, That having purposely enquired of a very intelligent Gentleman, who commanded an Army of Europeans in America, what experience he had seen of the qualities of this Plant, he told me, That between thirty and forty of his Soldiers, having on a time (whilst they were unacquainted with the Country) either through ignorance or curiosity, eaten of it unprepared, it cost most of them their Lives. And yet this pernicious Root, which some Herbarists call Yucca, by the rude Indians ordering, comes to afford them both almost all their Bread, and no small part of their Drink: For this Root being grated, and carefully freed from its moisture, by being included in Bags, and very strongly pressed till all the Juice be squeezed out; it is afterwards dried in the Sun, and so made into the Meal of which they make their Bread: And this very Root, though (as we said) it be poisonous, they cause their old, and almost toothless Women, for the better breaking and macerating it, 
History of the Barbadoes, pag. 29, 30, 31, 32.  to chew and spit out into Water. This Juice will, in a few hours, work and purge itself of the poisonous quality, affording them a Drink which they esteem very wholesome, and at the Barbadoes call Perino, and account it to be the likest in taste to our English Beer, of any of those many Drinks that are used in that Island.  
This nasty way of preparing Drink, Pyrophilus, may seem strange to you, as it did to me when I first heard of it; but besides the consenting relations both of French and English concerning it, it may be confirmed by the strange assertion of Gulielmus Piso, in his new and curious Medicina Brasiliensis, where, having spoken of several of the Brasilian Wines, he tells us, That they make Liquors of several Plants, besides the Root of Mandioca, after the same nasty manner. Idem fit (saith he) ex Mandioca, Patata, Milio, 
Voyage de Muscovie & de Perseus, p. m. 23.  Turcico, Oryza & aliis, quae à vetulis masticantur, masticataque multa cum salira exspuuntur, hic liquor mox vasis reconditur donec ferveat, faecesque ejiciat.  
In Muscovia itself, notwithstanding the unskilfulness of that rude People, Olearius informs us, That the Ambassadors, to whom he was Secretary, we●e presented at one time with two and twenty several sorts of Drink. And at a Country House here in England (where I was, by a very Ingenious Gentleman that is Master of it, presented with divers rare Drinks of his own making) I was assured that he had lately, at one time in his House, at least the former mentioned number of various Drinks, and might easily have had a greater, if he had pleased.  
And on this occasion, I am not willing to pretermit what is practised in some of our American Plantations, as I am informed by the Practisers themselves, where, finding it very difficult to make good Malt of Maiz, or Indian Corn (by reason of hindrances not to be discoursed of in few words) they brew very good Drink of it, by fi●st bringing the Grain to Bread; in which operation, the Grain being both reduced into small parts, and already somewhat fermented, is disposed to communicate easily its dissoluble and Spirituous parts to the Water it is boiled in: To which I shall add, That I have to think, that the Art of Malting may be much improved by new & skilfully contrived Furnaces, and a rational management of the Grain.  
Nor are we alone defective in the knowledge of fermenting Drinks, but even in that of the Materials of which Drinks may be prepared.  
In that vast Region of China, which is enriched with so fertile a Soil, and compriseth such variety of Geographical parallels, they make not (as Semedo informs us) their Wine of Grapes, but of Barley; and in the Northern parts, of Rice, where they make it also of Apples; but in the Southern parts, of Rice only: yet not of ordinary Rice, but of a certain kind peculiar to them, which serves only to make this Liquor, being used in divers manners. And of the Wine there drank, even by the vulgar, our Author gives us this character: 
History of China, par. 1. cap. 1.  The Wine used by the common People, although it will make them drunk, is not very strong or lasting; 'tis made at all times of the Year, but the best only in the Winter: It hath a colour very pleasing to the sight, nor is the smell less pleasing to the sent, or the savour thereof to the taste; take altogether, it is a vehement occasion that there never wants Drunkards, etc. And of the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Japan, I remember also, Pyrophilus, 
Linschoten's Voyages, Book 1. Chap 26  that Linschoten, in his description of those Islands, tells us, That they drink Wine of Rice, wherewith they drink themselves drunk.  
We have here in England, at the House of our experienced Mintmaster, Dr Gordon, tasted a Wine, which he made of that sort of Cherrys which are commonly called Morelloes, that was, when we drank of it, about a Year and a half old, but it was somewhat sour, and needed Sugar; And therefore I shall rather take notice to you of my having since drunk Wine made of the Juice of good, but not of extraordinary Kentish Cherrys, which, with the help of a Tantillum of Sugar added in the Fermentation, kept so well; that though it were above a Year old when I tasted it, I found it a strong and pleasant Wine, not inferior to many Wines that are brought us from foreign parts. But this is nothing to what is averred upon his own experience, by a Learned Divine (to whom you, Pyrophilus, and I, am related) who affirms himself to have made out of some sort of wild Apples and Pears, by bare Fermentation, such Liquors, as though at first somewhat harsh, will not only keep divers years; but at the end of two or three, attain such strength, and so pleasingly pungent a taste, that they may compare even with choice outlandish Wines, and excel those that are not of the very best sorts of them.  
But till we have in another Essay an opportunity of presenting you something out of the Observations of Olearius, the newly mentioned Divine, and our own, concerning Fermented Liquors, we shall content ourselves to manifest our want of curiosity about the materials of which Drinks may be prepared, by this, That the Drinks of one whole Country, are oftentimes unknown to the Inhabitants of another: That the Wine made of Rice, which we lately mentioned to be of frequent use in the Kingdoms of China and Japan, is of little or none in Europe, I need not prove to you. I have been in divers places where Beer and Ale, which are here the common Drinks, a●e greater rarities, than the medicated Liquors sold only in Apothecary's Shops. In divers parts of Muscovie, and some other Northern Regions, the common Drink is Hydromel, made of Water fermented with Honey: And indeed, if a due proportion betwixt those two be observed, and the Fermentation be skilfully ordered, there may be that way, as experience hath assured us, prepared such a Liquor, both for clearness, strength, and wholsomeness, as few that have not tasted such a one, would readily believe.  
The French and English Inhabitants of the Cannibal Islands, make, by Fermentation, a Wine of the dregs collected in the boiling of Sugar. A like to which Piso tells us, That they make in Brasil, 
Lib. 4. Cap. 1.  and commonly call Garapa, which, though made by the mixture of Water, the Inhabitants are very greedy of; and when it is old, find it strong enough to make them drunk. And how also in these colder Countries, a good Wine may be made of only Sugar and Water, we may elsewhere have occasion to teach you.  
And in Brasil they likewise, as the same Author informs us, 
Lib. 4. Cap. 6.  make a Wine (unknown to most other Regions of the World) of the Fruit of Acaju, which yet, upon his experience, he much commends; telling us, That it is strong enough to inebriate, and may, he doubts not, be kept good many Years; and that though it be astringent, yet both in himself and others he found it diuretical.  
In the Barbadas they have many Drinks unknown to us; such as are Perino, the Plantane-drink, Grippo, Punch, and the rare Wine of Pines, by some commended more than the Poets do their Nectar; some of which we therefore make not, because the Vegetables whereof they are produced, grow not in these colder Climates: But others also they have, which we have not, though they are made of Plants to be met with in our Soil; as for instance, the drink they call Mobbie, made of Potatoes fermented with Water, which, being fit to drink in a very few days, and easy to make as strong almost as the maker pleaseth, would be of excellent use, if it were but as wholesome as it is accounted pleasant.  
In the Turkish Dominions, where Wine, properly so called, is forbidden by Mahomet's Law, the Jews and Christians keep, in their Taverns, a Vinous Liquor made of fermented Raisins, after a manner, which (when we shall elsewhere acquaint you with it) you will easily discern to be capable of much improvement from the knowledge of Fermentation. And indeed, by the bare fermenting of Raisins and Water in a due proportion, without the help of Barm, Leaven, Tartar, or other additament to set them a working, we have divers times, in a few days, prepared a good Vinous Liquor, which having for trial's sake distilled, it afforded us greater store, than we expected, of inflammable Spirit, like that of other Wine.  
But I have sometimes wondered, that Men had no more curiosity to try what Drinks may be made of the Juices obtainable, by wounding or cutting off the parts of several Trees, and some other Vegetables: For that in the East Indies, their Sura is made of the Liquor dropping from their wounded Coco Trees, we have not long since out of Linscoten informed you. And sober Eye-witnesses have assured us, That in those Countries they have but too often seen the Seamen drunk, by the use or Liquors weeping out of the Incisions of wounded Vegetables, and afterwards fermented.  
And that even in Europe, the Alimental Liquor, drawn by Trees from the Earth, may receive great alterations from them before it be quite assimulated by them, may be gathered from the practice of the Calabrians and Apulians; who, betwixt March and November, do by Incisions obtain from the common Ash Tree, and the Ornus (which many Botanists would have to be but a wild Ash) a sweet Juice, so like to the Manna, adhering in that Season to the Leaves of those kind of Trees, that the Natives call it in their Language, Manna del corpo, or Trunk-manna; and lest we should think they draw all this sweetness from the Soil of that particular part of Italy where they grow, you may be satisfied by the Learned Chrysostomus Magnenus, in his Treatise De Manna, that it is to be met with in several other places. And he adds, That in the Dukedom of Milane, where he professeth Physic, there is no other Manna used then that which is (as he speaks) Velure è trunco expressum (which he somewhere calls Manna Truncinum) aut in ramis stiriatim concretum; 
De Manna cap. 18.  and that yet it is safely and prosperously used.  
I had communicated to me, as a rarity, a secret of the King of Polands, which is said to do wonders in many Diseases, and consists only in the use of the Liquor which drops about the beginning of the Spring, from the barred and wounded Roots of the Walnut-tree: but because I have not yet made trial of it myself, I shall pass on to observe to you, that in some Northern Countries, and even in some parts of England, bordering upon Scotland, the almost insipid Liquor that weeps in March, or the beginning of April, out of the transversly wounded Branches (not Trunks) of the Birch-tree, is wont to be used by Persons of Quality as a preservative from the Stone; against which cruel Disease, Helmont highly extols a Drink made of this Liquor and semen dauci, and Beccabunga, and I think not without cause. For not to mention all the commendations that have been given me of it by some that use it, I have seen such strange relief, frequently given among others, to a Kinsman of mine, to whom hardly any other Remedy (though he tried a scarce imaginable variety) was able to give ease (and in whose dissected Bladder, after another Disease had killed him, a Stone of many Ounces was found) that I usually every Spring take care to provide a quantity of this Water, with which alone, without the other Ingredients mentioned by Helmont, my Kinsman used to be relieved as long as he could keep it, which you may do the longer, by pouring upon the top of it a quantity of Salad Oil, to defend it from the Air; and perhaps also by Distillation: By which (last named) way, I know an Ingenious Man that is wont to preserve it for his own use, and says, he finds it not thereby impaired in virtue. But the most effectual way that ever I yet practised, Pyrophilus, to preserve both this and other Liquors and Juices, is dexterously and sufficiently to impregnate them with Fume of Sulphur, which must be at divers, and often times as it were, incorporated with the Liquor by due agitation; the manual Operation belonging to this Experiment, I may hereafter have occasion to describe more fully, together with the particular Effects of it in several Bodies. And therefore it may here suffice to tell you, that if you practise it carefully, you will, perhaps, think yourself obliged to thank me for the discovery of it, though a heedful Reader may find it, not obscurely, hinted in Helmont's Writings.  
I might here annex the great commendation which I have found given to this Birch-water, by eminent Writers, against the hot distempers of the Liver, and divers other affections; 
In consilio Medicinali in catarrhs calido pro Principi quodam.  and especially how Freitagius commends it very much to dilute Wine with: and adds, Haec est dulcacida & grati saporis, sitim sedat viscerum & sanguinis fervorem temperate, obstructiones reserat, calculum pellit.  
But I suppose you will think it high time for me to proceed to another subject; and indeed I should not have spent so much time in discoursing of Drinks, but that I am apt to think, that if there were greater variety of them made, and if they were more skilfully ordered, they might, by refreshing the Spirits, and insensibly altering the mass of Blood, prevent and cure (without weakening or much troubling the Patient) almost as many Diseases as the use of our common, unwholesome, and sophisticated Wines is wont to produce.  
For in Fermentation, the Sulphurous (as Chemists call them) the Active, and the Spirituous parts of Vegetables, are much better loosened, and more entirely separated from the grosser and clogging parts, in most Mixts, than they are by the vulgar ways of Distillation, wherein the Concrete is not opened by previous Fermentation. And these nobler parts being incorporated with our Aliments, are with them received freely, and without resistance carried into the mass of the Blood, and therewith, by circulation, conveyed to the whole Body where their Operation is requisite. And I remember, that discoursing one day with an eminently learned and experienced Physician, of the Antinephritical virtue of our common wild Carret-seed, fermented in small Ale; he smilingly told me, that he found its efficacy but too great: For having prescribed it to some of his rich Patients, who were wont frequently to have recourse to him in their Nephritical distempers, after the use of this drink for a pretty while, he seldom heard of them any more. And for your encouragement, Pyrophilus, to make trials of this nature, we will add, That though the Seed itself be not over-well tasted, yet being fermented in a due proportion with the Liquor (we used an Ounce and half of the Seed, to a Gallon of the Ale) the Drink composed of both tasted pleasantly, almost like Lemmon beer.  
And that you may the less wonder at the efficacy of fermented Liquors, it is worth considering, what virtue is ascribed to the bare decoction of that Herb, which the French and we call The, or Té, which is much magnified here; and as far as my little experience in myself, and others (of which more hereafter) reaches, not altogether without cause: But among the Chinese and the Japonians, it is the common Drink of Persons of Quality, by whom it is so highly praised, that the experienced Tulpius, 
Obs: Lib. 4. Cap. ultimo.  in the new Edition of his Observations, tells us, That one pound of the Japonical T'chia (as the Natives call it) is not unfrequently sold for one hundred pounds of Silver; which is not to be wondered at, if they justly ascribe to it, that in those Countries Men are not subject to the Stone, or the Gout, and if but one half of the Virtues he there attributes to it, be for the most part to be found in it.  
I might, when I told you of the variety of Materials not used among us, have added one strange Drink, which a Chirurgeon, that a while since lived at in the East Indies, told me, he saw much used thereabouts: They make it of the raw Flesh of Goats, Capons, and the like, which, together with Rice and Molossos (or black course Sugar) they put into a quantity of Water, and distil it in an Alimbick till the Liquor be stronger than Brandy (as they call common weak Spirit of Wine or of Lees of Vinous Liquors) And this Rack (as the extravagant Liquor is called) is often drunk in hot weather, and found very comfortable: those that use it, prising it much, as supposing it draws a nutritive and cherishing virtue from the Flesh; as indeed, if any quantity of the nobler parts of that, do concur to the constituting of the Liquor, it may probably be, at least to divers Bodies, very wholesome in that Country, where they find strong Drinks necessary to recruit their Spirits, exhausted by the excessive heat of the Climate. As I remember, the experienced Bontius, in his Medicina Indorum, tells us, That the Merchants travelling through the scorching Deserts of Arabia, Persia, or Turkey, 
Dialogo 3.  find it best to quench their thirst by a draught of the Spirit of Wine, or else of the strongest Persian or Spanish Wine.  
And of the great use, if not necessity of either Brandy, or such other strong and Spirituous Drinks in the hot Climates of the Indies, divers intelligent Persons of our own Country, have, upon their own experience, sufficiently satisfied us.  
Nor, Pyrophilus, is Natural Philosophy able only to improve our Drinks, but the rest of our Aliments also: For not to mention, that Experience hath assured us, that by skilfully contrived Ovens (wherein the heat plays every way about the Bread, without yet suffering any of the smoke or steams of the Fire to come at it, and wherein what degree of heat you please may be continued from first to last) better Bread may be baked, then in our common Ovens, where the Bread rests upon the Hearth, and the heat is continually decaying. Not to mention this, I say, physiology can enable us to confer a very grateful taste on very many of the things we eat, barely by a skilful and moderate untying and exciting the formerly clogged Spirits, and other sapid parts contained in them. It can teach us to make better Bread than is commonly eaten: And by discovering to us a better Art of Cookry, than Apitius and his Successors have left us, and by substituting innocently sapid things, instead of those unwholesome ones, their deliciousness endears to Men; It can teach us to gratify men's Palates, without offending their healths: & in preserving of fresh Meats, Fruits, etc. beyond their wont seasons of duration, the Naturalists skill may perform much more than you will readily believe.  
And yet to incline you not to be too diffident in this particular, let me inform you, That much hath been already performed, as to the preservation of Aliments, even by those that have not troubled themselves to make Philosophical inquiries after the Causes and Remedies of Putrefaction in Bodies, but only have been taught by obvious and daily Observations, that the Air doth much contribute to the corruption of some Bodies, and the exclusion of Air to the hindering it. I remember, the inquisitive and learned Mr. Borreel, assured me some while since, That he had in his Country, Holland, eaten Biscuit that was yet good, after it had been carried from Amsterdam to the East Indies, and brought back thence again (in which Voyage, between two and three Years are wont to be spent) And to confirm my conjecture of the way of preserving this Bread so long: He told me, that the curious Merchant whose it was, used no other Art, than the stowing his Biscuit, well baked, in Casks exactly calked; and besides, carefully lined with Tin, for the more perfect exclusion of the Air. Adding, That to the same end the Biscuits were so placed, as to leave as little room as possibly might be in the Cask, which also was not opened, but in case of absolute necessity, and then presently and carefully closed again.  
I may elsewhere tell you of an eminent Naturalist, a Friend of yours and mine, that hath a strange way of preserving Fruits, whereby even Goof-berries have been kept for many Months, without the addition of Sugar, Salt, or other tangible Bodies; but all that I dare yet tell you, is, That he assures me his Secret consists in a new and artificial way of keeping them from the Air.  
But it seems more difficult, as well as more useful, to be able to preserve Meat long without Salt; for 'tis sufficiently known to Navigators, how frequently, in long Voyages, the Scurvy, and other Diseases, are contracted by the want of fresh Meat, and the necessity of feeding constantly upon none but strongly powdered Flesh, or salted Fish; and therefore, he is much to be commended that hath first devised the way to keep Flesh sweet, without the help of those freeting Salts Men are wont to use to make it keep. This way is not unknown known to some ingenious Persons in London: One of the most noted of whom, upon my conjecturing how it may be performed, confessed to me, that I had hit upon the way in general: But the most satisfactory account I could get of it, was from an English Man, that lately practised Physic in the East Indies, who, finding I was no stranger to what I asked him about, told me freely, that he had seen both Goats-flesh, and Hens, so well preserved by this way, that though it were put up in the East Indies awhile before he came thence, yet he eat of it, and found it good and wholesome, between the Islands of Cape Verd (as the Seamen call them) and England; so that this Meat-continued sweet above six Months, notwithstanding the heat and closeness of the Ship, the excessive heat they met with in their Passage under the Line, and consequently through the Torrid Zone: and that the way was only this, That the Meat being well roasted, and cut in pieces, was carefully and conveniently ranged in a very close Cask, into which, afterwards, there was poured as much Butter melted, skimmed, and decanted from the grosser and ranker Parts, as would fill up all the intervals left between the several pieces of Flesh, and swim about them all, and thereby keep out the Air from approaching them; and then the Cask, being exactly closed, was stowed up in a convenient place in the Ship, and kept unopened till the Meat was to be eaten. And it must not be omitted, that the Relator, and others that had the care of making Provision for the Voyage, were fain, instead of Butter made of Cow's Milk (which could not be had where they took in their Lading) to make use of that made of Goats, or Ewes Milk, which is not (as the Indians make it) so good, and to whose rankness he ascribed that which he had observed in some of the Meat buried in it, which he thought might have been preserved longer, and better tasted (for wholesome and incorrupt he said it was) in our European Butter, whose power to preserve Meat buried in it, after due Coction, hath been confirmed to me upon their own observation, by an experienced Officer of the English Fleet, that had the oversight of the Provisions, and by others that had opportunity to observe it.  
But how much the Naturalists skill may advance the Dietetical part of Physic, by enabling Men to make Aliments much lastinger then naturally they are, I must not here labour to convince you by other instances, that I may not anticipate what we have elsewhere to acquaint you with, from other men's Experiments, and our own, about the conservation of Bodies. Only I shall at present tell you in general, That I hope there will be ways found out to preserve even raw Flesh itself (for of the keeping of roasted, we have just now given you an instance) with things that do not so much fret it, nor give it so corrosive a quality, when eaten, as our common Salt doth. For not to mention what several curious Persons have practised, of salting Neat's Tongues with Saltpetre, which though done only to make them look red, shows that a Body, not corrosive like common Salt, may preserve Flesh: I have, for trial sake, kept an entire Puppy of pretty bigness, untainted for many Weeks (and that in the midst of Summer) and that without slaying, drying (by Fire or otherwise) or so much as exenterating him, or cleansing him, or doing any thing towards the preserving of him, save the keeping him immersed in a well stopped Vessel, under Spirit of Wine (from whose taste, I presume, Meat may be easily freed by Water) and there seemed small cause to doubt, that the only thing that hindered me from keeping him much longer, was the want of time to pursue the Experiment, and take notice of its success: For I remember, I have the same way kept a soft Substance, taken raw from an Ox or Cow, for many Months (if I mistake not, eighteen or twenty) and found no putrefaction or ill sent in the immersed substance, which, for aught I know, might have been preserved divers Years together the same way, or at least, by an easy improvement of this method, of which, as I lately intimated, I intent you hereafter an account.  
And I shall further add on this occasion, That if we reflect upon Sugar, which is (at least in these Western Regions) but an almost recent discovery, and consider how many Bodies are with it, by Confectioners and others, not only preserved, but rendered exceeding grateful to the taste; that single instance may suffice to make us think it probable, that expedients yet unthought of, may, by an insight into Nature, be found out, for the preservation of Bodies; especially, if our ingenious Friend, Mr. W. would show us, how out of divers other Concreats, besides the Sugar Cane, a Substance not unlike Sugar (though of different taste, according to the nature of the Vegetable that affords it) may, by a peculiar industry, be prepared: which, that you may not think unfeazable, let me mention to you (for perhaps he hath not yet taken notice of it) what even Indians have done of this nature. And first, let me inform you of what we are told by Linschoten 
* Linscotens Voyages, chap. 56.— When they desire to have no Cocus, or Fruit thereof (namely of the Palm-trees) they cut the Blossoms of the Cocus away, and bind a round Pot, with a narrow mouth (by them called Calao) fast to the Tree, and then stop the same close, round about with Pot-earth, so that neither Wind nor Air can enter in, or come forth; and in that sort, the Pot, in short space, is full of Water, which they call Sura; and is very pleasant Drink, like sweet Whey, and somewhat better.  concerning that Drink, which in the East Indies they call Sura, and made of the Liquor dropping from the Blossoms, that they cut away from the Indian Palm Tree which bears the Coco Nut. For of this Sura, he tells us, That amongst other things, they make Sugar (which is called Jagra) which is made by boiling that Liquor, and setting it in the Sun, where it congeals to Sugar.  
And though I must not conceal from you, that our Author adds, that it is not much esteemed by reason of its brown colour, and for that (to use his words) they have so great quantity and abundance of white Sugar throughout all India, yet the latter reason, of the cheapness of Jagra, seems to be the principal. For probably, if other Sugar were scarce, the melioration of this would be attempted; and 'tis very likely, That if a skilful Naturalist had the ordering of that sweet Juice, of which the Indians make their Jagra, he might very well make of it a Sugar of no small use; and such a Sugar would be very convenient in many cases, and to many Persons, for its being different from the common Sugar, though it should not be better. Garcillassus also (a much applauded Writer concerning the West Indies) treating of the Fruits of a Peruvian Tree, called by some Molle, 
Apud Joh: de Lact. descrip. Indiae, l. 10. c. 3.  and by others Mull● conficiunt (saith he) ex eo potum confricando blande inter manu● in aquâ calidâ donec dulcor omnis defricetur: Percolam hanc aquam seruantque dies tres quatuorve donec subsideat. potus est limpidissimus, etc. Aqua eadem cocta convertitur in optimum mel: And of the same Plant, Petrus de Cieca hath this confirming Passage, Ex hujus fructu cum aquâ decocto, 
Apud cu●dem ●odem loco.  pr●coctura modo, fit aut vinum sive potio admodum bona aut acetum aut mel. And that there is a great affinity betwixt such Vegetable Hony's and Sugar, especially if the Juices be ordered with a design of turning them rather into Sugar then Honey, you may easily gather from the next and more memorable instance which we are to mention, and which is afforded us by the diligent Describer of the Brasilian Plants, who treating of the Caraguata, or Erva Babosa (or as some would have it, Herba innominata caule portulaca) hath these words to our present purpose: Porro (saith he) radendo novacula petrosa stolones, emanat ex concavitate liquor quidam tantâ copiâ ut ex unâ solummodo plantâ (Mirabile dictu) interdum 50. aut plures arobae effluant è quo liquore fit vinum, acetum, mel & saccharum: liquor quip per se dulcis coquendo redditur multo su●●●ior & spissior, ita ut tandem in saccharum congelascat.  
Since the writing of these last Lines, being visited by an ancient Virtuoso, Governor to a considerable Colony in the Northern America, and enquiring of him, among other particularities touching his Country, something in relation to the thoughts I had about the making of several kinds of Sugar, he assured me, upon his own experience, that there is in some parts of New England, a kind of Tree, so like our Wallnut-trees, that it is there so called, whose Juice that weeps out of its Incisions, etc. if it be permitted slowly to exhale away the superfluous moisture, doth congeal into a sweet and saccharine substance; and the like was confirmed to me, upon his own knowledge, by the Agent of the great and populous Colony of the Masathusets. And very lately demanding of a very eminent and skilful Planter, why, living in a part of America, too cold to bare Sugarcanes, he did not try to make Sugar of that very sweet Liquor, which the Stalks of Maiz, by many called Indian Wheat, affords, when their Juice is expressed; he promised me he would make trial of it: Adding, That he should do it very hopefully, because that though he had never been solicitous to bring this Juice into a saccharine form, yet having several times, for trial sake, boiled it up to Syrup, and employed it to sweeten Tarts, and other things, the Guests could not perceive that they were otherwise sweetened then with Sugar. And he farther added, That both he and others, had, in New England, made such a Syrup with the Juice of Water Melons.  
Nor, Pyrophilus, is it only by teaching Men to improve the wholesomeness and tastes of the Aliments, or to keep them long uncorrupted, that the Naturalist may contribute to the preservation of Man's health: For from the ingenious attempts of Sanctorius, in his Medicina Statica, we may be invited to hope, that there may be ways, as yet unthought of, to investigate the wholesomeness or insalubrity of Aliments; as he, by the weight of Bodies, after having fed on such and such Meats, finds that Swine's Flesh, Melons, and some other things that he names (in the third Section) do much hinder insensible Perspiration, and consequently are unwholesome; though, as I take it, it were not amiss, that before such Observations be framed into general and established Aphorisms, they were carefully made in Bodies of differing Ages, Sexes and Complexions, and with variety of Circumstances: But then again, presuming these Maxims to be judiciously framed, the same Statica Medicina makes it hopeful, that there may be unthought-of Methods found, whereby, by ways different from those formerly used by Physicians, a Man may be much assisted in the whole manner of ordering himself, so as to preserve health, and to foresee and prevent the approach of many Distempers. And perhaps by such unthought-of ways, divers Paradoxes of concernment to Man's health may be made out, as the diligent Sanctorius to that Observation proposed in these words Semel aut bis in mense facto excessu in cibo & potu, die sequenti, 
Sect. 3. Aphorism 96.  licet sensibiliter non evacuet, minus solito perpendit annexus (in the following Aphorism) addeth this important Corollary: Victus uniformis caret beneficio illorum qui semel vel bis in mense excedunt: expultrix enim à copia irritata excitat tantum perspiratus, quantum sine statica nemo crederet. And indeed, experience hath informed us, that the promoting or suppressing of insensible transpiration, by which, in a day, the Body may discharge itself of four or five pound of excrementitious Matter, hath a much greater power to advantage or prejudice health, then is wont to be taken notice of; so that we see that the Staticks, which, though long known, were thought useless to Physic, may afford several important directions in reference to the preservation of Man's health; to which there are likewise other ways whereby the Naturalist may contribute. For he may also devise means, whereby to judge of the qualities of Aliments, especially Drinks in their respective kinds; and likewise of the temperature of the Air in this or that place assigned, we shall, in one of the following Essays, describe to you a small slight Instrument, by the help of which, one that is acquainted with this or that particular sort of Wine, may give a near guess whether it be embased with Water or not. And whereas in most hot Countries, where Water being the common Drink, 'tis of great concernments to Man's health to be able to make a good estimate of the salubrity of it; And whereas Physicians are wont to think Water caeteris paribus, the better and purer the lighter it is, this Instrument presently manifests, without any trouble of weighing in Scales, what among any Waters proposed is the heaviest, and which the lightest, and what difference there is of gravity betwixt them: And this disparity may sometimes be so great, that I remember some of our English Navigators tell us, That upon bringing home a so●t of Water out of Africa into England, they found, by the common way of ponderation, the African Water in the same bulk, to be about four Ounces in the pound lighter than the English. And as the thickness or lightness of Waters may be thus presently discerned by this Hydrostatical way, so 'tis possible, by some Chemical Experiments, easily enough to discover some other qualities, wherein Waters, that are thought to be of the same nature, differ from each other; as we find that very many Pump-waters will not bear Soap, as Rain-waters, and the generality of Spring-waters will do: some Water will not well die Scarlet, or some other particular colour, because they are secretly imbued with some kind of saline Substance, that hath an operation it should not have upon the Ingredients employed by the Dyer. And I have sometimes discovered a latent Sea-salt in Water, where others suspected no such matter, by pouring into it a solution of good Silver, made in Aqua fortis: For as common Salt, as well as the Spirit of it, will precipitate the Metal out of such a solution, in the form of a white Calx; so it seemed rational to conceive, that in case the Water I suspected had been imbued in its passage through the Earth with a saline quality, though not conspicuous enough to be taken notice of by the taste; these saline Corpuscles diffused through the Water, would, though faintly, act their parts upon the dissolved Silver, and accordingly I found, that upon the mixtures of such Waters, and the Metalline solution, there would immediately be produced a kind of whiteness (from some parts of the Metal precipitated by the Salt:) to avoid which, I have often been fain to use, in places where I met with such Waters, either Rain-water, or that which is freed from its common Salt, by a slow Distillation.  
And as for the temperature of the Air, which is acknowledged to be of exceeding great consequence, both as to health, and as to the prolongation of life; and which is possibly yet of greater moment to both than most Men imagine, the skilful Naturalists sagacity, if it were employed to that purpose, might probably find divers ways of discovering the qualities, and consequently the salubrity and unhealthfulness of the Air in particular places. For the diligent Sanctorius (in the second Section of his Medicina Statica) teacheth us how to estimate the healthfulness and insalubrity of the Air, by the weight of those men's Bodies that live in it. And besides this (nice) way, we see, that by the late Invention of Weather-Glasses, 'tis easy to discern which of two Neighbouring Houses, and which of two rooms in the same House is the colder. And I remember, I have sometimes bethought myself of a slight way (to be mentioned in one of the following Essays) by the help of which, it is not hard to determine in which of two places proposed, the Air is caeteris paribus, the dryer or the moister; And to give also some guess, both how much at the same time the Air of one place exceeds that of the other, and how the temperature of the Air changeth in the same place at several times, either of those qualities. And that the differing operations of several Airs, upon certain sorts of Flesh hung in them, upon some fading colours, upon Bodies subject to gather rust, or to be tarnished; and in a word, upon divers other subjects, may be more considerable than Men seem yet to have taken notice of, I shall think it sufficient to have intimated in this place, being desirous to hasten to the following Essay (wherewith I am to conclude, what I have to offer to you concerning Physic) that I may have the more time to employ on it.   

ESSAY V. Proposing some Particulars wherein Natutural Philosophy may be useful to the Therapeutical part of Physic.  
ANd now, Pyrophilus, the method that we formerly prescribed to ourselves (a little after the beginning of the first Essay) requires, that we consider awhile the Therapeutical part of Physic, which is indeed that, whose improvement would be the most beneficial to Mankind; and therefore I cannot here forbear to wish, That divers Learned Physicians were more concerned, than they seem to be, to advance the Curative part of their Profession; without which, three at least of the four others may prove indeed delightful and beneficial to the Physician, but will be of very little use to the Patient, whose relief is yet the principal end of Physic: whereunto the Physiological, Pathological, and Semiotical parts of that Art ought to be referred. There was, awhile since, a witty Doctor, who being asked by an Acquaintance of mine (himself an eminent Physician, and who related this unto me) why he would not give such a Patient more Generous Remedies, seeing he grew so much worse under the use of those common Languid ones, to which he had been confined, that he could not at the last but die with them in his Mouth? briskly answered, Let him die if he will, so he die secundum artem. I hope there are very few of this Man's temper, but it were to be wished, that there were fewer Learned Men that think a Physician hath done enough, when he hath learnedly discoursed of the seat and nature of the Disease, foretold the event of it, and methodically employed a company of safe, but languid Remedies, which he had often before found almost as unable to cure the Patient, as unlikely to kill him. For by such an unprofitable way of proceeding, to which some lazy or opinionated Practizers of Physic (I say some, for I mean not all) have, under pretence of its being safe, confined themselves; they have rendered their whole Profession too obnoxious to the Cavils of such Empirics, as he that (as the Lord Verulam reports) was wont to say, Your European Physicians are indeed Learned Men, but they know not the particular Cures of Diseases; and (unreverendly enough) to compare our Physicians to Bishops, who had the Keys of binding and losing, and nothing else: Which brings into my mind, what Monsieur De Balsac relates (in his witty French Discourse of the Court) of a Physician of Milan, that he knew at Milan, who being content with a Possession of his Science, and (as he said) The enjoyment of the Truth, did not only not particularly inquire into the Cure of Diseases, but boasted, That he had killed a Man with the fairest Method in the World: E mort● (said he) canonicament, è con tutti gli ordini. And such Scoffs and Stories are readily enough entertained by the major part of Men, who send for Physicians, not so much to know what ails them, as to be eased of it; and had not rather been methodically killed, then Empirically cured. And it doth indeed a little lessen even my esteem of the great Hippocrates' skill, to find mentioned in his Writings so many of his Patients, of whom he concludes, that they died: And I had much rather, that the Physician of any Friend of mine, should keep his Patient by powerful Medicines from dying, then tell me punctually when he shall die, or show me in the opened Carcase why it may be supposed he lived no longer. But, Pyrophilus, my concern for Mankind, and for the reputation of many excellent Physicians, whose Profession suffers much by the want of either Industry or Charity, in such as we have been speaking of, hath diverted me longer than I thought, from telling you, That I suppose it will not be very difficult to persuade you, that this so useful Therapeutical part of Physic is also capable of being much improved by a knowing Naturalist, especially if he be an intelligent and expert Chemist, as in this Essay we will suppose him.  

CHAP. I.  
SOme Paracelsian would, perhaps, set forth, how much more easy to be taken Chemically prepared Medicines are wont to be, than those loathsome and clogging Galenical Potions Bolus', &c. which are not only odious to the Takers, but (which is much worse) are to many so offensive, that either the Patients cannot get them down, or the incensed Stomach returns them, by Vomit, before they have stayed long enough in the Body to do any more than distemper it. But I shall not much insist on this, because I think wholesomeness to be much more considerable in a Remedy then pleasantness: though, I confess, I could wish that Physicians were more careful to keep Patients from being almost as much troubled by Physic, as by the Disease, and to cure according to the old Prescription, not only citò and tutò, but jucundè too: Especially considering that, as we were saying, the loathsomeness of some Medicines maketh the Stomach reject them, before they can have performed their Operations. And it is, I presume, on this account as much as on any other, that at Oxford Learned & Practical Physicians, of your Acquaintance, make very frequent use (on Patients not Feverish) of the resin of Jalap, barely drawn with Spirit of Wine; since as we have tried six, eight or ten, or more Grains, of this almost insipid Resin, being cleanly prepared, according to Art, and with a little Gum-tragacanth, and half its weight of powdered Cinnamon, or some such thing, made up, may be taken in the Morning, in form of Pills, instead of a Potion; and is wont to evacuate plentifully enough, and yet gripe the Patient much less than common Purges. But, as I said, I shall not insist on this. I might better commend the usefulness of Chemistry to the Therapeutical part of Physic, from hence, That it is probable, that even emptying Medicines may, by the Spagyrists Art, be so prepared, as not only to be less offensive than common Purges or Vomits in the taking, but to be less painful in the working: As I have often observed, both in myself and others, that upon the taking of the clear, and not loathsome Mineral Waters of Barnet, though the Medicine wrought with me ten or twelve times in a Morning, yet it did not either pain me, or make me sick, or disorder me for the remaining part of the day, any thing near so much as a common Pill or Potion that had wrought but once or twice would have done. And I shall elsewhere (God permitting) teach you a preparation of Silver, whereof about three or four Grains being made up (with any proper Conserve) into a little Pill, is wont to make a copious evacuation of Serum especially (in Bodies that abound with it) without making the Patient almost at all sick, or gripping him: Insomuch that I know some Persons, both Physicians and others, with whom though this Medicine work frequently in a day, and though (which is stranger) once taking of it will with some Persons work so for two or three, or more days successively, yet they scruple not to go abroad and follow their business; and some that take it, tell me, That when it works not with them (as for the most part, when it hath freed the Body from superfluous Serum, it will cease, and in some Bodies will scarce purge at all, it neither puts them to pain, nor makes them sick.)  
And now I am speaking of the painless ways of relieving the sick, I shall add, That there is another way, whereby 'tis to be hoped, many Patients may be rescued from a great deal of pain, and that is by finding out Medicaments, that may in several Distempers, that are thought to belong peculiarly to the Surgeon's hand, excuse the need of Burning, Cutting, Trepaning, and other as well painful as terrible manual Operations of Chirurgery. Helmont tells us, 
Helmont, De Febribus, c. 14. See also the same Author in Tractat: quem vocat Arcana. Paracels: & Lib. de Febr. Cap. 14.  That he knew a Country Fellow, who cured all fresh Wounds by a Drink made (as I remember) of burnt Tilia. I have informed you in another Essay, of the Cure I observed to be made of the exulcerated Tumours of one sick of the King's Evil, by the use of Beer, altered by a little Plant, that did not at all disturb the Taker. If we may believe, Helmont's and Paracelsus' Praecipitatus Diaphoreticus, taken at the Mouth, doth cure, to use his own Words, Carcinoma, Lupum & quodlibet Aesthiomenum cacoethes ulcus, sive externum sive internum. And if there be any truth in what hath been affirmed to me by several Eye-witnesses, as well Physicians as others, concerning the Weapon Salve, and Powder of Sympathy, we may well conclude, That Nature may perform divers Cures, for which the help of Chirurgery is wont to be implored, with much less pain to the Patient, than the Chirurgeon is wont to put him to. I know a very ingenious Man, that is Famous as well for his Writings as for a Remedy, wherewith he undertaketh to cure constantly the exulcerated Cancers of women's Breasts, without any considerable pain: But having not yet had opportunity to make trial of that which I have lying by me, I shall only tell you, he assures me, That his Medicine is indolent, and mortifies the ulcerous parts as far as they are corrupted, without disordering the Party troubled with them; which I the less doubt, because, that (to add thus much on this occasion) partly by the colour, etc. of his Powder, and partly by his own confession to me, it seems to be a dulcification of Arsenic, first fixed with Nitre, and then carefully freed from its corrosiveness, by very frequent Distillations of fresh Spirit of Wine. I shall ere long have occasion to teach you a Drink, whereby exulcerated (but not Cancerous) Breasts have been very happily cured. The learned Bartholinus, in his late Observations) mentions the cure of some hurts in the Head, done without Trepaning, in cases where that formidable and tedious Operation is wont to be thought necessary. As for the terrible way of stopping the violent Bleeding in great Wounds, by searing the Orifices of the Vessels with hot Irons, it would be little needed, if we knew such Remedies as that which the Inquisitive Petrus de Osma, in his curious Letter to Monardes' from Peru, mentions in this Passage, 
Apud Mo●ard: de simplic: Medic. pag. 84.  which I find among his other Observations: Anno (saith he) 1558. in urbe D. Jacobi quae est in Provincia Chyle, quidam Indi captivi sur as sibi amputarunt, & eas assas prae faeme ederunt & (quod mirabile dictu) cujusdam Plantae folia vulneribus imponentes, ilicò sanguinem sistebant. I knew a rich Man, extremely corpulent, who having long had a strange kind of Fistula in his Breast, and having traveled from one Country to another, to consult with the ablest Surgeons, was at length brought to that pass, that at a Consult they resolved, by opening his Breast, to try if they could tract the winding Fistula, and save his Life: And as the Instruments, for this sad operation, lay upon the Table, another famous Chirurgeon casually coming into the House, told the Patient that he had an art of curing Fistula's without cutting them open, and without any considerable pain or trouble: Whereupon the rich Man offering him what he pleased for the Cure, the Chirurgeon quickly performed his Promise, as the Patient himself, who showed me his Breast, confessed to me, and that by the use of an almost indolent Remedy, which he purchased of the Chirurgeon, and which by his favour came to my hands: And that even very ill-conditioned Fistula's may be cured without Chirurgical Operations, by Medicines taken at the Mouth, I shall ere long have occasion to show you by a notable Example.  
In the mean time I shall add, That a Man, whom I suppose you have often seen, having a while since received such a kick of a Horse, as made the Doctor and Chirurgeon that tended him, to conclude the part gangrenated, and the Patient's condition, by the accession of a violent Fever, so desperate, that they desired to meddle with him no longer; a large Dosis of Sir Walter Raleighs Cordial, sent him by an excellent Lady you are nearly related to, not only freed him from his Fever, and the Delirium that attended it, but, to the wonder of all that observed it, restored the Limb that was concluded gangrenated to its former soundness.  
And to bring credit to all these Relations, I shall crown them with that memorable Passage of Gulielmus Piso, of as great things that he saw done by the illiterate Indians themselves: Memini (saith he) in castris membra militum globulis sclopetorum icta, & jamjam ab Europae is Chirurgis, tam Lusitanis quam Batavis, amputanda, barbaros recentibus gummi succis & balsamis à ferro & igne liberasse & feliciter restituisse. Oculatus it idem testis sum in Nosocomiis relicta ulcera & gangrenas ab illis vel solo succo Tabaci curata.  
But, Pyrophilus, That the making of divers Helps to Recovery less distateful, or less painful to the Patients, is not the only, nor perhaps the greatest service that Chemistry may do him that attempts the Cure of Diseases, I shall now endeavour to manifest in some Particulars.   

CHAP. II.  
ANd first, The skilful Naturalist, especially if a good Chemist, may much assist the Physician to discover the Qualities of Medicines, whether simple or compound; That the Experiments of the Spagyrists may much contribute to the examining those many things themselves prepare, you will, I presume, easily grant: That also divers Mineral Waters are of the nobler sort of Medicines, is sufficiently confessed on all hands; and 'tis known too, that the Industry of Chemists hath produced some good directions towards the discovery of the Minerals predominant in divers Medicinal Springs: But I am much mistaken, if they have not left much for others to do, which may be easily done. And I scarce doubt, but that by the various ways that might be proposed, of trying what such Waters hold, and what saline or other Qualities are predominant in them, not only the nature of those Medicinal Waters that are already used, might be more throughly understood; but undetected Properties, might in many others that are now not taken notice of, be discovered; of some of which ways of examining Mineral Waters, I may elsewhere give you an intimation. And I have made several trials that have, I confess, much inclined me to think, that the fault is rather in us, then either in Nature or Chemistry, that Men do not, by the help of Chemical Experiments, discover more of the nature of divers Medicaments, than hitherto they seem to have so much as aimed at: For though the abstruse Endowments of Specificks will not, I fear, be learned in haste, otherwise then by particular Trials and Observations; yet many Simples have other Qualities, which seem chiefly to reside, though not in an Elementary Salt or Sulphur, yet in a part of the Matter that seems of kin to a Salt or Sulphur: such as sourness, saltness, a caustick or a healing faculty, abstersiveness, and the like, upon whose account such Remedies seem chiefly to work in a multitude of cases. And towards the Investigation of such Qualities, a Chemist may oftentimes do much, without making all his Trials in humane Bodies. But though, to illustrate this matter, I have sometimes made several Experiments, yet not having now my Notes and Observations at hand, I shall only mention a few things as they offer themselves to my memory, reserving the more distinct handling of this subject to another opportunity: And the rather, because that till such Phaenomena have been more diligently observed, and reduced to their distinct sorts, I would have them looked upon but as hints to further Inquiries, not as sufficient Authority to ground general Rules on.  
There are some Plants, whose Juices, especially when the superfluous moisture is exhaled or abstracted, will, some by the assistance of a gentle Heat and Filtration, and some, even of themselves, in time (which I remember hath in some succulent Plants amounted but to a very few hours) coagulate in part into a kind of Salt, which, if you please, you may call Essential: And by this Nitro-Tartareous Salt (as it seems to be) those Vegetables, whose Juice affords it (such as are, if I mistake not their names, Parietaria, borage, Bugloss, etc.) may be discriminated from those many others, from whence it is not (at least by the same way) to be obtained. And possibly also these Salts may, to a heedful Surveyor of them, appear to differ enough from each other in shape, taste, or other obvious Qualities, to deserve to be sorted into differing kinds.  
If likewise we compare the Essential Salts and Spirits of these Plants, with those of Scurvygrass, Brook-lime, and other Vegetables that are counted Antiscorbutical, and abound in Volatile and Saline parts: And if we also examine other Plants, by divers Chemical Operations, and observe not only their disposedness or indisposition to yield Spirits or Oils by Fermentation, or without it; but those other Particulars wherein they will appear to agree with, or differ from each other: there is little doubt but such Trials will make them discover, to a considering Naturalist, much of their Nature and Properties, and especially of such as depend chiefly upon the plenty or paucity of the saline, unctuous, sour, spirituous, lazy, tenacious or volatile Parts.  
It may be also observed, that the Infusion or Decoction of some Plants, as of Brazil, Senna, etc. will be heightened into a reddish colour, by putting Alkalizate Salts, as of Tartar, or of Pot-ashes, in the Water that extracts their Tinctures: Whereas acid Spirits, at least some of them, will much impair, if not destroy their colour; as a little Aqua fortis will immediately tu●n a red Tincture of Brazil, made in fair Water, into a pale yellow: Whereas on the other side, I have observed, that a small quantity of a strong Solution of Pot-ashes, dropped into an Infusion of red Rose-leaves, hath presently turned it into a muddy colour, that seemed to partake of green and blue, but was dark and dirty; whereas a little Aqua fortis, or good Spirit of Salt poured into the same simple Solution, did immediately turn it into a fine red, and so it would do to the muddy Mixture lately mentioned, if it were put to it in a far greater quantity. I observed also, that with a very strong (though clear and well filtrated) Lixivium of Pot-ashes, I could precipitate some pa●ts of the Infusion or Decoction of red Roses, which grosser parts, when the Mixture was filtrated through Cap-paper, remained like a dirty coloured (though somewhat greenish) Mud in the Filtre; the fluid and finer part of the Mixture passing through, in the form of a Liquor high coloured, almost like Muscadine.  
And on this occasion, I remember, that as Galls, a very styptic Vegetable excrescence, will yield a Decoction, with which, and Copper is, the common Ink is made; so divers other Plants, of notably astringent parts, may be employed to the like use: For, by casting Vitriol into a Decoction either of Oaken Bark, or red Roses, or even a bare Infusion of either Log-wood, or Sumach, to name now no other Plants of the like nature, I have presently made a Mixture that might make a shift to serve for Writing Ink; but whether all styptic Plants, or they only, will with Vitriol make an Ink, I refer to further Enquiry: And as a Solution of Vitriol, and the Decoction of the abovementioned Plants, do precipitate each other to make Ink; so I remember I have tried, that by dissolving the Crystals of pure Silver (made the common way with Aqua fortis, or Spirit of Nitre) in a good quantity of fair Water, that the Liquor having no colour of its own, the colours it produceth in other Bodies may be the better observed, I found that I could with this Liquor precipitate out of the Infusions alone of several Vegetables, Substances differingly coloured, according to their respective dispositions: And so I have found, with less cost, that Saccharum Saturni, which seems to be a kind of Vitriol of Lead, whilst it lies dissolved in the same Spirit of vinegar which extracted it from the Metal, being put to the bare Infusion of Log-wood, Lignum Nephriticum, red Roses (to name those I now remember I made trial of) they will precipitate each other.  
I might farther add, That I have tried that sulphureous Salts, such as Oil of Tartar, made per Deliquium, being dropped into the expressed Juices of divers Vegetables, will, in a moment, turn them into a lovely Green, though the Vegetables were of colours differing from that, and from one another (as I remember one of those Vegetables, in which I expected, and found that change, was of a fine Carnation) And I could tell you, that though it be disputed whether Quicklime have any Salt dissoluble in Water, and of what sort it is, the Examen of that Question may be much furthered, by trying, as I have done, that the Water of Quicklime, well made, will precipitate a Solution of sublimate made in fair Water, and will presently turn Syrup of Violets (which is Blue) if well mixed with it, into a fair Green. Experiments I say of this nature I might easily annex, but having already set down divers of them in what I have written concerning colours, I shall refer you thither: And now only add this Observation, that the Investigation of divers Medical Qualities, even of Animal Substances, may be much assisted by the Naturalist, especially a Chemist; as we elsewhere have by the Distillation of the Calculus humanus shown, how much it differs from the Stones that are found in the Earth. And if you take those hard Concretions, found at certain times in the Heads of Craw-fish, that are wont to be called Lapides Cancrorum, and commit some of them to Distillation, and infuse some in vinegar, and others in old Rhenish-Wine, or strong White-Wine, you will probably discover some thing of peculiar in the nature of this Concrete, of which I may possibly elsewhere make further mention to you: And not only so, but in some Animal Substances, you may, by fit Experiments, discover notable Changes to be made, and their Qualities to be much heightened, when the Eye scarce perceiveth any Change at all, as I have purposely observed, in keeping Urine in close Glasses▪ and a moderate heat for many Weeks: For at the end of that time, the Virtues that depend upon its volatile Salt will be so heightened, that whereas upon putting Spirit of Salt to fresh Urine, the two Liquors readily and quietly mixed, drooping the same Spirit upon digested Urine, there would presently ensue a Hissing and Ebullition, and the volatile and acid Salts would, after a while, concoagulate into a third Substance, somewhat of the nature of Sal Armoniac. And whereas the Syrup of Violets, formerly mentioned, being dissolved in a little fresh Urine, seemed to be but diluted thereby; a few drops of the fermented Urine, tempered with it, did presently turn it into a deep Green: And the same digested Urine being dropped upon a Solution of Sublimate made in fair Water, presently turned it white, by precipitating the dissolved Mercury. With what (various) success we have likewise made upon some other parts of a humane Body, as well consistent as fluid, some Trials, analogous to what we have recited of Urine, I may elsewhere perchance take notice to you: But of such kind of Observations I must give you but this Hint at present.   

CHAP. III.  
SEcondly: By these and other ways of investigating the Medicinal Qualities of Bodies, the Naturalist may be enabled to add much to the Materia Medica: And that two several ways.  
For, he may by his several ways of trial, and by his Chemical preparations discover, that divers Bodies, especially of a Mineral nature, that are as yet not at all employed by Physicians, at least internally, may be brought into use by them; and that others that are naturally so dangerous, as to be used but in very few, and for the most part extreme cases, may with safety be more freely employed. Some Modern Chemists (as particularly Glauberus) have of late prepared Remedies not unuseful out of Zinck or Spelter. And I have already mentioned unto you an excellent Medical use of Silver, of which, prepared (as is there intimated) I have now this to add, That since I began to write of it to you, I met with a considerable Person, who assures me, That she herself was by the use of it, in a short time, cured of the Dropsy, though, by reason of her having a Body very corpulent, and full of humours, she have been thought more than ordinarily in danger of that stubborn Disease. I have sometimes wondered, that there hath been so little care taken by Physicians, and even by Chemists, to investigate the Qualities of Mineral Earth's, and those other resembling Bodies, that are, or may be, plentifully enough digged up in most Countries, though not the selfsame in all; for however Men are pleased to pass them slightly over, as if they were but Elementary Earth, a little stained, or otherwise lightly altered: I have seen great variety of them, that have been digged sometimes within the compass of a little spot of Ground: and the differences of divers of them, both as to colour, taste, consistence, and other Qualities, have been too great, not to make me suspect they were of very differing natures. And the true Bolus Armenus, and the Terra Lemnia, which is now brought us from the Island that gives it that name (marked with a Seal, which makes many call it Terra sigillata, though that name be for the same reason applied to the Terra Silesiaca, and other Medical Earth's) have been so esteemed, both by Ancient and Modern Physicians, as well against Malignant Diseases, and the Plague itself, as against divers other Distempers; that 'tis the more strange, that (since the greatest part of those two Earth's, that are now brought into our Countries, have not, as the more skilful complain, the true marks of the genuine Earth's, whose names they bear) Physicians have not been more careful to try whether their own Countries could not furnish them with the like, or as good, especially in regard some of the few attempts of that nature, that have of late times been made, may give them much encouragement. For, not to believe the boasts of the Silesian Johannes Montanus (who passeth for the Inventor of the Terra Sigillata Silesiaca Strigoniensis) in the Writing he published of the virtues of it, That 'tis Gold prepared and transmuted, by provident Nature, into an admirable Medicine; I find that Learned Physicians prefer it before the Lemnian Earth, that is now brought from Turkey: And the experienced Sennertus gives it this commendation, 
Epitome scientia naturalis. lib. 2. c. 1.  Experimentis (saith he) multis jam probatum est, ejus infignes ●sse vires contra pestem, febres malignas, venenatorum animalium morsus, diarrhocan, dysenteriam: What he adds, that the Chemist's name it Axungia solis, brings into my mind (what I shall hereafter have occasion to mention more particularly to you) that I had once brought me a certain Earth, by a Gentleman that digged it up in this, or some neighbouring Country, which, though it seemed but a Mineral Earth, did really afford, to a very expert tryer of Metals of my acquaintance, a not despicable proportion of Gold. They have also found in Hungary, an Earth, which they call Bolus Tockaviensis, which is affirmed by Crato (in Sennertus) to melt in the Mouth like Butter, and to have all the other proofs of the true Bolus Armenus, and therefore is, by that Judicious Physician, preferred before the Modern Bolearmony, even that which was brought out of Turkey to the Emperor himself; and he relates, not only its having succeeded very well against Catarrhs, but his having experimentally found it of great efficacy in the Plague, that reigned in his time at Vienna. To which I shall add, That a very Learned and Successful English Doctor, now dead, did, some Years since during a great Plague that then raged in the City where he lived, find a vein of red Earth, not very far from that Town, and prescribed it with very good success in Pestilential Fevers, as I was informed by an Ingenious Friend of his, that used to administer it, and showed me the place where he digged it.  
I remember also, the experienced Chemist Johannes Agricola, in his Notes upon what Poppius delivers of Terra Sigillata, after having much commended the Terra Silesiaca in divers Diseases, and equalled it to the best of Turkey, where he had traveled, relates one strange thing of it, with many Circumstances, and in a way as if he spoke upon his own trial, namely, That the Spirit of Terra Sigillata, by which I think he means the Strigoniensis, doth, though slowly, dissolve Gold as well as an Aq. Regis, and that into a red Solution; whence in two or three days, the Gold will fall of itself into a very fine and subtle Powder. And the same Author tells us, That he hath seen another Earth digged at the Rheinstran, not far from Westerwaldt, which was more inclinable to white then to yellow, which is preferable to the Silesian, and gives more Salt than it, and dissolves Silver better than other Menstruums; since, as he saith, the Silver may thereby be easily made potable, and be prepared into a very useful Medicine for the Diseases of the Head. And for my part, I do not much wonder at the efficacy of these Earth's, when I consider, that divers of them are probably imbued, as well as died, with Mineral Fumes; or tincted with Mineral Juices, wherein Metals or Minerals may lie, as the Chemists speak, in solutis principiis; in which form, having never endured the Fire, many of their usefullest parts are more loose and volatile, and divers of their Virtues less locked up, and more disposed to be communicative of themselves, than they are wont to be, in a more fixed or coagulated state, or when they have lost many of their finer parts by the violence of the Fire.  
Besides, there are several Mineral Bodies, which though perhaps they may not be of themselves fit for the Physician's use, may, by addition of some other convenient Body, or by sequestration of the more noxious parts, or by some such other Chemical Preparation, as may alter the Texture of such Minerals, be rendered fit to increase the Materia Medica. As I have known, that by a preparation of Arsenic, with Salt Peter, whereby some of the more volatile and noxious parts are driven away, and the remaining Body somewhat fixed and corrected by the Alcali of the Nitre it hath, by a farther dulcification with Spirit of Wine, or Vinegar, been prepared into a kind of Balsamum fuliginis, which wonderfully cured a Physician of my acquaintance, as he himself confessed to me, of dangerous Venereal Ulcers (divers of which penetrated even to the Meatus Urinarius) which had reduced him to great extremity.  
And though Bismutum have not, that I know, till very lately been used, unless outwardly, and especially for a Cosmetick (hereafter to be taught you) yet the Industrious Chemist, Samuel Closseus, by calcination and addition of Spirit of Vinegar, 
Apud Sh●od●rum in Pharmacop: lib. 3. cap. 18. Dr. J. C.  and Cremor Tartari, makes two Medicines of it, which he highly extols in the Dropsy; and (to reserve for another place, what I have tried upon Tin-glass) a very expert Chemist of my acquaintance, doth, by preparing it with common Sublimate (carried up, by which I remember it hath afforded a very prettily figured Body) make it into a white Powder (like Mercurius vitae) which he assures me he finds, in the Dose of a few Grains, to purge very gently, without being at all (as Mercurius vitae is wont to prove, violently enough) emetic.  
2. But the Naturalist may add to the Materia Medica, not only by investigating the Qualities of unheeded Bodies, but also by gaining admittance for divers, that, though well enough known, are foreborn to be used upon the account of their being of a Poisonous nature; for by digestion with powerful Menstruums, and some other skilful ways of Preparation, the Philosophical Spagyrist may so correct divers noxious, nay poisonous Concrets, unfit in their crude simplicity for the Physician's use, at least in any considerable quantity, as to make them useful and effectual Remedies. Helmont, who though frequently extravagant in his Theory of Physic, doth often make no bad estimate of the power of Remedies, after having told us, That he adored and admired the Clemency and Wisdom of God, for creating Poisons, gives this account of his so doing: Nam venena (saith he) noluit nobis esse venena aut nocua. Nec enim mortem fecit, 
Helmont in Pharmac: & dispens: Modern. numero 46.  nec Medicamentum exterminii in terra: sed potius ut parvo nostri study, mutarentur in grandia amoris sui pignora, in usuram mortalium, contra futurorum morborum saevitiem. In illis nempe latitat subsidium, quod benigniora & familiaria simplicia recusant alias. Ad majores & heroicos medentum usus venena tam horrida servantur. And though I would not forbid you, Pyrophilus, to think there is some Hyperbole in the Encomiums he here and elsewhere gives Poisonous Simples; yet when I consider, what great things are oftentimes performed by Antimony, Mercury and Opium, even in those not over-skilful ways of preparing them, that are divers of them vulgarly used by Chemists, especially when the preparations are (which doth seldom happen) rightly and faithfully made: I can scarce think it very unlikely, that those active Simples may, by a more skilful way of ordering and correcting them, be brought to afford us very noble Remedies, And the same Examples may in part prevent the main Objection that I can foresee in this case, which is, That whatever corrects Poisons, must, with their virulency, destroy their activity; for the abovenamed Simples, though so prepared as to be Medicines safe enough, have yet activity enough left them to let them be very operative, their energy being, by preparation, not only in part moderated, but in part so over ruled, as to work after a more innocent manner; as in Bezoardicum Minerale, skilfully prepared (for it very seldom is so) the laxative and emetic virulency of the Antimony, is changed into a diaphoretic, resolving and deoppilative power; which probably made the experienced Riverius (though counted a Galenist) so particularly recommend this Medicine to Physicians, which, if I be not mistaken, may well be praised without being flattered: And Helmont supplies me with an easy Experiment to our present purpose, 
H●●mont Tractat: su●ra al●egato. Numero 46.47.  by telling us, That Asarum, which when crude, doth, as is well known, provoke Vomits, by a slight preparation (presently to be mentioned) is so altered, that its virulency is changed, to use his expression, in deoppilans, diureticum tardarum febrium remedium; which I the rather take notice of, because I find, upon enquiry purposely made of some Ingenious Physicians of my acquaintance, that upon trial, they commend this preparation of Helmont's, and confess, that by it the Asarum looseth its emetic, and acquires a diuretical Quality.  
Now that all other Animal and Vegetable Poisons may be corrected, without losing their force with their virulency, 
H●lmont pag. 466.  is the affirmation of Helmont concerning Paracelsus' and his Sal circulatum (majus.) And as for Vegetables, he elsewhere tells us, That the Lapis Cancrorum resolved in formam, as he speaks, 
Helmont de Lithiasi. lib. 7. cap. 32.  Pristinae lactis, habet remedium contra inclementias multorum vegetabilium vi laxante infamium. And I remember that I knew two Physicians, the one of which affirmed to me, his having seen trial made (by the help of a noble Menstruum) of what Helmont here teacheth, and found it true; the other a person severe, and apt enough to descent from Helmont, assured me, That with the volatile Salt of Tartar, he had seen Vegetable Poisons, and particularly Napellus, so corrected by a light digestion with it, that it lost all its Poisonous Qualities; for proof of which, he freely offered me, to take himself as much of that fatal Herb as would kill three or four Men (but at that time, and in that place, I could not get any of the Plant to make the Experiment with.) And though I shall say nothing now concerning Helmont's Sal Circulatum, yet as to the volatilization of the Salt of Tartar, what I have seen, scarce permits me to doubt that it is possible. And if I could now clearly acquaint you with my ●easons, you would, perchance, not wonder to find me inclinable to think, that some such Methods (perhaps a Menstruum) may be found to correct poisonous Simples, without rendering them ineffectual: And though it must be some very powerful corrective, whether Salt or Liquor, that shall be able to correct any store of differing Poisons; yet 'tis not irrational to think, that divers particular Concretes may be prepared without any such abstruse or general corrective, some by one way of handling it, and some by another: And in such cases, skill, in the natures of particular Bodies to be managed, or lucky hits, may supply the place of a meliorating Dissolvent, of which Helmont affords me a considerable instance, 
Helmont i● Pharmacop. & dispens. Modern. N. 46, 47.  where he teacheth (in the place lately quoted) That the emetic property of Asarum may be taken away, and the Plant turned into a noble diuretic, only by boiling it awhile in common Water. And whereas a wary Man would be apt to suspect, that this change is made but by the avolation of some subtle parts, driven away by the heat of the boiling Water, I find that our Author affirms, that though it be boiled with the like degree of Fire in Wine, instead of Water, it will not so loose its violence. I have known white Hellebor, Opium, and some other noxious Bodies, so prepared, as to be given not only harmlessly, but successfully in such quantities, as were they not skilfully corrected, would make them pernicious. We daily see, th●t the violent emetic and cathartick properties of Antimony, may singly, by calcination with Saltpetre, be destroyed. And (which is though a known, yet a notable Experiment among Chemists) Mercury sublimate may be deprived of its deadly corrosiveness, and prepared into a Medicine inoffensive even to Children, by bare resublimat●ons with fresh Mercury. And to give you one instance more of what the knowledge of the effects of Chemical Operations, and of the disposition of a particular Body, may enable a Man to do, in changing the pernicious nature of it; I shall add, that the violently vomitive Flowers of Antimony, which our wont, though sumptuous and specious Cordials are so unable to tame, I can show you (which perhaps you will think strange) so corrected, without the addition of any thing besides heat and skill, that in a treble Dose, to that wherein they are wont to be furiously emetic, we have not found them to work otherwise then gently by sweat: But some more Particulars applicable to our present purpose, you will meet with by and by.   

CHAP. IU.  
THirdly, And now, Pyrophilus, that I am speaking of the service that the Naturalist may do Physic, I must not pretermit that he may assist the Physician to make his Cures less chargeable: For though to cure cheaply, be not properly, and in strictness, any part of the end of the Art of Physic, which considers men's Health, and not their Purse; yet it ought in Charity, if not also in Equity, to be the endeavour of the Physician, especially when he dealeth with Patients that are not rich. For not now to say any thing of the Fees of Physicians, which in some places are not very moderate, 'tis certain that the Bills of Apothecaries, especially in Chronical Diseases, do often prove so chargeable, that even when the Remedies succeed, by that time a poor Patient is recovered, he is undone, and pays for the prolongation of his Life, that which should have been his livelihood: Whence it comes to pass, that the more necessitous sort of People are either fain to languish unrelieved, for want of being able to purchase health at the Apothecary's rates; or are deterred from applying themselves to the Physician, till their Diseases have taken too deep ●oot to be easily, if at all, eradicated: And this oftentimes, not more through the fault of the Apothecary, then of the Doctor, who in his Presciptions might, for the most part, easily direct things that would be much more cheap, without being much less efficacious.  
Now there are several Particulars, wherein it may be hoped, that the Naturalist may assist the charitable Physician to lessen the charge of his Patients.  
And first, He may persuade the Physician to decline that more frequent, then commendable custom, of stuffing each Recipe with a multitude of Ingredients: 'Tis not that I approve the practice of some Chemists, who too freely censure the compounding of Simples; for I know, at some times, a complicated Distemper requires in its Remedy more Qualities, then are, perhaps, to be met with in any of the known Simples that the Physician hath at command (though one and the same Simples may sometimes answer divers Indications; as a Plant that is hot and dry, may serve for a Distemper that is cold and moist:) And I know too, that in some cases to that Ingredient, that is as it were the Basis of the Medicine, other things must be added either to correct its noxious Qualities, or to allay its vehemence, or to serve for a Vehicle to convey it to the Part affected, or to make it easier to be taken by the Patient, or to preserve it from corruption, or for some such like reason. But yet I think Physicians may well be more sparing, as to the number of the things prescribed, than most of them use to be, both to save charges to their Patients (upon which account it is that I here mention it) and for other considerations. For the addition of needless Ingredients adding to the bulk of the Medicine, makes it but the more troublesome to be taken, and the more apt to clog the Stomach: And oftentimes the Efficacy of the more useful Ingredients, as well as their Quantity in each Dose, is much abated, by their being yoked with those that are less appropriated, or less operative. Besides, it seems a great impediment to the further discovery of the Virtues of Simples, to confound so many of them in Compositions: For, in a mixture of a great number of Ingredients, 'tis so hard to know what is the operation of each, or any of them, that I fear there will scarce in a long time be any great progress made in the discovery of the virtues of simple Drugs, till they either be oftener employed singly, or be but few of them employed in one Remedy. And besides all this, whereas when one of these Mixtures is administered, the Physician expects but such operations as are suitable to the Quality which he conceives will be predominant in the whole Compound; several of the Ingredients may have particular Qualities that he dreams not of, which working upon a Body, that the Physician considers as subject only to the Sickness he endeavours to cure, may therein excite divers latent Seeds of other Distempers, and make new and unexpected commotions in the Body. On which occasion I remember, that whereas Parsley is a very usual Ingredient of aperitive and diuretic Decoctions and Apozems, a famous and learned Oculist tells me, he hath very often observed, That when he hath unawares, or for tryal-sake employed Parsley, either inwardly, or even outwardly to those that were troubled with great Distempers in their Eyes, he found the Medicines wherein that Herb was but one Ingredient among many, to cause either great pain or inflammation in the Eyes. In confirmation of which, I shall add, that awhile after having a slight Distemper in my Eyes, I one day found it upon a sudden strangely increased, without being able to imagine whence these new Symptoms proceeded; till at length, recalling to mind all I had done that day, I remembered, that at Dinner I had eaten Sauce wherein there was a pretty deal of Parsley, mixed with other things. And whereas in divers of these Compositions some noxious Ingredients are allowed, upon a supposition that their ill Qualities will be lost, by their being, as it were, tempered with the rest; though this may sometimes happen, yet it would be considered, that in Treacle (especially at one age of it) the Opium doth not, considering the small proportion of it to the rest of the Ingredients, loose much, if any of its power, by being mingled with sixty odd other Drugs, which Composition possibly owes much of its virtue to that little Opium. And perhaps one reason why those that accustom themselves to be ever and anon taking Physic, though they often escape dangerous Diseases (by preventing the accumulation of humours, and taking their Sicknesses at the beginning) are yet almost ever troubled with one Distemper or other, may be, That by the multiplicity of Medicines they take into their Bodies, divers things are excited to disorder them, which otherwise would have lain quiet. I am not ignorant that it may be alleged, That in compounded Medicines, as Treacle & Mithridate, how many soever the Ingredients be, they do so clog & temper one another's activity in the composition, that there results from them all, one or more Qualities fit for the Physicians turn, and which is the thing he considers and makes use of. And I confess, that in some cases this Allegation doth not want its weight: For I consider, that a decoction of Galls, and a solution of Copperas, though neither of them apart be blackish, will, upon their mixture, turn to Ink: And that when Brimstone, Salt-Peter, and Coals are well mingled together in a due proportion, they make Gunpowder, a mixture, that hath Qualities much more active than any of the severed Ingredients. But I fear, that when a multitude of Simples are heaped together into one compound Medicine, though there may result a new crasis, yet 'tis very hard for the Physicians to know beforehand what that will be; and it may sometimes prove rather hurtful then good, or at least by the coalition the virtues of the chief Ingredients, may be rather impaired then improved: As we see that crude Mercury, crude Nitre, and crude Salt, may be either of them safely enough taken into the Body in a good quantity; whereas of sublimate, consisting of those three Ingredients, a few Grains may be rank Poison. As for those famed Compositions of Mithridate, Treacle, and the like, though I cannot well, for the mentioned Reasons, commend the skill of those that first devised them, and though I think that when one or two Simples may answer the same Indications, they may for the same Reasons be more safely employed; Yet I would by no means discommend the use of those Mixtures, because long experience hath manifested them to be good Medicines in several cases. But 'tis one thing to employ one of these Compositions, when trial hath evinced it to be a lucky one, and another thing to think it fit to rely on a huddle of Ingredients, before any trial hath manifested what kind of Compound they will constitute. And, in a word, though I had not the respect I have for Matthiolus, and other famous Doctors that devised the Compositions, whereinto Ingredients are thrown by scores, if not by hundreds, yet however I should not reject an effectual Remedy, because I thought that it proved so rather by chance, than any skill in the Contriver: And I think a wise Man may use a Remedy, that scarce any but a Fool would have devised.  
Another thing, upon whose account the Naturalist (whom we here suppose an expert Chemist) may assist a Physician to lessen the expensiveness of his Prescriptions, is by showing, That in very many Compositions, several of the Ingredients, and oftentimes the most chargeable, whether they be proper or no fo● the Disease, are unfit for the way of management prescribed, and consequently aught to be left out. I need not tell you, that since Chemistry began to flourish amongst us, very many of the Medicines prepared in Apothecaries Shops, and commonly the most chargeable, are distilled Waters, Spirits, and other Liquors: And he that shall survey the Books and Bills of Physicians, shall find, that (very few perhaps excepted) the most usual Prescription is to take such and such Ingredients (for the most part numerous enough) and pouring on them either Water or Wine, if any Liquor at all, to distil them in Balneo, rarely in Ashes or Sand. But I confess I have not without wonder, and something of indignation, seen in the Prescriptions of Physicians, otherwise eminently Learned Men, and even in the public Dispensatories, I know not how many things ordered to be distilled, with others, in Balneo, which in that degree of heat will yield either nothing at all, as the fragments of Precious Stones, Leaves of Gold, prepared Pearl, etc. Or if they do yield any thing (for that hath not been yet, that I know of, evinced) do probably yield but a little nauseous Phlegm, or at least some few loose parts, far less efficacious than those that require a stronger heat to drive them up: such are Sugar, Raisins, and other sweet Fruit, Bread, Hartshorn, Flesh prepared by Coction, etc. which though wont to be thrown away with the Caput Mortuum, oftentimes there retain their pristine Texture a●d Nature, or at least are almost as much more considerable, then that which they yielded in Distillation: as a boiled Capon is, than the Liquor that sticks to the Cover of the Pot. And though as to some of these Ingredients it may be thought that they may yield even in Balneo some of their useful parts, yet this can, with any probability, be supposed but of some of such Ingredients: And even as to them it is but supposed that they may yield Something in so mild a heat, and how that Something will be qualified, is but presumed: at least, by the Analogy of the Experiments vulgarly made, there seems so small cause to expect, that these more fixed Ingredients will add half so much to the virtue of the Medicines, as they will to the cost; especially since though it could be proved, or were probable, that fixed Substances may communicate their virtues to Wine or Water, yet it would not follow that those impregnated Liquors, distilled in Balneo, will carry those virtues with them over the Helm. All which I have more largely proved in another Discourse, where I show both that the nobler parts of many Ingredients wont to be distilled in Balneo, do commonly remain in the Caput Mortuum, and that 'tis very unsafe to conclude always the Virtues of distilled Liquors from those of the Concrets that afforded them.  
But there is another way of putting unfit Ingredients into Medicines, by confounding those in one Composition, which, though perhaps they might apart be properly enough employed, do, when mixed, destroy or lock up the Virtues of one another; and of this fault, even famous Chemists themselves are but too often guilty. I know not how many Processes I have met with, wherein saline Substances, of contrary natures, are prescribed to be mingled, as if because they were all of them saline, they must be fit to be associated; whereas 'tis evident to any Man, ●hat considers as well as employs the Operations of Chemistry, that there are scarce any Bodies in the World betwixt which there is a greater contrariety, then betwixt acid Salts: and as well those that the Chemists call volatile, as the Spirits and Salts of Hartshorn, Blood, Flesh and the like, as those others which are made of Incineration, as Salt of Tartar, and of all burnt Vegetables. So that oftentimes it happens, that by an unskilful Mixture, two good Ingredients are spoiled; as when Vinegar, Juice of Lemons, Juice of Barberies, and the like, are prescribed to be distilled with other Ingredients, whereof the Salt of Wormwood or some other Plant makes one, for then the acid and alcalizate Salts, working upon one another, grow more fixed, and yield in Balneo but a Phlegm: and so Spirit or Urine, which is highly volatile, and Spirit of Salt, which is also a distilled Liquor, being mingled together, will, by their mutual Operation, constitute a new thing, which in such a heat as that of a Bath, will yield a Phlegm, leaving behind the nobler and active Parts concoagulated into a far more fixed Substance, much of the nature of Sal Armoniac. And indeed where Salts, especially active ones, are made Ingredients of Mixtures, unless they be skilfully and judiciously compounded, it often happens that they spoil one another, and degenerate into a new thing, if they do not also spoil the whole Composition, and of divers useful Ingredients compose one bad Medicine.   

CHAP. V.  
ANother way by which the Naturalist (skilled in Chemistry) may help to lessen the chargeableness of Cures, is by showing, that as to divers costly Ingredients, wont to be employed in Physic, there hath not yet been sufficient proof given of their having any Medical Virtues at all, or that at least as they are wont to be exhibited, either crude, or but slightly prepared in Juleps, Electuaries, etc. there is not any sufficient evidence to persuade us, that their efficacy is as much greater, then that of many cheap Ingredients, as their price is. I am not altogether of their mind, that absolutely reject the internal use of Leaf-Gold, Rubies, Sapphyrs, Emerauds, and other Gems, as things that are unconquerable by the heat of the Stomach: For as there are rich Patients that may, without much inconvenience, go to the price of the dearest Medicines; so I think the Stomach acts not on Medicines barely upon the account of its heat, but is endowed with a subtle dissolvent (whence so ever it hath it) by which it may perform divers things not to be done by so languid a heat. And I have, with Liquors of differing sorts, easily drawn from Vegetable Substances, and perhaps unrectified, sometimes dissolved, and sometimes drawn Tinctures from, Gems, and that in the cold. But though for these and other Considerations, I do not yet acquiess in their Reasons, that laugh at the administration of crude Gems, etc. as ridiculous; yet neither am I altogether of their Adversary's mind. For though I deny not that the Glass of Antimony, which looketh like a kind of Gem or Ruby, will easily enough impart to Liquors an emetic Quality; yet I know too, there is great odds betwixt Rubies and other Gems (which will endure violent Fires, and remain undissolved in divers strongly corrosive Liquors) and the Glass of Antimony, which is a Body so far less compact and fixed, that Spirit of Vinegar itself will work upon it, and a strong Fire will, in no long time, dissipate it into smoke. But that which I chiefly consider on this occasion, is, That 'tis one thing to make it probable, that 'tis possible Gold, Ruby's, Sapphyrs, etc. may be wrought upon by a humane Stomach; and another thing, to show both that they are wont to be so, and that they are actually endowed with those particular and specific Virtues that are ascribed to them: Nay, and (over and above) that these Virtues are such, and so eminent, that they considerably surpass those of cheaper Simples. And I think, that in Prescriptions made for the poorer sort of Patients, a Physician may well substitue cheaper Ingredients in the place of these precious ones, whose Virtues are not half so unquestionable as their Dearness.  
What strange Excellency there may be in the Aurum Potabile, made by a true Adeptus, or by a Possessor of the Liquor Alcahest, I shall not now dispute, not knowing what powerful and radical Dissolvents the profound skill of such Men (if any such there be) may furnish them with, to open the Body of Gold. But as for the attempts and practices of the generality of Chemical Physicians to make Gold potable, besides that, their attempts to make their Solutions volatile, succeed so seldom, that even Learned Physicians, and Chemists, have pronounced the thing itself unfeasible; I confess, I should much doubt whether such a potable Gold would have the prodigious Virtues its Encomiasts ascribe to it, and expect from it: For I find not that those I have yet met with, deliver these strange things upon particular Experiments duly made, but partly upon the Authority of Chemical Books, many of which were never written by those whose Names they bear. And others, I fear, commend Aurum Potabile, prepared after another-guess manner then that we are now speaking of, partly upon a presumption that if it be made volatile, it must be strangely unlocked, and exalted to a mere Spiritual Nature; and partly upon rational Conjectures (as they think them) drawn from the nobleness and preciousness of Gold. But for my part, though I have long since bethought myself of a way, whereby I can, in a short time, and a moderate Fire, make my Menstruum bring over cru●e Gold, in quantity sufficient to make the Liquor look at the first or second Distillation, of a high golden colour; yet finding that I could, by an easy Art, quickly recover out of this volatile Liquor, a corporal and malleable Gold, I dare not brag that my Tincture (as an Alchemist would call it) must needs do strange feats, because there is so noble a Metal brought over in it. And if this or other preparations of Aurum Potabile prove good Medicines, it would be further enquired, whether the Virtues may not in great part be rather attributed to the Menstruum, than the Gold (that requiring a very subtle Liquor to volatilize it) or to the association of the Corpuscles of the Gold, with the saline Particles of the Menstruum, into a new Concrete, differing enough from Gold, though never so well opened. And as for the nobleness and pretiousness of this Metal, That depends upon the Estimation of Men, whence in America the Indians that abounded with it, had not such a great value for it; And in divers Countries, at this day, it is postponed to Iron or to Copper, and hath rather a Political (if I may so speak) then a Natural Virtue. Nor will it follow, that because it is the fixedst and preciousest of Metals, that therefore it must be an admirable Medicine: For we see that Diamonds, though they be the hardest of Bodies, and very fixed ones, and in much greater esteem, caeteris paribus, then Gold, are yet so far from being accounted highly Medicinal, that they are commonly (though, perhaps, not so deservedly) reckoned among Poisons. But I see I have digressed, That which I chiefly aimed at, being to inculcate, that whether Gold and Gems, and the like precious Ingredients, may be good Medicines or no, 'twere a good work to substitute cheap ones for the poorer sort of Patients; and that Physicians are much to blame, who prise Simples, as Drugster's do, according as they are brought from remote Countries, and are hard to be come by, and cannot imagine that what doth not cost much Money in the Shops, can do much good in the Body; as if God had made Provision only for the Rich, or those People that have Commerce with China or the India's: whereas indeed it may oftentimes happen, that what the Chemists call their Caput Mortuum, and perhaps throw away as an useless Terra Damnata, may have as great Virtues as those nobler Parts, as they call them, which they have extracted from it; and a despised Simple, nay, even an Excrement or an Infect, may in some cases prove nobler Remedies, than those that Men call and think very noble Bodies, not to say then, I know not how many Extracts and Quintescences.  
I shall not trouble you with many Instances to prove this Doctrine, having more fully discoursed of it in one part of another 
* Of the efficacy of unpromising Medicines.  Treatise: But yet some Instances I suppose you will here expect, and therefore I shall present you with a few of those that at present come into my mind.  
When the Distillation of Aqua fortis is finished, the Caput Mortuum, as deserving that name, is wont, by common Distillers, to be thrown away; and I have seen whole heaps of it thrown by, as useless, by those that make Aqua fortis in quantity to sell it: And yet this despised Substance doth, in common Water itself, yield a Salt, which being only depurated by frequent Solutions and Filtrations, is that famous Panacca Duplicata, or Arcanum Duplicatum, which that great Virtuoso and knowing Chemist, The Duke of Holstein, whose name it also beareth, thought worth purchasing at the rate of Five hundred Dollars; and of which the Prince's experienced Physician thus writes to the Industrious Schroder, 
Schroder Pharnacop. lib. 3. c. 23.  Mille experimentis salis hujus Efficaciam Aula nostra comprobavit in melancholicis affectibus, febribus quibuscunque continuis & intermittentibus, calculo, scorbute, etc. Quin & somnum conciliasse praesertim in Melancholicis non semel notavimus. Dosis à scrup: 1. ad scrup: 2. Libras aliquod quotannis absumimus. And another very skilful Physician that frequented that Excellent Prince's Court, confirmed to me the same Medicin's diuretic and deoppilative Virtues: (But upon my own Experience I can say little of it, having casually lost a great quantity I caused to be prepared to make trial with, before I had opportunity to employ it.)  
But whereas in the Caput Mortuum of Aqua fortis there remains pretty store of easily soluble Salt; In the Caput Mortuum of Vitriol, when not only all the Oil is forced away by the Fire, but all the fixed Salt is exactly separated by Water, There seems to remain nothing but a worthless Terra Damnata: And yet 'tis of this, th●t, as I shall teach you ere long, I make those Colcotharine Flowers, which are possibly a nobler Medicine then either the Oil, the Spirit, or the Salt of Vitriol.  
As for the Bezoar-stone, which is so often prescribed by Physicians, and so dearly paid for by Patients, the experienced Bontius, a very competent Witness in this case (and whose account of the manner of its generation, agrees the best of any I have seen with that I received from an Intelligent Person, that was employed into Persia by the late King) hath in one place a Passage concerning it; and elsewhere writes such things of the Stone cut out of a Man's Bladder (though that, whilst crude, be despised as a thing vile and useless in Physic) as may be justly applicable to our present purpose: 
Bo●tius in cap. 45. Garcia ab Orta.  Caeterum (saith he, speaking of the Bezoar-stone) quantum ad hyperbolicas hujus lapidis virtutes & facultates portentosas non tantos in eo mille experientiis edoctus inveni: And elsewhere speaking of those contemptible and excrementitious Stones that are found in humane Bladders: Nil pooro (saith he) the his lapidibus addo ne videar eos elevare & lithotomos monere ut vel cum periculo plures mortales secent: 

Idem cap. 46.  
Gartia ab Orta.   Hoc certe compertum habeo lapidem in vesica hominis repertum urinam & sudores probe ciere quod tempore ingentis illius pestis quae Anno 1624. & 1625 Leydam patriam meam & reliquas Hollandiae Civitates miserandum in modum vastabat, in penury lapidis Besoartici nos exhibuisse memini & sudorificum (ausi●● dicere) melius & excellentius invenisse, etc.  
Soot is generally looked upon as so vile a thing, that we are fain to hire Men to carry it away; and yet, as I elsewhere show that 'tis a Body of no ignoble Nature, so I must here tell you, that 'tis no unuseful one in Physic. And not to mention that Riverius commends it crude, to the quantity of a Drachma, in Pleurisies: I have tried, with the Spirit of it well drawn, some things, that make me look upon it as a considerable Liquor. And I know by their own confessions, that some Medicines, even of eminent Physicians, that pass under other Names, have the Spirit of Soot for their principal Ingredient. I knew, a not unlearned Empiric, who was exceedingly cried up for the Cures he did, especially in difficult Distempers of the Brain, by a certain Remedy, which he called sometimes his Aurum Potabile, and sometimes his Panacaea; and having obtained from this Man, in exchange of a Chemical Secret of mine he was greedy of, the way of making this so celebrated Medicine, I found that the main thing in it was the Spirit of Soot, drawn after a somewhat unusual, but not excellent manner; in which Spirit, Flowers of Sulphur were, by a certain way, brought to be dissolved, and swim in little drops that looked of a golden colour.  
You will easily grant, Pyrophilus, that there are not any Medicines to be taken into the Body, more cheap and contemptible than the Excrements of Men and Horses, and then Infects: And yet that even these want not considerable Medical Virtues, we elsewhere show. And (not to meddle with such nasty things as the grosser sort of humane Excrements, though they outwardly applied, either in Powder or otherwise, do sometimes perform strange things) the Juice of Horse-dung, especially of Stone-horses, being strongly expressed (after the Dung hath been awhile steeped in Ale, or some other convenient Liquor, to facilitate the obtaining the Juice and to afford it a Vehicle) doth oftentimes so powerfully relieve those that are troubled with the stoppage of Urine, with Wind, Stitches, and even with Obstructions of the Spleen and Liver, that You, Pyrophilus, and I, know a great Lady, who though very neat, and very curious of her Health, and wont to have the attendance of the skilfullest Physicians, scruples not, upon occasion, to use as I have known her do, in Silver Vessels, this homely Remedy, and prefer it to divers rich Cordials, and even to what some Chemists are pleased to call Essences or Elixirs: And with the same Remedy very many poor People were cured of the Plague itself, when it lately swept away so many thousands in Ireland (and the Doctors with the Patients) as I was assured by a Person who cured so many, as to invite men to secure themselves that assistance, by refusing the Party the liberty to leave the Town. But (to add that upon the by) this Person, in exchange of a Secret of mine, confessed to me, That the Arcanum, which had cured such numbers, and to which the Juice of Horse-dung was a Succedaneum, was only a good Dose of the Powder of fully ripe Ivy-berries, which did usually, as also the Horse-dung, work plentifully by Sweat, and which I presently remembered to be one of those few things that Helmont commends against the Plague.  
The Medical Virtues of Man's Urine, both inwardly given, and outwardly applied, would require rather a whole Book, than a part of an Essay to enumerate and insist on: But referring you to what an industrious Chemist hath already collected touching that subject, I shall now only add, That I knew ancient Gentlewoman, who being almost hopeless to recover of divers Chronical Distempers (and some too of these abstruse enough) was at length advised, instead of more costly Physic, to make her Morning-draughts of her own Water; by the use of which she strangely recovered, and is, for aught I know, still well. And the same Remedy is not disdained by a Person of great Quality and Beauty, that You know; and that too, after she hath traveled as far as the Spa for Her health's sake. And I remember on this occasion, that passing once through one of the remoter Parts of England, I was visited by an Empiric, a wellwisher to Chemistry, but a Novice in it, who pressing me, to communicate to him some easy and cheap Preparation, that he might make use of among the Country People; I directed him to Dist●l, with a gentle heat, a Spirit out of Urine, putrified for six or seven Weeks on a Dunghill, or some analogous' heat, but in well closed Glasses, or other glazed Vessels; and having rectified this Spirit once or twice, that it might be rich in volatile Salt, to give ten, twenty, or thirty drops of it in any convenient Liquor for the Pleurisy, for most kind of Coughs, and divers other Distempers, as a Succedaneum to the Essence of Heart's horn: And awhile after this Empiric returned me great thanks for what I had taught him; and I found by him and others, that he had cured so many with it, especially of Pleurisies (a Disease frequent and dangerous enough in that Country) that this slight and seemingly despicable Remedy had already made him be cried up for a Doctor, and was like to help him to a comfortable Subsistence.  
Great store of healthy men's Blood is wont to be thrown away, as altogether useless, by Surgeons and Barbers, that let Men Blood (as is usual in the Spring and Fall) for prevention of Diseases; and yet from a Man's Blood skilfully prepared, though without addition of any thing, save Spirit of Wine to keep it at first from putrifying, may be easily obtained a Spirit, and volatile Salt, that have much the same Virtues, with those of the newly mentioned Spirit of Urine, but more noble (as far as I can guests) then either that, or even Spirit of Heart's horn, as having performed in Consumptions, Asthmas, and other obstinate cases, such things as I, as well as others, could not but admire. But in this place, mentioning humane Blood only in transitu, I shall pretermit what I have observed about the preparation of it; yet leaving you a liberty to call for my Observations upon a Medicine, which is perhaps nobler, than the most costly and elaborate Chemical Remedies that are wont to be sold in Shops, and which hath been almost alone excepted out of the Censure made by a Learned Modern Writer, of the Medicines found out by Chemistry.  
I shall add but one Instance more, of the efficacy that may be found in the most obvious and abject Creatures; and this Instance is afforded me, by those vile Infects commonly called in English, Wood-lice, or Sows, and in Latin Millepedes, which I have often both recommended to others, and taken myself: What their Virtue is against the Stone, the World hath been informed by Laurembergius, who hath published a Narrative, how by the use of them he was cured, even of the Stone in the Bladder; and he was invited to use them by credible information, that others had been cured of that Disease, by the same Remedy. And of late Years, in England, an Empiric being much resorted to, for the relief he gave in that tormenting Sickness, a Physician, famous for his Learned Writings, wondering at what was done, was very curious (as himself afterwards told me) to find out the Emperick's secret, and at length was so industrious as to discover, That 'twas a slight preparation of Millepedes. But my having found them in myself very diuretical and apertive, is not that which chiefly recommends them to me; For I knew, and lived in the same House with a pious Gentlewoman, much better skilled in Physic, than her Sex promised, who having lost the use of one Eye by a Cataract, and being threatened by the Oculists with the speedy loss of the other, especially in regard of her being very aged and corpulent, she nevertheless did, for some Years, to my wonder, employ her Eye to read and work with, without finding, as she told me, any decay in it, or any increasing danger of a suffusion: And she assured me, that her Medicine was to bruise first five Millepedes, than ten, than fifteen, than twenty, etc. (daily increasing the number by five, till it had reached, if I mistake not, fifty or sixty) in White-wine (or Small-ale) and to drink upon an empty Stomach, the strongly expressed Liquor; And when I desired to know how she came by this Specific, she answered me, That having made inquiries among all those, both Oculists and others, that she thought might assist her against so sad a Distemper, she was advised to the use of Millepedes, by a Woman, that not only much magnified their virtue in such cases as hers, but assured her (if I much mis-remember not) that she herself had been cured by them, of no less than an incipient suffusion in one or both of her Eyes.  
[Since the writing of the former part of this Page, relating what I newly told you to a very Ingenious Physician, he assures me, Th●t being some Yea●s since in Holland, he there met with a Woman who was cured, as herself confessed to him, of a real Cataract, by the juice of Millepedes, beginning with that of three at a time, and so increasing to nine at once, and then gradually lessening the Dose by one Insect each day, t●ll she were come back to three at a time; after which, she gradually increased the Dose as before: And he adds, That this Woman w●s advised to this Medicine by an Empiric, that was said to have performed divers Cures with the same Medicine.]  
[What strange things these same Millepedes have done in the sore, and even exulcerated Breasts of Women (provided they be not cancrous) though they be given without preparation only, to the number of three first, and so on to nine at once (which number may perhaps be usefully increased) stamped with a little White-wine or Beer, that the Liquor strained out may be drunk in a draught of Beer, Morning and Evening; during which time, Linen clothes dipped in White wine, and applied warm, are to be kept upon the Breast, I may elsewhere have a fitter opportunity to relate. I shall now only subjoin, as a further proof of the great Virtue that may be even in vile and costless Infects, and that without any elaborate or Chemical Preparation, this memorable Story; That after all the trials I had made about these Millepedes, I met with a young Lady, who by divers strangely winding and obstinate Fistula's, that had made themselves Orifices in many places of her Body, was not only lamed, but so consumed and weakened, that she was scarce able to turn herself in her bed; and this, notwithstanding the utmost endeavours of the eminentest Surgeons, both English and Foreigners, that could be procured: But when both the hopes of her Friends, and those that endeavoured to cure her, were lost, she was in a short time not alone freed from her Fistula's, but recovered to a thriving condition of Body, by the frequent use of an internal Medicine, which, as both her Parents and the Person that taught in them informed me, was only a Drink (to be taken twice or thrice a day) made of a small proportion of a couple of Herbs (very common, and not much more likely to do Wonders in this case, than Wormwood and Mint) and of Three hundred of these millipeds well beaten (when their Heads are pulled of) in a Mortar, and turned up with the Herbs, and suspended in four Gallons of small Ale, during its fermentation. The wonderful efficacy of this Medicine in this and many other cases, which by occasion of this Cure were related to me, being almost wholly ascribed to the millipeds, by the Illustrious Imparter of it, whose leave I have not yet, by naming him, to disclose, that this is the Secret He makes use of.]   

CHAP. VI  
ANother way there is whereby the Naturalist may assist the Physician to make the Therapeutical part of Physic less chargeable, and that is, by showing those that are wont to employ most Chemical Remedies, that much of the cost and labour in many cases might be spared. I am not altogether of their mind, that indiscriminatly cry down Chemical Preparations as excessively dear: For of many of those that seem very dear, when bought by the Pound or the Ounce, a Dose may be cheap enough; as if for instance, an Ounce of precipitate of Gold and Mercury cost ten times its weight of Silver, under which rate I have bought it of honest Men, that make it themselves, yet that Ounce containing 480 Grains, (of which three or four may be a Dose) a taking of this dear Powder, may cost far less than a Dose of many Galenical Medicines, where the quantity that is taken at once, makes up what is wanting in the costliness of the Ingredients. But though this be the case of some Chemical Remedies, yet we must not deny, that many others are chargeable, and though perhaps not more so then many Galenical ones employed for the same purposes: Yet if those be dearer than they need be, that grievance ought to be redressed in Chemical Medicines, how justly soever the same thing may be imputed to Galenical ones.  
Now there are two Particulars, wherein the Chemists, and those Physicians that imitate them, are wont to be unblamable in reference to this matter; The one, their employing Chemical Preparations on all occasions, even where Simples or slight Compositions might serve the turn: and the other is, Their making many of their Preparations more laborious, and consequently more chargeable than needs.  
As for the first of these: 'Tis known there are divers Chemists, and others that practise Physic, who so dote upon the Productions of their Furnaces, that they will scarce go about to cure a cut Finger, with less than some Spagyrical Oil or Balsam: And in slight Distempers have recourse to Chemical, and perhaps to Mineral Remedies, which being, for the most part, such as vehemently alter the Body, especially by heating and drying it, they do often more harm then good, when employed in cases that need not such active Medicines. And methinks those that practice, as if Nature presented us nothing worth the accepting, unless it be cooked and perfected by Vulcan, might consider, That Paracelsus himself oftentimes employeth Simples for the cure even of formidable Diseases. And though for particular Reasons I be inclinable enough to think, that such searching and commanding Remedies, as may be so much of kin to the Universal Medicine, as to cure great numbers of differing Diseases, will be hardly obtained without the help of Chemical Preparations, and those perhaps of Minerals: Yet as to most particular Diseases, especially when not yet atrived to a deplorable height, I am apt to think, that either Simples, or cheap, or unelaborate Galenical Mixtures, may furnish us with Specificks, that may perform much more than Chemists are wont to think, and possibly be preferable to many of their costly Magisteries, Quintessences and Elixirs. 
Helmont, Pharma: & Dispensat: Nou. p. 458  Helmont himself, a Person more knowing and experienced in his Art, than almost any of the Chemists, scruples not to make this ingenious Confession: Credo (saith he) simplicia in sua simplicitate esse sufficientia, pro sanatione omnium morborum: And elsewhere he truly affirms, That there may be sometimes greater Virtue in a Simple, such as Nature affords it us, then in any thing that the Fire can separate from it. And certainly the specific Properties of divers, if not most Simples, are confounded and lost by those Preparations, wherein that Texture, which is the foundation of those Properties, is either destroyed by the Fire, or changed by the taking away of some of the Parts; or the adding of some other Substance to it, with which compounded, it may constitute a new thing. The more Judicious of the Chemists themselves do several of them now acknowledge, that the bare reducing of Pearls to fine Powder, affords a Medicine much richer in the Virtues of the Pearls, than the Magistery, prepared by dissolving them in acid Spirits, and precipitating them with Oil of Tartar, and afterwards scrupulously edulcorating them. And one may easily observe, that by making the Magistery of Hartshorn the same way, the Virtues seem to be more locked up then they were in the crude Horn, which may easily enough impart its Virtue in the Body, since fair Water will reduce a good part of it into a Jelly; whereas the Magistery remains a fixed Powder, not easily dissoluble, even in acid Menstruums; and, which thrown upon hot Iron, will scarce send forth that stinking Smoke, which argues the avolation of the saline and sulphureous Parts. I never knew any of the vulgar Chemist's Essences or Elixirs half so powerful a Remedy to staunch Blood, as a slight Mixture of two Drachmas of Hyosciamum, or Henbane-seed, and the like weight of white Poppey-seeds, beaten up with an Ounce of Conserve of red Roses, into a stiff Electuary; with which, given in the quantity of a Nutmeg, or Walnut, I have snatched some, as it were, out of the Jaws of Death; and with which an eminent Physiti●n, now dead, affirmed, That he, and the Inventor of the Remedy, had very frequently cured profuse bleedings at the Nose, and in Women, at other Parts besides. Nor did I ever see, to give an instance in a resembling Disease, such wonderful Effects against spitting and vomiting of Blood, of the most elaborate Chemical Preparations, as I have of a slight Syrup, made only of a convenient quantity of fine Sugar, and the strongly expressed Juice of twelve handfuls of Plantain-leaves, and six Ounces of fresh Cumfrey-roots, well beaten together; with which Syrup, besides what I have tried myself, two eminent Physicians performed in that Disease unusual Cures, though (for reasons elsewhere mentioned) I forbear to name them, otherwise then by telling you, That one of them is that Ingenious and Friendly Dr T.C. to whose skill both You and I owe so much.  
But I consider further, that as oftentimes those I am reasoning with make use of Chemical Remedies, when much more easily parable ones may suffice; so in divers cases, where Spagyrical Medicines are proper enough, their Preparations of them are more tedious and expensive then is necessary. There are more than a few who seldom prescribe, and seldomer esteem a Chemical Process, that is to be perfected in less than many Weeks; as if a Chemical Medicine, like an Embryo, must needs be an Abortive, if it be produced in less than so many Months. And as if in Preparations, the Virtue depended less on the skilfulness, than the elaboratness, they seem to estimate the efficacy of Remedies by the time and pains requisite to prepare them, and dare not think, that a Medicine can quickly cure, that was not long a making; as indeed theirs (especially those where Cohobations and Digestions, till they have such and such effects upon the Matter to be wrought on by them, are prescribed) are many of them far more toilsome and tedious, than those that have but read such Processes, without working them, are apt to suspect. And this is the humour of divers, not only as to those stable Medicines, that ought always to be found ready in Apothecary's Shops, but even as to those that are designed for particular cases, and perhaps acute Diseases; in which Emergencies, if a Physician had no other Remedies than those he must make according to such Processes, it would, ● fear, too often happen, that before the Medicine could be ready, the Patient would either be past the need of it, or past the help of it. And that which oftentimes increaseth the tediousness of Chemical Processes, is the unskilful Prescriptions of those that devise them. 'Tis not unusual in Chemists Writings to meet with Processes, wherein the Matter to be prepared, is exposed to I know not how many several successive Operations: But if you should ask why such a thing should be, for instance, rather precipitated, then exhaled ad siccitatem, or why such and such an Operation is to be used after such another, rather than before it; nay, perhaps, if one should demand why some of those Operations should be used at all, the Devisers of those unskilful Processes would possibly assoon be able to finish their Operations, as to give a satisfactory answer. Nay, sometimes they lengthen their Processes by Operations, so injudiciously prescribed, that they cross one another; And the Chemist vexeth himself, and the Matter he works upon, to leave it at last no better, if not a worse, Medicine than he found it; of this we have already given an instance in the common Magisteries.  
But I lately met with another Example of it, in the Writings of a Famous, Modern Chemist, where to purify the fixed Salts of Vegetables, to the height, after I know not how many Solutions, Filtrations and Coagulations (which alone would abundantly serve the turn) he prescribes the dissolving them in Aqua fortis; after which, he saith, they will become very pure and crystalline, and not so easily resoluble in the Air: Of which I make no doubt, for divers Years before I met with this Process, I have, with the fixed Salts of more than one kind of Vegetable, by joining them with Aqua fortis, and after awhile exhaling the superfluous moisture, made good inflammable Salt peter; by which you may easily guests, how judiciously the solution in Aqua fortis is prescribed only as a further depuration, and how fit such Authors are to be credited, when they ascribe to these Crystalline Salts the several Virtues, (& those improved too) of the respective Vegetables, from which the Alcalies were obtained. And indeed, as to those exact Depurations, which some Chemists so strictly require in all their Preparations, though their Processes be oftentimes hereby made incredibly tedious, I will willingly allow, nay I assert, that in some cases, and especially in the making of powerful Menstruums, which by their activeness and penetrancy, are to unlock other Bodies, Chemists do rather err in making their Depurations less exquisite than they should, then on the other hand: Yet in many other cases, such exact refining and subtiliation of a Remedy, is not so necessary as they imagine; and sometimes too, may do more harm then good, by sequestering those parts of a Simple, as faeces, which concurred with the finer parts to that determinate Texture, whereon the specific Virtues of it did principally depend; but of this more elsewhere. And therefore I shall here present you with two or there Instances, to show you, That Remedies, at least as noble as such vulgar Chemical ones as are more tedious and costly, may be prepared in a shorter time, and cheap enough to be fit for the use of the Poor.  
And to comply, Pyrophilus, with your curiosity, to know the Preparations of those Chemical Medicines, that I do the most familiarly employ, the three following Instances shall be of such, namely, The Flores Colchotaris, The Balsamum sulphur is crassum, and, The Essentia Cornu cervini, that you may see what slight and easy Preparations afford the Remedies, whose Effects you have so often heard of, if not also seen.  
The first of these, is the same Powder, which passeth under the name of Ens Veneris, which appellation we gave it not out of a belief, that it equals the Virtues ascribed by Helmont, to what he calls the true Ignis Veneris, but partly to disguise it a little, and partly upon the account of the occasion whereon it was first found out, which was, That an Industrious Chemist (whom you know) and I, chancing to look together upon that Tract of Helmont's, which he calls Butler, and to compare it somewhat attentively with other Passages of the same Author, we both resolved to try, whether a Medicine, somewhat approaching to that he made in imitation of Butler's Stone, might not be easily made out of calcined Vitriol; And, though upon trials we found this Medicine far short of what Helmont ascribes to his, yet finding it no ordinary one, we did, for the Minerals sake 'tis made of, call it Ens primum Veneris.  
The Preparation, in short, is this: Take good Dantzick Vitriol (if you cannot get Hungarian or Goslarian) and calcine it till the calx have attained a dark red, or purplish colour, then, by the frequent affusion of boiling, or at least warm Water, dulcify it exactly; and having freed it as well as you can from the saline parts, dry it throughly, and after mix it exquisitely, by grinding, or otherwise, with an equal weight of pure Sal Armoniac, very finely powdered. Put this Mixture into a glass Retort, that may be but a third part filled with it, and subliming it in a sand Furnace, by degrees of Fire, for ten or twelve hours, towards the latter end increasing the Fire, till the bottom of the Retort (if you can) be brought to be red hot: That which is sublimed must be taken out, and if it be not of a good yellow, but pale (which usually happens for want of an exact commistion of the Ingredients) it may be returned to the residue, mingled better with it again, and sublimed once more: The yellow, or reddish Sublimate may be sublimed a second time, not from the Caput Mortuum, but by itself; but if you re-sublime it oftener, you may, though you will think that strange, impair the Colour and the Sublimate, instead of improving them. The Dose is from two or three Grains, to ten or twelve (in some Bodies it may be increased to twenty or thirty, without danger) in distilled Water, or small Beer, or other convenient Vehicles: It may be given at any time upon an empty Stomach, but I most commonly give it at Bedtime. It works, when it works sensibly, by Sweat, and somewhat by Urine. That it is a potent Specific for the Rickets, I think I scarce need tell ●ou, Pyroph: whose excellent Mother and Aunt, together with some Physicians, to whom I also gave it ready prepared, have cured perhaps a hundred, or more Children, of that Disease, divers of whom were looked upon as in a desperate condition. I give it also in Favours, and other Distempers, to procure sleep, which it usually doth where 'tis wanting: In the Head ache likewise, in which, if the Disease be inveterate, the Remedy must be long continued; with the like admonition it hath done Wonders, in suppressione Mensium obstinata: In the Worms it hath sometimes done strange things; and for provoking of Appetite, I remember not that I have either taken or given it without success: And though I seldom take (for I often give more) above two or three Grains of it at a time, yet in that small Dose it usually proves Diaphoretical to me the next Morning.  
But the Experiments we have had of the several Virtues and Efficacy of this Medicine, would be here too tedious to recite; and therefore I shall now pass them by, though, if you require it, I shall not be backward to set you down, by way of observations, most of the cases wherein I or my Friends have given it, and of the principal Cures that have been performed by it: In the mean time, because this exalted Colcothar, being given in so small a Dose, may prove, if it be rightly and dexterously prepared, what Helmont saith of his imitation of Butlers Drif, A Medicine for the Poor, and yet requires more care, not to say skill, to Prepare it well, then upon the bare reading of the Process you will imagine, I shall to gratify your Charity annex to the end of this Essay, (for to insert them here would make too prolix a Digression) as many of the Particulars relating to the Preparation of it as I can readily meet with among my loose Notes, And lest you should think me a Mountebank for want of knowing in what sense it is, that I commend this and the other particular Medicines, I shall likewise to those Observations subjoin a Declaration of my meaning in such particulars, and of the sense, wherein I desire you should understand what you meet with in the Praise of Remedies either in this Essay or any other of my Writings, which I hope it will be sufficient to give you this Advertisement of once for all.  
The next Medicine I am to mention to you is the Balsamum Sulphuris which being made but with gross Oils drawn by Expression may be called Crassum to distinguish it from the common and thinner Balsam of Sulphur, that is made with the Distilled Oil or Spirit of Turpentine.  
This Balsam is made in an Hour or less, without a Furnace, only by taking to one part of good Flower of Brimstone, four or five times as much (in weight) of good expressed Oil, either of Olives or Nuts, or Poppey-seeds, and boiling the former in the latter in a Pipkin half filled with both, till it be perfectly Dissolved into a Blood-red Balsam. But as easy as this Preparation seems (and indeed is) to them that have often made it, it will not at first be so easy to make it right; For the Fire which ought to be of well kindled Coals, must be kept pretty quick, and yet not overquick, lest the Oil boil over, or do not well Dissolve the Flowers of Sulphur, but turn them with its self into a Clotted and almost Liver-coloured Mass: And to avoid these Inconveniencies, and the adustion of the Matter, special care must be had to keep it constantly stirring, not only whilst the Pot is over the Fire, but after it is taken off, till it be quite Cold. You may if you think fit Dissolve this simple Balsam in Chemical Oil of Anny-seeds, or any other Essential Oil like to advance its Efficacy in this or that particular Distemper: But those Oils being generally very hot, I most commonly Prescribe the Balsam without those Additions, especially if long Digestion have somewhat lessened the Offensiveness of the smell, which though no peculiar fault of this Preparation being common to Sulphureous Medicines is yet the chief Inconvenience of it. I will not too resolutly affirm that this is the very Balsamum Sulphuris Rulandi of which that Author relates such wonderful things in his Centuries; but if it be not the same, 'tis so like it, and so good, that I doubt not but by perusing those Centuries, you may find divers uses of it, that I have not made trial off: And in Coughs, old Strains, Bruises, Aches, (and sometimes the Incipcent fits of the Gout itself) and especially Tumours, some of your friends can inform you, that it doth much greater things than most Men would expect from so slight and easy a Preparation; And indeed greater than I have seen done by very costly and commended Balsams and Ointments, sold in Apothecaries Shops: And in those Observations, I lately told you you might command, you will find that this Balsam outwardly applied, hath cured such obstinate tumors, as Men either knew not what to make off, or what to do with them, of which skilful Physicians, to whom I gave it to make trial off in difficult cases, can bear me witness; Though it ought sufficiently to endear this Balsam to us both, that it was the Means of rescuing your Fair and Virtuous Sister E: from a dangerous Consumption. In outward Applications it is to be well warmed, and to be chaffed into the part affected, which should be afterwards kept very warm, or else Lint dipped in it may be kept upon the place. Inwardly some drops of it may be given at any time, when the Stomach is not full; either rolled up with Sugar, or mingled with any convenient Vehicle. But as for the Particulars that concern the Preparation of this Balsam, you will find, those I can readily meet with among my loose Papers, annexed with the Notes concerning Ens Veneris to the end of this Essay.  
And therefore I shall now proceed to mention the third Medicine, which you have often heard off, under the name of Essence of Hartshorn; but which is indeed only the Simple, but well Purified and Dephlegmed Spirit of it. And though Men are pleased to imagine by the Effects this Remedy often produces that I have some Mysterious or elaborate way of Preparing it, yet to deal ingenuously with you, the chief thing I have done to bring it into credit, is the teaching some Physicians and Apothecaries a safe and easy way of making it: For whereas before those that went about to Distil it, commonly used, as the Apothecaries are wont to do in what they make of the same Matter, Shave or Rasping of Hartshorn, and Distilled it with a strong and naked Fire, the fugitive and subtle Spirits were wont to come over in that plenty, and with th●t impetuosity, as to break the Glasses to pieces, whereby Apothecaries and even Chemists were discouraged from drawing the Spirit, and they not having it in their Shops, its Virtues remained unknown: Whereupon considering that if it were only broken on an Anvil into pieces of about the bigness of ones little finger, besides that this way of comminution would be far less chargeable than Rasping, the fumes would not be driven out so fast, and considering too, that a violent Fire was requisite, not to Distil the subtle Spirit, but to drive over the Gross and heavy Oil; I thought it was needless to take pains to force that over, which not being (that I observed) used in Physic, would but cost me further pains to separate it again: And therefore, trying to Distil Hartshorn, in naked Retorts, placed but in Sand, I found I could Distil two or three pound at a time, and obtain from each of them, almost, if not quite, all the Spirits and Volatile Salt, which I afterwards separated from the reddish and lighter Oil, and freed them from Phlegm and Feculencies by a couple of Rectifications, made in tall Glasses, and with very gentle heats: (commonly of a Lamp Furnace) The Dose may be from eight, or ten Drops of the Spirit, or Grains of the Salt, to six times the quantity of either, in warm Beer, or any Vehicle that is not acid, except Milk. Finding it to be a Medicine of an attenuating, resolving, and Diaphoretical Nature, and one that much resists Malignity, Putrefaction, and acid Humours (whence being mingled with Spirit of vinegar, and the like sour Juices, it destroys their acidity.) I direct it (Praemissis Universalibus) in Fevers, Coughs, Pleurisies, Obstructions of the Spleen, Liver, or Womb, and principally in Affections of the Brain, as Stoppages of the Head, Feverish Deliriums, and even in Phrenitide. And since I wrote a good part of this Essay, I had an Experiment of it in a Child, who being, by many violent Convulsion fits, reduced to a desperate condition, was recovered by one Dose of five or six Drops of th●s Spirit, that I sent it. 'Tis true that I have another Medicine, that is more elaborate and costly, and more properly bears the name of Essentia Cornu Cervi, which I more value than this; But I cannot communicate that, without prejudicing a third Person, and an excellent Chemist who makes a great advantage of it. But this I can tell you, that most of the Cures, for which my Preparation of Hartshorn hath had the good fortune to be esteemed, have been performed with the above described Simple Spirit and Salt, with which some skilful Physicians, and other Ingenious Persons, who had it from me, have within these few Years saved so many Lives, that I am inclined to think, I have done no useless piece of Service, in bringing so happy a Medicine into Request, especially with those that have skill and opportunity to make better use of it then I. But, Pyrophilus, I find I have detained you so long with so prolix a Mention, of the three above described Remedies, that I should think it requisite, to make you a solemn Apology; but that I hope your Charity will as well invite you to Pardon the fault, as mine induced me to commit it.   

CHAP. VII.  
A Fourth way of lessening the Charges of Cures, may be this; That whereas the dearness of very many Medicines proceeds from the Chargeableness of those Chemical Operations, whereby they are wont to be Prepared, 'tis to be hoped that a greater measure of skill in Physiology, and other Experimental Learning, will suggest cheaper and better ways of doing many things in Chemistry, then are, as yet, usually practised.  
And those thrifty Expedients, I conceive, may be of several kinds, of which I shall at present mention, and that but transiently, three or four.  
And first, I doubt not but Chemists may be taught to make better Furnaces, for several purposes, than those that have been hitherto most used among them: For professed Chemists, having been for the most part unacquainted enough with many other parts of Learning, and particularly with the Mechanics, their contrivances of Furnaces and Vessels have been far enough from being as good as knowledge in Mechanics and dexterity in contrivances might, and, I doubt not, hereafter will, supply them with; whether as to the saving of Fuel, or to the making the utmost use of the Heat afforded by the Fuel they do employ, or as to the intending heat to the height, or as to the regulating of heat at pleasure.  
'Tis somewhat wonderful, as well as pleasant, to see how many Vessels may be duly heated by one Fire (perhaps no greater than common distillers employ to heat one Vessel) if the Furnace be so contrived, as that the Flame may be forced to pass in very crooked and winding Channels, towards the Vent or Vents, and the heat may be skilfully conveyed to the several parts of the Furnace, according to the Exigency of the work it is to do: And as for the intention of heat, I remember I have had odd effects of it, by the contrivance of a certain Furnace, that held but very few Coals, and to which I used no Bellows. But though by this way I could vitrify sometimes the very Crucibles, and though possibly I could, with a slight alteration, melt down the sides of the Furnace themselves; yet a Disciple of Cornelius Drebell, and a very credible Person, assured me, That he knew a way of Furnaces that was yet fitter to bring heat to the superlative Degree: and that he himself, the Relator, could, by the mere force of Fire in his Furnace, bring Venetian Talk to flow; which is more, I confess, than ever I have been able to do either in mine, or those of the Glass-house. But Experience hath assured me, 'tis easy to make a Furnace give that heat as expeditiously enough, and in other respects very conveniently to Cupel both Gold and Silver, without the least help of Bellows: That also Furnaces may be so ordered, as that the heat may be better regulated, then That in our ordinary ones, I may elsewhere show you cause to believe: And in the mean time I sh●ll only tell you, that I look upon the skill of intending and remitting heat at pleasure, and especially the being able to keep a gentle heat long and equal as a thing of much greater moment, both as to Physic and Philosophy, than Chemists are wont to think (the powerful effects of constant and temperate heats, being as yet known to few save those that have made trial of them) And with Lamp Furnaces, well ordered, divers things may be done in imitation of nature; some friends of mine having, as several of them assure me, in such Furnaces, brought Hens eggs to manifest Animation. That also Furnaces may be so built, as to save much of the Laborants' wont attendance on them, may appear by the obvious invention of Athanors or Furnaces with Towers, wherein the Fire is for many Hours, (perhaps for twentyfoure or forty-eight) supplied with a competent proportion of Coals, without being able to burn much faster than it should: And that in many cases the labour of Blowing may be well spared, and the annoyance of Mineral fumes in great p●rt avoided, by an easy contrivance, is evident by those Furnaces which are blown by the help of a Pipe, drawing the Air, as they commonly speak, either at the top, as in Glaubers fourth Furnace, or at the bottom, as for want of room upwards, I have sometimes tried: To which may be added, that the casting of the Matters ●o be prepared upon quick Coals, as Glauber prescribes in that which he calls his first Furnace, is in some cases a cheap and expeditious way of preparing some Minerals, though his method of making Spirit of Salt in that Furnace would not succeed, according to his promise with me, and some of my acquaintance. And there are other more commodious Contrivances, by casting some things upon the naked Fire, which invites me to expect, That there will be several good Expedients of employing the Fire to Chemical operations, that are not yet made use of, nor, perhaps, so much as dreamed of.  
And as Furnaces, so the Vessels that more immediately contain the Thing to be prepared, are questionless capable of being made more durable, and of being better contrived, then commonly they are. Good use may be made of those Earthen Reto●ts, that are commonly called Glauber's second Furnaces, in case they be made of Earth that will well endure strong Fires; and in case there be a better way to keep in the Fumes, then that he proposes of melted Lead, which I h●ve therefore often declined for another, as having found it liable to such inconveniences as I elsewhere declare.  
But for Materials that are cheap, and to be distilled in quantity, as Woods, Hartshorn, etc. the way is not to be despised, and is, as we may elsewhere have occasion to show, capable of improvement; though in many cases this kind of Vessel is inferior to those tubulated Retorts, that were of old in use, and mentioned by Basilius Valentinus, and from which Glauber probably desumed that which we have been speaking of. The utility of the way of sealing Glasses hermetically, and of the Invention that now begins to be in request of stopping the Bottles, that contain corrosive and subtle Liquors with Glass-stopples, ground fit to their Necks, instead of Corks, together with some other things, not now to be mentioned, keep me that I scarce doubt but that if we could prevail with the Glassmen and the Potters, to make Vessels of Glass and Earth exactly, according to directions, many things in Chemistry might be done better and cheaper than they now are; and some things might be then done, that with the forms of Vessels now in use cannot be done at all. And if that be true which we find related in Pliny, and with some other Circumstances in Dion Cassius, of a more ingenious than fortunate Man, who, about his time, was put to death for having made malleable Glass, as the truth of that Story, if granted, would show the retriving that Invention, a thing not to be despaired of: So he that could, now Chemistry is so cultivated, find again the way of making Glass malleable, would be, in my Opinion, a very great Benefactor to Mankind, and would enable the Virtuosos, as well as the Chemists, to make several Experiments, which at present are scarce practicable; And some Chemists would perhaps think this attempt more hopeful, if I tell them first, that I remember Raymund Lul expressly reckons it among three or four of the principal Virtues he ascribes to the Philosopher's Stone, that it makes Glass malleable; and then, that an expert Chemist seriously affirmed to me, that he met with an Adeptus, who, among other strange things, showed him a piece of Glass, which the Relator found, would endure and yield to the Hammer: But what my own Opinion is concerning this matter, and what are the (uncommon) Inducements I have to be of it, I must not here declare.  
And on this occasion, I remember I have seen an Instrument of Tin, or Pewter, for the drawing of Spirit of Wine (which you know is one of the chargeablest things that belong to Chemistry) so contrived, that whereas in the ordinary way much time, and many rectifications, are requisite to dephlegm Spirit of Wine; one distillation in this Vessel will bring it over from Wine itself, so pure and flegmless, as to burn all away. And I remember, that the ancient French Chemist, in whose Laboratory I first saw one of these Instruments, told me, That 'twas invented, not by any great Alchemist or Mathematician, but by a needy Parisian Chirurgeon. And now I speak of Spirit of Wine, I shall add, That as the charges of Chemistry would be very much lessened, if such ardent Spirits could be had in plenty, and cheap; so I think it not improbable, that in divers places there may be found, by Persons well skilled in the Nature of Fermentation, other Vegetable Substances far cheaper than Wine, from which an inflammable, and saline Sulphureous Spirit, of the like virtue for dissolving resinous Bodies, drawing Tinctures, etc. may be copiously obtained: For not only, 'tis known, that Sydar, Perry, and other Juices of Fruits will afford such a Spirit; and that most Graine●, not very unctuous, as Barley, Wheat, etc. will do the like; but other Berries that grow wild, as those of Elder, will yield a Vinous Liquor. And in the Barbadas they make a kind of Wine, even of Roots, (I mean their Mobby, which they make of Potatoes; as I have also, for curiosity sake, made Bread of the same Roots) nay, even from some sorts of Leaves, such a Liquor may be obtained: For I have observed Roses well fermented, to yield a good Spirit very strongly tasted, as well as inflammable. And as to the Preparing of pure Spirit of Wine itself, I know ways (and one of them cheap) that may exceedingly shorten the time, and pains of dephlegming it; but that being to be done otherwise, then by any peculiar contrivance of Furnaces or Glasses, I reserve it for a fitter place, in one of the following Essays.  
And as more expedient and thrifty ways, than the vulgar ones, of making Chemical Furnaces and Vessels, may be devised; so 'tis to be hoped that a skilful Naturalist may find cheaper ways of heating the Chemist's Furnaces, or Distilling in his Vessels (either by finding combustible Materials, not formerly in use in the places where we work, or by making those already employed fitter for use) by bringing them, by some cheap alterations, either to give a greater, or a more durable heat, or to be less offensive by their smoke or smells; or else by discovering some cheap way of doing, in some cases, without Fire, what was wont to be done by it.  
We see that in some places, especially here in England, where Charcoal was only burnt in Furnaces, Pit coal is substituted in its room; and at this Day there are several of those that make Aqua-Fortis, in great quantities, that Distil it with such Coals, which cost nothing near so much as those made of Wood And experience hath informed me, that even in other sorts of Furnaces, the same Fuel may be employed, provided the Bars of the Grates be set wider asunder, and a little Charcoal be mingled with it for the better kindling; and since of late Years Pit coal have been found in several places among us, where they were not formerly known to be, it seems not improbable, that many other Countries may afford Chemists, and the rest of their Inhabitants the like advantage, if search were duly made, by boring of the ground, by the observations of the Waters, and the Steames of places suspected, and by other ways of inquiry that a skilful man might direct; But because the abundant Smoke of Pit-coale, uses to be very offensive, and the smaller Coals easily run through the Grates, and because of other inconveniences, there hath been a way found out of charring these Coals, and thereby reducing them into coherent Masses, of a convenient bigness and shape, and more dry and apt to kindle; and these though, quantity for quantity, their price be little inferior to that of Charcoal. Yet those that consume great proportions of Coals, tell me they find them almost as cheap again, in regard they will not only last much longer, but give (especially near at hand) a far more intense heat: And therefore it must be a very useful thing to Chemists, to show a way of charring Sea-coals, without the help of those Pots, which make them of the price they now bear. And that it is not only possible, but very easy, I could quickly show you, if it would not prejudice an industrious Laborant, whose profession being to make Chemical Medicines in quantity, obliges him to keep great and constant Fires, and did put him upon finding a way of charring Sea-coal, wherein it is in about three hours or less, without Pots or Vessels, brought to Charcoal; of which having, for curiosity sake, made him take out some pieces, and cool them in my presence, I found them upon breaking to appear well charred, and much thereof in show not unlike a Marchasite. And that which was very convenient in this Contrivance was, that whilst the Pit coal was charring, it afforded him a very intense heat to melt or calcine the Minerals, he had occasion to expose to it: And he confessed to me, that by this Method, he saved three parts in four of the Charges the keeping such great and constant Fires, with common Charcoal, would cost him. In Holland, likewise, they have a way of charring Peat, (which is a combustible Turf, that they dig under Ground) and a skilful Distiller, that much employed it, commends it to me, as a very good Fuel, even for Chemical Fires; which I therefore mention, because the way of charring Peat, is not yet brought into several Countries, where Peat is digged up: And probably, it would be found in divers Regions, where 'tis yet unknown, if due search were made for it. To which I may add, that 'tis not unlike, that some Countries may afford such combustible Materials, fit for Chemical Furnaces, as have not, as yet, been so much as named by Mineralist's; as I remember I have seen, and had, a sort of Coals, some of which looked like Marchasites, that burned clear with a good Flame, and had this convenient quality, for the Chymist's use, that they were not apt, like the common Pit-coales, to stop the Grates with their Cinders, but burnt to whitish Ashes almost like Charcoal made of Wood; and yet gave so great a heat, that an Industrious Chemist of my acquaintance, who kept many things constantly at work, found it worth while to have them brought him, above a day's journey, on Horse's backs.  
But 'tis not impossible, that when Men grow better Naturalist's, they may find ways, of exciting heat, enough for many Chemical operations, without the help of Fire; and consequently, without the consumption of Fuel. We find that by the attrition of hard Bodies, considerable degrees of heat may be produced, not only, in combustible Materials, as Wood, and the like, (which would therefore be improper, to be here insisted on) But in others also, and particularly in Iron and Steel, one may by attrition soon produce a smart heat, as you may quickly try, by nimbly Filing a piece of Iron, with a rough File; or swiftly rubbing, though but for a few minutes, a thin piece of Steel against a Board. And whether some contrivance may not be found, by the help of cheap Engines moved by Water, or otherwise, to produce a durable heat in Iron Vessels, fit to digest in, we may elsewhere have further occasion to consider; But this is known, that from some succulent Plants, a Liquor may be drawn, only by exposing them in Glasses, purposely contrived to the Beams of the Sun. And there is nothing more common, then for Chemists to make their Digestions by the warmth of Hors-dung, whereby they might also (as some Analogous' trials incline me to think) conveniently enough, Distil some fermented Liquors; especially, if the way were improved by the skilful addition of Quicklime, and seasonable aspersions of Water. And I doubt not but many cheap Materials might, by a few trials, be found, whereby portable digesting Furnaces, without Fire, (if I may so call them) might be made, without the ill smell and nastiness, which discommends the use of Hors-dung. For not only we see, by what happens in the Spontaneous heating of Malt, and some other familiar substances, that probably most sort of Grains, and Berries, fit for Fermentation may be brought to yield, for a good while, a heat great enough to putrify, or digest with: But I have, several Years ago, by many trials found; that I could, by environing Glasses with refuse Hay well pressed down and equally wetted throughout, produce for divers days such a heat, as made me decline the employing of Hors-dung; and yet (which is the chief thing for which I mention this) the quantity of Hay was so small, that in all my trials I found not, that the Hay did of itself, though kept close enough, take Fire; as else is usual in Ricks of Hay not sufficiently dried, where the quantity, and consequently the weight, that presses the lowermost parts close together, is considerable.  
But further, in divers operations, where an actual Fire is requisite, it may be hoped that Knowing Men, may discover ways of saving much of the Fire, and making Skill perform a great part of the wont office of heat. To obtain the Spirit of fresh Urine, you must Distil away near nine parts of ten, which will be but Phlegm, before the Spirit or Volatile Salt will (and that scarce, without a pretty strong heat) regularly rise. And there are several Chymists that, to this day, make use of no better way of Distiling Urine; But he that knows, how Putrefaction opens many Bodies, may easily save himself the expense of so much Fire: For if you let Urine stand well stopped, for eight or ten Weeks, the Saline and Spirituous parts will so extricate themselves, that the Spirits that before stayed behind the Phlegm, will now, even with the gentlest heat, rise up first, and leave the Phlegm behind. And on this occasion I shall teach you, what I do not know to have been mentioned by any Writer; namely, That even of fresh Urine, without Digestion or Putrefaction, I can, by a very cheap and easy way, make a subtle and penetrant Spirit, ascend, first, even in a gentle heat; And I am wont to do it only by pouring Urine, how fresh soever, upon Quicklime, till it swim some Finger's breadth above it, and then distilling it assoon as I please. But I did not find, upon many trials, that this Spirit, though even without Rectification very strong and subtle, would Coagulate Spirit of Wine, like that of putrified and fermented Urine; though, perhaps, for divers other purposes it may be more powerful.  
And here I shall advertise You, that whereas I just now took notice, that there was a pretty strong Fire requisite to force up the Salt of unfermented Urine, out of that part, which after the abstraction of the Phlegm, remains of the consistence of Honey; trial hath informed me, That the volatile Salt may out of the thick Liquor be obtained, better and more pure, with ease, and with a, scarce credibly, small heat; barely, by tempering the Urinous extract with a convenient quantity of good Wood Ashes, whereby (for a reason elsewhere to be considered) the volatile part, of the Salt of Urine, is so freed from the grosser Substance, that with strange facility it will ascend, fine and white, to the top of very tall Glasses. But of the differing Preparation of Urine, more perhaps elsewhere. I now proceed to tell you, that I think it not unlikely, that even Bodies, which are more gross and sluggish, may by the affusion of such Menstruums, as humane Industry may find out, be far more easily, either, volatilised or unlocked, then common Chemists are wont to think. For I know a Liquor, not very rare among Chymist's, by whose help I have, often enough, distilled Spirit of Nitre, (whose distillation requires much about the same violence of Fire, with that of Aqua-Fortis) even in a moderate he●t of Sand, and without a naked Fire. This Spirit may easily enough be brought over, even in a Head and Body; and, for a Wager, I could obtain a little of it without any Fire or outward heat at all. And I remember, also, That having once digested a certain Menstruum, for a very short time, upon crude Antimony, and abstracted it, in a very gentle heat, of Sand; the Liquor, not only, brought over some of the Antimony in the form of red Flowers, swimming in it, and united other parts of the Mineral, with itself, in the transparent Liquor, but the gentle heat raised to the top of the Retort, divers little Masses of a substance, that were very transparent, like Amber, which were inflammable, and smelled, and burned blue, just like common Sulphur; And yet the Menstruum, which was easily again recoverable from the Antimony, was no strong Corrosive, tasting, before it was poured on, not much unlike good vinegar.  
But besides all the ways, above mentioned, of saving the Chemist, either, Time, or Fire, or Labour; I despair no● that divers others, yet unthought on, will be in time found out by the Industry of skilful Men, taking notice of the nature of things, and applying them to Chemical uses; as we see, that by Amalgamations with Mercury, the calcination of Gold, and Silver, may be much easier performed, then by a long violence of Fire. And, (if it be true, what Helmont, and Paracelsus, tell us of their immortal Liquor Alkahest) Medicines far nobler, and otherwise more difficult to make, than those hitherto in use among the Chymists, may be Prepared with greater ease, and expedition, and with far less expense of Fire, than the nature of the Metals, and other Concretes, to be opened by it, would let a vulgar Chemist suspect. However, I see no great cause to doubt that there may be Menstruum's found that will much facilitate difficult Operations, since not to mention again the Liquor, I lately told you, would work such a change on Nitre (and, I might have added, on some other compact Bodies) 'tis very like, there may be Menstruum's found, that will not be so spoiled by a single Operation, made with them, as our vulgar saline Spirits are wont to be. For I have tried that a Menstruum, made by the bare distillation of good Verdigrease, will not only draw, as I have formerly told you, a Tincture of Glass of Antimony, or perform some other like Operation for once, but being drawn off from the dissolved body, or the extraction, will again serve, more than once, for the like Operation upon fresh Materials.  
The fifth, and last way, Pyrophilus, that I intent to mention, of lessening Chemical expenses; is, That the Naturalists may probably find out ways of preserving some Chemical Medicines, either longer or better, than those ways that are usual. But of this preservation of Bodies, being like, as I formerly intimated, to have elsewhere further occasion to Treat; I shall now only say, That the purified Juices, liquid Extracts, Robs, and other soft Medicaments, made of Plants, may be Conserved far cheaper, aswel as better, then with Sugar (which clogs most men's Stomaches, and otherwise disagrees with many Constitutions) in case Helmont say true, where he tells us, That for a small piece of Money, he can, for I know not how long, preserve whole Barrels of Liquor. And a way he intimates, of fuming liquors with Sulphur, I have already told you, is a very good way of keeping them uncorrupted; provided, that (though he prescribes it not) they be six or seven several times (seldomer or oftener, according to the quantity or nature of the Liquor) well impregnated with that embalming Smoke; to which purpose it is convenient to have two Vessels, to pour from one to the other, that whilst the Liquor is shaking in the one, the other may be well filled with Smoke; whereto I shall only subjoin this secret, which a friend of mine, practices in preserving the fumigated Juices of Herbs (as, I elsewhere inform you, I do to preserve other things) with ● success that I have somewhat wondered at; which consists, in adding to the thick Liquor, to be preserved, a due, but small, proportion of the white Coagulum, (which I often elsewhere mention) made of the pure Spirits of Wine and Urine.  
But I have made this excursion too prolix, and therefore I shall only add as a general admonition, that we are not, by the common practice of Vulgar Chymist's, to estimate what Knowing Naturalist's, skilled in Mechanical contrivances, may be able in time to do, towards the making of Chemical Remedies, as well more cheap as more effectual; and, indeed, to make them more effectual, is the best way to make them more cheap.  
For, Pyrophilus, after all the ways, that I have mentioned, whereby the charges, of the Therapeutical part of Physic, may be lessened; I must advertise you, both, That I make no doubt but there may be divers others found, which either through want of skill or leisure I have pretermitted, and that I have not yet named the principal of all; which is, That the deep insight into Natural Philosophy may qualify him that hath it by several ways, and especially by discovering the true Causes and Seats of Diseases, to find out such generous and effectual Remedies, (whether Specificks, or more Universal Arcana) as by quickly freeing the Patient from his Disease, may exempt him from needing, either, much Physic from the Apothecary, or many chargeable visits from the Doctor of Chirurgeon. Thus the rich Merchant I mentioned in one of the former Essays to have been freed, by a Specific, from the Gout; and the young Lady, cured of her Fistulas, by the infusion of Millepedes; might well, in the ordinary way, have spent, even supposing them thrifty, a hundred times more, upon Physicians and Physic, than the potent and nimble Remedies, whereby they were so happily recovered, cost them.  
[To which I shall add, by way of Confirmation, both of this and of what I lately told you; concerning the Efficacy that may be, even, in slightly Prepared Simples; what I came to learn, since the writing of the former part of this Essay, namely, that a young Lady, who (though of great Birth, is yet of far greater Beauty and virtue, whom I presume I need not name to you) having been long troubled with an almost hereditary Epileptical Distemper, and after having been wearied by courses of Physic prescribed her, by the famousest Doctors that could be procured, without at all mending, but rather growing worse, so that sometimes She would have, in one day, eight or ten of such dismal Fits, as You and I have seen her in; was cured only by the Powder of true Misseltoe of the Oak; given as much as would lie upon a Sixpence, early in the morning, in black Cherry Water, or even in Beer, for some days near the full Moon. And I am assured, partly, by the Patient herself, and, partly, by those that gave her the Medicine, That though it had scarce any other sensible Operation upon her, and did not make her sickish, especially, when she slept upon it; Yet, after the first day she took it, she never had but one Fit. And this Remedy, an ancient Gentleman, who, being casually present when she suddenly fell down as dead, gave it her, professed himself to have constantly cured that Disease with it, when he could procure the right Simple, which is here exceeding scarce. And what further Experiment some Friends of Yours have successfully made, of its Virtue, I may elsewhere have occasion to relate.]  
To which I shall only add, That one of the Skilfullest Methodists I ever knew, having had much ado to preserve a young Cousin of Yours from a very dangerous Cough, by a long course of Physic; the party, at the beginning of the next Winter, falling into a Relapse more threatening then the first Disease, was rescued from it in two or three days, by not many more take of a Specific sent her, made of nothing else but Hartshorn prepared as I lately taught You. And if such slight Medicines, consisting, each of them, but of a single Simple, not elaborately prepared, may sometimes (for I say not always) perform such speedy cures even in Chronical Distempers, what may not be hoped from the Arcana marjoram (such as Paracelss' Laudanum, so praised by Operinus himself; and Butler's Driff, so extolled by Helmont) when the skilfullest Preparations, of the noblest Simples, shall come to be known by Learned and Judicious Men, intelligent in the Theory of Physic, and especially versed in the History of Diseases? And though Riverius were none of the greatest Naturalists, or, at least, Chemists, Yet if in his Observation, and elsewhere, he flatter not his own Febrifugum; how many Patients did that one Specific, rescue from quartans, that would else probably have proved as Chargeable as Tedious?  
But, Pyrophilus, having said so much, that I fear you have thought it tedions, to show that a Naturalist, skilled in Chemistry and the Mechanics, may assist the Physician to make his cures less Chargeable; 'tis high time, that after so long an excursion, I proceed to consider in what other particulars he may be a benefactor to the Physicians Art.   

CHAP. VIII.  
FIftly, then, that the Naturalists skill may improve the Pharmaceutical Preparations of Simples, by several ways partly touched already, and partly to be, either, added or further treated of; the great variety of new Remedies, wherewith the Laboratories of Chemists have furnished the shops of Apothecaries, may convinceingly inform you. To which I must take the liberty to add (and that upon serious Consideration) That the Chemical Preparations, hitherto common in Dispensatories, are, as to the Generality of them, far enough from being the most Dextrous, or Noble, that can be devised: For our Vulgar Chemistry (to which our Shops owe their venal Spagyrical Remedies) is as yet very incomplete, affording us rather a Collection, of loose and scattered (and many of them but casual) Experiments, than an Art duly superstructed upon Principles and Notions, emergent from severe and competent Inductions, as we have elsewhere endeavoured, more particularly, to manifest. And therefore till the Principles of Chemistry be better known, and more solidly established, we must expect no other, then that very few vulgar Chemical Remedies should be of the Noblest sort; and that in the Preparation of many others, considerable errors should be wont to pass unheeded; and faults, gross enough, be apt to be mistakenly committed. But, of this Subject, we may elsewhere have divers occasions to entertain You; and our single Essay, of the ●●●mical Distinctions of Salts, will perhaps discover to You no small mistakes, in the Preparation of divers applauded Vulgar Medicines. For it is not the Elaborateness, but the Skilfulness of Preparations, that produceth the Noble Remedies, and a few Teeming Principles well known and applied, will enable a man with ease to make better Remedies, than a great many Furnaces and Glasses, though never so well contrived, and though very useful in their kind. To make out this in some measure, I shall name some such Instances, as may withal confirm what I formerly delivered in this Essay, touching the possibility and usefulness of Correcting either poisonous, or otherwise very noxious Simples. I never knew Opium so much Corrected by Saffron, Cinnamom, and other Aromatical and Cordial Drugs (wherewith 'tis wont to be made up into Laudanum) nor by the most tedious tortures of Vulcan, as I have known it by being a while Digested in Wine, impregnated with nothing but the weight of the Opium of pure Salt of Tartar; as we elsewhere more fully declare. (a much nobler Laudanum may be made by adding to the Opium, instead of the Salt, two or three appropriated Simples, and by due Fermentations and Digestions of them with it) And for that violent Vomiting Medicine, by Chemists flatteringly enough, called Mercurius Vitae; a whole Pound of Cordial Conserves, or Liquors, will not so well moderate its evacuating force, as the keeping it continually stirring in a flattish and well glazed earthen Vessel, placed over a Ch●fingdish of Coals till it emit no more fumes, but grow of a grayish Colour: which I am very credibly informed to be the Preparation of Merc-Vitae purgans, often mentioned and commended by the famous Practitioner Riverius, in his Observations. A not unlike, but far more sudden, Correction of tha●●●tive Powder, I elsewhere teach. And as for those Operative Minerals, Quicksilver and Antimony, though long Experience of their churlish and untractable Nature have made many, of the waryer Physicians and Chemists shy to meddle with either of them single: Yet these Concretes, which seem so Incorrigible, may, by being barely (in the gradual Distillation, of Butter of Antimony) sublimed up together into a Cinnaber, and then that Cinnaber six or seven times resublimed per se, be united into a Medicine, that not only is not wont to work, either upwards or downwards, but of which I have known safely taken, even in substance, to the Dose of many Grains; and a few Drachmas, of which, infused in a Pound or two of Wine, hath made it of that inoffensive Efficacy (taken, in the quantity of a Spoonful or two, daily upon an empty stomach) That, if it still succeed aswell as we have observed it two or three times to do, we may think that our having thus acquainted You with the Virtue of this one unlikely Remedy, (though we have also met with it, even, in P●inted Books) may make you amends for all the rest of this tedious Discourse. I once knew a slight (but altogether new and tedious, aswell as Philosophical) Preparation, of Salt of Tartar Correct and Tame such Poisons, as ten times the quantity of the highest Vulgar Antidotes, or Cordials, would (I was confident) scarce have so much as weakened: And I have known by the same Prepared Salt, dextrously Specificated by Simples, the Virtues of some Vegetables so exalted, That, without any Cathartique or Emetique Operation, they have (if many Patients, of whom I had casual opportunities to inquire of the Effects of those Remedies upon them, do not mis-inform me) proved more effectual in Tameing divers stubborn Diseases, than Crocus Metallorun, Mercurius Vitae, (as 'tis abusively called) and those other dangerous Remedies; which make the Vulgar wont to say of Chemists, that they quickly either cure their Patients or kill them. And to let You see, Pyrophilus, by one plain, and yet noble, instance; That the knowledge of the Specific Qualities of Things, skilfully applied to Preparations, may perform, with ease, what neither costly Materials, nor elaborate Processes are able to effect; Give me leave to inform You; That, whereas, Chemists and Physicians have not been able by infusing the true Glass of Antimony (made per se) in Spirit of Wine, or the richest Cordial Liquours; nor yet by torturing it after several tedious and artificial manners, to deprive it of its Emetique quality, That Vomitive faculty, of Antimonial Glass, may be Corrected by so slight a way, as that of Digesting it with pure Spirit of Vinegar, till the Menstruum be highly tinged. For if you gently abstract all the Liquor, and on the remaining yellow or red Powder, you Digest well dephlegmated Spirit of Wine; You may after a while obtain a Noble and not Emetique Tincture: Of which though Basilius Valentinus prescribes but five or six Drops for a Dose, yet a Domestic of mine having, out of curiosity, taken to the quantity of thirty Drops at a Time, he found it not at all Vomitive. And this Tincture we the rather mention, Because, not only, 
See his Currus Triumphalis Antimonii.  Basilius Valentinus, but other skilful Persons, highly extol it for several Diseases.  
And let me add, Pyrophilus, (and be pleased to mark well what I tell you) That by bare reiterated Digestions, and Fermentations, there may be Prepared, out of many Vegetables, Saline and Sulphureous Essences (whose Bulk is exceeding small, in proportion to the Concrets whence they are Extracted) which will keep many Years, as I can show you some above three Years old, and contain more of the Crasis (if I may so call it) of the Simple, than the vulgar Vegetable Waters, Spirits, Extracts or Salts, hitherto extant in Laboratories and Shops. But there is so great a length of Time required, to the Preparation of these Efficacious Juices, That my ambulatory condition of Life, hath not allowed me to furnish myself with many of them.  
And, Pyrophilus, if You will not disbelieve a Person for whom You have so just an esteem, as You have for that Ingenious, and Experienced, Monsieur L. F. who was the French Kings Chemist, when You knew him at Paris; I can, present You with a yet Nobler instance, to persuade You; That, if skill be not wanting, a single Herb, without any violence of Fire, may, by other ways than are in use among Chemists, be easily enough brought to afford Medicines, endowed with some Nobler Virtues, than any of the most compounded, costly, and elaborate Medicines, whether Minerals or others, that are to be met with among Vulgar Chemists. This Efficacious part of the Plant, whence 'tis obtained, Paracelsus calls the Primum Ens of the Plant that yields it; But though, indeed, I have found the way of Preparing it much plainer, and better delivered, then is usual in his Writings, at the end of his Book De Renovatione & Restauratione; Yet I freely acknowledge, That, I should scarce have thought it worth the Trial, if it had not been for what the Experienced Chemist, above mentioned, affirmed to me, upon his own Observations, concerning it, partly, because I am not wont to be forward so much as to try long Processes upon Paracelsus' credit, and partly, because what he calls Sal Solutum seemed to me somewhat ambiguous; since, in the same Page teaching to draw the Ens Primum of Gold and Antimony, he makes not use of Sea-salt, but of (a Salt of an incomparably higher Nature) his Sal Circulatum; and in the Process immediately preceding ours, to make the Ens Primum of Emeralds, he Prescribes the Calcining them in Sale Soluto, which agrees far better with his Sal Circulatum then with any Solution of Sea salt, which seems very unlikely to be able to Calcine and, as he says it must, dissolve Emeralds. But the way, that our French Chemist told me he used, was in substance this: Gather, in a convenient season and time of Day, Baulm for instance, or some other fit Herb, (for experience hath taught, both him and me, that all Herbs are not fit, by this way, to be reduced into Liquors) and having beaten it well, in a marble Morter, to a soft mash, placed in a Bolt-head hermetically sealed, to Digest forty days in a Dunghill or some analogous' heat; then, opening the Vessel, take out the Matter, which will be far more Liquid than before, from which, having separated the grosser parts, You must Digest it in a gentle Bath, that the yet remaining grosser parts may subside; to which, being filtrated. You must, according to him, (for I find not that Paracelsus requires it) join the fixed Salt, of the grosser parts above mentioned, dried and calcined. To this, Prepared Liquor, You must add equal parts of the Liquor of good Sea-salt well purified, and then melted, and suffered to run Per Deliquium: This Liquor, being also sealed up in a convenient Glass, must be exposed to the Sun for about six Weeks; at the end of which time there will swim at the top of it, the Primum Ens of the Plant in a Liquid form, transparent, and either green or red, or, perhaps, of some other Colour according to the Nature of the Plant. And though Paracelsus prescribes but Celandine, and Baulm, to be used, Yet having enquir'd of our Chemist, he told me, he had made such Prima Entia of Scrophularia, and, as I remember, of one or two other Herbs. But that which makes me thus, particularly, take notice of these kind of Medicines, is, That not only Paracelsus ascribes to the Primum Ens of Baulm, (or Celandine) the power of renovating them that use so much of it in good Wine as will give it a Tincture, early every Morning; till, first of all, the Nails of their Fingers, than those of their Toes, afterwards their Hair, and Teeth, fall off, and, lastly, the Skin be dried and exchanged for a new one: But Your ingenious acquaintance assured me several times, and once, in the presence of a famous Physician, and another Virtuoso, to whom he appealed, as knowing the truth of what he said; That an intimate Friend of his, whom he named to me, having, after the above mentioned manner, Prepared the Primum Ens of Baulm, to satisfy himself the better of its effects, made the Trial upon himself, and took of it, according to the Prescription, for about a Fortnight; Long before which his Nails, both of Hands and Feet, began to loosen themselves from the Skin, (but without any pain) which at length falling off, of their own accord, this Gentleman keeps yet by him in a Box for a rarity, but would not pursue the Trial any further, being satisfied with what he had found, and being in no need of such Physic; But having given of the same Medicated Wine, for ten or twelve Days, to a Woman that served in his house, and was near seventy years of Age, without letting her know, what he expected it should do, Her Purgationes Menstruae came upon her again in a sufficiently great quantity, to fright her so much, that he durst prosecute the Experiment no further. And when I asked, why he made no trial upon Beasts? It was answered, that though he had but little of the Medicine, yet he put apart an old Hen, and moistening her food with some drops of it for a Week, about the sixth day she began to moult her Feathers by degrees, till she became stark naked; but before a fortnight was past, she began to regain others, which when they were come to their full growth, appeared fairer, and better coloured then the first; And he added, That besides that, her crest was raised, she also laid more Eggs, than she was wont. And as to the Primum Ens of the greater Scrophularia, by the relater himself, though he ascribed not to it any renovating power, as to that of Balm or Celandine, yet he assured me, he had found it ennobled, by other great and extraordinary Virtues. But of this kind of Preparation, I might ere now, possibly, have been able to give You a better account, if in my trials about them, I had not met with some unhappy accidents, which I hope my next attempts will escape: which if they do, I may possibly, with an account of them, send You one of some attempts to prepare the like Medicines another and shorter way, together with a consideration, whether Paracelsus and others deservedly call such accidents as the abovementioned change of Nailes Hair, and even of Teeth a real renovation or rejuvenessence.]  
'Tis likewise a way of preparation, differing enough from those that are common among Chemists, which Helmont (as he says out of commiseration to the sick) delivers, where he teaches that which he calls the Via Media of making the Elixir Proprietatis, 
In tractatulo cui titul. sequuntur ●uaedam Imperf●ctio●a.  of which he gives us this commendation: Hoc medicamine tam Quartanam, quam continuam statim absolvi. Adeò ut qui noctu susceperat sacresanctum viaticum, & olei extremam unctionem, me in prandio convivam circa lectum habuerit. And though many think, that he has rather fraudulently, then rightly set the process down; yet experience has invited me to absolve him in this particular. (Though I must tell You, that because a Languid heat is not sufficient to make a Spirituous liquor ascend and circulate as he requires; 'tis not every Chemist, that will, especially in his first trials, avoid the breaking of the Glasses, or at least the burning of the materials, to which accidents this preparation is very obnoxious, if it be not as well watchfully as skilfully made.) And though for my part, I have scarce used this Elixir but as a Cordial; yet I know some very expert Physicians, that have given it with great success in divers difficult cases, and particularly a Friend of the younger helmont's gives it so successfully, that partly his Patients, and partly others that have tried it, have sometimes taken of him, at a great rate, whole Pounds in a Year or too; and yet I know by his own confession, that, besides the skill he emploies in making it dexterously, he adds nothing but one Ingredient, to which I confess, I am not apt to ascribe any considerable part of the efficacy of the Medicine; which, when made, he sometimes perfumes by cohobations with Musk, and Amber.  
And Pyrophilus, that you may not wonder, that I, who think much of helmont's Theory scarce intelligible, and take great exceptions at many things in his writings, should yet now and then commend Medicines upon his Authority, I must here confess to you once for all, that (always excepting his extravagant piece, De magnetica vulnerum curatione,) I have not seen cause to disregard many things he delivers, as matters of fact, provided they be rightly understood; having not found him forward to praise Remedies without cause, though he seem to do it sometimes without measure, and having more than once, either known, or even had, considerable effects of Medicines he commends, which one of the happiest Practitioners I have met with, and one not lavish in extolling Chemical Remedies has solemnly assured me, he has generally, though not always, found more then ordinarily effectual. And upon occasion of this odd preparation of the Elixir Proprietatis, I shall add that, Since Experience shows us, by what is daily done in Chemical Laboratories, that upon the operation of the fire upon several Concretes, substances of Nature oftentimes very differing both from the body that afforded them, and from one another, may be obtained; as the Oils, and fixed Salts, even of cold Plants or Hot: Since also, by the mixture of active Bodies new Concretes, endowed with new qualities, may be produced; as we see that Saccharum Saturni emergeth from the conjunction of Lead, with the Acid Salt, distilled Vinegar; and Since too the same Concrete, according to the differing manners, after which 'tis handled, may acquire differing Qualities, as is clear in the various Medicines, afforded us by Quicksilver, and by Antimony, according as each of them is ordered; I cannot but think, that if Chemistry did no more than assist us, by the resolution of bodies, to extricate their more active parts, and, partly by such resolutions, and partly by associating bodies together, to alter the former texture of Nature's Productions, or present us with new Concretes of new Textures; by this very means, if men want not Curiosity, and Industry to vary and prosecute experiments, there must necessarily arise such a store of new and active Medicines, that in all probability, many of them will be found endowed with such Virtues, as have not been, at least in that degree, met with in the usual Medicines, whether simple or compound, to be bought in Apothecary shops; and consequently, even without any notable discovery, or improvement of Principles, Chemists, (even as matters now stand with them) may considerably add to the Pharmaceutical part of Physic. But if the Operations of Chemistry were seriously enquired into, and throughly understood, I make little doubt, but by a skilful application of them, and especially by a series of them, in a rational and orderly way, succeeding one another, there may be found out a great many preparations of Remedies, both very differing from the common ones, and far more noble than they. And to make this seem probable, I need but repeat some of the examples formerly mentioned; To which I shall add now, that Experience has informed me there is a way, whereby firmer consistent substances, belonging to the bodies of Animals, may without the addition of any extraneous matter, and without any violence of heat, be reduced almost totally into Liquor, and if I much misremember not, these Liquors without any violence of heat, afford their Spirituous and Saline parts, in a very gentle heat, and that before their Phlegm. And I must peculiarly inculcate this, That if we had but a few potent Menstruums, to dissolve and unlock bodies with, I scarce know what might not be done in Chemistry. But when I speak of noble Menstruums, I mean not such as work like the generality of Corrosives, and the like Acid or Saline Liquors, which work but upon few kinds of bodies, and soon coagulate, or exantlate themselves by working, and thereby become unfit for future operations; but I mean such as either are separable with all their efficacy from the dissolved Body; as is said of the Alkahest, or such Saline or other piercing Liquors, as not being precisely either Acid, Urinous, or Alcalizate can resolve a great variety of Concretes, without having their Virtue, I say not impaired, but destroyed thereby; and unlock Mineral bodies, far more than vulgar Menstruums, (as for instance by volatilizing them, or else making them irreducible, or working the like grand changes in them:) and if it be not quite separated from the dissolved Body, is yet so friendly to Humane Nature, as to be free from either fretting, or other such dangerous and offensive Qualities, and rather to be of itself a powerful Medicine. I should therefore exhort both You, and such other ingenious persons, as wish the advancement of Chemistry, and Physic, (I might possibly add Natural Philosophy too) to apply their Chemical attempts, chiefly to the finding out of Noble Menstruums, for by being possessor but of one of these, a Man may be able to do a great number of things, that otherwise are not to be performed; As one of our ordinary Goldsmiths, by the bare knowledge he hath of Aquafortis, can make many useful Experiments, about Silver, and Gold, that before that Menstruum was found out, all the Men of his profession in the World, were never able in many ages to compass. Nor do I much wonder at that advice, which Helmont gives those that aim at the improvement of Physic, in these Words: 
Helm. de febr. cap. 5. num. 26.  Quod si ad istud ignis arcanum non pertingatis (he was speaking of a prodigious, not to say incredible Liquor) discite saltem, salem Tartari reddere volatilem, ut hujus medio vestras solutiones perficiatis. Qui etsi sua soluta, anaticè homogenea deserat, digestus in nobis: illorum tamen aliquot vires mutuatus est, quos intra defert, plurimorum morborum do●itrices. For concerning this Salt, he not only elsewhere says: 
Helm. de feb●. ca●. 17. verse. f●acm.  Dicam saltem pro ingenuis, quod Spiritus Salis Tartari, si unicornu, argentum, hydrargyrum, lapides cancrorum, vel aliquod è simplicibus dissolverit, nedum febrim, sed & plures affatim morbos sanet, etc. But in another place he gives us, together with some account of its way of working, this great and comprehensive commendation of it. Mirum sanè, says he, quantum sal Tartari, vel unicum, volatile factum, 
Helm. de scholar. Humo●ista. pass, decept. cap. 2. numero 89.  non praestiterit: Nam omnem è venis amurcam detergit & obstruentium contumaciam, dispergitque apostematum suscepta conciliabula. De hoc salis (& non olei) spiritu, verum est illud Paracelsi, quod quocunque non attigerit vixalius potentior perveniet. These passages I should not think worth transcribing and laying together, but that I find that besides the concurrent Testimonies of Helmont, Paracelsus, and Basilius in prase of this Salt, the generality of the more inquisitive Chemists, without excepting the more sober and judicious, do, by the various and painful, though fruitless, attempts they have made to Volatilize Salt of Tartar, conspire in acknowledging it a thing highly worth labouring for; nor do I for my part see (whatever some say to the contrary, and however I have indeed found it more difficult, then perhaps a Novice in Chemistry would think) it should be impossible, for I have more than once with ease enough, made Gold itself volatile, though it be confessed to be the fixest body in the World, and consequently more fixed than Salt of Tartar, which in an open Vessel, may be in time made to fly away by a vehement fire; And I have likewise by an unusual Method, that I have elsewhere delivered, more than once obtained from a mixture of crude Tartar, and two or three Mineral bodies good store of true Volatile Salt, which I could see no just cause not to think afforded by the Tartar. But I confess this may be rather a volatile Salt of Tartar, than Salt (that is Alcali) of Tartar made volatile, and therefore the principal thing I mention it for, is to show you, that Tartar itself, by an unusual way of management, may be b●ought to afford an unusual kind of Salt. But this I can tell You, that an ingenious acquaintance of mine, whom notwithstanding my wont distrusts of Chemists, I durst credit, affirmed to me, that he had himself seen a true and real Sal Tartari volatile made of Alcali of Tartar, and had seen strange things done with it, insomuch that he believed most of the things, that Helmont delivers of it. For my part I am inclined to think, that Salt of Tartar may be made volatile, (whether in the form of a Sublimate or a Liquor) by more ways than one, though not all of them near equally good: and whereas one of the best (if not the very best) of the ways of volatilizing it, seems to do it principally with Spirit of Wine, and the great difficulty of that way consists in bringing this Spirit to associate with the salt: I have seen Salt of Tartar of my own, brought to that pass, which great Virtousi have long in vain attempted to bring it unto, namely, to flow readily upon a red hot Iron, and also to take fire, and burn with a conspicuous flame, besides that when it had been dried by a smart fire to drive away any parts that did not firmly adhere to it, it would yet readily dissolve in high rectified Spirit of Wine, which you know Salt of Tartar will not otherwise do; not to mention the change of its Alcalizate taste, and other lesser alterations; but what I can further say of this matter, I must not declare in this place.  
And Pyro. That You may not be as many other Virtousi, discouraged from labouring for noble Menstruums, by the confident persuasion of many, who believe Angelus Sala & Guntherus Billychius (whom I deny not to have been Learned Men, but do not take to have been great Master's of Chemical Arcana) fit to determine with Authority, what can, and what cannot be done by Chemistry, lest I say You should be, by such men's inconsiderate severity, brought to despair of ever seeing any noble Menstruum, that is not sharp to the taste, nor of any of the three peculiar kinds of Saline Liquor. (Acid as Aquafortis Urinous, as the Spirits of Blood, Urine, and other Animal substances, nor Alcalizate, as Oil of Tartar Per deliquium) I shall assure you, that to my own knowledge there is in the World a kind of Menstruum, that consists of a pure Crystalline substance, that is made by the fire, and as truly Saline as Salt of Tartar itself, which strange Salt, though well purified, and readily dissoluble, as well in dephlegmed Spirit of Wine, as common Water, and though it be totably volatile (whence you may guess of how Saline a nature it is) and also be either way reducible to a noble Menstruum, does really taste sweet; I mean not in the Chemical sense, by want of sourness (as when they say that the Calces of corroded and precipitated things are dulcified by frequent ablutions) but by a positive sweetness. And whereas the vulgar Saline Menstruums, (which alone seem to have been known to Sala and Billychius) are so specificated, if I may so express it, that what an Acid Menstruum dissolves, an Alcalizate, or an Urinous will precipitate, & è converso; And whichsoever you choose of these three sorts of Menstruums, one of the other two will disarm, and destroy it. I found by trial, not only that a Red Tincture of Glass of Antimony, being drawn with a Menstruum that was but a degree to this Liquor, I could not precipitate it like our common Tinctures, either with Spirit of Urine, or an Alcalizate Solution. But that (which is for more considerable) though it would readily mix with Acid Spirits, as Oil of Vitriol, with Volatile and Urinous Spirits, as Spirits of Urine itself, and with Alkalizate Solutions; yet would neither of these three make any Ebullition at all with it, or seem to work at all upon it. But of such Matters no more at present.]   

CHAP. IX.  
YOu will perhaps expect, Pyrophilus, that, Treating of the advantages that may accrue to the Therapeutical part of Physic, from a more accurate knowledge of Natural Philosophy; I should tell you with the Chemists, that Chemistry itself, and much more Physiology in its full extent, is not only capable of improving the Pharmaceutical part or Preparation of Remedies; (for, that we have confessed already) but also of affording us a new and much better Methodus medendi, or skill of using the Helps, that Nature or Art hath provided against Diseases. And indeed the Physician's Art is so difficult, and a man must know so many things to be, though not tolerably, yet perfectly skilled in it, that it may without disparagement to Physicians, be thought yet capable of being improved, if not of being reform. Hypocrates begins his Aphorisms with a complaint, that Life is short, but the Art long. And Paracelsus himself, though he say after his boasting manner, Ars est longa, vita brevis, ubi autem donum finis (as he speaks) est, ibi ars est brevis, vita verum longa si arti conferatur: Yet expounding the same words a little above, he saith, Itaque Hypocrates meritò de eo conqueritur: nam & asseclis ipsius idem accidit: Ars medica consistit in Philosophia, Astronomia, Alchymia & Physica, meritò igitur dici potest Artem esse longam. Multum enim requiritur temporis, ad quatuor has Columnas Medicinae disscendas & perscrutandas. Celsus, who hath been styled Hypocrates Latinorum doth more than once call Physick a Conjectural Art, as particularly in that place where he saith, Est enim haec ars conjecturalis, 
Lib. 2. c. 6.  neque respondet ei plerumque non solum conjectura sed etiam Experientia. And well might these great men acknowledge their Art to be difficult, 
In Praefa●●●, Lib. 1.  since the two Instruments (as Galen calls them) of finding Arts, being Judgement and Experience, Hypocrates gives this Character of them; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And that Experience may be uncertain without the Theory of Physic, he that so much builds upon Experiments, Paracelsus himself seems to confess where expounding those words of Hypocrates, he saith, Hoc modo se habuit: Medicina in Principio, ut nullam Theoriam habuerit, sed solum Experientiam hoc laxare, hoc constipare, quomodo autem & cur, id ignoratum fuit: ideo unus salvatus est, alter perditus, nunc autem, etc. And concerning the Critical part of Physic (to allude to Hypocrates his expression) Galen who exercised his reason so much about it tells us, that Per rationem judicium haud quaquam facile existit, 
In Commentar. Apho●is. 2.  sed, si quid aliud, maximam habet difficultatem. And to confirm the difficulty of finding the best way of employing reason to the cure of Diseases, not only by the Authority of Galen, but his Arguments; Let me inform you, that after having told us how difficult a thing, and how rarely to be found is that reason, which considers, and determines what on every occasion is to be done, Neque enim (adds he) si veritas esset inventu facilis, tot ac tanti viri in ea quaerenda occupati, in tam contrarias sectas fuissent unquam dispertiti. And Paracelsus, whatever he often elsewhere boastingly affirmeth of himself, yet handsomely enough both expresseth and confesseth the difficulty of being a good Physician, in one of his Prefaces to the Students of Physic, where he says, Non Titulus, non Eloquentia, non Linguarum peritia, 
Pa●acelsus in his Preface to his Be●theona, or Chirurgia Mi●o●.  nec multorum Librorum lectio (& si hac non parum exornant) in Medico consideranda, sed summa rerum ac Mysteriorum cognitio, quae una facile aliorum omnium vices agit. Rhetoris quidem est diserte posse loqui ac persuadere atque judicem in suam sententiam trahere. Medici autem affectuum genera, causas ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 novisse, & iis insuper sagacitate ac industriâ Pharmaca applicare, atque pro cujuslibet ingenio ac ratione vel cunctis mederi: But though, Pyrophilus, after the acknowledgements made by such great men of the almost insuperable difficulty of their Art, you would perhaps think it no great presumption, if a man should attempt to innovate in any part of it, and consequently even in the Methodus medendi: Yet Pyrophilus, I am much too young, too unlearned, and to unexperienced, to dare to be dogmatic in a matter of so great moment. And the Physicians are a sort of men, to whose Learned Writings on almost all subjects, the Commonwealth of Learning is so much beholden, that I would not willingly descent from them, about those notions in their own profession, wherein they seem generally to agree; And do very much disapprove the indiscreet practice of our common Chemists and Helmontians, that bitterly and indiscriminately rail at the Methodists instead of candidly acquiescing in those manifest Truths, their Observations have enriched us with, and civilly, and modestly showing them their Errors where they have been mistaken. And yet, Pyrophilus, Since divers of the eminentest Methodists themselves have more than once ingeniously acknowledged to me, and seriously deplored with me, the incompleteness of their Art, (which perhaps made (that Learned Prince) the Late King tell them, that they were at best but good guessers) and since about divers particular dise●s●● we have observed, the Method of some of the most reputed Doctors in England (which yet, I think, is at this day as well stored with Learned Men of that profession, as any part of Europe) not only very differing, but repugnant to each other; I suppose we may without disrespect to their profession, descent from the most of them about those cases, about which they are reduced to disagree so much among themselves. And it would be worth an impartial disquisition, whether, since the Methodus medendi ought to be grounded on and accommodated to the Doctrine of Diseases, the new Anatomical discoveries formerly mentioned, and others not yet published do not by innovating divers things in Pathology, require some alterations & amendments in the Methodus Medendi? But in this particular, I dare yet affirm nothing, and therefore shall proceed to observe to you, that the unusual efficacies of new remedies, may probably make the Method of curing more compendious, because (as I lately also intimated) one Medicine may be so richly Qualified, as to answer several intentions, which in the common way, require diversity of Helps and Remedies. Thus, for instance in the Cure of the Kings-Evil, by the received Method, the Physician must propose to himself several scopes (suited to several indications) and prosecute them successively with distinct and appropriated Remedies. But I have (as I formerly also told you to another purpose) known a single Specifique Simple, given only in small Beer, in not very many days, without any sensible Evacuation, wast the peccant humour, appease the pains (which before were very great) and discuss the unbroken tumors, and heal the broken ones. Thus, according to the known Method, the great Remedy in Pleurisies is copious Blood-letting, which is strictly prescribed even to Aged persons and teeming Women, by the famousest of our Practitioners, and, I confess, not irrationally, where the Physician is furnished but with vulgar Remedies: and yet by some Helmontian Medicines, we have known Pleurisies cured even in young men, without Phlebotomy, and ourselves some while since made a successful trial of that Nature in a young Gentleman not unknown to you, which I mention not, with Helmont, to reject or so much as to disparage Phlebotomy in this disease (for so it be moderate and seasonable Experience shows it frequently proves useful) nor as if we had observed all helmont's boasted Remedies (though for the most part good ones) to be constantly successful; but to give you an instance of the truth, of what I was saying before, That new and more generous Remedies may so far alter the received Methodus Medendi, as to make divers of its prescriptions unnecessary. Of this truth, Pyrophilus, another instance might be afforded us by the Rickets, a new and abstruse Disease, at least as is supposed, and sometimes so stubborn, that one of the famousest Physicians in Europe, (whom I think I need not name) hath not been able of late to cure it in several of his own Children. And yet I suppose you may have heard that Excellent Person your Mother, several times mention her having performed divers cures (some of them improbable enough) of this Disease, barely by that slight preparation of Colcothar, lately taught you, and presented Her by us; And by which (we having made and distributed, at Her desire, a considerable quantity of it) several other Persons have freed Children from that disfiguring Sickness: Of which, but few Months since, your little Cousin D. being sick almost past hope, was a while since brought out of danger, by God's blessing upon some of the same Remedy, wherewith we presented her Mother, together with our persuasions to try it on her own Child, as she had successfully done on the Children of divers others. And yet this Remedy (to add that upon the By, in favour of something to be said anon) works almost insensibly, save that in many bodies it is, especially at first, diaphoretique. And this property of ●●at Remedy minds me to add, that it would not be amiss for Physicians, to consider whether or no (However, Bleeding, Purging, Vomiting, Issues, Glisters, Scarifications, and those other painful ways of Evacuation be not (however Chemists are too bitterly and unreservedly wont to reject them) to be altogether condemned and laid aside, yet) there may not in some particular diseases and bodies be found more gentle, and yet effectual ways of discharging Nature of that which offends her, than those painful and debilitating ones, which we have mentioned (without the use of one of the chief of which namely Phlebotomy we see that almost all kind of Diseases are cured in Children.) The contributing to render the ways of Cure less painful and weakening, would gratify so great a part of those who may need Physic, th●t I hope you will easily pardon my spending some Pages to that purpose. I consider then, that oftentimes the peccant matter, though very offensive by its qualities, is much lesser than is supposed, in quantity, and might, if we were but Masters of Specifique Remedies, either be breathed out by insensible transpiration, or carried off by Sweat or Urine, without tormenting, or weakening the Patient, by those other copious Evacuations of grosser Matter, which are always troublesome and painful enough, though not always effectual: Nay that even in Chirurgery itself, if those that practise it were as knowing as Nature has been bountiful, there would not be so often a necessity as 'tis commonly supposed there is of mutilating or tormenting the Patient to recover him. You cannot doubt, unless You will deny what Gulielmus Piso affirms, upon his own Observation, of the Cures done by the illiterate Indian Empirics. The passage You have seen already; But to it he adds so notable and ingenious an acknowledgement, that I cannot but honour him for it, and be willing to make way for the Credibility of a good part of what we are hereafter to deliver, in this discourse, by premising it. Immo (continues he) ex venenatorum fungorum aliorumque toxicorum esu, solo potu infusi recentis radicis Jaborandi in instanti à letho vindicatos, me aliisque Galeni Nepotibus haud parum pudore suffusis, post tot alexipharmacorum & theriacalium Antidotalium irritos conatus. Ita ut postea ejusmodi collegas barbaros subinde mihi adjungi passus sim, non adeo quidem nostratium valetudinem ad tactum arteriarum moderari quam dictis modis consilii copiam praebere solitos. Thus far he: Which premised, let us proceed to consider, more particularly, some of the less painful ways of freeing men from Diseases.   

CHAP. X.  
THat great Cures may be done by bare outward Applications, You will scarce deny, 
Franciscus Bernius, Donzellinus, Ernestus Burgravius, who commend it upon their own experience, besides very many that commend in general terms.  if you disbelieve not the Relations which are made us, by Learned Men, concerning the Efficacy of the Lapis Nephriticus, only, bound upon the Pulses of the Wrist's (chief that of the left Hand) against that stuborn and anomulous Disease the Stone: And that which gives the more credit to these Relations is, That not only the Judicious 
(a) De Lapid: & Gemm: lib: 2. cap: 11.  Anselmus Boetius de Boot seems to prise it, but the Famous Monardes' professeth Himself not to write by Hear-say, of the great Virtues of this Indian Stone, but to have made trial of it Himself upon persons of very high Quality: And that which is related by 
(b) Nicolaus Monardes' de simpli: Ind: Histor: Cap.: seu Tit: 20.  Monardes' is much less strange, than those almost incredible things which are with many circumstances delivered of that Stone, by the Learned Chemist 
(c) De Nephrit: lib: 1. cap. 24. where he hath nine or ten Observations which he calls Observationes rarae & inauditae de Lapet: Nephritico.  Untzerus. And although it must be acknowledged, That some Stones, that go under that name, have been ineffectually applied in Nephritick Distempers, Yet the accurate Johannes de Laet Himself, furnisheth us with an Answer to that Objection, informing us that many of those Nephritick Stones (which differ much in Colour, though the best are wont to be greenish) although not at all Counterfeited, or Sophisticated, are of little or no Virtue. But that yet there are some others of them which can scarce be distinguished from the former, but by trial upon Nephritick persons, which are of wonderful Efficacy, as he Himself hath more than once tried in his own Wife. Garcias ab Orta (lib: 1. cap: 53.) mentions a Stone, found in Balagat, 
De Gem: & Lapidibus lib. 1. cap. 23.  called Alaqueca; of which he tells us, That though it be cheap, Hujus tamen virtus (to use his own words) reliquarum Gemmarum facultates exuperat, quip qui sanguinem undiquaque fluentem illico sistat. Monardes' (cap: 35.) relates the great Virtues of a Stone against Hysterical Suffocations, and concludes, Cum uteri Suffocationem imminentem praesentiunt, adhibito lapide subito levantur, & si eum perpetuo gestant (Hysterici) nunquam simili morbo corripiuntur, exempla hujusmodi faciunt ut his rebus fidem adhibeam. The same Author in the next Chapter, treating of the Lapis Sanguinaris, or Blood Stone, found in new Spain, (having told us, that the Indians do most confidently believe, that if the Flesh of any Bleeding part be touched with this Stone, the Bleeding will thereby be staunched) adds this memorable Observation of his own, Vidimus nonnullos haemorrhoidum fluxu afflictos remedium sensisse, annulos ex hoc lapide confectos in digito continue gestando; nec non & Menstruum fluxum sisti. And of the formerly mentioned Lapis Porcinus, the Experienced Bontius (having mentioned how the Indians give the Wine wherein it hath been steeped, against the Disease called Cholera; which is as much and as justly feared, by the Islanders of Java, as the Plague is in Holland) adds this memorable passage, Pragnantibus tamen hic lapis non bene datur; nam abortum provocare adeo certum est, ut foeminae Malaicae mihi retulerint ut si quando Menstrua eorum purgatio non bene procedat, si saltem hunc lapidem manu gestent juvamentum se inde sentire. And the relations, Pyrophilus, that I may in another place present You with, concerning the wonderful Stone, formerly mentioned, with which your Grandfather performed such eminent Cures, (particularly of the Stone in the Lord of Falkland, than Deputy of Ireland, and others, to whose Backs it was applied) will, I suppose, make You the more readily give credit to the Relations of the Authors we have newly mentioned. What Monardes' mentions of the Virtue of the Lapis Sanguinaris, to Cure Haemorrhoidal Fluxes, puts me in mind of a yet much stranger thing, which Helmont affirms, 
Helm. de Febr. cap. 2.  namely, That he could make a Metal, of which, if a Ring were worn, the pain of the Haemorrhoids would be taken away, in the little time requisite to recite the Lords prayer; and within twenty four Hours the Haemorrhoids themselves, as well internal as external, how protuberant so ever, would vanish, and the restagnant Blood would (as he speaks) be received again into favour, and be restored to a good condition. The same Ring he also commends in the suffocation and irregular motion of the Womb, and divers other Diseases: But if Paracelsus be in any case to be credited in an unlikely matter, We may think, by his very solemn Protestations, that he speaks upon his own experience; That he had a Ring made of a Metalline substance, by him called Electrum, (which, by his description, seems to be a mixture of all the Metals joined together under certain Constellations) which was of far greater Virtue than this of Helmont; For, hoc loco (says he) non possum non indicare admirandas quasdam vires virtutesque electri nostri, 
Paracels. in Archidox Magic. lib. 5.  quas fieri his nostris oculis vidimus, adeoque cum bona veritatis conscientia proferre attestarique possumus. Vidimus enim hujus generis annulos, quos qui induit, hunc nec spasmus convulsit, nec Paralysis corripuit, nec dolor ullus torsit, similiter nec apoplexia, nec epilepsia invasit. Et si annulus hujusmodi Epileptici digito annulari, etiam in paroxysmo saevissimo, insertus fuit, remittente ilico paeroxismo, aeger à lapsu ilico resurrexit. etc. But to take notice of some other outward Remedies. To our present Theme belongs that noble Cure, 
De Operat. Chirurg p. 1. cap. 51.  performed by the Famous and experienced Fabritius ab Aquape●dente; who tells us, That he Cured a man of a Scirrhus Lienis, and a Dropsy, by the long use of Sponges, moistened with strong common Lime Water, and then expressed and worn upon the Spleen; notwithstanding the Muscles of the Abdomen, and all the other parts that lie betwixt the applied Spong and the part affected. And to this we may add, the strange Cures mentioned by Kircherus; and confirmed to me, by a Learned Eye witness, to be frequently performed of very dangerous Diseases, in that Cave, near Rome, where the Patients being exposed stark naked, and tied Hand and Foot, upon Beds of Straw; and being by the Sulphureous vapour of the place and sometimes their own fear, cast into a sweat, are licked well by a great number of peculiar kind of Serpents that inhabit that Grotta. Moreover, We oftentimes see Agues Cured by Annulets and Applications to the Wrists. And I myself was, about two Years since, strangely Cured of a violent Quotidian, which all the wont Method of Physic had not so much as abated, by applying to my Wrists a mixture of two handfuls of Bay-Salt, two handfuls of the freshest English Hops, and a quarter of a Pound of blue Currants very diligently beaten into a brittle Mass, without the addition of any thing moist, and so spread upon Linen Cloth and tied about the Wrists. And with the same Remedies (which yet we have observed sometimes to fail) have divers others been cured, both of Quotidian and Tertian Agues: Nay an Eminent Physician gave me, lately, thanks for the great Effects he had found of it, even in continual Fevers.  
And here, Pyrophilus, I shall not scruple to acquaint You, with my having sometimes wished, That Physicians had been a little mo●e curious to make Observations and Trials of the distinct Operations of various Bodies outwardly applied. For I consider that, in some of them, the subtle Corpuscles, (which seem to insinuate themselves into the Pores of the Body, and into the Mass of Blood, with little or no alteration) have much the like Operations with the Body whence they exhale, taken in at the Mouth. As we see in some Preparations of Sulphur, which have like Virtues, inwardly given and outwardly applied; and more manifestly in Cantharideses, which I have found, by external application, to work strangely upon the Bladder, as that they excoriated it when taken into the Body; & yet more manifestly in Quicksilver, which by inunction may be made as well to Salivate, as if it were swallowed down. And an eminent Physician lately complained to me, That washing a Child's scabby Head with a Decoction of Tobacco, to kill and dry up the Scabs, the Boy was made thereby both sick and drunk: And Learned Men assure us, That, by some cathartics outwardly applied, those may be purged that will not swallow Physic. But other Medicines there are, which, before they get into the Mass of Blood, are much altered; either in straining through the Flesh and Membranes of the Body, or in the Digestions they pass through in the Stomach, and elsewhere: And these may have very differing Effects, inwardly given and outwardly applied; as, in the formerly mentioned instance of Hops, Currans and Salt, neither any of the Ingredients inwardly given, nor the mixture hath been (that I know of) noted for any Febrifugal Virtues. So likewise Turpentine and Soot that inwardly taken are good for quite other Diseases, (as Pleurisies, and Obstructions of the Kidneys) outwardly applied are the main Ingredients of Pericarpiums, extolled against Agues. And Millefolium or Yarrow, besides the Virtues it hath inwardly against Diseases of quite other Natures, being worn in a little Bag upon the tip of the Stomach, was (as Himself confessed to me) the Secret, against Agues, of a great Lord, who was very curious of Receipts and would sometimes purchase them at very great Rates; And a very famous Physician, of my acquaintance, did since inform me, That he had used it with strange success. I know also a very happy Physician, who assures me, That he hath very often cured, both in himself and others, the Chilblains when they come to be broken, by barely strowing on the sore parts the fine powder of Quinces thinly sliced and dried. And who knows what unexpected Operations divers other Bodies may have, when outwardly applied, if various Trials of that Nature were skilfully made; especially, since we see that (for reasons elsewhere to be considered) some Bodies seem to have quite contrary Operations, when outwardly applied and inwardly taken. For we see that Spirit of Wine does, in several cases, alloy the inflammation of the external parts, which given inwardly, would quickly inflame the body. And our often commended Piso, speaking of a choice Remedy for those Distempers of the Eyes, that used to trouble Men in Brasil, adds, Idem quoque praestat manipahera, ex radice Mandihoca, quae licet pota venenosa habeatur (as we formerly noted out of his and other Testimonies) oculis tamen prodest, visumque emendat. And if the Simples, to be outwardly applied, be skilfully prepared, That may much vary and improve their operations. As we see that Vitriol, which is made of Copper, or Iron corroded by, and Coagulated with Acid Salts, hath outwardly divers Virtues which crude Copper has not, either outwardly or inwardly. And Gold Dissolved in Aqua R●gis, and precipitated with Oil of Tartar, is inwardly, as far as I can discover, gently Purgative; yet the same Aurum fulminans being calcined with twice or thrice it's weight of Flowers of Brimstone, till the Flores be burnt away, is known to be much commended by Chemists, and others, for a Diaphoretic. But though, as to any outward Virtues of the same Powder, Physicians and Chemists are wont to be silent, yet probably it may have very great ones, as well as quite differing from those it has, being taken at the Mouth. For I know a Person, that being grievously tormented with exulcerated Haemorrhoides, a very expert Chemist of my acquaintance, not knowing what else to do, applied to the part affected, an Ointment consisting only of Aurum fulminans prepared and fixed by a slight and familiar way (which you may command) and made up with a little Oil of sweet Almonds, into a requisite consistence; and though presently upon the application of the Remedy, the pain for a quarter of an Hour hugely increased, yet soon after it abated, and the Hemorrhoids the next day were closed, and the day after went away; Nor has the Patient ever since (that is, for some Years) been troubled with any thing of Relapse. And the same Physician assures me, that with the like Remedy he has found a strange effect in Venereal Ulcers. And perhaps to this may be referred what has been found by some friends of mine, that Phlegm of Vitriol, and Saccharum Saturni, which not only inwardly given are said much to cool the Blood, but outwardly applied are good for Burns and hot Humours, do yet potently discuss cold tumors. But lest you should say, that this diversity may proceed (at least in part) from the Corpuscles of differing Natures, that may be imagined in the forementioned Medicines; I shall return to what I was discoursing of before, and take notice of the Efficacy of some other external Remedies.  
[Since the beginning of this ESSAY, I saw a lusty and very sprightful Boy, Child to a Famous Chemical Writer, who, as his Father assu●'d me and others, being by some Enemies of this Physicians, when he was yet an Infant, so bewitched that he constantly lay in miserable torment, and still refusing the Breast, was reduced by pain and want of food to a desperate condition, the experienced Relater of the Story, remembering that Helmont attributes to the Electum Minerale immaturum Paracelsi the Virtue of relieving those whose distempers come from Witchcraft, did according to helmont's prescription hang a piece of this Noble Mineral about the Infant's Neck, so that it might touch the Pit of the Stomach, whereupon presently the Child, that could not rest in I know not how many Days and Nights before, fell for a while a sleep, and waking well, cried for the Teat, which he greedily sucked, from thenceforth hastily recovering, to the great wonder, both of his Parents, and several others that were astonished at so great and quick a change. And though I am not forward to impute all those Diseases to Witchcraft, which even Learned Men Father upon it; yet it's considerable in our present case, that whatsoever were the cause of the Disease, the Distemper was very great and almost hopeless, and the cure suddenly performed by an outward application, and that of a Mineral; in which compacted sort of Bodies, the finer parts are thought to be more locked up.]  
Among the proofs of the efficacy of appended Remedies, we must not pretermit the memorable Examples, that are delivered by the Judicious Boëtius de Boot, 
De Lapid. & Gem. l. 2. cap. 102.  concerning the Virtues of that sort of Jasper, which is blood red throughout the whole Body of the Stone, not being mingled with any Colour: Testari possum (says he) me, qui alias lapidibus & geminis tantas vires, quantas vulgus solet, non tribuo, credibile vix, de Jaspidis viribus, observasse. Nam cum ancilla fluxu menstruorum ita laborasset per aliquot dies, ut nullo modo sisti posset, Jaspidem rubram impolitam & rudem femori alligari jussi. Alius (in eadem Domo) cum in pede vulneratus esset, nec sanguinis fluxus cohiberi posset, admoto lapide, extemplo impeditus fuit, licet vulnus non tegeretur. To these he adjoins a much more memorable Example, of a Maid he cured at Prague, who had been for six Years sick of an Hemorrhagy so vehement, that there scarce ever passed a Week, in which she did not several times Bleed, neither could she be relieved by any Remedies, though she had long used them, till she was quite tired with them; wherefore our Author setting them all aside, lent her a Jasper, of whose Virtues in such cases he had made good trial, to hang about her Neck, which when she did, the flux of Blood presently ceased, and she afterwards for curiosity sake, oftentimes laying aside the Stone, and as often as she needed it, applying it again, observed, That whereas the flux of Blood did not presently return upon the absence of the Jasper, but after divers Weeks, yet upon the hanging it on again it would presently be stopped, so that she could not ascribe the relief to any thing but the Stone, by which our Author tells us, that at length she was quite cured: And speaking of the praises given by others to Green jasper speckled with Red, he concludes, Sed ego, quod multoties expertus sum, refero. But amongst the Operations of outwardly appended Medicines, I have scarce met with a stranger then that which the Experienced Henricus ab Heer, mentions in the fourteenth of those Observations which he truly styles Rare, 
In observa. Medic. oppido raris. pag. 194.  namely, That a Woman, who had by an unskilful Midwife the Bladder Lacerated, and thereby been subject to a perpetual Incontinentia Vrinae, and had been reduced constantly to wear a Silver Pipe, was perfectly helped, by wearing, as a Gipsy had taught her, a little Bag hung about her Neck, containing the Powder made of a live Toad, burnt in a New Pot: Which relation I the rather mention, not only because the Author having tried the Remedy upon a Merchant, to whom an unskilful Lythotomist had left the like Disease, found it presently to succeed; But because having been very desirous to have further trial made of so odd a Remedy, by a curious Physician, he lately gave me this Account of it, that though in one or two it had failed, yet having given some of the powder to an inquisitive Person, known to us both, he assured him it had succeeded in two or three. (and the Disease is too unfrequent, to give occasion to have the Remedy often tried) And the Physician adds, that one of those Patiens tells him, (the Physician) That though her infirmity were occasioned by a Laceratio Vesicae, yet the yet the Remedy helps her as long as she wears it about her, in case she renew the Powder, when the Virtue of it begins to decay: but that (which is remarkable to our present purpose) if she leaves it off awhile, she finds the Disease return. The same Henricus ab Heer, among his freshly commended Observations, hath another of a little Lady, whom he concludes to have been cast into the strange and terrible D●stemper, which he there particularly Records, by Witchcraft. Upon so severe an examination of the Symptoms made by himself, in his own House, that if, notwithstanding his solemn Professions of veracity, he mis-relate them not, I cannot wonder he should confidently impute so prodigious a Disease to some supernatural cause. But though the Observation, with its various Circumstances, be very well worth your perusing; yet that, for which I here take notice of it, is, what he adds about the end of it, concerning his having cured her, after he had in despair of her Recovery sent her back to her Parents, by an outward Medicine, namely, an Ointment which he found extolled against Pains produced by Witchcraft, in a Dutch Book of Carrichter's: (where also I remember I met with it set down a little differently from what he delivers) Of which wonderful Ointment, the Ingredient that he found so extremely difficult to procure, namely, The Misseltoe of Hazel, being in England not so rare, but that I have more than once got it, and found it, as he intimates, very green, and (what he mentions not) extremely bitter, I could wish that those that have the opportunity would make trial. For besides what Carrichter delivers, and our Author relates of it, a Learned Physician did highly commend it to the Judicious Gregorius Horsius. And though, if we allow it to cure bewitched Patients, the virtue that may be in external Remedies, will be made so much the more conspicuous; yet supposing the Diseases to be, though strange, yet but natural, we cannot but allow that there may be a wonderful efficacy in an outward Remedy, since it was able, only by anointing the Joints, and those pained parts with it, to cure a radicated Disease, attended with such wonderful and horrid Symptoms. And after this it may seem but little, what else would appear a strange thing, which Helmont affirms of a Plaster he had, 
Helmont, de febr. cap. 14. vers. finem.  wherewith he tells us, That he safely cured hundreds of Quartans, even Autumnal, without relapse: elsewhere he saith, That he made this Plaster, for by the Circumstances I presume he means no other, of a few resolving and abstersive things; and adds, 
Cap. 17. in sine.  That it never failed him, but only that in fat Persons it succeeded more slowly. And yet in these, and the like ways of curing Diseases, though approved, if not also commended, by eminent Physicians both Ancient and Modern, there is no sensible evacuation made of peccant Humours, which perhaps materially remain in the Body, and may, by the Effluvia of these Remedies, be deprived of their former Qualities, and made so far obsequious to nature, that she is able, if need be, to ease herself of them by Sweat, Urine, or undiscerned transpiration.  
And that the peccant Humours remaining for awhile materially in the Body, the Disease may sometimes be removed, may appear by the Cures which we see now and then performed of Agues by sudden frights; by which no discernible evacuation is made of Humours, though probably some considerable change be thereby produced in the temper of the mass of Blood, or in the Texture of the Morbific Matter: (as Physicians call it) As seems probable both from divers other things mentioned here and there in this Essay, and particularly from the lately recited Passage of Helmont, where he takes notice of the rectifying of the peccant, and, by Nature, rejected Blood, without any sensible evacuation upon the wearing of His Ring. I knew a Gentleman, a strong and a resolute Man, who had been long a Soldier, and attained the highest sort of Military Employments; notwithstanding which, he was strangely fearful of Rats, and could not endure the sight of them: This Gentleman, having been long troubled with an obstinate Quartan, and traveled with it into several Countries, without being able to find any Cure for it, coming at length accidentally and suddenly into a place where a great Rat was in a corner, whence he could not fly from the Gentleman, he furiously leaped upon him (yet without biting him) and thereby put him into a fright, 
Observe: Cent. 1, Observe; 4●.  which freed him from the Ague that had so long importuned him. And the experienced Salmuth tells us a pleasant Observation, of one who was cured even of the Gout by a fright. For this Man having his Feet and Hands covered with a Poultis, made of Turnips, Flower and Milk, and being left in his Chair in a low Room, was, whilst his Servants were all gone into the Garden, assaulted by a Sow, who finding the Door open, and invited by the smell of the Cataplasm, came to devour it; and striving to do so, flung the sick Man and the Chair to the Ground, and put him into such a fright, that our Author tells us, That that very Day his Pains decreased, and continued lessening by degrees, till at length they wholly left him, without ever returning to trouble him again. There are divers Instances that discover what great changes may be produced in the Body, without taking in any thing visibly at the Mouth. And on the other side a good Air alone doth often, in Consumptions and other Diseases, perform what hath in vain been expected from the use of emptying Physic. It were to be wished that we had, among our European Physicians, the Physic Books of those of China; For though our Doctors are much more Learned Men than theirs, yet probably their Writings and their Practice may teach us something that is new, and something making for our present purpose. For the famous Jesuit Semedo informs us, 
History of China, part. 1. chap. 12.  That the Books of our Physicians having not yet been brought to China, they are instructed in their Art by abundance of their own Writers; and that though in their practice they do not let Blood (as th● Learned Varenius tells us, 
[N B]  That neither do the Japonian Doctors) or set Cupping-glasses, though they use no Syrrups, nor Potions, nor any Issues, but are only Herbarists, using nothing but Herbs, Roots, Fruits, Seeds, etc. yet Physic (to use our Author's Words) is in a very good condition in China. 

Medicinae faciendae mediocr●m habent peritiam.— Aegris salsa, acria, & plura propo●unt, dicente Ma●f●o, pisces & coachylia Pha●maca suavia & odorata.  
[NB] Sanguinem nunquam eliciunt, Magnam Medicorum dignitatem vide●e est ex Epistola Almeidae ubi narrat, etc. Bern: Varenius, in Descript: Regn: Japon. Cap. 25.   (as Almeida also tells us, That the Physicians are much esteemed in Japan) And of the skill of some of the Chinese in that Art, he gives us in the same Chapter some considerable Instances. And though, as we said it is very likely that their Doctors are much inferior, in point of Learning to ours, yet it is considerable, that in so vast, so civilised, and so poulous a Country, Physic can be practised with reputation, without the use of those Evacuations which are here so frequently made by Phlebotomy, Potions and Issues. Nor should we only expect some improvement to the Therapeutical part of Physic, from the Writings of s● ingenious People as the Chineses; but probably the knowledge of Physicians might be not inconsiderably increased, if Men were a little more curious to take notice of the Observations and Experiments, suggested partly by the practice of Midwives, Barbers, old Women, Empirics, and the rest of that illiterate crew, that presume to meddle with Physic among ourselves; and partly by the Indians and other barbarous Nations, without excepting the People of such part of Europe itself, where the generality of Men is so illiterate and poor, as to live without Physicians. For where Physic is practised by Persons that never studied the Art of it in Schools or Books, many things are wont to be rashly done, which though perhaps prejudicial, or even fatal to those on whom they were tried, may afford very good Hints to a Learned and Judicious Observer: Besides, where the Practitioners of Physic are altogether illiterate, there oftentimes Specificks; may be best met with. For such Persons, being wont, for want of skill in Physic, and particularly the Art of mixing Simples, and in that of varying their Remedies according to Circumstances, do almost wholly rely upon Specificks; whose Virtues, from their practice, may be sometimes better gathered, then from that of skilful Physicians, in regard that those Empirics (besides, that they assist not with any skill in the Methodus medendi the virtues of their Remedies) are wont, for the Reasons newly mentioned, to try obstinately, and to the uttermost, the effects of their few specificks. And the nature o● their Medicines may be the better known, in regard they are not wont to blend them, as Learned Men but too often do, with many other Ingredients, whose Mixture, as we formerly noted, either altars their nature, or makes it difficult to determine (as Galen himself in a like case confesseth, 
Gal: in Aphor: Hipp. Comment. 1.  Nam ut verum fateamur haec difficilis quoque res est & rara inventu cum post multa remedia adhibita agrotanti quod ex iis in causa fuisse dicitur ut melius pejusve habeat) whether the effect be to be ascribed to what is given for the specific, or to some other of the Ingredients, or to the whole Compound as such. The experienced Bontius, in his excellent little Tract De Medicina Indorum, doth more than once confess, That it is very undeservedly that the Europeans look upon the East Indians as Barbarians. 
Lib. 2. Dialog: 7.  And even of those among them, that are ignorant of other things, he hath this Passage, Hinc etiam fit quod homines caeteris rebu● idiotae tam exactam herbarum & stirpium nanciscantur scientiam ut si vel Doctissimus Pawius, nostri avi Botanicorum princeps è mortuis resurgens huc veniret, miraretur se ab hisce hominibus barbaris doceri posse. And Linschoten in his Voyages, 
Voyages chap. ●4.  speaking of th●t F●mous Mart of the East Indies, the City of Goa, where the Viceroy and the Archbishop resided, and he himself lived: These Heathenish Physicians (saith he, mentioning those of Goa) do not only cu●e their own Nation and Countrymen, but even the Portugals also; for even the Viceroy himself, the Archbishop, and all the Monks and Friars, do put more trust in them then in their own Countrymen, whereby they get great store of Money, and are much honoured and esteemed. I have not now the leisure to acquaint you with what I might allege, to confirm this truth out of the practices of the illiterate Natives of some not yet sufficiently civilised parts of Ireland, and the Inhabitants of some other places where Physicians have not yet settled: But I shall mind you of the Confession of Celsus, where speaking of Physic, Haec nunquam (saith he) non est: siquidem etiam imperitissimae gentes herbas aliaque prompta in auxilium vulnerum morborumque noverunt. 
Preface, Lib. 1.  And I wish that other Learned Men would imitate the commendable example not only of Prosper Alpinus, who Writ a Treatise De Medicinâ Aegyptiorum; and of Jacobus Bontius, in his Medicina Indorum, but of Gulielmus Piso, who hath lately presented the World with the rude ways of curing, used by the Brasilians themselves, in his new and curious Books De Medicina Brasiliensi, in the beginning of the second of which, he much confirms what we have been delivering, in the ensuing Passage: 
Piso de Medic; Br●si: Lib: 2. Cap: 1.  Quemadmodum multa in tam crassa Barbarie cruda vel corrupta arteque Hippocraticâ indigna reperiuntur; sic etia● non pauca utilissima antiquitatem redolentia: quae vel eruditissimos medicos ad urnas medicinae subjiciunt, observanda occurunt. Quip cum multarum Artium rudimenta vel ab ipsis Animantibus brutis (quibus benigna mater Natura arte insita imprimis curandis morbis destitui noluit) ad nos redundare fatendum sit; Quis dubitet ab his mortalibus, licet remotissimis à dogmaticâ & rationali medendi arte, non plurima nobilissima at secreta remedia atque antidota, medendi morbos veteribus incognitos quotidiè ad posteros derivari? quibus paulatim ad manum traditis & tandem quasi in succum & sanguinem à rationalibus conversis doctorum scholae & libri superbiunt? And to this agrees very well that grave saying of our experienced Harvey, to the very Learned Doctor Ent: 
Georg: Ent in Epistol: praefix: Exercit Harvei de Gen: Animal.  Nulla gens tam Barbara est quae non aut fortuitò, aut inevitabili quadam necessitate coacta, aliquid in usum communem adinvenerit quod Nationes alias humaniores latuit. Nor should we disdain the Remedies of such illiterate People, only because of their being unacquainted with our Theory of Physic. For though I will not say, as the old Empirics wittily enough did in that Passage of Celsus, Requirere etiam, ratio idem doceat quod experientia, an aliud? Si idem supervacuum esse, si aliud etiam contrarium. But lest we should, by too great reliance on the Galenical, or other ancient Opinions, neglect useful Remedies, because presented by Persons that ignore them, and perhaps too, hold Opinions contrary to them, I shall leave you to consider what is in the Person of the same Emperical Sect, represented by Celsus, where having spoken of the darkness of the causes of Things, and the uncertainty of the Theorems of Physic: Ac nihil istas cogitationes (saith he) ad Medicinam pertinere, eo quoque disci, quod qui diversa de his senserint ad eandem tamen sanitatem homines perduxerint. 
Celsi p●●es●tione ad Lib. 1.  Id enim fecisse, quia non ab obscuris causis neque à naturalibus actionibus, quae apud eos diversae erant: sed ab Experimentis, prout cuique respondeant, medendi vias traxerint, ne inter initia quidem ab istis quaestionibus deductam esse medicinam sed ab Experimentis, etc. For though this Sentence ascribes too little to reason, yet there is something in it that deserves to be considered: Especially since we observe not that the late Anatomical Discoveries of the motion of the Chyle and Limphatick Liquor, by formerly unknown ways, in newly detected Vessels, hath yet made Men cure Diseases much better than before. Not that I think that Anatomical and Pathological Discoveries will not, in process of time (when the Historia facti shall be fully and indisputably made out, and the Theories thereby suggested, clearly established) highly conduce to the improvement of the Therapeutical part of Physic; but yet this Observation may make it the more reasonable to beware of relying so much upon the yet disputable Opinions of Physicians, as to despise all Practices, though usually successful, th●t agree not with them: For of such our Author speaks well, In omnibus ejusmodi cogitationibus in utramque partem disseri posse, itaque ingenium & facundiam vincere: morbos autem non eloquentiâ sed remediis curari; quae si quis elinguis usu discreta benè nôrit, hunc aliquanto majorem medicum futurum quam si, sine usu, linguam suam excoluerit. And Paracelsus spoke well too, if he spoke truly, when in one of his Prefaces, speaking to those whom he invited to hear him expound his Books of Phyfick and Chirurgery at Basil, Illos tamen (saith he of the formerly mentioned Books) non aliorum mo●e ex Hippocrate aut Galeno, aut quibuslibet emendicatus, sed quos summa rerum doctrina, experientia atque labour assecut us sum, proinde si quid probaturus experimenta, ac ratio, auctorum loco, mihi suffragantur.  
It would, Pyrophilus, I fear, be tedious to trouble you here with all that I have met with in good Authors applicable to my present subject, and the Design I have been prosecuting in favour of external Remedies: But yet one Passage there is, which doth so notably confirm what we have delivered, as well touching the Efficacy of simple Medicines, as the great cures that may, in divers cases, be performed by outward Applications, that I must not here omit the mentioning of it, as I find it in the Epistle Written out of Peru to the inquisitive Monardes', in these words: In urbe Posto, 
P●trus de Osma in E●ist. ad Monard. quae erstat. in libello de simplicibus medicamentis ex Occidentali India delatis.  ubi aliquot annis vixi, omnis generis morbos Indus quidam curabat solo cujusdam Plantae succo artubus & parti affectae illito. Aegros deinde stragulis egregiè tegebat ad sudorem provocandum: Sudor è partibus illitis emanans, merus sanguis erat, quem lineis pannis abstergebat, atque ita in curatione pergebat, donec satis sudasse putaret, optimis interea cibis eos alens. Eo Remedio multi morbi deplorati curabantur, imò agri juniores & robustiores ab ejus usu fieri videbantur; sed neque pretio, neque precibus, neque minis unquam ●fficere potuimus, ut eam plantam nobis demonstraret.   

CHAP. XI.  
BUt, Pyrophilus, besides such external Medicines as work after the manner of those I have heretofore mentioned, we may possibly without absurdity, provided we do it without credulity, inquire, Whether there may not be a sort of others that operate, in a more wonderful and extraordinary way? And it would not perhaps be altogether unworthy the Experiment, to try whether or no, there may not sometimes be performed, such cures as are wont to pass, either for Fabulous or Magical; some of them being to be done without exhibiting, or applying any thing immediately to the Patient, and others by some such unknown ways as those which Chemists call, either Magnetism, or Transplantation: such as are the cures reported to be performed by the Weapon-salve, and Sympathetick Powder, and such as is that cure of the Yellow Jaundice (mentioned with some variation by Paracelsus) wherein seven or nine cakes (for it must, forsooth, be an odd number) are made up with the newly emitted and warm Urine of the Patient, and the Ashes of Ashwood, and buried for some days in a Dunghill. For it is not only by the easy and superstitious vulgar, that the possibility of performing such cures, by transplantation, or some other Magnetical way (as they are pleased to call it) hath been believed; For within the compass of my own slender reading, I find that divers Eminent Physicians, have both made use of, and commended Magnetical Remedies.  
What is to be thought of the Sympathetick Powder; I confess I am as yet in doubt, but however I shall take this occasion to inform you, That a very honest Gentleman, whom his Pen has made known to a great part of the Learned Men, and Virtuosos in Europe, complaining often to me, that though he were much troubled with, that sad disease, the Stone in the Bladder, yet he was more incessantly tormented with an Ulcer he had in the same part (all the searching Medicines that he took to dissolve, as he hoped, the Stone, exasperating the Ulcer:) I one day advised him to make trial of the Powder of Sympathy, upon some of the Ulcerous Matter he voided with his Urine; the Remedy being such, as if it had a Magnetic Virtue, might do him good, and if it had none, could not prejudice him; a while after, I received both from him in a Letter, and from his Physician very great thanks for the advice; the Patient having since the use of the Powder, been eased of the distinct pain he was put to by the Ulcer, and this relief lasted, if I misremember not, above a Year, and how much longer I know not. But I shall not insist either upon this, or upon the Testimonies and Relations of Paracelsus, Helmont, Goclenius, Burgravius, nor even the modern Roman Doctor Servius, nor any of the other Authors that do professedly take upon them the defence of the Weapon-Salve, by reason of what we have elsewhere to Write to you, by way of Examination of that Salve, and the Sympathetick Powder, though I deny not in some Trials, I have found them unavailable; Yet besides what I have newly related, I have seen sometimes something follow upon the use of the Symathetick Powder, that did incline me to think, that sometimes it might work Cures. But I shall allege something of more unsuspected credit, and first Dominicus Panarola now Professor of Physic at Rome in his newly divulged Fasciculus Arcanorum presents us two instances to our present purpose, 
Panarola Fase: Arcan. 1.  in these wor●s. Mira (says he) quotidie reperiuntur in Medicina ad confirmationem operis quod Doctissimus Physicus, Petrus Servius (the same we lat●ly mentioned) complevit de unguento armario, sciendum ●st, quòd petia sanguine imbuta sub cineribus calidis posita menses sistit experimento pluries comprobata: quin etiam Magister meus Petrus Castellus whose name his late Anatomy of the Civet Cat, and other Writings have made Famous) ajebat se expertum fuisse Hemorrihoides, si tangantur tuberosa radice Chondrilla, siccari, si Chondrilla siccetur; corrumpi vero si corrumpatur: 
Centur. 3. Observat. 34.  quapropter sub Camino exsiccanda ponitur, post hujusmodi tactum Chondrilla tuberosa. The Learned Salmuth in his Observations furnishes us with an Example of a most violent pain of the Arm, removed by Transplantation: They did beat up Red Corals with Oaken leaves, and having kept them on the part affected, till suppuration; they did in the Morning put this mixture into an Hole bored with an Auger in the Root of an Oak, respecting the East, and stopped up this Hole with a Peg, made of the same Tree, from thenceforth the pain did altogether cease, and when they took out the Amulet, immediately the torments returned sharper than before. A great and excellent Lady (a near Kinswoman, Pyrophilus, of yours and mine) and very far from credulous, confessed to me, as did her servants also, that with the above mentioned Remedy of Ashes and Urine, she was not only once cured of the Yellow Jaundice, by a Friend of hers that had observed, that she had been fruitlessly vexed by a Tedious course of Physic, prescribed by the famousest Doctor then in England; but that afterwards relapsing into that same Disease she had cured herself by the same Remedy. I remember, that being some years since brought almost to the brink of the Grave by a sudden effusion of Blood within my Body, from which without a signal mercy of God, I should not have recovered, among other men skilled in Physic that came to assist me, in that danger, I was visited by a Galenist of much repute, whose pale looks inviting me to inquire what it was that ailed him, he answered me, That he had not long before been desperately sick of an obstinate Marasmus, which notwithstanding all the Remedies he could use, did daily so consume him, that he appeared but a Skeleton, whereupon having found the uneffectualness of ordinary Remedies, and being hopeless of being relieved by them, he resolved to try a Sympathetick Medicine, which I remember myself to have met with in Hartman. He took then an Egg, and having boiled it hard in his own warm Urine, he with a Bodkin perforated the shell in many places, and then buried it in an Anthil, where it was left to be devoured by the Emmets, and as they wasted the Egg, he found his distemper to lessen, and his strength to increase, insomuch that he now conceived his Disease to have quite left him.  
The Experienced Riverius in his last Observations (newly published since his Death) has two notable Examples to our present purpose. For 
(a) River. C●nt. 4. O●ser. 63  first, he tells us, that the eldest Daughter of a great Officer in France, was so tormented with a Paronychia for four days together, that the pain made her pass the night sleepless; whereupon having by Riverius his order, put her Finger into a Cat's Ear, within two hours she was delivered from her Pain, and her whole hand, which before was Tumid, unswelled again; except the Finger, which itself was out of Pain. 
(b) River. Cent. 4. Observ. 19  The other case was of a Counsellors Wife, who by the same Remedy was cured of a Panaritium (which had for four days vexed her) in a much shorter time than the other, namely within a quarter of an Hour. But that which chiefly makes these stories pertinent to our present occasion, is this notable Circumstance, that in both these cases, the Cat was so manifestly put to pain, that Riverius thought it had attracted to itself the morbific matter from which it freed the Patient; For in the former of these two cases, the Cat loudly complained of the pain he felt, and in the other, was, in that short time the cure was in performing, put to so much pain in his Ear, that two men were hardly able to hold him fast, he struggled so forcibly. And these two relations of Riverius, may, though there be some disparity in the cases, give some countenance to what might otherwise be disinherited in the Observations of the Industrious 
(c) In Historiar. & Observ. 3. Medico-●hysicar. Cent. 3. Observ. 28.  Petrus Borellus, where he says, Podagra mirè levatur, si catelli cumpodagrico recumbant, morbum enim contrahunt adeo ut vix incedere queant; Aeger verò levamen suscipit. Which perhaps he may have been induced to write by the story that goes of, that odd Chemist, Robert Fludd's having transplanted the Gout of one of his Patients, by making him often sleep, with a Dog that was fond of him, who thereby became afterwards subject to such periodical fits of the Gout, as the Master had been troubled with.  
[And since I begun this Chapter, and met with these Observations, discoursing of this matter with a judicious person, well skilled in Physic, and whom his learned Writings have made Eminent, He told me, that he had not very many Months since, seen a Cure by Transplantation, performed on the Son of one that was wont to make Chemical Vessels for me: and because the Observation is considerable, that there might be no mistake in it, he was pleased to set it me down in writing (attested with his annexed name) which enables me to present it you in his own words, namely: N. N. of N. Potter, had a Son, who was long sick of the King's Evil, which swelled much, and broek into sores at last, which he could by no ordinary means heal. The old Man had then a Dog, which took an use of licking the sores, which the Dog continued so long, till he wasted the ve●y kernels of the Ulcers th●t were knit in with the Veins, and perfectly cured the sore, but had the swelling transplanted to himself, so that he had hereupon a great swelling, that a●ose and continued on his Throat. The Lad was hereby freed, and so continued to be till 1660, and for aught I know, is so this day. This I saw being there at that time to view the Clayes, and bespeak Retorts of the old man. 
* Some yea●s si●●e the present ESSAY was written, I lighted on the 66th Observation of the industrious Bartholinus 3 Century, and the 53 Observation of his 6 Century, in both which places giving instances of the Transplantation of Diseases he mentions, besides some of those Examples delivered by us, divers o●hers; for which I am willing to refer you to the alleged places, only in the last of those Observations delivering something as upon his own knowledge (which he does not in th● r●st of the instances.) th●t much confirms wh●t we have mentioned concerning Fludd. We shall annex it in his own words, In Catello Milesio Avi nostri materni, quem jam alit in aedibus suis Av●n●ulus meu● suspiciendus M. J●c●lus F●●ckius Phys P.P. & Academi●e nostrae senior, evidentius haec pat●it trah●ndi facultas. Co●ico dolore to●q ●ebatur Auunculus, Canis ventri impositus quum incalui●let, u●gebat ex●tum, vomuit veheme●ter et To●mina colica Avunc●li re●●serunt. Ancilla ejusdem in dolore dentium ●un●●m canem g●n●s apposuit, sens●tque levamen, sed canis do●orum impat●entia h●nc inde curs●ta●e et lat●a●e. Idem ex●ertus est scriba in Colli Tumore. ]  
And to confirm the credibility, as well as increase the number of our magnetical ways of cure; I shall add, That St Francis Bacon himself Records, with great solemnity, 
Centur. X. Exp. 997.  his own having been freed, not only from very many new warts, but from one almost as old as he, by a piece of Lard, with the skin on it, which after having rubbed upon them, was exposed out of a Southern Window to putrify. And therefore, though the vanity and superstition of most of the Authors that speak of Magnetic Remedies, and the impertinent circumstances, that are usually prescribed, as necessary to their effectualness, do generally, and justly enough, make sober men despise, or at least suspect such unlikely ways of cure; yet in consideration of the instances lately produced (to which we may perhaps elsewhere add some others) and because divers men, as well Physicians as others, have seriously assured me of their having been some of them eye-witnesses, and others performers of such cures; I am apt to think it fit, that, a severe indeed, but yet further trial be made of Physical Experiments of this kind. And I cannot but commend the curiosity of Dr Harvey, who, as rigid a Naturalist as he is, scrupled not often to try the Experiment mentioned by H●lmont, of curing some Tumours or Excrescencies, by holding on them for a pretty while (that the cold may throughly penetrate) the Hand of a man dead of a lingering disease; which Experiment, the Doctor was not long since, pleased to tell me, he had sometimes tried fruitlessly, but often with good success. N●r doth the grand Objection against such Experiments, namely, that such or such a person, having once made trial of them, found them not succeed, seem at all to me, alone, of weight enough to make such Experiments, or those other improbable ones formerly mentioned, totally rejected: Because, that if they really do sometimes succeed, though sometimes they chance to fail, yet that possibility of their succeeding may sufficiently evince, that there are really in Nature Medicines that work after that extraordinary manner. And I see no reason, why it should be more required of those Medicines, that work at a distance from the Patient (or at least are not t●ken at the Mouth, or injected otherwhere) only by subtle Effluvia, that they should always cure, than it is exacted of vulgar Remedies, from which we might reasonably expect more constant effects, because of their being either inwardly given, or more immediately or at least more durably applied to the Patient. And if Rhubarb be, justly affirmed to be an excellent medicine in Loosenesses, though we daily in Ireland see many swept away those diseases, in spite of the use of Rhubarb and Mirabolans, with other astringent Remedies to boot: And if quiksilver be, not un●easonably, by most of our Physicians esteemed, and employed as an effectual Remedy against Venereal Diseases, because it sometimes removes them; though Fernelius, Montanus, and many other Learned Authors tell us, as they say upon their own experience, that (though it often palliate those distempers) it very sesdome cures them. Nay, and if Diaphoreticks are still esteemed such by the generality of Physicians, though few Sudor●ficks will cause sweat in all body, and scarce any in some bodies, I see not, why these Remedies, that wo●k, as it were, by Emanation, may not deserve the name of Medicines, if they sometimes unquestionably succeed, though they should not always prove successful ones; Nor why they should, notwithstanding their sometimes not succeeding be laid asi●e, especially since these sympathetical ways of cure are most of them so safe and innocent, that, though, if they be real, they may do much good, if they prove fictions they can do no harm, (unless by accident, as in case the Patient should so singly rely on them, as to neglect (which he need not) all other helps to recover.)   

CHAP. XII.  
BUt you will now perhaps demand, Pyrophilus, how the Naturalist, as such, can contribute to the Credit or Advancement of the mentioned ways of curing Diseases, without the wont weakening and painful Evacuations? In answer to this Question, I must put you in mind, That it would be no new thing for Naturalists, not professedly Physicians, to treat of this subject; and that the Naturalist may afford good Hints to the Practitioner of Physic, both upon divers other accounts already touched upon, and by trying on Bruits variety of hitherto untried Medicaments or Remedies, and by suggesting to him both the Events of such Trials, and also what hath been already observed about the cures of the Diseases incident to Beasts. For though (as we formerly told you) there are some things that are not equally Poisonous, as others not equally Safe, to Man and to some Bruits; yet there are other Beasts, especially Dogs and Monkeys, whose Bodies are, by many Poisons, affected almost like those of Men: And since according to the old Rule, Periculum faciendum est in vili animâ, many things may be very well tried on such Creatures, that we dare not at first venture to try on Men. We may give Dogs Poisons, only to try the Virtue of our Antidotes; and we may give them Wounds, to make trial of the efficacy of the Weapon-salve and Sympathetick Pow●er: Since divers of my Friends (as I have intimated above) assure me, That they have some of them seen, and others performed cures of Horses, lamed by pricking, by sticking the Nails that hurt them into the Weapon-salve; which for that very use, among others, some of them are wont to carry about them in Silver Boxes. When Oxen, and suchlike Cattle, are troubled with that Disease which makes them continually turn about in one place (and is therefore called The turning Evil, or Sturdy) a common Remedy here in England, ●s Graziers that make use of it inform me, is to cast down and tie fast the sick Beast, and then to open his Skull a good way (or, if need be, take off a round piece of it over the place supposed to be affected) and at the open place to take out a little Bag or Bladder, which is usually found to lie near the Membranes of the Brain, and to be full of Water and Blood, and then leisurely to heal up the hurt: And this cure is much commended, as both common and easy, by our experienced Markham. In Goats likewise, that are much subject to the Dropsy, the Husbandman ventures to slit, and let out the Water under the Shoulder. 
Way to get Wealth. Book. 1.  And divers hazardous Operations in Chirurgery, such as are Arteriotomy, the Exsection of the Spleen and other parts, were, or should have been first attempted upon Bruits, and then practised on humane Bodies. And in imitation of these, 'tis likely that divers other Experiments, of good use in Chirurgery, may be discovered for the relief of Man, without Endangering him in prosecuting such Discoveries. And to say nothing of the known practice of splaying Swine and Bitch's; In the Neighbourhood of a Country House of mine, in the West of England, and probably in divers other parts, some experienced Shepherds have an odd way of castrating male Sheep, especially Lambs, when they are grown so old that 'tis thought dangerous to geld them the common way. A Servant of mine that deals much in Cattle, and had lately divers Sheep swigged (as they call it) after this manner, tells me that is thus done: The Beast, on whom the Operation is to be performed, being held by a strong Man with his Belly upwards, another strong Man draws a string, as firmly as he can (tying it with a knot or two, to prevent its yielding or slipping off) about the Testicles, as if he meant by drawing that string, to cut them off; and then anointing the part with a little fresh Butter, or some such like thing, he lets the Ram go to feed; which for the most part (notwithstanding the anguish of this Ligature) he will begin to do in a short time: And within two or three days, the Testicles being, by the strict Ligature, denied the Nutriment and Spirits that were wont to be conveyed to them will grow so rotten as either, together with the string, to fall off, or be very easily pulled off, sometime stinking very rankly like Carrion. And even among those things that are already practised by Farriers, Shepherds and Graziers there are many such things as we have newly mentioned, which may serve either to enrich or illustrate the way of curing humane Bodies: Their ignorance and credulousness, together with the liberty and meaness of those Creatures they physic, gives them leave to venture on any thing, having made them try upon Horses and Cattle, many such things as Physicians dare not try upon Men and Women. And among those many extravagant things, some, as it oftens happens, have succeeded so prosperously, as to deserve to be considered by the skilfullest Physicians; Some of whom might, without disparagement to their Profession, do it an useful piece of service, if they would be pleased to collect and digest all the approved Experiments and Practices of the Farriers, Graziers, Butchers, and the like, which the Ancients did not despise, but honoured with the Titles of Hippiatrica and Veterinaria: And among which, if I had leisure, divers things may be taken notice of, which might serve to illustrate the Methodus medendi. As to give you but one Instance which lately occurred to me, The Usefulness of letting Blood in some cases, Which is so severely condemned by many Chemists, and the efficacy of a small, if seasonable, Evacuation, which can scarce be conceived to do more than alter the course of the Blood, may be illustrated by the Staggers in Horses, and the Cure of it. For I have seen a Coach-horse, ready to drop down dead of his Disease upon the Highway, by having his Gums rubbed with the Coach-whip till the Blood appeared, relieved almost in a moment so much, that though he were not well able to stand before, yet he was immediately able to go on, and draw the Coach with his fellows.   

CHAP. XIII.  
THe next thing we are to observe to you, Pyrophilus; and on which its nature and importance will engage us somewhat long to insist, is this, That the Handling of Physical matters was Anciently thought to belong to the Naturalist; as we are clearly informed by the judicious Celsus, in that memorable Passage, where speaking of the Origin of Physic, Primo (says he) medendi scientia Sapientiae pars habebatur; 
Celsus in Praefatione Lib. 1.  ut & morborum curatio & rerum naturae contemplatio sub iisdem Authoribus nata sit: Scilicet his hanc maxime requirentibus, qui corporum suorum robora, inquieta cogitatione nocturnaque vigiliâ, minuerant. He adds, that many of the Professors of Philosophy were skilful in Physic, especially Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Democritus, and that Hypocrates (whom some think to be the disciple of this last named) was the first who severed Physic from Philosophy, and made it a distinct Discipline, And this Apology for the ensuing discourse being thus premised to it, I shall further Answer, that I should perhaps be obliged to exceed the limits of an ESSAY, if I should in this Discourse insist on every thing, upon whose account the Naturalist may assist the Physician, if he be barely a Medicus to cure Diseases, which that you may the more readily believe, I shall Select and prosecute some of these things in the remaining part of this ESSAY.  
And first I shall represent to you on this subject, That the account upon which Physicians are wont to reject, if not, deride the use of such Specificks, as seem to work after a secret and unknown manner, and not by visibly Evacuating peccant humours (or by other supposedly manifest qualities) being generally this, That they see not how the promised Effects can well be produced by Bodies, that must work after so peculiar and undiscerned a manner; This being, I say, the great thing that hinders Physicians from endeavouring to find, or, so much as, being willing to make use of Remedies of this sort, the Naturalists may do much towards the removal of this Impediment, by showing out of such things as may be met with or performed within the Macrocosm, That such, or at least as strange operations as are ascribed to these Specificks, are not without Example in Nature; and consequently ought not to be rejected, barely as being impossible. And indeed the physiology, wherewith Physicians as well as others are wont to be imbued in the Schools, has done many of them no small Disservice by, accustoming them to gross apprenhensions of Nature's ways of working. Whence it comes to pass, that not a few even Learned Doctors will never expect, that any great matter should be performed in Diseases, by such Remedies as are neither obvious to the sense, nor Evacuate any gross, or at least sensible matter. Whereas, very great alterations may be wrought in a Body, especially if Liquid, as is the Blood and peccant Humour, without the Ingress or Egress of any visible matter, by the intestine commotion of the parts of the same body acting upon one another, and thereby acquiring a differing Motion, Location (if I may so speak) or Figure, which, with the other Qualities and Effects resulting thence, may alter the motion and Texture of the Liquor, and thereby produce great changes in the Body that Harbours it. How much an unperceived recess of a few subtle Parts of a Liquor may alter the Nature of it, may be guessed at, by the obvious change of Wine into Vinegar; wherein upon the Avolation (or perhaps but the misplacing) of so little of the Spirituous and Sulphureous part, that its Presence, Absence, or new Combination with the other Parts is not discernible to the Eye, the scarce decreased Liquor, becomes of a quite differing Nature from what it was. And though in England this Degeneration be not wont to be so suddenly performed by reason of the coldness of the Climate, yet in hotter Count●ies the change is much more speedily made. As in Brasil, the above mentioned Piso informs us, that the expressed Juice of the Sugar Canes, which by Coction, ●nd farther ordering, would be certainly brought to Sugar, will of itself keep sweet but about four and twenty Hours, and then begin to sour, 
Lib. 4. Cap. 10.  and be altogether unfit to make Sugar of, though very fit to turn into good Vinegar. And this I find confirmed by a Modern and applauded French Writer in his Description, of some parts of the West Indies, inhabited by his Nation: And relations of the same sort, concerning the hasty souring of some other Liquors in America I have had from our English Travellers and Planters. And in the East- Indieses, Linschoten tells us of a change much more sudden: For speaking of the formerly mentioned Sura or Liquor, afforded by the wounded Coc●-tree. The same Water (says he) standing but one Hour in the Sun is very good Vinegar, 
Chap. 56.  and in India they have none other. And that even very hurtful Liquors (and why not then some peccant matter in the body?) may after the like manner change their Nature may appear by what we have formerly mentioned, and is unanimously affirmed by credible Writers of several Nations, concerning the juice of Mandioca, which being Poison, 
See Piso lib. 1.  when it is first expressed does in a few hours by Fermentation, purge its self and loose its pernicious Nature. That also by the bare Ingress of some Subtle and not visible Matter, such intestine Commotions may be excited in Liquors, may appear by the souring which has been often observed upon great Thunders to happen, not only to wines, but to other Vinous Liquors also, as I lately received from a great Master of variety of Liquors, a complaint that by some Thunder, which happened here a few weeks since, almost all the Beer and Ale in the neighbourhood was spoiled. And I remember, that when I returned out of Italy thorough Geneva, there happened in that place an Earthquake, upon which, the Citizens complained, that much of their wine was soured, though I that lodged in the highest part of the Town, saw nothing to make me believe, that the bare Succussion of the Earth was capable to produce so great and sudden an alteration in the Wine.  
That such invisible Corpuscles may pass from Annulets, or other external Remedies into the Blood and Humours, and there produce great changes, will scarce seem improbable to him that considers how perspirable according to Hypocrates a living body is, and that Vegetable and Animal Body's, whose Texture is more loose and open, may well be supposed to send forth Expirations, since even divers Minerals are found to do the like; as may appear by the odorable steames of rubbed Brimstone, and Amber, by the Corpuscles, which perform the Magnetic Operations, by the Emetic Quality imparted to Liquors by the Glass of Antimony, and by Crocus Metallorum barely infused in them, without sensibly losing any thing, either of their bulk or weight; and by the virtue of kill Worms, wherewith Wine, and even Water has been, not only by Helmont, but by divers other Physicians observed to be enriched, after a Quantity of Quicksilver has been for some Hours shaken in it, though without any sensible deperdition of the substance of the Mercury. And indeed I have somewhat wondered that many Learned modern Physicians, either out of an affected Severity, or perhaps Animosity against Chemists, ov●rlook or even deride all operations of this Nature; Since I remember Galen himself, not only confirms the like Doctrine, by his Reasons and Authority, but delivers a very strange Example of it; for, 
De simp. Medi. facultatibus. Libro. 6.  under the Title of Glychysida, Treating of Peony, He thus Discourses, Est praeterea omnino resiccatoria: Ea propter haud desperaverim eam ex collo pueris suspensam merito Comitialem morbum sanare. Equidem vidi puellum quandoque octo totis mensibus morbo Comitiali liberum, ac postea fortuna cum quod à collo suspensum erat decidisset, protinus denuo convulsione correptum; rursusque suspenso in locum illius alio, inculpate postea egisse, Porro visum est mihi satius esse rursum id collo detrahere, certioris experientiae gratia: id cum fecissem, ac puer iterum esset convulsus, magnam recentis radicis partem ex collo ejus suspendimus, ac deinceps prorsum sanus effectus est puer, nec postea convulsus est. Rationabile itaque erat, aut partes quaspiam à radice d●fluentes, ac deinde per inspirationem attractas, affectos ita locos curare, aut Aerem à radice assidue mutari & alterari. Nam hoc pacto Succus Cyrenaicus collumellam plegmone affectam juvat & Melanthion frictum palam Catarrhos & Coryzas desiccat, Si quis id in calidum linteum, rarum, liget assidueque calorem ex eo per inspirationem in nares attrahat. Quin etiam si pluribus linis, & maximè marinae purpurae, collo viperae injectis, illis viperam praefoces, eaque postea cujuspiam collo obvincias, mirifice profueris tum Paristhmiis tum omnibus iis quae in collo expullulant. Nay, that such invisible Bodies, by passing through grosser ones, and thereby changing the Motion and nexus or Juncture of their parts, may produce lasting alterations in their Textures (though it be a Paradox) seems not to me at all impossible. For we find the most fluid Body of Quicksilver has been sometimes, (I say sometimes) and therefore may, without sensible increase of Bulk, be coagulated by a Metalline Exhalation so, as to be cut like Lead, and to retain that solidity, till by some Art or other it be reduced to its pristine fluidness. You may be inclined to think, that the hard and solid Body of Iron has a permanent alteration made in its Texture, if you hold a Needle during a competent time near the Pole of a Vigorous Loadstone without touching it. For the Magnetical Effluvia (as may very probably be conceived) will so dispose the parts of the nearest extreme of the Needle, as that they shall admit the steames that come from one of the Poles of the Loadstone, and not those that come from the other: whereas by skilfully holding it to the contrary Pole of the same Stone, the internal Pores, and consequently the Texture of the Needle, will presently be quite otherwise disposed in reference to the Magnetical Effluvia; as we more fully declare in another ESSAY, where we shall, I suppose, also persuade you, that the Effects of the Loadstone are performed by subtle Bodies issuing from, or passing through it. What we have in a former discourse told you concerning our having at pleasure changed the Poles of a Loadstone, by help of the Magnetica Effluvia of the Earth, may let you see that in Stones, also such alterations are possible to be made. And in the next ESSAY save one, we shall give you another Instance, pertinent to our present purpose. For if you heat a slender piece of Steel (as a graver, or the like) red hot, and suffer it to cool leisurely in the Air, it will continue flexible enough, and of so soft a Texture, that you may easily make impressions on it, with any hardened Steel: But if, instead of cooling it thus slowly, you knock it into such a dry Body, as we shall there name to you, it will immediately grow so hard, as to be brittle. Which alteration, whether it be resolved to proceed from the particular Effluvia of the Body, into which it is knocked, or barely from the ingress of the Corpuscles of Cold; (if any such there be) it will be however an Instance not unfit for our purpose. And those Pyrophilus, that are conversant in Glass houses, may easily observe, that Glass acquires a more or less brittle Texture, according as (to speak in the Glass-mens' language) it is baked. For if after Glasses are blown, they be quickly carried into the open Air, they are wont to be much more subject to break, than those, that after they are fashioned are placed in a kind of very long Oven (which is wont to be built over ●he Furnace, wherein the materials, whereof the Glass is made are kept in Fusion) and are by slow degrees refrigerated, and not till after some hours exposed to the open Air: For whether this difference of Brittleness, and consequently of Texture, be ascribed to the interrupted Transcursion of some Etherial matter, through the Pores of the Glass, or to the insinuations of the Atoms of the Cold, or to this, that the Particles of the Glass agitated by the heat, were surprised by the Cold, before they could make an end of those Motions which were requisite to their disposing themselves into the most durable Texture; it is evident enough, that 'tis by no gross or visible Body, that this permanent difference of Texture is produced. Of the like to which we may elsewhere give you Examples, in some other Concretes. That also in an human Body, great alterations may be made by very subtle Effluvia, appears evidently, not only by the instances we have formerly given of the efficacy of some outwardly applied Remedies, but by divers other things, as that many are purged by the bare Odour of Potions, of which I have been assured upon his own Observation by the experienced Town Physician of Plymouth Dr D. And of which Salmuth in his Observations, gives us an instance in a young Gentlewoman, 
Cent. 3. Obs●r. 4.  whom he saw more happily purged, by the Odour of a Potion, drunk by her Sister, than she was that took the Medicine. And the same Author tells us, 
Cent. 3. Obser. 8.  of one Dr Pfeil an eminent Physician, who was wont, when he had a mind to be Purged, to go into some Apothecary's shop, where Electuaries electively purging were preparing, to which having a while smelled, they would by their Odour, after his return home, work with him six or seven times, as if he had swallowed the Medicine itself. And Henricus ab Heer, in the twenty ninth of his formly commended Observations, tells us, Of a Woman that not only was wont to be copiously purged by drinking Bief-broth, but having by a fall broken her Leg, used no other Cathartick, than the bare Odour of that sort of Broth. And very Observable to our purpose, is the operation of the Air, all along the ridg of the high mountain in Peru, called Pariacaca, of which the Learned Jesuit Joseph Acosta relates, That though he went as well prepared as he could, 
Lib. 3 cap. ●.  to withstand the Operations usually produced in Travails, by that piercing Air, yet when he approached to the top of the Mountain, he was (notwithstanding all his Provision) surprised with such fits, and pangs, of striving and casting, as he thought he should cast up his Heart too; having after meat, Phlegm, and Choler, both yellow and green, in the end with over striving cast up Blood; and continued thus sick for three or four hours, till he had passed into a more temperate Air then that of the top of the Mountain; which runn's about 500 Leagues, and has every where, though not equally this discomposing property, having operated upon some of his companions, as well downwards as upwards. A greater proof of the power of Steams upon the Body may be taken from the propagation of Infectious Diseases, which being conveyed by insensible Effluvia, from a sick into a healthy Body, are able to disorder the whole Oeconomy of it, and act those sad Tragedies, which Physicians do so often unsuccessfully endeavour to hinder. But you will cease to doubt, that Corpuscles, though so small as to be below the sense, should be able to perform great matters upon humane Bodies; if you consider what alterations may be therein produced by the bare actions of the parts upon one another. This may appear by the effects of several Passions of the mind, which are often excited by the bare, if attentive, thoughts of absent things. In obstinate grief and Melancholy, there is that alteration made in the disposition of the Heart, and perhaps some other parts by wh●ch the Blood is to Circulate, that the lively motion of that liquor is thereby disturbed, and obstructions and other not easily removed distempers are occasioned. The bare remembrance of a loathsome Potion, does oftentimes produce in me (and I doubt not, but the like thought may have the like Operation in many others) a Horror, attended with a very sensible Commotion of divers parts of my Body, especially with a kind of convulsive motion, in or about the Stomach. And what power the Passions have to alter and determine the course of the Blood, may appear yet more manifestly in modest and bashful persons, especially Women, when merely upon the remembrance or thought of an unchaste, or undecent thing, mentioned before them, the motion of the Blood will be so determined, as to pass suddenly and plentifully enough into the Cheeks (and sometimes other parts) to make them immediately wear that livery of Virtue (as an Old Philosopher styled it) which we call a Blush. And even by joy, if great and sudden, I not long since saw in persons of both Sexes, not only the Cheeks and Forehead, but it left (as to the Lady) even the Neck and Shoulders Died of that Colour. And that Passions, may not only alter the Motion of the Juices of the Body, but likewise make some separation and evacuation of them, may appear in grief, which is wont especially in Women to make all the Commotions requisite to weeping: whereby oftentimes a considerable quantity of Briny Liquor, is excluded at the Eyes, under the form of Tears, by which divers (especially Hysterical) Persons are wont to find themselves much refreshed, though with some it fares otherwise in teeming Women. Also that vehement desire we call Longing, may well be supposed to produce great alterations in the Body of the Mother, which leaves such strange and lasting impressions upon that of the Infant; since 'tis the Mother only, and not at all the Infant that conceives those importunate desires.   

CHAP. XIV.  
THere are many Instances to be met with in Physicians Books, to show that Imagination is able so to alter the Imagining person's Body, as to work such a disposition in the Spirits, Blood and Humours of it, as to produce the determinate Disease that is excessively feared. And I remember, that soon after the last Fair Lady R. Died of the Small Pox, I chanced to meet one of her Sisters with her Mask on amongst some other Persons of High Quality, and wondering to see her sit Masked in such Company, her Husband (who was present) told me, That his Wife having been happily brought to Bed some while before her Sister fell sick; he had carefully kept the knowledge of her sickness from his Wife; lest the kindness that was betwixt them two might prejudice her in the condition she was in, but that after, a while a Lady unawares making mention in her hearing of her Sister's sickness, she immediately fancied, That she should have it too, and accordingly fell sick of that disfiguring Disease, whose Marks obliged her for a while to wear a Mask. Nor is it in Women only, but even in Men, that conceit may produce such real and lasting effects. For many authentic Histories record examples of those in whom excessive Grief or Fear has made such a change in the Colour of their Hair in a Night, as Nature would otherwise have scarce made in divers Years. And I remember, that being about four or six Years since, in the County of Cork, there was an Irish Captain a man of middle Age and Stature, who coming with some of his followers to render himself to your Uncle Broghill, who then commanded the English Forces in those parts upon a public proffer of pardon to the Irish that would then lay down Arms, he was casually in a suspicious Place, met with by a party of the English and intercepted. And my Brother being then absent, upon a design, he was so apprehensive of being put to Death, by the inferior officers, before your Uncle's return, that that Anxiety of mind quickly changed the Colour of his Hair after a peculiar manner: of which I being then at that Castle of your Uncles whereunto he was brought) had quickly notice given me, and had the Curiosity to examine this Captain, and found that the Hair of his H●ad, had not (as in the instances I had met with in Histories) uniformly changed its Colour, but that here and there certain peculiar Tufts and locks of it, whose Bases might be about an inch in Diameter were thus suddenly turned White all over: the rest of his Hair (of which you know the Irish use to wear good store) retaining its former Reddish Colour.  
[You will mistake my design Pyrophilus, if you conclude from what I have said, concerning the Power of Effluvia, to work upon the Body that I am either so much an Helmontian as to condemn the Use of all those Remedies that make such more gross Evacuations (if I may so call them) as are made by Vomit, Siege, and the like; or that I would have you, or am myself so credulous, as to believe all the Virtues that are, even by Eminent Writers ascribed to the Remedies called Specificks: For (to mention here but this) we have observed, that the hopes built upon even excellent Specificks, unless they be of such a resolving and abstersive Nature, as to be able to make way for themselves into the Recesses of the Body are oftentimes disappointed, where some Emetic or Cathartick Remedy has not been first used to free the Stomach and Guts from those viscous Humours, which obstructing the first passages much enervate the Virtue of the Remedy, if they do not altogether deny it access to the innermost parts of the Body. That than which I aim at, is first to keep you from being prejudiced by the Confidence of some Learned Doctors, who laugh at the very name of Specificks, and will not allow any Disease to be curable, but by visible Evacuations of store of what they call peccant Matter; And next to give you cause to think that such Specificks, as men of judgement and credit do recommend upon their own Experience ought not to be rejected without Trial, upon the bare account of their not being either Laxative or Vomitive, Sudorific, or Diuretical; Nay, nor so much as for this, that they are not endowed with any Eminent Degree of any manifest Quality, such as Heat, Cold, Dryness, Odour, Taste, Astriction and the like; nor able perchance to work any considerable alteration in a healthy Human Body. For I consider the Body of a living man, not as a rude heap of Limbs and Liquors, but as an Engine consisting of several parts so set together, that there is a strange and conspiring communication betwixt them, by virtue whereof, a very weak and inconsiderable Impression of adventitious matter upon some one part may be able to work on some other distant part, or perhaps on the whole Engine, a change far exceeding what the same adventitious Body could do upon a Body not so contrived. The faint motion of a man's little Finger upon a small piece of Iron that were no part of a Engine, would produce no considerable Effect; but when a Musket is ready to be Shot off, than such a Motion being applied to the Trigger by virtue of the contrivance of the Engine, the Spring is immediately let lose the Cock falls down, and knocks the flint against the Steel, opens the Pan, strikes Fire upon the Powder in it, which by the Touchhole Fires the Powder in the Barrel and that with great noise throws out the ponderous Leaden Bullet with violence enough to kill a Man at Seven or Eight hundred Foot distance. And that also the Engine of a Humane Body is so framed, as to be capable of receiving great alterations from seemingly slight Impressions of outward Objects, upon the bare account of its particular contrivance, may appear by several instances beside those which may belong to this Argument in the foregoing part of this ESSAY. When a man goes suddenly out into the Sun, it often happens, that those beams which light upon his Head, and would not in so short a time have any discernible effect on the least Hair of it, do almost in a moment produce that strange and violent motion in the head and almost all the Body, which we call Sneezing. Men that from the top of some Pinnacle or other high and steep place do look down to the bottom of it are at first very apt by the bare prospect, (which yet convey's nothing into the Body but those images, if yet there intervene corporeal ones in sensation of visible Objects that enter at the Eye) to become so giddy, that they are reduced to turn away their Eyes from the Precipice for fear of not being able to stand upon their Legs. And many that looked fixedly upon a Whirl pool, or upon a very swift stream have had such a Vertiginous Motion thereby impressed on their Spirits, that they have been unable to keep their Bodies upright, but have fallen into the Water they gazed on. And it is no less remarkable, that when a man is somewhat discomposed at Sea, and yet not enough to Vomit freely; the Seamen are wont to advise him to look from the si●e of the Ship upon the Water, which seeming swiftly to pass by the Vessel, has upon the gazer the operation of a rapid stream, and by making him giddy hastens and facilitates his Vomiting, as I h●ve sometimes tried upon myself when I had a mind for healths sake to be put into a fit of Sea sickness. If a person be very Ticklish and you but gently struck the Sole of his Foot with the top of a Feather, that languid Impression on the bottom of the foot shall, whether he will or no, put all those Muscles and other parts into motion, which are requisite to make that noise, and to exhibit that shape of the Face (so far distant from the feet) which we call Laughing; and so the gentle Motion of a straw tickling the Nostrils is able to excite Sneezing. Most men may observe in themselves, that there are some such noises as those ma●e by the grating of an ungreased Cartwheel upon the Axle tree, or the tearing of course Paper which are capable of ●etting the Teeth on edge, which yet cannot be done without exciting a peculiar Motion in several parts of the Head. I had a servant, who sometimes complained to me of a much more remarkable and unfrequent disorder, namely, that when he was put to whet a Knife, that stridulous Motion of the Air was wont to make his Gums bleed. Henricus ab Heer (in his Twenty n●nth Observation) Records a Story of a Lady, to whom he was sent for, who upon the hearing of the sound of a B●ll, or any loud noise, though Singing, would fall into fits of Sounding, which was scarce distinguishable from Death; an● we may confirm that this disposition depended upon the Texture of her Body in reference to Material sounds by wh●t he subjoins, that having well purged her, and given her for two Months the Spaa-waters, and other appropriate Remedies he throughly cured her. And it often enough happens, that when a Woman is in a Fit of the Mother, another Hysterical person standing by, is by reason of a peculiar Disposition of her Body, soon infected with the like strange discomposure. And to show you, that a distempered Body is both an Engine, and also an Engine disposed to receive alterations from such Impressions as will make none on a sound body, let me put you in mind that those subtle Ste●mes that wander through the Air before considerable changes of Wether disclose themselves, are wont to be painfully felt by many sickly Persons and more constantly by men that have had great Bruises or Wounds in the parts that have been so hurt; though neither are healthy men at all incommodated thereby, nor do those themselves that have been hurt, feel any thing in those sound parts, whose Tone or Texture has not been altered or enfeebled by outward violence. I have known several also (and the thing is obvious) whose bodies and Humours are so framed and constituted, that if (as men commonly speak) they ride backward in a Coach, that Motion will m●ke them giddy, and force them to Vomit. And it is very ordinary for Hysterical Women to fall into such Fits as counterfeit Epilepsies, Convulsions, and I know not what violent distempers by the bare smell of Musk and Amber, and other strong perfumes, whose steames are yet so far from having great, much less such Effects in other Humane bodies, that almost all men, and the generality even of healthy Women are not affected by them, unless with some innocent delight. And that even on men Odours (how minute and invisible bodies soever) may sometimes have very great power, may be gathered from the story told us by Zacutus Lucitanus, 
In P●. 〈◊〉. a●m. lib. 3. Ob. O●se●●at. 99  of a Fisherman, who having spent all his life at Sea, and being grown Old there, and coming to gaze upon a solemn reception, made in a Maritine Town, to Sebastian King of Portugal, was by the perfumes plentifully Burnt, to welcome the King immediately cast upon the ground thereby into a F●t which two Physicians judged Apoplectical, and Physi●k'd him accordingly till three days after the King's chief Physician Thomas à Vega guessing at the cause of his disease commanded him to be removed to the Sea side and covered with Sea Weeds, where within four Hours the Maritime Air and steames began to open his Eyes, and made him know those that were about him, and within not many Days restored him to health. We may also conjecture how much the alteration produced in the Body by sickness m●y dispose it to receive strong Impressions from things that would not otherwise much affect it, by this, That even a man in perfect health, and who is wont to Drink cold without the least harm, may, when he has much heated himself by exercise be cast by a draught of cold Drink into such sudden, formidable, and dangerous distempers as, did not daily Experience convince us, we should scarce think possible to be produced in a Body, free from Morbid Humours by so familiar a thing as a cup of small bear or water; insomuch th●t Benivenius relates a Story of one, who after too vehement exercise Drinking a Glass of very cold Water fell into a swoon, that was quickly succeeded by Death. And yet, to add that on this occasion, in Bodies otherwise disposed a large draught of cold Water, Drunk even without thirst, may v●ry much relieve the D●incker, and prevent great Fit● of the Mother, and partly of the Spleen, especially upon sudden f●ights, to which purposes I know some Hysterical Ladies that find in this Remedy, as themselves assure me more advantage than one wo●ld easily imagine.  
And (further) to show you that the Engine we are speaking of is alterable, as well for the better as for the worse, by such Motions of outward Bodies as in themselves considered, are languid, or at least may seem despicable in reference to sickness or recovery; Let me call upon you to consider a few, not unobvious things, which may also serve to confirm some part of what has hitherto been delivered.  
[The true Moss growing upon a Humane Skull, though I do not find Experience warrant all the strange things some Chemical Writers attribute to it for the staunching of Blood, yet I deny not, but in some Bodies it does it wonderful enough. And I very well know an Eminent Virtuoso who has assured me, as his Physician likewise has done, that he finds the Effects of this Moss so considerable upon himself, that after having been let Blood, his Arm falling to Bleed again, and he apprehending the consequences of it, his Physician, who chanced to be present, put a little of the abovementioned Moss into his hand, which barely held there, did, to the Patient's wonder, staunch his Blood, and gave him the curiosity's to lay it out of his hand, to try whether that Moss were the cause of the Bloods so oddly stopping its course, whereupon his Arm after a little while, beginning to Bleed afresh, he took the Moss again into his hand, and thereby presently staunched his Bleeding the second time: and if I misremember not, he added, that he repeated the Experiment once more with the like success. The smoke of burnt feathers, or Tobacco blown upon the face of an Hysterical Woman, does oftentimes almost as suddenly recover them out of Fits of the Mother, as the odour of perfumes did cast them thereinto.]  
And now I speak of Cures performable by fumes, it brings into my mind, that a friend of yours and mine, and a Person of great Veracity professes to have strangely cured Dysenteries by a way unusual enough, which is to make the Patient sit over a Chair or Stool close on the sides, and perforated below, so that the Anus and the neighbouring parts may be exposed to the fumes of Ginger, which must be thrown upon a Pan of Embers, placed just under the Patient, who is to continue in that posture, and to receive the Fume as long as he can endure it without too much fainting. And when I mentioned one of the Cures that was thus performed, to one that is looked upon as a Master of Chemical Arcana against Diseases; he preferred before it (as he says upon experience) the shave of Hartshorn used after the same manner, and the Remedy seems not irrational. But if in this distemper, the Actual heat applied to the abovementioned parts of the Body concur not to the Effect, we may too, warrantably enough, add that Cures may be performed by far more minute corpuscles than those of smoke, insinuating themselves from without into the Body. For I know a very dextrous Goldsmith, who, when he over heats himself, as he often unawares does at hammering of Plate, is subject to fall into Gripe of the Belly, which lead to Fluxes; but his usual and ready Cure is, assoon as conveniently he can, to heat his Anvil, and sit upon it for a great while together, heating it hot again if there be need. But to return to our Medicinal Smokes, 'tis known that some find more good against the Fits of the Colic, by Glisters of the Smoke of Tobacco, then by any other Physic they take; so that I know wealthy persons, that relying upon the benefit they find by this Remedy, have left off sending for their Physicians to ease them of the Colic. And indeed, when I consider what an odd Concrete, even common Soot is, and that many Concretes by being resolved into Smoak, may be e●ther more or otherwise unlocked, than they would be by the Stomach of a Man (so th●t I may elsewhere entertain you of the great heightening of some Emetic and Cathartick Simples in their operation, by their being reduced into Smoak,) and that also probably the Operation of some Fumes and Odours may be much changed and improved by their not getting into the Body by the Mouth, but other parts; I am inclinable to think that there might be made further use of them, if Physicians pleased, then hitherto has been. For I have made such trial of the Virtue of Sulphureous Smoke, to preserve some Liquors, as I was much pleased with. And not only Paracelsus, but Helmont highly extol, as a grand Specific in fits of the Mother, the Smoke of the Warts that grow upon the Legs of Horses, conveyed to the parts supposed to be primarily affected. And I remember, that lately I met with a Gentleman curious and intelligent, who, as himself assured me, was by the Scurvy and ill conditioned Ulcers, and other obstinate distempers brought so low, that he was scarce able to turn himself freely in his Bed, and thereupon resolved against taking any more Physic, partly out of despair of recovery, and partly out of weariness of the tedious courses of Physic the Doctors had in vain made him pass thorough: But that some o● his Friends b●inging him a certain Surgeon, whom they affirmed to have strangely cured many desperate distempers, by wa●es very unusual and not troublesome to the Patient, this Gentleman was content to put himself into his Hands, the Surgeon promising that he would not give him any other Physic, but now and then a Cup of Sack by way of Cordial; his way of Cure being to fumigate the Patient very well ●very Morning with a certain Smoke, which th●t Gentleman th●nks, by what he took notice of, in the Pow●er that yielded it, to have been some Vegetable substance. And with this Remedy in a short time he grew perfectly well, and came home a while since in very good health from a Voyage, which the confusions of his own Country invited him to make as far as the East-Indies. This Surgeon, whose name I cannot hit upon, dying suddenly, his secret (which was tried upon divers others besides this Gentleman) is for aught we yet know, dead with him.  
[But as for the efficacy that may be found in appropriated Fumes and Steams. We have more than once by barely unstopping and holding under her Nose a small Phial of highly rectified Spirit of Sal Armoniac, or even of Hartshorn almost presently recovered a Young Beauty I need not name to You; out of strange Fits that were wont to take her more suddenly than those of the Falling Sickness, and were looked upon as Epileptical, though perchance they were not merely so. To which I shall add, that a Lady that both You Pyrophilus and I know and love very well, though she have been long subject to violent and tedious Fits of the Headache, and though that distemper have since been much increased by a great concussion of her Head, occasioned by the overturning of a Coach, yet she is wont presently to be relieved, barely by holding her Head a pretty while over a strong decoction of Thee, and breathing in the Steams of it.]  
And now I am discoursing of Cures made by Steams, or other seemingly slight means, I must not pretermit a thing so remarkable, that if it were more generally known in Europe, I should think it somewhat strange to find it so little reflected on by Physicians; and that is the constant and almost sudden ceasing of the Plague, how raging soever, in the almost incredibly populous City of Grand Cayro in Egypt towards the latter end of June, about which time in most Countries in our Hemisphere it is wont to spread fastest and be most rife. The truth of this is attested by so many Travellers of several Nations, that 'twere injurious to doubt of it, and not only the Dexterous Mr R. whom y●u well know, and who lived at Cayro has confir'md to me the truth of it. But the Learned Prosper Alpinus, who both was an excellent Physician, and spent many Years in Egypt, 
De Medicina ●●gyptio●um, l●b. 1. cap. 17.  gives us this particular account of it, Pestis Cayri atque in omnibus locis Aegypti invadere eos populos solet ineunte Sept●mbri mense, usque ad Junium: his enim omnibus mensibus, à S●ptembri ad Junium usque, Pestis aliunde per contagium illuc asportata eam gentem invadere solet: And after a few Lines, Junio vero mense, qualiscunque & quantacunque sit ibi Pestilentia, Sole primam Caneri partem ingrediente omnino tollitur, quod multis plane divinum esse non immerito videtur: Sed quod etiam valde mirabile creditur, omnia suppellectilia, Pestifero contagio infecta, tunc nullum Contagii effectum in eam gentem edunt; ita ut tunc ea vobis in tutissimo & tranquillissimo statu reducatur, ex summe morboso: atque morbi particulares, sporadici, à Graecis vovati tunc apparere incipiunt, qui nusquam gentium tempore Pestis apparcbant. And in the next Chapter, enquiring at large into the causes of this Wonder, he denys it to proceed from the increase of the Nile, which happens to be coincident in point of time with the extinction of the Plague, because that the Infection ceaseth before the swelling of the River is considerable; and ascribeth it rather to the alteration of the Air, produced by the Northernly Winds which then begin to blow, and some other Circumstances: speaking of which, Haec (saith he) per id temporis incipiunt observari à quibus fortasse non immerito causam extinctionis Pestis morbosique in salubrem statum mutationis pendere arbitror: 
Ibidem, cap. 18.  quando nulla alia ex conservatricibus causis, quas vulgus medicorum res non naturales appellat, aëre excepto, ibi eo tempore appareat, in quam morbosi status in salubrem mutationem referre possumus: ideo necessartum erit hujusce mutationis causam Aëris mutationi acceptam refer, etc. Upon this Instance, Pyrophilus, I h●ve presumed the longer to insist, because (if you duly reflect on it) you will, I suppose, discern, that it much credits and elucidates a great part of what hath been delivered in divers of the foregoing Leaves, concerning the possibility of Nature's doing great matters against Diseases, without the help of gross and sensible Evacuations.   

CHAP. XV.  
ANd since we have represented a humane Body as an Engine, we shall add, That it may be altered both for the better and for the worse, by such bare motions or impulses of external Bodies, as act but in a gross and confessedly Mechanical manner: For 'tis known, that out of such speedily killing, unless seasonably remedied Distempers, as Fits of Swooning, Patients of either Sex are often recovered without any inward Medicine, by being barely pinched in several places. ay, that have endured great and dangerous Sicknesses, have scarce ever found any so violent for the time, as that which the bare motion and smell of a Ship and Sea Air hath put me into, especially in rough weather, till I was somewhat accustomed to Navigation; and yet this violent and weakening Sickness, as it was not produced by any peccant Humour in the Body, so it was quickly removed by the Air, and Quiet of the Shore, without the help of Physic. And the like may be observed more suddenly in the newly mentioned Instances of those in whom, as the bare agitation of a Coach will produce such violent Fits of Vomiting and such Faintness, that I have known some of them apprehend they should presently die; so the bare cessation of that discomposing motion soon relieved them. We see in our Stables, what operation, the currying of them carefully, hath upon our Horses. And Helmont somewhere tells us, That himself, as I remember, could by the Milk of an Ass, tell whether she had been that day diligently curried or no; and so considerable an alteration in Milk should, me thinks, strongly argue, that a great one in the Blood or other Juice, of which the Blood is elaborated, and consequently in divers of the principal parts of the Body must have preceded it. But to prefer our consideration from the Bodies of Beasts to those of Men, 'tis remarkable what Piso confesseth, the illiterate Brasilian Empirics are able to perform with Frictions, even as unskilfully as they order them: Mira equidem, saith he, tum tuendae sanitatis ergo, 
Histor. Nae. Med. lib. 2. cap. 5. pag. 33.  cum in plerisque morbis sanandis, f●ictione & unctione frequenti incolae praestant, illam in frigidioribus, & chronicis, hanc in acutioribus adhibentes. Quae remedia lubenter advenae imitantur, & ut par est, ex legibus artis haec & plura medendi Empiricorum genera moderantur. And as Galen himself highly extols a skilful Application of Cupping-glasses in the Colic; so in Brasil they find that the like Remedy is strangely successful: For Cholera sicca, saith our candid Piso in another place, 
Idem cap. 11.  eisdem fere Remediis (of which he had been speaking) curatur, maxim si regioni hepatis corneae cucurbitulae applicentur. De quibus merito hoc testor, quod Galenus de suis cucurbitulis, quas in Colico affectu incantamenti instar operari tradidit.  
We shall add, for further confirmation, that notwithstanding all the horrid Symptoms that are wont to ensue upon the biting of that Poisonous Spider, the Tarantula, that lasting and formidable Disease, which often mocks all other Remedies, is by nothing so successfully opposed, as by Music. Some determinate tune or other which proves suitable to the particular Nature of the Patient's Body, or that of the Poison producing there such a motion, or determination of some former motion of the Spirits, or the Humours, or both; as by conducting the Spirits into the Ne●ves and Muscles inservient to the motion of the Limbs, doth make the Patient leap and dance till he have put himself into a Sweat, that breathes out much of the virulent Matter which hath been probably fitted for expulsion, by some change wrought in its Texture or Motion, or those of the Blood, by the Music. For if Sweat and Exercise, as such, were all that relieved him, why might not Sudorificks, or le●ping without Music, excuse the Need of Fiddlers? which yet is so great, 
M●surg. lib. 9 cap. 4.  that Kircher informs us, That the Apulian Magistrates are wont to give Stipends, at the public charge, to such to relieve the Poor by their playing. And not only He hath a memorable Story of Robertus Pantarus, a Tarantine Nobleman, whose Disease being not known to proceed from the biting of a Spider, could by no Remedies be cured; he was at length, even upon the point of death, suddenly relieved, and by degrees restored to perfect health by the use of Music: But Epiphanius Ferdinandus, in h●s accurate Observations concerning those bitten with the Tarantula, together with Mathiolus, and other Authors be●r witness thereunto, by resembling Narratives. Now that a Sound (not barely as a sound, but as so modified) may powerfully operate upon the Blood and Spirits, I, who am very Musically given, have divers times observed in myself, upon the hea●ing of certain Notes. And it might be made probable, both by that which we have formerly said of the effect of skreaking upon the Teeth and Gums, and by the Dancing Fit, into which not every Musical Sound, though never so loud, but some determinate Tune is wont to put the bitten Patien●. But it m●y be more manifestly proved, by the following testimony of our inquisitive Jesuit, wherein he affirms, That the Spiders themselves may, as well as those they have bitten, be made to Dance by Tunes, suited to their peculiar Constitutions. 
† Vbi sonatores q●i Musicá svam hoc ma●ū etiam publicis magistratus stipendiis ad pauperum reme●ium solati●●●●ue co●●●cti cu●a●e con●ueveru●t, ad curas patientium certius faciliúsque accelera●das, pri●o ●x in●●ctis quaerer● so●●●t ub●, quo loco, aut c●m●o, aut cujus coloris Tarantula era●, à q●o morsus 〈…〉. Quo f●cto indica●●m lo●um 〈◊〉, ubi f●equentes numero a●q●e omnis g●neris Ta●antulae 〈◊〉 te●endorum la●or●bus incumbu●t, acced●re sol●nt Medici Citharaedi, va● aque tentare h●rmonia●um 〈◊〉: ad quae mi●um dictu, n●nc h●s ●unc ill●s salta●e non secus ac duorum polychordo●um aequaliter 〈…〉, p●rso●atione ill● chor●ae, quae simil●s si●i fu●rint to●o, & aequalit●r tensae mo●●ntu●, reliquis 〈◊〉, ita ut p●o simil●tu●ine & cognition Taran●ular●m nunc ●as nunc illas sal●are compe●iunt. Cum 〈◊〉 co●o●is Tar●●●ul●m quae à 〈◊〉 indicata f●●rat in saltum prorumpere viderint, pro certissimo 〈◊〉 h●ben●, mo●u●um se h●b●re ●erum & certum humori v●ne●ioso 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proportionatum, & ad 〈…〉 aptissim●, quo si uta●tu● in●allib●l●m 〈◊〉 effectum se co●sequi asseveruunt.] Kircher: Musurg: lib. 9 pa●t. 2. cap. 4.   
And this I the less wonder at, because Epiphanius Ferdinandus himself, 
Histor: 81.  not only tells us of a Man of 94 Years of age, and so weak that he could not go, unless supported by his Staff, who did, upon the hearing of Music after he was bitten, immediately tall a dancing and capering like a Kid; and affirms, 
Vide Senner●i Practic. lib. 1. p. 2. cap. 16.  That the Tarantula's themselves may be brought to leap and dance at the sound of Lutes, small Drums, Bagpipes, Fiddles, etc. but challenges those that believe him not to come and try, promising them an Ocular Conviction: and adds what is very memorable and pleasant, That not only Men, in whom much may be ascribed to fancy, but other Animals being bitten may likewise, by Music, be reduced to leap or dance: for he saith, He saw a Wasp, which being bitten by a Tarantula whilst a Lutanist chanced to be by; the Musician playing on his Instrument, gave them the sport of seeing both the Wasp and Spider begin to dance: annexing, That a bitten Cock did do the like.   

CHAP. XVI.  
I Might also, Pyrophilus, confirm what I told you, when I said, That Sickness may produce such an alteration in the Fabric of the Body, as to make it capable to be very much affected, as well for the better as for the worse, by such things that would not scarce at all affect it if it were sound, from the consideration of those many and strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Peculiarities, to be met with in some Persons in Sickness and in Health. For though many of these differences between healthy Men, are not likely to be greater than may be observed between the same Man when well, and himself as the Oeconomy of his Body may be discomposed by some Distemper; yet we often see, that some Persons have the Engine of their Body so framed, that it is wonderfully disordered by such things as either work not at all on others, or work otherwise on them: as it is common enough for Men to be hugely disturbed, and some of them to fall into Fits of trembling or swooning, upon the sight or hearing of a Cat. And to such an affection I know a very eminent Commander obnoxious, Your late Uncle, the last Earl of Barrymore, a very gallant Noble Man, and who did his Country great Service in the Irish Wars, had the like apprehension for Tansey. I cannot see a Spider near me, without feeling a notable commotion in my Blood, though I never received harm from that sort of Creature, and have no such abhorring against Vipers, Toads, or other venomous Animals. You know an excellent Lady (married to a Great Person that hath more than once governed Ireland) whose Antipathy to Honey, which is much talked of in that Country, hath displayed itself upon several occasions: notwithstanding which, her experienced Physician imagining that there might be something of conceit in her Aversion, took an opportunity to satisfy himself, by mixing a little Honey, with other Ingredients, of a Remedy which he applied to a very slight and inconsiderable cut or scratch, which she chanced to get on h●r Foot; but he soon repent of his Curiosity, upon the strange and unexpected disorder which his (in other cases innocent) Medicine produced, and which ceasing upon the removal of that, and application of other ordinary Remedies, satisfied him, That those Symptoms were to be imputed to the Honey, and not the bare hurt. The same excellent Lady, I remember, complained to me, That when she was troubled with Coughs, all the Vulgar, Pectoral and Pulmoniack Remedies did her no good, so that she could find relief in nothing but either the Fume of powdered Amber, taken with convenient Herbs in a Pipe, or that Balsamum Sulphuris which we have already taught you in this Essay.  
[I know a Person of Quality, tall and strongly made, who lately asked my Opinion, Whether, when he had need of Vomit, he should continue to make use of Cauphy, in regard it wrought so violently with him: This gave me the occasion, as well as curiosity, of enquiring particularly both of Himself and his Lady, concerning this odd Operation of Cauphy upon him; and I was told, That an ordinary Wine-glass full of the usual warm decoction of Cauphy, boiled in common Water, was wont, within about two hours, to prove emetic with him, and before Noon did give him eight, ten, or sometimes twelve Vomits, with so much violence, that he was less affected by the infusion of Crocus metallorum, or other usual emetics, and therefore was deliberating whether he should not change Cauphy for some of them, though finding its Operation very certain, he had for some Years accustomed himself to take that Vomit: And that which is also remarkable in this m●tter, is, that he tells me, That scarce any Vomit is more troublesome to him to take, than that abovementioned ●s grown of late, so that even the odour of Cauphy, as he passeth by Cauphy-houses in the Street, doth make him sick; and yet that Simple is to most Men so far from being Vomitive, that it is by eminent Physiti●ns, and in some cases not without cause, much extolled as a strengthner of the Stomach. And this very Gentleman, himself, used it a pretty while against the Fumes that offended his Head, without finding any Vomitive Quality at all in it.]  
The Books of sober and learned Physicians, afford us Examples of divers such, and of much more strange Peculiarities, and likewise of such Persons who having desires of certain things very extravagant, and even absurd (ordinarily not only improper, but hurtful to their Distempers) have been cured by the use of them, of very dangerous and sometimes hopeless Diseases: Of which kind of Cures I may also elsewhere tell you what I have observed, and some credit may be brought to such Relations, by what we ordinarily see more greedily devoured (without much harm) by longing Women, and Maids troubled with the Green-sickness.  
But now, Pyrophilus, since the Engine of an humane Body thus appears to be so framed, th●t it is capable of receiving great alterations from such unlikely things as those we have been mentioning, Why should we hastily conclude against the efficacy of Specificks, taken into the Body, upon the bare account of their not operating by any obvious quality, if they be recommended unto u●, upon th●ir own experience by s●ber and faithful Persons? And that scarce sensible quantities of M●tter, having once obtained access to the mas● of Blood (which is very easily d●ne by the Circulation) may, by the contrary and swift motion, and by the Figure of the Corpusc●es it consists of, give such a new and unnatural impediment or determination to the motion of the Blood, or so discompose either its Texture, or that of the Heart, Brain, Liver, Spleen, or some such principal part of the Body (as a spark of Fire reduceth a whole Barrel of Gunpowder, to obey the Laws of its motion, and become Fire too; or as a little Leaven is able, by degrees, to turn the greatest lump of Dow into Leaven) need be manifested by nothing, but the Operations of such Poisons as work not by any of those (which Physicians are pleased to call) Manifest Qualities. For though I much fear, that most of those th●t have written concerning Poisons, supposing that M●n would rather believe then try what they relate, have allowed themselv●s to deliver many things more strange than true; yet the known effects of a very small quantity of Opium, or of Arsenic, of the scarce discernible hurt made by ● Viper's Tooth, and especially of the biting of a mad Dog (which sometimes, by less of his spital then would weigh half a Grain, subdues a whole great Ox into the like madness, and produceth truly-wonderful Symptoms both in men's Bodies and Beasts) are sufficient to evince what we proposed.  
And that Man's Body may be as well sometimes cured, as we see it too often discomposed, by such little proportions of M●tt●r, m●y (not now to mention the questionable Vertu●s ●scrib'd to many Antidotes) be gathered from that Expe●iment, so common in Italy and elsewhere, of curing the envenomed biting of Scorpions, by anointing the bitten and tumid place with common Oil, wherein store of Scorpions have been drowned and steeped. And a resembling Example of the Antidotal Virtue, wherewith Nature hath enriched some Bodies, is given us by the above-commended Piso, in his Medicina Brasiliensis, 
Lib. 4. Cap. 48.  where (treating of the Antidotal Efficacy of the famous Brasilian Herb Nhanby, eaten upon an empty Stomach) he adds this memorable Story; That he himself saw a Brasilian, who having caught an overgrown Toad, 
See the same Author, Lib. 3. under the Title Cur●ru.  and swelled with Poison (such a one as Brasilians call Cururu) which useth to be as big again as the European Toad, and desperately venomous (which perhaps our Toads are not) he presently killed him, by dropping on his back the Juice of the Flowers and Leaves of that admirable Plant. And you may remember, that the same Author formerly told us, in effect, that as great and salutary changes may be produced even in humane Bodies, where he relates, That he had known those that had eaten several sorts of Poison, Snatched, in a trice, from imminent death, by only drinking some of the Infusion of the Root he calls Jaborandi; and this, after I know not how many Alexipharmaca and Theriacal Antidotes had been fruitlessly administered.  
You will perchance tell me, Pyrophilus, that these three or four last Instances are of Poisonous Distempers and their Antidotes; not of ordinary Diseases, and their Specific Remedies. But to th●s I have a double Answer: and First, Many of those Distempers that proceed from Poison, are really Diseases, and both called by that Name, and treated of, as such, by Physicians. And indeed they may well look upon them but as Diseases, exasperated by a virulent Malignity, which yet appears to be not always easily distinguishable from that of Diseases that proceed not from Poison, by this, That otherwise the Physicians of Princes and great Men, if after having considered all the inward Parts of their dis-bowelled Patients, could not so often doubt and dispute, as they do, whether or no Poison were accessary to their death. And Piso (who learned divers of their detestable Secrets from the Brasilians) relates, That some of them are so skilful in the cursed Art of tempering and allaying their Poisons, that they will often hinder them from disclosing their deleterial Nature for so long a time, that the subtle Murderers do as unsuspectedly as fatally, execute their Malice or Revenge. These Diseases indeed are wont to differ in this from Surfeits, and other resembling ordinary Diseases; that in the one, the venomous matter that produceth the Disease, is at first much more small, then in the other the morbific Matter is wont to be. But the activity of this little quantity of hostile Matter doth make it so pernicious, that the Disorders it produceth in the Body, being much greater than that of ordinary Sicknesses is; the cure of such Distempers is the fitter to manifest how powerfully Nature may be succoured, by Remedies that work not by first or second Qualities, since such are able to deliver Her from Diseases heightened by a peculiar and venomous malignity.  
To this first I shall subjoin my next, which is, That divers Passages of the former Discourse (especially what we have related concerning the cure of Agues, of the Rickets, and of the Kings-Evil) may satisfy you, That even of ordinary Diseases (some at least) may be as well cured by Specificks, as those produced by Poison are by Antidotes.  
You may also say, Pyrophilus, But what if a recommended Specific do not only seem unable to produce the promised Effect, but have Qualities, which according to our Notions of the nature of the Disease, seem likely to conspire with it and increase it?  
I Answer,  
First, That though it is better for a Patient to be cured by a rashly an● unskilfully given Medicine, then to die under the use of the most skilfully administered Physic; yet that the Physician who looseth h●s Patient, a●ter having done all that his Art prescribed to save him, deserves more commendation than he th●t luckily chanceth to cure his Patient by an irrational course. And therefore in such a case as you put, Pyrophilus, I think the Physician ought to be very well satisfied of the matter of Fact, before he venture to try such a Remedy, especially if more ordinary and unsuspected means have not been imploye● and found ineffectual; for it is not one lucky Cure that ought to recommend to a wary Physician the use of a Remedy, whose dangerous Quality seems obvious, whereas its virtue must be credited upon Report.  
But than secon●ly, If the Physiti●n be duly satisfied of the efficacy of the Remedy, upon a co●petent number and variety of Patients, I suppose he m●y, without rashness, make use of such Remedies at least, where ordinary Medicines have been already fruitlessly tried.   

CHAP. XVIII.  
THat you may cease to wonder at my daring to say this, Pyrophilus, I must offer to you three or four Particulars.  
And first, it is manifest to those that are inquisitive, Th●t the true Nature an● Causes of several Disease's, are much less certain, and much more disputed of among the Doctors themselves, than those that are not inquisitive imagine: Nor is the method of curing divers particular Diseases more settled & agreed on, that depending chiefly upon the knowledge of those Cause's, which as I was saying, are controverted. 'Tis not that I am either an Enemy to Method in Physic, or an Undervaluer of it; but I fear the generality of Physiti●ns for I intent not, nor need not all along this Essay speak of them all have as yet but an imperfect Method, and have, by the narrow Principles they were taught in the Schools, been persuaded to frame their Method rather to the barren Principles of the Peripatetic School, then to the full amplitude of Nature. Nor do I find that Physicians have yet done so fit a thing, as seriously (and with the attention which the importance of the thing deserves) on the one side, to enumerate and distinguish the several Causes, that may any whit probably be assigned, how the Phaenomena of that disordered state of the humane Body, which we call a Disease, or its Symptoms, may be produced. And on the other side, by how many and how differing ways the Phaenomena may be removed, or the Disease's they belong to destroyed: And if this were analytically and carefully done, I little doubt but that men's knowledge of the Nature and Causes of Diseases, and the ways of curing them, would be less circumscribed and more ●ff●ctu●l than now it is wont to be. And I am apt to think, that even Methodists would then find that there divers probable, if not promising Methods (proper to divers ca●es) which Ways they yet overlook: And though in a right sense it be true, that the Physician is but Nature's Minister, and is to comply with Her, who aims always at the best; yet if we take them in the sense those Expressions are vulgarly used in, I may elsewhere acquaint You with my Exceptions at them, and in the mean time confess to you, That I know not whether they have not done harm, and hindered the advancement of Physic, fascinating the minds of Men, and keeping them from those effectual Courses, whereby they may potently alter the Engine of the Body; and by rectifying the Motion and Texture of its Parts, both consistent and fluid, may bring Nature to their bent, and accustom Her to such convenient Courses of the Blood and other Juices, and such fit times and ways of evacuating (what is noxious or superfluous etc.) as may prevent or cure divers stubborn Diseases, more happily than the vulgar Methodists are wont to do.  
And indeed, it is scarce to be expected, that till men have a better Knowledge of the Principles of Natural Philosophy, without which 'tis hard to arrive at a more comprehensive Theory of the various possible causes of Diseases, and of the contrivance and uses of the parts of the Body, the Method which supposes this Knowledge should be other then in many things defective, and in some erroneous, as I am apt to think, the vulgar Method may be shown to be as to some particular Diseases. Of this I may perhaps elsewhere acquaint you more particularly with my suspicions, and therefore I shall now only mention the last Observation of this kind I met with, which was in a Gentleman, You and I very well know, who being for some Months much troubled with a difficulty of breathing, and having been unsuccessfully treated for it by very Eminent Physicians, we at last suspected, that 'twas not the Lungs, but the Nerves that served to move the Diaphragme and other Organs of respiration, upon whose distemper this supposed Asthma depended, and accordingly by a taking or two of a Volatile Salt of ours, which is very friendly to the genus Nervosum, he was quickly freed from his trouble some distemper, which afterwards he was fully persuaded did not proceed from any stuffing up of the Lungs. To be short, how much esteem soever we have for Method, yet since that itself and the Theories whereon men ground it, are, as to divers particular Diseases, so hotly disputed of; even among Eminent Physicians, that in many cases a man may discern more probability of the success of the Remedy, then of the truth of the received Notion of the Disease; In such abstruse cases methinks it were not amiss to reflect upon that reasoning of the ancient Empirics (though on a somewhat differing occasion) which is thus somewhere expressed by Celsus: Neque se dicere consilio medicum non egere, & irrationabile Animal hanc artem posse praestare, sed has latentium rerum conjecturas ad rem non pert ne'er; Quia non intersit, quid morbum faciat, sed quid tollat. And as the controverted Method in the abovementioned Diseases is not yet established or agreed on in the Schools themselves, so divers of those that are wholly strangers to those Schools, do yet by the help of Experience and good Specificks, and the Method their Mother-wit does, according to emergencies, prompt them to take, perform such considerable cures, that Piso sticks not to give this Testimony to the utterly Unlearned Brasilian Empirics. Interim, 
Hist. Nat. & Med. Lib. 2. pag. 23.  says he, seniores & exercitatiores eximii sunt Botanici, facilique negotio omnis generis medicamina ex undiquaque in sylvis conquisitis conficiunt. Quae tanta sagacitate internè & externè illos adhibere videas, praecipuè in morbis à veneno natis, ut quis illorum manibus tutius & securius se tradat, quam medicastris nostris sciolis, qui secreta quaedam in umbra nata atque educata crepant perpetuo, & ob has Rationales dici volunt.  
Secondly, There are divers Medicines, which though they want not some one quality or other proper to increase the Disease against which they are administered, are yet confidently used by the most judicious Doctors, because that they are also enriched with other qualities, whereby they may do much more good than their noxious quality can do harm; as in a Malignant Fe●ver, t●ough the distemper be Hot, and though Treacle an● s●●e other Antidotal Su●or ficks be hot also, y●t they are usefully administered in such Disease's, because the relief they bring th● p●tient by oppugning the Malignity of the peccant matter, an● perhaps by easing him of some of it by sweat, is more considerable than the h●rm they can do him, by increasing for a while his He●t.  
The very experienced Bontius, Chief Physiti●n to the Dutch Plantation in the East- Indies; in his Methodus medendi Indica, 
Cap. 2.  Treating of the Spasmus, which (though here unfrequent) he reckons among the Endemial Diseases of the Indies, commends the Use of Quercetanus' Laudanum, of Philonium, and principally of an Extract of Opium●nd ●nd Safron, which he describes and much Extols; and le●st h●s Readers should scruple at so strange a prescription, he a●●s this memorable passage to our present purpose. Fortaf●●s (sues he) Sciolus quispiam negabit his remediis, propter vim stupefactivam ac narcoticum nervisque inimicam, esse utendum. Speciosa quidem haec prima fronte videntur sed tamen vana s●nt. Nam praeterquam quod calidissima hujus Climatis t●mp●r●es non requirat, certissimum est in tali necessitate: sine his aeg●um evadere non posse. Add quod nos tam rite Opium hic praeparamus ut vel infanti innoxie detur: & sane ut verbo ab●●lvam● si Opiata hic nobis de●ssent in morbis calidis hic grass●ntibus frustra remedia adhiberemus quod etsi imperitis durum, ex progr●ssu tamen me nihil tem●re dix●sse pat●bit.  
The drinking freely, especially if the Dr●nk be cold Water, is usually (and in most c●ses, nor without much reason:) strictly forbidden, as very hurtful for the Dropsy, and yet those that frequent the Spaa, tell us of great cures performed by pouring in plenty of Waters ●nto the Patients already distended Belly; and I know a Person of great Quality, and Virtue, who being by an obstinate Dropsy, besides a complication of other formidable diseases, brought to a desperate condition, was advised to Drink Tunbridg Waters, when I happened to be there, by her very skilful Physician: Who told me, that the Doctors having done all their Art could direct them unto in vain, she would be cured by Death, if she were not by these Waters; from whence (the weather proving very seasonable for that sort of Physic) she returned in so prosperous a condition of recovery, as exacted both his and my wonder. That the Decoction of so heating a Simple as Guajacum; would be looked upon by the generality of Physicians, both Galenists and Chemists, as a dangerous Medicine in P●hisical and other consumptions, you will easily grant: and yet some eminent Physicians, and (particularly Spaniards) tell us of wonderful cures they have performed in desperate Ulcers of the Lungs by the long use of this Decoction, notwithstanding it's manifestly and troublesomely heating Quality. And I know a Physician eminently learned, and much more a Methodist, than a Chemist, who assures me, that he has made trial of this unlikely way of curing Consumptions with a success that has much recommended these Paradoxical Spaniards to him. 'Tis also believed, and not without cause, by Physicians, that Mercury is wont to prove a great enemy to the Genus nervosum, and often produces Palsies, and other distempers of the Brain and Nerves: and yet one of the exactest and happiest Methodists ay know, has confessed to me, that Mercurial preparations are those which he uses the most successfully in Paralytical and the like distempers of what Physicians call the Genus nervosum. And on this occasion, I remember, that a Gentlewoman being confined to her Bed by a Dead Palsy, that had seized on on● side of her Body, a Physician eminent for his Books and Cures, giving her a dose of a certain Preparation of Mercury, corrected with a little Gold, which I put into his hands for that purpose, was pleased to bring me word, that by the first taking of the Powder, which wrought but gently by Siege, without either Vomits or Salivation, she was enabled the same or the next day to quit her Bed, and walk about the Room.  
Thirdly there are many things which seem to be against reason whilst they are barely proposed and not proved for which we afterwards discern very good reason: when experience, having satisfied us they are really true, has both invited us, and assisted us to inquire into their causes. Of this we have elsewhere given divers not Medical Instances in our ESSAY Concerning improbable Truths: And I coul● easily enough, if I dared be tedious, give you some Medical Illustrations of the s●me truth. But I dare now only invite you to consider th●s one thing, which may be of great use to explicate many others, both in Natural Philosophy, and in Physic too, which is, Th●t ●here are divers Concretes, some of them as to Sense, Similar, or Homogeneous, whose differing parts are endowed with very differing and sometimes contrary Qualities. And this not only appears in the Chemical Analysis of Bodies made by the fi●e, where the difference of what Chemists call the separate● Principles of Concretes is often ve●y manifest and great, but even in divers Bodies that h●ve not been resolved by the violence of the Fire; as is evident in Rhubarb taken in substance, whose subtler parts are purging, and its terrestrial astringent: Nay, if those parts which do in much the less quantity concur to the constitution of the concrete do but meet with a Body disposed to receive their Impressions, it is very possible, that they may work more powerfully on it then the other Parts of the same Concrete, of which the Eye judgeth it altogether to consist.  
This I have made out to some ingenious Men, by showing, that though Salad Oil be generally reputed to consist of Fat and Unctuous Particles, and therefore to be a great resister of Corrosion; yet it contains in it sharp and piercing parts, which meeting with a disposed subject, do more powerfully operate then the more purely Oleaginous ones. As we endeavoured to evince by keeping for a short while in a gentle warmth, some pure oil-olive, upon a quantity of Filings of even crude Copper: For from them the Liquor extracted an high Tincture betwixt Green and Blue, like that which such Filings would have given to Distilled Vinegar, which according to Chemist's Notions obtains that Colour, by making with its Acid and Corrosive Salt a real solution of some part of the Copper, as may appear by the recoverablenesse of the metal out of it. Another proof or two of the Acrimony of some of the parts of Oil we may elsewhere give you. But now we shall rather confirm our Answer to your Question, by two or three Examples of Cures performed by unlikely Remedies.  
I went once to visit an Ingenious Helmontian, whom I found Sick on his Bed, and having by the Symptoms of his Disease, discerned it to be a Pleurisy, I talked with him of seasonably opening a Vein, but he was resolved against it, and told me he would cure himself by a remedy, which at first seems as likely to increase such a disease as Phlebotomy is to cure it, namely by the use of helmont's Laudanum Opiatum which in effect did in three or four days cure him, and since he without Blood letting cured some others with it; which I the less wonder at, because of my having observed that Opium (with which unskilful men seldom tamper without danger) if duly corrected and prepared proves sometimes a great resolver, and commonly a great Sudorific insomuch, that I have known it make a person copiously sweat, who often complained to me, that other Diaphoreticks had no such operation on him.  
I have oftentimes seen Coughs strangely abated by the use of a Remedy, which I have not long since told you, how I prepare: and with which (I remember) in a pretty Child you (Pyrophilus) know, and who is now very well, I was so happy as to repress in a few Hours a violent Cough, that threatened her with Speedy Death, and yet this Medicine has so eminent a saltness, that the Tongue can scarce suffer it; and how much the use of Salt things is by many Physicians condemned in Coughs (and indeed in many cases not without Reason) I need not tell You. And with exceedingly piercing Essence or Spirit of Man's Blood, I have known, notwithstanding its being very Saline, and it's manifestly heating the Patient, especially for the first Four or Five days, strange things performed even in a deplorable and hereditary Consumption. This Pyrophilus brings into my mind, something, that, it may be, you will think odd, which is, that hav●ng had occasion to advise for a person of high quality, with a very ancient Galenist, that in his own Country was looked upon as almost an Oracle, and particularly in reference to Phthisical Consumptions, which was there a vulgar Disease, He confessed to me, that though his having fallen into it himself, made him very solicitous to find a cure for it; and though he had in his long and various practice, made trial of great variety of Methods and Remedies for the cure of that Disease, yet that with which he cured himself, and afterwards the generality of his chief Patiens was principally Sulphur melted, and mingled, in a certain proportion to make it fit to be taken, in a Pipe, with beaten Amber or a Cephalick Herb. The particular circumstances of his Method, I cannot now set you down, not having by me the Paper wherein they were Noted, but if I mistake not the Herb, with which he mingled the Brimstone or Flower of Sulphur was Coltsfoot or Betony; and I well remember, that what he looked upon as the chief and specific Remedy in his way of curing, was the smoke of the Sulphur; the other ingredients being added, not so much for their being proper enough for the Disease, as their helping to fill the Pipe, and thereby to allay the pungency, wherewith the Smoke, if afforded by a Pipe filled with Brimstone alone, would be qualified. But yet this Sulphureous Smoke is so predominant in the Remedy, that he used to have a Syrup in readiness to ●elieve those, whom the Acrimony of the Fumes should make very sore, and perhaps blister on the one side of their Mouths, or Throats, which accident he provided for, by that cooling and healing Syrup, without being thereby discouraged from prosecuting the cure with the same Remedy; wherewith a person very Curious and Rich, has solemnly assured me, that himself has cured divers Consumptions, and particularly in a Lady, even in health very Lean, that he named to me, as being one I then knew. Now we know that Physicians generally, and in most cases justly, forbid Acid things to those that have exulcerated or tender Lungs, and how highly Acid and piercing the Smoke of Sulphur is, the Chemists can best tell you, who by catching it and condensing it in Glasses shaped almost like Bells obtain from it that very corrosive Liquor, which readily dissolves Iron, being the very same that is commonly called Oleum Sulphuris per campanam, and yet it seems that either the Theory of Consumptions is misunderstood, or that the drying quality of the Sulphureous steam, and its great power to resist putrefaction, and as it were embalm the Lungs and season the Blood are considerable enough to account for the Harm which its Acidity may do.  
Eels are so commonly eaten by Persons of both Sexes without being taken notice of for any Quality, except their Crudity, that one would scarce believe such a stinking and odious Medicine as that of their Livers and Galls dried slowly in an Oven should be more proper for any thing, then to make the taker Vomit; and yet Helmont in divers places speaks of this Medicine as if it had ke●t multitudes of Women from dying of hard Labour. And since him, Panarola in his New Observations highly extols it. And I knew a very famous Empiric, who had very few other Secrets, and scarce any one so great to get Reputation and Money by. And I remember also, That some years since I had occasion to give it to the Wife of a very ingenious Physician, of whom the Midwives and her Husband almost despaired, and (as she afterwards told me herself) each Dose made her throws (which before had left her) return, and at length she was safely delivered she scarce knew how. But I found double the Dose prescribed by Helmont, requisite to be used at last; and that the quantity of a Walnut of the Powder of these Livers given in Rhenish or White-wine, and when the Stomach was most empty, was no more than such a case required.  
Scorpions being Venomous Creatures, to suffocate and infuse them in Oil might seem the way to make it Poisonous, if experience did not assure us, that th●s Oil is so far from being such, that it Cures the envenomed bitings of Scorpions, which effect now that Physicians find it upon trial to be true, they confess to be rational, and ascribe it, how justly I now examine not to the attraction of the Poison received into the Body, by that which is outwardly applied to the hurt. And Piso informs us that amongst the Brasilians, whose country is so much infested with Venomous Creatures 'tis the most general Cure to draw out the Poison by applying to the hurt the beaten Body of the Beast that gave it. As likewise in Italy, they account the crushing of the very Scorpion that has bit a Man upon the bitten place for a most speedy and effectual Remedy. And I remember that here in England the Old man, whom you have seen going about with Vipers, Toads, etc. to sell, told me that when he was dangerously bitten by a Viper and all swelled by the Poison of it a great part of his cure was the outward application of Venomous Creatures stamped till they were brought to a Consistence fit for that purpose.  
That Fluxes are the general and Endemical Diseases in Ireland, I need not tell you; and yet I remember, that having occasion to consult the ancientest and most experienced Physician of that Nation Dr F. about the cure of it, he assured me, that though during his very long Practice he had found divers Remedies very prosperous, some on one sort of Patients, and some on another; yet the Medicine he most relied on, was this. To take unsalted Butter, and boil it gently till a pretty part were consumed, Skimming it diligently from time to time, whilst it stands over the fire, and of this Butter melted, to give now and then a considerable quantity, according as the Patient is able to bare it. A Remedy which at the first proposal may seem more likely to put a man into a Flux then to cure him of one. And yet the same Remedy which he supposed to benefit by mitigating the sharp humours and preserving the Entrails from their Corrosion was afterwards much commended to me by another ancient Irish Physician, who was esteemed among the Doctors the next in Eminency to him that I have named.   

CAP. XIX.  
I Should not here, Pyrophilus, add any thing to what I have already said above in favour of the use of even odd Specificks, but that finding at every turn, that the main thing, which does (really or in pretence) prevail with many Learned Physicians (especially in a famous University You have visited abroad) to reject Specificks, is, That they cannot clearly conceive the distinct manner of the Specificks working, and think it utterly improbable, that such a Medicine which must pass through Digestions in the Body, and be whirled about with the Mass of Blood to all the parts, should, neglecting the rest, show itself Friendly to the Brain, for instance, or the Kidneys, and fall upon this or that Juice or Humour, rather than any other. But to this Objection which I have proposed as plausible as I can readily make it, I shall at present but briefly offer, according to what has been hitherto discoursed, these two things.  
And First, I would demand of these Objectors a clear and satisfactory, or at least an intelligible explication of the manner of working of divers other Medicaments that do not pass for Specificks, as how Rhubarb Purges Choler, and Hellebor Melancholy rather then other Humou●s, how some Medicines that have endured a strong fire, as Antimonium Diaphoreticum, and Bezoardicum minerale well made, are yet oftentimes strongly Sudoririck; why the infusion of Crocus Metallorum or of Glass of Antimony, though it acquire no pungent, or so much as manifest t●st, whereby to velicate the palate or the Tongue, are yet violently both Vomitive and Cath●rtick; And how Mercury, which is innoxiously given in many cases Crude to Women in labour and others, does easily acquire, besides many other more abstruse Medicinal Qualities, not only an Emetic and Purgative, but a Salivating faculty. For I confess, that to me, even many of the vulgar Operations of common Drugs seem not to have been hitherto intelligibly explained by Physicians, who are yet, for aught I have observed, to seek for an account of the manner, how Diuretics, how Sudorificks, how sarcotics, and how many other familiar sorts of Medicines, which those that consider them but slightly are wont to think they understand throughly, perform their operations. Nay, I much question, whether the generality of Physicians can yet give us a satisfactory account, why any sort of Medicine purges in general: And he that in particular will show me, where either the Peripatetic or Galenical Schools, have intelligibly made out, why Rhubarb does particularly purge Choler, and Senna more peculiarly Phlegm, Erit mihi magnus Apollo. For I see not how from those narrow and barren Principles of the four Elements, the four Humours, the four first Qualities (and the like;) Effects, far less abstruse than the Operations of Purging Medicines, can satisfactorily be deduced. Nor can I find, that any thing makes those Physicians, that are unacquainted with the Philosophy that explains things by the Motions, Siz●s, and Figures of little Bodies, imagine they understand the account upon which some Medicines are Purgative, others Emetic, etc. And some Purgative in some Bodies, Vomitive in other, and both Purgative and Vomitive in most; but because they never attentively inquire into it.  
But (which is the next thing I have to represent) if we duly make use of those fertile and comprehensive Principles of Philosophy, the Motions, Shapes, Magnitudes and Textures of the Minute parts of Matter, it will not perhaps be more difficult to show, at least in general, that Specificks may have such Operations, as are by the judicious and experienced ascribed to them, than it will be for those that acquiesce in the vulgar Principles of Philosophy and Physic, to render the true Reasons of the most obvious and familiar operations of Medicines. And though the same Objection that is urged to prove, That a Specific cannot befriend the Kidneys, for Example, or the Throat, rather than any other parts of the Body, lies against the noxiousness of Poisons to this or that determinate part; Yet experience manifests that some Poisons do respect some particular part of the Body, without equally (if at all sensibly) offending the rest: as we see that Cantharideses in a certain Doses are noxious to the Kidneys and Bladder, Quicksilver to the Throat, and the glanduls thereabouts, Strammoneum, to the Brain, and Opium to the Animal Spirits and Genus Nervosum. And if You call to mind, what we have formerly deduced to make it out, That a Humane Body is an Engine, and that Medicines operate in it as finding it so; we need not think it so strange, that there being many Strainers, if I may so call them, of differing Textures, such as the Liver, Spleen, and Kidneys, and perhaps divers local Ferments residing in particular parts, and a Mass of Blood continually streaming through all the parts of the Body, a Medicine may be quickly by the Blood carried from any one part to any other, and the Blood, or any Humour mingled with it, may be as easily carried to the Medicine, in what parts soever it be, and the Remedy thus admitted into the Mass of Blood, may in its passage through the Strainers, be so altered, either by leaving some of its parts there, or by having them altered by the abovementioned Ferments, or by being associated with some other Corpuscles, it may meet within its passage; whereby the Size, or Figure, or Motion of its small parts may be changed, or in a word it may by some of those many other ways, which might, if this ESSAY were not too Prolix already, be proposed, and deduced, receive so great an Alteration, in reference either to some or other of the Strainers, or other firmer parts of the Body, or to the distempered Blood, or some other fluid and peccant matter, that it needs not seem impossible, That by that time the Medicine (crumbled as it were into Minute Corpuscles) arrives at the part or humour to be wrought upon, it may have a notable Operation there. I mean Part as well as Humour, because the Motion, Size, or Shape of the Medicinal Corpuscles in the Blood, though not by sense distinguishable from the rest of the Liquor they help to compose, may be so conveniently qualified as to shape, bulk, and motion, as to restore the Strainers to their right Tone or Texture, as well as the Blood to its free and Natural course, by resolving and carrying away with them such tenacious matter, as stuffed, or choked up the slender passages of the Strainer, or at least Straitened its pores, or vitiated their Figure; And the same Sanative Corpuscles may perchance be also fitted to stick to, and thereby to strengthen such Fibres of the Strainers, or such other firmer parts of the Body, as may need congruous Corpuscles to fill up their little unsupplyed Cavities.  
Meats that are Salt, and Tartareous, whilst they are whirled about in the Mass of Blood, may by the other part of th●t Vital Liquor be so diluted and kept asunder so, as no● to be offensive to any part: When they come to be separated by the Parenchyma of the Kidneys, from the sweeter parts of the Blood, that did before temper and allay them, they easily, by their Saline pungency, offend the tender Ureters and Membranous Bladders of those that are troubled with the Stone or Strangury. And perchance 'tis upon some such account, that Cantharideses are more noxious to the Bladder then to other parts of the Body. And as S●lt meat thus grows peculiarly offensive to the Reins and Bladder; so a Specific, disposed to be dissolved, after a peculiar manner, may, in the Body, either preserve or acquire, as to its Minute parts, a friendly congruity to the Pores of the Kidneys, Liver, or other Strainers equally, when distempered; as I formerly observed to You, that New-milk sweetened with Sugar-candy, though it be not wont sensibly to affect ●ny other p●rt of the Body; nor would have sensibly affected the Kidneys themselves, had they not been disordered, yet after the troublesome operation of Cantharideses, it ha● a very friendly effect upon the distempered Parts; Thus a Specific, for one Disease, may be resolved in the Body into Minute particles of ●uch Figure and Motion, that being fit to stick to other Corpuscles of peccant matter, which, by their vehement agitation, or other offensive qualities discompose the Body and make it Feavouri●h, may allay their vehement Motion, and by altering them, as to bigness and shape, give them new and innocent qualities, instead of those noxious ones they had before.  
Another Specific may dissolve the Gross and Slimy Humours that obstruct the narrow passages of the Veins; as I have observed that Spirit of Hartshorn, wh●ch powerfully opens other obstructions, and resolves stuffing Phlegm in the Lungs, will also, though more slowly, resolve prepared Flowers of Sulphur, crude Copper, and divers other Bodies; and also it may, by mortifying the Acid Spirit that oftentimes causes coagulations in the Blood, restore that Vital Liquor to its Fluidity and free Circulation, and thereby remove divers formidable Diseases, which seem to proceed from the Coagulation, or Ropinesse of the Blood; and on the other side, the Minute parts of some Specificks, against a contrary Disease, may somewhat thicken and fix the two thin and agitated parts of the Blood, or of some peccant matter in it, by associating themselves therewith: as the nimble parts of pu●e Spirits of Wine, and those of high rectified Spirit of Urine, will concoagulate into Corpuscles, bigger and far less Agile. And the same Spirit of Wine itself, with another Liquor I make, will presently concoagulate into a kind of soft, but not fluid Substance. Nor is it so hard to conceive, that a Specific may work upon a determinate Part or Humour, and let the others alone: as if you put, for instance, an Egg into strong Vinegar, the Liquor will operate upon and dissolve all the hard shell, and yet leave the tender skin untouched; And if you cast Coral into the common rectified Spirit of Tartar, the far greater part of the Liquor, though strong and spirituous, will remain unalter'd thereby, and may be, integris viribus, abstracted from it; but the Coral will presently find out, or rather be found out by Acid or Acetuous Particles, and by incorporating itself with them, take aw●y their sharpness: as in some cases Coral has been observed to do to Sour Humours abounding in Humane Bo●ies, those Humours being easily, by the Circulating Blood, brought (in their passage) to the Coral, whilst it perhaps remains in the Stomach or Guts. And though the Circulation of the Blood be sufficient to bring, little by little, the Acid Particles of that Liquor in its passage through the Vessels to work upon Coral; yet in other Medicines the Operation may be more nimble: The Remedy quickly diffusing itself through the Mass of Blood, to seek, as it were, and destroy the Acid parts, which it meets with blended with the rest of the Liquor; as Spirit of Urine being instead of Coral put into the above mentioned Spirit of Tartar will not (that I have observed) fasten itself to the Spirituous nor the Phlegmatic parts of the Liquor, but only to the Acid ones, which it will Mortify or deprive of their Sourness by concoagulating with them. And I see not why it should be more inconceivable that a Specific should have a peculiar Virtue to free the Body from this or that peccant Humour, and a benign congruity to the distempered Spleen or Liver, then that some Cathartick should purge Electively, and some Antidotes have peculiar Virtues against such Poisons, whose Malignity particularly invades the Brain or Kidneys, or some other determinate part: the former of which the Physicians, we reason with, scruple not to teach; and the latter of which is taught us not by them only, but by Experience too.  
[Of the credibility of Specificks, and of the Efficacy even of some unlikely ones, we might easily enough present You with more Proofs and Examples: But these may possibly be sufficient for our present purpose; especially if you duly consider, that as Pysick has owed its beginning to Experience, so those that practise it must enlarge and rectify their Principles, according to the new discoveries, which are made from time to time of the Operations and Power of the productions, whether of Nature or of Art. This consideration I thought to insist upon in my own Expressions; but finding lately the same Notion which I had, to have been long since that of the ancient Empirics, I will sum up what I meant to say in their words, as I find them wittily delivered by Celsus, in that excellent Preface, where having spoken in their Sense of the Origin of Physic, He continues Sic Medicinam ortam, subinde aliorum salute aliorum interitu perniciosa discernentem a salutaribus: Repertis deinde Medicinae remediis, hom●nes de rationibus eorum disserere caepisse; nec post Rationem, Medicinam esse inventam, sed post inventam Medicinam, Rationem esse quaesitam. And lest the mistaken name of Empiric should make you undervalue so useful a Consideration, which not the nature of their Sect, but that of the thing, suggested to them; I shall add in favour of what we have delivered concerning experienced, though otherwise unlikely Remedies, that 'tis a sentence ascribed to Aristotle (and in my opinion, one of the best that is ascribed to him,) libires constat, si opinio adversetur rei, quaerendam rationem non rem ignorandam.]  
And certainly Pyrophilus, though there be scarce any sort of men, whose credulity may do the World more mischief than that of Physicians; yet perhaps, neither nature nor mankind is much beholden to those, that too rigidly, or narrowly, circumscribe, or confine th● operations of Nature, and will not so much as allow themselves or others to try whether it be possible for Nature excited and managed by Art to perform divers things which they never yet saw done, or work by divers ways, differing from any, which by the common Principles that are yet taught in the Schools, they are able to give a satisfactory account of.  
To the many things which you may be pleased to apply to this purpose, out of the precedent Discourse, divers others may be added, if without tiring you, they may be now insisted on. It would scarce have been believed some ages since, by those that knew no other than Vegetable Purges and and Vomits, that a Cup made of a Concrete, insuperable by the Heat of Humane Stomaches should, by having for a while, Wine or any such other Liquor, b●rely poured on it to make an infusion, without any sensible diminution of its own bulk or weight, and without any sensible alteration made in the Colour, Taste, or Smell of the Wine, communicate to it a strongly Emetic and Cathartick Virtue, and prov● oftentimes Vomitive, even when put up in Clysters; and yet that this is performable by Antimony, slightly prepared with Salt-peter, or without addition, melted into a Transparent Glass, is commonly known to those that are not Strangers to the Operations of the Antimonial Cup, and of the Glass made of the same Mineral. And much more strange is that which is affirmed by inquisitive Physicians upon their own Trial of the common Crocus Metallorum, or somewhat corrected Antimony wont to be sold in Shops, namely, That a few Drachmas of it, infused into some ounces of Wine, will make the Liquor work so strongly, as if six or eight times the quantity had been steeped in it.  
Those that believe that all Diaphoreticks must consist of subtle, sapid and fugitive part●● as if only such were easily separated form each other, and agitated by the gentle heat of a Humane body, will scarce expect that any body could, in a moderate Dose, be a good Sudorific, that is so fixed as to be able to persist divers hours in a good Fire. And yet that Antimonium Diaphoreticum is such a Concrete, is now very well known to many besides Chemists.  
That a Stone, and a Stone too so fixed, that it will sustain the violence of reverberated Fire, and is consequently very unlike to be much wrought upon, or digested by the heat of Humane Stomach, should be capable of agglutinating together the parts of broken bones, would seem impossible to many, but 'tis very well known to those that have made trial of the efficacy of the Lapis Ossifragus: for though I have sometimes wondered at the Fixtness of this Stone, above others, in the Fire, yet being for some days successively drunk in Wine, or Aqua Symphyti, to the quantity of about half a Drachma, or more, it doth so wonderfully cement together the parts of broke and well-set Bones, that it deserves the name it commonly hath in the Shops of Osteocollae, and hath wonders related of it by several eminent, not only Chemical, but Galenical Writers.  
'Tis almost incredible what Quercetane relates of what himself saw done with it as to the cure of broken Bones, without much pain or any of the usual grievous Symptoms, within four or five days; so that to the stupendous Virtue he ascribes to this Stone, both inwardly given and outwardly applied, in the form of a Poultis, with only beaten Geranium and Oil of Roses or Olives, he thinks fit to annex these words: Quod incredibile videri posset, nisi praeter me innumerabiles alii oculati & idonei testes extarent. And indeed these need good proof to make a wary Man believe so strange a thing, since Surgeons observe, That Nature is wont to be forty days in producing a Callus to fasten together the pieces of a broken Bone. But to make this the more credible by the testimony of Authors more Galenically inclined, Matthiolus relates, That in many the Bones having been very well set (Which Circumstance he requires as necessary) have had their broken Parts conglutinated within three or four days: 
Fab. Cent. 3. obser. 90.  And not only that most experienced Chirurgeon Fabricius Hildanus used it much in Fractures, with only a little Cinnamon and Sugar to make it pleasant; 
Lib. 5. Part. 5. Cap. 1.  but the Learned Sennertus, who somewhere calls its Virtue admirable, thinks it requisite, in his Chirurgery, to give us this caution of it: Verum in juvenibus & iis qui boni sunt habitus callum nimis auget: Quapropter caute & non nisi in adultioribus exhibendus: The warrantableness of which caution, and consequently the strange efficacy of Osteocolla, was, I remember, confirmed to me not long since by a skilful Physician who hath particularly studied its nature; and related to me, That some Years since his Mother, having by a fall broken her Leg near the Knee, had too suddenly, by the overmuch use of this Stone, a Callus produced in the part much bigger than he expected or desired.  
He that, before the salivating Property of Mercury was discovered, should have told Physicians of the ●espondent temper of these, we are now discoursing with, that besides the known ways of disburthening Nature (namely by Vomit, Siege, Urine, Sweat, and insensible Transpiration) there were a sort of Remedies, that would make very large Evacuations by spital, and thereby cure divers stubborn Diseases that had been found refractory to all ordinary Remedies, would certainly have been more likely to be derided, then believe by them; since no known Remedy, besides, Mercury, hath been, that I remember, observed to work regularly by Salivation: (for though Ceruse of Antimony have been observed to make Men, of some Constitutions, apt to spit much, yet it works that way too languidly, to deserve the name of a Salivating Remedy; and probably oweth the quality it hath of inclining to spit, to the Mercurial part of the Antimony, wherewith the Regulus it is made of abounds) and therefore the greater their experience of the Effects of Medicinal Operations should be supposed to be, the greater indisposition it would give them to credit so unallyed a Truth. And yet the reality of this Fluxing Property of Quicksilver is long since grown past question, and hath been found so useful in the cure of the most radicated and obstinate Venereal Distempers, that I somewhat wonder those Physicians, that scruple not to employ as boisterous ways of Cure, have not yet applied it to the extirpation of some other Diseases; as Ulcers of the Kidneys, Consumptions, and even Palsies, etc. wherein I am apt to think, it may be as effectual as in those produced by Lust, and much more effectual than vulgar Remedies, provided that the exceeding troublesome way of working of salivating Medicines be better corrected than it is wont to be, in the ordinary Medicines employed to produce Salivation, which they do with such tormenting Symptoms, that they are scarcely supportable. But if purified Quicksilver be dexterously precipitated by a long and competent digestion, with a due proportion of refined Gold, Experience hath informed us, that the salivating Operation of it may be performed with much less uneasiness to the Patient. And that such Mercurial Medicines, wherein the Quicksilver is well corrected by Gold, may produce more than ordinary effects, we have been inclined to believe, by the trials which we procured by Learned Physicians to be made in other then Venereal Diseases, of a gently working precipitate of Gold and Mercury, of which we may elsewhere set you down the Process.  
[And now I am upon the Discourse of the peculiar Operations of Mercury, and of unusual ways of Evacuation, I am tempted to subjoin an odd Story, which may afford notable h●nts to a speculative Man, as it was related to me both in private, and before Illustrious Witnesses, by the formerly commended Chemist of the French King: He told me then awhile since, that there is yet living a Person of Quality, by name Monsieur de Vatteville, well known by the Command he hath or had of Regiment of Swissers in France, who, many Years ago following the Wars in the Low Countries, fell into a violent Distemper of his Eyes, which, in spite of what Physicians and Surgeons could do, did in a few Months so increase, that he lost the use of both his Eyes, and languished long in a confirmed Blindness; which continued till he heard of a certain Empiric at Amsterdam, commonly known by the name of Adrian Glasmaker (for indeed he was a Glazier) who being cried up for prodigious Cures he had done with a certain Powder, this Colonel resorted to him, and the Empiric having discoursed with him, undertook his Recovery, if he would undergo the torment of the Cure; which the Colonel having undertaken to do, the Chirurgeon made him snuff up into each Nostril, about a Grain of a certain Mercurial Powder, which, in a strangely violent manner, quickly wrought with him almost all imaginable ways, as by Vomit, Siege, Sweat, Urine, Spitting and Tears, within ten or twelve hours that this Operation lasted, making his Head also to swell very much: But within three or four days after this single taking of the Drastick Medicine had done working, he began to recover some degree of Sight, and within a Fortnight attained to such a one, that himself assured the Relater, He never was so Sharp-sighted before his Blindness. And the Relater assured me, that he had taken pleasure to observe, That this Gentleman, who is his familiar Acquaintance, would discern Objects farther and clearer than most other Men. He added, That Monsieur de Vatteville told the Relater, he had purchased the way of making this Powder of the Empiric, and had given it to an eminent Chirurgeon, one Benoest (an Acquaintance of the Relaters) by whom he had been cured of a Musket-shot that had broken his Thigh-bone, when the other Surgeon's would have proceeded to amputation; and that this Benoest had with this Powder, administered as before is related, cured a Gentlewoman of a Cancer in the Breast. All which, and more, was confirmed to the Relater by the Chirurgeon himself. But in what other stubborn and deplorable Cases they use this Powder, I do not particularly remember. The Preparation of it, which a Chemist did me the favour to tell me by word of mouth, as a thing himself had also made, was in short this: That the Remedy was made by precipitating Quicksilver, with good Oil of Vitriol, and so making a Turbith, which is afterwards to be dulcified by abstracting twenty, or twenty five, times from it pure Spirit of Wine, of which fresh must be taken at every abstraction. But I would not advise you to recommend so furious a Powder to any, that is not a very skilful Chemist and Physician too, till you know the exact Preparation, and particular uses of it; the reason of my mentioning it here, being but that which I expressed at the entrance upon this Narrative.]   

CHAP. XX.  
YOu will perchance wonder, Pyrophilus, that having had so fair an opportunity as the subject of this Essay afforded me, of discoursing to you about the Universal Medicine, which many Paracelsians, Helmontians, and other Chemists talk of so confidently: I have said nothing concerning the existence, or so much as the possibility of it. But till I be better satisfied about those Particulars then yet I have been, I am unwilling either to seem to believe what I am not yet convinced of, or to assert any thing, that may tend to discourage Humane Industry; and therefore I shall only venture to add on this occasion, That I fear we do somewhat too much confine our hopes, when we think, that one generous Remedy can scarce be effectual in several Diseases, if their causes be supposed to be a little differing. For, the Theory of Diseases is not, I fear, so accurate and certain as to make it fit for us to neglect the manifest or hopeful Virtues of noble Remedies, where ever we cannot reconcile them to that Theory. He that considers what not unfrequently happens in distempered Bodies by the Metastasis of the Morbifique matter (as for instance, how that which in the Lungs caused a violent cough removed up to the head may produce (as we have observed) a quick decay of Memory and Ratiocination, and a Palsy in the Hands and other Limbs) may enough discern that Diseases that appear very differing, may easily be produced by a peccant matter of the same nature only variously determined in its operations by the constitution of the parts of the body where it settleth: and consequently it may seem probable to him, that the same searching Medicine being endowed with qualities destructive to the texture of that Morbifique matter, where ever it finds it, may be able to cure either all, or the greatest part, of the Diseases which the various translation of such a Matter ha●h been observed to beget. Moreover, it oftentimes happens that Diseases, that seem of a contrary nature, may proceed from the same cause variously circumstantiated; or (if you please) that of divers Diseases, that may both seem primary, the one is but Symptomatical or at most Secundary in relation to the other; as a Dropsy and a slow Fever may, to unskilful men, seem Diseases of a quite contrary nature, (the one being reputed a hot and dry, the other a cold and moist Distemper) though expert Physicians know they may both proceed from the same Cause, and be cured by the same Remedy: And in women experience manifests, that a great variety of differing Distempers, which by unskilful Physicians have been adjudged distinct and primary Diseases, and have been, as such, unsuccessfully dealt with by them, may really be but disguised Symptoms of the distempers of the Mother or Genus Nervosum; and may, by Remedies reputed Antihysterical, be happily removed. To which purpose I might tell you, Pyro. That I, not long since, knew a Practitioner, that with great success used the same Remedies (which were chiefly Volatile and Resolving Salts) in Dropsies, and in (not, Symptomatical, but) Essential Fevers. And ourselves have lately made some Experiments of not much unlike nature, with a preparation of Hartshorn, of equal use in Fevers and Coughs, both of them primary. I might on this occasion recur to divers of the Remedies formerly mentioned in several places of this Essay; since divers of them have been found effectual against Diseases, which, according to our common Theory, seem to be little of kin one to another: And by telling you what I have observed concerning the various operations of Helmont's Laudanum, of our Ens Veneris, and even of a Medicine devised by a Woman, the Lady Kent's Powder, I might illustrate what I have lately delivered: But it is high time for me to pass on to another Subject; and therefore I shall rather desire you, in general, to consider, whether or no several Differing Diseases, and even some commonly supposed to be of contrary natures, be not yearly cured by the Spaa waters in Germany.  
And to assist you in this Enquiry, I shall address you to the rare Observations of the famous and experienced Henricus ab Heer, and to his Spadacrene; in the 8 ●h Chapter of which he reckons among the Diseases which those Water's cure, Catarrhs, and the Distempers, which (according to him) spring from thence; as the Palsy, Trembling of the Joints, and other Diseases of kin to these, Convulsions, Cephalalgiae, (I name them in the order, wherein I find them set down) Hemicraniae, Vertigo, Redness of the Eyes, of the Face, the Erysipelata, Ructus continui, Vomitus, Singultus, Obstructions, and even Scyrhus', if not inveterate, of the Liver and Spleen, and the Diseases springing thence; the Yellow Jaundice, Melancholia flatulenta seu Hypochondriaca, Dropsies, Gravel, Ulcers of the Kidneys, and Carunculae in meatu urinario, Gonorrhoeas, and resembling affections, Elephantiasis or the Leprosy, fluor albus mulierum, Cancers and Scyrrhus' of the Womb, Fluxes and even Dysenteries, the Worms (though very obstinate, and sometimes so copious as to be voided in his presence, even with the Urine) Sterility, and not only the Scabies in the Body and Neck of the Bladder, and clammy pituitous Matter collected therein, besides Ulcers in the Sphyncter of it: but he relates, upon the repeated Testimony of an eminent Person that he names, and one whom he styles Vir omni fide dignissimus, That this Party being troubled with a very great Stone in his Bladder, and having had it searched by divers Lythotomists, before he came to the Spaa, did, by very copiously drinking these Waters, find, by a second search made by those Artists, that his Stone was much diminished the first Year, and (by the same way of trial) that it was so the second Year. And of the Cures of these Diseases, the Physician mentions in the same Chapter, as to many of them, particular and remarkable Instances; and in the beginning of the next Chapter, having told his Readers that he expects they should scarce believe these Waters can have such variety of Virtues, Caeterum, saith he, si in Spaa maturè & constantibus naturalibus, vitalibusque facultatibus venerint; aquasque quo dicemus modo biberint, indubiè quae dixi, vera esse fatebuntur: And though we be not bound to believe (nor doth he affirm it) that the Spaa-waters do universally cure all the aforementioned Distempers; y●t it is very much, and makes much for our present purpose, that they should in so many Patients cure most of these Distempers, and lessen, if not cure, the rest. And we may somewhat the better credit him, because even where he reckons up the Virtues of the Spaa, he denys it some, which other Physicians ascribe to it. And it is very considerable, what he subjoins in these words: Paucissimos enim vel nullos Spadae Incolas Capitis doloribus, Cardialgiâ, Cal●ulo, Obstructionibus renum, Hepatis, Lienis, Mesaraicarum, laborantes invenies, Ictericos, Hydropicos, Podagricos, Scabiosos, Epilepticos, quod sciam, nullos. But that which I most desire you to take notice of, is, That besides all the abovementioned Diseases, I find that he ascribes to these Waters the Virtues of curing such as are counted of a contrary nature, and are thought to require contrary Remedies: For besides that, he expressly affirms, in the beginning of the eighth Chapter, That these Waters being endowed with the Virtues both of hot and cold Minerals, they cure both hot and cold affections, in the same Patients, and in differing Bodies, and that contrary Effects are performed by them: He hath, after some Pages, this passage, which may go for an Illustrious Proof of what he had asserted: Inter caetera (saith he, speaking of the Spaa-Waters) Mensibus movendis imprimis idonea, quod millies experientia comprobavit. Et tamen nimium eorum fluxum quovis alio medicamento felicius sistit.  
These Testimonies, Pyrophilus, of our experienced Author, would perhaps obtain the more credit with You, if You had seen what I la●ely had the opportunity to observe in a hot and dry Season, at ou● own Tunbridgewaters in Kent, when I was there to drink them. And therefore I shall again invite You not only to consider, Whether one potent Remedy, such as it may be, may not be able to cure variety of Diseases, and some supposed to be of contrary natures? But whether or no divers Persons, on whom the received Methodus medendi hath been long and fruitlessly employed, be not by their tired and despondent Physicians themselves sent thither, and there cured of their abstruse and obstinate Diseases, by Remedies prepared by Nature without the assistance of Art? For if you duly reflect on this conspicuous Observation, and consider how much it is possible for Art to meliorate and improve most (especially Mineral) Remedies, afforded us by Nature, you would probably dare to hope, That Medicines might be prepared of greater Efficacy, and applicable to more Diseases, than they who think the more received Theory of Diseases (from which yet very eminent Physicians, in divers Particulars, scruple not to recede) incapable of being rectified; and that judge of all Remedies by them, that are publicly Venal in Apothecaries Shops, will allow themselves so much as to hope.  
If now You demand, Pyrophilus, if I think that every Particular which hath contributed to swell this Discourse into a bulk so disproportionate to that which the Title of an Essay promised, do directly belong to the Art of Physic? I shall leave it to the Judicious Celsus (whom Learned Men have styled The Roman Hypocrates) to answer for me, and he will tell you, That Quanquam multa sint ad ipsas artes non pertinentia, tamen eas adjuvant excitando artificis ingenium. I suppose I need not remind You, Pyrophilus, that it was not my design, in what h●th been represented, to subvert those Principles of the Methodus medendi, from which no sober Physicians themselves recede, and in which they unanimously acquiess: And that I much less intend to countenance those venturous Empirics, who, without any competent knowledge of Anatomy, Botanics, and the History of Diseases, think Receipts or Processes alone can enable them to cure the Sicknesses they know not, and who would persuade Men to lay by, as needless, a Profession, of whose Usefulness to Mankind we may elsewhere have occasion to discourse. No, Pyrophilus, without peremptorily asserting any thing, I have but barely represented the Notions I have mentioned concerning the Methodus medendi, as things probable enough to deserve to be impartially considered; That in ●ase they prove fit to be declined, they may appear to have been rejected not by our superciliousness or laziness, but (after a fair trial) by our experience: And in case they seem fit to be approved, they may prove additional Instances of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy to Physic. Which Usefulness, Pyrophilus, if I have in any considerable measure been so happy as to make out, I shall not think the time (and much less the pains) I have bestowed upon that Theme, misspent. For, I must confess to you, Pyrophilus, that to me it seems, that few things ought more to endear to us the Study of Natural Philosophy, then that (according to the Judicious Sentence of our Celsus, Rerum Naturae contemplatio, saith he, quam vis non faciat Medicum, aptiorem tamen Medicinae reddit) a deeper insight into Nature may enable Men to apply the Physiological Discoveries made by it (though some more immediately, and some less directly) to the Advancement and Improvement of Physic.  
And I well enough know, Pyrophilus, that if instead of Writing this Essay to such an one as You, I should Write it to the more critical and severer sort of Readers, they would be apt to think both that it is impertinent for me, who do not profess to be a Physician, to treat prolixly of Matters Medicinal; and that it may appear somewhat below me, in a Book, whose Title seems to promise you Philosophical Matters, to insert I know not how many Receipts: But I shall not scruple to tell such a Person as Pyrophilus, That since my Method required that I should say something to you of the Therapeutical part of Physic, I thought that Christianity and Humanity itself, obliged me not to conceal those things, which how despicable soever they may seem to aspeculative Philosopher, are yet such, as, besides that some of them may perhaps afford improveable Hints touching the Nature of Remedies, if not also of Diseases, Experience hath encouraged me to hope, that others may prove useful to the sick. And as for the inserting of Receipts, even in Books of Philosophical Subjects, I have not done it altogether without example. For not only Pliny, a Person of great Dignity as well as Parts, and Friend to one of the greatest Roman Emperors, hath left us in a Book, where he handles many Philosophical Matters, store of particular Receipts; but our great Chancellor, The Lord Verulam, hath not disdained to Record some. And as for that Industrious Benefactor to Experimental Knowledge, the Learned and Pious Mersennus, his Charity made him much more fearful to neglect the doing what good he could to others, then to venture to lessen his Reputation by an Indecorum, that in a Mathematical Book, and in a Chapter of Arithmetical Combinations, he brings in not only a Remedy against the Erysipelas, but even a Medicine for Corns, where he tells us, That they may be taken away, by applying and daily renewing for ten days, or a fortnight, the middle Stalk that grows between the Blade and the Root (for that I suppose he means by the unusual Word Thallum) of Garlic, bruised. Nor is it without Examples, though somewhat contrary to my Custom in my other Writings, that in this, and the four precedent Essays, I have frequently enough alleged the Testimonies of others, and divers times set down Processes or Receipts, not of my own devising. For even among professed and learned Physicians, scarce any thing is more common, then on Subjects far less of kin to Paradoxes, than most of those I have been discoursing of, to make use of the Testimonies and Observations of other approved Writers, to confirm what they teach. And not now to mention the voluminous Books of Schenkius and Scolzius, that famous and experienced Practitioner Riverius himself, hath not been ashamed to publish together a good number of Receipts, given him by others, under the very Title of Observationes communicatae: And Henricus ab Heer, hath, among his Observationes oppido rarae, divers Receipts that came from Mountebancks, and even Gypsies. And therefore I hope that you, who know that it is not after every Body that I would so much as relate an Observation, or mention a Medicine, as thinking them probable, will easily excuse one that hath much fewer Opportunities than a professed Physician to try Remedies himself; if treating of Subjects not so familiar, I choose to countenance what I deliver by the Testimonies of skilful Men, and if I scruple not to preserve in these Papers some not despicable Remedies, as well of abler Men as of my own, that otherwise would probably be lost. But of this Practice I may elsewhere have occasion to give you a more full Apology, by showing how much it may conduce to the enriching and advancement of Physic; an Art, with whose praises I could long entertain You, if I were at leisure (and durst allow myself) to exhaust common places.  
And yet give me leave to tell you, That Man is so noble a Creature, and his Health to requisite to his being able to relish other goods; and oftentimes also to the comfortable performance of what his Conscience, his Country, his Family, his Necessities, and perhaps his allowable Curiosity's challenge from him, that I wonder not so much at those Ancient Heathens, that being Polytheists and Idolaters, thought themselves obliged, either to refer so useful an Art as that of Physic, to the Gods or Godlike Persons; or to add those, that excelled in so noble a Faculty, to the number of those they worshipped. For my part, Pyrophilus, a very tender and sickly Constitution of my own, much (impaired by such unhappy Accidents as Falls, Bruises, etc.) hath, besides (as I hope) better motives of Compassion, given me so great a sense of the uneasinesses that are wont to attend Sickness, that I confess, if I study Chemistry, 'tis very much out of hope, that it may be usefully employed against stubborn Diseases, and relieve some languishing Patients with less pain and trouble, than otherwise they are like to undergo for Recovery. And really, Pyrophilus, unless we will too grossly flatter ourselves, we can scarce avoid both discerning and deploring the ineffectualness of our vulgar Medicines, not only Galenical, but Chemical; (for an active Body may yet be but a languid Remedy.) For besides that many that recover upon the use of them, endure more for Health, than many that are justly reckoned among Martyrs, did for Religion; Besides this, I say, we daily meet with but too many in the case of that bleeding Woman, mentioned in the Gospel, of whom 'tis said, That she had suffered many things of many Physicians, 
Mark 5.26.  and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. And therefore I reckon the investigation and divulging of useful Truths in Physic, and the discovering and recommending of good Remedies among the greatest and most extensive Acts of Charity, and such, as by which a Man may really more oblige Mankind, and relieve more distressed Persons, then if he built an Hospital. Which perhaps you will not think rashly said, if you please but to consider, how many the knowledge of the Salivating, and other active Properties of Mercury, and of its enmity to putrefaction and Distempers springing thence, have cured of several Diseases, and consequently how many more Patients, then have recovered in the greatest Hospital in the world, are obliged to Carpus and those others, who ever they were, that were the first discoverers of the medical efficacy of Quicksilver. And for my own particular, Pyroph. though my Youth and Condition forbid me the practice of Physic, and though my unhappy Constitution of Body, kept divers Remedies from doing me the same good they are wont to do others; yet having more than once, prepared, and sometimes occasionally had opportunity to administer, Medicines, which God hath been so far pleased to bless on others, as to make them Relieve several Patients, and seem (at least) to have snatched some of them almost out of the jaws of death; I esteem myself by those successes alone sufficiently recompensed for any toil and charge my Inquiries into Nature may have cost me. And though I ignore not, that 'tis a much more fashionable and celebrated Practice in young Gentlemen, to kill men, then to cure them; And that, mistaken Mortals think it the noblest Exercise of virtue to destroy the noblest Workmanship of Nature, (and indeed in some few cases the requisiteness and danger of destructive valour may make its Actions become a virtuous Patriot) yet when I consider the Character, given of our great Master and Exemplar, in that Scripture, which says, That he went about doing good, 
Acts 10.38. Mat. 4.24▪  and Healing all manner ●f Sickness; and all manner of Disease among the people, I cannot but think such an Employment worthy of the very nobl●st of his Disciples. And I confess, that, if it w●re allowed me to envy creatures so much above us, as are the Celestial Spirits, I should much more envy that welcome Angels Charitable employment, who at set times diffused a healing virtue through the troubled waters of Bet esda, 
John 5.14. 2 Kings 19.35.  than that dreadful Angels fatal employment, who in one night destroyed above a hundred and fourscore thousand fight men. But, of the Desireableness of the skill and willingness to cure the sick, and relieve not only those that languish in Hospitals, but those that are rich enough to build them, having elsewhere purposely discoursed, I must now trouble you no longer on this Theme, but Implore Your much needed pardon for my having been (beyond my fi●st intentions) so troublesome to You already.    

AN APPENDIX TO THE FIRST SECTION OF THE Second Part.  

Advertisements touching the following APPENDIX.  
I Scarce doubt, but it will be expected that I should annex to the foregoing Treatise, those Receipts and Processes, which seem to be here and there promised in it; But I desire it may be considered, that some Passages, which an unattentive Reader may have mistaken for absolute Promises, are indeed but Proffers conditionally made to a particular Person, and so not engaging me, till the condition (which was his desiring the things mentioned to him) be on his part performed. And as for the other things, which every Reader may suppose to be promised Him, I have at hand this general excuse, that at least I promised nothing to the Public; whatever promises I may have made in the foregoing ESSAYS, having together with them been addressed to a private Friend. And I have two or three special Reasons to insist on this Excuse, for divers of my choicer Books and Papers, having not long since unhappily miscarried through the negligence of some Men, or the Fraud of others, it is not now possible for me to retrieve some of the things I was Master of, when I promised them. And then to revise carefully all the Papers that remain in my hands of Affinity with the past Treatises, would take up more time than is allowed me by other Studies and Employments, which I think of greater moment, or at least wherein I am much more concerned, then to give this Book at present a full or accurate APPENDIX.  
But though I might upon these and other Reasons wholly excuse myself from the trouble of adding any Appendix; yet because the communicating of good Medicines, is a work of Charity, and those unpolished and immethodical Notes that may perchance disparage an Author, may yet relieve many a Patient, I am willing to do what my occasions will permit, and finding among my Papers many loose Sheets, concerning Spirit of Hartshorn, Blood, etc. written divers years since to a Friend, I choose rather to publish them just as I find them with Pyrophilus' name, employed in convenient places, and to add some unpromised Receipts, instead of those that are lost, then be altogether wanting, to what may be expected from me. I know that what I deliver concerning some of the following Preparations may by severer Critics be thought somewhat unaccurate, and I confess I am of that mind myself. But meeting with these Collections in loose Sheets among my old Papers, I must either publish them as I find them, or take the pains to Polish and Contract them, which would require more time, than I can at present afford them. And much less can I stay to subjoin the Histories of the particular cures performed by the Medicines, whose preparations I set down, though divers of them would not perhaps appear inconsiderable. But if I find by the entertainment of these Papers, that it will be worth while to revise or enlarge them, I may, God permitting, be invited to do it, and either supply the things, that are here deficient out of After-observations) or Papers now out of the way, or make amends for their omission in substituting better things.  
It will not at all surprise me if some Readers think me too prolix in delivering the preparations of Hartshorn, Ens Veneris etc. with such particular and circumstantial Observations. But my design being to gratify and assist those that would make and use the Remedies I recommend: The Experience I have had, of the difficulties most men find in the preparing things by the Direction of Chemical Processes not very expressly set down, makes me apt to hope, that (I say not the great Physicians or Chemists, who may if they please, leave them unperused; but) those for whom I principally intent my Directions will think my having made them so particular a very excusable fault. And I make the less difficulty to suffer such things as perhaps I judge to be in comparison of others, but trifles to pass abroad, because finding of late Years, that many Persons of Quality of either Sex, who scarce read any other than English Books, have (as I hope) out of Charity or Curiosity or both, begun to addict themselves to Chemistry, and venture to be tampering with Spagirical Remedies, it may not be unseasonable to supply them with some Preparations, that may both save them time and charges, and put them upon the use of Remedies, which without being languid, are, if any thing discreetly given, safe and innocent, and wherein a little Error, either in the making or the administering will be far less prejudicial to the sick, then if it were committed in the more vulgar (oftentimes, either falsely or obscurely prescribed) preparations they 〈◊〉 wont to make of Acid Salts, Mercury, Antimony, and other Minerals, whose Activity for the most part makes them need to be skilfully prepared, and judiciously given.   

To the Eightieth Page. The Irish Lithotomists Receipt, for the Stone in the Bladder.  
REc. Aquar. Melon. Citrullar, Filipendulae, Petroselin, syr. è 5 radicibus, syr. de Bïsantiis, ana, unc. ij Oxymelit comp. unc. i. misce, quartam mixti partem sumas manè jejunus, & postea per octo horas à cibo & potu abstineas, aliam sumas partem eodem die post coenam cum lectum intrare volueris; denique sequenti die reliquae sumantur partes ut primae; terti● verò die.  
Rec. Elect. lenit. dragm. three syr. Rosat. solut. dragm. ij. pulp. Tamarind. dragm. i. misceantur ac in sevi lactis unc. iij. dissolvantur: totum bibas mane quatuor horis ante jus, quarto die suma● mane sequentis pulv. dragm. i. mixti in sequentis Apozematis unc. iiij. & olei Amygd dulc. unc. sem.  
Rec. Cinerum vitri *, & Scorpionum pulveris, Lapià. Spongiae, & lap. Judaici, Acori, sem Altheae, Millii solis, Saxifrag●i ●na dragm. i. sem lactucae, 4 sem. frigid majorum ana dragm. sem. Trokiscor. Alkekengi, rad. pimpinellae ana dragm. two, fiat pulvi● subtilis.  

Apozema.  
Rec. Parietariae, rad Alth. ana Mj sem petrofelini, Glychyrrhizae ana unc sem. halicacabi, unc. i. Coqu in aq. pluviae, sixth. 2. & vini albissimi sixth. i. ad medietatis consumptionem, & colatura melle hybernico dulcoretur.  
Tum quarto illo die passerculum Trogloditem sale antea conditum edas una cum caena, Et post coenam lumbi, pubes, & tota renum regio oleis è granis Citri & scorpion. liniantur, etsi possibile esset praedicta olea per meatum urinar. in vesicam injiciantur, sicque deinde pulvere, Apozemate, Troglodyte & oleis omni die utere, donec arenula aut lap. fragmentae ana cum expulsis apparuerint.  
Loco cinerum vitri sumi possunt cineres Camini & vires cinerum scorpionum supplere potest pulvis lumbricor. terrestr. probè in vino lotorum & postea exsiccatorum.  
* NB. [As far as I could conjecture by the Discourse I had with the owner of the Receipt, by Ashes of Glass he means the superfluous Saline substance, which the Glassemen are wont to call Sandiver; but because he did not explain himself so clearly, and we know not yet a way of Burning Glass to Ashes, I think it will be most advisable to substitute the Wood Ashes, which in the Receipt itself towards the close of it are appointed for a Succedaneum.    

To the One Hundred and Twentieth Page; [Where the Virtues of the Pilulae Lunares are touched at.]  
THe great benefit that has redounded to many patients, from the use of the Silver Pills, here briefly mentioned, and commended, invites me to communicate as a considerable thing, the preparation of them, of which I do not pretend to be the Inventor; having divers years since, learned it by discoursing with a very Ancient and experienced Chemist, whose name that I do not mention, will perhaps seem somewhat strange to those Readers that have observed me not to be backward in acknowledging my Benefactors in point of Experiments, and therefore I hold it not amiss to take this opportunity of declaring once for all, that 'twere oftentimes more prejudicial than grateful to one that makes an advantage by the Practice of Physic, to annex in his life time his name to some of his Receipts or Processes; because that when a Man has once got a repute, for having a Specific in any particular Disease or Case, his Patients, and their Friends will hardly forbear to apply themselves to him for that Medicine, though the same Medicine, but not known to be the same, should be made use of by a stranger, or divulged in a Printed Book. Most Patients being not apt to rely upon Medicines, that come only that way recommended; whereas if it were known that the Printed Receipt is the self same, which the Physician employs, not only other Physicians would quickly make as much advantage of it as he, but many Patients would think themselves by that discovery dispensed with, in point of good husbandry, from going to any Physician at all, as knowing before hand the best prescription they are like to receive from him. The Process of the Pilulae Lunares is this;  
Take of the best refined Silver as much as You please, dissolve it in a sufficient quantity of cleansed spirit of Nitre or Aquafortis, then evaporating away the superfluous moisture, let the rest shoot into thin Crystals; these you may in some open mouthed Glass place in sand, and keep in such a degree of Heat, that by the help of very frequently stirring them, the greatest part of the more loose and stinking Spirits of the Menstruum may be driven away, and yet the remaining Crystals not be brought to Flow: These Crystals of Silver you must counterpoise with an equal weight of Crystals of Nitre; and first dissolving each of them apart in distilled Rain-water, You must afterwards mingle the Solutions, and abstract or steam away the superfluous moisture, till the remaining Mass be dry, which you must keep in an open Glass, exposed to such a temperate heat of Sand, that the Matter may not melt (which you must be very careful of) and that yet the adhering corrosive Spirits of the Menstruum might be driven away. And to both these ends You must from time to time stir the Mass, that new parts of it may be exposed to the Heat, and new ones to the Air, till you cannot descry in the remaining white Powder any offensive scent of the Spirit of Nitre, or of the Aqua-Fortis. And lastly You must take the Crum of good White-bread, made with a little moisture into a stiff Past, and exactly mingle with the newly mentioned Magistery or Powder as much of this Past, as is necessary to give it the consistence of a Mass of Pills, which you may thence form at pleasure, and preserve in a well stopped Glass for use.  
NB. First the Silver employed in this Operation, aught to be very pure and more tightly refined, then much of that is wont to be, which here in England is bought for fine Silver; for if the Copper wherewith Silver-Coyns are wont to be alloyed, be not carefully separated upon the Cupel, it may, being turned by the Acid Menstruum into a kind of Vitriol, when it is taken into the Body, either provoke Vomits, or otherwise discompose it.  
2ly, The Spirit of Nitre, or (which in our case comes almost to one) the Aquafortis that is used about this Medicine, aught to be cleared, as our Refiners phrase it, before the Silver be put in, for (as I elsewhere Note) in Salt Peter, there is oftentimes an undiscerned Mixture of Sea-salt, whose Spirit coming over in Distillation with that of the Nitre, is apt to precipitate the Silver, which the Spirit of Nitre has dissolved. This I take to be the Reason of that practice of the best Refiners to purify their Aquafortis, by casting in some small piece of Silver, that they may afterwards securely put into it greater Quantities of the same Metal to be dissolved. For the Saline Spirits fall to the bottom, together with the corroded Silver, which they precipitate as long as there is any of these Saline Spirits left in the Menstruum, which after this may be decanted clear; and though you had put a little more Silver than needed to it, it neither does harm, nor is lost, the Aqua fortis preserving none unprecipitated, but what there were no more S●line Spirits to work upon, so that the superfluous Silver put in is already dissolved to Your hand.  
3dly, The dry Mixture obtained from the Solutions of Crystals of Nitre and Crystals of Silver, must be often stirred, and kept longer in the Sand, before all the offensive Spirits will be driven away, then till Experience had informed me, I did imagine.  
Fourthly, If the Crystals of Silver be considerably Blue or Green, 'tis a sign the Silver was not sufficiently purged from Copper, else the Mixture we have been speaking of, will look of a White, good enough. And possibly 'twas by reason of the not being careful to take sufficiently Refined Silver, and of the not knowing how to improve the Crystals of Silver, by the addition of those of Nitre, and especially how to free them from the stinking and Corrosive Spirits of Aquafortis, that it is come to pass, that though there be in some Chemical Writers, Processes not very unlike this, yet the Crystals of Silver have been censured and laid aside as not always safe even by those, who otherwise much magnify the Efficacy of those they used.  
Fifthly, When You are about to make up this Mixture with the Crum of Bread into a Mass, and so into Pills, 'twill not be amiss to dispatch that work at once, for usually it leaves an ugly Blackness on the Fingers, that cannot under divers days be gotten off.  
Sixthly, In taking of the Pills care must be had, that they be sufficiently lapped up either in a Wafer wetted with Milk, or the Pulp of a Roasted Apple, or some such thing, that they may not touch the palate, or the Throat, because of the extreme and disgusting bitterness, which is to be met with in the Crystals of Silver, and which is not the least thing, that with nicer Persons does Blemish these Pills.  
Seventhly, The Dose is somewhat uncertain; because they work much according to the Constitution of the Body, and especially according as it abounds with Serous Humours; Wherefore 'tis adviseable to make the Pills of the size of very small Pease, of which one given at Bedtime, is a sufficient Dose for some Bodies, others will require two; and in some we must ascend to three; and if the Patient be Hydropical, o● be otherwise much molested with serous Humours, it is observable that sometimes one Dose will work two Days, or four Days, (may be five or six) successively, but yet moderately and usually, without weakening the Patient, in proportion to such copious Evacuations.  
Eighthly, Besides the Dropsy, wherein we have mentioned this Remedy as a Specific, it often proves very available in other Cases, wherein Men are troubled with Serous Humours. But the first distempers, which I heard it Magnified for, were those of the Head, and Genus Nervosum; and a great Virtuoso of my acquaintance that inherits a Disposition to the Palsy, has several times told me, that if when he begins to find himself disordered, he take a Dose of these Pills, he is thereby constantly relieved. But of the particular Cases, wherein we have had opportunity to take notice of their Effects, we have not now, but may perchance another time have leisure to entertain You.  
Lastly, That skilful and successful Chemist Dr N. N. who doth much both use and esteem this Remedy, being desired by me to let me know, if he had any Objections against it, informs me, that when he hath given these Pills oftentimes, and without intervals, though they did not either Salivate or Vomit, or much weaken the Patient, yet they would at last be attended with a kind of Incipient Leucophlegmatia, which he easily prevents by intermitting for a while the use of the Pills, after every second or third time that he administers them, and giving, when he exspects it to be requisite, some Crocus Martis, Extract of Juniper, or other Astringent or Hepatick Medicines to corroborate the Viscera and preserve their Tone.   

To the One Hundred Twenty third Page. (Where mention is made of the Cure of one concluded to have a Gangrene, by an inward Medicine.)  
THe Cure mentioned in this place, having been performed by that Medicine, which from the Name of that Great Commander, as well as Virtuoso, who was the Author of it, passes under the Name of Sr Walter Raleigh's Cordial, and this being but one of many remarkable (and some of ●hem stupendous) Cures which have been wrought by it from time to time, especially of late that it hath been more used, I am induced to annex here the yet unpublished Receipt, partly, because there are divers Receipts that are each pretended to be the true, magnified by their several Possessors; And I had the liberty of looking it out in a Receipt Book, preserved by the Author's Son; and partly because, though I will not affirm, that a skilfuller or more promising Composition of the same Ingredients could not have been devised; Yet the following Receipt has been abundantly recommended by Experience. And I remember, that but a while since, a Person of Note having sent to me, to desire a taking of this Cordial for a certain Knight, who after all that Skilful Physicians could do, had long lain a dying; I the other day chanced to meet this Knight at Whitehall, well, lively, and with a Face whose Ruddiness argued a perfect Recovery, and yet he is not very far from seventy Years of Age, and had before he grew so ill, long conflicted with a tedious Ague, and fever, which had reduced him to that Extremity, when the Cordial was brought, that, as himself told me, he neither was sensible when they gave it him, nor had known what he did, or what was done unto him, during the space of several days before.  

Sr Walter Raleigh's Cordial, after Sr R. K. his way: (set down Verbatim as I received it.)  
TAke Burrage-Flowers, Rosemary-Flowers, Marigold-Flowers, Red July-Flowers, Rosa-Solis, Elder-flowers of each, one Pottle after they are dried in the Shade.  
Take also of Scordium, Carduus, Angelica, Baulm, Mint, Marjoram, Setwall, Betony ana four handfuls, after they are dried in the Shade.  
Take also of the Rinds of Sassafras of Virginia, Lignum Aloës, ana, four ounces beaten to Powder, of Kermes, Cubebs, Cardamons, Zedoary, ana, one ounce, of Saffron half an ounce-Juniper Berries, Tormentil Roots, Round Birthwort Roots, of each one ounce, of Gentian Roots half an ounce.  
Draw the Tincture or Extract of these with Spirit of Wine in Balneo, and save all the Ingredients after you have t●ken out the Tinctures, and Burn them and put their Salt into their Tinctures.  
Take six ounces of the Extracts of a●l these with their S●lt, and put thereto of the Tincture of Coral three ounces, Terra Sigillata four ounces, Pearl prepared two ounces, Bezar-stone three drams, Hartshorn calcined four ounces. Amber-greese four drams, Musk gr. xxx, Sugarcandy one pound and an half-ground very fine, and searsed through a fine Searse.  
Then the Musk and Amber must be ground, and by little and little mingled with it, the more you grind the Amber, the better.  
Then put to the Sugarcandy all the dry Materials before directed, and make all as small as possibly You can.  
Then upon a great hallow grinding Stone mingle the Tinctures, and dry things together: (which must be done by a strong man used to that work:) and whilst 'tis in grinding▪ put of Syrup of Limmons, & Syrup of Red Roses equal parts into it, else it will be so dry, that 'twill neither grind nor mingle.   

How to make the Tincture of Coral for this Cordial.  
Let it boil without intermission twenty four Hours, by which time the Vinegar will become red; so, when 'tis cold, pour off the Vinegar into a Glass-Bason, or a Bell-Glass, and vapour away all the Vinegar in Balneo, and gather the Coral, being perfectly dry, for your Use. You may strike down Your Pearl with Oil of Vitriol, and Oil of Sulphur requal parts, which is accounted the best way to prepare the Pearl. But Sr R. K. did use to prepare his Pearl by juice of Limmons.  
[The Dosis for a Man is about the bigness of a small Hasil-nut, but where prevention only is aimed at, or some such use as the dissipating the Fumes of the Spleen, as they call it, the bigness of an ordinary Pease, may suffice; so in urgent Cases the Doses may be increased to the quantity of a Nutmeg. It is usually given by itself upon an empty Stomach (the Patient being kept Warm after it to promote Sweat) in Fevers, Want of Spirits, violent Fluxes, and several other distempers, where Diaphoreticks and Antidotes are proper, and (especially) where potent Cordials are required.]    

[To the One Hundred Twenty third Page; Where a Receipt that cured Fistula's is mentioned.] A Water for a Fistula, and all manner of Wounds, and swellings, or old Ulcers, Cankers, Tetters, Boils, or Scabs in any place, or Green Wounds.  
TAke of bolearmoniack four ounces, of Camphire one ounce, of White Vitriol four ounces; Boyl the Camphire and the Vitriol together in a little Black Earthen Pot till they become thin, stirring them together till they become hard in settling; then Bruise them in a Mortar to Powder, and Beat the bolearmoniack itself to Powder, and then mingle them together, and keep the Powder in a Bladder, till such time You use it; then take a pottle of Running Water, and set it on the Fire till it begin to Seethe, then take it from the Fire, and put in three good Spoonfuls of the Powder into that Water whilst it is hot, and after put the Water and Powder into a Glass, and shake it twice a day to make the Water strong: But before You use it, let it be well settled and very Clear, and apply it as hot as the Patient can well suffer it; and lay a clean Linen Cloth, four double, to the Sore, it being wet in that Water, and bind it fast with a Rowler to keep it warm, do it Morning and Evening till it be whole. This Water must be put into an Oyster-shel, not in a Saucer when you dress the Sore, for the Pewter will suck it up. Remember You put three as good Spoonfuls of the Powder as you can press into the Spoon. Take heed no one Drink of this Water, for it is Poison. To make it stronger, beat an ounce of Alom to Powder, and mingle it with the other Powders.  
Take of bole armoniac half an ounce, White Vitriol one ounce, of Camphire 2 ounces, make them all into Powder; then take a Pottle of Smiths-water, and as much Spring-water, and mingling them, set thew upon the Fire assoon as it begins to Seethe, put in the Powder very softly, stirring it all the while, assoon as the Powder is in, take it off the Fire, and dress the wound with it twice a day, laying a Cloth folded four times and wetted in the Water, it being very Hot, and so applied to the Wound.  
N B. [This is the Receipt Verbatim as I find it among my old Papers, but I am not sure that among those I cannot now come by, there may not be something concerning a way of making a small pliable Tent that may accommodate itself to the crooked Figure of the Cavity of many Fistula's. For methinks I remember, that the Chirurgeon prescribed the conveying his Medicine by the means of such a flexible tent a great way into the cavity, if not to the bottom of the Fistula, which was thereby to be cleansed.]   

To the One Hundred fifty first Page. Where Soot is mentioned.  
SOot, Pyrophilus, is a Production of the Fire, whose Nature is almost as Singular, as is the manner of its being produced, for it is (if I may so call it) a kind of volatile Extract of the Wood it proceeds from, made instead of a Menstruum by the Fire, which hastily dissipating the parts of the Body it acts on, hath time enough to sever it into smaller Particles, but not leisure and aptitude to reduce it into such differing substances as pass for Chemical or Peripatetic Elements, but hastily carries up the more volatile p●rts, which being not yet sufficiently freed from the more fixed ones, take them up along with them in their sudden flight, and so the Aqueous, Spirituous, Saline, Oleaginous and Terrestrial parts ascending confusedly together, do fasten themselves to the sides of the Chimney in that loose and irregular Form of Concretion, which we call Soo●: An enquiry into whose Nature, as it may be considered in the Survey of the distinctions of Salts, must be elsewhere looked for; Our mentioning it at present, being only to take occasion to tell You, that as ill scented and despised a Body as it is, Hartman, (one of the most experienced and h●ppy of Chemical Writers) scruples not to reckon the Spirit and Oil of it among the Noblest Confortantia, such as prepared Pearl, Coral, Ambergreese, and other eminent Cherishers of Nature, His preparation is for substance this; Take of the best Soot (such as adheres to the lower part of the Chimney, and shines almost like Jet) what quantity you please, and with it fill up to the Neck a very well coated Glass Retort, or an Earthen one, and luting on a capacious Receiver distil the matter in an open fire intended by degrees, whereby you will drive over the Phlegm, the whitish Spirits, and the Oil first of a Yellow Colour, and then of a Red, separate the Phlegm, and for a while digest the Spirit and Oil together, on which afterwards put half the quantity of Spirit of Wine, and Distil them several times, whereby you will obtain together with the Spirit of Wine, the Spirit of Soot, and also a very depurated Oil, smelling like Camphire. Out of the Calcined Caput mortuum after the common way extract a Salt, 
Hartm. prax. Chym. p. 12.  which Hartman commends as a most excellent curer of exulcerated Cancers; This Salt, saith He, is drawn with Vinegar, in which Liquor in a Cold moist place, it is again Dissolved, and therewith the Cancerous Ulcers being once or twice anointed, the venenosity will be visibly drawn out like a Vapour, and then the forementioned Oil being lightly sprinkled upon the place will breed on it a kind of Crust like a skin, which Spontaneously coming off in five or six Days, will by its falling off, argue the Consolidation of the Ulcer. What this so extolled Remedy will perform I know not, having never made trial of it, nor thinking it very likely, that a bare Alcalizate Salt should have such Specific Virtues, nor is it requisite I should insist on it, being here to discourse to You of the distilled Liquors of Soot, in prosecution of which design, let me tell You, that Hartman prescribes the administering of the Spirit from six to ten Grains, of the Oil from two to three drops in Wine, or any other convenient Vehicle, and concerning the Oil he adds, That if three Drops of it be given in Vinegar to an almost gasping Man, he will be thereby wonderfully refeshed, and as it were revived, to which he annexeth this Prognostic, that if the Remedy produceth Copious Sweats, it will recover the Taker; but if not, he will Die.  
That this spirit of Soot described by Hartman may be a very good Medicine I am very apt to think; but because 'tis not a mere spirit of Soot, but a mixed one of Spirit of Wine, and spirit of Soot, we have rather chosen to proceed with the Soot (of Wood) without addition, both as to the distillation of it, and the ordering of the Distilled Liquors, after the manners to be mentioned ere long, when we shall acquaint You with our preparations of Blood and Hartshorn, which if You please to apply to Soot, You may save Yourself, and me, the labour of Repetitions. Yet it may be not amiss to advertise You here of two things: the one, that if You employ very good and fat Soot, and fill up the Retort with it to the Neck; You must be very careful to increase the Fire orderly, and but by moderate Degrees, or else you may chance to make the matter Boil over out of the Retort into the Receiver, as it lately happened to us, when having warily ordered the Fire for several Hours we thought ourselves past any such danger; And the other, that as to the Medicinal Virtues of the spirit, and salt of Soot, I shall not now particularise them, partly that I may save time, and partly because they may be well enough gathered from their affinity to the Volatile salts and spirits of animal substances hereafter to be treated of, and from what I shall have occasion to say, of the perfuming of the salt of Soot towards the close of this APPENDIX.   

To the One Hundred Fifty third Page.  
URINAL is a Body, which, as homely and despised as 'tis wont to be, may by skilful ways of ordering it, be made either alone, or in Conjunction with other Ingredients, to afford such a variety of useful Substances, that I find Reusnerus published an Entire Treatise, which yet I never could get sight of, under the Title of Synopsis Remediorum ex Urina praeparatorum, besides what other Chemists have since divulged on the same Subject, which I forbear to mention; because several of them I have not tried, and many others I think scarce worth trying. But because even all our own Observations concerning the Preparations and uses of things afforded by Urine, would take up more time and Room, than I can now allow them, I shall here only take this occasion to intimate thus much in general, that the Sp●rit and Salt of Urinal may be made far greater use of, than Men yet are prone to think not only in Physic, but in Chemistry, and perhaps I durst add in Natural Philosophy too. 
De Lit●iasi. c. 3. n. 3.  And though Helmont be not wont to lavish his praises upon worthless Remedies, yet he calls it Nobile ad Icterum, aliosque morbos, Remedium. And in another place, speaking of the Saline Crystals of Urine, he hath this Expression: Quae quanquam ad Veteres Excrementerum Oppilationes conferunt, nihil tamen adversus Lithiasin, which seems, by denying to the Salt of Urine some Virtues ascribed to it by many other Chemists, to bring some credit to his praises of it (And indeed a friend of mine, that has tried it in the Jaundice, affirms it to deserve the Commendation he gives it in that Disease.) And though I fear our Author Hyperbolizeth, where He (elsewhere) thus writes: Spernit eos sapientia (he means sure, that which is proper to the Spagyrists) qui Materiam ex qua dispositiones, Contenta, Proprietates, Progressum & significationes Lotii addiscere recusarunt per ignem; Yet perhaps the Hyperbole is not altogether so extravagant as most Readers will think it. And I remember, that a while ago, conferring with the Public Minister of a Foreign Prince, who is a very inquisitive and experienced Person, He freely told me, that though he had Traveled very much, and divers times not in a private Capacity, yet the greatest Chemist that ever he could make acquaintance with, used to tell him, th●t Salt of Urine was so precious a thing, that 'twas pity it should be used in ordinary Diseases; But what his Reasons were for valuing it so much, he would not declare, and therefore I shall lay no great weight upon his Testimony. And yet I must not at this time particularly declare, upon what account it is that I so value the volatile Salt of Urine, of whose Virtues (whilst 'tis single) I shall only in a word observe to you now (what is pertinent to the occasion of my mentioning it at present,) namely, that when 'tis well prepared [according to the w●y plainly enough, though but very briefly couched already 
* p. 153. ] it differs so little in smell, taste, volatility, penetrancy and some other manifest Qualities, from the Salt of Hartshorn, and that of Man's Blood; that such effects, though perhaps somewhat less powerful may be not improbably expected from it as are produced by the other.   

To the One Hundred Fifty fourth Page.  
Though I have not in this place made any absolute Promise, of annexing any thing, more particular touching the Spirit of Blood, and though I cannot now find, and I fear may have lost those of my Papers concerning that subject, which were the least unaccurate; Yet, setting aside former trials, a recent Account brought me by a Physician, whom I had entrusted with some of it, represents it as so very good a Medicine, that I am content to subjoin, what particulars I have lately found among my loose Papers concerning it, as I many years ago sent them to a friend, and this I the rather do, because there being annexed to the Process divers Observations of general Import to such kind of Preparations, they will be better understood with it, then without it, and I have not now the leisure to new mould them. Thus then;  
— TAke of the Blood of an healthy Young man as much as you please, and whilst it is yet warm, add to it 
* This, if I misremember not, was the Proportion I employed in the exactest of my Experiments of this kind, but it seems to be Essential to the goodness of the Remedy: the Spirit of Wine serving chiefly but to keep the Blood from corrupting.  twice its weight of good Spirit of Wine, and incorporating them well together, shut them carefully up in a convenient Glass Vessel, wherein the matter must be set to digest in Balneo, or Horse-dung, for six weeks, or more; then in a Glass head and body, placed in Ashes or Sand, draw off with a gentle Heat as much Liquor as will come over without necessitating you to impress any Empyreuma upon it, the remaining matter must be taken out and put into a strong and capacious Retort, which being placed in Sand, and accommodated with a large Receiver carefully luted to it, the matter therein lodged must be gradually pressed with a vehement Fire, which must at length be increased till it be strong enough to give the bottom of the Retort a red heat. There will first come over (after perhaps a little Phlegm) Spirit, either accompanied or closely followed by a copious volatile Salt, fastening itself to the sides and top of the Receiver; and much about the same time there will also come over an Oil, or two, or more (for I have not observed the oleaginous part to come constantly and regularly after the same manner) the Receiver being taken off, all that it contains may be poured together into a convenient Vial, to be therein digested for a Month, if you please: or otherwise without that previous digestion, you may wash down the volatile Salt, adhering to the sides of the Receiver, with the Spirit and Oil well shaken about it, and pour altogether into a large Glass Funnel well lined with Cap-paper, first moistened with the Spirit or fair Water, through which the Spirit and as much of the volatile Salt, as it and the Phlegm can dissolve, will pass first, leaving the Oil behind them in the Paper, which must be seasonably set aside, or else the Oil also, though more slowly, will pass through the Filtre: The Phlegm, Salt and Spirit, must be rectified with a very gentle heat, so often, till the Phlegm be perfectly separated, and they leave no faces: The Oil also may be rectified two or three times from its own Caput Mortuum calcined, or else from Salt of Tartar to deprive it of its muddiness. The Distempers wherein this Arcanum or Spirit of Man's blood is proper, are divers, but chiefly Astmah's, Epilepsies, acute Fevers, Pleurisies and Consumptions. But to comply with my present haste, I shall advertise You in the general, as to the use of this and the other Remedies to be subsequently mentioned, that for Them I must refer you to the particular Narratives, which I shall scarce, if You seasonably desire them, refuse You: And in the mean time, because these volatile Remedies are near enough of kin to each other, I shall add to this first Process (which is at least one of the noblest of them) some Observations of a more general nature, that they being applicable to divers other Preparations, we may both of us avoid the trouble of needless Repetitions.  

Observations.  
1. I ignore not that there are extant in Burgravius, Beguinus, and divers other Chemical Authors, very pompous and promising Processes of the Essence of M●ns Blood, to which they ascribe such stupendous Faculties as I should not only wonder to find true, but admire that they can hope the Reader should believe them so. But of these Preparations, some being, as that of Burgravius in his Biolychnium, very mystical and unlikely; and others, like Beguinus his Q. E. Sanguinis humani, exceedingly laborious and not so clear, I have never put myself to the trouble of making them, but shall be very forward to acknowledge their excellency, if any Man shall vouchsafe me an Experimental Conviction of it. For though I think the present Preparation of Blood no bad one, yet I am far from daring to affirm there cannot be a better.  
2. He that intends to have any considerable quantity of this Spirit and Salt, must provide himself of a large proportion of Blood, or else he is like to fall far short of his expectation; because as full of Spirits as Blood is supposed to be, it yields commonly (at least the best I have hitherto met with) no less than two thirds, or more, of Phlegm, besides a not despicable quantity of terrestrial and unserviceable Matter.  
3. It is requisite, both that the Retort wherein the dried Blood is distilled be pretty large and strong, and that the Fi●e be very carefully and gradually administered, lest either the copious Fumes break the too narrow Vessels, or the Matter too hastily urged boil over into the neck of the Retort or the Receiver; both which dangers this Advertisement may help you to avoid at a cheaper rate, than I, who h●ve not been forewarned of them but by unwelcome Experience.  
4. There is a Friend of mine, an excellent Chemist, whose rare Cures first gave me a value for Remedies made of Blood, who useth (as himself assureth me) to mingle with the Spirit that other Liquor, drawn over at first in a Head and Bo●y, and twice or thrice rectified by itself. But that Liquor consisting almost totally of the Spirit of Wine, and the not over-grateful Phlegm of the Blood, though there may perhaps be passed into it some of the more fugitive Particles of the volatile Salt: Yet they being so few as are scarce discernible, this Liquor seems fitter to be made a Vehicle, than an associate of our Spirit, and perhaps too is not in all cases the most proper Vehicle in which it may be administered: (though if it were not for the Spirit of Wine, I should somewhat suspect that the Phlegm, though so destitute of the more active Ingredients, as to be fit to be kept separated f●om them, m●y not itself be quite devoid of specific Virtues.) But my esteem of the Artist I have mentioned, doth make me think it fit to acquaint You with his Practice, notwithstanding that hitherto his authority be the chief thing that recommends it to me.  
5. Divers ways may be proposed of purifying this Spirit and Salt we are discoursing of, but having tried several, th●t which I now use is this that follows: I put the Salt, Phlegm, and Spirit together, in one of the highest and slenderest Bodies I can get, that the Phlegm might not be able to ascend easily into the Head, and that the volatile Salt may be the better separated: Then in a very gentle heat (I most use that of a Lamp Furnace) there will ascend a pure white and volatile Salt, adhering to the cheeks and nose of the Glass-head, which if I desire by itself, I sweep it away before the Spirit begins to rise; but most commonly I suffer the Distillation to proceed, and the ascending Spirit to carry down part of the volatile Salt into the Receiver, and so I continue the same degree of heat, till there arise so weak a Spirit that it plainly begins to dissolve the volatile Salt: Then shifting the Receiver, I reserve the strong Spirit and volatile Salt by themselves, and take the succeeding weaker spirit by itself also; to which, if I please to fortify it, I add as much of the volatile salt, formerly reserved, as it is able to dissolve. In the bottom of the Cucurbit or Vial, there will remain a phlegmatic kind of Liquor, which usually contains some of the salt or spirit, and sometimes too (which is somewhat odd) some of the oleaginous part of the Blood, which did not before appear to have been associated with the spirit, and to have passed through the Filtre with it. This nauseous Liquor may be kept by itself till you have a sufficient quantity of it, to be worth the trouble of severing from it the nobler parts: The spirit and salt abovementioned may be again rectified, per se, with the like gentle heat as before, so often, till they leave behind them no faeces nor Phlegm at all. But this is requisite to be done only when to master some stubborn Disease, the Medicine is to be exalted either to its supreme, or at least to some approaching degree of Purity and Efficacy, for otherwise so exquisite a Depuration is not always necessary.  
6. As for the Oleaginous part which the Fire forceth out of Blood, my Observations of it hitherto have so little agreed, that, I dare as yet speak but haesitantly concerning it. For sometimes but one Oil hath been drawn over, sometimes two: And I remember, last Year, a parcel of Blood, that was kept in a Dunghill for many Months, yielded us a blackish and muddy Oil, a purely red one, and another of pale Amber colour, which would not mingle with the darker; of each of which sorts I yet reserve some by me. This difference may possibly proceed partly from the previous preparation, or unpreparedness of the Blood, and partly from the various administration of the Fire employed to distil it. But for the most part we find these Animal Substances (if the degrees of Fire be orderly administered, and the heat sufficiently intended towards the close of the Distillation) to yield a double Oil: the one more light and pure, which swims upon the Spirit; the other more muddy, adust and ponderous, which sinks to the bottom of it. The use of these Oils hath, by reason of their Fetidness, been by most Authors absolutely rejected; and even those few that do not altogether reject them, forbid their inward use, and allow them to be but externally employed: But considering, Pyrophilus, how much of the efficacy both of Plants and Animals is observed to reside in their oleaginous part, it seemed not improbable to me, that these Oils might deserve a better usage, then either to be wholly thrown away, or confined to outward services; and therefore having not long since given a Friend of mine some pure yellow Oil of Man's Blood, dissolved in Spirit of Wine, to try upon a Patient of his, sick of a Hectic Fever (in which Disease I had seen the Spirit of Blood very successful) within a few days he brought me wo●d of the unexpected recovery of his Patient, to whom he administered our Medicine (that I may not conceal from you that Circumstance) in Balsamus Samech, made with spirit of Vinegar instead of spirit of Wine; the remaining part of this yellow mingled Oil I keep yet by me, to make further trials with it. And that such Oils may not be lost, I have been attempting (for I am yet upon my trials) several ways to make them serviceable. Some of them that are of a more pure and defecated nature, I have (which is not unworthy your noting) found capable of readily uniting with Spirit of Wine, with which they may be allayed at pleasure: In others I have separated the finer and more volatile part, by drawing them over with a very gentle heat in a Retort half full of Water, which will carry over the lighter part of the Oil with it into the Receiver, wherein the Oil will swim upon it, and may be afterwards severed from it by a Separating Glass, or any other convenient way (but I fear that this method, though it finely clarify Oils, may rob them of the best part of the Efficacy they may perchance derive from the latent admixtion of somewhat of the volatile Salt:) at the bottom of the Retort there will remain a dark and thick substance, whose nature I have not yet had opportunity to inquire into. Out of some Oils (drawn from unprepared Materials) which would not dissolve in spirit of Wine, I have, by digestion with spirit of Wine, drawn much of the scent and taste; the spirit probably imbibing some of the finer parts of the Oil, or else associating to itself some volatile salt that yet lay lurking in it: For sometimes I have observed Oils, after long keeping, to let fall a volatile salt undiscerned in them before. Having also sometimes mingled the heavier and lighter Oils of the same Body with dephlegmated spirit of Wine, and in a low Retort drawn over what will rise in a very gentle heat (inferior to that of a Balneum) I have found the Spirit of Wine to carry over with it so many of the more subtle and active parts of the Oil, that it was more richly impregnated therewith, than you will be apt to expect. But of what use this oleaginous Spirit may be in Physic, I have not yet had time to consult Experience, which I hope will, ere long, teach me better ways of improving the rejected Oils we have been speaking of, then are those almost obvious ones hitherto mentioned, wherein I am very far from acquiescing; especially, since I cannot but suspect that such active Parts of such Concretes, would be found very capable of a great Improvement, if we were as skilful to give it them.  
7. The Terrestrial Substance that remains after the Liquors are drawn of, if the Blood have been duly prepared, affords but so inconsiderable a quantity of fixed Salt, that unless the Caput mortuum be exceeding copious, the Alkali will hardly be worth extracting: Besides that, if it could be obtained in a not despicable quantity, I should, what ever is pretended, very much doubt whether it would be endowed with very extraordinary Virtues, the violence of the Fire usually depriving fixed Salts of the specific Qualities of their Concretes: and even in the first Salt of Serpents themselves, I have not discerned other, Then the wont Properties of Alkalizate Salts.  
8. Because you may sometimes not have the leisure to wait six Weeks for the Preparation of Blood; and because oftentimes the occasion of using the Medicines we have been describing, may be so hasty and urgent, that unless some speedy course to relieve them be taken before the Physic can be prepared, the Patients will be dead. I think it not amiss, Pyrophilus, to advertise You, That though without any previous Preparation of Blood you should immediately distil it, provided an orderly gradation of heat be carefully observed, it will yield you a reddish Spirit, and (besides an Oil or two) a volatile Salt; which being rectified, are so little inferior, in any Properties discernible by the smell or taste, to the Salt and Spirit of predigested Blood, that 'tis very probable their Efficacy will emulate, though not altogether equal that of the more laboriously prepared.  
9 And because it is difficult to get the Blood of healthy Men, and perhaps not so safe to use that of unsound Persons; and because many have a strong Aversion, and some an Insuperable, though groundless abhorrency, from Medicines made of Man's Blood, I have thought it not amiss to try whether that of some other Animals prepared the same way, might not afford us as hopeful Medicines: And because the Blood of Deer is chiefly (and perhaps not causlely) commended by Authors, we have handled it according to the foregoing Process, and thereby obtained of it a Spirit, and Salt, and Oil, whose penetrancy, and other resemblances, makes us hope that they may prove good Succedanea, in the defect of those Analogous' Remedies (drawn from humane Materials) which we have been treating of.  
And to this let me, Pyrophilus, on this occasion, annex this Advertisement, That though in these Papers, and what I have further written of Preparations of this nature; I name not any great number of Concretes, as having drawn their volatile Salts and Spirits, yet I have endeavoured in these Discourses to give You in the Instances I insist on, so much variety of Examples, that either by the Processes therein set down, or by Analogy to them, You may, I suppose, be directed with the help of a few trials, to obtain the volatile Salts and Spirits of most Concretes that belong to the Animal Kingdom, and that are capable of affording any. For by the method we prescribe, a little vary according to the exigencies of particular Bodies to be distilled, we have drawn the Spirits, Salts and Oils of Sheeps-blood, Eels, Vipers, etc. the latter of which yield a Salt and Liquor, which in Italy, by divers Learned Men, is superlatively extolled against Obstructions, foulness of the Blood, and I know not how many Diseases proceeding from these two general Causes. And though I dare not deny that divers of those Praises may be well enough deserved, by the Remedies to which they are ascribed, yet I am not apt to think them much superior to the generality of volatile Salts: And even the Spirit and Salt of Sheeps-blood itself, did, by their penetrancy of taste and fugitiveness in gentle heats, promise little else Efficacy then those others so much celebrated Medicines.  
10. Nor is it only by being administered itself, that one of this sulphureous and subtle kind of Spirits may become a good Remedy, but also by its being made a Menstruum to prepare other Bodies: For it will extract Tinctures out of several sulphureous and resinous Concretes, whose finer parts, by being associated with so piercing a Vehicle, may probably gain a more intimate admission into the Body, and have their Virtues conveyed further than otherwise they would reach. And a Learned Doctor, to whom I recommended such kind of Remedies, confessed to me, That by the bare extractions of appropriated Vegetables themselves, with Spirit of Urine, he performed no small matter. But one difficulty You may meet with in drawing the Tincture of Minerals, and other very compact Bodies, even with good Spirit of Urine. (for that I account to be the cheapest of these volatile Menstruum, and the most easy to be obtained in good quantities) For we have found, but with a little heat, the more fugitive Particles to ascend to the upper parts of the Glass, and there fasten themselves in the form of a Salt; by whose recess, the debilitated Liquor was disabled from drawing the Tincture so powerfully as was expected, wherefore we were reduced to make our Extractions in short necked Glass-Eggs or Vials tightly stopped (which may also be placed stooping in the Sand) and when we perceived much to be lodged in the necks of the Vessels, by barely inverting them, the hot Liquor soon reimbibed the Salt, and was fit to be placed again in Sand; so that notwithstanding this difficulty, we were able by this means, in no long time, to impregnate the Spirit of Urine, or of Ha●ts horn (for I do not perfectly remember which it was) with the Tincture of Flowers of Sulphur, which may probably prove a noble Medicine in divers affections of the Lungs, since in them these volatile Liquors alone have been found very effectual. And I remember, I have sometimes made a much shorter and more odd Preparation (which at any time You may command) of Crude Sulphur, whereby in not many hours I have, by the means of Salts, brought over such a sulphureous Liquor or Tincture, as even in the Receiver was of a red Colour, as well as of a strongly sulphureous Scent.    

[To the Page 164, 165, etc. where Ens Veneris is treated of.]  
BUt before I enter upon Particulars, I think it will not be amiss to tell You how this Preparation first occurred to Us, because by that Information, Your happier Genius may peradventure hereafter be prompted to improve this Remedy, or to devise one more approaching to the Nature and Excellency of that which we endeavoured, but with very imperfect success to light on, or equal, by our Ens Veneris. I must then tell You, that an Industrious Chemist (of our Acquaintance) and I, chancing to Read one day together that odd Treatise of Helmont, which he calls Butler, when we had attentively perused what he delivers of the Nature as well as scarce credible Virtues of the Lapis Butleri he there mentions, we fell into very serious Thoughts, what might be the matter of so admirable a Medicine, and the hopefullest manner of preparing that matter. And having freely proposed to one another our Conjectures, and examined them by what is delivered by Helmont, concerning the Preparation of Butler's Stone, or some emulous Remedy we at length concurred in concluding that either the Lapis Butleri (as our Author calls it) or at least some Medicine of an approaching Efficacy might, (if Helmont did not mis-inform us) be prepared by destroying (as far as we could by calcination) the body of Copper, and then subliming it with Sal Armoniac.  
And because the Body of Venus seems less locked up in good Vitriol, then in its metalline form, we concluded that it was best to calcine rather the Vitriol, than the Copper itself, and, having freed the Colcothar from its separable Salts, so to force it up with Sal Armoniac. But the Person I discoursed with, seeming somewhat diffident of this Process by his unwillingness to attempt it, I desired and easily persuaded him at least to put himself to the trouble of trying it with the requisites to the work which I undertook to provide, being at that time unable to prosecute it myself for want of a fit furnace in the Place where I than chanced to lodge. And though at first we did not hit upon the best and most compendious way, yet during the Sublimation, he being suddenly surprised, as both himself and his Domestics two days after told me, with a fit of sickness, attended with very horrid and seemingly Pestilential Symptoms, was reduced to take some of this Medicine out of the Vessels before the due time, and upon the use of it found as he told me an almost immediate Cessation of those dreadful symptoms, b●t not of the Paleness they had produced. This first prosperous Experiment, emboldened us to give our Remedy the Title of Primum ens Veneris, which, for brevity's sake, is wont to be called Ens Veneris, though I am far from thinking, that it is the admirable Medicine to which Helmont gives that name, at least if his Ens Veneris did really deserve half the praises by him ascribed to it. But such as Ours is, I shall now (as time and my yet incomplete Trials will permit) acquaint you with that Process of it, which (among some others) we are most wont to employ, as the most easy, simple, and genuine.  
Take then of the best Hungarian, or if you cannot procure that of the best Dantzick, or other good Venereal Vitriol, what quantity you please, Calcine it in a strong fire, till it be of a dark Red, dulcify it by such frequent affusions of hot Water, that at length the Water that hath passed through it, appear full as tasteless, as when it was poured on it. Let this thus tightly dulcified Colcothar, when it is thoroughly dry, be very diligently ground with about an equal weight of good Sal Armoniac, and let this mixture be put into a Glass Retort, and either in as strong a heat as can conveniently be given in Sand, or else in a naked fire, force up as much of it as you can to the Top or Neck of the Retort, and this Sublimation being ended, out of the broken Retort (laying the Caput Mortuum aside) take all the Sublimate, and grind it well again, that if in any part the Shall Armoniac appear sublimed by itself, it may be reincorporated with the Colcothar, Resublime this Mixture per se in a Glass Retort as before, and if you please you may once more elevate this second Sublimate, but we have not found That always needful. And for the better understanding of this Process, be pleased to take notice of the following Particulars.  
First, We have always preferred such Vitriol as abounds with Copper, before our common English Vitriol, about the making of which, those that keep the Copper as work at Detford are wont, as themselves have upon the place informed me, to use good store of Iron to increase the quantity of their Vitriol.  
Secondly, If You be unwilling to lose the Phlegm, Spirit and Oil of that Vitriol with which You design to make Ens Veneris, You may distil them away in an earthen Retort, or one of Glass well coated. But though it be well known that the distillation of Oil of Vitriol requires a very intense and lasting Fire (so that unless you have need of the Liquors, the best way will be without any Ceremony to calcine the Vitriol in a naked Fire and open; yet afterwards it will be for the most part requisite further to calcine the Caput Mortuum in an open Vessel. For you must take notice, that unless the Vitriol be very throughly calcined, it will be very troublesome for you to dulcify it, and sometimes we have observed that the Caput Mortuum which looked Red, and seemed indifferently well calcined, hath been, almost like Crude Vitriol dissolved in the fair Water which was poured on it to dulcify it. The weight of the Calx in reference to the Vitriol, of which it was made, we cannot easily determine, but we have sometimes found it necessary to reduce the Vitriol to less, perhaps much less than half its weight to make it fit for Dulcification.  
Thirdly, The Water that hath been poured on the first and second time to edulcorate, the calcined Vitriol, may be filtrated and steamed away, till it come almost to the consistence of a Syrup or Honey, and then may be put into a cold place to shoot; for after this manner we have sometimes had many very regularly figured Crystals or Grains of Salt, I say sometimes, because sometimes also you may find it necessary to abstract all the Water, to obtain the Whitish Salt of Vitriol, which we have known used as a good Vomit, and which Angelus Sala none of the least sober of the Chemical Writers doth highly extol as an excellent Emetic in his Ternary of Vomitive Remedies, where he discourseth at large of the Virtues of it, and the way of administering it. And of this Salt, as Chemists are pleased to call it, we have had out of calcined Copper as a very great quantity, and have sometimes observed it to have been almost as deeply coloured as the Vitriol itself was before Calcination.  
Fourthly, We several times tried to sublime dulcified Colcothar with Sal Armoniac, in Retorts and Urinals placed in Sand, but whether by reason of the fixedness of the Colcothar, or because the Furnace we were fain to use, though no very bad one, was none of the best, we never could that way obtain any considerable Quantity of the desired Sublimate, and that which did ascend was but of a faint colour: wherefore, unless you have an extraordinary good Sand Furnace, if you will make use of Glass Vessels, which is the cleanliest way, You will find it expedient to sublime Your Colcothar in coated Retorts with an open Fire, except you have the Dexterity to sublime in a naked Fire with Glass, Retorts uncoated, which we have divers times seen performed by heating the bottom of the Retort by degrees, and then placing it upon Embers, with Coals round about it, but to be kindled at a distance from it; for if this course be watchfully followed, the Retort will be so well nealed, before it be reduced to endure any intense degree of heat, that after a while You may safely lay thoroughly kindled Coals, not only round about it, but upon the top of it, (which needs not to be done, till towards the end of the Operation) and thereby drive most of the Sublimate into one lump, and into the Neck of the Retort. And by this way you may sublime without any Furnace upon a bare Hearth, but if you desire to give a more intense heat, you may lay first some warm ashes in an ordinary Iron pot, and having with them, and a few small Coals well kindled, nealed your Retort, you may afterwards prosecute the Sublimation in the same Pot, which being once throughly heated itself by the Fire, will afterwards considerably increase the heat of it.  
Fifthly, Though it be most commonly requisite to resublime the Sublimate, that comes the first time up, that the Salt and Colcothar may be more exquisitely mixed, yet as far as we can guess by some trials, it will not be expedient to resublime it above once (or at most) twice. For in those Trials we have found the Ens Veneris oftener resublimed of a paler colour, then that which was resublimed but once. And (N B.) perhaps, by further sublimations, the Salt instead of being more intimately united with the Colcothar, may be almost totally severed from it, according to what we elsewhere in other cases declare.  
Sixthly, Of these Sublimates, that which hath the highest Colour, seems to be the best, as being most enriched with the Colcothar, from whence the redness proceeds. But at the first Sublimation I have often observed a pretty part of the Shall Armoniac to come up first white by itself, especially if it had not been very diligently mixed with the Colcothar. But at the second sublimation the Ingredients (which we have sometimes almost totally forced up without leaving a Caput Mortuum in the bottom of the Retort) will be more accuratly mixed, and the Sublimate will appear Yellow, and perhaps Reddish, of which sort we have sometimes had, when the Operation hath been very carefully managed.  
Seventhly, How great a proportion of the Ingredients committed to Sublimation, will arise in the form of Ens Veneris, we dare not precisely define, but a Sublimate amounting to the fourth part of the whole Mixture, you will scarce, if you work skilfully, fail off.  
Eighthly, We sometimes made a Sublimate of equal parts of pure Sal Armoniac and Salt of Tartar, both of them very throughly dried (for else they will be apt to yield rather a Spirit then a Sublimate,) well ground together, and so sublimed; And with this Sublimate instead of Simple Sal Armoniak we intended to make Ens Veneris, but by some intervening Accidents and Avocations we were not able to perfect the Experiment, of which we nevertheless think it fit to give You this hint, because of the great Efficacy, which an excellent Physician of my acquaintance, to whom I gave some of it, assures me he has found in it against Obstructions and some Distempers that are wont to spring from them.  
Ninthly, When you are about to make Your first Sublimate, You may if You please, lute to the Retort, whereinto You put the Ingredients, a small Receiver to catch the Liquor that oftentimes comes over. For that Liquor, though you will very seldom get much of it, yet may be worth your preserving, by reason of the Volatile and Urinous Salt wherewith it will sometimes so abound, that it may pass for a weak Spirit of Sal Armoniac.  
Tenthly, The Caput Mortuum that remains after the first Sublimation, may be put into a clean Glass, and set in a Cellar, where it will run Per deliquium, into a thick and high coloured Liquor, very richly impregnated (as we elsewhere manifest on another Occasion) with the somewhat opened body of Copper, from whence if half those praises be true, which even the best Chemists are pleased to give to Copper, it may be very well concluded to have derived no small Virtues against Ulcers, and divers other Affections, which we are not here to insist on.  
Eleventhly, We have sometimes doubted whether or no our Ens Veneris did really contain any thing of Cypreous or Colcotharine in it, partly, because of the fixedness or sluggishness of Colcothar, and of the Copper therein contained; and partly because, that if Shall Armoniac be two or three times sublimed by its self, its Flowers frequently enough will ascend Yellow, like the paler sort of Ens Veneris. But first, that Shall Armoniac is capable of carrying up even fixed and sluggish Bodies seemed probable to us, partly upon our incorporating and subliming it with finely powdered Corals (from which, though but very little of it ascended, yet some of that little was no less red, than the Corals themselves before their being beaten) and partly upon our subliming it from Copper, both Crude and Calcined, since of either of those Bodies it carried up a little with it, as appeared by the Blue Colour of some parts of the Sublimates.  
And secondly, that the reddishnesse of our Ens Veneris proceeded partly, if not altogether from the Colcothar, seemed probable to us, not only by the taste, and some other Properties of it, but also by this, that having knowingly committed the first sublimate to a Fire too weak to resublime it; and having after some Hours, taken the Vessel out of the Sand, we found that the Fire, which we supposed was not strong enough to carry up the whole Matter, had raised the Sal Armoniac to the upper part of the Urinal in Flowers, that were either White, or but of a pale Yellow; whereas the remaining part of the Mixture, that lay in good quantity in the bottom of the Vessel, was of a deep Red, and a fragment of it of about the bigness of a large Pease, being cast upon glowing Coals, and nimbly blown with a pair of bellows, coloured the Flame with a somewhat greenish blew like that, but more faint, which we elsewhere have observed to proceed from the well opened body of Copper.  
But those Trials I confess would rather increase my Doubts then lessen them, because in our Ens Veneris the Colour is not Blue, but Reddish, if I did not consider, that Colcothar is a body that consists of some other matter besides common Copper (as it is also far more difficult to reduce, though but in part, into a metal than is vulgar calcined Copper) and consequently when Corpuscles of differing Natures are by the Shall Armoniac elevated together, that which is not Metalline, may with the assistance of the Fires Operation alter the Nature of what is, and thereby produce a Colour differing from Blue. But to dispatch what ever further Trials shall inform us, touching this Question, whether or no any true and reducible Copper do make an Ingredient in our Ens Veneris, yet there being in Colcothar other parts as well as those, that by Fusion you may reduce into a pure Metal, and our Remedy seeming by its Somniferous property to partake of them, it will not be necessary to the giving our Medicine a Right to the Appellation I commonly choose of Flores Colcotharis, that in it there is something of the Colcothar carried up, though possibly the quantity be but small, and not all reducible into a Metalline form, but perhaps the Question is not worth a longer Debate, it being sufficient to excuse the name, and recommend the thing to such a Person as You, that C●lcothar is employed in the making of it, and that the thing prepared is a noble Medicine, and hath some of the great Virtues ascribed to Vitriol; whether that Mineral be an ingredient of it or no.  
The Dosis of Ens Veneris may be very much varied; To little Children, we give sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three Grains for many nights together, as we find them able, without inconvenience, to bear the Operation. To persons of ripe Years we commonly administer four, five, or six Grains at a time. But one, to whom we have given quantities of it to lie by him, tells us, That he hath taken to above thirty Grains at once without any inconvenience. We are wont to give it in two or three Spoonfuls of Sack, or other Wine, if the Constitution of the Patient, or the Nature of the Disease do not forbid it, and in such cases we give it in any Cordial Liquor, that is temperate, or any other convenient Vehicle.  
To Children it may be given in Beer, or Ale, or clear Posset-drink, but not in Milk. If the Patient hath supped at a seasonable Hour, we commonly administer it, when he is going to sleep. It works for the most part by sweat and a little by Urine, but more by sweat at the beginning, then after the body is used to it, yet to some bodies it proves so Sudorific, that two Grains or less of it, have often made me sweat. That it hath once proved Emetic I have heard, but never observed it myself to provoke Vomits.  
As for the medical use of Ens Veneris, divers great Physicians will perhaps think it were not despicable, though it were no other than oftentimes to prove a safe and moderately somniferous Medicine in Fevers, without having any thing in it of Opium, whose Narcotick power they find as difficult to correct, as it oftentimes proves dangerous, when being not well corrected, it is administered without very great Circumspection. But- **************   

To the 166 ʰ, 167th, 168 ●h, 169th, and 170th Page. [Finding among my loose Notes, together with those that do immediately concern the Preparations of Sulphur and Hartshorn (delivered in these Pages) some other Particulars that may also serve, either to afford some light to Readers less skilled in Chemistry, or contribute somewhat or other towards the relief of some Patients, I am content to let those Papers go together, as I long since addressed them to a Friend.]  
Hartshorn, Pyrophilus, is a Heteroclite Body in Nature, which hath but few resemblers in the universe, for it grows to a considerable bulk like a Vegetable, and is (unlike most other Horns of Animals) at certain set Periods of time, deciduous, and though it be of a Bony substance, yet that middle part of it which differs from the rest in Colour, does (at least in grown Horns) much more resemble the pith of some Plants than the Marrow of Bones: and yet this Plant-Animal (if I may so call it) does, when skilfully exposed to the Fire, afford the same differing substances, with the Blood, Flesh, and other parts of Animals. 'Tis no wonder therefore, if Physicians and Chemists have hoped to find extraordinary Virtues in so extraordinary a Subject, of which we shall pass by the Usual Preparations as not so pertinent to our present design, insinuating only in the general, That though even the more Vulgar Preparations, as well as that which Physicians have been pleased to call Philosophical, afford us Medicines not despicable; yet these are much inferior to those Remedies wherewith dexterous Distillations are capable of presenting us; and certainly if we allow of the Chemical Theory, (whose Truth in these Papers I question not) Hartshorn being generally acknowledged to be endued with properties very friendly to our Nature, and even those ways of preparing it wherein the nobler and more active parts are not truly freed from those cumbersome ones that fetter them, and hinder them to display their powerful energies, proving yet oftentimes not unavailable; The Spirit and Salt of Hartshorn would be in more request, were not Men deterred from making trials of it, partly by the over-apprehended unpleasantness of the smell, and partly by the difficulties commonly met with in its distillation; the latter of which Deterrements hath so frighted even Chemists from distilling this Cordial Substance, that we have very rarely seen any, either Spirit or Salt of Hartshorn, save what ourselves have been reduced to prepare.  
There are three ways proposed by the Authors I have met with, to distil Hartshorn: The one in coated Glass Retorts; the other in Earthen ones; and the third in Glaubers second Philosophical Furnace.  
In the first of these ways, some very skilful Distillers that have often practised it, have so complained of their frequent breaking their Vessels by the copiousness and impetuosity of of the Fumes that rush out of the Matter, when it once begins to be pressed with a considerable heat, that I confess to You ingeniously, Pyrophilus, they have hitherto frighted me from making trial of that way, though I see no very great reason why, by a slow and regular gradation of the Fire, the mischances incident to this way of distillation may not (at least most commonly) be avoided.  
To distil the Matter we discourse of in Earthen Retorts, is a 〈◊〉 way then the former, if the Earth be close and good, and have been sufficiently baked; as we find in the right Hassian Retorts, wherein we have known the Operation proceed very prosperously, though a considerable quantity of the Matter hath been distilled at once; but the Retorts made of Earth that is spongy or any other ways unfit, or in whose baking Fuel hath been spared, are commonly (as Experience hath informed us) improper for this service, wherein they are easily broken: Besides that, it is much to be feared that all Retorts made of Earth, except it be extraordinarily compact and baked, are apt to imbibe the more subtle and more penetrant parts of Hartshorn, and other volatile Substances distilled in them; which we have observed in some, wherein the Matter hath transudated quite through the substance of the Retort, and been manifestly discernible on the outside of it.  
The third way of distilling Hartshorn, is performed by the Instrument described by Glauber, in his second Philosophical Furnace: But neither is this way without its Inconveniencies; for besides that, if the Earth whereof the Vessel to be employed is made, be not of very good and well baked Earth, it will be apt to crack, in so violent a Fire as is requisite in this way of Distillation, or else it will imbibe part of the finest Spirit it should transmit into the Receiver: And besides that, it is difficult to work long this way, without letting some of the active part of the Spirit escape between the wide Orifice of the Retort and the Cover: Besides these Inconveniencies, I say, it is to be feared that the Matter being to be cast immediately into the Vessel, made red hot beforehand, it will receive a stronger Empyreuma or Impression of the Fire, than it would do in the ordinary way of Distillation, wherein the Fire being orderly and successively increased, much of the Spirit and Salt comes over into the Receiver, before that last degree of Fire is administered; which is requisite chiefly to force over the more fluggish and heavy Oil, which therefore (to speak congruously to the most received Theory of Distillation) savours much more of the Fire, and is grown almost infamous for its adustion.  
But notwithstanding these Inconveniencies, Pyrophilus, we have found these Retorts of Glauber's not unserviceable, when we have had occasion to Distil considerable Quantities of such Materials, as were not so precious, as to make the loss of a part of what they were to afford us considerable.  
And this Advertisement may take place, especially if you take along with you, what we have declared, touching the Ways we substitute to avoid as much as may be, the newly objected Inconveniencies. But having in other Papers taken notice particularly enough of the Ways we mean, I shall forbear to mention them in this place, though one of them may easily be made applicable, as Experience hath assured us, even to ordinary Retorts; for 'tis not difficult to apply to These, the perforated Receivers, which being almost of the shape of Pears, open at both ends, by holes of about two or three Inches Diameter (according to the capacity of the Vessel) may be with greater facility taken asunder and made clean; and may, by the convenient Insertion of their Extremities into one another, be easily luted together (in a level) two, three, or as many of them, as necessity shall require; and then provided there be applied to the remoter extremity of the last of them, some convenient Vessel open but at one end, the Receivers will very seldom break: The Fumes that come over too copiously to be contained in one of them, passing freely thence into the second or the third (for we very rarely exceed three in all) which will be manifestly cool, and so, speedily turn into Liquor, the Fumes it receives, whilst the first Recipient is perhaps hotter than the Hand can endure: But of these Mechanical Contrivances, elsewhere.  
Now whereas Glauber prescribes to mingle with the Distilled Liquors of Heart's horn rectified Spirit of Wine, to wash out the volatile Salt, and directs the Distilling again of both those Spirits (of Wine and Hartshorn) together; his method of proceeding may be justly questioned: For first, dephlegmed Spirit of Wine will not so readily, in the way he supposeth, dissolve the volatile Salt of Hartshorn; And next, the Spirit this way drawn is not a simple Spirit of Hartshorn, but a compounded Liquor of the Spirit of Hartshorn, and that of Wine; the latter of which may possibly, in divers cases, rather impair then improve the virtue of the former. For Spirit of Hartshorn, by reason of its opening and resolving, as well as Cordial Virtues, is safely and successfully given in Fevers, wherein it is not observed to inflame the Blood, whereas Spirit of Wine in such cases is counted dangerous. And this brings into my thoughts a very questionable Preparation of the Experienced and Ingenious Hartman, who much extols, for the Worms in the Stomach, Spirit of Hartshorn in general, but especially that which he is pleased to call Essensificated (that is, 
Pract. Chym. p. 190.  as himself expounds it) with which its own fixed Salt, extracted with some convenient Water, and its volatile duly depurated, have been dissolved and united. For first, The fixed Salt of Hartshorn hath been perhaps never yet prepared by any Man; and if Hartshorn doth yield a fixed Salt (as I dare not absolutely deny, but that out of many Pounds a few Grains may be extracted) it may well be doubted whether that Salt be endowed with specifical Virtues: And next, The Spirit of Hartshorn, if it be well dephlegmed, will not (for aught I could ever find) dissolve its own Salt, unless assisted by the External warmth of the Ambient Air; Insomuch that I usually keep the Spirit and Salt in the same Vial, where they remain unmixed; and the Spirit that will dissolve any of its own Salt I account not sufficiently dephlegmed, but to have yet an Aqueous alloy whereby the Salt is imbibed. And I remember that having once tightly rectified some Spirit of Hartshorn, and closed it up in a Vial, after divers months it let fall a considerable quantity of Volatile Salt, so far was it from being able, without the help of some peculiar way, to have dissolved more, had I cast more into it. I deny not that the Spirit of Hartshorn may, by the mediation of heat, be brought to take in some of the Salt of the same Body, but of what use this violent Impregnation of the liquor can be, unless it be quickly administered, I do not yet understand, having often seen the Spirit let fall again in the cold, the volatile Salt it had dissolved by the assistance of heat.  
And having thus, Pyrophilus, laid before you the difficulties we have met with in the abovementioned ways of making of Spirit of Hartshorn proposed by Authors (neither of which we would yet have you altogether reject) I must acquaint you with our having attempted a fourth way, which when the matter to be distilled is not very much, I choose rather to practise then any of the other, as hitherto seeming more safe and free from inconveniences. Take then (for Instance) two pounds of Heart's horn broken on an Anvil into pieces, each of about the bigness of ones finger (for if it be rasped there is danger that it should emit its fumes too plentifully at once) and put it into a strong glass Retort uncoated, big enough to contain at least twice as much matter; Set this in Sand, and fit to it a pretty large and strong (either single or double) Receiver; then give a slow fire for three, four, or six hours, to send away first the Phlegm, and more fugitive parts of the Spirit; then increasing the fire, but warily, and gradually for divers hours, drive over the Spirit (which is wont to drop down somewhat tincted) and the more volatile parts of the Salt; and at length intent your fire till the bottom of the Retort be glowing hot, and heap also at last quick coals upon the sand round about the Retort to give, as it were, a fire of Suppression, and so force over the more sluggish remaining parts of the Salt, and with it the Oil: all which are to be afterwards proceeded with, according to the Directions given concerning the Spirit, Salt, and Oil of Man's Blood: which having been sufficiently insisted on before, will not (I suppose) need to be repeated now. Only it may not be impertinent to advertise you. 1. That we have more than once had the bottom of the Retort melted, yet not broken, the melted glass being supported by the substrated sand. 2. That sometimes in Filtration, some of the thinner parts of the Oil have unperceivedly passed through the paper with the Spirit, and Salt, and have not been discovered, but by Rectification, wherein I have almost admired to see the Oil with a gentle heat of a Lamp ascend to the top of a very tall head and body; touching which circumstance it may yet be further enquired, whether it proceed barely from the volatilnesse of the Oil itself, or also from its being carried up by the Salt and Spirit wherewith it was associated. 3. That by this way of distillation we usually have out of a pound of Hartshorn between four and five ounces, (seldom or never so little as four, and often nearer five) of volatile Salt, Spirit●, Oil, and Phlegm; (of the last of which, if the Hartshorn be not recent, there will be no great quantity) and when we distilled two pound of the matter at a time, we found the operation to succeed altogether as well, and to yield us a fully proportionable quantity of Liquor.  
The virtues of the Spirit and Salt of Hartshorn, which differ not much in Dose, or Efficacy, are probably very great in divers distempers, wherein we have yet made no trial of them. For they are considerable in resisting Putrefaction, comforting nature, opening Obstructions, mortifying the the Acidities it meets with in the blood, and, by rendering that volatile, promoting its Circulation, we have known considerable effects of it in Fevers, Pleurisies, Obstructions of the Mesentery, and Spleen; and chiefly (which perhaps you will think strange) in Coughs and Distempers of the brain, and nervous parts; in so much that I have by God's blessing sometimes stopped very violent (but not inveterate Coughs) with this medicine in a few hours. And prescribing it to one who was almost daily assaulted with epileptical fits, a few Doses of it did in a pretty while at first make his fits come but seldom, and after not at all: But whether he be perfectly cured not having heard of him of late, nor having had opportunity to make further trial of the medicine in that disease, I am not certain. We prescribed it likewise, not long since, to a Person who had long lain both distracted, and almost bedrid, and was in a short time strangely relieved by the use of it, though not perfectly cured (perhaps because the Patient took but little of the medicine, we being than not well stored with it;) and on some that have been by Fevers rendered stupid, it hath had very eminent Operations: but for a further account of its virtues, I must refer you to the particular Narratives, I may when we meet, give you, by word of mouth: and till than it may suffice to tell you that it works chiefly by Sweat (and somewhat by Urine) without being observed to leave behind it such heat as divers Sudorificks are wont to do: only there must be care not to administer it when the Primae viae, and passages are too much stuffed and choked up by gross Humours, lest by agitating the blood, and putting it into a nimble Motion, it occasion greater Obstructions. The Dose is from five drops, or grains to a drachma (ten or fifteen drops are wont to make me sweat) in Wine, Carduus Benedictus water, or any vehicle appropriated to the disease; only taking care that nothing acid be administered with it, because Acid and Sulphureous Salts mortify, and disarm one another. Hartman commends it against the worms of the stomach, against which it may very probably be available, by reason of its penetrant, and saline nature, and its enmity to Putrefaction: Glauber writes that the Oil rectified from Salt of Tartar, cares quartans, and inward wounds, and cures the pains produced by Falls, Contusions, etc. being administered from six to twenty drops to a patient placed in his bed to sweat after it: but of this my Experience will not enable me to say any thing. And I fear Pyrophilus, that I have already too long entertained you about Harts-Horne: and yet I fear too, that you expect that before I forsake this Subject I should say something to you concerning a much controverted particular relating thereunto. The Inquiry is, Whether or no, when it is distilled, the Salt dispose itself in the Receiver into the figures of Hartshorn, the Affirmative is maintained by many Chemists, and a friend of mine who is very severe, and not at all credulous, having assured me that he himself had observed the inside of his Receiver over-laid with such figures or horns, I dare not deny, but that accidentally the particles of the volatile Salt may sometimes represent as well the shape of Harts-hornes, as of divers other things. But for our parts having several ways, and not unfrequently distilled that matter, we could never see the pretended Saline Harts-hornes so clearly as we thought we saw cause to esteem that those who affirmed they constantly saw them so distinctly looked through the spectacles of prepossessed Imagination: not to mention that it is the usual method of nature in Salts to make the bigger Concretions of the same figures with the smaller grains, as we observe in Nitre, Rock-allum, etc. And the grains of the Salt of Hartshorn, though I have attentively enough considered their shapes, I remember not ever to have observed of a figure like that of the horns they came from: but it is the nature of volatile Salts to fasten themselves to the Receiver in various figures, according as the degree of fire that urges them up, and other concurrent circumstances do chance to exact; and consonantly hereunto we have often observed the volatile Salt of the same Hartshorn to be very variously figured in the same Receiver: and I remember that not long since subliming some volatile Salt of Urine, it adhered to the upper part of the vessel in figures, much liker Harts-hornes, than ever I had seen their volatile Salt make up; so that unless we will merrily say, that the man whose urine was distilled, had horns given him by his wife, we must acknowledge that nature seems to give herself liberty to play in the Configuration of volatile Salts, and that casualties have no unusual influence on them; or to speak more properly, that the various degree of Fire, the differing copiousness of the Fumes, and many other intervening accidents do keep those Configurations from being constantly regular; and I remember that a while since filtering through Cap-paper a Tincture of glass of Antimony, made with Spirit of Vinegar and Spirit of Wine, almost according to Basilius; the matter which remained in the paper (which was placed in a glass funnel, and was of the same shape) did of itself, when it began to grow dry, cleave into the figures of trees, whose trunks, greater boughs, and smaller branches, were both for their shape, and proportion, as lively represented as if they had been drawn by the curious pencil of some skilful Painter; which paper I showed to some persons that beheld it not without wonder, and for aught I know I am yet able to show it you; nor is this the only instance I could give you if need were, if I had not trifled too long already to manifest at present, that, now and then, Chance may make Nature seem to emulate Art.  
But as long as I have dwelled, Pyrophilus, on this Subject before I pass to another; I must not forget to advertise you, that in case Stags Horns cannot be procured for the preparation of the above mentioned Remedies, you may without much disadvantage substitute Bucks-horns in their stead; for almost all the trials we have had opportunity to make of the Medicines we have been lately discoursing of, have been made with Remedies whereto Buck-hornes afforded Materials.  
I had almost forgot, Pyrophilus, to tell you, That to keep the rectified Spirit of Hartshorn, Blood, or the like, is more uneasy, than any thing but trial would make one think; and yet to keep the Volatile Salt is more difficult, then to preserve the Spirit; for more than once, when I have kept these fugitive animal Salts by themselves, they have penetrated the Corks, and scarce left me in the well stopped Glasses any footsteps of their having been there, and therefore those Chemists that are not strangers to these Salts, have taken much pains to no great purpose to keep them from Avolation, some of the recentest and ingeniousest are wont, that they may moderate their uncurbed wildness, to pour on them as much of some such Acid Spirit, as that of Salt of Vitriol &c. as will produce any manifest conflict with the Volatile Salt, never considering, that as this course doth indeed divest them of their fugacity, so it doth in effect divest them of a great part of their Nature, and consequently of their peculiar Virtues. For I have elsewhere shown, that the Saline Corpuscles, obteinable by the Fire from Urine, being united with a sufficient proportion of Spirit of Salt, will cease to be what they were, and with the Saline parts of the Acid Liquor, will make up a kind of Salarmoniack. But 'tis easier for me in this our case to show that another man's Expedient is not good, then to substitute a good one, especially in this place, where for some Reasons I must not set down, the way that I the best approve of, only I shall tell You, that my way long was, nor do I yet despise it, to preserve volatile Salts in their own rectified Spirit, which swimming over them, kept them from the immediate contact of the Air, and preserved them so well, that by this means I have secured even small parcels of the fugitive Salt of humane Blood for many Years.  
[But since the Spirit and Salt even of this sort of Horns, will not, I fear, ●e found so easy for every Man, especially, if he be a Novice in Chemistry to procure in any considerable Quantity; and since the declared intent of my communicating to the Reader my Observations about these Spirits of Hartshorn, Blood, etc. was to furnish him with such Chemical Remedies, that men may by their easiness and cheapness be invited to provide them for the use of the Poor; I presume it will not be improper to present him with a succedaneum or two, that may be easily enough obtained from Salarmoniack, though these Preparations have such Connexion with divers other Passages, wherewith they were Written to the Person, I here call Pyrophilus, that to avoid the too much dismembering those Papers, and to make these Processes the better understood, I must content myself to leave out those Particulars that can best be spared, hoping that the rest will be easily excused, at least by those who know how much some Chemists themselves have been deluded in their Trials of the divulged Processes, divers of which are either false or very uncertain, and others, though they should succeed, would give but a sophistical spirit, much of the obtained Liquor coming from the Distillable Concretes that must according to such Processes be mingled with the Salarmoniack, of which I could easily give instances, even out of modern and applauded Writers.]  
The Spirit of Salt-Armoniack, Pyrophilus, hath such wonders ascribed to it by Chemists, that, if I should conclude these Papers touching Spirits of an Urinous nature, without saying something to you of that, you might think I had left the considerablest of them unmentioned; but as I the rather acquaint you with the little I know of it, because, though I have met with divers Authors that extol it, I have scarce met with any that teaches intelligibly, and candidly how to prepare it, which perhaps most of them did not know themselves, so I hope you will exact an accurate account of it the less rigidly, because I can present to you but little on that Subject, besides the few Observations wherewith my own Curiosity has supplied me; having scarce ever (to my knowledge) seen any Spirit of Salarmoniack save what my own Furnaces have afforded me, and therefore without presuming to set down solemn processes about a subject, wherein I have found a small variation of Circumstances hinder the operations made on it from producing uniform effects, I shall content myself to give you as true an information as my memory will afford me of a few of my proceedings with this nice Salt, and the successes of them: only premising in a Word, that by Sal Armoniac I here mean the Factitious and Venal, consisting of Urine, Soot, and Sea-salt.  
And first, according to the way proposed by Glauber (in the second part of his Philosophical Furnaces) we distilled it out of an open retort (with a Cover to c●ap on and take off as occasion requires) with a mixture of Lapis Calaminaris, and once we, that way, obtained a quantity of Liquor, which seemed exceeding strong, but before we could make any trials with it, the Vial that contained it having been accidentally broken, we lost the opportunity of satisfying ourselves of the efficacy of it: and having not long since attempted to make such a Spirit the same way, there came over indeed a Liquor which seemed to be the Spirit of Salarmoniack, but when we came to Rectify it in a gentle heat, the greater part of it to our wonder, coagulated in the Retort, whereinto it was put to be distilled, into a perfect Salarmoniack, (a pretty quantity of which I yet keep by me) and thereby betrayed the above mentioned Liquor to have been little else then the Salarmoniack itself, forced over by the violence of the Fire, without having suffered any separation of its Ingredients. Nor is it by us alone, that the Process set down by Glauber, hath been unprosperously attempted, and yet perhaps it might have constantly enough succeeded with him, and the difference of the Lapis Calaminaris (in which we have observed much disparity according to the places it comes from) may have produced the complained of variety of Successes.  
We also attempted to distil a Spirit from Salarmoniack (to pretermit divers other trials) by mixing it with equal parts of Salt of Tartar, but in this experiment we met with variety of success, for having tightly incorporated the two Salts by the help of a little fair Water, we have divers times had the upper part of the receiver (carefully luted on to a somewhat large retort) all candied over on the inside; with Volatile Salts of several shapes, and the Liquor afterwards forced over hath sometimes remained long enough in the form of a very subtle and penetrant spirit, and sometimes again, it hath in the very receiver almost totally coagulated itself into a lump of Crystalline Salt; and when we had mixed the Salt of Tartar, and Salarmoniack, without any Water or other moisture at all, our successes have been very like those above mentioned. Upon this occasion I dare not omit acquainting you with an Experiment, which yet I learned not upon this occasion, Take of pure Salt of Tartar and of good Salarmoniack equal parts (let them be both very dry, or else you may lose your labour) and grind them very accurately together, though you be deterred from continuing that toil, by a very subtle and fetid Urinous steam, wont to exhale from the mixture; these Salts being thus tightly incorporated, you must put them into a large Glass Retort, to which you may fit a Receiver to catch a fetid Liquor that sometimes we have observed to come over; then administering by degrees a very strong Fire, the top and Neck of the Retort, will be lined with a pure white Sublimate, which seems to partake as well (though nothing near so much) of the Salt of Tartar as of the Salarmoniack and of its Qualities, and yet to differ from either; and though this Sublimate be far enough from being the true Volatile Salt of Tartar so highly extolled by Paracelsus and Helmont, yet it is no ignoble Medicine in obstructions, and some other distempers: And I remember one of the most expert Chemists I know, having made trial of some I presented him, told me he found such effects of it, as made him divers times very pressing and solicitous for more. The Fetid Liquor that will come over we have found sometimes to be very little, and at other times much more copious, without being able to discern clearly whence the disparity proceeded; and the Caput Mortuum remaining in the Retort, by Solution, Filtration, and Coagulation, affords a pure Salt of greater Diuretical efficacy, than almost any I have hitherto met withal: Another way by which we attempted to obtain a Spirit of Salarmoniack, was by accurately mixing two parts of it, with three or four of Quicklime, whose virtue had not been impaired by being exposed to the Air, this mixture being distilled in a Retort, placed in sand, with a strong fire afforded us (together with some dry Sublimate in the neck of the Retort, and as I remember a little volatile Salt in the Receiver) a very strong and yellowish Spirit, so exceedingly penetrant, and stinking, that 'twas not easy to hold one's nose to the open mouth of the Vial wherein 'twas kept, without danger of being struck down, or for a while disabled to take breath, by the plenty and violence of the exhaling Spirits: But the Liquor forced over by this method, though exceeding vigorous as to its Qualities, was inconsiderable, as to its Quantity; and therefore we now choose to vary a little this way of proceeding, and and let the Quicklime lie abroad in the open Air; (but protected from all other moisture, except that of the Air) for divers days, in which time the imbibed humidity of the ambient Air would in some degrees slake it, and make it somewhat brittler than it was before, and the Lime thus prepared, being mingled with Salt-Armoniack, and distilled in all circumstances after the former manner, afforded us a Liquor so copious, and yet so strong, that we hitherto acquiesce in this way of distilling this wild Salt, as the best we have yet met with. But note, that, we used towards the latter end to increase the fire to that degree, by heaping up Coals on the upper part of the Retort, that, the mixture in the Retort hath been brought to flow. Note also, that though even the Spirit thus drawn persevered long in the form of a Liquor, yet yesterday coming to look upon a Vial of it, which we reserved, to try what effect time would have on it, we found that about a fourth or fifth part of it had spontaneously coagulated itself into exactly figured grains of a Crystalline Salt, the Liquor swimming above it, retaining, nevertheless, a very strange subtlety: Which Observation concording with divers others makes me apt to doubt, whether or no this so celebrated Spirit of Salt-Armoniack be really much, if at all, other than the resolved Salt of Urine, and S●ot, of which that body consists, of somewhat subtiliated by the fire, and freed from the clogging Society of the Sea-salt, to which they were formerly associated and united; though I confess it seemeth not improbable, by the great Energy which may be observed in this Spirit, when it is dextrously drawn, that the entire Concrete, and the Quicklime, may afford it something that it could not receive from either of the Ingredients, whence the Mixture did result, as we see in Aqua Regi●, which dissolves crude gold, though neither the Salt-Armoniack, nor the Peter, nor the Vitriol alone affords, by the usual ways, Spirit capable of producing that effect. The great virtues, and uses of Salt-Armoniack, especially in Physic, I cannot now stay to treat of, but you will find them largely enough set down by Glauber; whose Encomiums nevertheless, must not be all adopted by me, who in this place mention the Spirit of Salarmoniack, but as a Medicine that is near of kin, and may serve for a Succedaneum to the Spirits of Hartshorn, Urine, Blood, etc.  
But although the last mentioned way, Pyrophilus, be the least imperfect one we have hitherto met with, of distilling Salt-Armoniack, yet because you may sometimes need a Spirituous liquor impregnated with the activest parts of that noble concrete when you want either Retorts to distil in, or Furnaces capable of giving strong fires, I dare not omit to inform you, that, we have sometimes drawn over such a liquor of Salt-Armoniack after the following manner. Dissolve pure Salt-Armoniack in a small quantity of fair water, then in a Cucurbit put such a quantity of strong Quicklime powdered, as may fill up a fifth or sixth part of the vessel, and water it very well by degrees with the former Solution of the Salt-Armoniack, and immediately clap an Alembick on the Cucurbit, and fasten a Receiver to the Alembick, closing the joints very acurately, and from this mixture, by the gentle heat of a Bath or a Lamp, you may obtain a Liquor that smells much like Spirit of Urine, and seems to be much of the same nature; and this volatile liquor being once or twice rectified per se, with a very mild heat, grows exceeding fugitive and penetrant, and works by Sweat, and a little, perhaps, by Urine; and I remember that when I first made it, having been induced by some Analogical Experiments, I had formerly made, to give it to one that had a patient troubled with an extremely violent Cough, I had an account quickly brought me, that he not slowly, but wonderfully mended upon the very first or second Dose; and indeed the trials that have hitherto been made of it, make me hope that it will prove little inferior in efficacy to the other above mentioned more costly Spirits, scarce any of which being preparable by so safe, and compendious a way, if this Medicine emulate them in virtue, the Easiness of the preparation (wherein little time needs be spent, and less danger of breaking vessels incurred) will much endear it to me. But, Pyrophilus, because I would assist You to make variety of Experiments about Volatile Salts, and because divers trials may be more conveniently made, when the Saline Corpuscles are in a dry form, then when they are in that of a Liquor; I will take this occasion to mention to You a way by whose Intervention a change on the fixed body employed about the newly mentioned Experiment, hath sometimes afforded me store of volatile Salt. This way was only to mingle exquisitely a quantity of Salarmoniack, with about thrice its weight of strong Wood-ashes. For the Spirit that we this way drove out of a Retort placed in Sand, did quickly in the Receiver Coagulate into a Salt; and this Method was again experimented with like success. And the Salt thus made we found so extremely subtle and volatile, that it seemed to be much of the same Nature with that of Urine, and if it be indeed, (as probably 'tis) only the Volatile Salts of the Urine, and perhaps also of the Soot, whereof the Salarmoniack consists, this may pass for a more compendious way of obtaining such Salts, than others that are hitherto wont to be practised amongst Chemists. But I will not undertake that this way of obtaining rather Salt than Spirit shall constantly succeed, Yet if you find it do not, I shall not perchance refuse You a better way. But if you could devise a Method (which possibly is not unattainable) of bringing over into a Spirit, not the bare Urinous and fuliginous Ingredients of Salarmoniack but the whole Body, it may be, you would have a Menstruum that would make good, if not surpass even Renanus', and Glaubers Eulogies of the Spirit of Salarmoniack.  
The affinity betwixt Volatile Salts and Sulphurs, doth, Pyrophilus, as well as your Curiosity invite me to acquaint you, with some of the Trials we have made about the Preparations of Sulphureous Fetid Liquors, which I am the more inclined to do, because, though I find mention made of some of them in Chemical Books, yet they are there delivered with so little Encouragement, amongst many other processes of which it appears not that the prescribers made trial, that when I had distilled some of those Sulphurs, divers expert Chemists were very desirous to have a sight of them to satisfy themselves that such Liquors could be so prepared. The way of making the common Balsam, or Ruby of Sulphur, is too well known to need to be long insisted on. Only, because there is some little variety used by several in the preparation, it will not perhaps be amiss to inform you that we are wont to make it by mixing about three parts of Oil of Turpentine, with two of good Flower of Brimstone, and setting them in a strong Urinal slightly stopped in an heat of Sand, only great enough to make the Liquor with a little crackling noise (whencesoever that proceeds) work upon the Sulphur, till it be all perfectly resolved into a Blood-red Balsam which will be performed in six, eight, or ten House's, according to the quantity of the Ingredients to be unite 〈◊〉 this Balsam which is indeed in some cases no despicable Remedy, is by vulgar Chemists, according to their custom very highly extolled, and sometimes employed in Distempers and Constitutions, wherein instead of performing the wonders by them expected, its Heat doth more harm, than its drying and Balsamic properties do good: but yet apparent it will be, by what we shall say anon, that by this preparation, the Body of the Sulphur is somewhat opened, and therefore (as we said) in some cases the Ruby of Sulphur may prove no ineffectual Remedy, which may probably be improved if it be prepared by bare Digestion in a very gentle heat, by which course we have prosperously prepared it, though not in so short a time, when we made it not in order to some other Medicine.  
To Volatilize the Sulphur thus Resolved we took the Balsam made the former way in a few Hours, and putting it in a Retort, either with, or without fair Water, which is supposed to help to carry up the superfluous Oil, we placed the Vessel in a Sand Furnace, and with a gentle heat drawing off as much of the Oil of Turpentine as would in that heat come over, we shifted the Receiver, and carefully luted on the new one; and lastly, giving Fire by degrees, we forced over a Liquor of a deep and darkish Red, extremely penetrant, but of a smell so sulphureous and diffusive of itself, that it was scarce to be restrained by Corks, and was by great odds stronger than that of the Ruby before distillation.  
The like Experiment we tried in a Glass head and body placed in Sand, and through that way, likewise we obtained a Volatile Balsam of Sulphur, yet we found it too inconvenient to be equallable w●th the former; what long Digestions of this Liquor will do to take away, or lessen its Empyreumatical and o●●ensive Odour, we have not yet been by experience satisfie● no more then of its medical Virtues, though probably the ●reat penetrancy of the Liquor considered, they will not be languid.  
Author's also prescribe the making a volatile Balsam of Sulphur, by driving over, after the above mentioned manner, a Solution of Flower of Brimstone in Linseed Oil, and this Remedy they highly extol; but though it may probably prove a good Medicine, yet since they commend it but by conjecture, and not upon Experience, I see no great reason why it should be preferable to the other; for we find that expressed Oils are much more apt to receive an offensive Empyreuma then Oil of Turpentine, which being much more volatile than they, requires nothing near so violent a heat to make it ascend; and unless it be found, that the Sulphureous particles are able to mitigate the corrosive ones, the distilled Liquor of an expressed Oil may prove noxious in the Body▪ For by purposely (for trials sake) distilling Oil Olive, by itself, though not in a naked Fire, we obtained a Liquour of that exceeding sharpness, that it would (takes inwardly▪ probably corrode, or fret either the Stomach or some other of the internal Parts.  
There is another way of preparing a Sulphureous Balsam, to which Penotus no ignoble Chemist, ascribes such stupendous Virtues, that though I have not yet made trial of it in Diseases, yet I dare not leave it altogether unmentioned; the process being briefly but this. Take good Balsam of Sulphur made with Spirit or Oil of Turpentine, and having freed it from its superfluous Oiliness pour on it well deplegmed Spirit of Wine, and therewith draw by affusion of new Spirit as often as need requires a sufficient quantity of a Red Tincture, which by filtration and abstraction in Balneo must be reduced to a Balsamic consistence; this Liquor you may if you please by degrees of Fire drive through a Retort placed in Sand, and thereby obtain a volatile Balsam of very great penetrancy, and probably of no small efficacy; but the Trial I have made of this process, gives me occasion to advertise You;  
1. That unless your Balsam be reduced to a stiff thicknese, and almost to dryness itself, the Operation will hardly succeed, we having fruitlessly digested for some month's Spirit of Wine upon Balsam, whose consistence was somewhat too Liquid.  
2. That as soon as the Spirit of Wine is sufficiently Tincted, it ought to be Decanted, and succeeded by new, left by too long digestion, instead of heightening its Tincture, it let fall that which it hath already acquired.  
3. That upon a very slow abstraction of most of the Tincted Spirit in a digesting furnace, we once found the remaining Liquor not to be in the form of a Balsam, but to consist partly of Spirit of Wine; and partly of a seeming distinct Oil, whereinto the Sulphureous Tincture was reduced. The Balsam of Sulphur thus made without Distillation seems likely to be an innocenter and nobler Medicine than the common Ruby of Sulphur, made with a hot and ill scented Oil of Turpentine: and by this preparation may also appear the truth of what we formerly said, when we told you, that the body of the Sulphur was opened by Solution in Oleaginous Liquors, for out of the common thickened Balsam, as you may be informed by this process, well Rectified Spirit of Wine will, in a short time, extract a blood red Tincture, whereas by long digestion of Spirit of Wine alone upon pure, but undissolved, flowers of Brimstone, we could not discern any change of colour in the Menstruum; though I dare not deny the possibility of what some Authors affirm, who write, that Spirit of Wine very excellently Dephlegmed, will in time, of itself draw a Tincture from flowers of Sulphur, which Tincture they yet pretend not to make of a higher than a Lemon colour. And by the way let me tell you, that our red tincture formerly mentioned is (if it be well made) so strong of the Sulphur, that probably it would make a very penetrant, and effectual outward remedy in Aches, and divers other cold distempers of the nervous parts; for it hath been already found, that good Spirit of Wine alone is one of the powerfullest Fomentations in divers cases of that nature; (insomuch that it hath been sometimes found to arrest the spreading Mortification of Gangrenes;) and therefore being so richly impregnated with Sulphur: which is even without the assistance of so subtle a vehicle very available in many dissaffections of the Genus Nervosum; 'tis probable that the skilful association of two such active remedies may produce considerable Effects.  

Take of pure flowers of Sulphur one part, of the best oil-olive four or five parts, mix them well together in a strong earthen pot, able to contain a much greater quantity of the ingredients than is to be put in it: set this vessel over a moderate fire of Charcoals, throughly kindled, till the Oil though slowly, have perfectly dissolved all the Flowers of Sulphur, which will (if you work it well) be performed in about half an hour, or an hour, (according to the quantity of your Materials;) But you must have a great care, during the whole Operation, first, that the Oil catch not fire, whereby it would not only be lost itself, but perhaps endanger the firing of the house; and next that the Mixture be kept nimbly, and constantly stirring from the first beginning of the oil's action on the Sulphur, till the Solution be fully made; and the Pot (having been taken off the fire) be grown cold again.  
The chief Signs whereby you may perceive, that, you have not erred in the Operations are, First, if the Sulphur be perfectly dissolved in the Oil, which you must often try before you take it from the fire, by taking up with the tip of a stick a drop or two of the Liquor yet in Preparation, and letting it cool on white paper, or on your nail, whereby you may discern, when the Solution is perfectly made by the deep Redness, and Transparency of the Liquor, and by its containing no more in it any undissolved Fowers of the Brimstone; Next by the Consistency of the Balsam which ought to be neither too Liquid (as you will find it if it hath not stayed its due time on the fire) nor too thick (as it is apt to become if you remove it not seasonably from the fire;) but of the consistence of somewhat thin Honey; and lastly, by the smell which ought to be strong of the Sulphur, but not of the fire; for though the Sulphureous Stink is, in this Remedy, to be expected, that Empyreumaticall one, which proceeds from burning (and by skilful nostrils may be easily discerned,) is very possible to be avoided.  
The Dosis of this Balsam, when it is to be inwardly used, may be from two to fifteen, or twenty drops, according as the greatness of the distemper, and chiefly the strength, and Constitution of the Patient shall require and bear. It may be given upon a fasting Stomach, either alone, or brought to the Consistence of Pills, or of a Bolus with powdered Sugar, Liquorice, etc. or else dissolved in any convenient Vehicle, wherewith its Oleaginous nature will permit it to mingle. Outwardly it may be administered either by bare Inunction of the part affected, or else by incorporating it with any other convenient Ointment, or Plaster: after which we are wont to prescribe to have an application made to the part of two or three little Bags filled with Sand, as warm as the Patient can easily endure it, and shifted as soon as either of them begins to cool, that by this means, the Pores being opened, the Virtue of the Balsam, by being made more penetrant, may reach the farther.   
I have been thus particular, Pyrophilus, in the mention of this Remedy, because though it seem but a slight and trivial Preparation, yet Experience hath given us better opinion of it, than I fear the slightness of the Preparation will as yet allow You. And indeed its Virtues, I am apt to think more than I have yet had occasion to observe, and therefore must refer you to Rulandus his Centuries, where they are often mentioned: but outwardly in Strains, old Aches, Bruises, and the like, it is wont to be very effectual; in the beginning of F●ts of the Gout it hath several times (though not constantly) been prosperously applied both to Mr B. B: and divers other persons, and sometimes it hath been found not ineffectual even in the Sciatica itself. And as for Paralytical distempers, I have had by a skilful Physician an account sent me of scarce credible things which it hath therein performed: to which I shall only add, that a while since I had great thanks returned me on the behalf of a fair young Lady, to whom I prosperously prescribed it against a great Tumour in her neck, which was supposed to be the beginning of the King's-evil; But this Tumour was recent enough, which circumstance I think fit to specify, because I fear that if the Scrofulous Tumour had been inveterate, the success would not have been so good. Inwardly the chief Use we made of it hath been in Coughs and Distempers allied thereunto; but its balsamical nature, making it both healing, and resistive (if I may so speak) of Putrefaction, makes it probable that its Virtues may be more extensive; to which purpose I remember that a while since a friend of mine tried it with wonderful success in mictu sanguinis ferè deplorato, having first by a gentle heat reduced it to such a Consistence, as allowed him to make it up into Pills. But of the particular Cases, wherein our Remedy hath been successful, no more at present; We shall rather subjoin, That though this have been the way which we have the oftenest employed in the making of the Balsam, yet we must not conceal from You, that we have divers times met with Accidents, which frustrated our endeavours and expectations. For if the fire administered be too languid, the Solution of the Sulphur by the Oil proceeds not well, and on the otherside have found, that not only a strong heat is apt to burn the matter, or to make the Oil boil over, and perhaps take fire, but even that upon a very little excess in the degree of heat, the Oil and Sulphur would, before it could be expected, degenerate together into a heavy and viscous Lump (almost of the colour of the liver of an Animal) which coagulated Matter proved afterwards exceeding difficult to be by the affusion of fresh Oil dissolved and reduced to a due consistence. Wherefore we tried to prepare this Balsam by putting the proportion of Ingredients formerly mentioned into a strong Urinal, which we placed in Sand, and making under it no more fire than was sufficient to make it slowly work upon the Flowers, (which did often during their Solution make a crackling noise,) we continued the Operation for divers (perhaps many) hours, at the end of which we found the Sulphur dissolved, and the mixture reduced to a Balsamic colour and consistence. So that if you distrust your dexterity to prepare this Balsam by the former way with a naked fire, we must advise You to make use of this latter way, as that which is the safer, though it be the longer way of proceeding. Nay when we had leisure enough, we did for trials sake, prosperously attempt the Solution of Flow●es of Brimstone, with common Oil by the far gentler heat of bare Digestion, and by that means obtained a Balsam perfectly free from adustion, but of somewhat too liquid a consistence, which may be easily remedied by the mixture of powdered Liquorice, Sugar, or any other such convenient Concrete. We must also advertise you that this Balsam may also be prepared with Oil of Nuts, of Poppy seeds, of Hypericon, instead of oil-olive, or any other expressed Oil, appropriated to the particular distemper against which the Physician intends to employ the remedy, only care must be had, that the Specific qualities of the Oil be not so fugitive, as to be destroyed by the Ebullition requisite to the making of the Balsam, which if it be to be enriched with specific virtues in relation to any particular disease, may perhaps be best prepared by the last mentioned way (of digestion) wherein the subtle Spirits that impregnate the Oil are not in such danger to be dissipated by the fire.  
The knowingest Chemists themselves (Pyrophilus) are wont so much (and perhaps not altogether undeservedly) to to extol the efficacy of Antimony, that we were thereby invited, besides divers Preparations of it for internal use, to attempt the making of some remedies of it, that might also be externally applicable; and in prosecution of this design, we found that by boiling four or five finger's height of good Oil of Turpentine upon very finely powdered Antimony, put with the Liquor into a strong Glass Urinal, placed in Sand, the Oil after some hours would grow exceeding high Tincted; and being gently in in great part abstracted, would leave behind it a body of a Balsamic consistence, and a deep redness; which may, I presume, be applied to resolve, and discuss hard tumors, and remedy divers other outward Evils, with more effect than the simple Balsam of common Sulphur formerly described. And from this Antimonial Balsam abstracted to a st●ffer consistence, we found that Spirit of Wine would draw a Tincture, which I likewise suppose might prove a very powerful Fomentation; though the Spirit we used (perhaps because it was not sufficiently Dephlegmated) did not in a few days attain to more than a very pale redness:) but this Tincture being slowly freed from the most part of the Spirit of Wine, became of the consistence of somewhat liquid Honey, and of a deeper colour, thereby affording us a purer Balsam; which we have not yet, (being hindered by some accidents) attempted to bring over the Helm●. Nor did we here desist, but by divers trials found that the Antimonial Balsam, above mentioned, being put into a Retort, placed in Sand, and pressed by degrees of fire, would at length emitt Steams, which would condense in the neck of the Retort, and fall thence into the Receiver in sanguine drops: this volatile red Balsam (especially if by this volatilization the Antimony have lost its Emetic property) we cannot but think endowed with more than ordinary Virtues, outward and perhaps inward too; considering the great penetrancy of the Liquor, and the Energy of the Mineral, with whose subtle parts it is richly impregnated, if it consist not mainly of them. But we are yet in prosecution of this Preparation, and therefore till we have seen how far we are like to improve this Remedy, We shall forbear any further mention of it especially since we have already in this very Paper, given you as we suppose, sufficient proof, that We are more solicitous for your Satisfaction and proficiency, then for our own Reputation, (of being a severe Critic in estimating of Medicines) For otherwise we should not have been so indiscreet, as to acquaint you with any Preparation, of whose medical Virtues we have not yet made much trial, whilst we are not destitute of other remedies, whose efficacy hath been manifested to us by Experience. But we have often observed, that divers useful Chemical Preparations are mentioned so obscurely, and unintelligibly by the Authors that write of them, or else are without any particular, or encouraging note of Distinction mentioned amongst a crowd of other Processes, some of which have perhaps already been found to be false, or trivial, and others of which may be rationally enough disinherited; that most Physicians, and Chemists themselves, are deterred from attempting to prepare those remedies, not so much because they seem unlikely to prove considerable, as because they are afraid that the Processes are false, or fraudulently set down, and consequently, that concretes of such a Consistence, Colour, Scent, and other obvious qualities, as are ascribed to the Remedies proposed, are not preparable by the published Directions. And that you might see, Pyrophilus, what discouragements I have met with even from Artists themselves to keep me from trusting to Printed Chemical proeesses, I think it not amiss to mention here a memorable passage of the famous, and experienced Alexander Van Suchten, who is reported to to have gotten more by the practice of Chemical Physic then any of the Contemporary professors of it; for he towards the end of his Book of the secrets of Antimony (of which he clearly discloseth not any in that Treatise,) gives this account of his cryptical way of writing; Quod in hoc Tractatu nullum Recipe proposuerim ob id factum est, quod vos seducere nolo, Recipe enim illa seducunt juniores Medicos: sed neque à Theophrasto ullum Recipe Scriptum est, quod ad Medicinam, quin occultum seusum habeat, & in quo nihil vel deerit, vel abundet; & hoc non fit sine magnis causis. Wherefore make account, that besides that such changes of the qualities, of Bodies, may afford much light to Naturalists, he doth Chemists no useless piece of service, that acquaints them with the success of the nobler sort of processes mentioned in Authors, though he should give them little or no account of the Virtues of the Remedies prepared by those Processes; but this I hope is not altogether our case, for besides that our Observations are likely to save You much trouble, and perhaps some mistakes, and mis-adventures, besides that (I say) we have had opportunity to observe such eminent effects of several of the volatile Liquors described in these Papers, as may justly give us promising! Expectations of the Properties of the rest, which are in their obvious qualities so near of kin to them. And this sort of Medicines having been found sometimes to do wonders, and generally to be safe (which of a few of the known operative, and not Specific Medicines can be truly affirmed) I not apt to think, that he that shall bring these Remedies in spite of their ill Scent, into the good opinion of Physicians, may make no inconsiderable number of Patients beholden to him.  
I should not, Pyrophilus, proceed to make You repent Your Curiosity to know my thoughts of the Urinous, and Sulphureous Remedies it hath hitherto made me treat of, were it not, that there yet remains something to be said, without which, all that hath been said, will scarce signify very much towards the effectual recommending of those medicines to Your esteem and practise.  
For I do not ignore, Pyrophilus, that not only the Generality of the galenical Physicians, but divers of the more eminent, and judicious of the Chemists themselves, have been pleased to condemn the internal use of Liquors driven through a Retort, by the violence of fire, upon the scores of their being offensively Empyreumaticall, and Stinking; among which sort of Liquors I cannot expect, that our Spirits of Blood, Hartshorn, etc. will escape the being reckoned. But forasmuch as the prosperous Effects I have had opportunity to see, of divers Remedies of that Nature, have given me for them rather an esteem, then either a detestation or contempt; I suppose it may prove no unseasonable piece of Justice to the Spirit of Blood, and the other Noble, though fetid Remedies I have been setting you down; nor no unserviceable piece of Charity to Men, if in this place, and once for all, I spend some lines in endeavouring to rescue these criminated Medicines from the great Prejudice they suffer under, and from a reputation, which whilst it renders them more odious than even their smell can do, is likely to make men deny themselves the benefit of them.  
I might here on this Occasion call in Question, whether not only Galenists, but even many Chemists themselves, be not somewhat more afraid, than they need be, of what they call Empyreuma. But I will suspend a while that Question, and at present confess to You, that I have sometimes doubted whether or no that stink which is generally called by the newly mentioned name, do always, and necessarily proceed from the Impressions of a violent fire. For to make a pure Spirit, and Salt of Urine, there needs nothing, but to let it in a well stopped vessel putrify for a competent time (as we elsewhere teach) in a Dunghill, or any resembling warmth, (and that itself, perhaps, is not necessary to its Putrefaction;) and then to draw off an eight or tenth part of the Liquor that first ascends by the gentle heat of a Bath. By which, or by the yet milder warmth of a Lamp-furnace, it may be sufficiently rectified, and brought to yield, besides the Spirit, good store of Salt. And since the Spirit thus made differs so little in Smell or Taste from those of Blood and Hartshorn, that most men's Noses are not critical enough to distinguish them, (and We have sometimes taken pleasure to make Chemists themselves to mistake the one of those Liquors for the other.) It seems worth considering, whether or no the fetid and urinous Taste and Smell, which in these Spirits is said to be Empyreumaticall, and to proceed from the Adustion of the fire, be not the Genuine Taste and Odour of the Spirituous and Saline particles of the mixed Bodies themselves, which they would manifest if they were copiously extricated, (to speakin the King's language) separated from the other Principles or Ingredients & associated into one Body, though without the violence of the Fire. For to distil the Spirit of putrified Urine, wherein the like Smell and Taste are eminent, there needs (as we said) no greater heat, then that of a Lamp-furnace, or of Hors-dung, (since in the latter of these only, Urine too long kept, and but negligently stopped, hath been observed to have lost its volatile Salt and Spirit, before it was taken out of the Hors-dung. And such a H●at seems not great enough to impress an Empyrema upon such a Liquor. For we see th●t most things distilled in the greater heat of a Bath, are commended by Physicians and Chemists, for their being free from Empyreume. And what Activity may be acquired by the subtle parts of a mixed Body, by the convening (if I may so speak) of such Spirituous Particles disengaged from those other parts which clogged or imprisoned them, without any Empyreumaticall Impression, from any violent external Heat, may appear by the Chemical Oils of Spices. For though though they be usually drawn by Chemists and Apothecaries, by the help of Water in Limbecks; and though they have by us been drawn after another manner (which we may elsewhere teach You) with a much gentler heat (sometimes not not exceeding that of an ordinary Balneum) yet these well Dephlegmed Liquors retaining so well the Genuine Taste and Smell of the Concretes they were drawn from, that they pass unaccused of Empyreume, are some of them much stronger and hotter than the Spirit or Salt of Man's Blood, or of Hartshorn: As may appear especially by the Oil of Cinnamon, which if pure, is more penetrant and fretting, than any thing but trial could easily have persuaded me. And lest you should object, that the Fire doth considerably contribute to the strength of these Liquors, otherwise then by disengaging the Particles they consist of from the unactive parts of the Concrete, and assembling them together, I must advertise You, that I have observed little less Heat & Penetrancy then in divers of these, in some Liquors separated without the assistance of Distillation: As for Instance, in the purer sort of the true Peruvian Balsam, and in another kind of natural Balsam, almost of an Amber colour, which belonged to an Eastern Prince) who carried it up and down with him as a Jewel) whose Domestics at his death sold it, whereby I came to procure some of it, and found cause to wonder at its strength both upon the tongue, and in its Operation. But granting, Pyrophilus, that the Volatile Remedies treated of in these Papers, may have their offensive Smell and Taste imputed to the Fire, yet perhaps Physicians would more slowly, and more tenderly censure the Rememedies in question for their Empyreumaticall stink, if they did but consider, that they themselves scruple not to use (to name those among many others) Senna and Scammony, though the former be wont to gripe the Guts, and the latter have an Acrimony, Heat, and Mordacity so unkind to to the Bowels, that a few grains exceeded in the Dose turns it into poison; because the ill Qualities of these Medicines, may by proper Correctives be somewhat mitigated, and the Good they do, doth more than countervail the Inconveniencies that attend the use of them. For the very same Considerations, Pyrophilus, will be applicable to the excuse of those fetid Medicines, for which we Apologise: For though the Empyreuma or Impression of the fire, for which they are rejected, be the Quality, whose absence from them were very desirable, yet may that Empyreuma by dextrous Preparations be in some measure corrected (insomuch that I have known highly rectified Spirits of Urine, by being digested for divers months in an tightly stopped Glass, brought to be of a Scent, which to me seemed scarce at all stinking, and to others even pleasant) and the prejudice that may be justly feared from what remains, is advantageously recompensed by the benefits accrueing from the efficacy of their more friendly Endowments. And in effect we find, that the Dogmatists themselves are grown not to scruple the administering the Spirit of Salt, though extorted (if it be of the best) by a much greater stress of Fire, then is requisite to the Distillation of any of the Medicines we defend. And not only the famous Riverius (as we have elsewhere noted) extols the Spirit of Tartar, and Soot, which are yet sufficiently fetid and Empyreumaticall, but several other (and among those some of our eminent English) Physicians frequently use, and commend the Oil of Guajacum forced through a Retort. And no less do divers learned Doctor's esteem, and employ the Empyreumaticall Oil of Amber: Though (to note so much by the way) That be in divers cases far inferior to the Volatile Salt, which (if the fire be skilfully administered) may at the same time, and by the same Operation be obtained. This Salt, besides the Efficacy ascribed to it in the Convulsions of Children, having been lately found by Experience to be an excellent Medicine against the Epilepsies, even of well grown Persons, being administered in the Dose of not above a Scruple, or half a Drachm, in a due Quantity of Peiony water, or some other proper Vehicle.  
And on this occasion You may also be pleased to take notice, that foliated Gold, is ordinarily and without Scruple employed by Physicians, not only to cover Pills, but as a main Ingredient (though how properly I define not) of several of their richest Cordial Compositions extant in Dispensatories; and yet to how great a fire Gold is wont to be exposed before it be melted out of the Oar (wherein 'tis usually (at least as far as we have observed) blended with other Metals, and Minerals) and to Purify it upon the Cupell either with Lead or Antimony: he that is unacquainted with the Operations of Mineralists, and the Art of Refiners, will not easily imagine. And, Pyrophilus, to satisfy You yet farther, that the strong Impression of Fire in the Medicines, doth not always make them so noxious as they are commonly reputed; let me desire you to take notice, that there is scarce any Medicament more generally given, and applauded, even by Methodical Physicians than Steel, which is often administered in Substance, made up with other Ingredients, into the Form, either of Pills, or Electuaries. And yet we have wondered to see what great Fires, and violent Blasts of huge Bellows moved by Water-engines, are used to melt Iron first out of the Stone; and if it be to be farther refined into Steel (much of that used in Physic being factitious) a new violence of the Fire is requisite: And though after all this to make astringent Crocus Martis per se (which is accounted one of the best preparations of it) they are wont to keep Mars (as the Chemists speak) amidst reverberated flames, or in some glassmans' Furnace for many hours, yea sometimes for divers days; Yet this Medicine is with more success than Scruple daily administered by learned Physicians, in Dysenteries, Fluxes, and other distempers where astriction is required. And 'tis somewhat Strange to me, that the having been exposed to no greater a Fire then is requisite to distil Spirit of Blood, or of Hartshorn, should be much urged against those Medicines, by those that scruple not to commend, and do almost daily and oftentimes successfully, prescribe the lixiviat Salts of Plants, and particularly of Wormwood, though these are not rightly made, but by the exposing the Concretes even to the violence of an incinerating fire. And as for the unpleasantness of the Smells of our Spirits of Blood, Hartshorn, &c: besides that, to very many Persons there is no Odour so loathsome, as that of a Potion. We find that the Galenists themselves scruple not in the Fits of the Mother (which y●t very rarely prove mortal) to repress (as Men are wont to suppose) the unruly Fumes by the Smell of Castoreum, Assa foetida, and even the Empyreumaticall Odour of the burnt feathers of Partridges: nor do they decline to use these homely, and ungrateful Remedies to Patients of tenderest Sex, and highest Quality. and indeed in dangerous cases I have known fair Ladies content to th●nke it fitter to take down an ill Scented Medicine, then venture the having their own bodies in few days reduced to worse Perfumes. And certainly we may justly say of Health, as no less than an Emperor said of the gain brought him in by Urinal, That it Smells well from what thing soever it comes.  
But, Pyrophilus, if Your Nostrils were so nice, that they must needs be complied with, though with the hazard of impairing the Virtues of the Salts they are offended with, I Could propose an Effectual Expedient to gratify them; and being now invited by so pressing an Occasion, I shall not scruple to annex something of it, and tell You, that if we may judge of the Virtues of the Spirit and Salt of Soot (which I am wont to make without addition) by their sensible Qualities: they must be much of kin to those of the Spirit of Hartshorn, and of Urine; (though these be animal Substances.) And therefore having elsewhere more particularly, and by divers Experiments declared the affinity between these Salts in divers regards; it will not, I presume, be looked upon as an unuseful or unseasonable Hint, if I give You a summary, though but imperfect, Account of what I remember myself to have done, in order to the freeing of the Volatile Salt of Soot, from that very offensive Smell, which may possibly make many, even of those that need them, abominate those Medicines, how Piercing and Noble soever, which it Blemisheth. The Process is as followeth.  
Take a Quantity of well Deflegmed Spirit of Wine proportionate to the Quantity of Salt, whose Odour You desire to correct; into this Spirit drop as much Oil of Rhodium, or of any other Odoriferous Chemical Oil, as will suffice to make the Liquor as strongly Scented as You desire it: shake the Oil, and Spirit well together, and if they were both well made, the latter will imbibe the former, and sometimes be thereby turned into a whitish Substance; with which if it smell not strong enough of the Oil, You may by Agitation incorporate more Oil, and if You judge the mixture too strong already, You may dilute it at pleasure, by the affusion of more Spirit of Wine. This done put the Salt of Soot into a Bolthead, or Glass Egg (according to the Quantity that You intent to sublime,) furnished with somewhat a long Neck or Stem, and afterwards pouring on leisurely Your Odoriferous Liquor, You may with it wash down the Salt that is wont to stick in the Neck of the Glass. After this you must very carefully stop the Vessel with a Cork, and store of hard-wax, if you cannot conveniently, make use of an exacter way of closing it. This Glass You must place in a Lamp furnace, or some other, wherein You may give a very moderate heat, for that will suffice to elevate to the neck and upper part of the Vessel the pure white Salt of Soot, imbued (at the second time, if not at the first) with the Scent of the Odoriferous Oil, which You employed about the Preparation.  
This Experiment, Pyrophilus, may prove of that Use in Physic, that it may deserve as well for its Nobleness, as the watchfulness, which is requisite in him that makes it, to be illustrated by the ensuing  

Observations.  
1. Then it is requisite that the Spirit of Wine be very good, For that which is not sufficiently Dephlegmed, will not ●eadily and perfectly receive into itself the odoriferous Oil, wherewith it is to be perfumed. Nor would every Chemical Oil, although it were well scented, be fit for this Preparation for divers of them as Oil of Turpentine, and Oil of Amber will not sufficiently mingle with Spirit of Wine, unless they be previously subtilised after a peculiar manner.  
2. The Proportion betwixt the Spirit of Wine, and the Oil that it is to be dissolved in, 'tis not easy to determine; for a lesser Quantity will suffice of some oil's, then of other. And the Proportion of them must be varied, according as You would have the sublimed Salt to participate more or less of their Odour, and other Qualities.  
3. Great diligence must be used in closing the top of the Glass, because of the great fugacity, and subtlety of the Salt, whose Avolation is to be prevented: But then much greater care is to be had, that the Heat be not too stung, but as equal as may be, and much inferior to the Moderate heat of an ordinary Chemical Balneum. For 'tis scarce Credible how easily this unruly Salt will be excited either to make an escape at the mouth of the Glass, or to break it in pieces. And I remember among such other Accidents which have befallen us in the Preparation of this Odoriferous Salt, that having once set some of it to sublime from a perfumed Chemical Oil, though though we administered so gentle a heat, that we thought the Vessel out of all danger of being broken, or found open: Yet in a short time the fugitive Salt did with a great noise blow out the Cork that was waxed to the top of the Vessel, leaving in the bottom not a limpid Oil, but a Liquor of a red colour, and a Balsamic Consistence. But if the Glass be wide enough to allow these fumes competent Room, and if the heat be warily administered, the Sublimation may be well enough performed.  
Of the Medicinal Qualitiy of this Aromatical Salt, Pyrophilus, we have not yet had opportunity to make trial, but some esteem may be made of them by calling to mind the Virtues of the simple Salt of Soot, and considering the Nature of the Liquors, from which in this Our Preparation it hath been Sublimed. The Principal, if not the only thing, that seems to be feared, is, that the Salt of Soot being itself hot, and Chemical Oils being for the most part eminently so too, our Salt may prove unfit for Men of Hot and Choleric Complexions, and in such distempers, as proceed from Excess of Heat. But than it may be considered in the first place, that the Salt of Soot, being of an extremely apertive, resolving, and Volatile Nature, and carrying up with it in Sublimation only the more fugitive parts of the Liquor from which it is sublimed; It is very likely that the heat produced by a Medicine, which by reason of its fugacity would stay but a very short time in the Body, will not be so lasting as that of ordinary Sudorificks, which are nevertheless often administered with good Success, even in hot Diseases.  
Secondly, That there are divers Bodies and Distempers, wherein Remedies may be the more proper, for their being somewhat hot, and Experience shows, that in Dropsies (to mention now no other Diseases) these Volatile Saline Remedies, that set the Blood a whirling and powerfully promote its Circulation, may prove very available.  
Thirdly, The Heat that may be feared upon the use of our Salt, may be either prevented, or at least moderated by the seasonable use of such cooling Remedies, as may be no Enemies to the Operation of this Salt, and yet no friends to the Distemper, against which it is administered;  
And Lastly, Supposing that the inconveniencies proceeding from this Heat were not to be altogether avoided, yet the advantageous efficacy of so powerful and searching a Remedy, may very much outweigh that Inconvenience; And therefore Riverius, as we formerly told You, commends the Spirit of Soot (though that seem at least as hot as the Salt) in Pleurisies; and in the same hot sickness, we have, as we elsewhere relate, successfully administered the Spirit of Hartshorn, whose Qualities are very near of kin to those of Salt of Soot. Other instances of this Nature You may meet w●th dispersed in other passages of my Chemical Papers, to which I must add, that upon the Consideration above mentioned, the Methodists themselves make no difficulty, in Pills and other Medicines, to use the Chemical Oil, either of Cloves, or of Nutmegs, or even of Cinnamon. And some of our eminentest English Doctors, as I lately noted, have not scrupled of late Years, to use the strong and fetid Chemical Oils of Amber and of Guajacum (and the latter of these in large Doses) whereas in our Preparation, only the finest and most Aromatic parts of the Oils, seem to be associated with the fuliginous Salt, since the Oil remaining after the Sublimation, has been observed to be thick and ropy almost like a Syrup.  
But whether or no this Aromatic Salt be a safe Medicine in all Hot Bodies and Diseases, it seems very probable, that it will prove a very powerful Remedy in those Distempers for which it it proper. For first, whereas Spagyrists have with much study, but without much success, endeavoured to emak Oils capable of being mixed with other Liquors, by depriving them of their oleaginous form, in which Helmont himself complains that they are offensive; we have by our Preparation their finest parts associated with the penetrant and volatile Salt: by whose assistance they are not only fit to communicate their Virtues to Liquors, but assisted to penetrate exceedingly; and perchance also, thereby to obtain such an access to the innermost parts of the Body, as is seldom allowed to Vegetable Medicines. Secondly, We may have by this Preparation one of the most noble and volatile Salts of the World, not only freed from its stink, but imbued with the Odour, and perhaps divers of the Virtues of what Chemical Oils we please. And since these Chemical Oils are by Chemists and Naturalists thought to contain the most noble and active parts of the Vegetables whence they have been destilled; And since also the Salt of Soot sublimed from them, carries up with it the finest parts of these Oils, why may it not be hoped, that no small number of distinct Remedies may be afforded us by this single Experiment? These Remedies too may be the more acceptable both to Physicians and Patients, because they have not in them any thing that is Mineral, and notwithstanding their great Penetrancy and Efficacy have in them nothing of Corrosive, as many of the Saline Remedies prescribed by Physicians in their Dispensatories. And thirdly, That the Salt of Soot thus sublimed may be also enriched with the Sulphur or Balsamic part of the Spirit of Wine, which was employed about its Preparation, may appear probable enough to him, that shall examine, by his taste and otherwise, such rectified Spirit of Wine as has had a sufficient quantity of Volatile Salts sublimed from it. And how Balsamical a substance is diffused through pure Spirit of Wine, may be guessed at by the great change which is made in the Caustick Salt of Tartar, when it is so dulcified as to make that Excellent Medicine, which Helmont extols against inward Ulcers, and calls Balsamus Samech; which if one had the abstruse Art of so preparing the Salt and Liquor, as to fit them for Conjunction, might be made only by destilling very frequently pure Spirit of Wine from very fine Salt of Tartar. For by this means the fixed Salt, retaining the Sulphureous Salt or Balsamic parts of the Spirit of Wine, (as may appear by the Aquosity of the Liquor that comes over the Helm in this Preparation) is thereby so deprived of its caustick taste, that when it will rob no more Spirit of Wine, but suffer it to be drawn off a strong as it was poured on, it will easily in a moist place run per deliquium, into a liquor not of a Caustick, but Balsamic (and as it seemed to us a pleasant) Tast.  
And whereas, Pyrophilus, we have complained of the Difficulty we have met with, to manage the unruly Salt of Soot, and keep it from breaking Prison, we must, to make this Experiment be more practicable and useful, advertise You, that You may, if You please, instead of Salt of Soot Aromatize that of Hartshorn, or man's Blood. And I might add, that a very ingenious Friend of Ours Dr N. N. has lately Practised yet a more easy and preferable way of preparing Medicines of this Nature: But though I have partly tried his Method, and found it to succeed well enough; yet since I had it but by communication from him, and that he makes a considerable Advantage of it, I must forbear imparting it to You, till I shall have obtained his Consent to disclose it.  
I know not, Pyrophilus, whether I shall need to add, That of these fetid Remedies, which are Volatile, and somewhat Sulphureous, as I chose to mention to You but a few, to comply with my present haste, which would not allow me to insist on many; so in what I have delivered concerning these few, I have set down Particulars the more fully and explicitly, because I find the Doctrine of Volatile Salts (though in my poor judgement worthy of a serious Enquiry) perfunctorily, and indistinctly enough handled by the Chemical Writers I have yet met with, which made me the willinger to contribute the few Observations I could readily find of those I have had opportunity to make about them, towards the Illustration of so important a Subject, of which having elsewhere spoken in relation to physiology (as these fugitive Bodies belong to the Commonwealth of Salts) I thought it might not be unacceptable to You, if I also considered them a while in relation to Physic, and presented You with some hints concerning their Medical Uses.    

[To the 166th Page, where the Author promises a Declaration, how he would have his Praises of Medicines understood.]  
ANd now, Pyrophilus, having finished what I thought fit to add (at present) in the past APPENDIX; I should likewise put at end to the present Exercise of your Patience, but that this being my first Treatise written to You concerning Medical Matters, and not being likely to be the last which you will meet with among the Papers designed You, I think it requisite, and not unseasonable to declare to you here once for all, with what Eyes I desire you should look upon what I have written, and shall write to you concerning matters of that Nature: And first, I must advertise You that I am not so much a Mounteback as to recommend to you the Remedies I mention as certain Cures in the Cases wherein they are proper. For he must have been extraordinarily happy, or very m●ch unacquainted with the Practice of Physic, that has not found, that even those Medicines which are most celebrated by the best Authors, both Galenical and Chemical, do sometimes prove ineffectual as well as often prosperous, and the Remedy prescribed by the same Physician to twenty Patients sick of the same Disease, has more than once been Observed, though it have succeeded in nineteen, to fail in the twentieth. And indeed the Causes of Diseases, the Constitution of Patients, and the Complications of Distempers are so very various, intricate, and obscure, that it is extremely difficult even for the most knowing and experienced Physician to make an accurate, and constant Experiment in the Therapeutical part of Physic; and consequently such Experiments are much less to be expected from Me, whose Condition as well Disabilities forbid me to make the Practice of Physic my business, and allow me only to administer it occasionally, either to my own particular Acquaintance, or to such poor people as are not able to gratify Physicians, or such as I meet with where there are not any: And thereby I am reduced to learn the Virtues of divers of the Remedies I have prepared by very few or none of my own immediate Trials, but the Relation of Physicians, who do me the Favour to administer them for me. And therefore, though I endeavour to put them into the hands of faithful, as well as ingenious men. Yet not being allowed to be myself a constant eyewitness of the Effects they produce, I must here for all these reasons solemnly profess to you, that as I do not set down Medicinal Experiments, with the same positiveness that I do Physiological ones, so I do not intend to venture the repute of being a faithful Relator of Experiments, upon the success of any Medicinal Receipt or Process.  
Yet in the next place I must tell You, that You would perhaps do Me but right, to think not only that the Chemical preparations of Remedies are, if you understand them aright, candidly set down, though the Virtues ascribed to them do not constantly upon all Trials display themselves; but that I have not rashly and inconsiderately, or upon uncertain Rumours recorded the virtues of particular Remedies, which may be good, though they be not infallible. It being sufficient to make a Medicine deserve the Title of Good, that it be often (in some degree at least) successful, though now and then it prove not available, especially if it be otherways so safe and innocent, that even when it proves not prosperous, it weakens not nature, nor is otherwise noxious; And we must nor, Pyrophilus be so timid as to suffer our seves to be persuaded, that if a patient miscarry after the use of the Remedies, the fault must necessarily belong to the exhibited Medicine. For oftentimes Nature will in spite of Remedies make a Metastasis of the peccant matter, and so empair the Condition of the patient; and much oftener before death, the Conflict of struggling Nature, and the conquering Disease doth manifest itself in horrid and dreadful Symptoms, which some envious or ignorant Doctors (for the more learned are wont to be more equitable, and less partial) injuriously impute to the Chemical Remedy, given before the appearing of those Symptoms, never considering that the like Accidents are wont to attend dangerous Diseases, and dying persons, where Galenicals Remedies only, and no Chemical ones at all have been administered. And that divers of the most eminent, and Methodical of our Modern Physician's scruple not to use frequently both Crocus Metallorum, Merc. Dulcis, and some other Chemical Remedies, and to impute the miscarriages of the Patients that use them to their Diseases, though not many years, since all the frightful Symptoms accompanying the dying persons to whom they had been exhibited, were confidently imputed to those Medicines. To which let me add, Pyrophilus, that oftentimes it may be very just to prise an Empirical Remedy more than a Galenical, though the Methodist and the Empirick have each of them by his respective Remedies, performed cures of divers patients in the same Disease; partly because Empirical Chemists are seldom resorted to but in desperate cases, or till Nature be almost spent, either by the violence of the Disease, or the unprosperous operation of the Medicines employed to remove it; and partly, because the Methodist helps his Remedies by premising the wont Evacuations (by Vomit, Siege, or by Phlebotomy) by varying them according to Emergent Circumstances, by skilfully and seasonably administering them, and by strict rules of Diet; whereas the Empirick oftentimes useth but a single Remedy, and usually without premising general Evacuations, exhibits it not to the greatest Advantage in relation to time, and other circumstances, and is much more indulgent to his patient in point of Diet: So that when an Empirick, and a rational Physician do both in several patients Cure for instance the same Pleurisy, the Disease may be very often judged to have been removed in one of the Patients chiefly by the Physician, and in the other by the Remedy.  
In the third place, Pyrophilus, I must advertise You, that though I mention more Chemical remedies then Galenical, yet it is not out of any partial fondness of the former, and much less from any undervaluation of the latter, but partly, because Chemical processes being wont to be more unfaithfully, or obscurely set down by Authors then Galenical Receipts, I thought it might save You some labour to receive from me a frequenter account of those, than these; and partly, because in many Chemical preparations, divers considerable Changes being to be wrought upon the Concretes to be prepared by them, there is oftentime so much of Philosophy to be learned by such Processes, that the success of them may prove instructive to you, though it should acquaint you with their Truth only, as they are Chemical preparations, and not as they are Medicinal Receipts. But otherwise I love to look upon both Chemical and Galenical Remedies, with an impartial eye, and think that neither the former aught to be despised for the latter, nor the latter for the former; for as Chemical Remedies have commonly the advantages of being more durable, less clogging by their quantity, and less nauseated by Patients; so Galenical Remedies have when they are of equal Efficacy, the Advantages of being more cheap, (at least quantity for quantity) more procurable, and sooner prepared. And such is the variety of Cases arising from the variety of Constitutions and Distempers, that in some of them the former sort of Remedies may be more proper; and in others, the latter may seem requisite; and in some also both sorts may alternately be so useful, that neither of them can well be spared.  
In the fourth place, Pyrophilus, let me advertise You, that divers Chemical Remedies, and some Specificks also which are not Chemical, have seemed upon trial less effectual than indeed they are, because they have been tried by such Physicians as weaken their Efficacy by not administering them as they should. For some Physicians will never exhibit a Chemical Remedy, till the Patient's strength hath been almost tired, if not quite spent with the unprosperous use of divers other clogging and debilitating Medicines. Others are so diffident of Chemical Remedies that they never dare to exhibit them in a full Dose, nor by themselves, but will blend a small quantity of a Chemical Medicine or a Specific with other Ingredients, which either constitute with it a Medicine of new qualities resulting from that mixture, or at least much clog or enervate the activity and virtue of the Chemical or Specific Ingredients: by which, even in so inconsiderable a Dose, these distrustful Doctors d●re yet require that great matters should be performed. Of which injurious way of administering the Remedies I recommend to you Pyrophilus, I do not causelessly desire you to beware; as I may hereafter have occasion to show you by particular instances of the Reasonableness as well of this Advertisement as of the others which I either have given You, or shall give you in this and other Papers. And another sort of Physicians there is who are of so despondent and rather partial an Humour, that if a Chemical Remedy or a Specific do not presently perform the hoped-for Cure, though they find that even upon their disadvantageous manner of administering it, it doth good; yet they will quickly desist from the Use of it: And because it doth not do Wonders, they will not scruple to affirm that they have tried it and found it do nothing; whereas they are wont to continue their own Courses of Physic without discouragement, though it be usually some weeks before the Patient find any good by them, and oftentimes (as numbers of the printed Observations of Physicians as well as daily Experience testify) the patient is by the tedious Course of Physic he has gone through very little bettered, if not much impaired. Which I speak, Pyrophilus, not with an Intention to disparage Physicians in general, the most learned and ingenious of them being free enough from the Partiality I here take notice of, but to keep good Remedies from being disparaged by the envious or unskilful trials of bad Administers: And though indeed some Chemists are so vainglorious or unwary, as to promise that the Operation of their Remedies should be as well sudden, as effectual; yet if the Medicines themselves be found available, although not swiftly so, that slowness ought to make us but condemn the Boastings of the man, not reject the use of the Remedies.  
And in the last place, Pyrophilus, I must Advertise you, not to expect that every one of the Remedies I commend should be Physic and Physician too; I mean, that it should of itself suffice to perform the Cures of those Diseases against which it is commended. For Medicines are but Instruments in the hand of the Physician, and though they be never so well edged and tempered require a skilful hand to manage them; and therefore I cannot but admire and disapprove their boldness that venture upon the Practice of Physic, wherein it is so dangerous to commit Errors, barely upon the confidence of having good Receipts. For though by Conversation with eminent Physicians I have found the learnedest of them to disagree so much about the Nature and causes of Diseases, that I dare not deny but that he may prosperously practise Physic that either ignores or dissents from the received Doctrines of the Schools concerning the causes of Diseases, and some other Pathological particulars; yet I cannot but dislike their boldness who venture to give active Physic, either in intricate or acute Diseases without at least a Mediocrity of knowledge in Anatomy, and so much knowledge of the History of Diseases, as may suffice to inform them in a competent measure what are the usual Symptoms of such a Disease, what course nature is wont to take in dealing with the peccant matter, and what discernible alterations in the Patient's Body do commonly forerun, and thereby foretell, a Crisis, or otherwise the good or bad event of the Disease. To all which is to be added some tolerable measure of Knowledge, not only of the Materia Medica, and the chief ways of compounding several ingredients into Medicines of several Forms and Consistencies, as circumstances may require; but also of the orderly and seasonable administration of the helps affordable by them. These particulars, Pyrophilus, might easily be enlarged on, but having neither the leisure nor design to handle them commonplace-like, I shall only give you this account of my requiring in the Professed Practiser of Physic some knowledge both of the Materia medica and the Method of compounding and administering Remedies, that (excepting perhaps the Arcana majora as Chemists call them) even the best Medicines by being unseasonably or preposterously administered, especially in acute Diseases where Nature's motions are to be diligently watched, and seconded, may do a patient as much harm as the orderly and skilful administration of them can do him good. And that he that has nothing but one good receipt for a Distemper, and knows not how to vary it by adding, omitting, or substituting other parts of the Materia Medica, as urgent occasion shall require, may oftentimes find himself reduced either to suffer his Patient to languish helpless, or to venture by curing him of one Disease to cast him into another. For sometimes the Patient's constitution makes the Medicine prescribed by the Receipt unfit to be administered; and sometimes too, the Disease for which the Receipt is proper, is in the Patient complicated with some other Distemper which may be as much increased by the Specific, as the other Disease may be lessened. I know for instance some eminent men that are wont to Cure very stubborn Venereal distempers, by a Chemical preparation (which some of themselves have been pleased to disclose to me) of the Indian Plants, Sarsaparilla, Guaiacum, etc. But if these men met with Patients, such as those which Eustachius Rudius mentions himself to have often met with, who upon the use of the least quantity of Guaiacum, though corrected with cold ingredients, were wont to be presently affected with such sharpness of Urine, and Inflammation of the parts, to which Urine ●elates, as hazarded their lives; they would be reduced, as well as our Author confesseth himself to have been, to have recourse to Mercurial or other Remedies. To which we may add, that the use of Sarsaparilla, and Guajacum is generally forbidden by the warier sort of Physicians, in those Patients, whose Venerial Distempers are complicated with heat or Inflammation of the Kidneys or Livers. And sometimes also it happens, that the very outward form of the Medicine prescribed by the Receipt is not fit, or perhaps possible to be administered. For not to mention that divers Patients can retain no purgative Physic exhibited in the form of a Potion; and some others are as apt to Vomit up whatever is given them in the form of Pills, not to insist on this I say, I shall content myself to relate to You a memorable Case that happened a while since to a Physician of my acquaintance. He was called to a lusty young Woman, who upon an accidental but violent Cold was suddenly taken with such a Constriction of the Parts inservient to Speech and Deglutition, as made her altogether unable either to speak or swallow any thing at all; and having thus continued some days in spite of Glisters or other Remedies prescribed by a very Learned Physician, and in spite of Endeavours to excite Vomiting, by making Her hold emetic things in her Mouth; the poor Woman was in great danger (when my acquaintance came to her) of perishing for hunger: what in this case could be expected from the best Remedies that must necessarily be taken in at the Mouth? Wherefore the Physician finding her yet strong enough, and without Fever, and yet her case almost desperate, did as judiciously as luckily prescribe a clyster, wherein to ordinary Ingredients were added (as himself a very few days after told me) about four ounces of the Infusion of Crocus Metallorum, with an advice that it should be kept in as long as possibly She could, and by this Medicine. Nature being sufficiently irritated, there quickly followed upon it some violent Vomitings, and upon them a liberty both of Swallowing and Speaking. [And since this a young Gentleman and Fellow-traveller of mine, had the Organs of deglutition so strangely weakened without any manifest cause, that though he were able to make me a Visit, and acquaint me with his Case, yet he was very apprehensive, he should in a very few Days be starved, and being unable to swallow Remedies, had quickly perished in despite of the Arcana Majora themselves, had he been master but of such of them as (like those wont to be magnified by Chemists) must be taken into the Body; if a very happy Physician to whom I directed him, had not by a very Efficacious and Specific Medicine externally to be applied, seasonably rescued him from so unusual and desperate a Case.] But, Pyrophilus, as I would not upon the score of good Receipts have the Physician's skill despised, or thought useless; so I wish that the Physician's skill may not make him despise good Receipts; For we have often seen (especially in outward affections) not only Empirics and Surgeons, but even Ladies and old Wives, with a lucky composition prescribed by a Receipt, perform more constant and easy Cures of the particular Distemper, for which that Receipt is proper, then even Learned Physicians by their extemporary, though pompous and Artificial Prescriptions. And the illustrious Lord Verulam (one of the most judicious Naturalists that our Age can boast, 
De Augment. Scient. Lib. 4. cap. 2. ) thinks fit to take notice of it as a Deficiency that Receipts by long Experience approved, are not more closely, and as he speaks religiously adhered to, but altered upon every light occasion; And in the same Chapter to answer the Principal, as well as the most obvious Objection in this Matter, That, says He, any man induced by some Specious Reason should be of opinion, that it is the part of a Learned Physician (respecting the Complexions of Patients, their Age, the season of the Year, Custom, and the like) rather to accommodate his Medicines as Occasions suggests, then to insist upon some certain Prescripts is a deceivable Assertion, & which attributes too little to Experience, too much to Judgement. And a little above He goes much farther than we pretend to do, for speaking of the Neglect of the use of particular Receipts, which, as He speaks, by a kind of propriety, respect the Cure of particular Diseases, He adds, (severely enough,) That the Physicians have frustrated and taken away the fruit of Traditions, and approved Experience by their Magistralities, in adding and taking out, and changing Ingredients of Receipts at their pleasure, and almost after the manner of Apothecaries, putting in Quid pro quo, commanding so presumptuously over the Medicine, as the Medicine can no longer command the Disease. Thus far our Judicious Author: But I will rather choose to express to You my sense on This whole Subject of Receipts, 
Consil. 322.  in the Words of that Experienced Physician to three Emperors, Johannes Crato: De morbi Natura (says He) causa, locóque affecto Medicus diligenter cogitet, atque in eo plus quam in certis medicamentorum mirificis formis situm putet: Medicinam tamen expertam cum ratione adhibitam plus valere quam ea quae interdum subitò à Doctissimo etiam Medico magnâ ratione exhibita excogitatur, non dubito: Atque hac in parte Rationales etiam Medicos Empeiricis cedere debere de sententia Hippocratis statuo. Only I must add by way of Explanation, That this Sentence is to be understood to express my sense, when the Medicines used are not very extraordinary, but such as Crato employed, and has left us in his Writings: for there may possibly be such effectual Specificks, and such powerful and commanding Remedies, that the Efficacy of the Medicine may (at least in some particular Diseases) excuse and repair much want of skill in the Prescriber.  
If the Testimony of Helmont concerning the Arcana of Paracelsus be considerable, even in a Tract (where either out of Emulation or Judgement, 
Helmont. in. Arcan. Paracels. pag. 787.  he endeavours somewhat do depreciate both them and their Author) much greater things might be boldly affirmed of some Arcana; for Fateor Lubens, (says he, speaking of Paracelsus) Me ex ejus scriptis profecisse multum, illúmque potuisse, per Remedia ad unitatis Symbolum adsendentia, sanare Lepram, Asthma, Tabem, Paralysin, Epilepsiam, Calculum, Hydropem, Podagram, Cancrum, atque ejusmodi vulgo incurabiles morbos: attamen Paracelsum fuisse ignarum radicis vitae longae, tam ex ejus scriptis & medicaminibus quam ex Obitu collegi, etc. And in the same Tract just before He comes to enumerate Paracelsus' Arcana, Concedo, saith he, Universales aliquot Medicinas, 
Helmont. in Arcan. Paracels. pag. in 790.  quae sub unisono Naturae longe gratissimo, insensibiliter post se vinctum educunt hostem, cum egregia Organorum depuratione, Concedo pariter appropriatas aliquot quo universalis amplitudinem in specificis morborum directionibus amulantur. And among those Arcana themselves that is ranked but in the second place, of which he gives this Characters: Sequitur dein Mercurius Vitae, Stibii proles integri, quae omnem morbi nervum penitus absorbet.  
And because another Arcanum does not so powerfully renovate, as that last mentioned, and two more; He allows to those three others the precedencies of that whereof He yet saith: Quarto loco est Mercurius Diaphoreticus, melle dulcior & ad ignem fixus, solis Horizontis omnes proprietates habet: perficit enim quicquid Medicus & Chirurgus possint optare sanendo. But because, that any Medicines should be qualified to deserve such superlative Encomiums, may seem a thing fitter to be wished then credited, I would not dissuade You till the Chemist's Cures have made good their Master's brags, to be altogether of our Author's Mind, who somewhere professes: Se morbum non dinguere, si Remediis (sure he speaks of such Remedies as he thought he had) sit summa bonitas. But yet you may perchance ascribe much more even to Remedies far inferior to the Arcana Majora, in the cases wherein they are most proper, than many are willing to believe. Insomuch that I have sometimes observed with wonder, that an Excellent Person (whom I need not name to You) cures the Rickets generally in Children of several Ages and Complexions without having hitherto failed (as she professes) in any one, by prescribing no other Remedy than the single use of the above described Colcotharine Flowers, which I presented Her; and which a couple of Physicians also, to whom I recommended them, tell Me, They have tried in the same Disease with the like success, as this Lady hath hitherto met with. And I remember that eminently Learned and experienced Physician Dr G. Boat, (of whose skill both your Excellent Mother and You have had good Proof) solemnly assured me, as I elsewhere also note, That he knew a Physician who constantly cured within two or three Fits all Agues, whether recent or radicated, in Persons of all Ages, Sexes, and Complexions, indiscriminately with one single outward Application to the Patient's Wrists; but that this Envious Doctor would never part with it to our Friend, or any else, no not upon his Deathbed: only Dr Boat discovered, That Spiders or something coming from them were main Ingredients of his Pericarpia.  
And indeed there are certain Preparations and Compositions of Remedies so lucky, and whose Success doth so much exceed Expectation, and the Efficacy of common Compositions; that the same Physician, whose they are, may upon several Occasions prescribe an Hundred others, each of which he may think as rational as any of those, which nevertheless shall be all of them much inferior thereunto. And therefore I wonder not that the most Learned of the Methodists themselves have much valued and celebrated some peculiar Processes and Receipts, as here amongst us (to mention no others) the Famous Sr Theodore Mayerne, was wont almost in all Obstructions, Cachexies, and Hydropical Distempers to magnify and use that peculiar Salt of Steel of his, which he was pleased to call Anima hepatis.  
And to these Domestic Instances (which I might easily accumulate) of the esteem eminent Physicians have made of Receipts, I might add very many Foreign ones. Nay Galen himself, who has so copiously treated of the Materia medica, and the Composition of Medicaments, though he were sufficiently expert at drawing up Receipts, doth yet in his Book De Compositione Medicamentorum, and elsewhere transcribe, and sometimes commend (and mention his having used) divers of the Compositions of Auncienter Physicians, and especially magnifies Andromachus His Treacle.  
I might, Pyroph: here mind You, That we see that Chemistry, as Incomplete as it yet is, has been able so much to improve the preparations of Remedies, as to afford us some, which are so Innocent as well as Efficacious, that in the Diseases they principally respect, they require not, as of Necessity, near so much of Theorical skill, as others do in the Administer; I might likewise take notice, That Experience also teacheth, especially by what we see performed by the Spaa, and some other Mineral Waters, that one Medicine may be so richly endowed, as to be more Effectual against several differing Diseases, than even the better sort of other Remedies against any one particular Disease.  
I might further represent as some thing that makes yet more to my present purpose, that though every Body can advise his sick Friends to an Air that is famously healthful, if there be any within a convenient Distance from them; Yet there are some Airs so eminently good, and that not upon the Account of any one Predominant Quality that makes them opposite to a Disease springing from its contrary, but f●om a hidden Temperature, or certain friendly Effluvia, that they alone often cure Variety of Diseases in Persons of differing Ages and Complexions: as Navigators observe in the Isle of St Helen where the Spaniards and some other Europaeans in their passage to the Indies, often leave without Physicians great numbers of Sick, whom they find for the most part recovered at their return. And that sometimes even the acutest Diseases may by the Sanative Steams that enrich the Air be cured almost in a trice is assured by those that have lived in grand Cairo, who have affirmed to me, what the Learned Prosper Alpinus, who so long practised Physic there, assures Us, That upon Nilus' beginning to over flow, though in the Heat of Summer, there ensueth a sudden Recovery of those multitudes of Persons of differing Ages, Temperatures, Sexes, etc. which there happen at that time to lie Sick of the Plague. These things I say, Pyrophilus, and more I might add, to what You may find dispersed here and there in the ESSAYS which this Paper accompanies towards the inferring that we should not hastily conclude it Impossible that there May be found such Medicines as may be more than particular and Specific Remedies without requiring the Giver be a great physician. But to draw at length to a Conclusion, I shall rather Sum up my present thoughts of this Matter Thus.  
Ordinary Receipts without an Ordinary Measure of skill in Physic are not rashly to be relied on, especially in Acute Diseases; where by giving Medicines otherwise innocent enough, to lose the opportunities of administering proper ones may be v●ry prejudicial, and where sometimes the several seasons of the Disease do require such differing Remedies if they be but Ordinary ones, that a Medicine proper enough for the Disease at one season of it may do Mischief at another: But if indeed there be Noble and Extraordinary Arcana, that work rather by strengthening and restoring Nature, and Resolving, or otherwise destroying the peccant Matter they find any where in the Body, then by irritating and weakening Nature or putting Her as it were to a troublesome Plunge; the use of such Remedies may deserve to be a little otherwise considered, as that which may not Ordinarily (for I say not Ever) require more Instruction than may be afforded to Persons not Indiscreet by such Directions and Cautions as may be Divulged, or otherwise Communicated, together with the Remedies themselves: As we sometimes see that by the help of such Instructions unlearned Persons and even old Wives do with some one Sovereign Plaster, Balsam, or other outward Remedy, Cure many and various Tumours, Ulcers, and other Sores in Persons of differing Sexes, Ages, and Complexions. And because You will easily grant that this Example does far less accommodate our present purpose then does the Case itself, as I just now put it, I hope You will allow me to represent further, That at least it seems not so Rational to judge of all the Remedies that Art improving Nature can afford us by those that are hitherto in Use either among Methodists or Vulgar Chemists, but rather to think that the Nobleness of Remedies will be advanced according as the Art of preparing them shall be promoted; and that it 'tis not so safe and easy, positively to determine the Efficacy of the former, otherwise then in Proportion to the Discoveries we have attained to in the Latter.  
The End of the APPENDIX.    

The CITATIONS Englished.  
AD Pag. 6. In Corpore etc. But I dare not try those things upon Humane Body, which have not been before tried upon former Experiences, For the End of such rash Experiments may be the ruin of all Lives.  
Ad Pag. 9 Naturalium etc. This is the Course of Naturalists and Physicians who prosecute their Art Philosophically, The Naturalist ends where Medicine begins, and Medicine begins where the Naturalist endeth.  
Ad Pag. 11. Sunt enim etc. The parts of Humane Body are unknown, and therefore we ought to consider them by the parts of other Animals to which they are like.  
Ad pag. 19 Hoc in etc. This I have more than once Observed in Lizards which I kept in my own House. For my Children being at play, when with a Rod they had struck off the Lizards Tails I saw them within a day or two come out to Feed, and their Tails then by little and little still increasing and growing bigger.  
Ad pag. 73. Neque etc. Nor may we be ignorant that in acute Diseases the Notes of Life or Death are more fallacious.  
Ad pag. 75. Quidam etc. One who before he fell into the French Pox was blind of a Cataract in one of his Eyes, by being anointed with Quicksilver, was recovered, not only from the chief Disease, but (which was most strange) from his Cataract. Nor is it irrational that Cataracts should be dissolved such anointing; when Experience teacheth, That hard Tumours clogged together of pituitous Matter are powerfully dissolved by Mercurial Inunctions.  
Ad pag. 78. Ejusque etc. And they urge many Instances of it even to my admiration.  
Ibid. Ajunt etc. Yet they say that the Seed of the Calchoos, ground and taken in any proper Water doth dissolve the stone into a very Dirt, which being voided doth harden again into a stony substance. I saw a Young Man to whom (upon my knowledge) this accident befell. When he was tormented with the Stone in the Bladder, which I understood both by the Lithotomist who felt it, and by the Symptoms which he suffered. I sent him to a Fountain, which takes its name from St Peter when he had stayed there two Months he returned Free from the Stone, and brought home with him all the Dirt which he had voided by degrees, in a Paper, coagulated as it were into fragments of Stone.  
Ad pag. 85. Hic etc. He loathes nothing that stinks, or is otherwise unpleasant, He hath been often seen to chew and swallow Glass, Stones, Wood, Bones, the Feet of Hares, and other Animals, together with the Hair, Linen and Woollen cloth, Fishes and other Animals alive, Nay, even Metals, and Dishes, and Globes of Tin. Besides, which he devours Suet, and Tallow Candles, the Shells of Cockles, and the Dungs of Animals, especially of Oxen, even Hot, assoon as it is voided. He drinks the Urinal of others mixed with wine or Beer: He eats Hay, Straw, Stubble, and lately he swallowed down two living Mice, which for half an Hour continued biteing at the bottom of his Stomach; and to be short, Whatsoever is offered him by any Noble Persons, it goes down with him without more ado upon the smallest reward, insomuch that within a few Days he hath promised to eat a whole Calf Raw, together with the Skin and Hair; Among divers others I myself am a Witness of the Truth of these etc.  
Ad pag. 86. Causam etc. To find in the Carcase the cause of this Vocacity will be questionless very difficult: Some one perchance would refer it to that which Columbus observed in the Carcase of Lazarus the Glasse-eater, and resolve that the fourth conjugation of Nerves which nature ordained for tasting, come neither to the Palate nor the Tongue: But so there would only be rendered the cause of his want of Taste, and not why he should be able to take such uncouth things without offence to his Stomach and digest them, which without doubt ought to be the particular and singular constitution of his Stomach and Guts, which yet may not appear to the Eye by the Effects.  
Ad pag. 91. De Laudano etc. Of his Laudanum (that Name he gave to little Pills, which in the extremity of Diseases he administered as a most Divine Medicine always giving them in an odd Number) he scrupled not to affirm that by that Medicine he could put life into those who were as good as Dead; and that while I was with him he made good in some Experiments.  
Ad pag. 94. Oportet ubi etc. Where a Medicine answers not we ought not so much to esteem the Author as the Patient, and to try somewhat farther and farther.  
Ad Pag. 97. Idem fit etc. The same is made of Mandioca, Potatoes, Turkish Mullet, Rice, and other things which being chewed by old Women, and Spit together with much spital, This Liquor is straight put up into Vessels, and there kept until it ferments and cast down a Sediment.  
Ad pag. 103. Hoc est etc. This Birchwater hath a sweet Sharpness and very pleasant Taste, it alleys Thirst, and the dryness of the Entrails; It tempers the Heat of the Blood; It opens Obstructions and drives out the Stone.  
Ad pag. 111. Conficiunt etc. They make Drink of that Mulli rubbing it gently in their hands in Hot-Water, until they have rubbed out all the Sweetness; they strain that Water, and keep it three or four Days, until it settle, and then it becomes a very clear Drink: The same Water boiled turns into good Hony.— Of this Fruit boiled with Water according to different Manners is made Wine, or good Drink, or Vinegar, or Hony.  
Ad pag. 112. Porro. Then by cutting the Shoot with a Razorblade made of a Flint, there runs out of the Cut a certain Liquor in such a quantity that (which is wonderful) out of one single Plant, sometimes Fifty or more Arobae run out: From which Liquor there is made Wine, Vinegar, Honey, and Sugar. For the Liquor Sweet of itself, is by being boiled made much sweeter and thicker, so that it is at length kerns into Hony.  
Ad 113. Semel etc. If once in a Month one eat or Drink to excess, the Day following, if he be weighed (though he hath suffered no sensible Evacuation) Yet than he will weigh lighter then is Usual. A constant Diet wants the help of those that once or twice in a Month do exceed: For the Expulsive Faculty being oppressed by too great Repletion stirr's up so much of perspiration, as without the Staticks no one would believe.  
Ad pag. 123. In urbe etc. In the City St James' that is in the Province of Chyle, certain Captive Indians cut off the Calves of their Legs, and for hunger eat them, ●nd (which is strange) applying the leaves of a certain Plant to their Wounds immediately they staunch the Blood.  
Add pag. 124. Memini etc. I remember that the Limbs of Soldiers wounded with G●nshot, to have been cut off by the advice of our European Surgeons, both Dutch and Portugal; those Barbarous people by recent juices Gums and Balsams to have freed them from Knife and Cauteryes and happily cured them. I also am an Eye witness, that which the juice of Tobacco alone they have cured Wounds given over by our Surgeons.  
Add pag. 131. Experimentis etc. It is approved by many Experiments, that its Virtues are excellent against the Plague, Malignant Fevers, the bitings of Venomous Creatures, the Diarrhaea and other Fluxes.  
Add pag. 135. Nam Venena noluit etc. He made not Venom to be our Poison, for neither made he Death nor any Deletery Medicament upon the Earth, but so, that by a slight industry and endeavour of our own they might be turned into great pledges of his love, for the Use of Men against the cruelty of Diseases which were in process of time to arise. For in those Vemomes is the help that more benign and familiar simples cannot yield, and those most frightful Poisons are yet preserved in Nature for the more great and Heroic uses of Physicians.  
Add pag. 136: That the Lapis Cancrorum resolved into the form of its first Milk affords an Antidote against the violence of many Vegetables that are infamous for their being over laxative.  
Add pag. 150. Mille etc. Our Court hath tried the Efficacy of this Salt in a thousand Experiments in the Diseases of Melancholy, in all Fevers, continuous and intermittent, in the Stone, Scurvy etc. Nay more we have observed more than once that it hath procured sleep, especially in persons Melancholy, The Dose is from one, to two Scruples, we use divers pounds of it in a Year.  
Add pag. 150, 151. Caeterum quantum etc. But for the exceeding and portentous Virtues of the Bezar-stone, I have found by a thousand trials that they are not so very great.  
Ib. Nil porro etc. I speak no more of these Stones, lest I should seem by my Commendation of their Virtues to provoke Lithotomists to make dissections at any rate. This I have most certainly Experienced, That the Stone found in Man's bladder doth well provoke Urine and Sweat. And particularly in the time of that Plague, which in the Years 1624. and 1625 miserably vexed Ours, and all other the Cities of Holland, for want of the Bezar-stone, I remember, I prescribed this and found it, (let me tell You) a more great and excellent Sudorific.  
Add pag. 159. Credo etc. I believe Simples in their own simplicity are sufficient for the Curing of all Diseases.  
Add pag. 19 Quod etc. But if You come not to that Arcanum of Pyrotechny, learn at least to make the Salt of Tartar Volatile, that by means of it You may perfect Your Solutions. Which though it leave those things which it dissolveth equally Homogeneous, being digested in Us; Yet it borroweth some of their Virtues which it carrieth along with itself to overcome Diseases.  
Add pag. 199. Dicam etc. I will speak it for their sakes, who are ingenious that the Spirit of Salt of Tartar, if it dissolveth Unicorns Horn, Silver, Quicksilver, Crabs Eyes, or other like Simples, it will Cure not only Fevers but other Diseases in great abundance.  
Ib. Mirum etc. It is a wonder what the very Salt of Tartar alone being made Volatile will perform, for it cleanses the Veins of all the feculencies and the causers of Contumacious Obstructions, and doth disperse the congregated Matter of Apostems. Of this Spirit of the Salt (and not of the Oil) is that saying of Paracelsus true. That whether this Medicine cannot reach, there is scarce any other more powerful that shall reach it.  
Ad pag. 201. Ars etc. Art is Long, Life is short. But where the End is by gift, there Art is short, and Man's Life long, if it be compared to Art. Therefore Hypocrates had reason to make the complaint, for it even happened to his followers according to his Words. The Art of Medicine consists in Philosophy, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Physics, and therefore it may truly be said that the Art is long. For there is much time required, throughly to learn and search these four Pillars of Medicine.  
Ad pag. 202. Est enim etc. For this Art is conjectural, and not only Conjecture, but Experience itself doth not always answer.  
Ib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. Experience is Uncertain, and Fallacious Judgement is difficult to be made.  
Ib. Hoc modo etc. And this was the fashion of Medicine in the beginning, that it had no Theory, only Experience, that such a thing was Laxative, such a thing Astringent: But how, or why they were so that was not found out, and therefore one was healed another perished: but now etc.  
Ib. Per rationem etc. By Reason it is not easy in a Disease to give Judgement, but is as difficult as any thing imaginable.  
Ib. Neque, etc. For if the truth were easy to be found, so many and so excellent men as have made it their business to find it, had never been divided into so many Sects and Opinions.  
Ad pag 203. Non titulus etc. It is not a Title, nor Eloquence Nor Skill in the tongues, nor the Reading of many books (though these are Ornaments) which are to be considered in a Physician, but a prime knowledge of Matters and mysteries which alone may stand in the steed of all the rest; It is the part of a Rhetorician to speak eloquently, to be able to persuade and to draw the Judge to his own party. It is the part of a Physician to know the several sorts of Diseases, their Causes and Symptoms, and then which skill and industry to apply Medicines and to make Cures of them all, according to their several Natures and Fashions.  
Add pag. 207. Imo etc. Nay, I saw divers, as it was in an instant, redeemed from death who had been poisoned by the eating of Venomous Mushrooms and other unwholesome things, only by drinking a Recent Infusion of the Root Jaborand, whilst myself and other of Galens Disciples blushed to see the ineffectual endeavours of all our Alexipharmaca, Treacles and other Antidotes: So that afterwards I suffered myself to be joined in Consultation with those barbarous Colleagues, not so much to be arbiters of the condition of our men by their Pulse, as to give their assistance and Council in the forementioned way (viz.) the prescribing of proper Medicines.  
Ad pag. 208. Hujus etc. The Virtue of this Stone is much above that of any other gems, for it stops the Flux of Blood in any part.— When the Women perceive a fit of the Mother coming upon them, by applying this Stone they are immediately eased, and if they always wear it, they are never troubled with those Fits more. Of this they make faith, by many Instances.  
Ib. Vidimus etc. We have seen some that were troubled with the Flux of the Haemorrhoides who found Remedy by wearing Rings made of that Stone continually on their Fingers, and the Monthly Flux is stayed by the same way.  
Ad pag. 209. Praegnantibus etc. This Stone is not proper for those who are with Child, for it is so sure to cause Abortion that the Women of Malaica told me, that if at any time their Monthly Evacuations were obstructed, that if they only carried this Stone in their hands they found Remedy thereby.  
Ad pag. 210. Hoc loco etc. In this place I cannot but relate the admirable Virtues of our Electrum which I have observed with my own Eyes, and therefore can attest with a good conscience. For we saw Rings of it which he that wore neither felt Cramp, no Palsy, nor other pain. He was subject to no Fits of Apoplexy, nor Epilepsy, insomuch that if one of these Rings were put upon the Ring Finger of a person actually in any vehement Fit of the Falling sickness, the Fit would immediately assuage, and the person as soon come to himself.  
Ad 225. In the City Posto where I lived certain Years, a certain Indian cured all sorts of Diseases by the juice of one Plant alone, wherewith he anointed the Limbs and any other part particularly affected, and then covering them warm with Blankets provoked Sweat. The Sweat that came from the parts so daubed was mere Blood which he wiped off with Linen Clothes, and so he proceeded until he thought they had Sweat enough. In the mean time he gave them Diet that was most Nourishing. With this Remedy many desperate Diseases were cured, and the sick person upon the Use of this Physic improved, so as to appear younger and lustier after it. But we could never prevail, neither by Money, nor entreaty, nor foul means upon him to show us the Plant.  
Ad pag 227. Mira etc. Wonderful things are daily found out in Physic to the Confirmation of the Operation of the Learned Naturalist Petrus Servius' Weapon-Salve. For the assured us that a piece of Cloth dipped in the Blood, and put under hot Ashes stops the Monthly Flux, the Experiment having been often proved. And my Master Petrus Castellus affirms that He found by Experience, that the Haemorrhoids if they were touched with the tuberous Root of Chondrilla, did dry away if the Chondrilla dried, and did Run to Corruption if the Chondrilla was corrupted. And therefore after such, touching of the Hemorrhoids the Chondrilla was usually put to dry in the Chymny.  
Ad pag. 229. Podagra etc. The Gout is strangely eased if Puppies lie with the Person that hath the Gout, for they contract the Disease so as not to be able to go, but the Patient thereby finds Ease.  
Ad pag. 236. Primo, etc. At the first, Physic was accounted part of Philosophy, so that the Cure of Diseases, and the Contemplation of Nature, did both arise under the same Authors. Those being most set upon Medical Inquiries, which had made their Bodies infirm by disquieting thoughtfulness and nocturnal Watchings.  
Ad pag. 204. Est, etc. Besides it is altogether drying, and therefore I should not despair that it, being hung about children's Necks, might cure the Falling-sickness in them. I truly saw a Lad, that sometimes would be eight whole Months free from the Falling-sickness, and then, when by chance this fell from off his Neck, he became immediately surprised with a Fit; and again, hanging another Root in its place, he would continue well: Therefore, for Experiment sake, I thought good to take it again from his Neck, which when I had done, and found that the Lad fell into his former Convulsions, we took a great piece of a green Root, and hung it about his Neck, and from that time He continued well and felt no more Convulsions. It was therefore most probable, either that certain parts did exhale from the Root, and were drawn into the Body by Inspiration, which did so work upon the affected parts; or that the ambient Air was continually changed and altered by the Root: For after this manner the Succus Cyrenaicus cures the Phlegmone upon the Uuula; so Catarrhs and other Rheums are dried up by Melanthium, if it be tied up warm in fine Linen, and the hot fume of it be drawn up into the Nostrils by Inspiration. Nay, if you strangle a Viper with divers sorts of Threads, and especially with the Sea Purple, and then you tie those Threads about the Neck of your Patient, you shall cure the swelling of the Almonds of the Ears, and all other swellings in the Neck.  
Ad pag. 257. Pestis Cayri, etc. The Plague at Grand Cair, and in all parts of Egypt, is wont to invade the Inhabitants from the beginning of the Month September until June: For in all these Months, from September unto June, the Plague from other Nations is brought thither, and is wont to infect that Nation: But in the Month of June, of what nature and how great soever the Pestilence be, when the Sun first enters Cancer, it is immediately removed; which thing many (and that not without reason) take to be a particular Mercy of God. But (what is more admirable) all Householdstuff, however infected with the Contagion of the Disease, at that time shows no effect of any Contagion, so that then the whole Nation passes into a most secure & healthy condition, from amorbid and dangerous: And then those Diseases, which are called by the Greeks Sporadici, begin to appear, which in no part of the World are seen to be rise together with the Plague.  
Ibid. Hac, etc. These things are first observed about that time. From which, I think, and perchance not without reason, the cause of the extinction of the Plague, and the change of the state from Morbid to Wholesome doth depend; For no other of the conservative Causes, which are wont to be called by Physicians, Res non Naturales, appeareth then, besides the Air; to which we may refer this change from Disease to Healthiness, and therefore we must refer this change to the change of the Air.  
Ad pag. 259. The Inhabitants do strange things, both in preserving Health and curing Diseases, by Friction and Unction, using the first in cold and Chronical, the latter in acute Diseases. And Strangers who arrive there, are, as they ought, willing to imitate their ways of Physic, and by Rules of Art to preside and moderate these ways of Empirical Healing.  
Ib. Cholera Sicca is Cured by the same Remedies, especially if their Horny Cupping-glass be applied to the Region of the Liver, of which I must attest the same thing that Galen doth of Cupping-glasses; which he affirmed to Work as Miraculously as if their Operation had depended on Enchantment.  
Ad pag. 271. Neque etc. Nor doth he say that a Physician needs nothing of Counsel or Deliberation, or that an irrational Man may profess this Art. But that those Conjectures of hidden things are nothing to the purpose. Because it matters not what causeth the Disease but what removes it.  
Ib. Interim etc. In the mean time the Brasilian Botanists make all sorts of Medicines of Simples they find every where in the Woods: which they make with so great Sagacity, and apply them both internally, and externally, especially to Diseases that Spring from Venom that a man may more securely give himself over to their hands then to our unskilful Physicians, who brag much of Secrets they have learned in private, and for the knowledge of these will be called Rationals in Physic.  
Ad pag. 272. Fortassis, etc. Perchance some Sciolist in Physic may affirm that these things may not be used by reason of the Narcotick and Stupefactive property. But these pretences are as vain in effect as specious at first sight: for besides that the hot temper of this Country requires it; It is sure, that without these Remedies there can be no Cure. Add that here we prepare Opium so well that you may give it to an Infant. And truly, if in Hot Diseases we had no Opiates we should in effect find that the use of all other Medicaments would prove altogether vain and fruitless.  
Ad pag. 287. Si. medicinam etc. Such was the Origin of Physic, by the Recovery of some and the Death of others it first made distinction between things Sovereign to heal, and things which were Improper, and Deadly. And thus the Remedies being found out, Men began to dispute of the Reasons of them. Nor was the Art of Medicine found out by the light of Reason, but Medicines being found, the Reason began to be enquired into.  
Ib. Ubi res etc. Where the Matter is certain, if it be against the common Opinion, the Reason must be sought, and not the Matter of fact scrupled.  
Ad pag. 297. Paucissimos etc. You will find very few of those who dwell at the Spaa who are troubled with the Headache, Stone, Obstructions of the Kidneys, Liver, Spleen, or Mesariaick Veins, none at all who were troubled with the Jaundice, Dropsy, Gout, Itch, or Falling sickness.  
Ib. Inter caetera etc. Among other Qualities it moveth the Monthly Evacuation as hath been proved by a thousand trials. And yet it stops the immoderate Flux of them more happily than any other Medicine.  
Ad pag. 299, Rerum etc. The Contemplation of Nature, though it maketh not a physician, yet it fits him to learn Physic.  
FINIS.   

The INDEX to the Second Part.  
The Second Part Of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy.  
SECT. I. Of its Usefulness to PHYSIC.  

ESSAY I. Containing some Particulars tending to show the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy to the Physiological part of Physic.  
The advantage of the Knowledge of Nature towards the increasing the Power of Man, and its Use as to Health of the Body and Goods of Fortune. pag. 3  
That in Man's Knowledge of the Nature of Creatures consists his Empire over them. 4  
That the Discovery of America is owed to the Knowledge of the Lo●d stones Polarity. 5  
That the Martial affairs all over the World were altered by the Knowledge of the Nature of Brimstone and Saltpetre. ib  
How prejudicial the mistake of that Aphorism (that if teeming Women be let blood they will miscarry) hath been to Female Patients. 6  
The interest of this Knowledge to the Happiness and Life ●f Man. 7  
The enumeration of those Arts to which this Knowledge is profitable. ib.  
The Method or way intended for the ensuing Discourse. 8  
The Division of Physic into five parts. 9  
How the Physiological part of Physic is advantaged by the Knowledge of Natural Philosophy. ib.  
That the Anatomical Doctrine of Man's body receives light from Experiments made on other Creatures. ib. Proved by divers Instances, as of the finding the L●cteals and Lymphducts first in Bruit Bodies. 10  
The Experiment of taking out the Spleen in Dogs. ib. The same thing done by Fioravanti in a Woman. 11  
The Respiration of Frogs divers Hours, sometimes Days, under water, without suffocation. ib.  
What use Aristotle and Galen made of the Dissections of Bruits. 11, 12  
The Anatomy of Man counted now in Muscovy for inhuman, and the use of Skeletons for Witchcraft. 12  
The Use of the comparison of the parts of Humane Body with those of Beasts. ib. Illustrated by divers particular Observations. 13  
Divers Motions and Actions of Frogs after their Hearts were cut out. 14  
Observations of the motion of a Chicken's Heart after the Head and other parts were cut off. 14  
Of the Vivacity of dissected Vipers, 16. and Tortoises. 17  
Whether there be a necessity of the unceasing influence of the Brain to Sense and Motion. 17  
That the Silkworm-butterfly is capable of Procreation after the loss of its Head. 17  
That the Redness of the Blood is not to be ascribed to the Liver proved by the inspection of the Liver of Chickens unhatched. 18  
That the loss of a Limb in all Animals is not irreparable. ib.  
That notwithstanding the great Solution and Digestion of Meat in the Stomaches of Fishes no sensible Acidity is found there. 19  
Experiments concerning the Solution of Meats, and their change of Colours by acid Menstruums. 20  
Ways of Artificial Drying and preservation of Plants, and Infects, 22. and more bulky Bodies. 23  
Particularly the Schemes of divers parts of Humane Body. 24  
Of the preservation of an Embryo divers Years by Embalming it with Oil of Spike. 25  
Instances of men in the American Mountains killed, and afterwards preserved from putrefaction only by the Wind. ib.  
Of the use of Spirit of Wine for the preservation of Bodies from putrefaction. 26  
That the Examination of the Juices of Humane Bodies by the Art of Chemistry may illustrate their Use and Nature. 27  
That the Actions which are common to Men with other Animals being performed Mechanically, the Skill of Mechanics must be of Use to Physiology· 28   

ESSAY II. Offering some Particulars relating to the Pathological Part of Physic.  
That the Naturalists Knowledge may assist the Physician to discover the Nature and Causes of Diseases. 29. Proved by general Reason. 30 By particular Instance of the Cause of the Stone in the Kidneys. 31  
The cause of that Disease illustrated by the Petrifaction of Wood, Cheese, Moss, Water, etc. 32  
The Origin of Helmont's Offa alba, and Paracelsus his Duelech by the mixture of Spirit of Wine, and Spirit of Urine, and example of the Generation of the Stone. 33  
That a terrestrious Substance may lurk undiscerned in limpid Liquors. 34  
The Use of Chemistry in explaining the Nature of, and aberrations in, our Digestions. 35 proved by a Catalogue of considerable Observations. 36  
The Salt and Sulphur have more influence in the causation of Diseases than the first Qualities of Heat, Cold, etc. 37  
Observations mad upon the Liquor that distends the Abdomen in the Dropsy. 38  
Observations on the Calculus Humanus. 39  
Of the changes that may reasonably be thought to happen to our aliments within the Body. 43. Illustrated by the Example of Juices out of the Body. 42, 43  
Difference between vulgar and true Chemistry. 44  
The Use of the Knowledge of Fermentation. 44  
Of Periodical Effervences in the Blood without Fermentation. 44, 45  
Of the use of Zoology to the Knowledge of Diseases. 46  
Helmont's Error refuted, that the Stone is a Disease peculiar to Man. 47  
That the Venom of Vipers or Adders consists chiefly in the Rage and Fury wherewith they by't, and not in any part of the Body that hath at all times a mortal property. 57  
A certain Cure for the Biting of Vipers. 59  
Of external Application of Poisons and letting them into the Veins of Beasts. 60, 61  


Postcript.  
Experiments of conveying Liquid Poisons immediately into the Mass of Blood. 62, 63, 64, 65     

ESSAY III. Containing some Particulars relating to the Semiotical Part of Physic.  
That the Improvement of the Therapeutical would alter the Prognostics in the Semeiotical part of Physic. 66. An Instance to that purpose in the Peruvian Bark. 67, 68 and in Riverius' Febrisugum, and a New Cure of the King's Evil. 69  
That though no Disease should be incurable, yet every Disease is not curable in every Patient. 70  
That the Hope of doing greater Cures then ordinary, hath engaged Artists to make profitable Trials. 71  
Examples of some unexpected and strange Cures. 72, 73  
Examples of the Cures of Cancers. 74  
An Example of a Cure of one that was born with a Cataract in the Eye. 75. and other Examples of Cataracts strangely cured. ib.  
Examples of the Cure of the Dropsy and Gout. 76, 77  
Examples of the Cure of the Stone. 78. The use of Persicaria for that Cure. 79. Instances in other Medicines for the same Disease. 80. The Use and Success of Millepedes. 81. The Argument concerning the Incurableness of ●he Stone answered. 82. That there may be a Liquor able to dissolve the Stone that may not be corrosive to any other part. 83, 84  
Examples of those who could digest Metals and Glass. 85, 86, 87  
The Descriptions of a Menstruum prepared from common Bread, able to draw Tinctures from precious Stones, Minerals, etc. 88  
Helmont's Arguments from the Providence of God censured. 90  
The Argument that Paracelsus outlived not the 47th. Year of his Age answered. 90  
The efficacy of Paracelsus his Laudanum. 91  
Butler's great Remedies. 92, 93, 94   

ESSAY IV. Presenting some things relating to the Hygieinal Part of Physic.  
That the Knowledge of Fermentation is useful to make our Drincks wholesome for Aliment. 95  
How much Simples may be altered by Preparation, exemplified by the Indians, making Cassavy out of the poisonous Plant Mandioca. 96. Odd unhandsome ways of their making Drink from the same Root. ib.  
Of making Drink from sorts of course Bread. 97  
The Drinks in use in China. 98  
Of Cherry-wine. ib.  
Of Excellent Ciders. 99  
Of Hydromel. ib.  
Of Sugar Wines. 100  
Of other Brafilian and Barbada Wines. 100  
The way to make Wine of Raisins. 101  
Of Wines from the dropping or Weeping of wounded Vegetables. ib.  
Of the Tears of the Walnut-tree. 102  
The Use of the Tears of Birch, (with some other Ingredients) for the Stone. 102  
The ways to preserve these Liquors. 103  
The use of the Tears of Birch in hot distempers of the Liver, and hot Catarrhs. 103  
The use of Daucus Ale, and proportion of the Seed to the Liquor. 104  
Of The or Te. ib.  
Of Animal Drinks. 105  
The use of Brandywine in hot Climates. 105  
The use of Natural Philosophy to meliorate Meats. 106  
Of preserving Biscuit from putrefaction. 107  
Of preserving Fruits. ib.  
Of preserving Meats roasted for long Voyages. 108  
Of preserving Raw meats. 109  
Of salting Neat's tongues with Saltpetre. ib.  
Of preserving Flesh in spirit of Wine. ib.  
Of conserving by Sugar, and making Sugar of other Concretes besides the Cane. 110, 111, 112  
That the Naturalist may find out new ways to investigate the wholsomness or insalubrity of Aliments, proved by Instances out of Sanctorius his Medicina Statica. 113  
The difference in transpiration betwixt the times after ordinary Diet, and after Excess, tried by the weighing of Man's body. 114  
Difference in the weight of Waters. ib.  
That Chemical Experiments may discover other qualities in Waters. 115  
That the Naturalist may discover the qualities of particular Airs. 116   

ESSAY V. Proposing some Particulars, wherein Natural Philosophy may be useful to the Therapeutical part of Physic.  
The Introduction. 117, 118  
That the Naturalist may invent Medicines Chemically prepared more pleasant than the ordinary Galenical Ones. 119  
An Instance in Resin of Jalap, Mineral waters, and the Author's Pill: Lunares. 120  
That the Naturalist may find out inward Medicines able to do Chirurgical Cures, proved by divers Instances. 121, 122  
Sr. W. Raleighs Cordial. 123  
What great use the Indians make of the Juice of Tobacco. 124  


Chap. II.  
That the Search of Nature by Chemistry in particular discovers the Qualities of Medicines. 124, etc.  
Of the Nitro-tartareous Salt in some Vegetables. 126  
Difference in Operation between Acid and Alcalizate Salts. ib.  
Of Ink made by the Decoction of divers astringent Plants with a little Vitrol. 127  
Of some Metalline Precipitations. ib.  
That Sulphureous Salts turn the expressed Juices of Vegetables into a Green colour. 1●8  
Of the Distillation of the Calculus H●manus and of the Concretions that are called Lapides Cancrorum. 128  
The changes in Animal Substances made by Fermentation only in Urine. 129  
Of the mixture of Sp. of Salt with digested Urine. 129    


Chap. III.  
That this search of Nature adds much to the Materia Medica. 130. by employing Bodies hitherto not employed. ib.  
Of Remedies newly prepared out of Zinck. ib.  
The Cure of the Dropsy by the Pill: Lunares. ib.  
Of the use of divers Medical Earth's. 131. Instances of Gold, and divers Menstruums drawn out of them. 132  
Of Medicines out of Arsenic. 133. and out of Bismutum. 134  
Of the correction of Poisonous Medicines. 134, 135  
The Preparation of Asarum turns it from being Emetic to be notably Diuretical. 136  
Instances in some of the secret Menstruums. ib.  
That the Preparation of Asarum is only the Boiling it in common water. 137. That the boiling it in Wine altars not its violence. ib.  
That the Emetic and Cathartick properties of Antimony are destroyed by Calcination with Salt-Peter, and Mercury sublimate may be deprived of its corrosiveness by bare resublimations with fresh Mercury. 137    


Chap. IV.  
A strange correction of the Flowers of Antimony. 138  
That the Naturalist may assist the Physician to make his Cures less chargeable. ib.  
Inconveniencies of stuffing Receipts with a multitude of Ingredients. 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144.  
That Acid, and Alcalizate Salts being mixed grow thereby more fixed, and yield in Balneo but but a Phlegm. ●45. The same is observed of the Mixture of Spirit Urinal (by itself highly Volatile) and Spirit of Salt. ib.    


Chap. V.  
That the Naturalist discovers the Mis-application and Use of Gems, and divers other costly Ingredients. 145, 146.  
A difference between the fixedness of a Gem, and of Glass of Antimony. ib.  
Concerning Autumn Potabile 147, 148.  
Examples of great Medicines drawn from unpromising Bodies. 149  
The D. of Holstein's Panacea duplicata is made of the vulgarly despised Caput Mortuum of Aquafortis. ib.  
Flores Colcotharini are made of the Caput Mortuum of Vitriol. 150  
A Comparison between the Bezar's Stone and the Stone cut out of Man's Bladder. ib.  
Medicines out of Soot. 151  
The use of Horse dung. 152  
An Arcanum of Ivy Berries. ib.  
Medicines out of Man's Vrin. 153  
Medicines out of Blood. 154  
The great Effects of Millepedes in the Stone. ib. In Suffusions of the Eyes. 155. And real Cataracts. 156. In sore Breasts and Fistulas' ib.    


Chap. VI  
That the Naturalist discovers how much of the cost and labour in making many Chemical Remedies may be spared. 157  
A Comparison of Chemical Remedies with Galenical ones in point of Cheapness. 158  
Of the use and commendation of Simples even by the most able Chemists. ib.  
Powder of Pearlmore Operative then Magistery. 159. So crude Hartshorn than Magistery. 160  
An excellent Simple Medicine to staunch Blood. ib.  
Another like Medicine for spitting and vomiting of Blood. 161  
That many times Chemists by their tedious and injudicious preparations alter the Medicine and make it worse. 162  
So the dissolving the Salts of Vegetables in Aquafortis to make them pure and Crystalline altars their virtues, and makes them inflammable as Salt-Peter. 162, 163  
The Preparation and virtues of Ens Veneris. 164, 165  
The Preparation and virtues of the Balsamum Sulphuris Crassum. 166, 167  
The Preparation and virtues of Essence of Hartshorn. 168, 169    


Chap. VII.  
That Mechanics and other Experimental Learning may teach how to lessen the charge of Cures by making more convenient furnaces demonstrated in divers particulars. 170, 171, 172, 173, 174  
Glasse-stopples fittest for corrosive Liquors. 173, 174  
That inflammable saline Sulphureous spirits may be drawn from other substances cheaper than Wine. 175  
Instances in divers particulars how the Naturalist may find cheaper ways of Heating the Chemist's Furnaces. 176  
Of charring Coals, so that while it charres it gives an intense heat fit to melt or calcine Minerals. 177  
Of Charring Peat. ib.  
Of Digestion and Distillations without Fire. 178, 179  
Ways of Distilling spirit of Urine. 180. Of Distilling it with Lime without Fermentation. ib That so distilled it doth not coagulate spirit of Wine as in the Usual Distillation. ib.  
Of the power of good Menstruums in facilitating Distillation. 181  
That the calcination of Gold is facilitated by Amalgamation with Mercury. 182  
The power of Verdigreas distilled in drawing Tinctures of Glass of Antimony etc. ib.  
That the Naturalist may find out ways to preserve Medicines longer, and better than is usual. 183  
Of fuming Liquors with Sulphur: ib. And adding a little of the white Coagulum made of the pure spirits of Wine and Urin. ib.  
That the most principal way of lessening the charge of Cures would be the finding out New and more effectual Remedies. 184  
An History of a radicated Epilepsy that was cured by the Powder of Misselto of the Oak. 185    


Chap. VIII.  
Other proofs that the Naturalists skill may improve the Pharmaceutical preparation of simples. 186 Of the best ways to correct Opium. 187  
Of the best way of correcting Mercurius vitae. 188  
An Excellent Medicine made of those churlish Minerals Quicksilver and Antimony. ib.  
Ways to take away the Vomitive faculty of Antimonial Glass. 189, 190  
A New and excellent way to get the Primum Ens, or Essence of some Vegetables. 191  
The influence of these Prima Entia to cause renovation or rejuvenescence. 192, 193  
Of helmont's Via Media of Elixir Prop●ietatis. ●94. And the perfuming it by cohobations with Musk and Amber. ib.  
A Commendation of Helmont's Medicines. 195  
Of the power of Chemistry. 196  
Of the power of Noble Menstruums particularly. 196, ●97  
The power of Sal-Taltari Volatized. 198  
Of the possibility of Volatizing it 199  
That there may be other Menstruums besides such as are Acid, Urinous, or Alcalizate. 200  
How these severally disarm and destroy one another, and that what an Acid Menstruum dissolves an urinous or Alcalizate doth precipitate. ib. Of a Menstruum unlike to all these. ib.    


Chap. IX.  
That Chemistry itself (much more Physiology) is capable of affording a New and better Methodus Medendi. 201, 202, 203  
Instances, to prove that the unusual efficacies of New Remedies may alter and make the method of Curing more compendious. 204. In the Kings-Evil. ib. In Pleurisies. 205. In the Rickets. ib.    


Chap. X.  
That great Cures may be done by outward Applications. 207  
Of the efficacy of Lapis Nephriticus and divers other Appensa. 208, 209  
The Cures of the Dropsy and Schyrrhus' Lienis by the external application of Sponges dipped in Lime water. 210  
Of strange Cures performed near Rome in the Serpentine Grotta. ib.  
Of the Operations of Suphur Cantharideses and Quicksilver, and Tobacco externally applied. 211  
Instances in divers Medicines which have differing effects inwardly given, and outwardly applied. 212, 213  
That preparation may much improve Simples which are outwardly applied. ib. Instances in divers preparations of Gold. ib.  
An Ointment made of Aurum fulminans for the Haemorrhoides and Veneral Ulcers. ib.  
The Cure of a Person esteemed bewitched by an appended Mineral. 214  
Of the power of Jasper to staunch Blood. 215  
The Incontinentia Urinae Cured by the powder of a Toad burned alive and hung about the neck. 216  
Effects ascribed to Witchcraft cured Per appensa. 217  
Paracelsus cured Quartan's by a Plaster. 218  
Diseases Cured by Frights. 219 Physic now in China in a good condition, without Phlebotomy, Potions, or Issues. 2●0  
Where practitioners of Physic are illiterate, there Specificks may be best met with. 221  
The usefulness of the knowledge of the Medicines of Barbarous Nations. 221, 222, 223  
A Comparison of this Empirick part of Physic with the Rational. 224    


Chap. XI.  
Of other Extraordinary Medicines which work by Magnetisme, Transplantation etc. 225  
The Cure of an Ulcer in the Bladder by the Sympathetick Powder. 226  
The effects of the Weapon-salve and other Magnetical Remedies. 227 228  
Observations of the Transplantation of Diseases. 229, 230, 231  
The sometimes not succeeding of Magnetical Medicines no sufficient cause to abandon their Use. 232  


Chap. XII.  
Instances of divers Cures upon Bruits, and how these are appliable to men. 233, 234, 235      


Chap. XIII.  
That the handling of Physical Matters was anciently thought to belong to the Naturalist. 236  
That the rejecting Specificks, because they make no visible Evacuation is irrational. 237  
That great changes may be made only by displacing without any Evacuation of the parts. 238  
The making of Vinegers is an Instance of this truth, especially in the Indies. ib.  
Instances in Sura and the juice of Mandioca. 239  
In the Effects of Thunder and Earthquakes. ib.  
Divers Instances to prove that invisible Corpuscles may pass from Annulets, and cause great alterations in the juices of a Man's Body. 240  
Galens Example of Peiony-Root etc. 240, 241, 242  
Of Purging by the Odour of Potions. 243  
Of the Purging and Vomiting Quality of the Air of the Mountain Pariacaca. 243.244  
The power of Steams seen in the Infectious Effluvia. 244  
Of alterations made by the Passions of the mind. 245    


Chap. XIV.  
Divers Instances of the power of Imagination. 246  
An Instance of the Hair of the Head changed in Colour upon a sudden Fear. 247  
How the Author's discourse concerning the power of Effluvia ought to be understood. 248  
That the particular State of disposition of the Engine of humane Body is considerable as to the effects of these Impressions. 249, 250, 251, 252  
The effects of the Moss growing on Humane skill in staunching Blood 253  
Burnt Feathers, or the Smoke of Tobacco remove, Hysterical fits. ib.  
Cures of Dysenteries by Fumesi 254. And by sitting on a hot Anvil. ib. Cures of the Colic by Clysters of the Smoke of Tobacco. ib. Of other Cures done by Smoak. 255  
Of the sudden ceasing of the Plague at Grand Cayro in June. 256, 257    


Chap. XV.  
That Humane Body may be altered by such Motions as Act in a Gross, and merely Mechanical manner proved by divers Instances. 258 259  
The Instance of the Cure of the biting of the Tarantula by Music particularly modified. 260, 261    


Chap. XVI.  
Divers instances of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Peculiar aversion of particular persons from particular things, and of the commotions made in the Body thereby. 262, 263  
That since the Body receives such alterations from such unlikely things there is no just arguing against Specificks, because they operate not by any Obvious Quality. 264  
Of the Operations of Poisons, and Antidotes. 265, 266, 267  
What is to be done when the Specific seems likely to increase the Disease. 268    


Chap. XVIII.  
A Disquisition concerning the Ordinary Method of Physic. 268, 269, 270, 271  
Instances of some Medicines condemned for Noxious which yet have proved Useful. 272  
Of the Use of Guajacum for Consumptions and Mercury for Palsies. 273  
That there are divers Concretes as to sense similar, whose different parts have contrary Qualities, as Rhubarb, and Oil Olive. 274  
Of improbable Cures, viz. of a Pleurisy by a Laudanum Opiatum. 275  
Of curing Coughs and Consumptions by Saline Medicines. 276  
Of the Curing Phtisical Consumptions by the Acid Smoke of Sulphur: 277  
The Use of the Livers and Galls of Eels in expediting the hard labour of Women. 278  
The unlikely Cure of Venom by Oil of Scorpions. ib.  
And of Fluxes by fresh butter melted. 279    


Chap. XIX.  
That it is very hard to give an intelligible Explication of the Operation of Elective and other common Medicaments which are not Specific. 280, 281  
That Poisons do respect particular parts, and therefore Medicines may do it. 282  
General Explications of the manmer, how these Operations of Specificks may proceed. ●83, 284  
That Vinegar will Operate on the shell and not upon the other parts of the Egg with like instances of specific operations. 285  
That Physic as it began by Experience so it must be enlarged and rectified by the new discoveries of Experience. 286, 287  
That the Operations of the Antimonial Cup, Glass of Antimony and Crocus Metallorum would not have been credited in Ancient times. 288  
Divers other instances alike incredible. 289, 290, 291  
A strange Cure of blindness by a Mercurial powder. 292    


Chap. XX.  
Of Universal Medicines. 293  
That the same matter may cause divers Diseases. 294  
And the same Medicine cure them 295  
An Instance in the Waters of the Spaa. 296, 297  
Of the reason and design of the Author's discourse concerning the Methodus medendi, and his descending to other particulars which may be thought improper for Him. 298, 299, 300, 301, 302  
That this Employment is better than the more fashionable of destructive valour. 303  
That the Angels charitable employment at Bethesda is more desirable than his who destroyed in one night 18000 fight- men. 304     

An APPENDIX to the First Section of the Second Part.  
Advertisements touching the following Appendix. 307, 308, 309  
To the 80 Page. 

The Irish Lithotomists Receipt, for the Stone in the Bladder. 310    
To the 120 Page. 

[Where the Virtues of the Pilulae Lunares are touched at.] 311  
The Preparation of the Pilulae Lunares. 312, 313, 314  
The Dose and use of these Pills 315    
To the 123 Page. 

(Where mention is made of the Cure of one concluded to have a Gangrene, by an inward Medicine.) 316  
Sr Walter Raleigh's Cordial, after Sr R. K. his way: (set dowm Verbatim as the Author received it.) 317  
How to make the Tincture of Coral for this Cordial. 318  
[To the 123 Page; Where a Receipt that cured Fistula's is mentioned.]  
A Water for a Fistula, and all manner of Wounds, and swellings, or old Ulcers, Cankers, Tetters, Boils, or Scabs in any place, or Green Wounds. 319, 320    
To the 158 Page. 

Where Soot is mentioned. 321  
Hartmans preparation of Spirit and Oil of Soot. 322  
The Author Directions concerning preparations from Soot. 323    
To the 153 Page. 

Of the use of the Preparations of Urine. 324, 325    
To the 154 Page. 

Of the Preparations of Man's Blood. 326, 327  
Obstrvations touching the manner of drawing the Volatile Salts and Spirits of Blood and other substances belonging to the Animal Kingdom. 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334  
How to draw Tinctures, as of Sulphur etc. with the Saline Spirits. 335    
[To the 164, 165, etc. 

where Ens Veneris is treated of.] 336.  
How the Author first happened upon the Preparation of Ens Veneris. 337  
The Process used by the Author for the making Ens Veneris. 338  
Divers Particular Animadversions concerning these Preparations. 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344  
The Dose and use of Ens Veneris. 345    
[To the 166, 167, 168, 169, and 170 Page. 346 

Of Hartshorn. ib.  
Three ways of distilling Hartshorn. 347, 348, 349  
Animadversions on some preparations of Hartshorn of Glauber and Hartman. 350  
A fourth way of preparation of Hartshorn used by the Author. 351, 352  
Of the Use and effects of Spirit and Salt of Hartshorn and the Dose of it. 353  
Q Whether in the Distillation of Hartshorn the Salt dispose itself into the Figure of the Horn. 354, 355  
That Bucks-horns may be substituted for Stags-horns. 356  
How to keep the Spirit and Salt of Hartshorn. ib. 357  
Of the Spirit of Salarmoniack and divers attempts and ways of preparing it. 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363  
Of Preparations of Saline and Sulphureous Fetid Liquors. 364  
The way of making the common Balsam or Ruby of Sulphur. 365  
To Volatize the Balsam of Sulphur. ib. 366  
Penotus his preparation of a Sulphureous Balsam with the Author's Advertisements upon it. 367  
Of an Excellent Balsam of Sulphur made only with oil-olive. 368  
The common way of preparing it. 369, 370  
Other ways of preparing this Balsam. 371, 372  
A Balsam of Antimony. 373  
Of the obscure and Cryptical way of Writing of Chemists. 374, 375  
Concerning the Empyreuma of Chemical Extracts and their offensiveness compared with the Galenical and those which are commonly used by Methodists. 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, etc. And whether the offensiveness of divers Chemical Medicines proceed from the violence of the Fire, or the Nature of the Matter? ib.  
A Way of taking off the Fetidnesse from Spirit of Urine, Hartshorn, etc. 382  
Observations concerning this Method of taking off the Empyrema. 383  
Of the Medicinal Quality of these aromatized Salts. 384, 385, 386, 387, 388    
[To the 166, page, 

Where the Author promises a Declaration, how he would have his Praises of Medicines understood.] 389, 390  
Divers Disadvantages of Chemical and Empirical Physic in the way of usual Ministration. 391  
That Chemical processes stand more in need of clear Relations then Galenical. 392  
Errors in the Time and Dose of Chemical Remedies. 393, 394  
That a competent Measure of Knowledge is absolutely necessary to a Practizer of Physic. 395, 396, 397  
The L. Verulam's Judgement, That approved Receipts ought not to be altered but religiously adhered to. 39●  
Crato's judgement herein, and how the Author concurreth with that Eminent Physician. 399  
Of the greater Arcana and more Universal Medicines, the Efficacy of which may compensate the want of skill in the Prescriber. ib.  
The Sum and Conclusion of the point in controversy. 400     
FINIS.   

ERRATA Of the Second Part.  
Pag. 4. lin. 28. Read hath hitherto. p. 7. l. 19 Godlike. p. 27. l. 23. peradventure. p. 31. l. 11. Chyle. p. 32. l. 8. Embracers. p. 34. l. 18. Saline. p. 35. l. 2. deserve. p. 36. l. 11. analysed. l. 30. Vinegar. p. 38. l. 20. Lientery. l. 23. paracentesis p. 39 l. 20. Onion. And l. 26. from that. p. 40. l. 5. Concretes. p. 43. l. 26. self, then p. 45. l. 10. well incorporated. p. 46. l. 19 Ancients must. p. 7●. l. 1●. oporte●. l. 17. Hypocrates. p 97. l. 9 cum saliva. p. 150. l. 5. aliquot. p. 151. l. 1. tantas l. 7. ciere. Quod. p. 153. l. 9 an ancient. p. 172. l. 12. temperate. p. 194. l. 17. Elixir. p. 200. l. penult is far. p. 202. l. 13 h●buit Medicina. p. 206. l. ult. him, You. p. 207. l. 25. anomalous. p. 214. l. 24. electrum. p. 216. l. penult. Patients. p. 227. l. 24. comprobato. p. 269. l. 23. there are divers. p. 270. l. antep. troublesome. p. 272. l. 21. deal non. p. 386. l. 17. make.  
FINIS.