A Philosophical Account OF THIS HARD FROST.  
From Whence Is Rationally concluded what Effects it may probably have upon Humane Bodies, as to Health and Sickness.  
Both in relation to the time of the Frosts Continuance, and to the time of Thaw that shall succeed.  
With Cautionary Directions for the prevention of such Distempers as are likely to be the Natural Consequence of both those Seasons.  
Which Directions are not only Calculated for this present Season, but are designedly adopted to serve upon the like occasion for time to come.  PSAL. 147.17. 
He casteth forth his Ice like Morsels; who can stand before his Cold?  
Written in Answer to a Letter of a Person of Quality, and at his Command made public for the Common Good.  
By JOHN PETER Physician.  
LONDON, Printed for Sam. Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church Yard, 1684.   

A Philosophical Account OF THIS HARD FROST.  
Honoured Sir,  
YOurs received, and upon weighing its Contents, I find myself involved in a Dilemma: If I should stifle it by silence or answer it by excuse, I should give you a just occasion to be jealous of my obedience to that Command (I have always more than pretended) you justly have over me: On the other hand, by readily answering your desire, I shall pitifully expose my insufficiency for such a Task: I confess I cannot for my life be so ungrateful and disobliging, as to become guilty of the former part, and therefore considering into whose hands I shall fall, I shall the cheerfuller proceed in doing my endeavour to answer your desire, viz. That I would present you with an Hypothesis of the Natural Reason of Heat and Cold, Frost and Thaw (2.) That I would give you my Opinion, What Effects this extreme Cold and Frosty Season may probably have on Humane Bodies, as to Health and Sickness.  
In undertaking to Salve the Phaenomena of Meteors, I shall not look back into the Egyptian Darkness of the Peripatetic Philosophy (you seeming to intimate, that the dissatisfaction you found in its Theory, gave you Incitement to put me upon this Design) to ingulf myself and you in untelligible Notions, but shall launch out into a more genuine and better grounded Hypothesis, wherein all Appearances of Nature are easily Saluable. Therefore to cut my Suit according to my Cloth, to fit my Answer to your Request to the size of a Letter, I shall (1.) briefly offer you an Hypothesis of Meteors in general. (2.) Of Heat and Cold, Frost and Thaw in particular. (3.) I shall endeavour from the same Theory rationally to conclude what Effects this extreme Cold and Frosty Season may probably have upon Humane Bodies, as to Health and Sickness.  
That the several Appearances in Metereology (as all other Phaenomena's in Nature are best resolvable by Spagiritick Principles (viz. Spirit, Sulphur, Salt, Water, and Earth) daily Experience evinces, and that according to their various Motions and different Proportions in mixed Bodies, are the said Bodies built up and demolished; raised up, and taken in pieces again.  
As in Meteors, so also in Minerals, the chief active Principles are Salt and Sulphur, they are both for the most part conceived in the same Womb: As the Production of the last is made by the said Fermentative Principles or Elementary Particles grown compact, and made concrete in the teeming Womb of the Earth: So whilst the said Fermentative Principles are fluid, and in Solution, fluctuating here and there in the Earth's bowels, they fume out various Exhalations through the subteraneous passages, which mingling with the Airy Corpuscles, supply the Region of the Atmo-sphere, with the usual variety of Appearances observable by every vulgar Eye, as Clouds, Wind, Snow, Hail, Rain, Dew, Hoary Rhymes, the vicissitude of Heat and Cold, etc. as also with others more unusual and strange, as Fiery Drakes, Dancing Torches, Burning Globes, Iguis Fatuus, Ignis Lambens, Parelli, & Paraselenae (many Suns and Moons) and many other wonderful Apparitions.  
2. From this short Hypothesis of Meteors in general, I raise the following one of Heat and Cold, Frost and Thaw in particular.  
First, The Particles of Cold being conceived in the Frozen Womb of the Earth (in that Climate, where the enlivening and thawing Beams of the Sun seldom or never approach) passing through the Pores of the Earth into the Airy Region, are brought to us through the Air (their proper Vehicle) by certain peculiar Winds, which in their Motion, meeting with Liquid Watery Bodies, do co-agulate them; by which means those Bodies we call Ice, Snow, etc. are constituted.  
Secondly, As there be Corpuscles of Cold, so are there also Particles of Heat begot in a different Womb of the Earth in those Regions, which are mostly or always visited with the Parching Beams of the Sun, which are brought to us at other Seasons through the same Vehicle of Air by different and contrary Winds, which in their Motion meeting with those of Cold (either in the Air or here below co-agulated in Watery Bodies) do by quite altering their Textures, wholly resolve, mortify, and thaw them (as we daily see some Salts do others of a different Texture) so that thereupon the said Particles of Heat prevailing, a warm Temper of Air succeeds, and the Wether becomes quite altered, and that sometimes very suddenly, even to Admiration.  
And that the Phenomena of almost all Meteors, and their true Reasons, are deduceable from the Exhalations of Sulphur and Salts, as Nitre, Vitriol, Alum, and Sal Armoniac, is apparently conceivable by the following Instances of some Artificial ways of representing Heat and Cold: As  
If you put Oil of Vitriol to Water in a Phial, and mix them well together by shaking, you will find, that those two Liquors (though cold to touch) will immediately contract a greater Heat than the hand that holds the Glass can well suffer: and from the same cause you may make Ice itself to cause heat to another cold Liquor, by proceeding as before, with Ice put into Oil of Vitriol.  
If you please to mix Sal Armoniac with Saturn Over in a Mortar, and put them into a long Glass, and shake them well together: whilst the Solution is making, you will find the Glass feel very Cold, and if at the same time you wash the outside of the Glass with Water, you will find as you pour it on, long Flakes of Ice will immediately be congealed: The same will Sal Armoniac of itself do, being dissolved in Water.  
Besides the trite and common Experiment of making it Frieze Artificially, viz. by putting either common Salt, or Sea-Salt, or Nitre, or Vitriol, or Shall Armoniac, and Snow, together into a Pewter Flagon, set on a Joint-stool by the Fireside, upon which some Water is spilt, & churning them together with a Rolling Pin (or some such Instrument) in a little time the Flagon will be so hard frozen to the Stool, that without some difficulty it cannot be parted.  
If you put Snow into a Pewter-platter, and set it upon a Chafing-dish of live Coals, and in the midst of the Snow you place a Glass of Water, you will find, that as the Snow melts, the Water in the Glass will be frozen.  
The Reason of which Processes is this, viz. The Nitrous Particles of Snow being driven from their hold by the Fire, and those Salts (for any of these Salts being added to Snow or Ice, do presently dissolve their Texture) they in their flight join themselves to the Neighbouring Water, and so congeal and turn it to Ice.  
Thirdly, I am (according to my proposed Method) come to give you my Opinion, what Effects this extreme Cold Frosty Season may probably have upon Humane Bodies as to Health and Sickness; which I shall consider in Two Parts, (1.) In Relation to the time of the Frosts continuance. (2.) In Relation to the time of Thaw.  
Whilst the Frost continues, and the Minute Keen Particles of Cold are in such swarms brought to us by the Northern Winds, their peculiar Vehicle for this Climate (as they are by the Southern Winds peculiar likewise to them, over whom that Pole is Elevated) they close up the Pores of our Skins, so that the usual Vent by Transpiration being stopped up, our inward Ferments thereby become mightily invigorated; as is manifest in that Trite Observation, that our Appetites to Food are stronger, and our Digestion better, in Frosty than Warm Wether: And since our Spirits by those Particles of Cold are driven up and confined to a narrower room than ordinary, the Sulphurous parts of the Blood wanting their wont space to dilate themselves in, are apt now than in warm Wether, upon every little occasion to take Fire, and to be thrown into an unnatural Ferment, thereby laying the Foundation of Favours of all sorts, Small Pox, Pleurisies, Peripneumonia, all sorts of Internal Inflammations, External Cutaneous Affects, etc. as also ●●●tharrs, Asthmas, Long lasting Coughs, Chin Coughs, etc. For which later Catalogue I take the peculiar reason to be, because the Blood at such a time being overcharged with superfluous Serasities (their wont passages by evaporation being stopped) doth pour upon the Lungs so great a quantity thereof, that they are (as it were) drowned and damned up therewith, upon which account great Obstructions must needs succeed, the Parents of those and such like Distempers.  
And should this Frosty Season continue one Month longer (the time wherein the Blood of all Animals is inspired with a new Ferment, and gins to luxuriate) the case would be much with our Bodies, as it is with Vessels which are filled with Wine whilst it is fermenting, and immediately close bunged up; where the Vessels and the Liquor would be in great danger of being spoiled and lost.  
And on the other hand, should the intenseness of the Season presently abate, and the Atoms of Cold be on a sudden now shattered to pieces by other particles of a different composure; yet since for almost two Solar Months they have had their Impressions upon us, we shall be made sensible of their influence a longer time than generally we are ware of, they having undoubtedly imprinted on our Bodies such Morbific predispositions (like seeds of various Diseases) as will be ready upon fit occasions (for many Months next succeeding) to spring up and be brought into Act, to the endangering the whole frame of our Constitutions.  
Now that those persons whom this Frosty Season found in health, and are so now, should be put in a way to continue in the same state, so long (however) as it lasts, I shall (since it lights so pat in my way) caution them of two things.  
1. That they take care, they do not too much exalt the Fermint of the Blood by too violent Exercise, or by too copious a supply of Spirituous Liquors: which last is too frequent a Custom with some, who finding themselves externally Cold in such an extreme Frosty time as this, do (upon a mistaken Notion) allow themselves a greater liberty (than at other times they were wont) in the use of Distilled Spirits, Brandy, Wine, and other Strong Liquors, whereby under pretence of procuring Heat and Vigour, they certainly endanger the stifling and suffocaing the Natural Heat within them.  
2. That on the other side they be not careless in opposing the sharp and keen particles of Cold by warmth from moderate Exercise, or by a due and accustomed use of Spirituous Liquors; for let the Blood and Liquid Juices of our Bodies be invigorated by a due supply of Spirituous, Saline & Sulphurous Particles, whereby they may be kept constantly in motion, etc. then there will be no fear of our receiving any injury by Cold: but where through necessity or carelessness, those needful supplies are wanting, it is no great wonder if such do fall Victims to this almost-intollerable Season: For from what parts of our Bodies soever, the Spirituous particles shall be forced to withdraw themselves and make a Retreat, they will instantly be supplied with the nimble Particles of Cold, which will congeal our fluid humours; and if suffered to prevail, must certainly put the Spirits to a rout. For that the Particles of Cold at some times and in some places are so intense, that they irrecoverably destroy the Ferments of Men and other Animals, is evident by their kill of many Men and Beasts in some countries', as in Russia, Greenland, Norway, etc. where the Frosts are sometimes so strong, that Men are often frozen to death; and I have read and been personally informed, that in those Country's Men in Travelling have been brought to their Inns frozen to death on Horseback, and been found so stiff and rigid, that they have sat up straight like Statues.  
2. Now I am come to consider what effects the Thawing Season (immediately succeeding this Frost) may probably have on Humane Bodies, as to Health and Sickness.  
When the Southern Winds shall fill our Hemisphere with the Particles of Heat and Moisture, and in carrying them through the common Vehicle of the Air, shall with their great and numerous Swarms, meet there with those of Frost and Cold, and being of a different Texture, shall suddenly resolve, thaw, and take them all to pieces again, then will all Putrefactive Ferments grow vigorous; and upon the unhinging and unriveting the Atoms of Cold great alterations must needs be produced in the Bodies of all Animals.  
Whatever Cold, Frosty, and Snowy Winters may conduce to the invigorating the Earth, to make it the more Fertile in producing Vegetables (I shall not here examine;) but if we look back into those Years in which have happened the most Epidemical Malignant Diseases, and the greatest Mortality's, we shall find they have succeeded the Coldest, most Frosty, and Sharpest-winters'.  
When after a Vigorous Assault the Particles of Cold have kept possession of the minute Portals of our Bodies, for (it may be) two or three Revolutions of the Earth Attendant, they shall be so strenuously attaqued by the prevailing Particles of a contrary Extreme, that they shall be forced to surrender and to quit their Hold; what quarter then can we expect should be given to the various Juices of our Bodies? Can any Extreme be Friendly to Nature? Can such sudden Alteration of the Wether prove otherwise, than mightily prejudicial to our Healths? Those Passages of our Bodies which were so long so closely locked up, will now be laid open, and become lax and penetrable, liable to receive such Exotic putrefactive Ferments as the Air (being saturated with) shall present: whence is that trite and true Observation, that in Cold, Raw, Thawing Wether People generally take more Cold, and are more prone to Diseases than at other times: And it is mostly of such Wether, that Aged and Infirm Folks do (by their Almanacs, as 'tis said, in their Bones) so truly prognosticate, and discern its approach beforehand. For in such cold, open Wether, the raw and moist Particles in the Air, insensible insinuating themselves into our gaping Pores, slide into the Mass of Blood, whereby it becoming overcharged with Superfluous Serosities (as from another cause, before intimated, it was, whilst the Frost lasted) it carries them in a full Current to the Lungs, where depositing them, they there stagnate, and thereby become the cause of desperate Coughs, Asthmas, Gouts, Rheumatisms, Drowsiness, with manifold other Symptoms, vulgarly ascribed to the Scurvy.  
Thus (Honoured Sir) according to my present Sentiments of Things, I have endeavoured to comply with your desire; which though it be far from being done Dignum Rei, yet of such as it is (I will presume to say) I question not its Candid Acceptance: your Commands gave it Life, had it not been for that, it had never had Being: And the daring Atoms of Cold insinuate themselves into the Ink in my Pen whilst I am Writing, and 'tis by the Magic of your Commands if my Intellectuals have been kept Frost-free.  
Feb. 2. 1683/ 4 L. M●s●olo Le●ish●i●●● Honoured Sir, Your most Humbly Devoted Servant, J. P.