Of Venomous Exhalations from the EARTH, Poisonous Airs and Waters.

Besides these already treated of, there is yet another way of being Poisoned, and that is by Venomous Steams and Exhalations, or a Poisonous Air taken into the Body by the Breath.

This is notorious enough, and Authors do upon many Occasions make mention of it; but when they come to explain the particular manner how this Kills, they most commonly reduce it to some of the Poisons which prove destructive by being admitted into the Stomach, alledging that Malignant Fumes and Airs are therefore fatal, because impregnated with Arsenical Mercurial, and the like, Deleterious ???sata or Particles, they do convey these into the Blood; which being of a very Corrosive Nature, must necessarily do hurt both to the Fluid and Solid Parts.

And indeed that the Fumes of these same Minerals are very pernicious, and Air fill’d with their Atoms very unfit for Respiration, is most certain; but to argue from hence, that all deadly Vapours and Malignant Airs owe their Mischief to these only, is too fond and ill-grounded a Conceit; since upon a due Enquiry it will appear, that there may be, and are, Mortiferous Exhalations from the Earth, infecting the Air, of a Nature so different from any of those Poisons, that the very Substance from which they arise may not be at all hurtful, tho’ taken into the Stomach it self.

Venomous Steams and Damps from the Earth the Latins in one Word call’d Mephites (152).

This, as many other Tuscan Words, comes from a Syriac Theme, which signifies to blow or breathe (153).

And in ancient times several Places were notorious for ’em; so the Mephitis of Hierapolis was very Famous, of which Cicero, Galen, but more particularly, and from his own Sight and Knowledge Strabo (154) makes mention.

Such another was the Specus Corycius in Cilicia, which upon the account of its stinking deadly Air, such as is thought to proceed from the Mouth of Dragons, which the Poets give to Typhon, was call’d Cubile Typhonis. This Pompon. Mela (155) describes; and it is indeed as ancient as Homer (156); for Arima, in which he places it, was, as Eustathius says, a Mountain of Cilicia.

Neither are such Fumes as these infrequent Now-a-days; and though mostly taken notice of in Mines, Pits, and other Subterraneous Places, yet they are sometimes met with in the Surface of the Earth too, especially in Countries fruitful of Minerals, or pregnant with Imbowelled Fires; such are Hungary and Italy, which latter (as Seneca (157) observes) has always been more than any other remarkable for ’em.

I shall therefore, having had the opportunity of making some Remarks upon One the most Famous of all in those Parts, give as good an account as I can of That, and its manner of Killing; which tho’ I dare not affirm to be universally applicable to any Mephitis whatsoever, yet seems plainly to be the Case of most of ’em; and where it is not, this simple Mischief will only be found to be complicated with another; and then some extraordinary Symptoms or Appearances in the Animals kill’d, will easily make a Discovery of the Additional Venom and Malignity.

This Celebrated Mofeta taken notice of, (or at least some other hereabouts) even in the time of Pliny (158), is about Two Miles distant from Naples, just by the Lago d’ Agnano, in the way to Pozzoli or Puteoli, and is commonly call’d la Grotta de Cani, because the Experiment of its deadly Nature is frequently made upon Dogs; tho’ it be as certainly fatal to any other Animal, if it come within the reach of its Vapour; for Charles the Eighth of France prov’d it so upon an Ass; and two Slaves put into it by order of D. Pietro di Toledo, Viceroy of Naples, with their Heads held down to the Earth, were both kill’d (159).

’Tis a small Grotta at the Foot of a little Hill, about Eight Foot high, Twelve long, and Six broad; from the Ground arises a thin, subtle, warm Fume, visible enough to a discerning Eye, which does not spring up in little parcels here and there, but is one continued Steam, covering the whole Surface of the bottom of the Cave; and has this remarkable difference from common Vapours, that it does not, like Smoak, disperse it self into the Air, but quickly after its rise falls back again, and returns to the Earth; the Colour of the sides of the Grotta being the measure of its Ascent; for so far it is of a darkish Green, but higher, only common Earth, and this is about Ten Inches. And therefore as my self found no Inconvenience by standing in it, so no Animal if its Head be kept above this Mark is in the least injured: But when (as the manner is) a Dog, or any other Creature, is forcibly held below it, or by reason of its smalness can’t hold its Head above it, It presently, like one stunn’d, loses all Motion, falls down as Dead, or in a Swoon, the Limbs convuls’d and trembling, till at last no more sign of Life appears than a very weak and almost Insensible beating of the Heart and Arteries, which if the Animal be left there a little longer, quickly ceases too, and then the Case is Irrecoverable; But if snatch’d out, and laid in the open Air, soon comes to Life again, and sooner if thrown into the adjacent Lake.

In this short, but accurate, History of the Grotta de Cani, I have set dow those Particulars which do not only distinguish Mephitical Exhalations from common and innocent Fumes, but also give hints sufficient, I think, Mechanically to determine the Reason and Manner of their surprising Effects.

And not to spend time in refuting the Opinions of Others, I shall only take Notice, that here can be no suspicion of any true Venom or real Poison; if there was, it were impossible that Animals taken out of the Grotta, should so immediately recover the Effects of it, without any remaining appearance of Faintness and Sickness, or such like Symptoms as those suffer who have been breathing in an Air impregnated with malignant corrosive Effluvia. Besides, that the Venomous Corpuscles would certainly, in some Degree at least, infect the Air in the upper Part of the Cave, which continues pure, and fit for Respiration. Neither indeed after what manner soever this Poison be imagin’d to Act, whether by dissolving or coagulating the Blood, could its Efficacy be so sudden and momentaneous, without some Marks of it in the Creatures kill’d, when opened, which yet do discover nothing of this Nature extraordinary, neither in the Fluid, nor in the Solid Parts.

In order therefore to understand wherein this deadly quality Consists; I say in the first Place, that Life, so far as it respects the Body, is, in one Word, the Circulation of the Blood; that is, its Motion in Conical Distractile Vessels from the Heart to the Extreme Parts, and its Return to the Heart again by the same Canals inverted; For ’tis upon this that all Animal Functions, all Sense and Motion Voluntary and Involuntary, do depend; so that the Regularity of this Course is the Measure of Health, or the most perfect Life, as its various Irregularities are the Occasions of Sickness and Diseases, or a beginning Death.

Now all the Animal Operations and Offices which proceed from this Circulation, are the Effects of several Secretions of Liquors of very different Natures out of the same Fluid Mass; It was therefore absolutely necessary that the Blood, before It be distributed to the Organs, should be so comminuted and broken, as that no CohÆsion of its Parts should hinder the Separation of these Juices from It, when it Arrives with a determinate Force at the Orifices of the Secretory Vessels.

This Work is done in Its Passage thro’ the Lungs, by the repeated Compression of the Air in those Bladders upon the Arteries, with wonderful Contrivance dispers’d among ’em (160). Herein lies the Use and Necessity of Respiration; and the sudden Mischief of Stopping it, in that the whole Mass of Blood being to pass this way, upon a Check here, there presently insues a Stagnation, that is, a Cessation of all Animal Functions, or Death; Which will be the more speedy, if not only no Air is inspired, but a Fluid of a quite different Nature from It succeeds in its Place.

Wherefore it must be observed, that this good Effect of the Air is performed by its Elasticity; And that no Fluid whatsoever, that we know besides, is Elastic, at least to any considerable Degree, that is, has a faculty of expanding and dilating it self when compressed; No, not Water, as near as That is thought to approach to Air in its Nature.

And now as to the present Case, I took notice before that this Vapour is one continued and uninterrupted Steam, and that quickly after Its rise it falls down again; that is, that it has little or no mixture of Air with It, or no Elasticity; and is, on the other Hand, very heavy, when forsaken by the Force of Heat that drove it upwards.

So that I make no Question, but that Animals in this Place do instead of Air inspire Mineral Fumes, that is, a thin watery Vapour, impregnated with such Particles as do, when united together, compose solid and heavy Masses; which is so far from helping the Course of the Blood thro’ the Lungs, that it rather expels the Air out of the VesiculÆ, and straitens the Passage of the Blood Vessels, by its too great Gravity; whereupon the Bladders are relaxed and subside, and the Circulation is immediately Interrupted. But if the Animal be in time removed out of this Steam, that small Portion of Air which does after every Exspiration remain in the VesiculÆ, may be powerful enough to drive out this Noxious Fluid; especially if the Head of the Creature be held downwards, that so its Gravity may forward its Expulsion; or It be thrown into Water, which by assisting, upon the account of its Coldness, the Contraction of the Fibres, promotes the retarded Circle of the Blood; as we every Day experience in a Deliquium Animi, or Swooning Fit.

Tho’ if this Stagnation be continued too long, no Art can renew Life, no more than in One perfectly strangled; nor will the Lake of Agnano it self be of any Service; which shews that there is no singular Virtue in That Water beyond any other; nor is it, as some have fondly Imagin’d, a Peculiar Antidote to the Poison of the Grotta.

The bad Effects of such Fumes as This will be the more certain, because the inspired Mineral Particles twitch and irritate the Membranes, which are hereupon contracted to that Degree, as not to be able to recover their Tone, and so the Force and Action of the Lungs is quite lost.

It appears from all This not to be at all necessary to make any farther Enquiry into the particular Nature of these Mineral Particles, since they do in this Case act chiefly by their Gravity, which is common to ’em all. Tho’ indeed the Greenish Colour of the Earth, together with its Subacid Taste, very much (as L. di Capoa observes) like to that of the Phlegm of Vitriol, seem to declare them, if not altogether, yet principally at least, to be Vitriolick.

To conclude this Part of our Discourse; I think it a sufficient Confirmation of this Reasoning, that in Frogs kill’d in this Grotta, the Bladders of the Lungs (more visible otherwise and distinct in these Creatures than in most others), were found subsided, and quite empty of Air (161). But if any one desires a farther Proof, he may, according to these Principles, make (as Lionardo di Capoa (162) did) an Artificial Mephitis; for if Antimony, Bismuth, or any other such Mineral be finely powdered, and moistened with Aqua Fortis, or Spirit of Nitre, there will arise a great Heat, and a thick dark Smoak, in which, as in the Grotta de Cani, Torches are extinguish’d, and Animals, tho’ but slowly, stifled and kill’d. And this Effect will be more sensible, and equal to the most Violent Mephites, if the Antimony or Marcasite be mix’d with Bitumen, and the Spirit of Nitre, or Aqua Fortis, intirely depurated from all its Phlegm.

And thus I have shewn how Death may enter at the Nostrils, tho’ nothing properly Venomous be inspired. It were perhaps no difficult Matter to make it appear, how a lesser Degree of this Mischief may produce Effects, tho’ seemingly very different from these now mention’d, yet in reality of the same Pernicious Nature; I mean, how such an alteration of the common Air as renders it in a manner Mephitical, that is, increases its Gravity, and lessens its Elasticity, (which is done by too much Heat, and at the same time too great a Proportion of watery and other grosser Particles mixt with it) may be the Cause of Epidemic Diseases, and, it may be, more especially of those, which by Reason of their untoward Symptoms, are usually call’d Malignant.

For it is very Remarkable, that Hippocrates (163) observ’d the Constitution of the Air, which preceded Pestilential Fevers, to be great Heats, attended with much Rain and Southern Winds; and Galen (164) takes Notice, that no other than a moist and hot Temperament of the Air brings the Plague it self; and that the Duration of this Constitution is the Measure of the Violence of the Pestilence. Lucretius (165) is of the same Mind, for in his admirable Description of the Plague of Athens, These Diseases, says He, either come from the Air, or arise from the Earth,

——Ubi Putrorem humida nacta est

Intempestivis Pluviisq; & Solibus icta.

In short, the general Histories of Epidemic Distempers, do almost constantly Confirm thus much, and would have done it more, if the vain Notion of Occult Venoms had not prepossess’d the Minds of Authors, and made Them regardless of the manifest Causes.

And this is notorious enough in those Countries where Malignant Diseases are most rife; Thus it is a very common Observation in the East-Indies, that during the dry Heats the Season is Healthful, but when the Rains fall immediately upon the Hot Weather, then untoward Fevers begin to threaten.

The same is observ’d in Africa; for (as Joan, Leo (166) relates) if Showers fall there during the Sultry Heats of July and August, the Plague and Pestilential Fevers insue thereupon, with which whosoever is infected hardly escapes.

And here I might, by Reflecting on the Use and Necessity of Respiration, and the particular manner of performing It, (of which I have hinted something already) and considering withal the true Nature of Fevers, easily shew how such a Constitution of the Air, as this is, must necessarily produce such Effects; might run over the Propositions of Bellini; which as they do plainly evince Malignant and Pestilential Fevers to be owing to a viscid and tenacious Lentor or Slime, which at first obstructs the Capillary Arteries, and afterwards being dissolved by Heat, Ferments with the Blood, and changes it into a Mass unequally Fluid and Glutinous, and therefore unfit for all the Operations of the Animal OEconomy; so it would be no uneasie Task to prove, that Air at the same time Hot and Moist, being less able to comminute and break the Arterial Fluid in the Lungs than is necessary, in order to prepare it for Secretions, it is no wonder, if when the Blood passing thro’ the Capillary Vessels arrives at the Secretory Organs, the CohÆsion of its Parts not being sufficiently removed, instead of deriving several Juices out of it into the Glands, it leaves its most Glutinous and Viscid Parts sticking about the Orifices of these Vessels; which tho’ they may at first be wash’d away by the repeated Impulses of the succeeding Blood, yet the Cause continuing, and these Strokes growing still Weaker and Weaker, (from a lesser quantity of Spirits being separated, and hence a more languid Contraction of the Heart) These Obstructions are increas’d to that Degree as not to be remov’d, till by the Violent Agitation of a greater Heat, this Slimy Mucus is thrown into the Blood again, and there in the Nature of a Ferment so disturbs its Mixture, and changes its Compages, as to make it a Fluid of quite different Properties, that is, altogether unfit for the same Functions or Offices.

This Effect will be the more certain, because a damp Air upon the surface of the Body checks insensible Perspiration, so that a great quantity of this being detained, the Obstructions are still greater in the small Tubes; whereas indeed upon the Account of a more than ordinary Heat, this Discharge ought now to be in an increased Proportion.

Such a Disposition of the Blood as this the Ancients call’d Putrid; and to speak plainly, it is a Beginning Stagnation, with a Succeeding Heat and Fermentation.

Nor would it be amiss here to take notice, how unjustly some Authors, having quitted the Consideration of plain Causes, for Occult Venoms and Deleterium quid, have brought in the ?e??? t? (something Divine) of Hippocrates (167) to favour their fond Hypothesis; tho’ His best Interpreter Galen, understood by this Expression no such thing as they mean; but on the other Hand, only the manifest Constitution of the ambient Air, such as himself has described in his Aphorisms (168), and which is exactly the same with That We have been discoursing of.

And therefore not only does Minadous (169) rightly Remark, that in his whole Epidemics, Hippocrates never once mentions any Venom or Poison as the Cause of Malignant Diseases; But the Divine Old Man himself in another Treatise (170) expresly teaches Us, that All Maladies do equally, or one as much as another, proceed from the Gods, there being nothing more Divine in this than in that, each acknowledging its own Natural and Manifest Cause.

But I willingly wave insisting upon these Heads, as well as the Hints which might be taken from this Theory, of some Use perhaps in the Cure of these Distempers; and leave it to our Physicians to judge upon how good Grounds They do, in Cases of this Nature, under the Notion of Alexipharmics, give such Medicines as raise a great Heat both in the Stomach and Blood; only praying Them to take Care, least while They are ingaging the Animal Spirits in War with Malignities, They do send Treacherous Auxiliaries to the supposed weak Party; that is, that they either raise new Tumults and Disorders of worse Consequence than the Original Mischief; or at least, by clogging the Wheels, and throwing Dust upon the Springs of the finest Machine in the Creation, do check and interrupt the Action of Nature (171), when ’tis imploy’d about the most Nice and Critical Work.

Neither can I, tho’ an occasion be fairly offer’d, by any means be induced to intermeddle in the Controversie of those Gentlemen, who by the help of Two Words are made Masters both of Philosophy and Physick; I mean, the Violent Assertors of Acid and Alkali. These scanty Principles fall infinitely short of that vast Variety there is in the Works of Nature; However, for Their Sakes who are as yet Advanc’d no farther, I will advise the Contending Parties, (because little good is got by Quarrelling) to Think of an Union, and if They can find no Remedies but out of these Two Tribes, to make Use of such as result from a prudent Mixture of some out of Each. If this Project does not take, to Resolve however on both sides, To Distinguish the differing Times of the same Disease, and know, that as, on the one Hand, Acid Medicines are oftentimes as certainly hurtful in the latter End, as they do service in the Beginning of the Fever; so, on the other, those which are Alcalious must necessarily for the same Reason do mischief in the first Periods, for which they are profitable in the last Days of the Distemper.

By what Mechanism this comes to pass, They will easily understand, when they have learn’d what Alteration such things as these are do make in the humane Body; nor will it then be a difficult Matter to convince Them, That He is equally a fond Slave to an Hypothesis, who because Acids are sometimes of great Service in Fevers, concludes that their Origine is Alcalious; as He who knowing that Stagnating and Fermenting Juices do easily turn to Acidity, from thence Argues that Alcalies are the only Cure of this Stagnation and Ferment.

But Dr. Pitcarne (172) has abundantly demonstrated the Weakness of These Men’s Reasonings, and the Vanity of such Immechanical Theories.

And here I would put a Period to this Part of the Discourse, were it not that these Distempers being sometimes Contagious, and Contagion being justly reputed a real Poison, it may be worth the while to examine a little what This is, and wherein it consists; more especially, because some may perhaps be apt to think This to be an Argument of an Occult Venom’s being the First and Original Cause.

We are therefore to take Notice, that when a Fever is communicated by way of Infection from one already Diseased, this most commonly happens in the latter End of the Distemper, that is, (as we before discoursed concerning the Hydrophobia) when the Fermenting Blood is throwing off great quantities of its Active Fermentative Particles upon the Glands of the most constant and easie Secretion; such are those in the Surface of the Body, and the Mouth and Stomach; By this means therefore the Liquid of insensible Perspiration, and the Sweat is impregnated with these ??sata, and thus the ambient Air becomes fill’d with ’em; so that not only, (as Bellini Argues (173),) may some of these Effluvia insinuate themselves into the Blood of a sound Person thro’ the Pores of the outward Skin, but also in Inspiration thro’ the Membrane of the Lungs; for He has in another Place (174) demonstrated how the Air, or something from It, may this way come to be mix’d with the Arterial Fluid; And thus the like Ferment will be rais’d Here, as was in the Originally Distemper’d Subject.

This may be One, but there is perhaps another yet more dangerous manner of Infection, and that is, by the Breath of the Diseased taken in by a By-stander, especially in the last Moments, seizing the Stomach, and fixing a Malignity There. For it is upon this Score, that Those who are Infected do presently complain of an extreme Pain and Nausea in the upper Orifice of the Stomach; and that all Authors do agree in the admirable Use of Vomits timely given in this Case; These by their Stimulating Force removing the very Minera of the Disease; and likewise that, oftentimes in Pestilential Illnesses, the Stomach when open’d has been found Gangren’d and Mortify’d. This made Van Helmont (175), who had observ’d this Part in one kill’d by a Plague Infection, perforated and eroded in several Places, no otherwise than He had seen in one Poison’d by Arsenick, conclude, that the Plague for the most Part begins in the Stomach from a coagulated Tartar there.

Herein lies the difference of Contagion, from the first Invasion of Malignant Distempers; The Effects of the One are the Cause and Beginning of the Other; and therefore it is no wonder, if tho’ the Symptoms in the former are by a gradual Increase wrought up to their height, they do however in the latter, even at the very first, discover their ill Nature and Violence, and, like a reinforc’d Enemy, by surer Strokes make quicker Dispatch. And this also is the Reason of the great Increase of Funerals in Plague Time, in that One Death is thus added to Another.

If it be difficult to explain the particular manner how the Stomach comes to be thus affected, We must not therefore deny Matter of Fact; and may however probably Conjecture, that the last Breath of one Dying of a Malignant Distemper, proves thus pernicious, in that Those fermenting active Particles, which, as we just now observ’d, the Blood discharges upon the Glands of the Mouth, Stomach, Lungs, &c. impregnating the Air in its Passage thro’ these; when the same happens to be immediately inspired by a sound Person, it may easily taint the Salival Juices in the Mouth, which are very Glutinous, and of a fermenting Nature, and therefore susceptible enough of Contagious Effluvia, but especially of such as proceed from the same Liquor infected in the Sick Party. Now the Spittle is continually swallow’d down into the Stomach, and so will quickly impress its Labes, or ill Quality, on so tender and sensible a Part; that is, will lodge these Corrosive Salts, (for such We may suppose the Particles of Infection) in the Secretory Ducts; whereupon the Glands being obstructed, little Tumors are by the Afflux of their Fluid rais’d here and there, which breaking become small Ulcers, and produce that dismal Train of Symptoms which we have already related.

And here it may not be amiss to take notice, that all Authors do agree, One great Cause of Pestilential Distempers, especially in Armies and Camps, to be dead Bodies lying expos’d and rotting in the open Air; The Reason of which is plain from what we have been advancing; For Battels being generally fought in the Summer Time, it is no wonder, if the Heat acting upon the unbury’d Carcasses, and Fermenting the Juices, draws forth those active Particles, which in great quantities filling the Atmosphere, when they are inspired and let into the Stomach, do affect It after the manner already described.

To illustrate this Matter, I shall relate a remarkable Story told Me by the learned Dr. Baynard. The Body of a Malefactor was Hung up in Chains in the Country; after a few Months, in very hot Weather it was Sport and Pastime to some Boys, Playing thereabouts to Swing the Carcass up and down; One more bold than the Rest struck It with his Fist upon the naked Belly, which being outwardly parch’d and dry, and from the falling down of the Humours Swell’d and Tense, was easily burst by the Blow; out gush’d a Water so Corrosive and Fiery, that running down the poor Lad’s Arm, it caus’d a Violent Excoriation, and a very hard Matter it was to preserve It from being truly mortified. What this Serum could do upon the outward Skin, the more Volatile Parts of It would, without all doubt, Effect upon the more tender and sensible Membranes of the Stomach, if a considerable number of them were fixt there. The Fluids of Humane Bodies being Ranker and more abounding in active Salts than those of other Creatures, which are not continually repaired and nourish’d by the Juices of Animals.

The Way by which Bad Food, ill ripened Fruits of the Earth, &c. do oftentimes produce Malignant and Pestilential Diseases, is not very different from That by which We have observ’d Unwholesome Airs to be the Cause of the like Effects. For the Juices with which Those do supply the Blood being Corrupted, must necessarily make a Fluid of quite other Properties than what the Animal Œconomy requires, that is, neither Fit for Nutrition, nor for the Secretion of those Liquors which in the several Organs are to be derived from It; whereupon the small Tubes are obstructed by an unequally Glutinous Slime; and it is therefore no wonder, if besides the other Symptoms insuing, Sore Pustules, Inflammations, Ulcers, &c. (more common in Fevers from this Cause than in any other,) are raised in the Surface of the Body.

This is the Ground of the common Observation, that a Famine is very often succeeded by a Pestilence. And This Calamity generally begins among the Poorer sort of People, whose Diet to be sure is the worst.

The City of Surat in the East-Indies is seldom or never free from the Plague; and yet it is observ’d, that the English who Trade there are in no danger of being Infected thereby. Now the Chief of the Natives in this Place are Banians, who neither Eat Flesh, nor Drink Wine, but Live very Poorly upon Herbs, Rice, Water, &c. and most of the Inhabitants do the like, except Foreigners; This Poor Fare, together with the Heat of the Climate, makes them so liable to Malignant Distempers; from the Attacks of which Those who Feed well are more Safe and Secure.

Thus much concerning Poisonous Exhalations and Airs, so far as the Consideration of the Grotta de’ Cani has led Us on to enquire into their Effects; for tho’ there may be other Alterations of this same Element, differing in their Nature from this we have insisted upon, and yet equally Pernicious and Hurtful, yet We take no Notice of any of them, in regard that those which are from Arsenical, Mercurial, and the like Fumes, are reducible to a foregoing Essay; and those which are owing to a Change of the known Properties of the Air, may be easily explain’d by what has been already delivered in This. I shall therefore rather chuse to make some Remarks on the Mischief of another Fluid, which as It is the next in use to This we have been treating of, so the bad Qualities of it, when it comes to be altered, must necessarily be almost equally Fatal and Dangerous.

I mean Water, which is of so constant Service, not only for our Drinks, but also in preparing of our Flesh and Bread, that it may justly be said to be the Vehicle of all our Nourishment; so that whenever this happens to put on other Properties than are necessary to fit it for this Purpose, it is no wonder if in its Passage thro’ the Body these do make suitable Impressions there.

Thus at Paris (176), where the Water of the River Seine is so full of Stony Corpuscles, that even the Pipes through which it is carried, in time are incrusted and stopt up by ’em, The Inhabitants are more Subject to the Stone in the Bladder than in most other Cities. The same I observed in the Baths of Abano, a few Miles from Padua, to that Degree, that it is necessary very frequently to clear the Wheel of a Mill driven by the Current of these Springs, from the great quantity of petrify’d Matter with which it is from time to time incumbered.

In like manner, let the gross Particles with which the Water is saturated be of any other Nature, Metallick, Salts, &c. these, according to their various Gravity, the Capacity of Canals, and such like Circumstances, will, when they come to circulate in the Animal Body, be by the Laws of Motion deposited in one Part or other. So those Mineral Bodies, and Nitrous Salts, which abound in the Snowy Waters of the Alps, do so certainly Stuff and Inlarge the Glands of the Throat in Those who Drink ’em, that scarce any who live there are exempted from this Inconvenience (177).

For this Reason, the Choice of Water for Drink among the Ancients was by Weight, the lightest being preferr’d, as, most free from all Heterogeneous Bodies.

The Case therefore of Poisonous Springs is, their having Corrosive Corpuscles mixt with their Water, which cannot fail when forsaken in the Canals of the Body of their Vehicle, to do the same mischief as they would if taken by themselves undiluted; only with this difference, that they may in this form be carried sometimes farther into the Animal Œconomy, and so having pass’d the PrimÆ ViÆ, discover their Malignity in some of the inmost Recesses. Thus the Fons Ruber in Æthiopia, mention’d by Pliny (178), about which abundance of native Minium or Cinnabar was found, shew’d its ill Effects chiefly on the Brain; and therefore Ovid (179) says of it,

——Si quis Faucibus hausit

Aut Furit aut patitur mirum gravitate Soporem.

We shall not need then to inlarge on this Matter, since any of the foremention’d Mineral Poisons may thus impart their deadly quality to Waters; and accordingly there are Instances of Arsenical, Mercurial, &c. Fountains, of which the Histories may be seen in the Collections of the Learned Baccius (180). And one very remarkable in the Philosophical Transactions (181).

But as We before took Notice concerning Airs, so it may be worth the while to observe of Waters; that there are some Alterations of them, which tho’ not properly Poisonous, yet are of so great Consequence in their Effects, that they may very well deserve to be regarded.

This I shall do with respect to a great Abuse, committed in this kind about the City; and that is, In the chusing of stagnating impure Well-Water for the Brewing of Beer, and making other Drinks. Such a Fluid indeed has oftentimes a greater Force and Aptness to extract the Tincture out of Malt, than is to be had in the more innocent and soft Liquor of Rivers; but for this very Reason it ought not, unless upon meer Necessity, to be made use of; this quality being owing to the Mineral Particles and Aluminous Salts with which it is impregnated.

A late Author (182) by searching into the first Accounts of the Distemper we call the Scurvy, describ’d by Pliny (183) and Strabo (184), under the promiscuous Names of Stomacace and Scelotyrbe; and examining the Authentick Histories of It in later Years, made by the most observing Physicians in those Countries where it was unhappily revived, as Olaus Magnus, Balduinus Ronseus, J. Wierus, Solomon Albertus, &c. finds that the Origine of It was in all times and places charged upon the use of unwholesome stagnating Waters. Then by comparing together the Clayie Strata of the Earth about the Cities of London, Paris, and Amsterdam, He shews that where the Water is worst, there this Malady is most rife. So that He has put it out of all doubt, that most of the perplex’d and complicated Symptoms which are ranged under this one general Name, if they do not entirely owe their Birth to the Malignity of this Element, do however acknowledge it to be their main and principal Cause.

And indeed Hippocrates himself, as He has very plainly decipher’d this Disease (185), by the Title of sp???e? ??a???, or great Milts; so he does very particularly in another Treatise (186), take notice, that Drinking of Stagnating Well-Waters must necessarily induce an ill Disposition both of the Milt and Belly.

If we enquire into the Reason of such ill Effects, we must consider, that Clay is a Mineral Glebe, and that the gross Particles and Metallick Salts with which Waters passing thro’ such a Bottom do abound, are, as Dr. Lister (187) observes, not to be mastered, that is, indigestible in the Humane Body. Not only therefore will these Cause, as He very well Argues, calculous Concretions in the Kidneys, Bladder, and Joints; and as Hippocrates experienced, hard Swellings in the Spleen; but they must necessarily oftentimes by their Corrosive quality twitch and irritate the sensible Membranes of the Stomach and Bowels, and thus hinder and interrupt the Digestion of our Food. Nay, besides all this, when they come into the Blood, it is no wonder if the small Canals of insensible Perspiration are frequently stopt and obstructed by ’em; for it is upon this Score that Sanctorius (188) teaches Us, that heavy Water converts the Matter of Transpiration into an Ichor, which being retained, induces a Cachexy.

What Mischiefs will insue hereupon every one sees; not only Pains in the Limbs, livid Spots in the Surface of the Body, Ulcers, &c. from the Acrimony of the undischarged Moisture; but many besides of those perplexing Symptoms which go by the Name of Hysterical and Hypochondriacal, may take their rise from the same Source; for the before cited Sanctorius (189) has remark’d, that the Flatus or Wind so inseparable from those Cases, is no other than the Fluid of Perspiration rude and unfinished.

If these Inconveniencies are oftentimes not felt, at least not till towards the declining Age, in strong and active Habits of Body; yet I am, from very good Experience, assured, that they deserve Consideration in weaker Constitutions, and a Sedentary Life, especially of the more tender Sex.

I have the honour to be nearly related to a worthy Person, who led formerly an afflicted Life from the frequent returns of Violent Colick Pains, till she was with happy Success advised by the Noble Van Helmont not to Drink (as she then did) Beer Brewed with Well-Water; and her Health is even now so far owing to this Management, that an Error in It is unavoidably follow’d with the wonted Complaints.

For these Reasons Pliny (190) tells Us, that Those Waters are Condemn’d in the first Place, which when Boiled do incrustate the sides of the Vessels; And that our Well-Waters do this, no Body who looks into the Tea-Kettles of our Gentlewomen can be Ignorant.

And indeed in Ancient Times, when Physick was more a Science, which is now more a Trade, as that Part of It, which relates to Diet was more carefully studied, than it is Now-a-days; so this Point particularly of which we are Treating was of so great Moment, that Hippocrates, who wrote the best Book (191) on the Subject that ever was Publish’d, has in a great Measure accounted not only for the Diseases, but even for the Temper and Disposition of the People of several Countries, from the Difference of the Waters with which Nature has supplied Them.

(152) Virgil Æn. 7. v. 8.

(153) Scaliger. Conject. in Varron.

(154) Lib. 13.

(155) De Situ Orb. l. 1. c. 13.

(156) ??? ?????? ??? fas? ??f?e?? ???a? ?????. Il. ?. v. 783.

(157) Nat. QuÆst. l. 6. c. 28.

(158) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 93.

(159) L. di Capoa delle Mofet. pag. 37.

(160) Vid. Malpigh. de Pulmon.

(161) Vid. L. di Capoa Mofet. pag. 40.

(162) Pag. 128.

(163) Epidem. l. 2, & 3.

(164) De Temperament. l. 1. c. 4. & Commentar. in Epidem. l. 3.

(165) L. 6. v. 1098.

(166) Histor. Afric. l. 1. c. 1. Vid. Purchas’s Pilgrims, l. 6. c. 1.

(167) Prognostic. 1. & Galen. Comment.

(168) Sect. 3. Aph. 11.

(169) De Febre Malign l. 1. c. 11.

(170) De Aere, Locis, & Aquis.

(171) F?s?e? ???s?? ??t???. Hippocr. Epid. 6.

(172) Dissertatio de opera quam prÆstant corpora acida vel alcalica in Curatione Morborum.

(173) De Febrib. Prop. 27.

(174) De Motu Cordis, Prop. 9.

(175) Tumulus Pestis, pag. m. 163, & 172.

(176) Vid. Lister’s Voyage to Paris.

(177) Quis tumidum Guttur miratur in Alpibus. Juvenal Satyr. 13.

(178) Lib. 31. cap. 2.

(179) Metam. lib. 15.

(180) De Therm. lib. 6.

(181) N^o. 8.

(182) Dr. J. H. Scelera Aquarum: Or, a Supplement to Mr. Graunt on the Bills of Mortality.

(183) Lib. 25. c. 3.

(184) Geogr. lib. 6.

(185) Prorrhet. l. 2. c. 16.

(186) De Aere Aquis & Locis, sub finem.

(187) De Fontib. Med. Angl. P. 2. pag. 75. At fossilia sive Metallica salix aliÆ atq; alia sunt, & nobis & pene igni dixeram indomabilia.

(188) Medicin. Static. Sect. 2. Aphor. 6.

(189) Ibid. Sect. 3. Ap. 13. Flatus nil aliud est quam rude perspirabile.

(190) Lib. 31. c. 3. Damnantur imprimis Fontes quorum AquÆ decoctÆ crassis obducunt Vasa crustis.

(191) De Aere, Locis, & Aquis.