The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., epitomiz'd by Richard Boulton ... ; illustrated with copper plates.

PROP. I.* 1.1 Sometimes the specifick Medicine may cure by discussing or resolving the Morbifick matter, and thereby making it fit for Expulsion by the greater common shores of the Body, and the Pores of the Skin.

Thus the Blood impregnated with Medici∣nal Particles, may act upon gross Humours which obstruct the Parts, and are not to be resolved without specifick Solvents, which by their figure and agitation may get in betwixt and separate those Viscous Parts; so Blood impregnated with Sal-Armoniack dissolves Copper, not by manifest Qualities; but by Virtue of the Shape, Bulk, Solidity, and other Mechanical affections of its Parts, which con∣cur to enable it to disjoyn the Parts of a Body, of such a determinate Texture. And indeed there are not only a great number of

Menstruums very different from one another, but their effects evidently appear not to depend upon manifest Qualities, since it several times happens that a Menstruum less Acid, may dissolve this or that Body, which a much stronger Menstruum will not work upon; so Wa∣ter will dissolve the white of an Egg, which Spirit of Wine will coagulate, and so will Spirit of Salt and Oyl of Tartar it self; and thus dephlegmed Spirit of Urine will more readily dissolve filings of Copper than Spirit of Vitriol, and yet the latter will speedily dissolve Crabs Eyes, tho' the other leaves them untouched; so Quick-Silver will dissolve Gold in the cold, tho' Aqua Fortis assisted by Heat leaves it untouched; yet Aqua Fortis will dissolve Iron, and Quick-silver will not. And Brimstone will be dissolved by com∣mon Oyl, tho' not by Aqua Fortis. And I know a Liquor of which one may safely drink a Wine Glass full, tho' it will have such an effect upon Stones and Metals as can scarce be matched.

And if specifick Medicines may act upon Humours in the Body, after the manner of Menstruums, we may easily guess why they have peculiar Virtues, viz. By reason of their aptness to work upon peculiarly disposed Bo∣dies, so, as I have elsewhere noted, Aqua Fortis will not work upon Silver if too strong, till diluted with Water.

And as the dissolution of a Body may part∣ly depend in its disposition, to be acted on by such a Menstruum, from thence may be

deduced a reason, why a Medicine which hath good effects in one Disease may have but in∣different ones in others; for tho pure Spirit of Wine will easily dissolve Gumm, Guajacum, and that Rosinous matter lodged in the Pores of the Wood, yet the same Menstruum will not work upon the Wood it self. And if so, no wonder that those Medicines which cure one Distemper in one Person, will not cure it in another, since a Variation in the Texture of the Morbifick matter, is enough to vary the effects of the Medicines. And that a slight alteration of Texture varies the effects of a Menstruum appears, since, tho' Spirit of Nitre or Salt separate will each dissolve Copper; and tho' the Spirit of Nitre will dissolve Silver, yet if Spirit of Salt be added to it, it soon loses that Quality.

And here, tho' some object against speci∣fick Medicines, that since they rove up and down in the Blood, they cannot act well on particular Humours, yet if we suppose the Medicines act by impregnating the Blood, and that they turn it into a kind of Menstru∣um, it is possible that both the Menstruums may be appropriated to the peccant Humour, so as to resolve it more easily than any other Humour of the Body. As if you take some Bone ashes, Crocus Martis, Saw-dust, Pow∣dered Sea-Salt, and filings of Gold, and mix them together, common Water will dissolve the Salt and leave the others untouched, and Quick-Silver will alone dissolve the Gold: And those that work in Spanish Gold Mines

tell us, that Quick-Silver poured upon pow∣dered Ore of Gold and Copper mixed, it will scarce meddle with the latter, till the former is licked up.

And from what hath been said, we may be furnished with a reason of the effects of Periapta Amulets and Appensa, especially if we consider what hath already been delivered of the Effluviums of Bodies, and the Porosity of Animal Bodies; and tho' these Effluvia be very small in quantity, yet their effects may be more considerable, in as much as they are neither altered nor consumed, by previ∣ous digestions, and circulating through Parts, in which they might be in a great measure dispersed, and carried off a-long with the Ex∣crements.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Prop. I.