Hydrological essayes, or, A vindication of hydrologia chymica being a further discovery of the Scarbrough spaw, and of the right use thereof, and of the sweet spaw and sulpherwell at Knarsbrough : with a brief account of the allom works at Whitby : together with a return to some queries, propounded by the ingenious Dr. Dan Foot, concerning mineral waters : to which is annexed, an answer to Dr. Tunstal's book, concerning the Scarbrough spaw : with an appendix of the anatomy of the German spaw, and lastly, observations on the dissection of a woman who died of the jaundice, all grounded upon reason and experiment / William Simpson ...

A brief Account of the Anom-Works At WHITBY.

NOW, because I find that Alom is the chief and essential Ingredient of the Scarbrough Spaw Water, I shall (for further illustration) give my Observati∣ons concerning the Alom-Works at Whitby, to which place I purposely made a journey, for my own and others satisfaction; where first I observ'd, that it is not every Alom Mine that the Workmen will im∣ploy their labour and time about, as finding some that are unripe, and therefore unfit to extract the Salt therefrom; amongst which that blew Slate or Earth (which they often find near the true ripe Stone) which they call Doggers or Cats-heads; and other slaty Stone mixed therewith, they reject: which I cannot better parallel, then with those un∣ripe Mines which the Cole-miners often upon dig∣ging find, and call Smitts, as being an imperfect Cole, whose Sulphur is not brought to maturity, wherefore they reject it as an unprofitable and use∣less Fuel; and yet these may no less be reputed Coles, then the other unripe Alom Stone may be accounted Alom Minera: so that to expect that these crude Stones or Earth (which are akin to true Alom Stone) should give a tincture with Galls in

fresh Water (as some, not very cautiously, have at∣tempted) is no less irrational, then to expect from these Smitts, all the essential qualifications belong∣ing to the true ripe Cole, though both are Cole.

Next I observe, that when they have pitch'd up∣on the right Minera of Alom, they calcine it thus; first, digging great quantities thereof; then heap∣ing it Stratum super Stratum, (viz.) a layer of Coals, and a layer of Stones; piling them up a great height in a vast bulk, like a little Mountain, they fire it below, and so let it burn day and night, till the fire of its own accord ceaseth, or rather till all that is combustible be spent; when the Stone hath throughly taken fire, the whole Mass burns much more intensely then at the first, and that because of a plenteous Sulphur connate with the Stone, which then becomes fired, and is thrust forth to the super∣ficies of the Alom Stone, being a real combustible Sulphur, which as a Crust cleaves to the Minera, of which I have some by me, sent by an ingeni∣ous Friend.

Thirdly, We observe that this Calcination is therefore made of the Minera, that it may the bet∣ter and more plentifully yeeld its innate Salt, partly by opening the body thereof by this previous Calci∣nation, and partly by preparing it for a Magnet for the nitrous Particles flowing from the Air to settle thereon; with which, by being the longer exposed to the Air, it becomes the more saturated; plenti∣fully, I said, because the natural Stone, unprepared or calcined, will sometimes separate its connate Salt to the superficies thereof, by the bare solitary heat of the Sun: as I am by an Autopsie confirmed, in that I have sometime seen an Alom Slate spontane∣ously sweat forth its own Salt; which being dis∣solv'd

in fresh Spring Water with the addition of Galls, I found would immediately strike a deep pur∣ple, and with Oil of Sulphur and Vitriol become clear; and then opace again with the addition of Tartar, &c.

Fourthly, The Minera being thus opened by the Calcination, they make a Lee thereof, in Pirs made within the ground, which run one into another by Pipes or Channels; this Lee or Solution, they pump into Troughs which conveigh it into leaden Ci∣sterns, which will, with Galls, strike a deep pur∣ple colour, whereof they have whole Tuns, which will give that tincture, (as any who pleaseth may try.) This Liquor consists both of a Sulphur, A∣lom, Salt, and an Oaker, which as it runs along the Troughs, drills in some places through the crevices thereof, and by the heat of the Sun is congealed in∣to Salt, of which I procured a quantity to make Experiments with: This Salt will also (being dis∣solved in fresh Spring Water, and filtred) give the purple colour with the addition of Galls.

Fifthly. This Lee boyl'd up to such a height in leaden Cisterns, is pump'd into other Cisterns, and there it precipitates a great quantity of a yellow sul∣phureous earthy Sediment, and so becomes purged of its dross; then is it conveyed into other Cisterns, where it meets with a decocted Lee of Kelp and U∣rine, and thence (if I mistake not) is pump'd up into the first Cistern and boyl'd again; then lets fall another Sediment, and then is sent into low Ci∣sterns within the ground, where it in part shoots; what doth not shoot, is pumped up into a boyling Cistern, and therein is brought to its due height; then is it pumped into great Tun Caskes, where it shoots into that form we find the factitious Alom

of. To the last decoction, in the boyling Cisterns, is alwayes added its Mother, which is a Liquor which alwayes remains after shooting, and contributes much towards the chrystallizing of fresh Alom Li∣quor.

But in their last decoction, which is performed in their roaching Pan, they boyl up that part which before was shot into grains in the lower Cisterns, to∣gether with that which did not shoot, (and all af∣ter the mixture with the additional Salts) into a due consistence, and so they let it run into the fore∣said Tun-Casks to shoot.

That this aluminous Salt is esurine and sharp, (as we have said in our Hydrol. Chym.) as well as that of Vitriol, is evident by the Experiment of put∣ting a plate of Iron, suppose of about a quarter of a pound weight, into the last boyling Liquor, (which I caus'd to be tryed) which in a few hours was to∣tally corroded and dissolved, which in longer time would scarcely be toucht, when covered with a broad cloth, shred or list; and what is remarkable in this (but common to other mineral menstruum fretting their proper bodies) was, that while the Iron was dissolving, the Liquor did ferment, boyl and rage more than ordinarily; which when the Solution was over, ceased, although I must confess that it's probable, that the addition of the Salts of Kelp and Urine, may promote the corrosiveness of this Liquor, and may make it the more readily dissolve Iron, and perhaps other Metals, if they were tryed in it.

And were these Salts of Kelp totally alkalizate, (after the manner of the fixed Salts of common Ve∣getables, made by the calcination of Plants, by na∣ked force of fire) would certainly prove destructive

to the Alom Work, and that because the last are indued with a saltiness, contrary and quite destru∣ctive to all acid Salts, which after a sharp contest would terminate not in Alom, but in a neutrum quid, (viz.) Tartarum Aluminosum. But the Lee made out of the burnt Sea-wrack or Kelp, is over halanc'd with a Marine Salt, which (by a continu∣al pressure or agitation of parts) works it self into the texture of those Sea-faring Plants, by unhinging some parts of their first composition, whence the brackishness and sulphureous twang of the Lee of Kelp is produced.

The addition of those Salts, (viz.) of Kelp and Urine, perform two things, (viz.) first, cause a further separation of a Sediment by the precipitati∣on of a kind of Oaker from the Alom Liquor; and next to that they add weight; and a third is not wanting, (viz.) to help the chrystallizing or shoo∣ting of Alom: the first of which is evident, because the artificial Alom will not with Galls strike a pur∣ple colour, but the natural Alom with its imbred Oaker will: the last is as apparent, because I have observed the natural to shoot in a different form from the Artificial, as I can shew. After the shoo∣ting of the Alom, those yellow and green sordes, which are rejected, are used as a manure to some grounds; and that because the Alom Earth, toge∣ther with the Sediment of the Kelp, become as a Magnet, which attracts (if it be proper so to speak) the fertilizing Nitre in the Air, the main efficient of improvements of all Soyls; the which, doubt∣less, might be much promoted to a further improve∣ment of grounds, if they were but calcin'd again, and then expos'd to the Air, by being thrown up∣on ground; for hereby they would become more

hungry (if I may so say) of the volatile aëreal Ni∣tre, and make it fall the more plentifully by Rain and Dews, or Snow, and other manner of circula∣tions of that vivifying Aether, which impregnates Grounds for all sorts of vegetation; wherefore I have advised some that live upon Blacomore, (not far from Whitby, being a barren Soyl) to burn their Alom Slate Stone, (of which there is store in that Countrey) after the manner as is done with Lime-stone in other parts of the Countrey; and when it is sufficiently burnt, to throw it upon their Fallow Grounds; from whence probably an improvement worth their charge and labour may be made of that Soyl.

Thus there are few sorts of Soyls in England, or elsewhere, which are so barren as may not be im∣proved, by being artificially cultivated with what they bring forth, whether Alom-stone, Lime-stone, Marle, Cole, &c. Nay, there are few barren Soyles in the Indies or elsewhere, but have that in their Bowels, whose worth, one way or other, doth com∣pensate their thread bare Coats; the barrenness of their outsides, being well amended by the riches of their inwards. From what is premised, will necessarily result these following conclusions, (viz.)

First, That to extract or separate Salts or Sul∣phurs out of Mineral Marcasites, respect must be had to the crudity and maturity of the Mintra, (viz.) That such a Bed is to be chosen, where the Mineral Principles are not too crude, but are brought on to a certain degree of maturity; as for instance, If a Coal-Mine be to be chosen, for burning well, it must be such a one whose Sulphur is plentiful and flagrable, and not a Smitt, which is but an imper∣fect Cole-Mine: So if plenty of Alom-Salt be in∣tended

to be separated from the Marcasite there∣of; then must a ripe Stone be chosen, and not that blew Slate or Earth called Doggers.

Secondly, That to unlock some Mineral Beds to come at their hidden Treasure, is required a foregoing Calcination by the force of fire; witness the burning of Alom-stone, before its Salt can be plentifully separated, and the burning of Vitriol in close or open Vessels before its Spirit, or Salt can be procured.

Thirdly, That the treasures these unlock'd Mi∣neral Bodies afford, consist in a Salt, and an Em∣bryonative Sulphur; for instance, the Salt separa∣ble both from Alom and Vitriol, first opened by force of fire, and in both is an apparent Sulphur, viz. In Alom it appears in an inflamable sulphurous Crust, thrust forth to the surface of the Stone; and the same is apparent in Vitriol, both from what Pa∣racelsus and Helmont have wrote thereof; As also by the Experiment of pouring Aqua Regis upon Vi∣triol, brought by gentle exiccation to a whiteness, by whose humid calcination of that Mineral, an impetuous cloud of sulphurous Vapours arise, which if pent up in a close Vessel, would break it in pie∣ces, though the strongest imaginable, whose plenty of fumes are not inferior to those which arise from the like menstruum poured upon crude Antimony, or the Spirit of Nitre upon the Butter of Antimony, or the like Aqua Regis upon the Caput Mortuum of Viride Aeris; which three metalline and mi∣neral Bodies, viz. Copper, Antimony, and Vitri∣ol, I find by this Experiment to have the greatest plenty of a combustible Sulphur; and it is by the influence of these two, (viz.) Salt and Sulphur,

by which mineral and metalline bodies perform their most considerable cures upon the humane body.

Fourthly, That these acid Salts, thus opened, having their native Sulphurs dissolv'd with them in a Lee of fresh Water, do by decoctions, and the addition of other Salts, as of Kelp and Urine, suf∣fer the Sulphurs, and other heterogeneous mixtures to separate by precipitation; witness the plenteous separation of the recremental faeces by the foresaid operation from the Alom-Liquor.

Fifthly, That the Alom-Salt, whether natural or calcin'd, is esurine and acid equally with the same in Vitriol, and capable of making solutions of other mineral bodies which lie in its way; for in∣stance, the natural succulent Alom Salt dissolves a sleight touch of the Minera of Iron in the Scar∣brough Spaw Water; and that either as it lies in the same Alom Bed, or at least in a Vein of Iron, through which the acid aluminous Salt dissolv'd in a Water Spring glides: The same doth the corrosion of the Iron in the Alom Liquor evince, according to our former Experiment.

Sixthly, That some menstruums may dissolve, or break in pieces the close rivetted parts of some (but proper compact) bodies, when they yet leave other bodies of a softer and sleighter texture untouched; witness the Alom Liquor corroding the Iron, when the Cloth Lists, which had covered it, was not dis∣solv'd, though it had been longer in that Liquor than the naked Iron; which gives light to possibility of finding out by Art and Industry, such menstru∣ums as may dissolve and reduce in minima, the com∣pact Duelech, or hard stone of the Bladder, and

yet leave untouch'd the tender soft membrane which makes the concave of the Bladder, and other hol∣low bowels.

Seventhly, That to make acid menstruums more powerful and more universal (especially as to solid metalline or mineral bodies) is required an additi∣on of other Salts, of such a fabrick of parts, as may not by any intestine commotion destroy each other: but may acuate each other with a mutual invigora∣ting ferment. Thus the Salts of Kelp and Urine do that to Alom Liquor, which the addition of Sal Gem, or Sal Armoniack doth to an Aqua Fortis, (viz.) makes them dissolve those bodies, which be∣fore they could not; the one forcibly to take in pie∣ces the body of Iron, the other the body of Gold.

Eighthly, That the Alkalizate Salts of most Ve∣getables, made by naked force of fire, do differ from the Kali of Kelp, almost toto Coelo, although both be done by the like calcination; the one being acido saline, (viz.) that of the Kelp; the other, (viz.) the fixt Salts of Vegetables are lixiviate; by the difference of whose constituent parts, ariseth the known ebullition made from the mixture of both.

Lastly, That the faeces remaining after the depu∣ration of the Alom Salt, and incremental addition of other Salts, do still retain a kind of Magnetism of the Aethereal Nitre, or at least become a proper subject for that fructifying Nitre to settle upon; whereby some Grounds may be improved, yea, and gives more then probable hopes that the same recal∣cin'd, or the crude Stone once calcin'd, may well become a medium for the better improvement of some barren Soyls, as well as Lime-stone, Marl, faeces of Soap-ashes, &c. are by the like method made capable of enriching other Soyls.

Now to confirm (besides what is said) the exi∣stency of Alom, as the chief (if not sole) ingredi∣ent of some Spaws, I think it not amiss to acquaint the Reader with my Observations on a Spaw of the same nature, which I found out the last Summer in Barnsdale upon Blacomore, about ten or twelve miles from Whitby; in the bottom of which Dale runs a Rivlet fed with several Springs, and walled in, (in some places) as it were, with Alom-Rocks on both sides, but more on one side then on the other, out of the Clefts of one large Alom-Bed, (whose length may by conjectural compute be 50 or 60 paces, and the depth 4, 6, 8, or 10 yards.) I observ'd several Springs to issue forth, with a yellow Sediment, along the Chincks and Crevices; one of which that had the best current, broke forth two or three yards from the foot of the Alom-Rock, having more a∣bove it. This, when I tasted, I found very much in taste to resemble the Scarbrough Spaw, and would with the addition of Galls, readily strike a purple tincture: being not a little glad hereat, I ordered a Bottle thereof to be brought along with me to York; which (there) bringing to the test, I found it to contain much-what the same Mineral Ingredi∣ents with that of the Scarbrough Spaw, but was no∣thing near so plentifully fraught therewith as the other. But however by this it was clearly apparent, that a Water-Spring running through an Alom-Bed, might (and did) imbibe the immature Juyce there∣of, in so much as to give it a taste resembling that of the Scarbrough Spaw, and to render it as capa∣ble of readily striking a tincture with Galls, as the other, which was no small confirmation of our Hy∣pothesis, asserted in our Hydrol. Chym. concerning the Scarbrough Spaw.

Had I been at my Antagonists back, when he was vindicating the existency of Vitriol in our Spaw, I might have cherished him, by whispering (yet I would first have been sure to have had an answer in promptu) this Objection, to wit,

That Dy∣ers in the making of their Blacks, use not Alom but Vitriol, yea find Alom a great enemy there∣to, alwayes mortifying the stiptick parts of those Ingredients, which are necessarily required for that colour, and therefore might seem to argue against Alom, and for Vitriol as the cause there∣of, made by Galls in the Spaw Water.

To which Objection I thus return, (viz.) That this is done, first, because Vitriol contains a greater quantity, by much of a precipitable Ocre, then Alom, which should close with the flats of astrin∣gent bodies, for the better intercepting of the Lumi∣nous Rayes, whereby that colour becomes made; next, because factitious Alom having great plenty of Urine, the Spirits or Salts thereof doth precipitate the Ocre of Vitriol, and also destroys the acidity thereof, which should otherwise bind in its Ocre, and confirm the stiptick or astringent parts of Galls, Sumach, Logwood, Elder Bark, &c. frequently used for Blacks.