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 σπλῆνες μέγαλοι, 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.