Mr. R A Y ’j Titaveh 
64 
Prefidence among the Ejche^ins^ is put in by the Duke lubtile and volatile failne Exhalations, which contlnu- 
of Juliers., and continues in his Place quam diu fe hem ally afcend out of the Earth, or wander up and down 
geJJmL The BurgomoMers are eledled by the Majo- in the Air. 
rity of the Companies of the City, and adminifter this As for the Ingredients of thefe hot Waters in general 
Office two Years, a new one being chofen every he faith, that befides a threefold Salt-nitre 
Year. The Efchevins officiate in Quality of Judges, mingled., ox Armoniack^ they partake of a fixed and 
during Life, another being chofen in the Place of him volatile Sulphur., a Manna of Allum, fome Vitriol, di- 
who dies. The Counfellors are alfo chofen by the fe- vers Metals, as Copper and Iron, a very, little volatile 
veral Companies (of which there are fourteen or fif- Earth, a certain Sand and Calaminary Flowers, 
teenj. The Territories belonging to this City are very That they participate of Copper he proves-, in that, the 
large, comprehending near two hundred Villages, en- Territory of abounds in divers Places with Aep/i 
clofed on all Sides with Mountains 5 which producing Calaminaris., which is, as it were, the Aliment of Cop- 
abundance of Lapis Calaminaris^ this is employed here per : For being mingled in the Furnaces with red Coo- 
in great Quantity to turn Copper into Brafs. But what per, it augments it by the Addition of thirty Pound 
renders this Town moft famous, are the Mineral hot Weight Cent, and gives iDi»a yellow or golden Tine- 
Baths, fome of which are within, the reft without the ture. As for Iron, the many ferrugineous Sprino-s 
Tov/n, at a Village called Borcet \ thefe latter, both that are found within and without the City, are 'an 
in Heat, and in Abundance of Water, much exceed evident Teftimony that there are Plenty of Iron 
ours in England, being fo hot, that one may boil an Mines hereabout ; and therefore moft likely it is. 
Egg in them. Their Tafte was faltiffi, and they were if not certain, that thefe hot Waters charge themfelve# 
ufed both inwardly and outwardly. One Day as we with that Metal. That they contain a three-fold 
were walking to Borcet, we faw a certain Pool whofe nitrous Salt, he proves from their natural Eva- 
Waters were lukewarm, by reafon of a fmall St;-eam porations. Firji, The fixed is found in the Weils 
of one of the Springs of the hot Baths paffing through of Borcet, and the Emperor, chryftallized into fmall Ihin- 
it ; they told us that it bred very good Fifh, but that ing Square Grains, mingled with a little Flower of 
they were obliged to put th^m into cold Water for two Sulphur, flicking to the Covers of thole Wells, which 
Months before they eat them. Of the Nature, dif- have not been of a long time opened. It may be alfo 
ferent Kinds, Ingredients, and Ufes of thofe Baths, found in the chemical Examination of the Waters by 
both within and without the City, Francis Blondel, Evaporation or Diflillation. Secondly, The volatile is 
M.D. has treated admirably, as well_as at large, in his carried up by the volatile- Sulphur, as it is hereafter 
Epiftolary Difeourfe, publiffied in French, of whjgih 
the Subftance follows : 
14. An ExtraSi from Dr. Francis Blondelb Difeourfe 
concerning the Baths of Aix la Chapelle. 
fhew’d in the Defeription of the firfl Sort of thefe 
Baths. Thirdly, The Mingled, or Armoniac, is daily feen 
in all the Waters of the City, and of Borcet, fwimmino- 
in little Cylinders on the Surface of the Waters, and 
this is that Cream, or Scum, which is ordinarily found 
upon the Waters in the Bafons. That they contain the 
Not to trouble the Reader with the various Opinions refl of the beforementioned Ingredients, fhall be Ihewn 
of ancient and modern Philofophers concerning the in the Defeription of the particular Baths ; The Waters 
Caufe of the aftual Heat of natural Baths, our Author’s whereof our Author reduces to four Sorts. ^ 
Account thereof in Reference to thefe of Aken is in Firfl, Nitro-fulphureous, fuch are thofe of the Empe- 
Brief as follows. ^ roF^ Bath, the little Bath, and St. ^irin^s Bath. Be- 
Thefe Waters (faith he) paffing through a certain ar- condly, Sulphureo-nitrous, fuch are thofe of Compus, or 
gillaceous Earth, pregnant with a kind of nitrous Salt, the Poor-men's. Bath, the Rofe, and St. Cornelius's Bath, 
almoft of the fame Tafle with the Waters of the Baths Thirdly, Sulphureo-nitro-vitriolic, fuch is another Bath of 
(which is to be found in good Quantity in thg LandsC the fame St. Cornelius. Fourthly, Salfo-alumino -nitrous, 
about this City) charge themfelves therewith, and fo — i- • • 
become a Meniiruum capable of diflblving fuch mineral 
Metals as are contained in the Veins of the Earth thro* 
which they run. This Solution he conceives is made 
by piercing and corroding the Minerals after the fame 
Manner as Spirit of Nitre and other Aqua Stygia are 
wont to do, which ufually caufes a great Ebullition and 
Heat. So then the acftual Heat of thefe Springs pro- 
ceeds from the Mixture and Encounter of their Waters 
(impregnated as is before intimated) with the mineral 
and metallic Subflances, Juices, and Spirits contained 
in the Veins of the Earth through which they have their 
Courfe. The nitrous Salt beforementioned may perhaps 
be the Hermetic Salt of Monfieur Rochas, or the Efurine 
Salt of Helmont. Now the Water once heated, being 
vvz. thofe of Borcet, a Village adjoining to Aken. 
Firji, As for the Nitro fulphureous kind, thofe of the 
Emperor's Bath, and the little Bath, are but one Water, 
coming from the fame Source, and collected in one and 
the fame Well. That Part referved in the Emperor's 
Bath is divided into five great Bafons, or Receptacles : 
That in the little Bath into three. All which might be 
renewed daily, if Time would permit, the Spring is 
fo copious. But by reafon of the excelTive Heat of the 
Waters, it is neceflary oftentimes that they fland in the 
Bafon fixteen or eighteen Hours to cool, before they 
be fit for the Patient’s Ufe. Notwithftanding when 
they are come to a jufl Temper, one may bathe in 
in them, and endure them a long time, as thofe of 
Borcet, without any Inconvenience. This Source hath 
contained in the Vaults of the Mountains as in a Stove, this C^ality peculiar to itfelf, that in its Well one may 
continues hot a long Time, the Eruption thereof being, find diflindUy a Quantity of Nitre coagulated, and good 
it is likely, at a good Diflance from the Place where it Plenty of Flowers of Sulphur very light, purely fine, 
did at firfl conceive its Heat. and well feented. The Nitre flicks to the Sides of the 
At the long Continuance and Duration of the Heat Well, and fo do the Flowers of Sulphur above that : 
of thefe Waters, for fo many Ages pafl, no Man need The which fometimes, whether by the extraordinary 
Wonder : For Firji, It is generally taken for granted, boiling up of the Fountain, or by the Impetuofity of 
that air Sorts of Mines grow and increafe purely by Ad- the afeending Vapours, or by their ov*^n Weight are 
dition, converting the more refined, fubtile part of the broken off, and fall back into the Source j from whence 
Earth, and which hath a feminal Difpofition to fuch a being no more diffolved by the Water, they come forth 
intire into the Bafons. If you take of this Water, and 
let it fland in a veffel certain Days, it will precipitate 
of thefe yellow Flowers of Sulphur, to the Bottom of 
the Veffel. Befides thefe volatile Flowers, thefe Waters 
- contain alfo fix’d Flowers of Sulphur, a competent 
from it, will, by being expofed to the Air, again recover Quantity of Nitre both volatile, fix'd, and mix'd, or 
more and more *, whether it be by Converfion of its Armoniac, a little Allmn, lefs Vitriol, the Spirits and 
Matrix into its own Nature, by a kind of Aggeneration Principles of Copper and Iron, a very little volatile 
and Tranfmutation, or by imbibing and retaining thofe Earth, Argilla and Sand : No Bitumen, for let them 
. fland 
Change, into their own Nature. Secondly, The nitrous 
Saks, the firfl' Ingredients of thefe Waters, are alfo 
reftored in their matrices, after th^fame Manner as we 
fee it happens in the Caput mortuum of Vitriol, which 
though the Vitriol hath been once or twice extracted 
