'C 242 j 
To the fame fpirits may alfo be attributed the 
;power which the acidul* poffefs, of caufing a giddi- 
-uefs of the head, heavinefs, and drowfinefs, as from 
intoxicating ‘liquors. 
The brifk and pungent tafte of the acidulae is alfo 
a further evidence that the mineral air which they 
.contain is nearly related to the choak-damp. For 
-from this brilk pungency of tafte, thefe fpirits appear 
•to relemble the air which is generated from beer and 
other liquors by fermentation. But the air of fer- 
menting liquors is by numerous experiments difco- 
vered to be a deadly poifon when applied to the lungs, 
and the external parts of the body, adling chiefly 
upon the nervous fyftem, and inftantly killing thofe 
animals which breathe it, exadly in the manner of 
the choak-damp. Yet neverthelefs this air, when 
taken inwardly in a convenient quantity of a liquid 
vehicle, is found to have wonderfully exciting and 
reviving qualities, of which the cafe of Cornaro affords 
us a remarkable inftance (10), 
In like manner, the elaftic fpirit of the acidulae 
feems to have a great fhare in the admirable effedls 
which thofe waters exert upon the human body. For 
being exceedingly fubtile, penetrating, and adive, it 
feems fitted to pervade the whole body, and to force 
a paflage through the minuteft vefiels j by its mild 
and gentle ftimulus, to corrugate the fibres, increafe 
their elafticity, and excite them to motion ; by its 
expanfive quality, to rarify and as it were fpiritualize 
the blood, and dilate the velfels. By thefe feveral 
(10) See Difcorfo terzo della Vita fobria di SIg. Luigi Cor- 
naro, pag, 87. 
ways, 
