34 NATURAL HISTORY 
glafs, which held about half a pint, but precipitated no fediment, 
nor turned the Water milky, thick, or chalky ; if there was any 
alteration, the colour feemcd more inclinable to a bright ochre, but 
fcarce difcernable ; an experiment much in favour of this Water c . 
Upon fufpending a piece of polifhed lilver for about an hour in 
the inclofed Well, the lilver turned not blackifh ; by which it ap- 
pears, that little or no fulphur exhales from this Water. In the 
morning, before the Water is ftirred, there is a film or Ikin on the 
furface oi a rainbow colour, Ihooting to and fro j bv which may it 
be prefumed, that there is a fulphur or naphtha mixed with this 
Water, which rifes and fettles on the top when the Water is left 
quiet for any time ? In a calm but not very warm morning, 
on the yth of Auguft, 1734, O. S. before fix o’clock, I found the 
Water, both in the inclofed Well and without, where it ran expoled 
to the air, al 1110ft blood-warm, and the common Water, which 
runs about nine feet from the Chalybeate, as cold as fnow. I 
ftayed lome time, and found the difference ftill continue, by which 
it is to be concluded, that the Chalybeate Spring derives aYenfible 
heat from the bed of iron, vitriol, and pyrites, which it paffes thro’ e . 
Having carried the Water a mile or two, it loft that warmth ; whence 
we may infer, that fuch acidulse as this cannot be fo kindly to the 
ftomach and inteftines at a diftance, as when drank on the fpot. 
Being expofed to the open air for twenty-four hours, it buffers no 
alteration from galls ; and the fteel being deferted by the volatile 
fpirit, and the common menftruum imbibing the moifture of the 
adjacent air, becomes weaker, and a ftringy yellow fediment m y 
be obferved making its way to the bottom of the glafs. It is a 
ftnooth Water, mixes well with milk, and lathers eafily with foap. 
There are many living evidences, within the compafs of my 
knowlege, of the great virtues of this Water. Two perfons (of 
which I have fufficient proof), by drinking and waffling the part 
affeded, have been cured of the King’s-evil ; and many others are 
laid to have been fo. It is very dieuretick, pafies forcibly by per- 
fpiration, promotes evacuation, removes obftru&ions and fwellings 
of the abdomen, and reftores loft appetite. Externally applied it 
cures fores and fcrophulous eruptions, and is a very good collyrium 
for the eyes. 
Thefe virtues of Chalybeate Waters (uflial in fome degree, but 
feldom fo eminently as here) make them a remedy of great extent 
for the diforders of the human body, and this is doubtlefs the reafon 
c Shaw on Mineral and Illington Waters, 
page 159. 
d See Plot’s Staffbrdlhire, page 137, and Ox- 
fordlhire, page 44, Se£t. Ivi. 
e Mallow Chalyb. Water, in the county of 
Cork, Ireland, railed Farenheit’s Thermometer to 
fixty-nine degrees, when the adjoining brook funk 
it to fifty. Briftol Hot Well, though not Chaly- 
beate, raifes the Thermometer to feventy-fix. 
Hill, of Cork, vol. II. p. 277. 
that 
