to separate and come away, without any great Inconvenience to the Patient; which is what we would _recommend_ with all the Earnestness imaginable to those that are desirous of discovering a Method of curing _Cancers_. We were before sensible that it was possible for one Body to operate on another determinate Body, without being able to have any such Effect on innumerable Others; as _Quicksilver_ will desolve Gold, _Aqua-fortis_ Iron, _Vinegar_ the Shell of an Egg, _Oyl_ common Sulphur, _&c._ which will not have any such Effect on several other Bodies; for there is nothing more certain than that the Operations of Dissolvents are so determined by the various Texture of the Bodies on which they are employed, that a Liquor that is capable to corrode a more hard and solid Body, may be unable to disunite the Parts of one more soft and thin, if of a Texture indisposed to admit the small Parts of the _Menstruum_. It may be expected I should say something in relation to that which is generally looked upon to be the grand Cause of the Incurableness of _Cancers_, I mean the acid Humour in the Blood. But if those Gentlemen who are fond of entertaining this Opinion, do but consider that _Cancers_ are often formed in a perfect State of Health; and that during the Time the Cancerous Substance dissolves, and comes away according to our Method, the Sides will run a digested Matter, and heal by the Application of dry Lint only; they will be of my Opinion, that neither the _Atrabile_ of the Ancients, the corrosive _Alkalious_ Salt of the _Chymists_, nor the predominant _Acid_ of the Rest of the Moderns, are capable of procuring those Alterations that _Cancers_ are sometimes attended with. If we trace the Writings of our Predecessors to their earliest Date, we shall find that many of them have made Mention of the Roots of the _Cancer_, which they took to be the large blew Veins that are often extended on its Surface; and the entire Removal of these they thought to be absolutely necessary, or the Patient could not be cured: But I believe there is no Body at this Time that considers the _Mechanism_ of the Parts in such a Condition, but will agree they are the necessary Consequents of it, and that their Absence, or Presence is of no Importance; that the _Cancer_ is sometimes attended with Adherents, or Appendices, which may very well resemble Roots, we are assured; but these generally lay deep, and not easily discovered; the most considerable One that ever we saw was very near Five Inches long, and of an unequal Bigness, some Part of it did not exceed the Largeness of a _Goose_’s Quill, but some others were near as big as the Top of the Thumb, which resembled so many Knots in it, it divided in the Middle, and continued separated about an Inch and a Half, and then re-united, it was of a more tender Substance than the Body of the _Cancerous Mass_, but of the same Colour, and was probably the Juice that was last applied to the _Cancer_, which assumed a Form