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<DATE>2013-04-25</DATE>
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<NAME>Colm MacCrossan</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<P>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST: OR CHYMICO-PHYSICAL Doubts &amp; Paradoxes, Touching the SPAGYRIST'S PRINCIPLES Commonly call'd HYPOSTATICAL, As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of ALCHYMISTS. Whereunto is praemis'd Part of another Di&s;cour&s;e relating to the &s;ame Subject. BY The Honourable <HI>ROBERT BOYLE,</HI> E&s;q;</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>J. Cadwell</HI> for <HI>J. Crooke,</HI> and are to be Sold at the <HI>Ship</HI> in St. <HI>Paul's</HI> Church-Yard. <HI>MDCLXI.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>A PRAEFACE INTRODUCTORY <HI>To the following Treati&s;e.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_TO give the Reader an account, Why the following Treati&s;e is &s;uffer'd to pa&s;s abroad &s;o maim'd, and im|perfect, I mu&s;t inform him that 'tis now long &s;ince, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I &s;et down &s;ome of the Rea&s;ons that kept me from fully acquie&s;cing ei|ther in the Peripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principles of mixt Bodies. This Di&s;cour&s;e &s;ome years after falling into the hands of &s;ome Learned men, had the good luck to be &s;o favourably receiv'd, and ad|vantageou&s;ly &s;poken of by them, that having had more then ordinary Invitations given me to make it publick, I thought fit to review it, that I might retrench &s;ome things that &s;eem'd not &s;o fit to be &s;hewn to every Reader, And &s;ub&s;titute &s;ome of tho&s;e other things that occurr'd to me of
<PB REF="3">the tryals and ob&s;ervations I had &s;ince made. What became of my papers, I el&s;ewhere mention in a Preface where I complain of it: But &s;ince I writ That, I found many &s;heets that belong'd to the &s;ubjects I am now about to di&s;cour&s;e of. Wherefore &s;eeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue as was requi&s;ite to state the Ca&s;e, and &s;erve for an Introduction as well to the conference betwixt <HI>Carneades</HI> and <HI>E|leutherius,</HI> as to &s;ome other Dialogues, which for certain rea&s;ons are not now herewith publi&s;h'd, I re&s;olv'd to &s;upply, as well as I could, the Contents of a Paper belonging to the &s;econd of the follow|ing Di&s;cour&s;es, which I could not po&s;&s;ibly re|trive, though it were the chief of them all. And having once more try'd the Opinion of Friends, but not of the &s;ame, about this imperfect work, I found it &s;uch, that I was content in complyance with their De&s;ires, that not only it &s;hould be pub|li&s;h'd, but that it &s;hould be publi&s;h'd as &s;oon as conveniently might be. I had indeed all along the Dialogues &s;poken of my &s;elf, as of a third Per|&s;on; For, they containing Di&s;cour&s;es which were among the fir&s;t Treati&s;es that I ventur'd long ago to write of matters Philo&s;ophical, I had rea&s;on to de&s;ire, with the Painter, to <HI>latere pone tabu|lam,</HI> and hear what men would &s;ay of them, before I own'd my &s;elf to be their Author. But be&s;ides that now I find, 'tis not unknown to many who it is
<PB REF="3">that writ them, I am made to believe that 'tis not inexpedient, they &s;hould be known to come from a Per&s;on not altogether a &s;tranger to Chymical Affairs. And I made the le&s;&s;e &s;cruple to let them come abroad uncompleated, partly, becau&s;e my af|fairs and Prae-ingagements to publi&s;h divers other Treati&s;es allow'd me &s;mall hopes of being able in a great while to compleat the&s;e Dialogues. And partly, becau&s;e I am not unapt to think, that they may come abroad &s;ea&s;onably enough, though not for the Authors reputation, yet for o|ther purpo&s;es. For I ob&s;erve, that of late Chy|mistry begins, as indeed it de&s;erves, to be culti|vated by Learned Men who before de&s;pis'd it; and to be pretended to by many who never culti|vated it, that they may be thought not to ignore it: Whence it is come to pa&s;&s;e, that divers Chy|mical Notions about Matters Philo&s;ophical are taken for granted and employ'd, and &s;o adopted by very eminent Writers both Naturali&s;ts and Phy&s;itians. Now this I fear may prove &s;ome|what prejudicial to the Advancement of &s;olid Philo&s;ophy: For though I am a great Lover of Chymical Experiments, and though I have no mean esteem of divers Chymical Remedies, yet I di&s;tingui&s;h the&s;e from their Notions about the cau&s;es of things, and their manner of Generation. And for ought I can hitherto di&s;cern, there are a thou&s;and <HI>Phaenomena</HI> in Nature, be&s;ides a
<PB REF="4">Multitude of Accidents relating to the humane Body, which will &s;carcely be clearly &amp; &s;atisfacto|rily made out by them that confine them&s;elves to deduce things from Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, and the other Notions peculiar to the Chymists, without taking much more Notice than they are wont to do, of the Motions and Figures, of the &s;mall Parts of Matter, and the other more Ca|tholick and Fruitful affections of Bodies. Where|fore it will not perhaps be now un&s;ea&s;onable to let our <HI>Carneades</HI> warne Men, not to &s;ub&s;cribe to the grand Doctrine of the Chymi&s;ts touching their three Hypo&s;tatical Principles, till they have a little examin'd it, and con&s;ider'd, how they can clear it from his Objections, divers of which 'tis like they may never have thought on; &s;ince a Chymi&s;t &s;carce would, and none but a Chy|mi&s;t could propo&s;e them. I hope al&s;o it will not be unacceptable to &s;everal Ingenious Per&s;ons, who are unwilling to determine of any important Controver&s;ie, without a previous con&s;ideration of what may be &s;aid on both &s;ides, and yet have greater de&s;ires to under&s;tand Chymical Matters, than Opportunities of learning them, to find here together, be&s;ides &s;everal Experiments of my own purpo&s;ely made to Illu&s;trate the Doctrine of the Elements, divers others &s;carce to be met with, otherwi&s;e then Scatter'd among many Chy|mical Books. And to Find the&s;e A&s;&s;o|ciated
<PB REF="4">Experiments &s;o Deliver'd as that an Ordinary Reader, if he be but Acquainted with the u&s;uall Chymical Termes, may ea|&s;ily enough Understand Them; and even a wary One may &s;afely rely on Them. The&s;e Things I add, becau&s;e a Per&s;on any Thing vers'd in the Writings of Chymists cannot but Di&s;cern by their ob&s;cure, ambiguous, and almost Aenigmatical Way of expre&s;&s;ing what they pretend to Teach, that they have no Mind to be under&s;tood at all, but by <HI>the Sons of Art</HI> (as they call them) nor to be Under&s;tood even by the&s;e without Difficulty and Hazardous Tryalls. In&s;omuch that &s;ome of Them Scarce ever &s;peak &s;o candidly, as when they make u&s;e of that known Chymical Sentence; <HI>Ubi palam locuti &s;umus, ibi nihil diximus.</HI> And as the ob&s;curity of what &s;ome Writers deliver makes it very difficult to be un|der&s;tood; &s;o the Unfaithfulne&s;s of too many o|thers makes it unfit to be reli'd on. For though unwillingly, Yet I must for the truths &s;ake, and the Readers, warne him not to be forward to believe Chymical Experiments when they are &s;et down only by way of Pre&s;criptions, and not of Relations; that is, unle&s;s he that delivers them mentions his doing it upon his own particular knowledge, or upon the Relation of &s;ome credible per&s;on, avowing it upon his own experience. For I
<PB REF="5">am troubled, I mu&s;t complain, that even Emi|nent Writers, both Phy&s;itians and Philo&s;ophers, whom I can ea&s;ily name, if it be requir'd, have of late &s;uffer'd them&s;elves to be &s;o far impos'd upon, as to Publi&s;h and Build upon Chymical Experiments, which que&s;tionle&s;s they never try'd; for if they had, they would, as well as I, have found them not to be true. And indeed it were to be wi&s;h'd, that now that tho&s;e begin to quote Chy|mical Experiments that are not them&s;elves Ac|quainted with Chymical Operations, men would Leave off that Indefinite Way of Vouching the Chymists &s;ay this, or the Chymi&s;ts affirme that, and would rather for each Experiment they alledge name the Author or Authors, upon who&s;e credit they relate it; For, by this means they would &s;ecure them&s;elves from the &s;u&s;pi|tion of fal&s;hood (to which the other Practice Ex|po&s;es them) and they would Leave the Reader to Judge of what is fit for him to Believe of what is Deliver'd, whil&s;t they employ not their own great names to Countenance doubtfull Relations; and they will al&s;o do Ju&s;tice to the Inventors or Publi&s;hers of true Experiments, as well as up|on the Obtruders of fal&s;e ones. Whereas by that general Way of quoting the Chymi&s;ts, the candid Writer is Defrauded of the particular Prai&s;e, and the Impo&s;tor e&s;capes the Per&s;onal Di&s;grace that is due to him.</P>
<PB REF="5">
<P>The remaining Part of this Praeface mu&s;t be imploy'd in &s;aying &s;omething for <HI>Carneades,</HI> and &s;omething for my Self.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, <HI>Carneades</HI> hopes that he will be thought to have di&s;puted civilly and Mode&s;tly e|nough for one that was to play the Antagoni&s;t and the Sceptick. And if he any where &s;eem to &s;leight his Adver&s;aries Tenents and Argu|ments, he is willing to have it look'd upon as what he was induc'd to, not &s;o much by his Opinion of them, as the Examples of <HI>Themi|&s;tius</HI> and <HI>Philoponus,</HI> and the cu&s;tom of &s;uch kind of Di&s;putes.</P>
<P>Next, In ca&s;e that &s;ome of his Arguments &s;hall not be thought of the mo&s;t Cogent &s;ort that may be, he hopes it will be con&s;ider'd that it ought not to be Expected, that they &s;hould be So. For, his Part being chiefly but to propo&s;e Doubts and Scruples, he does enough, if he &s;hews that his Adver&s;aries Arguments are not &s;trongly Concluding, though his own be not &s;o neither. And if there &s;hould appear any di&s;agreement be|twixt the things he delivers in divers pa&s;&s;ages, he hopes it will be con&s;ider'd, that it is not ne|ce&s;&s;ary that all the things a Sceptick Propo&s;es, &s;hould be con&s;onant; &s;ince it being his work to Sugge&s;t doubts again&s;t the Opinion he que&s;tions, it is allowable for him to propo&s;e two or more &s;e|verall <HI>Hypothe&s;es</HI> about the &s;ame thing: And to
<PB REF="6">&s;ay that it may be accounted for this way, or that way, or the other Way, though the&s;e wayes be per|haps incon&s;i&s;tent among Them&s;elves. Becau&s;e it is enough for him, if either of the propo&s;ed <HI>Hy|pothe&s;es</HI> be but as probable as that he calls a que|&s;tion. And if he propo&s;es many that are Each of them probable, he does the more &s;atisfie his doubts, by making it appear the more difficult to be &s;ure, that that which they alwayes differ from is the true. And our <HI>Garneades</HI> by holding the Nega|tive, he has this Advantage, that if among all the Instances he brings to invalidate all the Vulgar Doctrine of tho&s;e he Di&s;putes with, any one be Ir|refragable, that alone is &s;ufficient to overthrow a Doctrine which Univer&s;ally a&s;&s;erts what he op|po&s;es. For, it cannot be true, that all Bodies what|&s;oever that are reckon'd among the Perfectly mixt Ones, are Compounded of &s;uch a Determi|nate Number of &s;uch or &s;uch Ingredients, in ca&s;e any one &s;uch Body can be produc'd, that is not &s;o compounded; and he hopes too, that Ac|curatene&s;s will be the le&s;s expected from him, becau&s;e his undertaking obliges him to maintain &s;uch Opinions in Chymi&s;try, and that chiefly by Chymical Arguments, as are Contrary to the very Principles of the Chymi&s;ts; From who&s;e writings it is not Therefore like he &s;hould re|ceive any intentionall A&s;&s;istance, except from &s;ome Pa&s;&s;ages of the Bold and Ingenious <HI>Hel|mont,</HI>
<PB REF="6">with whom he yet di&s;agrees in many things (which reduce him to explicate Divers Chymical <HI>Phaenomena,</HI> according to other No|tions;) And of who&s;e Ratiocinations, not only &s;ome &s;eem very Extravagant, but even the Rest are not wont to be as con&s;iderable as his Experi|ments. And though it be True indeed, that &s;ome <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> have occa&s;ionally written again&s;t the Chymical Doctrine he Oppugnes, yet &s;ince they have done it according to their Princi|ples, And &s;ince our <HI>Carneades</HI> mu&s;t as well op|po&s;e their <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> as that of the Spagyrist, he was fain to fight his Adver&s;aries with their own Weapons, Tho&s;e of the Peripatetick being Im|proper, if not hurtfull for a Per&s;on of his Te|nents; be&s;ides that tho&s;e <HI>Ari&s;totelians,</HI> (at Lea&s;t, tho&s;e he met with,) that have written against the Chymi&s;ts, &s;eem to have had &s;o little Experimental Knowledge in Chymical Matters, that by their frequent Mi&s;takes and unskilfull Way of Oppugning, they have too of|ten expos'd Them&s;elves to the Deri&s;ion of their Adver&s;aries, for writing &s;o Confidently against what they appear &s;o little to under&s;tand.</P>
<P>And Lastly, <HI>Carneades</HI> hopes, he &s;hall doe the Ingenious this Piece of &s;ervice, that by ha|ving Thus drawn the Chymists Doctrine out of their Dark and Smoakie Laboratories, and both brought it into the open light, and &s;hewn the weak|ne&s;s
<PB REF="7">of their Proofs, that have hitherto been wont to be brought for it, either Judicious Men &s;hall henceforth be allowed calmly and after due infor|mation to di&s;believe it, or tho&s;e abler Chymi&s;ts, that are zealous for the reputation of it, will be oblig'd to &s;peak plainer then hitherto has been done, and maintain it by better Experiments and Arguments then Tho&s;e <HI>Carneades</HI> hath examin'd: &s;o That he hopes, the Curious will one Way or other Derive either &s;atisfaction or instruction from his endeavours. And as he is ready to make good the profe&s;&s;ion he makes in the clo&s;e of his Di&s;cour&s;e, he being ready to be better inform'd, &s;o he expects either to be indeed inform'd, or to be let alone. For Though if any Truly knowing Chymi&s;ts &s;hall Think fit in a civil and rational way to &s;hew him any truth touching the matter in Di&s;pute That he yet di&s;|cernes not, <HI>Carneades</HI> will not refu&s;e either to admit, or to own a Conviction: yet if any imper|tinent Per&s;on &s;hall, either to get Him&s;elf a Name, or for what other end &s;oever, wilfully or carele&s;ly mi&s;take the State of the Controver&s;ie,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>G.</HI> and <HI>F.</HI> and H. and o|thers, in their books a|gain&s;t one ano|ther.</NOTE> or the &s;ence of his Arguments, or &s;hall rail in&s;tead of arguing, as hath been done of Late in Print by divers Chymists; or la&s;tly, &s;hall write a|gainst them in a canting way; I mean, &s;hall ex|pre&s;s him&s;elf in ambiguous or ob&s;cure termes, or argue from experiments not intelligibly enough
<PB REF="7">Deliver'd, <HI>Carneades</HI> profe&s;&s;es, That he values his time &s;o much, as not to think the an&s;wering &s;uch Trifles worth the lo&s;s of it.</P>
<P>And now having &s;aid thus much for <HI>Carne|ades,</HI> I hope the Reader will give me leave to &s;ay &s;omething too for my &s;elf.</P>
<P>And first, if &s;ome moro&s;e Readers &s;hall find fault with my having made the Interlocutors up|on occa&s;ion complement with one another, and that I have almost all along written the&s;e Dia|logues in a &s;tile more Fa&s;hionable then That of meer &s;cholars is wont to be, I hope I &s;hall be ex|cus'd by them that &s;hall con&s;ider, that to keep a due <HI>decorum</HI> in the Di&s;cour&s;es, it was fit that in a book written by a Gentleman, and wherein only Gentlemen are introduc'd as &s;peakers, the Lan|guage &s;hould be more &s;mooth, and the Expre&s;|&s;ions more civil than is u&s;ual in the more Scho|lastick way of writing. And indeed, I am not &s;orry to have this Opportunity of giving an ex|ample how to manage even Di&s;putes with Civi|lity; whence perhaps &s;ome Readers will be a&s;|&s;i&s;ted to di&s;cern a Difference betwixt Bluntne&s;s of &s;peech and Strength of rea&s;on, and find that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without be|ing an Enemy to Civility; and may confute an O|pinion without railing at Them that hold it; To whom he that de&s;ires to convince and not to pro|voke them, mu&s;t make &s;ome amends by his Ci|vility
<PB REF="8">to their Per&s;ons, for his &s;everity to their mi&s;|takes; and mu&s;t &s;ay as little el&s;e as he can, to di&s;|plea&s;e them, when he &s;ays that they are in an error.</P>
<P>But perhaps other Readers will be le&s;s apt to find fault with the Civility of my Di&s;putants, than the Chymi&s;ts will be, upon the reading of &s;ome Pa&s;|&s;ages of the following Dialogue, to accu&s;e <HI>Carne|ades</HI> of A&s;perity. But if I have made my Sceptick &s;ometimes &s;peak &s;leightingly of the Opinions he op|po&s;es, I hope it will not be found that I have done any more, than became the Part he was to act of an Opponent: E&s;pecially, if what I have made him &s;ay be compar'd with what the Prince of the Ro|mane Orators him&s;elf makes both great Per&s;ons and Friends &s;ay of one anothers Opinions, in his excellent Dialogues, <HI>De Natura Deorum:</HI> And I &s;hall &s;carce be &s;u&s;pected of Partiality, in the ca&s;e, by them that take Notice that there is full as much (if not far more) liberty of &s;leighting their Adver&s;aries Tenents to be met with in the Di&s;|cour&s;es of tho&s;e with whom <HI>Carneades</HI> di&s;putes. Nor needed I make the Interlocutors &s;peak other|wi&s;e then freely in a Dialogue, wherein it was &s;uf|ficiently intimated, that I meant not to declare my own Opinion of the Arguments propos'd, much le&s;&s;e of the whole Controver&s;y it &s;elf otherwi&s;e than as it may by an attentive Reader be gue&s;s'd at by &s;ome Pa&s;&s;ages of <HI>Carneades:</HI> (I &s;ay, &s;ome Pa&s;&s;ages, becau&s;e I make not all that he &s;ays, e&s;pe|cially in the heat of Di&s;putation, mine,) partly in this Di&s;cour&s;e, and partly in &s;ome other Dialogues betwixt the &s;ame &s;peakers (though they treat not immediately of the Elements) which have long
<PB REF="8">layn by me, and expect the Entertainment that the&s;e pre&s;ent Di&s;cour&s;es will meet with. And in|deed they will much mi&s;take me, that &s;hall con|clude from what I now publi&s;h, that I am at Defy|ance with Chymi&s;try, or would make my Readers &s;o. I hope the <HI>Specimina</HI> I have lately publi&s;h'd of an attempt to &s;hew the u&s;efulne&s;s of Chymical Ex|periments to Contemplative Philo&s;ophers, will give tho&s;e that &s;hall read them other thoughts of me; &amp; I had a de&s;ign (but wanted opportunity) to publi&s;h with the&s;e Papers an E&s;&s;ay I have lying by me, the greater part of which is Apologetical for one &s;ort of Chymi&s;ts. And at lea&s;t, as for tho&s;e that know me, I hope the pain I have taken in the fire will both convince them, that I am far from being an Enemy to the Chymi&s;ts Art, (though I am no friend to many that di&s;grace it by profe&s;&s;ing it,) and per|&s;wade them to believe me when I declare that I di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts that are either Cheats, or but Laborants, and the true <HI>Adepti;</HI> By whom, could I enjoy their Conver&s;ation, I would both willingly and thankfully be in&s;tructed; e&s;pe|cially concerning the Nature and Generation of Metals: And po&s;&s;ibly, tho&s;e that know how little I have remitted of my former addictedne&s;s to make Chymical Experiments, will ea&s;ily believe, that one of the chief De&s;ignes of this Sceptical Di&s;cour&s;e was, not &s;o much to di&s;credit Chymi&s;try, as to give an occa&s;ion and a kind of nece&s;&s;ity to the more knowing Arti&s;ts to lay a&s;ide a little of their over|great Re&s;ervedne&s;s, &amp; either explicate or prove the Chymical Theory better than ordinary Chymi&s;ts have done, or by enriching us with &s;ome of their nobler &s;e|crets
<PB REF="9">to evince that Their art is able to make amends even for the deficiencies of their Theory: And thus much I &s;hall here make bold to add, that we &s;hall much undervalue Chymi&s;try, if we ima|gine, that it cannot teach us things farr more u&s;e|ful, not only to Phy&s;ick but to Philo&s;ophy, than tho&s;e that are hitherto known to vulgar Chymi&s;ts. And yet as for inferiour Spagyri&s;ts them&s;elves, they have by their labours de&s;erv'd &s;o well of the Com|mon-wealth of Learning, that methinks 'tis Pity they &s;hould ever mi&s;&s;e the Truth which they have &s;o indu&s;triou&s;ly &s;ought. And though I be no Ad|mirer of the Theorical Part of their Art, yet my conjectures will much deceive me, if the Practi|cal Part be not much more cultivated than hi|therto it has been, and do not both employ Phi|lo&s;ophy and Philo&s;ophers, and help to make men &s;uch. Nor would I that have been diverted by other Studies as well as affairs, be thought to pre|tend being a profound Spagyrist, by finding &s;o many faults in the Doctrine wherein the Genera|lity of Chymi&s;ts &s;cruples not to Acquie&s;ce: For be&s;ides that 'tis mo&s;t commonly far ea&s;ier to frame Objections against any propos'd <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> than to propo&s;e an <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> not lyable to Ob|jections (be&s;ides this I &s;ay) 'tis no &s;uch great matter, if whereas Beginners in Chymi&s;try are commonly at once imbu'd with the Theory and Operations of their profe&s;&s;ion, I who had the
<PB REF="9">good Fortune to Learn the Operations from il|literate Per&s;ons, upon who&s;e credit I was not Tempted to take up any opinion about them, &s;hould con&s;ider things with le&s;&s;e prejudice, and con|&s;equently with other Eyes than the Generality of Learners; And &s;hould be more di&s;pos'd to accommodate the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> that occur'd to me to other Notions than to tho&s;e of the Spagy|ri&s;ts. And having at first entertain'd a &s;u|&s;pition That the Vulgar Principles were le&s;&s;e General and comprehen&s;ive, or le&s;&s;e con&s;iderate|ly Deduc'd from Chymical Operations, than was believ'd; it was not unea&s;ie for me both to Take notice of divers <HI>Phaenomena,</HI> over|look'd by prepo&s;&s;est Per&s;ons, that &s;eem'd not to &s;uite &s;o well with the <HI>Hermetical</HI> Doctrine; and to devi&s;e &s;ome Experiments likely to furni&s;h me with Objections against it, not known to many, that having practis'd Chymi&s;try longer perchance then I have yet liv'd, may have far more Experience, Than I, of particular pro|ce&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>To conclude, whether the Notions I have propos'd, and the Experiments I have communi|cated, be con&s;iderable, or not, I willingly leave others to Judge; and This only I &s;hall &s;ay for my Self, That I have endeavour'd to deliver matters of Fact, &s;o faithfully, that I may as well a&s;&s;i&s;t the le&s;&s;e skilful Readers to examine the
<PB REF="10">Chymical <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> as provoke the Spagyrical Philo&s;ophers to illu&s;trate it: which if they do, and that either the Chymical opinion, or the Pe|ripatetick, or any other Theory of the Elements differing from that I am mo&s;t inclin'd to, &s;hall be intelligibly explicated, and duly prov'd to me; what I have hitherto di&s;cours'd will not hinder it from making a Pro&s;elyte of a Per&s;on that Loves Fluctuation of Judgment little enough to be willing to be eas'd of it by any thing but Er|ror.</P>
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<PB N="1" REF="10">
<HEAD>PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS Touching <HI>The experiments wont to be em|ployed to evince either the IV Peripatetick Elements, or the III Chymical Principles of Mixt Bodies.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Part of the Fir&s;t Dialogue.</HEAD>
<P>_I Perceive that divers of my Friends have thought it very &s;trange to hear me &s;peak &s;o irre&s;olvedly, as I have been wont to do, concerning tho&s;e things which &s;ome take to be the Ele|ments, and others to be the Principles of all mixt Bodies. But I blu&s;h not to ac|knowledge that I much le&s;&s;e &s;cruple to confe&s;s that I Doubt, when I do &s;o, then
<PB N="2" REF="11">to profe&s;s that I Know what I do not: And I &s;hould have much &s;tronger Expe|ctations then I dare yet entertain, to &s;ee Philo&s;ophy &s;olidly e&s;tabli&s;h't, if men would more carefully di&s;tingui&s;h tho&s;e things that they know, from tho&s;e that they ignore or do but think, and then explicate clearly the things they conceive they under&s;tand, acknowledge ingenu|ou&s;ly what it is they ignore, and profe&s;s &s;o candidly their Doubts, that the in|du&s;try of intelligent per&s;ons might be &s;et on work to make further enquiries, and the ea&s;ine&s;s of le&s;s di&s;cerning Men might not be impos'd on. But becau&s;e a more particular accompt will probably be expected of my un&s;atisfyedne&s;s not only with the Peripatetick, but with the Chymical Doctrine of the Primitive In|gredients of Bodies: It may po&s;&s;ibly &s;erve to &s;atisfy others of the excu&s;ablene&s;s of my di&s;atisfaction to peru&s;e the en&s;u|ing Relation of what pa&s;&s;ed a while &s;ince at a meeting of per&s;ons of &s;everal opinions, in a place that need not here be named; where the &s;ubject whereof we have been &s;peaking, was amply and variou&s;ly di&s;cours'd of.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="11">
<P>It was on one of the faire&s;t dayes of this Summer that the inqui&s;itive <HI>Eleuthe|rius</HI> came to invite me to make a vi&s;it with him to his friend <HI>Carneades.</HI> I readi|ly con&s;ented to this motion, telling him that if he would but permit me to go fir&s;t and make an excu&s;e at a place not far off, where I had at that hour ap|pointed to meet, but not about a bu&s;i|ne&s;s either of moment, or that could not well admit of a delay, I would pre&s;ently wait on him, becau&s;e of my knowing <HI>Carneades</HI> to be &s;o conver&s;ant with nature and with Furnaces, and &s;o unconfin'd to vulgar Opinions, that he would proba|bly by &s;ome ingenious Paradox or other, give our mindes at lea&s;t a plea&s;ing Exer|ci&s;e, and perhaps enrich them with &s;ome &s;olid in&s;truction. <HI>Eleutherius</HI> then fir&s;t go|ing with me to the place where my A|pology was to be made, I accompanied him to the lodging of <HI>Carneades,</HI> where when we were come, we were told by the Servants, that he was retired with a cou|ple of Friends (who&s;e names they al&s;o told us) to one of the Arbours in his Garden, to enjoy under its coole &s;hades a delightful protection from the yet trouble&s;ome heat of the Sun.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="12">
<P><HI>Eleutherius</HI> being perfectly acquainted with that Garden immediately led me to the Arbour, and relying on the in|timate familiarity that had been long cheri&s;h'd betwixt him and <HI>Carneades;</HI> in &s;pight of my Reluctancy to what might look like an intru&s;ion upon his privacy, drawing me by the hand, he abruptly entered the Arbour, where we found <HI>Carneades, Philoponus,</HI> and <HI>Themi&s;tius,</HI> &s;it|ting clo&s;e about a little round Table, on which be&s;ides paper, pen, and inke, there lay two or three open Books; <HI>Carneades</HI> appeared not at all trou|bled at this &s;urpri&s;e, but ri&s;ing from the Table, received his Friend with open looks and armes, and welcom|ing me al&s;o with his wonted freedom and civility, invited us to re&s;t our &s;elves by him, which, as &s;oon as we had ex|changed with his two Friends (who were ours al&s;o) the civilities accu&s;tom|ed on &s;uch occa&s;ions, we did. And he pre&s;ently after we had &s;eated our &s;elves, &s;hutting the Books that lay open, and turning to us with a &s;miling counte|nance &s;eemed ready to begin &s;ome &s;uch unconcerning di&s;cour&s;e as is wont to pa&s;s or rather wa&s;te the time in promi&s;cuous companies.</P>
<PB N="5" REF="12">
<P>But <HI>Eleutherius</HI> gue&s;&s;ing at what he meant to do, prevented him by telling him, I perceive <HI>Carneades</HI> by the books that you have been now &s;hutting, and much more by the po&s;ture wherein I found Per&s;ons qualifi'd to di&s;cour&s;e of &s;erious matters, and &s;o accu&s;tom'd to do it, that you three were before our coming, engag'd in &s;ome Philo&s;ophical conference, which I hope you will ei|ther pro&s;ecute, and allow us to be par|takers of, in recompence of the free|dome we have us'd in pre&s;uming to &s;ur|pri&s;e you, or el&s;e give us leave to repair the injury we &s;hould otherwi&s;e do you, by leaving you to the freedom we have interrupted, and puni&s;hing our &s;elves for our boldne&s;s by depriving our &s;elves of the happine&s;s of your com|pany. With the&s;e la&s;t words he and I ro&s;e up, as if we meant to be gone, But <HI>Carneades</HI> &s;uddenly laying hold on his arme, and &s;topping him by it, &s;mile|ingly told him, We are not &s;o forward to lo&s;e good company as you &s;eem to imagine; e&s;pecially &s;ince you are pleas'd to de&s;ire to be pre&s;ent at what we &s;hall &s;ay, about &s;uch a Subject as that You found us con&s;idering. For that, being
<PB N="6" REF="13">the number of the Elements, Princi|ples, or Materiall Ingredients of Bo|dies, is an enquiry who&s;e truth is of that Importance, and of that Difficulty, that it may as well de&s;erve as require to be &s;earched into by &s;uch skilfull Indaga|tors of Nature as your &s;elves. And therefore we &s;ent to invite the bold and acute <HI>Leucippus</HI> to lend us &s;ome light by his Atomical Paradox, upon which we expected &s;uch pregnant hints, that 'twas not without a great deal of trouble that we had lately word brought us that he was not to be found; and we had likewi&s;e begg'd the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of your pre&s;ence and thoughts, had not the me&s;&s;enger we employ'd to <HI>Leucippus</HI> inform'd us, that as he was going, he &s;aw you both pa&s;s by towards another part of the Town; And this fru&s;trated expectation of <HI>Leucippus</HI> his company, who told me but la&s;t night that he would be ready to give me a meeting where I pleas'd to day, having very long &s;u&s;pended our conference about the fre&s;hly mention'd Subject, it was &s;o newly begun when you came in, that we &s;hall &s;carce need to repeat any thing to acquaint you with what has pa&s;s'd betwixt us before
<PB N="7" REF="13">your arrival, &s;o that I cannot but look upon it as a fortunate Accident that you &s;hould come &s;o &s;ea&s;onably, to be not hearers alone, but we hope Interlocu|tors at our conference. For we &s;hall not only allow of your pre&s;ence at it, but de&s;ire your A&s;&s;i&s;tance in it; which I adde both for other rea&s;ons, and be|cau&s;e though the&s;e learned Gentlemen (&s;ayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to di&s;cour&s;e before any Auditory, provided it be intelligent e|nough to under&s;tand them, yet for my part (continues he with a new &s;mile,) I &s;hall not dare to vent my unpremedita|ted thoughts before two &s;uch Criticks, unle&s;s by promi&s;ing to take your turnes of &s;peaking, You will allow me mine of quarrelling, with what has been &s;aid. He and his friends added divers things to convince us that they were both de|&s;irous that we &s;hould hear them, and re&s;olved again&s;t our doing &s;o, unle&s;s we allowed them &s;ometimes to hear us. <HI>Elutherius</HI> after having a while fruit|le&s;ly endeavoured to obtain leave to be &s;ilent promis'd he would not be &s;o al|wayes, provided that he were permit|ted according to the freedom of his
<PB N="8" REF="14">Genious and Principles to &s;ide with one of them in the managing of one Ar|gument, and, if he &s;aw cau&s;e, with his Antagoni&s;t, in the Pro&s;ecution of ano|ther, without being confin'd to &s;tick to any one party or Opinion, which was after &s;ome debate accorded him. But I con&s;cious to my own Di&s;ability's told them re&s;olutely that <HI>I</HI> was as much more willing as more fit to be a hear|er then a &s;peaker, among &s;uch knowing Per&s;ons, and on &s;o ab&s;tru&s;e a Subject. And that therefore I be&s;eeched them without nece&s;&s;itating me to proclaim my weakne&s;&s;es, to allow me to le&s;&s;en them by being a &s;ilent Auditor of their Di&s;cour&s;es: to &s;uffer me to be at which I could pre&s;ent them no motive, &s;ave that their in&s;tructions would make them in me a more intelligent Admirer. I added, that I de&s;ir'd not to be idle whil&s;t they were imploy'd, but would if they pleas'd, by writing down in &s;hort hand what &s;hould be delivered, pre|&s;erve Di&s;cour&s;es that I knew would merit to be la&s;ting. At fir&s;t <HI>Carneades</HI> and his two friends utterly rejected this motion; and all that my Re&s;olute|ne&s;s to make u&s;e of my ears, not
<PB N="9" REF="14">tongue, at their debates, could do, was to make them acquie&s;ce in the Pro|po&s;ition of <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> who thinking him&s;elf concern'd, becau&s;e he brought me thither, to afford me &s;ome faint a&s;&s;i&s;tance, was content that I &s;hould regi&s;ter their Arguments, that I might be the better able after the conclu&s;ion of their conference to give them my &s;ence upon the Subject of it, (The number of Elements or Principles:) which he promis'd I &s;hould do at the end of the pre&s;ent Debates, if time would permit, or el&s;e at our next meeting. And this being by him un|dertaken in my name, though without my con&s;ent, the company would by no means receive my Prote&s;tation again&s;t it, but ca&s;ting, all at once, their eyes on <HI>Carneades,</HI> they did by that and their u|nanimous &s;ilence, invite him to begin; which (after a &s;hort pau&s;e, during which he turn'd him&s;elf to <HI>Eleutherius</HI> and me) he did in this manner.</P>
<P>Notwith&s;tanding the &s;ubtile rea&s;o|nings I have met with in the books of the Peripateticks, and the pretty expe|riments that have been &s;hew'd me in the Laboratories of Chymi&s;ts, I am of &s;o
<PB N="10" REF="15">diffident, or dull a Nature, as to think that if neither of them can bring more cogent arguments to evince the truth of their a&s;&s;ertion then are wont to be brought; a Man may rationally enough retain &s;ome doubts concerning the very number of tho&s;e materiall Ingredients of mixt bodies, which &s;ome would have us call Elements, and others principles. Indeed when I con&s;idered that the Te|nents concerning the Elements are as con&s;iderable among&s;t the Doctrines of natural Philo&s;ophy as the Elements them&s;elves are among the bodies of the Univer&s;e, I expected to find tho&s;e O|pinions &s;olidly e&s;tabli&s;h'd, upon which &s;o many others are &s;uper&s;tructed. But when I took the pains impartially to ex|amine the bodies them&s;elves that are &s;aid to re&s;ult from the blended Ele|ments, and to torture them into a con|fe&s;&s;ion of their con&s;tituent Principles, I was quickly induc'd to think that the number of the Elements has been con|tended about by Philo&s;ophers with more earne&s;tne&s;s then &s;ucce&s;s. This un|&s;atisfiedne&s;s of mine has been much wonder'd at, by the&s;e two Gentlemen (at which words he pointed at <HI>Themi&s;ti|us</HI>
<PB N="11" REF="15">and <HI>Philoponus</HI>) who though they differ almo&s;t as much betwixt them|&s;elves about the que&s;tion we are to con|&s;ider, as I do from either of them, yet they both agree very well in this, that there is a determinate number of &s;uch ingredients as I was ju&s;t now &s;peaking of, and that what that number is, I &s;ay not, may be (for what may not &s;uch as they per&s;wade?) but is wont to be clearly enough demon&s;trated both by Rea&s;on and Experience. This has oc|ca&s;ion'd our pre&s;ent Conference. For our Di&s;cour&s;e this afternoon, having fallen from one &s;ubject to another, and at length &s;etl'd on this, they proffer'd to demon&s;trate to me, each of them the truth of his opinion, out of both the Topicks that I have fre&s;hly nam'd. But on the former (that of Rea&s;on &s;trictly &s;o taken) we declin'd in&s;i&s;ting at the pre&s;ent, le&s;t we &s;hould not have time enough before &s;upper to go thorough the Rea&s;ons and Experiments too. The latter of which we unanimou&s;ly thought the mo&s;t requi&s;ite to be &s;eriou&s;ly ex|amin'd. I mu&s;t de&s;ire you then to take notice Gentlemen (continued <HI>Carne|ades</HI>) that my pre&s;ent bu&s;ine&s;s doth not
<PB N="12" REF="16">oblige me &s;o to declare my own opini|on on the Subject in que&s;tion, as to a&s;|&s;ert or deny the truth either of the Pe|ripatetick, or the Chymical Doctrine concerning the number of the Elements, but only to &s;hew you that neither of the&s;e Doctrines hath been &s;atisfactorily proved by the arguments commonly alledged on its behalfe. So that if I really di&s;cern (as perhaps I think I do) that there may be a more rational ac|count then ordinary, given of one of the&s;e opinions, I am left free to declare my &s;elf of it, notwith&s;tanding my pre&s;ent engagement, it being obvious to all your ob&s;ervation, that a &s;olid truth may be generally maintained by no other, then incompetent Arguments. And to this Declaration I hope it will be need|le&s;s to add, that my task obliges me not to an&s;wer the Arguments that may be drawn either for <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> or <HI>Philopo|nus</HI>'s Opinion from the Topick of rea&s;on, as oppo&s;ed to experiments; &s;ince 'tis the&s;e only that I am to examine and not all the&s;e neither, but &s;uch of them alone as either of them &s;hall think fit to in&s;i&s;t on, and as have hitherto been wont to be brought either to prove that 'tis
<PB N="13" REF="16">the four Peripatetick Elements, or that 'tis the three Chymical Principles that all compounded bodies con&s;i&s;t of. The&s;e things (adds <HI>Carneades</HI>) I thought my &s;elf obliged to premi&s;e, partly le&s;t you &s;hould do the&s;e Gentlemen (pointing at <HI>Themistius</HI> and <HI>Philoponus,</HI> and &s;miling on them) the injury of mea&s;uring their parts by the arguments they are ready to propo&s;e, the lawes of our Conference confining them to make u&s;e of tho&s;e that the vulgar of Philo&s;ophers (for even of them there is a vulgar) has drawn up to their hands; and partly, that you &s;hould not condemn me of pre&s;umption for di&s;|puting again&s;t per&s;ons over whom I can hope for no advantage, that <HI>I</HI> mu&s;t not derive from the nature, or rules of our controver&s;y, wherein I have but a nega|tive to defend, and wherein too I am like on &s;everal occa&s;ions to have the A&s;|&s;i&s;tance of one of my di&s;agreeing adver|&s;aries again&s;t the other.</P>
<P><HI>Philoponus</HI> and <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> &s;oon return|ed this complement with civilities of the like nature, in which <HI>Eleutherius</HI> perceiv|ing them engaged, to prevent the fur|ther lo&s;s of that time of which they were not like to have very much to &s;pare, he
<PB N="14" REF="17">minded them that their pre&s;ent bu&s;ine&s;&s;e was not to exchange complements, but Arguments: and then addre&s;&s;ing his &s;peech to <HI>Carneades,</HI> I e&s;teem it no &s;mall happine&s;&s;e (&s;aies he) that I am come here &s;o luckily this Evening. For I have been long disquieted with Doubts con|cerning this very &s;ubject which you are now ready to debate. And &s;ince a Que&s;tion of this importance is to be now di&s;cu&s;&s;ed by per&s;ons that maintain &s;uch variety of opinions concerning it, and are both &s;o able to enquire after truth, and &s;o ready to embrace it by whom&s;oever and on what occa&s;ion &s;oever it is pre&s;ent|ed them; I cannot but promi&s;e my &s;elf that I &s;hall before we part either lo&s;e my Doubts or the hopes of ever finding them re&s;olved: <HI>Eleutherius</HI> pau&s;ed not here; but to prevent their an&s;wer, added almo&s;t in the &s;ame breath; and I am not a little plea&s;ed to find that you are re&s;olved on this occa&s;ion to in&s;i&s;t rather on Experiments then Syllogi&s;mes. For I, and no doubt You, have long ob&s;er|ved, that tho&s;e Dialectical &s;ubtleties, that the Schoolmen too often employ a|bout Phy&s;iological My&s;teries, are wont much more to declare the wit of him
<PB N="15" REF="17">that u&s;es them, then increa&s;e the know|ledge or remove the doubts of &s;ober lo|vers of truth. And &s;uch captious &s;ub|tleties do indeed often puzzle and &s;ome|times &s;ilence men, but rarely &s;atisfy them. Being like the tricks of Jugglers, where|by men doubt not but they are cheated, though oftentimes they cannot declare by what &s;lights they are impo&s;ed on. And therefore I think you have done very wi&s;ely to make it your bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to con&s;ider the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> relating to the pre&s;ent Que&s;tion, which have been af|forded by experiments, e&s;pecially &s;ince it might &s;eem injurious to our &s;en&s;es, by who&s;e mediation we acquire &s;o much of the knowledge we have of things corpo|ral, to have recour&s;e to far-fetched and ab&s;tracted Ratiocination, to know what are the &s;en&s;ible ingredients of tho&s;e &s;en|&s;ible things that we daily &s;ee and han|dle, and are &s;uppo&s;ed to have the liberty to untwi&s;t (if I may &s;o &s;peak) into the primitive bodies they con&s;i&s;t of. He an|nexed that he wi&s;hed therefore they would no longer delay his expected &s;a|tisfaction, if they had not, as he feared they had, forgotten &s;omething prepara|tory to their debate; and that was to
<PB N="16" REF="18">lay down what &s;hould be all along un|der&s;tood by the word Principle or Ele|ment. <HI>Carneades</HI> thank'd him for his ad|monition, but told him that they had not been unmindful of &s;o requi&s;ite a thing. But that being Gentlemen and very far from the litigious humour of loving to wrangle about words or terms or notions as empty; they had before his coming in, readily agreed promi&s;cuou&s;ly to u&s;e when they plea&s;ed, Elements and Princi|ples as terms equivalent: and to under|&s;tand both by the one and the other, tho&s;e primitive and &s;imple Bodies of which the mixt ones are &s;aid to be com|po&s;ed, and into which they are ultimate|ly re&s;olved. And upon the &s;ame ac|count (he added) we agreed to di&s;cour&s;e of the opinions to be debated, as we have found them maintained by the Ge|nerality of the a&s;&s;ertors of the four Ele|ments of the one party, and of tho&s;e that receive the three Principles on the other, without tying our &s;elves to enquire &s;cru|pulou&s;ly what notion either <HI>Aristotle</HI> or <HI>Paracel&s;us,</HI> or this or that Interpreter, or follower of either of tho&s;e great per&s;ons, framed of Elements or Principles; our de&s;ign being to examine, not what the&s;e
<PB N="17" REF="18">or tho&s;e writers thought or taught, but what we find to be the obvious and mo&s;t general opinion of tho&s;e, who are willing to be accounted Favourers of the Peripatetick or Chymical Doctrine, con|cerning this &s;ubject.</P>
<P>I &s;ee not (&s;aies <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) why you might not immediately begin to argue, if you were but agreed which of your two friendly Adver&s;aries &s;hall be fir&s;t heard. And it being quickly re&s;olv'd on that <HI>Themistius</HI> &s;hould fir&s;t propo&s;e the Proofs for his Opinion, becau&s;e it was the antienter, and the more ge|neral, he made not the company ex|pect long before he thus addre&s;&s;ed him|&s;elf to <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> as to the Per&s;on lea&s;t intere&s;&s;ed in the di&s;pute.</P>
<P>If you have taken &s;ufficient notice of the late Confe&s;&s;ion which was made by <HI>Carneades,</HI> and which (though his Civi|lity dre&s;&s;ed it up in complementall Ex|pre&s;&s;ions) was exacted of him by his Ju&s;tice, I &s;uppo&s;e You will be ea&s;ily made &s;en&s;ible, that I engage in this Con|trover&s;ie with great and peculiar Di&s;|advantages, be&s;ides tho&s;e which his Parts and my Per&s;onal Di&s;abilities would bring to any other cau&s;e to be
<PB N="18" REF="19">maintained by me again&s;t him. For he ju&s;tly apprehending the force of truth, though &s;peaking by no better a tongue then mine, has made it the chief con|dition of our Duell, that I &s;hould lay a|&s;ide the be&s;t Weapons I have, and tho&s;e I can be&s;t handle; Whereas if I were allowed the freedom, in pleading for the four Elements, to employ the Arguments &s;ugge&s;ted to me by Rea&s;on to demon&s;trare them, I &s;hould almo&s;t as little doubt of making You a Pro|&s;elyte to tho&s;e un&s;ever'd Teachers, Truth and <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> as I do of your Candour and your Judgment. And I hope you will however con&s;ider, that that great Favorite and Interpreter of Nature, <HI>Aristotle,</HI> who was (as his <HI>Organum</HI> witne&s;&s;es) the greate&s;t Ma&s;ter of Lo|gick that ever liv'd, di&s;claim'd the cour&s;e taken by other petty Philo&s;o|phers (Antient and Modern) who not attending the Coherence and Con&s;e|quences of their Opinions, are more &s;ollicitous to make each particular O|pinion plau&s;ible independently upon the the re&s;t, then to frame them all &s;o, as not only to be con&s;i&s;tent together, but to &s;upport each other. For that great
<PB N="19" REF="19">Man in his va&s;t and comprehen&s;ive In|tellect, &s;o fram'd each of his Notions, that being curiou&s;ly adapted into one Sy&s;teme, they need not each of them any other defence then that which their mutuall Coherence gives them: As 'tis in an Arch, where each &s;ingle &s;tone, which if &s;ever'd from the re&s;t would be perhaps defencele&s;s, is &s;ufficiently &s;ecur'd by the &s;olidity and entirene&s;s of the whole Fabrick of which it is a part. How ju&s;tly this may be apply'd to the pre&s;ent ca&s;e, I could ea&s;ily &s;hew You, if I were permitted to declare to You, how harmonious <HI>Ari&s;totles</HI> Do|ctrine of the Elements is with his o|ther Principles of Philo&s;ophy; and how rationally he has deduc'd their number from that of the combinations of the four fir&s;t Qualities from the kinds of &s;imple Motion belonging to &s;imple bo|dies, and from I know not how many other Principles and <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of Nature, which &s;o con&s;pire with his Doctrine of the Elements, that they mutually &s;trengthen and &s;upport each other. But &s;ince 'tis forbidden me to in&s;i&s;t on Reflections of this kind, I mu&s;t proceed to tell You, that though the
<PB N="20" REF="20">A&s;&s;ertors of the four Elements value Rea&s;on &s;o highly, and are furni&s;h'd with Arguments enough drawn from thence, to be &s;atisfi'd that there mu&s;t be four Elements, though no Man had ever yet made any &s;en&s;ible tryal to di&s;cover their Number, yet they are not de&s;ti|tute of Experience to &s;atisfie others that are wont to be more &s;way'd by their &s;en&s;es then their Rea&s;on. And I &s;hall proceed to con&s;ider the te&s;ti|mony of Experience, when I &s;hall have fir&s;t advertis'd You, that if Men were as perfectly rational as 'tis to be wi&s;h'd they were, this &s;en&s;ible way of Probation would be as needle&s;s as 'tis wont to be imperfect. For it is much more high and Philo&s;ophical to di&s;co|ver things <HI>a priore,</HI> then <HI>a posteriore.</HI> And therefore the Peripateticks have not been very &s;ollicitous to gather Ex|periments to prove their Doctrines, contenting them&s;elves with a few only, to &s;atisfie tho&s;e that are not capable of a Nobler Conviction. And indeed they employ Experiments rather to il|lu&s;trate then to demon&s;trate their Do|ctrines, as A&s;tronomers u&s;e Sphaeres of pa&s;tboard, to de&s;cend to the capaci|ties
<PB N="21" REF="20">of &s;uch as mu&s;t be taught by their &s;en&s;es, for want of being arriv'd to a clear apprehen&s;ion of purely Mathe|matical Notions and Truths. I &s;peak thus <HI>Eleutherius</HI> (adds <HI>Themistius</HI>) on|ly to do right to Rea&s;on, and not out of Diffidence of the Experimental proof I am to alledge. For though I &s;hall name but one, yet it is &s;uch a one as will make all other appear as need|le&s;s as it &s;elf will be found Satisfactory. For if You but con&s;ider a piece of green-Wood burning in a Chimney, You will readily di&s;cern in the disbanded parts of it the four Elements, of which we teach It and other mixt bodies to be compos'd. The fire di&s;covers it &s;elf in the flame by its own light; the &s;moke by a&s;cending to the top of the chimney, and there readily vani&s;hing into air, like a River lo&s;ing it &s;elf in the Sea, &s;uffici|ently manife&s;ts to what Element it belongs and gladly returnes. The wa|ter in its own form boyling and hi&s;&s;ing at the ends of the burning Wood be|trayes it &s;elf to more then one of our &s;en&s;es; and the a&s;hes by their weight, their firine&s;s, and their dryne&s;s, put it pa&s;t doubt that they belong to the Element
<PB N="22" REF="21">of Earth. If I &s;poke (continues <HI>The|mi&s;tius</HI>) to le&s;s knowing Per&s;ons, I would perhaps make &s;ome Excu&s;e for building upon &s;uch an obvious and ea&s;ie <HI>Analy&s;is,</HI> but 'twould be, I fear, injurious, not to think &s;uch an Apology needle&s;s to You, who are too judicious either to think it nece&s;&s;ary that Experiments to prove obvious truths &s;hould be farr fetch'd, or to wonder that among &s;o ma|ny mixt Bodies that are compounded of the four Elements, &s;ome of them &s;hould upon a &s;light <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> manife&s;t|ly exhibite the Ingredients they con&s;i&s;t of. E&s;pecially &s;ince it is very agreeable to the Goodne&s;s of Nature, to di&s;clo&s;e, even in &s;ome of the mo&s;t obvious Expe|riments that Men make, a Truth &s;o important, and &s;o requi&s;ite to be taken notice of by them. Be&s;ides that our <HI>A|naly&s;is</HI> by how much the more obvious we make it, by &s;o much the more &s;uit|table it will be to the Nature of that Doctrine which 'tis alledged to prove, which being as clear and intelligible to the Under&s;tanding as obvious to the &s;en&s;e, tis no marvail the learned part of Mankind &s;hould &s;o long and &s;o ge|nerally imbrace it. For this Doctrine
<PB N="23" REF="21">is very different from the whim&s;eys of <HI>Chymi&s;ts</HI> and other Modern Innovators, of who&s;e <HI>Hypothe&s;es</HI> we may ob&s;erve, as Naturali&s;ts do of le&s;s perfect Ani|mals, that as they are ha&s;tily form'd, &s;o they are commonly &s;hort liv'd. For &s;o the&s;e, as they are often fram'd in one week, are perhaps thought fit to be laughed at the next; and being built perchance but upon two or three Expe|riments are de&s;troyed by a third or fourth, whereas the doctrine of the four Elements was fram'd by <HI>Aristotle</HI> after he had lea&s;urely con&s;idered tho&s;e Theories of former Philo&s;ophers, which are now with great applau&s;e revived, as di&s;covered by the&s;e latter ages; And had &s;o judiciou&s;ly detected and &s;upplyed the Errors and defects of former <HI>Hypo|the&s;es</HI> concerning the Elements, that his Doctrine of them has been ever &s;ince de&s;ervedly embraced by the letter'd part of Mankind: All the Philo&s;ophers that preceded him having in their &s;eve|ral ages contributed to the compleatne&s;s of this Doctrine, as tho&s;e of &s;ucceed|ing times have acquie&s;c'd in it. Nor has an <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> &s;o deliberately and ma|turely e&s;tabli&s;hed been called in Que&s;ti|on
<PB N="24" REF="22">till in the la&s;t Century <HI>Paracelfus</HI> and &s;ome few other &s;ooty Empiricks, rather then (as they are fain to call them|&s;elves) Philo&s;ophers, having their eyes darken'd, and their Brains troubl'd with the &s;moke of their own Furnaces, began to rail at the Peripatetick Do|ctrine, which they were too illiterate to under&s;tand, and to tell the credulous World, that they could &s;ee but three In|gredients in mixt Bodies; which to gain them&s;elves the repute of Inventors, they endeavoured to di&s;gui&s;e by calling them, in&s;tead of Earth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; to which they gave the canting title of Hypo&s;tatical Principles: but when they came to de&s;|cribe them, they &s;hewed how little they under&s;tood what they meant by them, by di&s;agreeing as much from one ano|ther, as from the truth they agreed in op|po&s;ing: For they deliver their <HI>Hypothe|&s;es</HI> as darkly as their Proce&s;&s;es; and 'tis almo&s;t as impo&s;&s;ible for any &s;ober Man to find their meaning, as 'tis for them to find their Elixir. And indeed no|thing has &s;pread their Philo&s;ophy, but their great Brags and undertakings; not|with&s;tanding all which, (&s;ayes <HI>Themi&s;ti|us</HI>
<PB N="25" REF="22">&s;miling) I &s;carce know any thing they have performed worth wondering at, &s;ave that they have been able to draw <HI>Philoponus</HI> to their Party, and to engage him to the Defence of an unin|telligible <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> who knowes &s;o well as he does, that Principles ought to be like Diamonds, as well very clear, as per|fectly &s;olid.</P>
<P><HI>Themistius</HI> having after the&s;e la&s;t words declared by his &s;ilence, that he had fini&s;hed his Di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>Carneades</HI> addre&s;|&s;ing him&s;elf, as his Adver&s;ary had done, to <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> returned this An&s;wer to it. I hop'd for Demon&s;tration, but I perceive <HI>Themistius</HI> hopes to put me off with a Harangue, wherein he cannot have given me a greater Opinion of his Parts, then he has given me Di&s;tru&s;t for his <HI>Hy|pothe&s;is,</HI> &s;ince for it even a Man of &s;uch Learning can bring no better Argu|ments. The Rhetorical part of his Di&s;|cour&s;e, though it make not the lea&s;t part of it, I &s;hall &s;ay nothing to, de&s;ign|ing to examine only the Argumentative part, and leaving it to <HI>Philoponus</HI> to an|&s;wer tho&s;e pa&s;&s;ages wherein either <HI>Pa|racel&s;us</HI> or <HI>Chymists</HI> are concern'd: I &s;hall ob&s;erve to You, that in what he has &s;aid
<PB N="26" REF="23">be&s;ides, he makes it his Bu&s;ine&s;s to do the&s;e two things. The one to propo&s;e and make out an Experiment to de|mon&s;trate the common Opinion about the four Elements; And the other, to in&s;inuate divers things which he thinks may repair the weakne&s;s of his Argu|ment, from Experience, and upon other Accounts bring &s;ome credit to the o|therwi&s;e defencele&s;s Doctrine he main|tains.</P>
<P>To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it &s;eems to me to be obnoxious to not a few con&s;iderable Exceptions.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, if I would now deal rigidly with my Adver&s;ary, I might here make a great Que&s;tion of the very way of Probation which he and others employ, without the lea&s;t &s;cruple, to evince, that the Bodies commonly call'd mixt, are made up of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, which they are pleas'd al&s;o to call Elements; namely that upon the &s;up|pos'd <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> made by the fire, of the former &s;ort of <HI>Concretes,</HI> there are wont to emerge Bodies re&s;embling tho&s;e which they take for the Elements. For not to Anticipate here what I fore&s;ee I
<PB N="27" REF="23">&s;hall have occa&s;ion to in&s;i&s;t on, when I come to di&s;cour&s;e with <HI>Philoponus</HI> con|cerning the right that fire has to pa&s;s for the proper and Univer&s;al In&s;tru|ment of Analy&s;ing mixt Bodies, not to Anticipate that, I &s;ay, if I were di&s;|pos'd to wrangle, I might alledge, that by <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> his Experiment it would appear rather that tho&s;e he calls Ele|ments, are made of tho&s;e he calls mixt Bodies, then mix'd Bodies of the Ele|ments. For in <HI>Themistius</HI>'s Analyz'd Wood, and in other Bodies di&s;&s;ipated and alter'd by the fire, it appears, and he confe&s;&s;es, that which he takes for E|lementary Fire and Water, are made out of the Concrete; but it appears not that the Concrete was made up of Fire and Water. Nor has either He, or any Man, for ought I know, of his per&s;wa&s;i|on, yet prov'd that nothing can be ob|tained from a Body by the fire that was not <HI>Pre-exi&s;tent</HI> in it.</P>
<P>At this unexpected objection, not only <HI>Themi&s;tius,</HI> but the re&s;t of the company appear'd not a little &s;urpriz'd; but after a while <HI>Philoponus</HI> conceiving his opini|on, as well as that of <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> concern'd in that Objection, You cannot &s;ure
<PB N="28" REF="24">(&s;ayes he to <HI>Carneades</HI>) propo&s;e this Difficulty, not to call it Cavill, other|wi&s;e then as an Exerci&s;e of wit, and not as laying any weight upon it. For how can that be &s;eparated from a thing that was not exi&s;tent in it. When, for in|&s;tance, a Refiner mingles Gold and Lead, and expo&s;ing this Mixture upon a Cuppell to the violence of the fire, there|by &s;eparates it into pure and re&s;ulgent Gold and Lead (which driven off toge|ther with the Dro&s;s of the Gold is thence call'd <HI>Lithargyrium Auri</HI>) can any man doubt that &s;ees the&s;e two &s;o differing &s;ub|&s;tances &s;eparated from the Ma&s;s, that they were exi&s;tent in it before it was committed to the fire.</P>
<P>I &s;hould (replies <HI>Carneades</HI>) allow your Argument to prove &s;omething, if, as Men &s;ee the Refiners commonly take before hand both Lead and Gold to make the Ma&s;s you &s;peak of, &s;o we did &s;ee Nature pull down a parcell of the Element of Fire, that is fancy'd to be plac'd I know not how many thou&s;and Leagues off, con|tiguous to the Orb of the Moon, and to blend it with a quantity of each of the three other Elements, to compo&s;e every mixt Body, upon who&s;e Re&s;olution the
<PB N="29" REF="24">Fire pre&s;ents us with Fire, and Earth, and the re&s;t. And let me add, <HI>Philopo|nus,</HI> that to make your Rea&s;oning co|gent, it mu&s;t be fir&s;t prov'd, that the fire do's only take the Elementary Ingredi|ents a&s;under, without otherwi&s;e alter|ing them. For el&s;e 'tis obvious, that Bo|dies may afford &s;ub&s;tances which were not pre-exi&s;tent in them; as Fle&s;h too long kept produces Magots, and old Chee&s;e Mites, which I &s;uppo&s;e you will not affirm to be Ingredients of tho&s;e Bo|dies. Now that fire do's not alwayes barely &s;eparate the Elementary parts, but &s;ometimes at lea&s;t alter al&s;o the In|gredients of Bodies, if I did not expect ere long a better occa&s;ion to prove it, I might make probable out of your very In&s;tance, wherein there is nothing Ele|mentary &s;eparated by the great violence of the Refiners fire: the Gold and Lead which are the two Ingredients &s;epara|ted upon the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> being confe&s;&s;edly yet perfectly mixt Bodies, and the Li|tharge being Lead indeed; but &s;uch Lead as is differing in con&s;i&s;tence and other Qualities from what it was before. To which I mu&s;t add that I have &s;ome|times &s;een, and &s;o que&s;tionle&s;&s;e have you
<PB N="30" REF="25">much oftener, &s;ome parcells of Gla&s;&s;e adhering to the Te&s;t or Cuppel, and this Gla&s;s though Emergent as well as the Gold or Litharge upon your Analy&s;is, you will not I hope allow to have been a third Ingredient of the Ma&s;s out of which the fire produc'd it.</P>
<P>Both <HI>Philoponus</HI> and <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> were a|bout to reply, when <HI>Eleutherius</HI> appre|hending that the Pro&s;ecution of this Di&s;pute would take up time, which might be better employ d, thought fit to prevent them by &s;aying to <HI>Carneades:</HI> You made at lea&s;t half a Promi&s;e, when you fir&s;t propos'd this Objection, that you would not (now at lea&s;t) in&s;i&s;t on it, nor indeed does it &s;eem to be of ab|&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity to your cau&s;e, that you &s;hould. For though you &s;hould grant that there are Elements, it would not follow that there mu&s;t be preci&s;ely four. And therefore I hope you will proceed to acquaint us with your other and more con&s;iderable Objections again&s;t <HI>The|mi&s;tius</HI>'s Opinion, e&s;pecially &s;ince there is &s;o great a Di&s;proportion in Bulke be|twixt the Earth, Water and Air, on the one part, and tho&s;e little parcells of re|&s;embling &s;ub&s;tances, that the fire &s;epa|rates
<PB N="31" REF="25">from <HI>Concretes</HI> on the other part, that I can &s;carce think that you are &s;eri|ous, when to lo&s;e no advantage again&s;t your Adver&s;ary, you &s;eem to deny it to be rational, to conclude the&s;e great &s;im|ple Bodies to be the Elements, and not the Products of compounded ones.</P>
<P>What you alledge (replies <HI>Carne|ades</HI>) of the Va&s;tne&s;s of the Earth and Water, has long &s;ince made me will|ing to allow them to be the greate&s;t and chief Ma&s;&s;es of Matter to be met with here below: But I think I could &s;hew You, if You would give me leave, that this will prove only that the Elements, as You call them, are the chief Bodies that make up the neighbouring part of the World, but not that they are &s;uch In|gredients as every mixt Body mu&s;t con|&s;i&s;t of. But &s;ince You challenge me of &s;omething of a Promi&s;e, though it be not an entire one, Yet I &s;hall willingly perform it. And indeed I intended not when I fir&s;t mention'd this Objecti|on, to in&s;i&s;t on it at pre&s;ent again&s;t <HI>Themistius,</HI> (as I plainly intimated in my way of propo&s;ing it:) be|ing only de&s;irous to let you &s;ee, that though I di&s;cern'd my Advantages, yet
<PB N="32" REF="26">I was willing to forego &s;ome of them; rather then appear a rigid Adver&s;ary of a Cau&s;e &s;o weak, that it may with &s;afe|ty be favourably dealt with. But I mu&s;t here profe&s;s, and de&s;ire You to take Notice of it, that though I pa&s;s on to another Argument, it is not be|cau&s;e I think this fir&s;t invalid. For You will find in the Progre&s;s of our Di&s;|pute, that I had &s;ome rea&s;on to que&s;ti|on the very way of Probation imploy'd both by Peripateticks and Chymi&s;ts, to evince the being and number of the Elements. For that there are &s;uch, and that they are wont to be &s;eparated by the Analy&s;is made by Fire, is indeed ta|ken for granted by both Parties, but has not (for ought I know) been &s;o much as plau&s;ibly attempted to be proved by either. Hoping then that when we come to that part of our De|bate, wherein Con&s;iderations relating to this Matter are to be treated of, you will remember what I have now &s;aid, and that I do rather for a while &s;uppo&s;e, then ab&s;olutely grant the truth of what I have que&s;tion'd, I will proceed to a|nother Objection.</P>
<P>And hereupon <HI>Eleutherius</HI> having
<PB N="33" REF="26">mis'd him not to be unmindfull, when time &s;hould &s;erve, of what he had de|clar'd.</P>
<P>I con&s;ider then (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) in the next place, that there are divers Bodies out of which <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> will not prove in ha&s;te, that there can be &s;o ma|ny Elements as four extracted by the Fire. And I &s;hould perchance trouble him if I &s;hould ask him what Peripate|tick can &s;hew us, (I &s;ay not, all the four Elements, for that would be too rigid a Que&s;tion, but) any one of them ex|tracted out of Gold by any degree of Fire what&s;oever. Nor is Gold the on|ly Bodie in Nature that would puzzle an <HI>Ari&s;totelian,</HI> that is no more to ana|lyze by the Fire into Elementary Bodies, &s;ince, for ought I have yet ob&s;erv'd, both Silver and calcin'd <HI>Venetian</HI> Talck, and &s;ome other Concretes, not nece&s;&s;ary here to be nam'd, are &s;o fixt, that to reduce any of them into four Heteroge|neous Sub&s;tances has hitherto prov'd a Task much too hard, not only for the Di&s;ciples of <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> but tho&s;e of <HI>Vul|can,</HI> at lea&s;t, whil&s;t the latter have em|ploy'd only Fire to make the <HI>Analy&s;is.</HI></P>
<P>The next Argument (continues <HI>Car|neades</HI>)
<PB N="34" REF="27">that I &s;hall urge again&s;t <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI>'s Opinion &s;hall be this, That as there are divers Bodies who&s;e <HI>Analy&s;ts</HI> by Fire cannot reduce them into &s;o ma|ny Heterogeneous Sub&s;tances or Ingre|gredients as four, &s;o there are others which may be reduc'd into more, as the Blood (and divers other parts) of Men and other Animals, which yield when analyz'd five di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt and Earth, as Experience has &s;hewn us in di&s;tilling Mans Blood, Harts-Horns, and divers other Bodies that belonging to the Ani|mal-Kingdom abound with not unea&s;ily &s;eque&s;trable Salt.</P>
</DIV1>
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</TEXT>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="27">
<P>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST: OR CHYMICO-PHYSICAL Doubts &amp; Paradoxes, Touching the EXPERIMENTS WHEREBY VULGAR SPAGYRISTS Are wont to Endeavour to Evince their SALT, SULPHUR AND MERCURY, TO BE The True Principles of Things.</P>
<P><HI>Utinam jam tenerentur omnia, &amp; inoperta ac confe&s;&s;a Veritas e&s;&s;et! Nihil ex Decretis mutaremus. Nunc Veritatem cum eis qui docent, quaerimus.</HI> Sen.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Crooke,</HI> and are to be &s;old at the Ship in St. <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-Yard. 1661.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="1" TYPE="part">
<PB REF="28">
<PB N="35" REF="28">
<HEAD>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST. The First Part.</HEAD>
<P>I Am (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) &s;o unwilling to deny <HI>Eleutherius</HI> any thing, that though, before the re&s;t of the Company I am re&s;olv'd to make good the part I have undertaken of a Sceptick; yet I &s;hall readily, &s;ince you will have it &s;o, lay a&s;ide for a while the Per&s;on of an Adver&s;ary to the Peripateticks and Chy|mi&s;ts; and before I acquaint you with my Objections again&s;t their Opinions, acknowledge to you what may be (whe|ther truly or not) tollerably enough added, in favour of a certain number of Principles of mixt Bodies, to that grand and known Argument from the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI>
<PB N="36" REF="29">of compound Bodies, which I may po&s;|&s;ibly hereafter be able to confute.</P>
<P>And that you may the more ea&s;ily Examine, and the better Judge of what I have to &s;ay, I &s;hall ca&s;t it into a pret|ty number of di&s;tinct Propo&s;itions, to which I &s;hall not premi&s;e any thing; becau&s;e I take it for granted, that you need not be advertis'd, that much of what I am to deliver, whether for or again&s;t a determinate number of Ingre|dients of mix'd Bodies, may be indif|ferently apply'd to the four Peripatetick Elements, and the three Chymical Prin|ciples, though divers of my Objections will more peculiarly belong to the&s;e la&s;t nam'd, becau&s;e the Chymical <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> &s;eeming to be much more countenanc'd by Experience then the other, it will be expedient to in&s;i&s;t chiefly upon the di&s;proving of that; e&s;pecially &s;ince mo&s;t of the Arguments that are im|ploy'd again&s;t it, may, by a little varia|tion, be made to conclude, at lea&s;t as &s;trongly again&s;t the le&s;s plau&s;ible, <HI>Ari|&s;totelian</HI> Doctrine.</P>
<P>To proceed then to my Propo&s;itions, I &s;hall begin with this, That</P>
<PB N="37" REF="29">
<Q><MILESTONE N="I" UNIT="Propo&s;."> It &s;eems not ab&s;urd to conceive that at the first Production of mixt Bodies, the Univer&s;al Matter whereof they among other Parts of the Univer&s;e con&s;i&s;ted, was actually divided into little Particles of &s;everal &s;izes and &s;hapes variou&s;ly mov'd.</Q>
<P>This (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) I &s;uppo&s;e you will ea&s;ily enough allow. For be|&s;ides that which happens in the Gene|ration, Corruption, Nutrition, and wa&s;ting of Bodies, that which we di&s;co|ver partly by our <HI>Micro&s;copes</HI> of the ex|tream littlene&s;&s;e of even the &s;carce &s;en|&s;ible parts of Concretes; and partly by the Chymical Re&s;olutions of mixt Bodies, and by divers other Operations of Spagyrical Fires upon them, &s;eems &s;ufficiently to manife&s;t their con&s;i&s;ting of parts very minute and of differing Figures. And that there does al&s;o inter|vene a various local Motion of &s;uch &s;mall Bodies, will &s;carce be denied; whether we chu&s;e to grant the Origine of Concretions a&s;&s;ign'd by <HI>Epicurus,</HI> or that related by <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> For the fir&s;t, as you well know, &s;uppo&s;es not only all
<PB N="38" REF="30">mixt Bodies, but all others to be pro|duc'd by the various and ca&s;ual occur&s;i|ons of Atomes, moving them&s;elves to and fro by an internal Principle in the Immen&s;e or rather Infinite <HI>Vacuum.</HI> And as for the in&s;pir'd Hi&s;torian, He, informing us that the great and Wi&s;e Author of Things did not immediately create Plants, Bea&s;ts, Birds, &amp;c. but pro|duc'd them out of tho&s;e portions of the pre-exi&s;tent, though created, Matter, that he calls Water and Earth, allows us to conceive, that the con&s;tituent Par|ticles whereof the&s;e new Concretes were to con&s;i&s;t, were variou&s;ly moved in order to their being connected into the Bodies they were, by their various Coalitions and Textures, to compo&s;e.</P>
<P>But (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) pre&s;uming that the fir&s;t Propo&s;ition needs not be longer in&s;i&s;ted on, I will pa&s;s on to the &s;econd, and tell you that</P>
<Q><MILESTONE N="II" UNIT="Propo&s;."> Neither is it impo&s;&s;ible that of the&s;e mi|nute Particles divers of the &s;malle&s;t and neighbouring ones were here and there a&s;&s;ociated into minute Ma&s;&s;es or Clu&s;ters, and did by their Coalitions con&s;titute great store of &s;uch little primary Concre|tions
<PB N="39" REF="30">or Ma&s;&s;es as were not ea&s;ily di&s;&s;i|pable into &s;uch Particles as compos'd them.</Q>
<P>To what may be deduc'd, in favour of this A&s;&s;ertion, from the Nature of the Thing it &s;elf, I will add &s;omething out of Experience, which though I have not known it u&s;ed to &s;uch a purpo&s;e, &s;eems to me more fairly to make out that there May be Elementary Bodies, then the more que&s;tionable Experiments of Peripateticks and Chymi&s;ts prove that there Are &s;uch. I con&s;ider then that Gold will mix and be colliquated not only with Silver, Copper, Tin and Lead, but with Antimony, <HI>Regulus Martis</HI> and many other Minerals, with which it will compo&s;e Bodies very differing both from Gold, and the other Ingredients of the re&s;ulting Concretes. And the &s;ame Gold will al&s;o by common <HI>Aqua Regis,</HI> and (I &s;peak it knowingly) by divers other <HI>Men&s;truums</HI> be reduc'd into a &s;eeming Liquor, in &s;o much that the Corpu&s;cles of Gold will, with tho&s;e of the <HI>Men&s;tru|um,</HI> pa&s;s through Cap-Paper, and with them al&s;o coagulate into a Cry&s;talline Salt. And I have further try'd, that
<PB N="40" REF="31">with a &s;mall quantity of a certain Saline Sub&s;tance I prepar'd, I can ea&s;ily enough &s;ublime Gold into the form of red Cry|&s;talls of a con&s;iderable length; and many other wayes may Gold be di&s;guis'd, and help to con&s;titute Bodies of very differ|ing Natures both from It and from one another, and neverthele&s;&s;e be afterward reduc'd to the &s;elf-&s;ame Numerical, Yellow, Fixt, Ponderous and Malleable Gold it was before its commixture. Nor is it only the fixed&s;t of Metals, but the mo&s;t fugitive, that I may employ in fa|vour of our Propo&s;ition: for Quick&s;ilver will with divers Metals compo&s;e an <HI>A|malgam,</HI> with divers <HI>Men&s;truums</HI> it &s;eems to be turnd into a Liquor, with <HI>Aqua fortis</HI> it will be brought into either a red or white Powder or precipitate, with Oyl of Vitriol into a pale Yellow one, with Sulphur it will compo&s;e a blood|red and volatile Cinaber, with &s;ome Sa|line Bodies it will a&s;cend in form of a Salt which will be di&s;&s;oluble in water; with <HI>Regulus</HI> of Antimony and Silver I have &s;een it &s;ublim'd into a kinde of Cry&s;tals, with another Mixture I reduc'd it into a malleable Body, into a hard and brittle Sub&s;tance by another: And
<PB N="41" REF="31">&s;ome there are who affirm, that by pro|per Additaments they can reduce Quick|&s;ilver into Oyl, nay into Gla&s;s, to men|tion no more. And yet out of all the&s;e exotick Compounds, we may recover the very &s;ame running Mercury that was the main Ingredient of them, and was &s;o di&s;guis'd in them. Now the Rea|&s;on (proceeds <HI>Carneades</HI>) that I have repre&s;ented the&s;e things concerning Gold and Quick&s;ilver, is, That it may not ap|pear ab&s;urd to conceive, that &s;uch little primary Ma&s;&s;es or Clu&s;ters, as our Pro|po&s;ition mentions, may remain undi&s;&s;i|pated, notwith&s;tanding their entring in|to the compo&s;ition of various Concreti|ons, &s;ince the Corpu&s;cle of Gold and Mercury, though they be not primary Concretions of the mo&s;t minute Parti|cles of matter, but confe&s;&s;edly mixt Bodies, are able to concurre plentifully to the compo&s;ition of &s;everal very dif|fering Bodies, without lo&s;ing their own Nature or Texture, or having their cohae|&s;ion violated by the divorce of their a&s;|&s;ociated parts or Ingredients.</P>
<P>Give me leave to add (&s;ayes <HI>Eleuthe|rius</HI>) on this occa&s;ion, to what you now ob&s;erv'd, that as confidently as &s;ome
<PB N="42" REF="32">Chymi&s;ts, and other modern Innovators in Philo&s;ophy are wont to object again&s;t the Peripateticks, That from the mixture of their four Elements there could ari&s;e but an incon&s;iderable variety of com|pound Bodies; yet if the <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> were but half as well vers'd in the works of Nature as they are in the Writings of their Ma&s;ter, the propos'd Objection would not &s;o calmly triumph, as for want of Experiments they are fain to &s;uffer it to do. For if we a&s;&s;igne to the Corpu&s;cles, whereof each Element con|&s;i&s;ts, a peculiar &s;ize and &s;hape, it may ea&s;ily enough be manife&s;ted, That &s;uch differingly figur'd Corpu&s;cles may be mingled in &s;uch various Proportions, and may be connected &s;o many &s;everal wayes, that an almo&s;t incredible number of va|riou&s;ly qualified Concretes may be com|pos'd of them. E&s;pecially &s;ince the Cor|pu&s;cles of one Element may barely, by being a&s;&s;ociated among them&s;elves, make up little Ma&s;&s;es of differing &s;ize and figure from their con&s;tituent parts: and &s;ince al&s;o to the &s;trict union of &s;uch minute Bodies there &s;eems oftentimes nothing requi&s;ite, be&s;ides the bare Con|tact of a great part of their Surfaces.
<PB N="43" REF="32">And how great a variety of <HI>Phaenomena</HI> the &s;ame matter, without the addition of any other, and only &s;everal ways di&s;pos'd or contexed, is able to exhibit, may partly appear by the multitude of differing En|gins which by the contrivances of skilful Mechanilians, and the dexterity of ex|pert Workmen, may be made of Iron alone. But in our pre&s;ent ca&s;e being al|low'd to deduce compound Bodies from four very differently qualified &s;orts of matter, he who &s;hall but con&s;ider what you fre&s;hly took notice of concerning the new Concretes re&s;ulting from the mixture of incorporated Minerals, will &s;carce doubt but that the four Elements mannag'd by Natures Skill may afford a multitude of differing Compounds.</P>
<P>I am thus far of your minde (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) that the <HI>Aristotelians</HI> might with probability deduce a much greater number of compound Bodies from the mixture of their four Elements, than according to their pre&s;ent <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> they can, if in&s;tead of vainly attempting to deduce the variety and properties of all mixt Bodies from the Combinations and Temperaments of the four Elements, as they are (among them) endowd
<PB N="44" REF="33">with the four fir&s;t Qualities, they had endeavoured to do it by the Bulk and Figure of the &s;malle&s;t parts of tho&s;e &s;uppo&s;ed Elements. For from the&s;e more Catholick and Fruitfull Accidents of the Elementary matter may &s;pring a great variety of Textures, upon who&s;e Account a multitude of compound Bo|dies may very much differ from one an|other. And what I now ob&s;erve touch|ing the four Peripatetick Elements, may be al&s;o applyed, <HI>mutatis mutandis,</HI> (as they &s;peak) to the Chymical Princi|ples. But (to take notice of that by the by) both the one and the other, mu&s;t, I fear, call in to their a&s;&s;i&s;tance &s;ome|thing that is not Elementary, to excite or regulate the motion of the parts of the matter, and di&s;po&s;e them after the manner requi&s;ite to the Con&s;titution of particular Concretes. For that other|wi&s;e they are like to give us but a very imperfect account of the Origine of very many mixt Bodies, It would, I think, be no hard matter to per&s;wade you, if it would not &s;pend time, and were no Digre&s;&s;ion, to examine, what they are wont to alledge of the Origine of the Textures and Qualities of mixt Bodies,
<PB N="45" REF="33">from a certain &s;ub&s;tantial Form, who&s;e Origination they leave more ob&s;cure than what it is a&s;&s;um'd to explicate.</P>
<P>But to proceed to a new Propo&s;ition.</P>
<Q><MILESTONE N="III" UNIT="Propo&s;."> I &s;hall not peremptorily deny, that from mo&s;t of &s;uch mixt Bodies as partake either of Animal or Vegetable Nature, there may by the Help of the Fire, be actually ob|tain'd a determinate number (whether Three, Four or Five, or fewer or more) of Sub&s;tances, worthy of differing De|nominations.</Q>
<P>Of the Experiments that induce me to make this Conce&s;&s;ion, I am like to have occa&s;ion enough to mention &s;everal in the pro&s;ecution of my Di&s;cour&s;e. And therefore, that I may not hereafter be oblig'd to trouble You and my &s;elf with needle&s;s Repetitions, I &s;hall now only de&s;ire you to take notice of &s;uch Ex|periments, when they &s;hall be menti|on'd, and in your thoughts referre them hither.</P>
<P>To the&s;e three Conce&s;&s;ions I have but this Fourth to add, That</P>
<PB N="46" REF="34">
<Q><MILESTONE N="IV" UNIT="Propo&s;."> It may likewi&s;e be granted, that tho&s;e di|stinct Sub&s;tances, which Concretes gene|rally either afford or are made up of, may without very much Inconvenience be call'd the Elements or Principles of them.</Q>
<P>When I &s;aid, <HI>without very much Incon|venience,</HI> I had in my Thoughts that &s;o|ber Admonition of <HI>Galen, Cum de re con|&s;tat, de verbis non e&s;t Litigandum.</HI> And therefore al&s;o I &s;cruple not to &s;ay <HI>Ele|ments</HI> or <HI>Principles,</HI> partly becau&s;e the Chymi&s;ts are wont to call the Ingredi|ents of mixt Bodies, <HI>Principles,</HI> as the <HI>Aristotelians</HI> name them <HI>Elements;</HI> I would here exclude neither. And, part|ly, becau&s;e it &s;eems doubtfull whether the &s;ame Ingredients may not be call'd <HI>Principles?</HI> as not being compounded of any more primary Bodies: and <HI>Elements,</HI> in regard that all mix'd Bodies are com|pounded of them. But I thought it re|qui&s;ite to limit my Conce&s;&s;ion by pre|mi&s;ing the words, <HI>very much,</HI> to the word <HI>Inconvenience,</HI> becau&s;e that though the Inconvenience of calling the di&s;tinct Sub|&s;tances, mention'd in the Propo&s;ition <HI>Elements</HI> or <HI>Principles,</HI> be not very great,
<PB N="47" REF="34">yet that it is an Impropriety of Speech, and con&s;equently in a matter of this moment not to be altogether overlook'd, You will perhaps think, as well as I, by that time you &s;hall have heard the fol|lowing part of my Di&s;cour&s;e, by which you will be&s;t di&s;cern what Con&s;truction to put upon the former Propo&s;itions, and how far they may be look'd upon, as things that I concede as true, and how far as things I only repre&s;ent as &s;pecious enough to be fit to be con&s;ider'd.</P>
<P>And now <HI>Eleutherius</HI> (continues <HI>Car|neades</HI>) I mu&s;t re&s;ume the per&s;on of a Sceptick, and as &s;uch, propo&s;e &s;ome part of what may be either di&s;lik't, or at lea&s;t doubted of in the common <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of the Chymi&s;ts: which if I examine with a little the more freedom, I hope I need not de&s;ire you (a Per&s;on to whom I have the Happine&s;&s;e of being &s;o well known) to look upon it as &s;omething more &s;uitable to the Employment where|to the Company has, for this Meeting, doom'd me; then either to my Humour or my Cu&s;tom.</P>
<P>Now though I might pre&s;ent you ma|ny things again&s;t the Vulgar Chymical Opinion of the three Principles, and the
<PB N="48" REF="35">Experiments wont to be alledg'd as De|mon&s;trations of it, yet tho&s;e I &s;hall at pre&s;ent offer you may be conveniently enough comprehended in four Capital Con&s;iderations; touching all which I &s;hall only premi&s;e this in general, That &s;ince it is not my pre&s;ent Task &s;o much to a&s;&s;ert an <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> of my own, as to give an Account wherefore I &s;u|&s;pect the Truth of that of the Chymi&s;ts, it ought not to be expected that all my Objections &s;hould be of the mo&s;t cogent &s;ort, &s;ince it is rea&s;on enough to Doubt of a propos'd Opinion, that there ap|pears no cogent Rea&s;on for it.</P>
<P>To come then to the Objections them|&s;elves; I con&s;ider in the fir&s;t place, That notwith&s;tanding what common Chy|mi&s;ts have prov'd or taught, it may rea|&s;onably enough be Doubted, how far, and in what &s;ence, Fire ought to be e&s;teem'd the genuine and univer&s;al In|&s;trument of analyzing mixt Bodies.</P>
<P>This Doubt, you may remember, was formerly mention'd, but &s;o tran&s;iently di&s;cours'd of, that it will now be fit to in&s;i&s;t upon it; And manife&s;t that it was not &s;o incon&s;iderately propos'd as our Adver&s;aries then imagin'd.</P>
<PB N="49" REF="35">
<P>But, before I enter any farther into this Di&s;qui&s;ition, I cannot but here take notice, that it were to be wi&s;h'd, our Chymi&s;ts had clearly inform'd us what kinde of Divi&s;ion of Bodies by Fire mu&s;t determine the number of the Elements: For it is nothing near &s;o ea&s;y as many &s;eem to think, to determine di&s;tinctly the Effects of Heat, as I could ea&s;ily ma|nife&s;t, if I had lea&s;ure to &s;hew you how much the Operations of Fire may be diver&s;ify'd by Circum&s;tances. But not wholly to pa&s;s by a matter of this Im|portance, I will fir&s;t take notice to you, that <HI>Guajacum</HI> (for In&s;tance) burnt with an open Fire in a Chimney, is &s;eque&s;tred into A&s;hes and Soot, whereas the &s;ame Wood di&s;till'd in a Retort does yield far other Heterogeneities, (to u&s;e the <HI>Helmontian</HI> expre&s;&s;ion) and is re&s;oly'd into Oyl, Spirit, Vinager, Water and Charcoal; the la&s;t of which to be re|duc'd into A&s;hes, requires the being far|ther calcin'd then it can be in a clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;el: Be&s;ides having kindled Amber, and held a clean Silver Spoon, or &s;ome other Concave and &s;mooth Ve&s;&s;el over the Smoak of its Flame, I ob&s;erv'd the Soot into which that Fume condens'd,
<PB N="50" REF="36">to be very differing from any thing that I had ob&s;erv'd to proceed from the &s;team of Amber purpo&s;ely (for that is not u&s;ual) di&s;tilled <HI>per &s;e</HI> in clo&s;e Ve&s;|&s;els. Thus having, for Tryals &s;ake, kin|dled Camphire, and catcht the Smoak that copiou&s;ly a&s;cended out of the Flame, it condens'd into a Black and unctuous Soot, which would not have been gue&s;s d by the Smell or other Pro|perties to have proceeded from Cam|phire: whereas having (as I &s;hall other|where more fully declare) expos'd a quantity of that Fugitive Concrete to a gentle heat in a clo&s;e Gla&s;s-Ve&s;&s;el, it &s;ublim'd up without &s;eeming to have lo&s;t any thing of its whitene&s;s, or its Nature, both which it retain'd, though after|wards I &s;o encrea&s;ed the Fire as to bring it to Fu&s;ion. And, be&s;ides Camphire, there are divers other Bodies (that I el&s;ewhere name) in which the heat in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els is not wont to make any &s;eparation of Heterogeneities, but only a comminution of Parts, tho&s;e that ri&s;e fir&s;t being Homogeneal with the others, though &s;ubdivided into &s;maller Particles: whence Sublimations have been &s;tiled, <HI>The Pestles of the Chymi&s;ts.</HI> But not here
<PB N="51" REF="36">to mention what I el&s;ewhere take notice of, concerning common Brim&s;tone once or twice &s;ublim'd, that expos'd to a mo|derate Fire in Subliming-Pots, it ri&s;es all into dry, and almo&s;t ta&s;tle&s;s, Flow|ers; Whereas being expos'd to a naked Fire it affords &s;tore of a Saline and Fretting Liquor: Not to mention this, I &s;ay, I will further ob&s;erve to you, that as it is con&s;iderable in the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> of mixt Bodies, whether the Fire act on them when they are expos'd to the open Air, or &s;hut up in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, &s;o is the degree of Fire by which the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> is attempted of no &s;mall moment. For a milde <HI>Balneum</HI> will &s;ever unfermented Blood (for In&s;tance) but into Phlegme and <HI>Caput mortuum,</HI> the later whereof (which I have &s;ometimes had) hard, brittle, and of divers Colours, (tran&s;pa|rent almo&s;t like Tortoi&s;e-&s;hell) pre&s;s'd by a good Fire in a Retort yields a Spirit, an Oyl or two, and a volatile Salt, be|&s;ides a <HI>Caput mortuum.</HI> It may be al&s;o pertinent to our pre&s;ent De&s;igne, to take notice of what happens in the making and di&s;tilling of Sope; for by one de|gree of Fire the Salt, the Water and the Oyl or Grea&s;e, whereof that factitious
<PB N="52" REF="37">Concrete is made up, being boyl'd up together are ea&s;ily brought to mingle and incorporate into one Ma&s;s; but by another and further degree of Heat the &s;ame Ma&s;s may be again divided into an oleagenous, an aqueous, a Saline, and an Earthy part. And &s;o we may ob&s;erve that impure Silver and Lead being ex|pos'd together to a moderate Fire, will thereby be colliquated into one Ma&s;s, and mingle <HI>per minima,</HI> as they &s;peak, whereas a much vehementer Fire will drive or carry off the ba&s;er Metals (I mean the Lead, and the Copper or other Alloy) from the Silver, though not, for ought appears, &s;eparate them from one another. Be&s;ides, when a Ve|getable abounding in fixt Salt is analyz'd by a naked Fire, as one degree of Heat will reduce it into A&s;hes, (as the Chy|mi&s;ts them&s;elves teach us) &s;o, by only a further degree of Fire, tho&s;e A&s;hes may be vitrified and turn'd into Gla&s;s. I will not &s;tay to examine how far a meere Chymi&s;t might on this occa&s;ion demand, If it be lawful for an <HI>Aristo|telian</HI> to make A&s;hes, (which he mi&s;takes for meere Earth) pa&s;s for an Element, becau&s;e by one degree of Fire it may be
<PB N="53" REF="37">produc'd, why a Chymi&s;t may not upon the like Principle argue, that Gla&s;s is one of the Elements of many Bodies, becau&s;e that al&s;o may be obtain'd from them, barely by the Fire? I will not, I &s;ay, lo&s;e time to examine this, but ob|&s;erve, that by a Method of applying the Fire, &s;uch &s;imilar Bodies may be obtain'd from a Concrete, as Chymi&s;ts have not been able to &s;eparate; either by barely burning it in an open Fire, or by barely di&s;tilling it in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els. For to me it &s;eems very con&s;iderable, and I wonder that men have taken &s;o little notice of it, that I have not by any of the com|mon wayes of Di&s;tillation in clo&s;e Ve&s;|&s;els, &s;een any &s;eparation made of &s;uch a volatile Salt as is afforded us by Wood, when that is fir&s;t by an open Fire divided into A&s;hes and Soot, and that Soot is af|terwards plac'd in a &s;trong Retort, and compell'd by an urgent Fire to part with its Spirit, Oyl and Salt; for though I dare not peremptorily deny, that in the Liquors of <HI>Guajacum</HI> and other Woods di&s;till'd in Retorts after the common manner, there may be Saline parts, which by rea&s;on of the Analogy may pretend to the name of &s;ome kinde of
<PB N="54" REF="38">volatile Salts; yet que&s;tionle&s;s there is a great di&s;parity betwixt &s;uch Salts and that which we have &s;ometimes obtain'd upon the fir&s;t Di&s;tillation of Soot (though for the mo&s;t part it has not been &s;epa|rated from the fir&s;t or &s;econd Rectifica|tion, and &s;ometimes not till the third) For we could never yet &s;ee &s;eparated from Woods analyz'd only the vu&s;gar way in clo&s;e ve&s;&s;els any volatile Salt in a dry and Saline form, as that of Soot, which we have often had very Cry&s;tal|line and Geometrically figur'd. And then, whereas the Saline parts of the Spi|rits of <HI>Guajacum,</HI> &amp;c. appear upon di&s;til|lation &s;luggi&s;h enough, the Salt of Soot &s;eems to be one of the mo&s;t volatile Bodies in all Nature; and if it be well made will readily a&s;cend with the milde heat of a Furnace, warm 'd only by the &s;ingle Wieck of a Lamp, to the top of the highe&s;t Gla&s;s Ve&s;&s;els that are com|monly made u&s;e of for Di&s;tillation: and be&s;ides all this, the ta&s;te and &s;mell of the Salt of Soot are exceeding differ|ing from tho&s;e of the Spirits of <HI>Guaja|cum,</HI> &amp;c. and the former not only &s;mells and ta&s;tes much le&s;s like a vegetable Salt, than like that of Harts-horn, and other
<PB N="55" REF="38">Animal Concretes; but in divers other Properties &s;eems more of Kinne to the Family of Animals, than to that of vege|table Salts, as I may el&s;ewhere (God per|mitting) have an occa&s;ion more particu|larly to declare. I might likewi&s;e by &s;ome other Examples manife&s;t, That the Chy|mi&s;ts, to have dealt clearly, ought to have more explicitly and particularly declar'd by what Degree of Fire, and in what manner of Application of it, they would have us Judge a Divi&s;ion made by the Fire to be a true <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> into their Principles, and the Productions of it to de&s;erve the name of Elementary Bodies. But it is time that I proceed to mention the particular Rea&s;ons that incline me to Doubt, whether the Fire be the true and univer&s;al Analyzer of mixt Bodies; of which Rea&s;ons what has been already objected may pa&s;s for one.</P>
<P>In the next place I ob&s;erve, That there are &s;ome mixt Bodies from which it has not been yet made appear, that any degree of Fire can &s;eparate either Salt or Sulphur or Mercury, much le&s;s all the Three. The mo&s;t obvious In&s;tance of this Truth is Gold, which is a Body &s;o fix'd, and wherein the Elementary
<PB N="56" REF="39">Ingredients (if it have any) are &s;o firmly united to each other, that we finde not in the operations wherein Gold is ex|pos'd to the Fire, how violent &s;oever, that it does di&s;cernably &s;o much as lo&s;e of its fixedne&s;&s;e or weight, &s;o far is it from being di&s;&s;ipated into tho&s;e Prin|ciples, whereof one at lea&s;t is acknow|ledged to be Fugitive enough; and &s;o ju&s;tly did the Spagyricall Poet &s;ome|where exclaim,</P>
<Q><HI>Cuncta adeo miris illic compagibus haerent.</HI></Q>
<P>And I mu&s;t not omit on this occa&s;ion to mention to you, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> the me|morable Experiment that I remember I met with in
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Ga&s;to Claveus</HI> Apolog. Argur. &amp; Chry&s;o|pera.</NOTE> <HI>Ga&s;to Claveus,</HI> who, though a Lawyer by Profe&s;&s;ion, &s;eems to have had no &s;mall Curio&s;ity and Experience in Chymical affairs: He relates then, that having put into one &s;mall Earthen Ve&s;&s;el an Ounce of the mo&s;t pure Gold, and into another the like weight of pure Silver, he plac'd them both in that part of a Gla&s;s-hou&s;e Furnace wherein the Workmen keep their Metal, (as our Engli&s;h Artificers call their Liquid Gla&s;s) continually melted, and that having there kept both the Gold and
<PB N="57" REF="39">the Silver in con&s;tant Fu&s;ion for two Moneths together, he afterwards took them out of the Furnace and the Ve&s;&s;els, and weighing both of them again, found that the Silver had not lo&s;t above a 12^t^h part of its weight, but the Gold had not of his lo&s;t any thing at all. And though our Author endeavours to give us of this a Schola&s;tick Rea&s;on, which I &s;uppo&s;e you would be as little &s;atisfied with, as I was when I read it; yet for the mat|ter of Fact, which will &s;erve our pre&s;ent turne, he a&s;&s;ures us, that though it be &s;trange, yet Experience it &s;elf taught it him to be mo&s;t true.</P>
<P>And though there be not perhaps any other Body to be found &s;o perfectly fix'd as Gold, yet there are divers others &s;o fix'd or compos'd, at lea&s;t of &s;o &s;trictly united parts, that I have not yet ob&s;erv'd the Fire to &s;eparate from them any one of the Chymi&s;ts Principles. I need not tell you what Complaints the more Candid and Judicious of the Chymi&s;ts them&s;elves are wont to make of tho&s;e Boa&s;ters that confidently pretend, that they have extracted the Salt or Sulphur of Quick&s;ilver, when they have di&s;guis'd it by Additaments, wherewith it re|&s;embles
<PB N="58" REF="40">the Concretes who&s;e Names are given it; whereas by a skilfull and rigid <HI>Examen,</HI> it may be ea&s;ily enough &s;tript of its Di&s;gui&s;es, and made to appear again in the pri&s;tine form of running Mercury. The pretended Salts and Sulphurs being &s;o far from being Elementary parts ex|tracted out of the Bodie of Mercurie, that they are rather (to borrow a terme of the Grammarians) De-compound Bo|dies, made up of the whole Metal and the <HI>Men&s;truum,</HI> or other Additaments imploy'd to di&s;gui&s;e it. And as for Sil|ver, I never could &s;ee any degree of Fire make it part with any of its three Prin|ciples. And though the Experiment lately mentioned from <HI>Claveus</HI> may be|get a Su&s;pition that Silver may be di&s;&s;i|pated by Fire, provided it be extreamly violent and very la&s;ting: yet it will not nece&s;&s;arily follow, that becau&s;e the Fire was able at length to make the Silver lo&s;e a little of its weight, it was there|fore able to di&s;&s;ipate it into its Principles. For fir&s;t I might alledge that I have ob|&s;erv'd little Grains of Silver to lie hid in the &s;mall Cavities (perhaps glas'd over by a vitrifying heat) in Crucibles, where|in Silver has been long kept in Fu&s;ion,
<PB N="59" REF="40">whence &s;ome Gold&s;miths of my Ac|quaintance make a Benefit by grinding &s;uch Crucibles to powder, to recover out of them the latent particles of Silver. And hence I might argue, that perhaps <HI>Claveus</HI> was mi&s;taken, and imagin'd that Silver to have been driven away by the Fire, that indeed lay in minute parts hid in his Crucible, in who&s;e pores &s;o &s;mall a quantity as he mi&s;t of &s;o ponderous a Bodie might very well lie con|ceal'd.</P>
<P>But Secondly, admitting that &s;ome parts of the Silver were driven away by the violence of the Fire, what proof is there that it was either the Salt, the Sul|phur, or the Mercury of the Metal, and not rather a part of it homogeneous to what remain'd? For be&s;ides, that the Silver that was left &s;ee m'd not &s;en&s;ibly alter'd, which probably would have appear'd, had &s;o much of any one of its Princi|ples been &s;eparated from it: We finde in other Mineral Bodies of a le&s;s perma|nent nature than Silver, that the Fire may divide them into &s;uch minute parts, as to be able to carry them away with its &s;elf, without at all de&s;troying their Nature. Thus we &s;ee that in the re|fining
<PB N="60" REF="41">of Silver, the Lead that is mix'd with it (to carry away the Copper or other ignoble Mineral that emba&s;es the Silver) will, if it be let alone, in time evaporate away upon the Te&s;t; but if (as is mo&s;t u&s;ual among&s;t tho&s;e that re|fine great quantities of Metals together) the Lead be blown off from the Silver by Bellowes, that which would el&s;e have gone away in the Form of unheed|ed &s;teams, will in great part be collected not far from the Silver, in the Form of a darki&s;h Powder or Calx, which, be|cau&s;e it is blown off from Silver, they call Litharge of Silver.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Agricola</HI> de Natu|ra Fo&s;&s;il. Lib. 9. Cap. 11. &amp; 12.</NOTE> And thus <HI>Agri|cola</HI> in divers places informs us, when Copper, or the Oare of it is colliquated by the violence of the Fire with <HI>Cadmia,</HI> the Sparks that in great multitudes do fly upwards do, &s;ome of them, &s;tick to the vaulted Roofs of the Furnaces, in the form of little and (for the mo&s;t part) White Bubbles, which therefore the Greeks, and, in Imitation of them, our Drug&s;ters call <HI>Pompholix:</HI> and others more heavy partly adhere to the &s;ides of the Furnace, and partly (e&s;pecially if the Covers be not kept upon the Pots) fall to the Ground, and by rea&s;on of their A&s;hy
<PB N="61" REF="41">Colour as well as Weight were called by the &s;ame Greeks <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, which, I need not tell you, in their Language &s;ignifies A&s;hes. I might add, that I have not found that from Venetian Talck (I &s;ay Vene|tian, becau&s;e I have found other kinds of that Mineral more open) from the <HI>Lapis O&s;&s;ifragus,</HI> (which the Shops call <HI>Ostio|colla</HI>) from <HI>Mu&s;covia</HI> Gla&s;s, from pure and Fu&s;ible Sand, to mention now no other Concretes; tho&s;e of my Acquaint|ance that have try'd have been able by the Fire to &s;eparate any one of the Hy|po&s;tatical Principles, which you will the le&s;s &s;cruple to believe, if you con&s;ider that Gla&s;s may be made by the bare Colliquation of the Salt and Earth re|maining in the A&s;hes of a burnt Plant, and that yet common Gla&s;s, once made, does &s;o far re&s;i&s;t the violence of the Fire, that mo&s;t Chymi&s;ts think it a Body more unde&s;troyable then Gold it &s;elf. For if the Artificer can &s;o firmly unite &s;uch comparative gro&s;s Particles as tho&s;e of Earth and Salt that make up common A&s;hes, into a Body indi&s;&s;oluble by Fire; why may not Nature a&s;&s;ociate in divers Bodies the more minute Elementary Corpu&s;cles &s;he has at hand too firmly to
<PB N="62" REF="42">let them be &s;eparable by the Fire? And on this Occa&s;ion, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> give me leave to mention to you two or three &s;leight Experiments, which will, I hope, be found more pertinent to our pre&s;ent Di&s;cour&s;e, than at fir&s;t perhaps they will appear. The fir&s;t is, that, having (for Tryals &s;ake) put a quantity of that Fu|gitive Concrete, Camphire, into a Gla&s;s Ve&s;&s;el, and plac'd it in a gentle Heat, I found it (not leaving behinde, according to my E&s;timate, not &s;o much as one Grain) to &s;ublime to the Top of the Ve&s;&s;el into Flowers: which in White|ne&s;s, Smell, &amp;c. &s;eem'd not to differ from the Camphire it &s;elf. Another Experiment is that of <HI>Helmont,</HI> who in &s;everal places affirms, That a Coal kept in a Gla&s;s exactly clos'd will never be calcin'd to A&s;hes, though kept never &s;o long in a &s;trong Fire. To countenance which I &s;hall tell you this Tryal of my own, That having &s;ometimes di&s;tilled &s;ome Woods, as particularly Box, whil&s;t our <HI>Caput mortuum</HI> remain'd in the Retort, it continued black like Charcoal, though the Retort were Earthen, and kept red|hot in a vehement Fire; but as &s;oon as ever it was brought out of the candent
<PB N="63" REF="42">Ve&s;&s;el into the open Air, the burning Coals did ha&s;tily degenerate or fall a|&s;under, without the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of any new Calcination, into pure white A&s;hes. And to the&s;e two I &s;hall add but this ob|vious and known Ob&s;ervation, that com|mon Sulphur (if it be pure and freed from its Vinager) being lea&s;urely &s;ublim'd in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, ri&s;es into dry Flowers, which may be pre&s;ently melted into a Bodie of the &s;ame Nature with that which afforded them. Though if Brim|&s;tone be burnt in the open Air it gives, you know, a penetrating Fume, which being caught in a Gla&s;s-Bell conden&s;es into that acid Liquor called Oyl of Sul|phur <HI>per Campanam.</HI> The u&s;e I would make of the&s;e Experiments collated with what I lately told you out of <HI>Agricola</HI> is this, That even among the Bodies that are not fixt, there are divers of &s;uch a Texture, that it will be hard to make it appear, how the Fire, as Chymi&s;ts are wont to imploy it, can re&s;olve them into Elemen|tary Sub&s;tances. For &s;ome Bodies being of &s;uch a Texture that the Fire can drive them into the cooler and le&s;s hot part of the Ve&s;&s;els wherein they are included, and if need be, remove them from place
<PB N="64" REF="43">to place to fly the greate&s;t heat, more ea&s;ily than it can divorce their Elements (e&s;pecially without the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Air) we &s;ee that our Chymi&s;ts cannot Analyze them in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, and of other compound Bodies the open Fire can as little &s;eparate the Elements. For what can a naked Fire do to Analyze a mixt Bodie, if its component Principles be &s;o minute, and &s;o &s;trictly united, that the Corpu&s;cles of it need le&s;s heat to carry them up, than is requi&s;ite to divide them into their Principles. So that of &s;ome Bodies the Fire cannot in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els make any <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> at all, and others will in the open Air fly away in the Forms of Flowers or Liquors, before the Heat can prove able to divide them into their Principles. And this may hold, whether the various &s;imilar parts of a Concrete be combin'd by Nature or by Art; For in factitious <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> we finde the common and the Urinous Salts &s;o well mingled, that both in the open Fire, and in &s;ubliming Ve&s;&s;els they ri&s;e together as one Salt, which &s;eems in &s;uch Ve&s;&s;els irre&s;oluble by Fire alone. For I can &s;hew you <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> which after the ninth Sublimation does &s;till retain its
<PB N="65" REF="43">compounded Nature. And indeed I &s;carce know any one Mineral, from which by Fire alone Chymi&s;ts are wont to &s;ever any Sub&s;tance &s;imple enough to de&s;erve the name of an Element or Prin|ciple. For though out of native Cinnaber they di&s;till Quick&s;ilver, and though from many of tho&s;e Stones that the Ancients called <HI>Pyrites</HI> they &s;ublime Brim&s;tone, yet both that Quick&s;ilver and this Sul|phur being very often the &s;ame with the common Minerals that are &s;old in the Shops under tho&s;e names, are them|&s;elves too much compounded Bodies to pa&s;s for the Elements of &s;uch. And thus much, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> for the Second Argu|ment that belongs to my Fir&s;t Con&s;ide|ration; the others I &s;hall the le&s;&s;e in&s;i&s;t on, becau&s;e I have dwelt &s;o long upon this.</P>
<P>Proceed we then in the next place to con&s;ider, That there are divers Separa|tions to be made by other means, which either cannot at all, or el&s;e cannot &s;o well be made by the Fire alone. When Gold and Silver are melted into one Ma&s;s, it would lay a great Obligation upon Refiners and Gold&s;miths to teach them the Art of &s;eparating them
<PB N="66" REF="44">by the Fire, without the trouble and charge they are fain to be at to &s;ever them. Whereas they may be very ea&s;i|ly parted by the Affu&s;ion of Spirit of Nitte or <HI>Aqua fortis</HI> (which the French therefore call <HI>Eau de Depart:</HI>) &s;o like|wi&s;e the Metalline part of Vitriol will not be &s;o ea&s;ily and conveniently &s;eparated from the Saline part even by a violent Fire, as by the Affu&s;ion of cer|tain Alkalizate Salts in a liquid Form upon the Solution of Vitriol made in common water. For thereby the acid Salt of the Vitriol, leaving the Copper it had corroded to joyn with the added Salts, the Metalline part will be preci|pitated to the bottom almo&s;t like Mud. And that I may not give In&s;tances only in De-compound Bodies, I will add a not u&s;ele&s;s one of another kinde. Not only Chymi&s;ts have not been able (for ought is vulgarly known) by Fire alone to &s;e|parate true Sulphur from Antimony; but though you may finde in their Books ma|ny plau&s;ible Proce&s;&s;es of Extracting it, yet he that &s;hall make as many fruitle&s;&s;e Tryals as I have done to obtain it by, mo&s;t of them will, I &s;uppo&s;e, be ea&s;ily per&s;waded, that the Productions of &s;uch
<PB N="67" REF="44">Proce&s;&s;es are Antimonial Sulphurs ra|ther in Name than Nature. But though Antimony &s;ublim'd by its &s;elf is reduc'd but to a volatile Powder, or Antimonial Flowers, of a compounded Nature like the Mineral that affords them: yet I re|member that &s;ome years ago I &s;ublim'd out of Antimony a Sulphur, and that in greater plenty then ever I &s;aw obtain'd from that Mineral, by a Method which I &s;hall therefore acquaint you with, be|cau&s;e Chymi&s;ts &s;eem not to have taken notice of what Importance &s;uch Experi|ments may be in the Indagation of the Nature, and e&s;pecially of the Number of the Elements. Having then purpo&s;e|ly for Tryals &s;ake dige&s;ted eight Ounces of good and well powder'd Antimony with twelve Ounces of Oyl of Vitriol in a well &s;topt Glas-Ve&s;&s;el for about &s;ix or &s;even Weeks; and having caus'd the Ma&s;s (grown hard and brittle) to be di&s;till'd in a Retort plac'd in Sand, with a &s;trong Fire; we found the Antimony to be &s;o opened, or alter'd by the <HI>Men|&s;truum</HI> wherewith it had been dige&s;ted, That whereas crude Antimony, forc'd up by the Fire, ari&s;es only in Flowers, our Antimony thus handled afforded us
<PB N="68" REF="45">partly in the Receiver, and partly in the Neck and at the Top of the Retort, about an Ounce of Sulphur, yellow and brittle like common Brim&s;tone, and of &s;o Sulphureous a &s;mell, that upon the unluting the Ve&s;&s;els it infected the Room with a &s;carce &s;upportable &s;tink. And this Sulphur, be&s;ides the Colour and Smell, had the perfect Inflamability of common Brim&s;tone, and would imme|diately kindle (at the Flame of a Can|dle) and burn blew like it. And though it &s;eem'd that the long dige&s;tion where|in our Antimony and <HI>Men&s;truum</HI> were detain'd, did conduce to the better un|locking of the Mineral, yet if you have not the lea&s;ure to make &s;o long a Dige&s;tion, you may by incorporating with pow|der'd Antimony a convenient Quantity of Oyl of Vitriol, and committing them immediately to Di&s;tillation, obtain a little Sulphur like unto the common one, and more combu&s;tible than perhaps you will at fir&s;t take notice of. For I have ob&s;erv'd, that though (after its being fir&s;t kindled) the Flame would &s;ome|times go out too &s;oon of its &s;elf, if the &s;ame Lump of Sulphur were held again to the Flame of a Candle, it would be
<PB N="69" REF="45">rekindled and burn a pretty while, not only after the &s;econd, but after the third or fourth accen&s;ion. You, to whom I think I &s;hewed my way of di&s;covering &s;ome|thing of Sulphureous in Oyl of Vitriol, may perchance &s;u&s;pect, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> ei|ther that this Sub&s;tance was &s;ome Ve|nereal Sulphur that lay hid in that Li|quor, and was by this operation only re|duc'd into a manife&s;t Body; or el&s;e that it was a compound of the unctuous parts of the Antimony,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 1. Ob&s;er|vat. Cap. 6.</NOTE> and the Saline ones of the Vitriol, in regard that (as <HI>Gun|ther</HI> informs us) divers learned men would have Sulphur to be nothing but a mixture made in the Bowels of the Earth of Vitriolate Spirits and a certain combu&s;tible Sub&s;tance. But the Quantity of Sulphur we obtain'd by Dige&s;tion was much too great to have been latent in the Oyl of Vitriol. And that Vitrio|late Spirits are not nece&s;&s;ary to the Con|&s;titution of &s;uch a Sulphur as ours, I could ea&s;ily manife&s;t, if I would ac|quaint you with the &s;everal wayes by which I have obtain'd, though not in &s;uch plenty, a Sulphur of Antimony, colour'd and combu&s;tible like common Brim|&s;tone. And though I am not now minded
<PB N="70" REF="46">to di&s;cover them, yet I &s;hall tell you, that to &s;atisfie &s;ome Ingenious Men, that di&s;till'd Vitriolate Spirits are not nece&s;|&s;ary to the obtaining of &s;uch a Sulphur as we have been con&s;idering, I did by the bare di&s;tillation of only Spirit of Nitre, from its weight of crude Antimony &s;e|parate, in a &s;hort time, a yellow and very inflamable Sulphur, which, for ought I know, de&s;erves as much the name of an Element, as any thing that Chymi&s;ts are wont to &s;eparate from any Mineral by the Fire. I could perhaps tell you of other Operations upon Anti|mony, whereby That may be extracted from it, which cannot be forc'd out of it by the Fire; but I &s;hall re&s;erve them for a fitter Opportunity, and only annex at pre&s;ent this &s;leight, but not imperti|nent Experiment. That whereas I lately ob&s;erved to you, that the Urinous and common Salts whereof <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> con&s;i&s;ts, remain'd un&s;ever'd by the Fire in many &s;ucce&s;&s;ive Sublimations, they may be ea&s;ily &s;eparated, and partly without any Fire at all, by pouring upon the Con|crete finely powder'd, a Solution of Salt of Tartar, or of the Salt of Wood-A&s;hes; for upon your diligently mixing
<PB N="71" REF="46">of the&s;e you will finde your No&s;e in|vaded with a very &s;trong &s;mell of Urine, and perhaps too your Eyes forc'd to wa|ter, by the &s;ame &s;ubtle and piercing Body that produces the &s;tink; both the&s;e ef|fects proceeding from hence, that by the Alcalizate Salt, the Sea Salt that enter'd the compo&s;ition of the <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> is mortify'd and made more fixt, and there|by a divorce is made between it and the volatile Urinous Salt, which being at once &s;et at liberty, and put into motion, begins pre&s;ently to fly away, and to of|fend the No&s;trils and Eyes it meets with by the way. And if the operation of the&s;e Salts be in convenient Gla&s;&s;es pro|moted by warmth, though but by that of a Bath, the a&s;cending Steams may ea&s;ily be caught and reduc'd into a pene|trant Spirit, abounding with a Salt, which I have &s;ometimes found to be &s;eparable in a Cry&s;talline Form. I might add to the&s;e In&s;tances, that whereas Sublimate, con&s;i&s;ting, as you know, of Salts &amp; Quick|&s;ilver combin'd and carried up together by Heat, may be Sublim'd, I know not how often, by a like degree of Fire, without &s;uffering any divorce of the com|ponent Bodies, the Mercury may be ea|&s;ily
<PB N="72" REF="47">&s;ever'd from the adhering Salts, if the Sublimate be di&s;till'd from Salt of Tartar, Quick Lime, or &s;uch Alcalizate Bodies. But I will rather ob&s;erve to you, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> what divers ingenious men have thought &s;omewhat &s;trange; that by &s;uch an Additament that &s;eems but only to promote the Separation, there may be ea&s;ily obtain'd from a Concrete (that by the Fire alone is ea&s;ily divi&s;ible into all the Elements that Vegetables are &s;uppos'd to con&s;i&s;t of) &s;uch a &s;imilar Sub&s;tance as differs in many re&s;pects from them all, and con&s;equently has by many of the mo&s;t Intelligent Chymi&s;ts been denied to be contain'd in the mixt Body. For I know a way, and have practis'd it, whereby common Tartat, without the addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral except Salt|petre, may by one Di&s;tillation in an Earthen Retort be made to afford good &s;tore of real Salt, readily di&s;&s;oluble in water, which I found to be neither acid, nor of the &s;mell of Tartar, and to be almo&s;t as volatile as Spirit of Wine it &s;elf, and to be indeed of &s;o differing a Nature from all that is wont to be &s;epa|rated by Fire from Tartar, that divers
<PB N="73" REF="47">Learned Men, with whom I di&s;cours'd of it, could hardly be brought to be|leeve, that &s;o fugitive a Salt could be afforded by Tartar, till I a&s;&s;ur'd it them upon my own Knowledge. And if I did not think you apt to &s;u&s;pect me to be rather too backward than too forward to credit or affirm unlikely things, I could convince you by what I have yet lying by me of that anomalous Salt.</P>
<P>The Fourth thing that I &s;hall alledge to countenance my fir&s;t Con&s;ideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body into Sub&s;tances of divers Con&s;i|&s;tences, does not mo&s;t commonly ana|lyze it into Hypo&s;tatical Principles, but only di&s;po&s;es its parts into new Textures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of a compound Nature. This Argument it will be requi&s;ite for me to pro&s;ecute &s;o fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confe&s;s that 'tis not for want of good Proofs that I de&s;ire leave to &s;u&s;pend my Proofs till the <HI>Series</HI> of my Di&s;cour&s;e &s;hall make it more proper and &s;ea&s;onable to propo&s;e them.</P>
<P>It may be further alledg'd on the be|half of my Fir&s;t Con&s;ideration, That &s;ome &s;uch di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances may be ob|tain'd
<PB N="74" REF="48">from &s;ome Concretes without Fire, as de&s;erve no le&s;s the name of Elementary, than many that Chymi&s;ts extort by the Violence of the Fire.</P>
<P>We &s;ee that the Inflamable Spirit, or as the Chymi&s;ts e&s;teem it, the Sulphur of Wine, may not only be &s;eparated from it by the gentle heat of a Bath, but may be di&s;till'd either by the help of the Sun-Beams, or even of a Dunghill, being indeed of &s;o Fugitive a Nature, that it is not ea&s;y to keep it from flying away, even without the Application of external heat. I have likewi&s;e ob&s;erv'd that a Ve&s;&s;el full of Urine being plac'd in a Dunghill, the Putrefaction is wont after &s;ome weeks &s;o to open the Body, that the parts disbanding the Saline Spi|rit, will within no very long time, if the Ve&s;&s;el be not &s;topt, fly away of it &s;elf; In&s;omuch that from &s;uch Urine I have been able to di&s;till little or nothing el&s;e than a nau&s;eous Phlegme, in&s;tead of the active and piercing Salt and Spirit that it would have afforded, when fir&s;t ex|pos'd to the Fire, if the Ve&s;&s;el had been carefully &s;topt.</P>
<P>And this leads me to con&s;ider in the Fifth place, That it will be very hard to
<PB N="75" REF="48">prove, that there can no other Body or way be given which will as well as the Fire divide Concretes into &s;everal ho|mogeneous Sub&s;tances, which may con|&s;equently be call'd their Elements or Principles, as well as tho&s;e &s;eparated or produc'd by the Fire. For &s;ince we have lately &s;een, that Nature can &s;ucce&s;&s;efully employ other In&s;truments than the Fire to &s;eparate di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances from mixt Bodies, how know we, but that Nature has made, or Art may make, &s;ome &s;uch Sub&s;tance as may be a fit In&s;trument to Analyze mixt Bodies, or that &s;ome &s;uch Method may be found by Humane Indu&s;try or Luck, by who&s;e means com|pound Bodies may be re&s;olv'd into other Sub&s;tances, than &s;uch as they are wont to be divided into by the Fire. And why the Products of &s;uch an <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> may not as ju&s;tly be call'd the component Prin|ciples of the Bodies that afford them, it will not be ea&s;y to &s;hew, e&s;pecially &s;ince I &s;hall hereafter make it evident, that the Sub&s;tances which Chymi&s;ts are wont to call the Salts, and Sulphurs, and Mercuries of Bodies, are not &s;o pure and Elementary as they pre&s;ume, and as their <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> requires. And this may
<PB N="76" REF="49">therefore be the more freely pre&s;s'd up|on the Chymi&s;ts, becau&s;e neither the <HI>Paracel&s;ians,</HI> nor the <HI>Helmontians</HI> can re|ject it without apparent Injury to their re&s;pective Ma&s;ters. For <HI>Helmont</HI> do's more than once Inform his Readers, that both <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> and Him&s;elf were Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ors of the famous Liquor, <HI>Alkahest,</HI> which for its great power in re&s;olving Bodies irre&s;oluble by Vulgar Fires, he &s;ome|where &s;eems to call <HI>Ignis Gehennae.</HI> To this Liquor he a&s;cribes, (and that in great part upon his own Experience) &s;uch wonders, that if we &s;uppo&s;e them all true, I am &s;o much the more a Friend to Knowledge than to Wealth, that I &s;hould think the <HI>Alkahest</HI> a nobler and more de&s;ireable Secret than the Philo|&s;ophers Stone it &s;elf. Of this Univer&s;al Di&s;&s;olvent he relates, That having di|ge&s;ted with it for a competent time a piece of Oaken Charcoal, it was there|by reduc'd into a couple of new and di|&s;tinct Liquors, di&s;criminated from each other by their Colour and Situation, and that the whole body of the Coal was reduc'd into tho&s;e Liquors, both of them &s;eparable from his Immortal <HI>Men&s;truum,</HI> which remain'd as fit for &s;uch Operati|ons
<PB N="77" REF="49">as before. And he moreover tells us in divers places of his Writings, that by this powerful, and unwearied Agent, he could di&s;&s;olve Metals, Marcha&s;ites, Stones, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of what kinde &s;oever, and even Gla&s;s it &s;elf (fir&s;t reduc'd to powder,) and in a word, all kinds of mixt Bodies in the World into their &s;everal &s;imilar Sub|&s;tances, without any Re&s;idence or <HI>Caput mortuum.</HI> And la&s;tly, we may gather this further from his Informations, That the homogeneous Sub&s;tances obtainable from compound Bodies by his piercing Liquor, were oftentimes different enough both as to Number and as to Nature, from tho&s;e into which the &s;ame Bodies are wont to be divided by common Fire. Of which I &s;hall need in this place to mention no other proof, then that where|as we know that in our common <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> of a mixt Body, there remains a terre&s;tri|al and very fixt Sub&s;tance, oftentimes a&s;|&s;ociated with a Salt as fixt; Our Author tells us, that by his way he could Di&s;till over all Concretes without any <HI>Caput mortuum,</HI> and con&s;equently could make tho&s;e parts of the Concrete volatile, which in the Vulgar <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> would have
<PB N="78" REF="50">been fixt. So that if our Chymi&s;ts will not reject the &s;olemn and repeated. Te|&s;timony of a Per&s;on, who cannot but be acknowledg'd for one of the greate&s;t Spagyri&s;ts that they can boa&s;t of, they mu&s;t not deny that there is to be found in Nature another Agent able to Analyze compound Bodies le&s;s violently, and both more genuinely and more univer|&s;ally than the Fire. And for my own part, though I cannot but &s;ay on this Oc|ca&s;ion what (you know) our Friend Mr. <HI>Boyle</HI> is wont to &s;ay, when he is askt his Opinion of any &s;trange Experiment; <HI>That He that hath &s;een it hath more Rea&s;on to beleeve it, than He that hath not;</HI> yet I have found <HI>Helmont</HI> &s;o faithful a Writer, even in divers of his improbable Experi|ments (I alwayes except that Extravagant Treati&s;e <HI>De Magnetica Vulnerum Curatione,</HI> which &s;ome of his Friends affirm to have been fir&s;t publi&s;h'd by his Enemies) that I think it &s;omewhat har&s;h to give him the Lye, e&s;pecially to what he de|livers upon his own proper Tryal. And I have heard from very credible Eye|witne&s;&s;es &s;ome things, and &s;een &s;ome others my &s;elf, which argue &s;o &s;trongly, that a circulated Salt, or a <HI>Menstruum</HI>
<PB N="79" REF="50">(&s;uch as it may be) may by being ab|&s;tracted from compound Bodies, whe|ther Mineral, Animal, or Vegetable, leave them more unlockt than a wary Naturali&s;t would ea&s;ily beleeve, that I dare not confidently mea&s;ure the Power of Nature and Art by that of the <HI>Men|struums,</HI> and other In&s;truments that emi|nent Chymi&s;ts them&s;elves are as yet wont to Empoly about the Analy|zing of Bodies; nor Deny that a <HI>Men|&s;truum</HI> may at lea&s;t from this or that particular Concrete obtain &s;ome appa|rently &s;imilar Sub&s;tance, differing from any obtainable from the &s;ame Body by any degree or manner of Application of the Fire. And I am the more backward to deny peremptorily, that there may be &s;uch Openers of compound Bodies, becau&s;e among the Experiments that make me &s;peak thus warily, there want|ed not &s;ome in which it appear'd not, that one of the Sub&s;tances not &s;eparable by common Fires and <HI>Men&s;truums</HI> could retain any thing of the Salt by which the &s;eparation was made.</P>
<P>And here, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> (&s;ayes <HI>Carnea|des</HI>) I &s;hould conclude as much of my Di&s;cour&s;e as belongs to the fir&s;t Con|&s;ideration
<PB N="80" REF="51">I propos'd, but that I fore&s;ee, that what I have delivered will appear liable to two &s;uch &s;pecious Objections, that I cannot &s;afely proceed any further till I have examin'd them.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, one &s;ort of Oppo&s;ers will be forward to tell me, That they do not pretend by Fire alone to &s;eparate out of all compound Bodies their <HI>Hypostatical</HI> Principles; it being &s;ufficient that the Fire divides them into &s;uch, though af|terwards they employ other Bodies to collect the &s;imilar parts of the Com|pound; as 'tis known, that though they make u&s;e of water to collect the Saline parts of A&s;hes from the Terre&s;trial wherewith they are blended, yet it is the Fire only that Incinerates Bodies, and reduces the fix'd part of them into the Salt and Earth, where of A&s;hes are made up. This Objection is not, I confe&s;s, in|con&s;iderable, and I might in great part allow of it, without granting it to make again&s;t me, if I would content my &s;elf to an&s;wer, that it is not again&s;t tho&s;e that make it that I have been di&s;puting, but again&s;t tho&s;e Vulgar Chymi&s;ts, who them&s;elves believe, and would fain make others do &s;o, That the Fire is not only
<PB N="81" REF="51">an univer&s;al, but an adaequate and &s;uffi|cient In&s;trument to analyze mixt Bodies with. For as to their Practice of Extract|ing the fix'd Salt out of A&s;hes by the Affu&s;ion of Water, 'tis obvious to al|leadge, that the Water does only a&s;|&s;emble together the Salt the Fire had before divided from the Earth: as a Sieve does not further break the Corn, but only bring together into two di&s;tinct heaps the Flour and the Bran, who&s;e Corpu&s;cles before lay promi&s;cuou&s;ly blended together in the Meal. This I &s;ay I might alleadge, and thereby exempt my &s;elf from the need of taking any farther notice of the propos'd Objecti|on. But not to lo&s;e the Ri&s;e it may af|ford me of Illu&s;trating the matter under Con&s;ideration, I am content briefly to con&s;ider it, as far forth as my pre&s;ent Di&s;qui&s;ition may be concern'd in it.</P>
<P>Not to repeat then what has been al|ready an&s;wer'd, I &s;ay farther, that though I am &s;o civil an Adver&s;ary, that I will allow the Chymi&s;ts, after the Fire has done all its work, the u&s;e of fair Water to make their Extractions with, in &s;uch ca&s;es wherein the Water does not co|operate with the Fire to make the <HI>Ana|ly&s;is;</HI>
<PB N="82" REF="52">yet &s;ince I Grant this but upon Sup|po&s;ition that the Water does only wa&s;h off the Saline Particles, which the Fire Alone has Before Extricated in the Analyz'd Body, it will not be Rea&s;on|able, that this Conce&s;&s;ion &s;hould Extend to other Liquors that may Add to what they Di&s;&s;olve, nor &s;o much as to other Ca&s;es than tho&s;e Newly Mentioned: Which Limitation I De&s;ire You would be Pleas'd to Bear in Mind till I &s;hall Anon have Occa&s;ion to make U&s;e of it. And This being thus Premis'd, I &s;hall Proceed to Ob&s;erve,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That Many of the In&s;tances I Propos'd in the Preceding Di&s;cour&s;e are Such, that the Objection we are Con|&s;idering will not at all Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of Water than without it Separate any of the Three Principles, either from Gold, Silver, Mercury, or &s;ome Others of the Concretes named Above.</P>
<P>Hence We may Inferre, That Fire is not an Univer&s;al Analyzer of all Mixt Bodies, &s;ince of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymi&s;ts have mo&s;t Exercis'd Them&s;elves, there Appear &s;carce Any which they are able to Aanlyze by Fire,
<PB N="83" REF="52">Nay, from which they can Unque&s;tion|ably Separate &s;o much as any One of their Hypo&s;tatical Principles; Which may well Appear no &s;mall Di&s;parage|ment as well to their <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> as to their Preten&s;ions.</P>
<P>It will al&s;o remain True, notwith|&s;tanding the Objection, That there may be Other Wayes than the wonted <HI>Ana|ly&s;is</HI> by Fire, to Separate from a Com|pound Body Sub&s;tances as Homogene|neous as tho&s;e that Chymi&s;ts Scruple not to Reckon among their <HI>Tria Prima</HI> (as &s;ome of them, for Brevity Sake, call their Three Principles.)</P>
<P>And it Appears, That by Convenient Additaments &s;uch Sub&s;tances may be Separated by the Help of the Fire, as could not be &s;o by the Fire alone: Wit|ne&s;s the Sulphur of Antimony.</P>
<P>And La&s;tly, I mu&s;t Repre&s;ent, That &s;ince it appears too that the Fire is but One of the In&s;truments that mu&s;t be Employ'd in the Re&s;olution of Bodies, We may Rea&s;onably Challenge the Li|berty of doing Two Things. For when ever any <HI>Menstruum</HI> or other Addita|ment is Employ'd, together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from
<PB N="84" REF="53">a Body, We may well take the Free|dom to Examine, whether or no That <HI>Men&s;truum</HI> do barely Help to Separate the Principle Obtain'd by It, or whether there Intervene not a Coalition of the Parts of the Body Wrought upon with Tho&s;e of the <HI>Men&s;truum,</HI> whereby the Produc'd Concrete may be Judg'd to Re&s;ult from the Union of Both. And it will be farther Allowable for Us to Con&s;ider, how far any Sub&s;tance, Sepa|rated by the Help of &s;uch Additaments, Ought to pa&s;s for one of the <HI>Tria Prima;</HI> &s;ince by One Way of Handling the &s;ame Mixt Body it may according to the Na|ture of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, be made to Afford differing Sub&s;tances from tho&s;e Obtain|able from it by other Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may ap|pear by what I Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Sub|&s;tances into which a Concrete is Divi&s;i|ble by the Fire without Additaments, though perhaps tho&s;e Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter the Compo&s;i|tion of the Obtained Body, but only Diver&s;ify the Operation of the Fire upon the Concrete; and though that
<PB N="85" REF="53">Concrete by the Fire alone may be Di|vided into a Number of Differing Sub|&s;tances, as Great as any of the Chymi&s;ts that I have met with teach us that of the Elements to be. And having &s;aid thus much (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) to the Ob|jection likely to be Propos'd by &s;ome Chymi&s;ts, I am now to Examine that which I Fore&s;ee will be Confidently pre&s;s'd by Divers Peripateticks, who, to Prove Fire to be the true Analyzer of Bodies, will Plead, That it is the very Definition of Heat given by <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> and Generally Received, <HI>Congregare Ho|mogenea, &amp; Heterogenea Segregare,</HI> to A&s;|&s;emble Things of a Re&s;embling, and Disjoyn tho&s;e of a Differing Nature. To this I an&s;wer, That this Effect is far from being &s;o E&s;&s;ential to Heat, as 'tis Generally Imagin'd; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property of Heat is, to &s;et a Moving, and thereby to Di&s;&s;ociate the parts of Bodies, and Sub|divide them into Minute Particles, with|out regard to their being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in the Boyling of Water, the Di&s;tillation of Quick&s;ilver, or the Expo&s;ing of Bodies to the action of the Fire, who&s;e Parts
<PB N="86" REF="54">either Are not (at lea&s;t in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Di&s;&s;milar, where all that the Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts which are of the &s;ame Nature with one another, and with their <HI>Totum,</HI> as their Reduction by Conden&s;ation Evinces. And even when the Fire &s;eems mo&s;t &s;o <HI>Congregare Homogenea, &amp; Segregare Heterogenea,</HI> it Produces that Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Di&s;&s;olve the Ce|ment, or rather Shatter the Frame, or [tructure that kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one Common Form; upon which Di&s;&s;o|lution the Component Particles of the Mixt, being Freed and &s;et at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes without any Operation of the Fire, A&s;&s;ociate them&s;elves each with its Like, or rather do take tho&s;e places which their Seve|ral Degrees of Gravity and Levity, Fixedne&s;s or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious from the Impre&s;&s;ion of the Fire) A&s;&s;igne them. Thus in the Di&s;tillation (for In&s;tance) of Man's Blood, the Fire do's Fir&s;t begin to Di&s;|&s;olve the <HI>Nexus</HI> or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the mo&s;t
<PB N="87" REF="54">Volatile, and Ea&s;y to be Extracted, is either by the Igneous Atomes, or the Agitation they are put into by the Fire, fir&s;t carried up, till For&s;aken by what carried it up, its Weight &s;inks it down into the Receiver: but all this while the other Principles of the Concrete Remain Un&s;ever'd, and Require a &s;tronger De|gree of Heat to make a Separation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire mu&s;t be Increas'd which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, they being, though Beleev'd to be Differ|ing Principles, and though Really of Different Con&s;i&s;tency, yet of an almo&s;t Equal Volatility. After them, as le&s;s Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde the Earth and the <HI>Alcali,</HI> which being of an Equal Fixedne&s;&s;e, the Fire Severs them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into a Red-hot Earthen or Iron Retort you ca&s;t the Matter to be Di&s;till'd, You may Ob|&s;erve, as I have often done, that the Predominant Fire will Carry up all the Volatile Elements Confu&s;edly in one Fume, which will afterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to the Degree of their Gravity, or ac|cording
<PB N="88" REF="55">to the Exigency of their re|&s;pective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the mo&s;t part, to the Sides and Top, and the Phlegme Fa&s;tening it &s;elf there too in great Drops, the Oyle and Spirit placing them&s;elves Under, or Above one another, according as their Ponderou&s;|ne&s;s makes them Swim or Sink. For 'tis Ob&s;ervable, that though Oyl or Li|quid Sulphur be one of the Elements Se|parated by this Fiery <HI>Analy&s;is,</HI> yet the Heat which Accidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Princi|ples, has not alwayes the &s;ame Opera|tion on this, there being divers Bodies which Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One &s;inks to the Bottom of that Spirit on which the other Swims; as I can &s;hew You in &s;ome Oyls of the &s;ame Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can &s;hew you Two Oyls carefully made of the &s;ame Parcel of Humane Blood, which not only Differ extreamly in Colour, but Swim upon one another without Mixture, and if by Agitation Confounded will of them&s;elves Divorce again.</P>
<P>And that the Fire doth oftentimes di|vide Bodies, upon the account that &s;ome
<PB N="89" REF="55">of their Parts are more Fixt, and &s;ome more Volatile, how far &s;oever either of the&s;e Two may be from a pure Elemen|tary Nature, is Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which the Fire Di&s;&s;ipates into Smoake and A&s;hes: For not only the latter of the&s;e is Confe&s;&s;edly made up of two &s;uch Differing Bodies as Earth and Salt; but the Former being con|dens'd into that Soot which adheres to our Chimneys, Di&s;covers it &s;elf to Con|tain both Salt and Oyl, and Spirit and Earth, (and &s;ome Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all almo&s;t, Equally Volatile to that Degree of Fire which Forces them up, (the more Volatile Parts Helping perhaps, as well as the Urgency of the Fire, to carry up the more Fixt ones, as I have often Try'd in Dulcify'd <HI>Colcothar,</HI> Sublim'd by <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> Blended with it) are car|ried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other Degrees of Fire, who&s;e orderly Gradation allowes the Di&s;parity of their Volatilene&s;s to Di&s;|cover it &s;elf. Be&s;ides, if Differing Bodies United into one Ma&s;s be both &s;ufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no Parts Volatile
<PB N="90" REF="56">enough to be Expell'd or carried up, makes no Separation at all; as may ap|pear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver and Gold, who&s;e Component Metals may be ea&s;ily Sever'd by <HI>Aqua Fortis,</HI> or <HI>Aqua Regis</HI> (according to the Predo|minancy of the Silver or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain un&s;ever'd, the Fire only dividing the Body into &s;maller Par|ticles (who&s;e Littlene&s;&s;e may be argu'd from their Fluidity) in which either the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberle&s;s &s;trokes upon the Ve&s;&s;els, hinder Re&s;t and Continuity, without any Seque&s;tration of Elemen|tary Principles. Moreover, the Fire &s;ome|times does not Separate, &s;o much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature; provided they be of an almo&s;t re&s;embling Fixedne&s;s, and have in the Figure of their Parts an Aptne&s;s to Coalition, as we &s;ee in the making of many Plai&s;ters, Oyntments, &amp;c. And in &s;uch Metalline Mixtures as that made by Melting to|gether two parts of clean Bra&s;s with one of pure Copper, of which &s;ome In|genious Trades-men ca&s;t &s;uch curious Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works)
<PB N="91" REF="56">as I have &s;ometimes taken great Plea|&s;ure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bo|dies mingled by the Fire are Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are &s;o combin'd by the fir&s;t Ope|ration of the Fire, that it &s;elf does &s;carce afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an In&s;tance is afforded us by the Common Preparati|on of <HI>Mercurius Dulcis,</HI> where the Sa|line Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and &s;ometimes Nitre, Employ'd to make the Sublimate, do &s;o unite them|&s;elves with the Mercurial Particles made u&s;e of, fir&s;t to Make Sublimate, and then to Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts ari&s;e together in many &s;ucce&s;&s;ive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And &s;ometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements of a Body, but Com|bine them &s;o firmly, that Nature her &s;elf does very &s;eldom, if ever, make Unions le&s;s Di&s;&s;oluble. For the Fire meeting with &s;ome Bodies exceedingly and almo&s;t equally Fixt, in&s;tead of making a Separation, makes an Union &s;o &s;trict, that it &s;elf, alone, is unable to Di&s;&s;olve it; As we &s;ee, when an Alca|lizate
<PB N="92" REF="57">Salt and the Terre&s;trial Re&s;idue of the A&s;hes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the cour&s;e or greeni&s;h &s;ort of Gla&s;s) that mocks the greate&s;t Violence of the Fire, which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to Divorce them. I can &s;hew you &s;ome pieces of Gla&s;s which I &s;aw flow down from an Earthen Cru|cible purpo&s;ely Expos'd for a good while, with Silver in it, to a very vehe|ment Fire. And &s;ome that deal much in the Fu&s;ion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a Crucible into Gla&s;s is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember, I have Ob&s;erv'd too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of the Oar, by the Help of &s;tore of Charcoal (for they Affirm that Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame &s;trong enough) that by the pro|digious Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by va&s;t Bellows (made to play by great Wheels turn'd about by Water) part of the Materials Expos'd to it was, in|&s;tead of being Analyz'd, Colliquated, and turn'd into a Dark, Solid and very Ponderous Gla&s;s, and that in &s;uch Quan|tity,
<PB N="93" REF="57">that in &s;ome places I have &s;een the very High-wayes, neer &s;uch Iron-works, mended with Heaps of &s;uch Lumps of Gla&s;&s;e, in&s;tead of Stones and Gravel. And I have al&s;o Ob&s;erv'd, that &s;ome kind of Fire-&s;tone it &s;elf, having been employ'd in Furnaces wherein it was ex|pos'd to very &s;trong and la&s;ting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts &s;o Wrought on by the Fire, as to be Perfectly Vitrifi'd, which I have try'd by Forcing from it Pretty large Pieces of Perfect and Tran&s;|parent Gla&s;s. And le&s;t You might think, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> that the Que&s;tion'd Definition of Heat may be Demon&s;tra|ted, by the Definition which is wont to be given and Acquie&s;c'd in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, who&s;e proper|ty is taught to be <HI>tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare;</HI> Give me leave to repre&s;ent to You, that neither is this Definition unque&s;tionable; for not to Mention the Exceptions, which a <HI>Logi|cian,</HI> as &s;uch, may Take at it, I Con|&s;ider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is Suppos'd to be the Ge|nuine Production of Cold, is not Per|form'd by every Degree of Cold. For we &s;ee for In&s;tance that in the Urine of
<PB N="94" REF="58">Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer'd a while to &s;tand, the Cold makes a Separation of the Thin|ner Part from the Gro&s;&s;er, which Sub|&s;ides to the Bottom, and Growes O|pacous there; whereas if the Urinal be Warme, the&s;e Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole Liquor becomes Tran&s;parent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood, Straw, Du&s;t, Wa|ter, &amp;c. are Suppos'd to be United into one Lump of Ice, the Cold does not Cau&s;e any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may &s;o Speak) of the&s;e Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the Liquor into Ice, the other Bo|dies being Accidentally Pre&s;ent in that Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if we Expo&s;e a Heap of Mony Con&s;i&s;ting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes, or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are De&s;titute of Aqueous Moi&s;ture, Capable of Congelation, to never &s;o inten&s;e a Cold, we find not that the&s;e Differing Bodies are at all thereby &s;o much as Compacted, much le&s;s United together; and even in Li|quors Them&s;elves we find <HI>Phaenoment</HI>
<PB N="95" REF="58">which Induce us to Que&s;tion the Defi|nition which we are examining. If <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> his Authority were to be look't upon as a Sufficient Proof in mat|ters of this Nature, I might here in&s;i&s;t on that Proce&s;s of his, whereby he Teaches that the E&s;&s;ence of Wine may be Sever'd from the Phlegme and Ig|noble Part by the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of Con|gelation: and becau&s;e much Weight has been laid upon this Proce&s;s, not on|ly by <HI>Paracel&s;ians,</HI> but other Writers, &s;ome of whom &s;eem not to have per|us'd it them&s;elves, I &s;hall give You the entire Pa&s;&s;age in the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the &s;ixth Book of his <HI>Archidoxis,</HI> an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it &s;ounds thus. <HI>De Vino &s;ciendum e&s;t, fae|cem phlegmaque ejus e&s;&s;e Mineram, &amp; Vi|ni &s;ubstantiam e&s;&s;e corpus in quo con&s;er|vatur E&s;&s;entia, prout auri in auro latet E&s;|&s;entia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam ponimus, ut non oblivi&s;camur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum ve|tusti&s;&s;imum &amp; optimum quod habere po|teris, calore &s;aporeque ad placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus par|tem impleat, &amp; &s;igillo Hermetis occlu&s;um
<PB N="96" REF="59">in equino ventre men&s;ibus quatuor, &amp; in continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum frigus &amp; gelu maxime &s;aeviunt, his per men&s;em expona|tur ut congeletur. Ad hunc modum fri|gus vini &s;piritum una cum ejus &s;ubstantia protrudit in vini centrum, ac &s;eparat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum &s;ub|stantia e&s;&s;e judicato. Hunc in Pelicanum po&s;itum in arenae digestione non adeo cali|da per aliquod tempus manere &s;inito; Post|modum eximito vini Magi&s;terium, de quo locuti &s;umus.</HI></P>
<P>But I dare not <HI>Eleu.</HI> lay much Weight upon this Proce&s;s, becau&s;e I have found that if it were True, it would be but &s;el|dom Practicable in this Country upon the be&s;t Wine: for Though this pre|&s;ent Winter hath been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Fro&s;ts accom|panied with la&s;ting Snowes, I have not been able in any Mea&s;ure to Freeze a thin Vial full of Sack; and even with Snow and Salt I could Freeze little more then the Surface of it; and I &s;uppo&s;e <HI>Eleu.</HI> that tis not every Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to make &s;uch an <HI>Analy&s;is</HI>
<PB N="97" REF="59">(if I may &s;o call it) of them by Separa|ting their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have &s;ometimes, though not often, frozen &s;everally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not Ob&s;erve the expect|ed Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc'd to Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call'd <HI>Nova Zembla,</HI> although they relate, as we &s;hall &s;ee below, that there was a Separation of Parts made in their fro|zen Beer about the middle of <HI>November,</HI> yet of the Freezing of their Back in <HI>De|cember</HI> following they give but this Ac|count: <HI>Yea and our Sack, which is &s;o hot, was Frozen very hard, &s;o that when we were every Man to have his part, we were forc'd to melt it in the Fire; which we &s;har'd every &s;econd Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we were forc'd to &s;ustain our &s;elves.</HI> In which words they imply not, that their Back was divided by the Fro&s;t into differing Sub&s;tances, after &s;uch man|ner as their Beer had been. All which notwith&s;tanding, <HI>Eleu.</HI> &s;uppo&s;e that it may be made to appear, that even Cold &s;ometimes may <HI>Congregare Homogenea, &amp; Heterogenea Segregare:</HI> and to Manife&s;t this I may tell you, that I did once, pur|po&s;ely,
<PB N="98" REF="60">cau&s;e to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with Sulphu|reous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos'd the Decoction to a keen North-Wind in a very Fro&s;ty Night, I ob&s;erv'd, that the more Aqueous Parts of it were turn'd by the next Morning into Ice, towards the innermo&s;t part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I then conjectur'd, having Retreated, to &s;hun as much as might be their Environ|ing Enemy, they had there pre&s;erv'd them&s;elves unfrozen in the Form of a high colour'd Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts having been &s;o &s;leightly (Blended rather than) United in the Decoction, that they were ea&s;ily Sepa|rable by &s;uch a Degree of Cold as would not have been able to have Divorc'd the Parts of Urine or Wine, which by Fer|mentation or Dige&s;tion are wont, as Tryal has inform'd me, to be more inti|mately a&s;&s;ociated each with other. But I have already intimated, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> that I &s;hall not In&s;i&s;t on this Experiment, not only becau&s;e, having made it but once I may po&s;&s;ibly have been mi&s;taken in it; but al&s;o (and that principally) becau&s;e of that much more full and eminent
<PB N="99" REF="60">Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream Cold, that was made, again&s;t their Wills, by the foremention'd Dutch men that Winter'd in <HI>Nova Zembla;</HI> the Relation of who&s;e Voyage being a very &s;carce Book, it will not be ami&s;s to give you that Memorable part of it which concerns our pre&s;ent Theme, as I caus'd the Pa&s;&s;age to be extracted out of the Engli&s;hed Voyage it &s;elf.</P>
<Q><HI>Gerard de Veer, John Cornely&s;on</HI> and Others, &s;ent out of <HI>Am&s;terdam, Anno Dom.</HI> 1596. being forc'd by un|&s;ea&s;onable Weather to Winter in <HI>No|va Zembla,</HI> neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of <HI>October,</HI> Three of us (&s;ayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to our Hou&s;e with it, &s;uddenly there aro&s;e &s;uch a Winde, and &s;o great a Storm and Cold, that we were forc'd to go into the Ship again, becau&s;e we were not able to &s;tay with|out; and we could not get the Beer into the Ship again, but were forc'd to let it &s;tand without upon the Sled: the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of Beer
<PB N="100" REF="61">&s;tanding upon the Sled, but it was fa&s;t fro|zen at the Heads; yet by rea&s;on of the great Cold, the Beer that purg'd out froze as hard upon the Side of the Barrel, as if it had been glu'd thereon: and in that &s;ort we drew it to our Hou&s;e, and &s;et the Barrel an end, and drank it up; but fir&s;t we were forc'd to melt the Beer, for there was &s;carce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yie&s;t that was un|frozen day the Strength of the Beer, &s;o that it was too &s;trong to drink alone, and that which was frozen ta&s;ted like Water; and being melted we Mix'd one with the other, and &s;o drank it; but it had neither Strength nor Ta&s;te.</Q>
<P>And on this Occa&s;ion I remember, that having the la&s;t very Sharp Winter purpo&s;ely try'd to Freeze, among other Liquors, &s;ome Beer moderately &s;trong, in Gla&s;s Ve&s;&s;els, with Snow and Salt, I ob&s;erv'd, that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Sub&s;tance, which, it &s;eems, was much better able then the re&s;t of the Liquor (that I found turn'd into Ice) to re&s;i&s;t a Fro&s;t, and which, by its Colour and con&s;i&s;tence &s;eem'd ma|fe&s;tly
<PB N="101" REF="61">enough to be Yie&s;t, whereat, I confe&s;s, I &s;omewhat marvail'd, be|cau&s;e I did not either di&s;cerne by the Ta&s;te, or find by Enquiry, that the Beer was at all too New to be very fit to be Drank. I might confirm the Dutchmens Relation, by what happen'd a while &s;ince to a neere Friend of mine, who com|plained to me, that having Brew'd &s;ome Beer or Ale for his own drinking in <HI>Holland</HI> (where he then dwelt) the Keenne&s;s of the late bitter Winter froze the Drink &s;o as to reduce it into Ice, and a &s;mall Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I mu&s;t not entertain you any longer con|cerning Cold, not onely becau&s;e you may think I have but lo&s;t my way into a Theme which does not direct|ly belong to my pre&s;ent Undertaking; but becau&s;e I have already enlarg'd my &s;elf too much upon the fir&s;t Con&s;ide|ration I propos'd, though it appears &s;o much a Paradox, that it &s;eem'd to Require that I &s;hould &s;ay much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance; yet &s;ince I Undertook but to make the common A&s;&s;umption
<PB N="102" REF="62">of our Chymi&s;ts and <HI>Aristotelians</HI> ap|pear Que&s;tionable, I hope I have &s;o Perform'd that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following Con&s;idera|tions, and In&s;i&s;t le&s;&s;e on them than I have done on the Fir&s;t.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="2" TYPE="part">
<PB N="103" REF="62">
<HEAD>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST. The Second Part.</HEAD>
<P>THe Second Con&s;ideration I De|&s;ire to have Notice Taken of, is This, That it is not &s;o Sure, as Both Chymi&s;ts and <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> are wont to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tance that is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre-exi&s;tent in it as a Principle or Element of it.</P>
<P>That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs mu&s;t, I will Fir&s;t Briefly Explain what the Propo&s;ition means, before I proceed to Argue for it.</P>
<P>And I &s;uppo&s;e You will ea&s;ily Believe
<PB N="104" REF="63">That I do not mean that any thing is &s;eparable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially pre-exi&s;tent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meer|ly Naturall Agents, and Con&s;equently of the Fire, to produce anew, &s;o Much as one Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create; which is &s;o Obvious a Truth, that almo&s;t all Sects of Philo&s;ophers have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Cau&s;es; and the <HI>E|picureans</HI> and &s;ome Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their Gods them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Nor does the Propo&s;ition perempto|rily Deny but that &s;ome Things Ob|tain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely Mate|rially pre-exi&s;tent in it, &s;ince there are Concretes, which before they be Ex|pos'd to the Fire afford us &s;everal Do|cuments of their abounding, &s;ome with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will &s;erve the pre&s;ent Turn, if it ap|pear that diver&s;e things Obtain'd from a Mixt Body expos'd to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for if this be made to appear it, will be Rationall e|nough
<PB N="105" REF="63">to &s;u&s;pect that Chymi&s;ts may De|cieve them&s;elves, and Others, in con|cluding Re&s;olutely and Univer&s;ally, tho&s;e Sub&s;tances to be the Elementary Ingre|dients of Bodies barely &s;eparated by the Fire, of which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be &s;uch or No; at lea&s;t till &s;ome other Argument then that drawn from the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> be Brought to re&s;olve the Doubt.</P>
<P>That then which I Mean by the Pro|po&s;ition I am Explaining, is, That it may without Ab&s;urdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing Sub&s;tances Obtainable from a Concrete Di&s;&s;ipated by the Fire were &s;o Ex&s;i&s;tent in it in that Forme (at lea&s;t as to their minute Parts) wherein we find them when the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> is over, that the Fire did only Dis joyne and Extricate the Cor|pu&s;cles of one Principle from tho&s;e of the other wherewith before they were Blended.</P>
<P>Having thus Explain'd my Propo&s;iti|on, I &s;hall endeavour to do two things, to prove it; The fir&s;t of which is to &s;hew that &s;uch Sub&s;tances as Chymi&s;ts call Principles May be produc'd <HI>De novo</HI> (as they &s;peak.) And the other is to
<PB N="106" REF="64">make it probable that by the Fire we may Actually obtain from &s;ome Mixt Bodies &s;uch Sub&s;tances as were not in the Newly Expounded &s;ence, pre-exi&s;tent in them.</P>
<P>To begin then with the Fir&s;t of the&s;e, I Con&s;ider that if it be as true as 'tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another but in the Various Textures Re&s;ulting from the Bigne&s;s, Shape, Motion, and contri|vance of their &s;mal parts. It will not be Irrationall to conceive that one and the &s;ame parcel of the Univer&s;al Matter may by Various Alterations and Con|textures be brought to De&s;erve the Name, &s;omtimes of a Sulphureous, and &s;ometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous Bo|dy. And this I could more largely Ex|plicate, but that our Friend Mr. <HI>Boyle</HI> has promis'd us &s;omething about Qua|lities, wherein the Theme I now willing|ly Re&s;ign him, Will I Que&s;tion not be Studiou&s;ly Enquired into. Where|fore what I &s;hall now advance in fa|vour of what I have lately Deliver'd &s;hall be Deduc'd from Experiments made Divers Years &s;ince. The fir&s;t of which would have been much more
<PB N="107" REF="64">con&s;iderable, but that by &s;ome intervening Accidents I was Nece&s;&s;itated to lo&s;e the be&s;t time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I de&s;ign'd; it being about he middle of <HI>May</HI> before I was able to begin an Experiment which &s;hould have then been two moneths old; but &s;uch as it was, it will not per|haps be impertinent to Give You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention'd, I caus'd My Gardiner (be|ing by Urgent Occa&s;ions Hinder'd from being pre&s;ent my&s;elf) to dig out a con|venient quantity of good Earth, and dry it well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almo&s;t level with the Surface of the ground, and to &s;et in it a &s;elected &s;eed he had before re|ceived from me, for that purpo&s;e, of Squa&s;h, which is an Indian kind of Pom|pion, that Growes apace; this &s;eed I Ordered Him to Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occa&s;ions permitted me to vi&s;it it) without delight behold how fa&s;t it Grew, though un&s;ea&s;onably &s;own; but the Ha&s;tning Winter Hinder'd it from attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found
<PB N="108" REF="65">the &s;ame Autumn, in my Garden, &s;ome of tho&s;e plants, by Mea&s;ure, as big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up; Which about the Middle of <HI>October</HI> was care|fully Done by the &s;ame Gardiner, who a while after &s;ent me this account of it; <HI>I have Weighed the Pompion with the Stalk and Leaves, all which Weighed three pound wanting a quarter; Then I took the Earth, baked it as formerly, and found it just as much as I did at Fir&s;t, which made me think I had not dry'd it Sufficiently: then I put it into the Oven twice More, after the Bread was Drawn, and Weighed it the Second time, but found it Shrink little or nothing.</HI></P>
<P>But to deal Candidly with You, <HI>E|leutherius,</HI> I mu&s;t not conceal from You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this pre&s;ent Summer, wherein the Earth &s;eems to have been much more Wa&s;ted; as may appear by the following account, Lately &s;ent me by the &s;ame Gardiner, in the&s;e Words. <HI>To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have Gain'd two Indiffe|rent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and a Halfe, the Branches with the
<PB N="109" REF="65">Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak'd it in &s;everal &s;mall Earthen Di&s;hes in an Oven; and when I had &s;o done, I found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was former|ly; yet I was not &s;atisfi'd, doubting the Earth was not dry: I put it into an Oven the Second Time, (after the Bread was drawn) and after I had taken it out and weighed it, I found it to be the Same Weight: So I Suppo&s;e there was no Moi&s;ture left in the Earth. Neither do I think that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn a|way by the Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Du&s;t (and the like) wa&s;ted: (the Cucumbers are kept by them|&s;elves, le&s;t You &s;hould &s;end for them.</HI>) But yet in this Tryal, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> it ap|pears that though &s;ome of the Earth, or rather the di&s;&s;oluble Salt harbour'd in it, were wa&s;ted, the main Body of the Plant con&s;i&s;ted of Tran&s;muted Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus'd the formerly mentioned Ex|periment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with &s;o good &s;ucce&s;s, that if my memory does not much mi&s;-inform me, it did not only much &s;urpa&s;s any
<PB N="110" REF="66">that I made before, but &s;eem'd &s;trange|ly to conclude what I am pleading for; though (by rea&s;on I have unhappily lo&s;t the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the Circum&s;tances) I dare not in&s;i&s;t upon them. The like Experiment may be as conveniently try'd with the &s;eeds of any Plant, who&s;e growth is ha&s;ty, and its &s;ize Bulky. If Tobacco will in The&s;e Cold Climates Grow well in Earth undung'd, it would not be a|mi&s;s to make a Tryal with it; for 'tis an annual Plant, that ari&s;es where it pro&s;|pers, &s;ometimes as high as a Tall Man; and I have had leaves of it in my Garden neer a Foot and a Halfe broad. But the next time I Try this Experiment, it &s;hall be with &s;everal &s;eeds of the &s;ame &s;ort, in the &s;ame pot of Earth, that &s;o the e|vent may be the more Con&s;picuous. But becau&s;e every Body has not Con|veniency of time and place for this Experiment neither, I made in my Chamber, &s;ome &s;horter and more Expeditions Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint, about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water, &s;o as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Gla&s;s, and
<PB N="111" REF="66">the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint began to &s;hoot forth Roots into the Water, and to di&s;play its Leaves, and a&s;pire up|wards; and in a &s;hort time it had nu|merous Roots and Leaves, and the&s;e very &s;trong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint: but the Heat of my Cham|ber, as I &s;uppo&s;e, kill'd the Plant when it was grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and ra|mified Roots, which it &s;hot into the Water as if it had been Earth, pre|&s;ented in its Tran&s;parent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unplea&s;ant to behold. The like I try'd with &s;weet Marjoram, and I found the Experiment &s;ucceed al|&s;o, though &s;omewhat more &s;lowly, with Balme and Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of the&s;e Vege|tables, cheri&s;h'd only by Water, having obtain'd a competent Growth, I did, for Tryals &s;ake, cau&s;e to be Di&s;till'd in a &s;mall Retort, and thereby obtain'd &s;ome Phlegme, a little Empyrcumati|call Spirit, a &s;mall Quantity of adu&s;t Oyl, and a <HI>Caput mortuum;</HI> which ap|pearing to be a Coal concluded it to con&s;i&s;t of Salt and Earth: but
<PB N="112" REF="67">the Quantity of it was &s;o &s;mall that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us'd to nouri&s;h this Plant was not &s;hift|ed nor renewed; and I cho&s;e Spring|water rather than Rain-water, becau&s;e the latter is more di&s;cernably a kinde of <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, which, though it be granted to be freed from gro&s;&s;er Mixtures, &s;eems yet to Contain in it, be&s;ides the Steams of &s;everal Bodies wandering in the Air, which may be &s;uppos'd to im|pregnate it, a certain Spirituous Sub|&s;tance, which may be Extracted out of it, and is by &s;ome mi&s;taken for the Spirit of the World Corporify'd, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I may el&s;ewhere perchance, but mu&s;t not now, Di&s;cour&s;e to you.</P>
<P>But perhaps I might have &s;av'd a great part of my Labour. For I finde that <HI>Helmont</HI> (an Author more con&s;i|derable for his Experiments than many Learned men are pleas'd to think him) having had an Opportunity to pro&s;e|cute an Experiment much of the &s;ame nature with tho&s;e I have been now &s;peaking of, for five Years together, obtain'd at the end of that time &s;o no|table a Quantity of Tran&s;muted Water,
<PB N="113" REF="67">that I &s;hould &s;carce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention'd to|gether, were it not that the Length of Time Requi&s;ite to this may deterr the Curio&s;ity of &s;ome, and exceed the lea&s;ure of Others; and partly, that &s;o Paradoxical a Truth as that which the&s;e Experiments &s;eem to hold forth, needs to be Con|firm'd by more Witne&s;&s;es then one, e&s;pecially &s;ince the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with in <HI>Helmonts</HI> Treati&s;e of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made his Te&s;timonies &s;u&s;pected in his other Writings, though as to &s;ome of the Unlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might &s;afely undertake to be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I was mentioning to You, he &s;ayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earth dry'd in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Ve&s;&s;el and moi&s;ten'd it with Raine wa|ter he planted in it the Trunk of a VVil|low tree of five pound VVeight; this he VVater'd, as need required, with Rain or with Di&s;till'd VVater; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth from getting into the Ve&s;&s;ell, he employ'd a plate of Iron tinn'd over and per|forated
<PB N="114" REF="68">with many holes. Five years be|ing efflux'd, he took out the Tree and weighed' it, and (with computing the leaves that fell during four Autumnes) he found it to weigh 169 pound, and about three Ounces. And Having a|gain Dry'd the Earth it grew in, he found it want of its Former VVeight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; &s;o that 164 pound of the Roots, VVood, and Bark, which Con|&s;tituted the Tree, &s;eem to have Sprung from the VVater. And though it ap|pears not that <HI>Helmont</HI> had the Curio|&s;ity to make any <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> of this Plant, yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nouri&s;h'd with VVater only, will I &s;uppo&s;e keep You from Doubting that if he had Di&s;till'd this Tree, it would have afforded him the like Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances as another Vegetable of the &s;ame kind. I need not Subjoyne that I had it al&s;o in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the &s;ame purpo&s;e with tho&s;e I related to You would &s;ucceed in other Bodies then Vegetables, becau&s;e importunate Avo|cations having hitherto hinder'd me from putting my De&s;ign in Practi&s;e, I
<PB N="115" REF="68">can yet &s;peak but Confecturally of the Succe&s;s: but the be&s;t is, that the Expe|riments already made and mention'd to you need not the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my pre|&s;ent task makes it concern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.</P>
<P>One would &s;u&s;pect (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutheri|us</HI> after his long &s;ilence) by what You have been di&s;cour&s;ing, that You are not far from <HI>Helmonts</HI> Opinion about the O|rigination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps too di&s;like not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.</P>
<P>VVhat <HI>Helmontian</HI> Opinion, and what Arguments do you mean (askes <HI>Carneades.</HI>)</P>
<P>VVhat You have been Newly Di&s;|cour&s;ing (replies <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) tells us, that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyri&s;t &s;cruples not to A&s;|&s;ert that all mixt Bodies &s;pring from one Element; and that Vegetables, Ani|mals, Marcha&s;ites, Stones, Metalls, &amp;c. are Materially but &s;imple VVater di&s;|guis'd into the&s;e Various Formes, by the pla&s;tick or Formative Virtue of their &s;eeds. And as for his Rea&s;ons you may find divers of them &s;catter'd up and
<PB N="216" REF="69">down his writings; the con&s;iderabl'&s;t of which &s;eem to be the&s;e three; The Ultimate Reduction of mixt Bodies in|to In&s;ipid VVater, the Vici&s;&s;itude of the &s;uppo&s;ed Elements, and the pro|duction of perfectly mixt Bodies out of &s;imple VVater. And fir&s;t he affirmes that the <HI>Sal circulatus Paracel&s;i,</HI> or his Li|quor <HI>Alkahe&s;t,</HI> does adaequately re&s;olve Plants, Animals, and Mineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their &s;eve|ral internall Di&s;parities of Parts (with|out <HI>Caput Mortuum,</HI> or the De&s;truction of their &s;eminal Virtues;) and that the <HI>Alkahest</HI> being ab&s;tracted from the&s;e Liquors in the &s;ame weight and Virtue wherewith it Di&s;&s;olv'd them, the Li|quors may by frequent Cohobations from chalke or &s;ome other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv'd of their feminal En|dowments, and return at la&s;t to their fir&s;t matter, In&s;ipid VVater; &s;ome o|ther wayes he propo&s;es here and there, to dive&s;t &s;ome particular Bodies of their borrow'd &s;hapes, and make them re|migrate to their fir&s;t Simplicity. The &s;econd Topick whence <HI>Helmont</HI> drawes his Arguments, to prove VVater to be the Material cau&s;e of Mixt Bodies, I told
<PB N="117" REF="69">You was this, that the other &s;uppos'd Elements may be tran&s;muted into one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc'd on this Occa|&s;ion, are &s;o unea&s;ie to be made and to be judg'd of, that I &s;hall not in&s;i&s;t on them; not to mention, that if they were granted to be true, his Inference from them is &s;omewhat di&s;putable; and there|fore I &s;hall pa&s;s on to tell You, That as, in his Fir&s;t Argument, our Paradox|ical Author endeavours to prove Wa|ter the Sole Element of Mixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Re&s;olution, when by his <HI>Alkahe&s;t,</HI> or &s;ome other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been De&s;troy'd, which Di&s;guis'd them, or when by time tho&s;e &s;eeds are Weari'd or Exantlated or unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Univer&s;e any Longer: So in his Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the &s;ame Conclu&s;ion, by the con&s;ti|tution of Bodies which he a&s;&s;erts to be nothing but Water Subdu'd by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives here and there in his Writings &s;everal In&s;tances, as to Plants and Animals; but divers of them being Difficult either to be try'd or to be Under&s;tood, and others of them being
<PB N="118" REF="70">not altogether Unobnoxious to Excepti|ons, I think you have &s;ingl'd out the Principal and le&s;s Que&s;tionable Experi|ment when you lately mention'd that of the Willow Tree. And having thus, Continues <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> to An&s;wer your Que&s;tion, given you a Summary Ac|count of what I am Confident You know better then I do, I &s;hall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, if the giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Pro&s;ecution of your Di&s;|cour&s;e.</P>
<P>That <HI>If</HI> (replies <HI>Carneades</HI>) was not needle&s;ly annex'd: for thorowly to ex|amine &s;uch an Hypothe&s;is and &s;uch Ar|guments would require &s;o many Con|&s;iderations, and Con&s;equently &s;o much time, that I &s;hould not now have the Lie&s;ure to perfect &s;uch a Digre&s;&s;ion, and much le&s;s to fini&s;h my Principle Di&s;|cour&s;e. Yet thus much I &s;hall tell You at pre&s;ent, that you need not fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; &s;ince, however the <HI>Helmontians</HI> may in complement to their Ma&s;ter pretend it to be a new Di&s;covery, Yet though the Arguments be for the mo&s;t part his, the Opinion it &s;elf is very Antient: For <HI>Di|ogenes
<PB N="119" REF="70">Laertius</HI> and divers other Authors &s;peak of <HI>Thales,</HI> as the fir&s;t among the <HI>Grae|cians</HI> that made di&s;qui&s;itions upon nature. And of this <HI>Thales,</HI> I Remember,
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">De Na|tura De|orum.</NOTE> <HI>Tully</HI> in|formes us, that he taught all things were at fir&s;t made of Water. And it &s;eems by <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <HI>Justin Martyr,</HI> that the Opinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us'd to defend his Tene tby the Te&s;timony of <HI>Homer.</HI> And a Greek Author, (the <HI>Scholiast</HI> of <HI>Apollo|nius</HI>) upon the&s;e Words
<Q><LG>
<L><GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> <BIBL>Argo|naut. 4.</BIBL></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L><HI>The Earth of Slime was made,</HI></L>
</LG></Q> Affirms (out of <HI>Zeno</HI>) that the <HI>Chaos,</HI> whereof all things were made, was, ac|cording to <HI>He&s;iod,</HI> Water; which, &s;et|tling fir&s;t, became Slime, and then con|dens'd into &s;olid Earth. And the &s;ame Opinion about the Generation of Slime &s;eems to have been entertain'd by <HI>Or|pheus,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Athena|goras.</NOTE> out of whom one of the Antients cites this Te&s;timony,
<Q><LG>
<L><GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L><HI>Of Water Slime was made.</HI></L>
</LG></Q>
<PB N="120" REF="71">It &s;eems al&s;o by what is delivered in <HI>Stra|bo</HI> out of another Author,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Univer|&s;arumre|rum pri|mordia diver&s;a e&s;&s;e, fa|ciendi autem mundi initium aquam. Strabo. Geograp lib. 15. circa me|dium.</NOTE> concerning the <HI>Indians,</HI> That they likewi&s;e held that all things had differing Beginnings, but that of which the World was made, was Water. And the like Opinion has been by &s;ome of the Antients a&s;crib'd to the <HI>Phoenicians,</HI> from whom <HI>Thales</HI> him&s;elf is conceiv'd to have borrow'd it; as pro|bably he Greeks did much of their The|logie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philo&s;ophy too; &s;ince the Devi&s;ing of the Atomical <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> commonly a&s;crib'd to <HI>Lucippus</HI> and his Di&s;ciple <HI>Democritus,</HI> is by Learned Men attributed to one <HI>Mo&s;chus</HI> a <HI>Phoenician.</HI> And po&s;&s;ibly the Opinion is yet antienter than &s;o; For 'tis known that the <HI>Phoenicians</HI> borrow'd mo&s;t of their Learning from the <HI>He|brews.</HI> And among tho&s;e that acknow|ledge the Books of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> many have been inclin'd to think Water to have been the Primitive and Univer&s;al Mat|ter, by peru&s;ing the Beginning of <HI>Gene|&s;is,</HI> where the Waters &s;eem to be men|tion'd as the Material Cau&s;e, not only of Sublunary Compounded Bodies, but of all tho&s;e that make up the Univer&s;e; who&s;e Component Parts did orderly, as
<PB N="121" REF="71">it were, emerge out of that va&s;t Aby&s;&s;e, by the Operation of the Spirit of God, who is &s;aid to have been moving Him|&s;elf as hatching Females do (as the Ori|ginal <GAP LANG="heb" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deuter. 32.11.</NOTE> <HI>Meracephet</HI> is &s;aid to Im|port, and as it &s;eems to &s;ignifie in one of the two other places,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 23.9.</NOTE> wherein alone I have met with it in the Hebrew Bible) upon the Face of the Waters; which being, as may be &s;uppos'd, Divinely Im|pregnated with the &s;eeds of all things, were by that productive Incubation qua|lify'd to produce them. But you, I pre|&s;ume, Expect that I &s;hould Di&s;cour&s;e of this Matter like a Naturali&s;t, not a Phi|lologer. Wherefore I &s;hall add, to Countenance <HI>Helmont</HI>'s Opinion, That whereas he gives not, that I remember, any In&s;tance of any Mineral Body, nor &s;carce of any Animal, generated of Wa|ter, a French Chymi&s;t, <HI>Mon&s;ieur de Ro|chas,</HI> has pre&s;ented his Readers an Expe|riment, which if it were punctually &s;uch as he has deliver'd it, is very Notable. He then, Di&s;cour&s;ing of the Generation of things according to certain Chymical and Metaphorical Notions (which I confe&s;s are not to me Intelligible) &s;ets down, among divers Speculations not
<PB N="122" REF="72">pertinent to our Subject, the following Narrative, which I &s;hall repeat to you the &s;ence of in Engli&s;h, with as little variation from the Literal &s;ence of the French words, as my memory will en|able me. <HI>Having</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>di&s;cern'd &s;uch great Wonders by the Natural Opera|tion of Water, I would know what may be done with it by Art Imitating Nature. Wherefore I took Water which I well knew not to be compounded, nor to be mix'd with any other thing than that Spirit of Life</HI> (whereof he had &s;poken before;) <HI>and with a Heat Artificial, Continual and Pro|portionate, I prepar'd and di&s;pos'd it by the above mention'd Graduations of Coagulati|on, Congelation, and Fixation, untill it was turn'd into Earth, which Earth produc'd Animals, Vegetables and Minerals. I tell not what Animals, Vegetables and Mine|rals, for that is re&s;erv'd for another Occa|&s;ion: but the Animals did Move of them|&s;elves, Eat, &amp;c. &mdash; and by the true Ana|tomie I made of them, I found that they were compos'd of much Sulphur, little Mer|cury, and le&s;s Salt. &mdash; The Minerals be|gan to grow and encrea&s;e by converting into their own Nature one part of the Earth thereunto di&s;pos'd; they were &s;olid and
<PB N="123" REF="72">heavy. And by this truly Demonstrative Science, namely Chymistry, I found that they were compos'd of much Salt, little Sul|phur, and le&s;s Mercury.</HI></P>
<P>But (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades)</HI> I have &s;ome Su&s;pitions concerning this &s;trange Rela|tion, which make me unwilling to De|clare an Opinion of it, unle&s;s I were &s;atisfied concerning divers Material Cir|cum&s;tances that our Author has left un|mentioned; though as for the Genera|tion of Living Creatures, both Vegetable and Sen&s;itive, it needs not &s;eem Incre|dible, &s;ince we finde that our common water (which indeed is often Impreg|nated with Variety of Seminal Princi|ples and Rudiments) being long kept in a quiet place will putrifie and &s;tink, and then perhaps too produce Mo&s;s and little Worms, or other In&s;ects, according to the nature of the Seeds that were lurk|ing in it. I mu&s;t likewi&s;e de&s;ire you to take Notice, that as <HI>Helmont</HI> gives us no In&s;tance of the Production of Minerals out of Water, &s;o the main Argument that he employ's to prove that they and other Bodies may be re&s;olv'd into wa|ter, is drawn from the Operations of his <HI>Alkahest,</HI> and con&s;equently cannot
<PB N="124" REF="73">be &s;atisfactorily Examin'd by You and Me.</P>
<P>Yet certainly (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius)</HI> You cannot but have &s;omewhat wonder'd as well as I, to ob&s;erve how great a &s;hare of Water goes to the making up of Di|vers Bodies, who&s;e Di&s;gui&s;es promi&s;e nothing neere &s;o much. The Di&s;tilla|tion of Eeles, though it yielded me &s;ome Oyle, and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, be&s;ides the <HI>Caput mortuum,</HI> yet were all the&s;e &s;o di&s;proportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (and in which at fir&s;t they boyl'd as in a Pot of Water) that they &s;eem'd to have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewi&s;e &s;trangely abound in Vipers, though they are e&s;teem'd very hot in Operation, and will in a Convenient Aire &s;urvive &s;ome dayes the lo&s;s of their Heads and Hearts, &s;o vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloud it &s;elf as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as 'tis reputed, does &s;o abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Di&s;tilling &s;ome of it on purpo&s;e to try the Expe|riment (as I had formerly done in Deers Bloud) out of about &s;even Ounces and a half of pure Bloud we drew neere &s;ix Ounces of Phlegm, before any of the
<PB N="125" REF="73">more operative Principles began to ari&s;e, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to &s;atisfie my &s;elf that &s;ome of the&s;e Animall Phlegms were void e|nough of Spirit to de&s;erve that Name, I would not content my &s;elf to ta&s;te them only, but fruitle&s;ly pour'd on them acid Liquors, to try if they contain'd any Volatile Salt or Spirit, which (had there been any there) would probably have di&s;cover'd it &s;elf by making an Ebullition with the affu&s;ed Liquor. And now I mention Corro&s;ive Spirits, I am minded to Informe you, That though they &s;eem to be nothing el&s;e but Fluid Salts, yet they abound in Water, as you may Ob&s;erve, if either you Entangle, and &s;o Fix their Saline Part, by making them Corrode &s;ome idoneous Body, or el&s;e if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have very manife&s;tly Ob|&s;erv'd in the making a Medecine &s;ome|what like <HI>Helmont</HI>'s <HI>Bal&s;amus Samech,</HI> with Di&s;till'd Vinager in&s;tead of Spirit of Wine, wherewith he prepares it: For you would &s;carce Beleeve (what I have lately Ob&s;erv'd) that of that acid Spirit, the Salt of Tartar, from which it is Di&s;till'd, will by mortifying and re|taining
<PB N="126" REF="74">the acid Salt turn into worthle&s;s Phlegm neere twenty times its weight, before it be &s;o fully Impregnated as to rob no more Di&s;till'd Vinager of its Salt. And though Spirit of Wine Exqui&s;itely rectify'd &s;eem of all Liquors to be the mo&s;t free from Water, it being &s;o Igne|ous that it will Flame all away with|out leaving the lea&s;t Drop behinde it, yet even this Fiery Liquor is by <HI>Helmont</HI> not improbably affirm'd, in ca&s;e what he relates be True, to be Ma|terially Water, under a Sulphureous Di&s;gui&s;e: For, according to him, in the making that excellent Medecine, <HI>Para|cel&s;us</HI> his <HI>Bal&s;amus Samech,</HI> (which is no|thing but <HI>Sal Tartari</HI> dulcify'd by Di&s;til|ling from it Spirit of Wine till the Salt be &s;ufficiently glutted with its Sulphur, and &s;uffer the Liquor to be drawn off, as &s;trong as it was pour'd on) when the Salt of Tartar from which it is Di&s;till'd hath retain'd, or depriv'd it of the Sul|phureous parts of the Spirit of Wine, the re&s;t, which is incomparably the greater part of the Liquor, will remi|grate into Phlegm. I added that Clau&s;e <HI>[In ca&s;e what he Relates be True]</HI> becau&s;e I have not as yet &s;ufficiently try'd it my
<PB N="127" REF="74">&s;elf. But not only &s;omething of Expe|riment keeps me from thinking it, as many Chymi&s;ts do, ab&s;urd, (though I have, as well as they, in vain try'd it with ordinary Salt of Tartar:) but be&s;ides that <HI>Helmont</HI> often Relates it, and draws Con&s;equences from it; A Per&s;on noted for his Soberne&s;&s;e and Skill in Spagyrical Preparations, having been askt by me, Whether the Experiment might not be made to &s;ucceed, if the Salt and Spirit were prepar'd according to a way &s;uit|able to my Principles, he affirm'd to me, that he had that way I propos'd made <HI>Helmont</HI>'s Experiment &s;ucceed very well, without adding any thing to the Salt and Spirit. But our way is neither &s;hort nor Ea&s;ie.</P>
<P>I have indeed (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades)</HI> &s;ome|times wonder'd to &s;ee how much Phlegme may be obtain'd from Bodies by the Fire. But concerning that Phlegme I may anon have Occa&s;ion to note &s;ome|thing, which I therefore &s;hall not now an|ticipate. But to return to the Opinion of <HI>Thales,</HI> and of <HI>Helmont,</HI> I con&s;ider, that &s;uppo&s;ing the <HI>Alkahest</HI> could re|duce all Bodies into water, yet whether that water, becau&s;e in&s;ipid, mu&s;t be Ele|mentary,
<PB N="128" REF="75">may not groundle&s;ly be doubt|ed; For I remember the Candid and Eloquent <HI>Petrus Laurembergius</HI> in his Notes upon <HI>Sala's</HI> Aphori&s;mes affirmes, that he &s;aw an in&s;ipid <HI>Menstruum</HI> that was a powerfull Di&s;&s;olvent, and (if my Memory do not much mi&s;-informe me) could di&s;&s;olve Gold. And the water which may be Drawn from Quick&s;ilver without Addition, though it be almo&s;t Ta&s;tle&s;s, You will I believe think of a differing Nature from &s;imple Water, e&s;pecially if you Dige&s;t in it Appropri|ated Mineralls. To which I &s;hall add but this, that this Con&s;ideration may be further extended. For I &s;ee no Ne|ce&s;&s;ity to conceive that the Water men|tion'd in the Beginning of <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> as the Univer&s;al Matter, was &s;imple and Elementary VVater; &s;ince though we &s;hould Suppo&s;e it to have been an A|gitated Congeries or Heap con&s;i&s;ting of a great Variety of Seminal Princi|ples and Rudiments, and of other Cor|pu&s;cles fit to be &s;ubdu'd and Fa&s;hion'd by them, it might yet be a Body Fluid like VVater, in ca&s;e the Corpu&s;cles it was made up of, were by their Creator made &s;mall enough, and put into &s;uch an
<PB N="129" REF="75">actuall Motion as might make them Glide along one another. And as we now &s;ay, the Sea con&s;i&s;ts of VVater, not|with&s;tanding the Saline, Terre&s;trial, and other Bodies mingl'd with it,) &s;uch a Liquor may well enough be called VVa|ter, becau&s;e that was the greate&s;t of the known Bodies whereunto it was like; Though, that a Body may be Fluid e|nough to appear a Liquor, and yet con|tain Corpu&s;cles of a very differing Na|ture, You will ea&s;ily believe, if You but expo&s;e a good Quantity of Vitriol in a &s;trong Ve&s;&s;el to a Competent Fire. For although it contains both Aqueous, Earthy, Saline, Sulphureous, and Metal|line Corpu&s;cles, yet the whole Ma&s;s will at fir&s;t be Fluid like water, and boyle like a &s;eething pot.</P>
<P>I might ea&s;ily (Continues <HI>Carneades)</HI> enlarge my &s;elf on &s;uch Con&s;iderations, if I were Now Oblig'd to give You my Judgment of the <HI>Thale&s;ian,</HI> and <HI>Hel|montian, Hypothe&s;is.</HI> But Whether or no we conclude that all things were at fir&s;t Generated of Water, I may Deduce from what I have try'd Concerning the Growth of Vegetables, nouri&s;h'd with water, all that I now propos'd to my Self
<PB N="130" REF="76">or need at pre&s;ent to prove, namely that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and ev'n Oyl (though that be thought of all Bodies the mo&s;t oppo&s;ite to Water) may be produc'd out of Water; and con&s;equently that a Chy|mical Principle as well as a Peripatetick Element, may (in &s;ome ca&s;es) be Gene|rated anew, or obtain'd from &s;uch a parcel of Matter as was not endow'd with the form of &s;uch aprinciple or Element before.</P>
<P>And having thus, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> Evinc'd that 'tis po&s;&s;ible that &s;uch Sub&s;tances as tho&s;e that Chymi&s;ts are wont to call their <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> may be Generated, anew: I mu&s;t next Endeavour to make it Probable, that the Operation of the Fire does Actually (&s;ometimes) not on|ly divide Compounded Bodies into &s;mal Parts, but Compound tho&s;e Parts after a new Manner; whence Con&s;equent|ly, for ought we Know, there may E|merge as well Saline and Sulphureous Sub&s;tances, as Bodies of other Textures. And perhaps it will a&s;&s;i&s;t us in our En|quiry after the Effects of the Operations of the Fire upon other Bodies, to Con|&s;ider a little, what it does to tho&s;e Mix|tures which being Productions of the Art of Man, We be&s;t know the Com|po&s;ition
<PB N="131" REF="76">of. You may then be pleas'd to take Notice that though Sope is made up by the Sope-Boylers of Oyle or Grea&s;e, and Salt, and Water Di|ligently Incorporated together, yet if You expo&s;e the Ma&s;s they Con&s;titute to a Graduall Fire in a Retort, You &s;hall then indeed make a Separation, but not of the &s;ame Sub&s;tances that were United into Sope, but of others of a Di&s;tant and yet not an Elementa|ry Nature, and e&s;pecially of an Oyle very &s;harp and Faetid, and of a very Differing Quality from that which was Employ'd to make the Sope: &s;o if you Mingle in a due Proportion, <HI>Sal Ar|moniack</HI> with Quick-Lime, and Di&s;till them by Degrees of Fire, You &s;hall not Divide the <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> from the Quick-Lime, though the one be a Vola|tile, and the other a Fix'd Sub&s;tance, but that which will a&s;cend will be a Spi|rit much more Fugitive, Penetrant, and &s;tinking, then <HI>Sal Armoniack;</HI> and there will remain with the Quick-Lime all or very near all the Sea Salt that concurr'd to make up the <HI>Sal Armoniack;</HI> con|cerning which Sea Salt I &s;hall, to &s;atisfie You how well it was United to the
<PB N="132" REF="77">Lime, informe You, that I have by ma|king the Fire at length very Vehement, caus'd both the Ingredients to melt in the Retort it &s;elf into one Ma&s;s and &s;uch Ma&s;&s;es are apt to Relent in the Moi&s;t Air. If it be here Objected, that the&s;e In&s;tances are taken from factiti|ous Concretes which are more Com|pounded then tho&s;e which Nature pro|duces; I &s;hall reply, that be&s;ides that I have Mention'd them as much to Illu&s;trate what I propos'd, as to prove it, it will be Difficult to Evince that Nature her &s;elf does not make Decompound Bodies, I mean mingle together &s;uch mixt Bodies as are already Compounded of Ele|mentary, or rather of more &s;imple ones. For Vitriol (for In&s;tance) though I have &s;ometimes taken it out of Minerall Earths, where Nature had without any a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Art prepar'd it to my Hand, is really, though Chymi&s;ts are pleas'd to reckon it among Salts, a De-com|pounded Body Con&s;i&s;ting (as I &s;hall have occa&s;ion to declare anon) of a Terre&s;triall Sub&s;tance, of a Metal, and al&s;o of at lea&s;t one Saline Body, of a peculiar and not Elementary Nature. And we &s;ee al&s;o in Animals, that their
<PB N="133" REF="77">blood may be compos'd of Divers very Differing Mixt Bodies, &s;ince we find it ob&s;erv'd that divers Sea-Fowle ta&s;t rank of the Fi&s;h on which they ordina|rily feed; and <HI>Hipocrates</HI> him&s;elf Ob|&s;erves, that a Child may be purg'd by the Milke of the Nur&s;e, if &s;he have ta|ken <HI>Elaterium;</HI> which argues that the purging Corpu&s;cles of the Medicament Concurr to make up the Milke of the Nur&s;e; and that white Liquor is gene|rally by Phy&s;itians &s;uppos'd to be but blanch'd and alter'd Blood. And I re|member I have ob&s;erv'd, not farr from the <HI>Alps,</HI> that at a certain time of the Year the Butter of that Country was very Offen&s;ive to &s;trangers, by rea&s;on of the rank ta&s;t of a certain Herb, whereon the Cows were then wont plentifully to feed. But (proceeds <HI>Carneades</HI>) to give you In&s;tances of another kind, to &s;hew that things may be obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body that were not Pre-exi&s;tent in it, let Me Remind You, that from many Vegetables there may without any Addition be Obtain'd Gla&s;s, a Body, which I pre&s;ume You will not &s;ay was Pre-exi&s;tent in it, but produc'd by the Fire. To which I &s;hall
<PB N="134" REF="78">add but this one Example more, namely that by a certain Artificial way of hand|ling Quick&s;ilver, You may without Addition &s;eparate from it at lea&s;t a 5th. or 4th. part of a clear Liquor, which with an Ordinary Peripatetick would pa&s;s for VVater, and which a Vulgar Chy|mi&s;t would not &s;cruple to call Phlegme, and which, for ought I have yet &s;een or heard, is not reducible into Mercury a|gain, and Con&s;equently is more then a Di&s;gui&s;e of it. Now be&s;ides that divers Chymi&s;ts will not allow Mercury to have any or at lea&s;t any Con&s;iderable Quantity of either of the Ignoble In|gredients, Earth and VVater; Be&s;ides this, I &s;ay, the great Ponderou&s;ne&s;s of Quick&s;ilver makes it very unlikely that it can have &s;o much Water in it as may be thus obtain'd from it, &s;ince Mercury weighs 12 or 14 times as much as wa|ter of the &s;ame Bulk. Nay for a fur|ther Confirmation of this Argument, I will add this Strange Relation, that two Friends of mine, the one a Phy|&s;itian, and the other a Mathematician, and both of them Per&s;ons of un&s;u&s;pected Credit, have Solemnly a&s;&s;ured me, that after many Tryals they made, to reduce
<PB N="135" REF="78">Mercury into Water, in Order to a Phi|lo&s;ophicall Work, upon Gold (which yet, by the way, I know prov'd Un&s;uc|cesfull) they did once by divers Coho|bations reduce a pound of Quick&s;ilver into almo&s;t a pound of Water, and this without the Addition of any other Sub|&s;tance, but only by pre&s;&s;ing the Mer|cury by a Skillfully Manag'd Fire in pur|po&s;ely contriv'd Ve&s;&s;els. But of the&s;e Experiments our Friend (&s;ayes <HI>Carne|ades,</HI> pointing at the Regi&s;ter of this Dialogue) will perhaps give You a more Particular Account then it is ne|ce&s;&s;ary for me to do: Since what I have now &s;aid may &s;ufficiently evince, that the Fire may &s;ometimes as well alter Bodies as divide them, and by it we may obtain from a Mixt Body what was not Pre-exi&s;tent in it. And how are we &s;ure that in no other Body what we call Phlegme is barely &s;e|parated, not Produc'd by the Action of the Fire: Since &s;o many other Mixt Bodies are of a much le&s;s Con&s;tant, and more alterable Nature, then Mer|cury, by many Tricks it is wont to put upon Chymi&s;ts, and by the Experi|ments I told You of, about an hour
<PB N="136" REF="79">&s;ince, Appears to be. But becau&s;e I &s;hall ere long have Occa&s;ion to re&s;ume into Con&s;ideration the Power of the Fire to produce new Concretes, I &s;hall no longer in&s;i&s;t on this Argument at pre&s;ent; only I mu&s;t mind You, that if You will not dis-believe <HI>Helmonts</HI> Rela|tions, You mu&s;t confe&s;s that the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> are neither ingenerable nor incor|ruptible Sub&s;tances; &s;ince by his <HI>Alka|best</HI> &s;ome of them may be produc'd of Bodies that were before of another De|nomination; and by the &s;ame powerfull <HI>Menstruum</HI> all of them may be reduc'd into in&s;ipid Water.</P>
<P>Here <HI>Carneades</HI> was about to pa&s;s on to his Third Con&s;ideration, when <HI>Eleu|therius</HI> being de&s;irous to hear what he could &s;ay to clear his &s;econd General Con&s;ideration from being repugnant to what he &s;eem'd to think the true Theory of Mi&s;tion, prevented him by telling him, I &s;omewhat wonder, <HI>Carneades,</HI> that You, who are in &s;o many Points un|&s;atisfied with the Peripatetick Opinion touching the Elements and Mixt Bodies, &s;hould al&s;o &s;eem aver&s;e to that Notion touching the manner of Mi&s;tion, where|in the Chymi&s;ts (though perhaps with|out
<PB N="137" REF="79">knowing that they do &s;o) agree with mo&s;t of the Antient Philo&s;ophers that preceded <HI>Aristotle,</HI> and that for Rea&s;ons &s;o con&s;iderable, that divers Modern Na|turali&s;ts and Phy&s;itians, in other things unfavourable enough to the Spagyri&s;ts, do in this ca&s;e &s;ide with them again&s;t the common Opinion of the Schools. If you &s;hould ask me (continues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) what Rea&s;ons I mean? I &s;hould partly by the Writings of <HI>Sennertus</HI> and other learned Men, and partly by my own Thoughts, be &s;upply'd with more, then 'twere at pre&s;ent proper for me to In|&s;i&s;t largely on. And therefore I &s;hall mention only, and that briefly, three or four. Of the&s;e, I &s;hall take the Fir&s;t from the &s;tate of the Controver&s;ie it &s;elf, and the genuine Notion of Mi&s;tion, which though much intricated by the School|men, I take in &s;hort to be this. <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> at lea&s;t as many of his Interpreters ex|pound him, and as indeed he Teaches in &s;ome places, where he profe&s;&s;edly Di&s;|&s;ents from the Antients, declares Mi&s;ti|on to be &s;uch a mutual Penetration, and perfect Union of the mingl'd Elements, that there is no Portion of the mixt Bo|dy, how Minute &s;oever, which does not
<PB N="140" REF="80">contain All, and Every of the Four Ele|ments, or in which, if you plea&s;e, all the Elements are not. And I remember, that he reprehends the Mi&s;tion taught by the Ancients, as too &s;leight or gro&s;s, for this Rea&s;on, that Bodies mixt ac|cording to their <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> though they appear &s;o to humane Eyes, would not appear &s;uch to the acute Eyes of a <HI>Lynx,</HI> who&s;e perfecter Sight would di&s;cerne the Elements, if they were no otherwi&s;e mingled, than as his Predece&s;&s;ors would have it, to be but Blended, not United; whereas the Antients, though they did not all Agree about what kind of Bodies were Mixt, yet they did almo&s;t unani|mou&s;ly hold, that in a compounded Bo|die, though the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia,</HI> whether Ele|ments, Principles, or whatever they pleas'd to call them, were a&s;&s;ociated in &s;uch &s;mall Parts, and with &s;o much Ex|actne&s;s, that there was no &s;en&s;ible Part of the Ma&s;s but &s;eem'd to be of the &s;ame Nature with the re&s;t, and with the whole; Yet as to the Atomes, or other In&s;en&s;ible Parcels of Matter, whereof each of the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia</HI> con&s;i&s;ted, they re|tain'd each of them its own Nature, being but by Appo&s;ition or <HI>Juxta</HI>-Po&s;ition uni|ted
<PB N="141" REF="80">with the re&s;t into one Bodie. So that although by virtue of this compo&s;ition the mixt Body did perhaps obtain Di|vers new Qualities, yet &s;till the Ingre|dients that Compounded it, retaining their own Nature, were by the De|&s;truction of the <HI>Compo&s;itum</HI> &s;eparable from each other, the minute Parts di&s;|ingag'd from tho&s;e of a differing Na|ture, and a&s;&s;ociated with tho&s;e of their own &s;ort returning to be again, Fire, Earth, or Water, as they were before they chanc'd to be Ingredients of that <HI>Compo&s;itum.</HI> This may be explain'd (Continues <HI>Eleutherius,</HI>) by a piece of Cloath made of white and black threds interwoven, wherein though the whole piece appear neither white nor black, but of a re&s;ulting Colour, that is gray, yet each of the white and black threds that compo&s;e it, remains what it was before, as would appear if the threds were pull'd a&s;under, and &s;orted each Co|lour by it &s;elf. This (pur&s;ues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) being, as I under&s;tand it, the State of the Controver&s;ie, and the <HI>Aristotelians</HI> after their Ma&s;ter Commonly Defi|ning, that Mi&s;tion is <HI>Mi&s;cibilium alterato|rum Unio,</HI> that &s;eems to comport much
<PB N="140" REF="81">better with the Opinion of the Chy|mi&s;ts, then with that of their Adver&s;a|ries, &s;ince according to that as the new|ly mention'd Example declares, there is but a <HI>Juxta</HI>-po&s;ition of &s;eparable Cor|pu&s;cles, retaining each its own Nature, whereas according to the <HI>Ari&s;totelians,</HI> when what they are pleas'd to call a mixt Body re&s;ults from the Concour&s;e of the Elements, the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia</HI> can|not &s;o properly be &s;aid to be Alter'd, as De&s;troy'd, &s;ince there is no Part in the mixt Body, how &s;mall &s;oever, that can be call'd either Fir, or Air, or Water, or Earth.</P>
<P>Nor indeed can I well under&s;tand, how Bodies can be mingl'd other wayes then as I have declar'd, or at lea&s;t how they can be mingl'd, as our Peripateticks would have it. For whereas <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> tells us, that if a Drop of Wine be put into ten thou&s;and Mea&s;ures of Wa|ter, the Wine being Overpower'd by &s;o Va&s;t a Quantity of Water will be turn'd into it, he &s;peaks to my Appre|hen&s;ion, very improbably; For though One &s;hould add to that Quantity of Water as many Drops of Wine as would a Thou&s;and times exceed it all,
<PB N="141" REF="81">yet by his Rule the whole Liquor &s;hould not be a <HI>Crama,</HI> a Mixture of Wine and Water, wherein the Wine would be Predominant, but VVater only; Since the Wine being added but by a Drop at a time would &s;till Fall into nothing but VVater, and Con&s;equently would be turn'd into it. And if this would hold in Metals too, 'twere a rare &s;e|cret for Gold&s;miths, and Refiners; For by melting a Ma&s;s of Gold, or Silver, and by but ca&s;ting into it Lead or An|timony, Grain after Grain, they might at plea&s;ure, within a rea&s;onable Compa&s;s of time, turn what Quantity they de|&s;ire, of the Ignoble into the Noble Me|talls. And indeed &s;ince a Pint of wine, and a pint of water, amount to about a Quart of Liquor, it &s;eems manife&s;t to &s;en&s;e, that the&s;e Bodies doe not Totally Penetrate one another, as one would have it; but that each retains its own Dimen&s;ions; and Con&s;equently, that they are by being Mingl'd only di|vided into minute Bodies, that do but touch one another with their Surfaces, as do the Grains, of VVheat, Rye, Bar|ley, &amp;c. in a heap of &s;everall &s;orts of Corn: And unle&s;s we &s;ay, that as
<PB N="144" REF="82">when one mea&s;ure of wheat, for In|&s;tance, is Blended with a hundred mea|&s;ures of Barley, there happens only a <HI>Juxta</HI>-po&s;ition and Superficial Contact betwixt the Grains of wheat, and as many or thereabouts of the Grains of Barley. So when a Drop of wine is mingl'd with a great deal of water, there is but an Appo&s;ition of &s;o many Vinous Corpu&s;cles to a Corre&s;pondent Number of Aqueous ones; Unle&s;s I &s;ay this be &s;aid, I &s;ee not how that Ab|&s;urdity will be avoyded, whereunto the Stoical Notion of mi&s;tion (namely by <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, or Confu&s;ion) was Liable, ac|cording to which the lea&s;t Body may be co-extended with the greate&s;t: Since in a mixt Body wherein before the Ele|ments were Mingl'd there was, for In|&s;tance, but one pound of water to ten thou&s;and of Earth, yet according to them there mu&s;t not be the lea&s;t part of that Compound, that Con&s;i&s;ted not as well of Earth, as water. But I in|&s;i&s;t, Perhaps, too long (&s;ayes <HI>Eleuthe|rius</HI>) upon the proofs afforded me by the Nature of Mi&s;tion: Wherefore I will but name Two or Three other Ar|guments; whereof the fir&s;t &s;hall be,
<PB N="145" REF="82">that according to <HI>Aristotle</HI> him&s;elf, the motion of a mixt Body followes the Nature of the Predominant Ele|ment, as tho&s;e wherein the Earth pre|vails, tend towards the Centre of heavy Bodies. And &s;ince many things make it Evident, that in divers Mixt Bodies the Elementary Qualities are as well Active, though not altogether &s;o much &s;o as in the Elements them&s;elves, it &s;eems not rea&s;onable to deny the actual Exi&s;tence of the Elements in tho&s;e Bo|dies wherein they Operate.</P>
<P>To which I &s;hall add this Convin|cing Argument, that Experience mani|fe&s;ts, and <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> Confe&s;&s;es it, that the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia</HI> may be again &s;eparated from a mixt Body, as is Obvious in the Chy|mical Re&s;olutions of Plants and Ani|malls, which could not be unle&s;s they did actually retain their formes in it: For &s;ince, according to <HI>Aristotle,</HI> and I think according to truth, there is but one common Ma&s;s of all things, which he has been pleas'd to call <HI>Materia Pri|ma;</HI> And &s;ince tis not therefore the Mat|ter but the Forme that Con&s;titutes and Di&s;criminates Things, to &s;ay that the Elements remain not in a Mixt Bo|dy,
<PB N="144" REF="83">according to their Formes, but ac|cording to their Matter, is not to &s;ay that they remain there at all; Since although tho&s;e Portions of Matter were Earth and water, &amp;c. before they concurr'd, yet the re&s;ulting Body being once Con&s;tituted, may as well be &s;aid to be &s;imple as any of the Elements, the Matter being con|fe&s;&s;edly of the &s;ame Nature in all Bo|dies, and the Elementary Formes being according to this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> peri&s;h'd and aboli&s;h'd.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, and if we will Con&s;ult Chymical Experiments, we &s;hall find the Advantages of the Chymical Do|ctrine above the Peripatetick Title little le&s;s then Palpable. For in that Operation that Refiners call Quartation, which they employ to purifie Gold, although three parts of Silver be &s;o exqui&s;itely mingl'd by Fu&s;ion with a fourth Part of Gold (whence the Operation is De|nominated) that the re&s;ulting Ma&s;s ac|quires &s;everall new Qualities, by virtue of the Compo&s;ition, and that there is &s;carce any &s;en&s;ible part of it that is not Compos'd of both the metalls; Yet if You ca&s;t this mixture into <HI>Aqua For|tis,</HI> the Silver will be di&s;&s;olv'd in the
<PB N="145" REF="83"><HI>Men&s;truum,</HI> and the Gold like a dark or black Powder will fall to the Bottom of it, and either Body may be again reduc'd into &s;uch a Metal as it was be|fore, which &s;hews: that it retain'd its Na|ture, notwith&s;tanding its being mixt <HI>per Minima</HI> with the other: We likewi&s;e &s;ee, that though one part of pure Silver be mingled with eight or ten Parts, or more, of Lead, yet the Fire will upon the Cuppel ea&s;ily and perfectly &s;eparate them again. And that which I would have you peculiarly Con&s;ider on this Oc|ca&s;ion is, that not only in Chymicall Anatomies there is a Separation made of the Elementary Ingredients, but that &s;ome Mixt Bodies afford a very much greater Quantity of this or that Ele|ment or Principle than of another; as we &s;ee, that Turpentine and Amber yield much more Oyl and Sulphur than they do Water, whereas Wine, which is confe&s;s'd to be a perfectly mixt Bodie, yields but a little Inflamable Spirit, or Sulphur, and not much more Earth; but affords a va&s;t proportion of Phlegm or water: which could not be, if as the Peripateticks &s;uppo&s;e, every, even of the minute&s;t Particles, were of the &s;ame
<PB N="146" REF="84">nature with the whole, and con&s;equently did contain both Earth and Water, and Aire, and Fire; Wherefore as to what <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> principally, and almo&s;t only Objects, that unle&s;s his Opinion be ad|mitted, there would be no true and per|fect Mi&s;tion, but onely Aggregates or Heaps of contiguous Corpu&s;cles, which, though the Eye of Man cannot di&s;cerne, yet the Eye of a <HI>Lynx</HI> might perceive not to be of the &s;ame Nature with one another and with their <HI>Totum,</HI> as the Nature of Mi&s;tion requires, if he do not beg the Que&s;tion, and make Mi&s;tion to con&s;i&s;t in what other Naturali&s;ts deny to be requi&s;ite to it, yet He at lea&s;t ob|jects That as a great Inconvenience which I cannot take for &s;uch, till he have brought as Con&s;iderable Argu|ments as I have propos'd to prove the contrary, to evince that Nature makes other Mi&s;tions than &s;uch as I have al|lowed, wherein the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia</HI> are re|duc'd into minute Parts, and United as farr as &s;en&s;e can di&s;cerne: which if You will not grant to be &s;ufficient for a true Mi&s;tion, he mu&s;t have the &s;ame Quarrel with Nature her &s;elf, as with his Adver&s;aties.</P>
<PB N="147" REF="84">
<P>Wherefore (Continues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) I cannot but &s;omewhat marvail that <HI>Car|neades</HI> &s;hould oppo&s;e the Doctrine of the Chymi&s;t in a Particular, wherein they do as well agree with his old Mi|&s;tre&s;s, Nature, as di&s;&s;ent from his old Adver&s;ary, <HI>Aristotle.</HI></P>
<P>I mu&s;t not (replies <HI>Carneades</HI>) engage my &s;elf at pre&s;ent to examine thorowly the Controver&s;ies concerning Mi&s;tion: And if there were no third thing, but that I were reduc'd to embrace ab&s;o|lutely and unre&s;ervedly either the Opini|on of <HI>Aristotle,</HI> or that of the Philo&s;o|phers that went before him, I &s;hould look upon the latter, which the Chy|mi&s;ts have adopted, as the more defen|&s;ible Opinion: But becau&s;e differing in the Opinions about the Elements from both Parties, I think I can take a middle Cour&s;e, and Di&s;cour&s;e to you of Mi&s;tion after a way that does neither perfectly agree, nor perfectly di&s;agree with ei|ther, as I will not peremptorily define, whether there be not Ca&s;es wherein &s;ome <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of Mi&s;tion &s;eem to fa|vour the Opinion that the Chymi&s;ts Pa|trons borrow'd of the Antients, I &s;hall only endeavour to &s;hew You that there
<PB N="148" REF="85">are &s;ome ca&s;es which may keep the Doubt, which makes up my &s;econd Ge|neral Con&s;ideration from being unrea|&s;onable.</P>
<P>I &s;hall then freely acknowledge to You (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) that I am not o|ver-well &s;atisfi'd with the Doctrine that is a&s;cribed to <HI>Aristotle,</HI> concerning Mi|&s;tion, e&s;pecially fince it teaches that the four Elements may again be &s;epara|ted from the mixt Body; whereas if they continu'd not in it, it would not be &s;o much a Separation as a Producti|on. And I think the Ancient Philo&s;o|phers that Preceded <HI>Aristotle,</HI> and Chy|mi&s;ts who have &s;ince receiv'd the &s;ame Opinion, do &s;peak of this matter more intelligibly, if not more probably, then the Peripateticks: but though they &s;peak Congruou&s;ly enough, to their be|lieving, that there are a certain Number of Primogeneal Bodies, by who&s;e Con|cour&s;e all tho&s;e we call Mixts are Ge|nerated, and which in the De&s;truction of mixt Bodies do barely part company, and recede from one another, ju&s;t &s;uch as they were when they came together; yet I, who meet with very few Opini|ons that I can entirely Acquie&s;ce in,
<PB N="149" REF="85">mu&s;t confe&s;s to You that I am inclin'd to differ not only from the <HI>Aristotelians,</HI> but from the old Philo&s;ophers and the Chymi&s;ts, about the Nature of Mi&s;tion: And if You will give me leave, I &s;hall Briefly propo&s;e to you my pre&s;ent No|tion of it, provided you will look up|on it, not &s;o much as an A&s;&s;ertion as an <HI>Hypothe&s;is;</HI> in talking of which I do not now pretend to propo&s;e and debate the whole Doctrine of Mi&s;tion, but to &s;hew that 'tis not Improbable, that &s;ometimes mingl'd &s;ub&s;tances may be &s;o &s;trictly u|nited, that it doth not by the u&s;uall O|perations of the Fire, by which Chy|mi&s;ts are wont to &s;uppo&s;e them&s;elves to have made the <HI>Analy&s;es</HI> of mixt Bo|dies, &s;ufficiently appear, that in &s;uch Bodies the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia</HI> that concurr'd to make them up do each of them re|tain its own peculiar Nature: and by the <HI>Spagyri&s;ts</HI> Fires may be more ea&s;ily extricated and Recover'd, than Al|ter'd, either by a Change of Texture in the Parts of the &s;ame Ingredient, or by an A&s;&s;ociation with &s;ome parts of ano|ther Ingredient more &s;trict than was that of the parts of this or that <HI>Mi&s;cibile</HI> a|mong them&s;elves. At the&s;e words <HI>Eleu.</HI>
<PB N="150" REF="86">having pre&s;s'd him to do what he pro|pos'd, and promis'd to do what he de&s;ir'd;</P>
<P>I con&s;ider then (re&s;umes <HI>Carneades</HI>) that, not to mention tho&s;e improper Kinds of mi&s;tion, wherein <HI>Homogene|ous</HI> Bodies are Joyn'd, as when Water is mingl'd with water, or two Ve&s;&s;els full of the &s;ame kind of Wine with one ano|ther, the mi&s;tion I am now to Di&s;cour&s;e of &s;eems, Generally &s;peaking, to be but an Union <HI>per Minima</HI> of any two or more Bodies of differing Denominati|ons; as when A&s;hes and Sand are Colli|quated into Gla&s;s or Antimony, and Iron into <HI>Regulus Martis,</HI> or Wine and Water are mingl'd, and Sugar is di&s;&s;olv'd in the Mixture. Now in this general notion of Mi&s;tion it does not appear clearly com|prehended, that the <HI>Mi&s;cibilia</HI> or Ingre|dients do in their &s;mall Parts &s;o retain their Nature and remain di&s;tinct in the Compound, that they may thence by the Fire be again taken a&s;under: For though I deny not that in &s;ome Mi|&s;tions of certain permanent Bodies this Recovery of the &s;ame Ingredients may be made, yet I am not convinc'd that it will hold in all or even in mo&s;t, or that it is nece&s;&s;arily deducible from Chy|micall
<PB N="151" REF="86">Experiments, and the true No|tion of Mi&s;tion. To explain this a little, I a&s;&s;ume, that Bodies may be mingl'd, and that very durably, that are not E|lementary or re&s;olv'd into Elements or Principles that they may be mingl'd; as is evident in the <HI>Regulus</HI> of Colli|quated Antimony, and Iron newly mention'd; and in Gold Coyne, which la&s;ts &s;o many ages; wherein generally the Gold is alloy'd by the mixture of a quan|tity, greater or le&s;&s;er, (in our Mints they u&s;e about a 12th. part) of either &s;ilver, or Copper, or both. Next, I con&s;ider, that there being but one Univer&s;al mat|ter of things, as 'tis known that the <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> them&s;elves acknowledge, who call it <HI>Materia Prima</HI> (about which neverthele&s;s I like not all their Opinions,) the Portions of this matter &s;eem to differ from One Another, but in certain Qualities or Accidents, fewer or more; upon who&s;e Account the Corporeal Sub&s;tance they belong to receives its Denomination, and is re|ferr'd to this or that particular &s;ort of Bodies; &s;o that if it come to lo&s;e, or be depriv'd of tho&s;e Qualities, though it cea&s;es not to be a Body, yet it cea&s;es
<PB N="152" REF="87">from being that kind of Body as a Plant, or Animal, or Red, Green, Sweet, Sowre, or the like. I con&s;ider that it very often happens that the &s;mall parts of Bodies cohere together but by immediate Contact and Re&s;t; and that however, there are few Bodies who&s;e minute Parts &s;tick &s;o clo&s;e together, to what cau&s;e &s;oever their Combination be a&s;crib'd, but that it is po&s;&s;ible to meet with &s;ome other Body, who&s;e &s;mall Parts may get between them, and &s;o dis-joyn them; or may be fitted to co|here more &s;trongly with &s;ome of them, then tho&s;e &s;ome do with the re&s;t; or at lea&s;t may be combin'd &s;o clo&s;ely with them, as that neither the Fire, nor the other u&s;ual In&s;truments of Chymi|cal Anatomies will &s;eparate them. The&s;e things being premis'd, I will not peremptorily deny, but that there may be &s;ome Clu&s;ters of Particules, wherein the Particles are &s;o minute, and the Coherence &s;o &s;trict, or both, that when Bodies of Differing Denominations, and con&s;i&s;ting of &s;uch durable Clu&s;ters, happen to be mingl'd, though the Compound Body made up of them may be very Differing from either of
<PB N="153" REF="87">the Ingredients, yet each of the little Ma&s;&s;es or Clu&s;ters may &s;o retain its own Nature, as to be again &s;eparable, &s;uch as it was before. As when Gold and Silver being melted together in a Due Proportion (for in every Proportion, the Refiners will tell You that the Ex|periment will not &s;ucceed) <HI>Aqua Fortis</HI> will di&s;&s;olve the Silver, and leave the Gold untoucht; by which means, as you lately noted, both the Metalls may be recover'd from the mixed Ma&s;s. But (Continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) there are other Clu&s;ters wherein the Particles &s;tick not &s;o clo&s;e together, but that they may meet with Corpu&s;cles of another De|nomination, which are di&s;pos'd to be more clo&s;ely United with &s;ome of them, then they were among them&s;elves. And in &s;uch ca&s;e, two thus combining Corpu&s;cles lo&s;ing that Shape, or Size, or Motion, or other Accident, upon who&s;e Account they were endow'd with &s;uch a Deter|minate Quality or Nature, each of them really cea&s;es to be a Corpu&s;cle of the &s;ame Denomination it was before; and from the Coalition of the&s;e there may emerge a new Body, as really one, as either of the Corpu&s;cles was before
<PB N="154" REF="88">they were mingl'd, or, if you plea&s;e, Confounded: Since this Concretion is really endow'd with its own Di&s;tinct qua|lities, and can no more by the Fire, or any other known way of <HI>Analy&s;is,</HI> be di|vided again into the Corpu&s;cles that at fir&s;t concurr'd to make it, than either of them could by the &s;ame means be &s;ub|divided into other Particles. But (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) to make this more intelligi|ble by particular examples; If you di&s;&s;olve Copper in <HI>Aqua Fortis,</HI> or Spirit of Nitre, (for I remember not which I us'd, nor do I think it much Material) You may by Cry&s;talizing the Solution Obtain a goodly Vitriol; which though by Virtue of the Compo&s;ition it have manife&s;tly diver&s;e Qualities, not to be met with in either of the Ingredients, yet it &s;eems that the Nitrous Spi|rits, or at lea&s;t many of them, may in this Compounded Ma&s;s retain their for|mer Nature; for having for tryal &s;ake Di&s;till'd this Vitrioll Spirit, there came over &s;tore of Red Fumes, which by that Colour, by their peculiar &s;tinke, and by their Sourne&s;s, manife&s;ted them|&s;elves to be, Nitrous Spirits; and that the remaining Calx continu'd Copper,
<PB N="155" REF="88">I &s;uppo&s;e you'l ea&s;ily beleeve. But if you di&s;&s;olve <HI>Minium,</HI> which is but Lead Powder'd by the Fire, in good Spirit of Vinager, and Cry&s;talize the Solution, you &s;hall not only have a Saccharine Salt exceedingly differing from both its Ingredients; but the Union of &s;ome Parts of the <HI>Menstruum</HI> with &s;ome of tho&s;e of the Metal is &s;o &s;trict, that the Spirit of Vinager &s;eems to be, as &s;uch, de&s;troy'd, &s;ince the Saline Corpu&s;cles have quite lo&s;t that acidity, upon who&s;e Account the Liquor was call'd Spirit of Vinager; nor can any &s;uch Acid Parts as were put to the <HI>Minium</HI> be Sepa|rated by any known way from the <HI>Sac|charum Saturni</HI> re&s;ulting from them both; for not only there is no Sowr|ne&s;s at all, but an admirable Sweetne&s;s to be ta&s;ted in the Concretion; and not only I found not that Spirit of Wine, which otherwi&s;e will immediately hi&s;s when mingl'd with &s;trong Spirit of Vi|nager, would hi&s;s being pour'd upon <HI>Saccharum Saturni,</HI> wherein yet the A|cid Salt of Vinager, did it Survive, may &s;eem to be concentrated; but upon the Di&s;tillation of <HI>Saccharum Saturni</HI> by its Self I found indeed a Liquor very Pe|netrant,
<PB N="156" REF="89">but not at all Acid, and differ|ing as well in &s;mell and other Qualities, as in ta&s;t, from the Spirit of Vinager; which likewi&s;e &s;eem'd to have left &s;ome of its Parts very firmly united to the <HI>Caput Mortuum,</HI> which though of a Lea|den Nature was in &s;mell, Colour, &amp;c. differing from <HI>Minium;</HI> which brings into my mind, that though two Pow|ders, the one Blew, and the other Yellow, may appear a Green mixture, without either of them lo&s;ing its own Colour, as a good Micro&s;cope has &s;ome|times inform'd me; yet having mingl'd <HI>Minium</HI> and <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> in a requi|&s;ite Proportion, and expos'd them in a Gla&s;s Ve&s;&s;el to the Fire, the whole Ma&s;s became White, and the Red Cor|pu&s;cles were de&s;troy'd; for though the Calcin'd Lead was &s;eparable from the Salt, yet you'l ea&s;ily beleeve it did not part from it in the Forme of a Red Powder, &s;uch as was the <HI>Minium,</HI> when it was put to the <HI>Sal Armoniack,</HI> I leave it al&s;o to be con&s;ider'd, whether in Blood, and divers other Bodies, it be probable, that each of the Corpu&s;cles that concurr to make a Compound Body doth, though &s;ome of them in
<PB N="157" REF="89">&s;ome Ca&s;es may, retain its own Nature in it, &s;o that Chym&s;ts may Extricate each &s;ort of them from all the others, wherewith it concurr'd to make a Body of one Denomination.</P>
<P>I know there may be a Di&s;tinction be|twixt Matter <HI>Immanent,</HI> when the ma|terial Parts remain and retain their own Nature in the things materiated, as &s;ome of the Schoolmen &s;peak, (in which &s;ence Wood, Stones and Lime are the matter of a Hou&s;e,) and <HI>Tran&s;ient,</HI> which in the materiated thing is &s;o alter'd, as to receive a new Forme, without being capable of re-admitting again the Old. In which &s;ence the Friends of this Di|&s;tinction &s;ay, that <HI>Chyle</HI> is the matter of Blood, and Blood that of a Humane Bo|dy, of all who&s;e Parts 'tis pre&s;um'd to be the Aliment. I know al&s;o that it may be &s;aid, that of material Princi|ples, &s;ome are <HI>common</HI> to all mixt Bo|dies, as <HI>Aristotles</HI> four Elements, or the Chymi&s;ts <HI>Tria Prima;</HI> others <HI>Pe|culiar,</HI> which belong to this or that &s;ort of Bodies; as Butter and a kind of whey may be &s;aid to be the Proper Principles of Cream: and I deny not, but that the&s;e Di&s;&s;inctions may in &s;ome Ca&s;es
<PB N="158" REF="90">be of U&s;e; but partly by what I have &s;aid already, and partly by what I am to &s;ay, You may ea&s;ily enough gue&s;s in what &s;ence I admit them, and di&s;cerne that in &s;uch a &s;ence they will either il|lu&s;trate &s;ome of my Opinions, or at lea&s;t will not overthrow any of them.</P>
<P>To pro&s;ecute then what I was &s;aying before, I will add to this purpo&s;e, That &s;ince the Major part of Chymi&s;ts Cre|dit, what tho&s;e they call Philo&s;ophers affirme of their Stone, I may repre|&s;ent to them, that though when Com|mon Gold and Lead are mingled To|gether, the Lead may be &s;ever'd almo&s;t un-alter'd from the Gold; yet if in&s;tead of Gold a <HI>Tantillum</HI> of the Red <HI>Elixir</HI> be mingled with the Saturn, their Union will be &s;o indi&s;&s;oluble in the per|fect Gold that will be produc'd by it, that there is no known, nor perhaps no po&s;&s;ible way of &s;eparating the diffus'd <HI>Elixir</HI> from the fixed Lead, but they both Con&s;titute a mo&s;t permanent Body, wherein the Saturne &s;eems to have quite lo&s;t its Properties that made it be call'd Lead, and to have been rather tran&s;muted by the <HI>Elixir,</HI> then barely a&s;|&s;ociated to it. So that it &s;eems not al|wayes
<PB N="159" REF="90">nece&s;&s;ary, that the Bodies that are put together <HI>per minima,</HI> &s;hould each retain its own Nature; So as when the Ma&s;s it Self is di&s;&s;ipated by the Fire, to be more di&s;pos'd to re-appear in its Pri&s;tine Forme, then in any new one, which by a &s;tricter a&s;&s;ociation of its Parts with tho&s;e of &s;ome of the other Ingredients of the <HI>Compo&s;itum,</HI> then with one another, it may have acqui|red.</P>
<P>And if it be objected, that unle&s;s the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> I oppo&s;e be admitted, in &s;uch Ca&s;es as I have propo&s;ed there would not be an Union but a De&s;truction of mingled Bodies, which &s;eems all one as to &s;ay, that of &s;uch Bodies there is no mi&s;tion at all; I an&s;wer, that <HI>though</HI> the Sub&s;tances that are mingl'd remain, only their Accidents are De&s;troy'd, and <HI>though</HI> we may with tollerable Con|gruity call them <HI>Mi&s;cibilia,</HI> becau&s;e they are Di&s;tinct Bodies before they are put together, however afterwards they are &s;o Confounded that I &s;hould ra|ther call them Concretions, or Re&s;ult|ing Bodies, than mixt ones; and <HI>though,</HI> perhaps, &s;ome other and better Account may be propos'd, upon which the name
<PB N="160" REF="91">of mi&s;tion may remain; yet if what I have &s;aid be thought Rea&s;on, I &s;hall nor wrangle about Words, though I think it fitter to alter a Terme of Art, then re|ject a new Truth, becau&s;e it &s;uits not with it. If it be al&s;o Objected that this Notion of mine, concerning mixtion, though it may be allow'd, when Bo|dies already Compounded are put to be mingl'd, yet it is not applicable to tho&s;e mixtions that are immediately made of the Elements, or Principles them&s;elves; I An&s;wer in the fir&s;t place, that I here Con&s;ider the Nature of mixtion &s;ome|what more Generally, then the Chy|mi&s;ts, who yet cannot deny that there are oftentimes Mixtures, and tho&s;e very durable ones, made of Bodies that are not Elementary. And in the next place, that though it may be probably pretended that in tho&s;e Mixtures that are made immediately of the Bodies that are call'd Principles or Elements, the mingl'd Ingredients may better re|tain their own Nature in the Com|pounded Ma&s;s, and be more ea&s;ily &s;e|parated from thence; yet, be&s;ides that it may be doubted, whether there be any &s;uch Primary Bodies, I &s;ee not why the
<PB N="161" REF="91">rea&s;on I alleadg'd, of the de&s;tructibility of the Ingredients of Bodies in General, may not &s;ometimes be Applicable to Salt Sulphur or Mercury; 'till it be &s;hewn upon what account we are to believe them Priviledged. And however, (if you plea&s;e but to recall to mind, to what purpo&s;e I told you at Fir&s;t, I meant to &s;peak of Mi&s;tion at this Time) you will perhaps allow that what I have hither to Di&s;cour&s;ed about it may not only give &s;ome Light to the Nature of it in general (e&s;pecially when I &s;hall have an Oppor|tunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that &s;ubject more fully) but may on &s;ome Occa&s;ions al&s;o be Serviceable to me in the In&s;uing Part of this Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>But, to look back Now to that part of our Di&s;cour&s;e, whence this Excur&s;ion concerning Mi&s;tion has &s;o long diverted us, though we there Deduc'd, from the differing Sub&s;tances obtained from a Plant nouri&s;hed only with Water, and from &s;ome other things, that it was not nece&s;&s;ary that nature &s;hould alwaies compound a Body at fir&s;t of all &s;uch dif|fering bodies as the fire could afterwards make it afford; yet this is not all that may be collected from tho&s;e Experi|ments.
<PB N="162" REF="92">For from them there &s;eems al|&s;o Deducible &s;omething that Subverts an other Foundation of the Chymical Doctrine. For &s;ince that (as we have &s;een) out of fair Water alone, not only Spirit, but Oyle, and Salt, and Earth may be Produced; It will follow that Salt and Sulphur are not Primo|geneal Bodies, and principles, &s;ince they are every Day made out of plain Water by the Texture which the Seed or Seminal principle of plants puts it into. And this would not per|haps &s;eem &s;o &s;trange, if through pride, or negligence, We were not Wont to Overlook the Obvious and Fami|liar Workings of Nature; For if We con&s;ider what &s;light Qualities they are that &s;erve to denominate one of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> We &s;hall find that Nature do's frequently enough work as great Alterations in divers parcells of matter: For to be readily di&s;&s;oluble in water, is enough to make the bo|dy that is &s;o, pa&s;&s;e for a Salt. And yet I &s;ee not why from a new &s;hufling and Di&s;po&s;ition of the Component Particles of a body, it &s;hould be much harder for Nature to compo&s;e a body di&s;&s;oluble in
<PB N="163" REF="92">Water, of a portion of Water that was not &s;o before, then of the Liquid &s;ub&s;tance of an Egg, which will ea&s;ily mix with VVater, to produce by the bare warmth of a hatching Hen, Membrans, Feathrs, Tendons, and other parts, that are not di&s;&s;oluble in VVater as that Liquid Sub|&s;tance was: Nor is the Hardne&s;s and Brittlene&s;s of Salt more difficult for Nature to introduce into &s;uch a yielding body as VVater, then it is for her to make the Bones of a Chick out of the tender Sub&s;tance of the Liquors of an Egg. But in&s;tead of pro&s;ecuting this con|&s;ideration, as I ea&s;ily might, I will pro|ceed, as &s;oon as I have taken notice of an objection that lies in my Way. For I ea&s;ily fore&s;ee it will be alledged, that the above mentioned Examples are all taken from Plants, and Animals, in whom the Matter is Fa&s;hioned by the Pla&s;tick power of the &s;eed, or &s;omething analo|gous thereunto. Whereas the Fire do's not act like any of the Seminal Principles, but de&s;troyes them all, when they come within its Reach. But to this I &s;hall need at pre&s;ent to make but this ea&s;y An&s;wer, That whether it be a Seminal Principle, or any other which
<PB N="164" REF="93">fa&s;hions that Matter after tho&s;e vari|ous manners I have mentioned to You, yet 'tis Evident, that either by the Pla|&s;tick principle Alone, or that and Heat Together, or by &s;ome Other cau&s;e capa|ble to context the matter, it is yet po&s;|&s;ible that the matter may be Anew contriv'd into &s;uch Bodies. And 'tis on|ly for the Po&s;&s;ibility of this that I am now contending.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="3" TYPE="part">
<PB N="165" REF="93">
<HEAD>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST. The Third Part.</HEAD>
<P>WHat I have hitherto Di&s;cours'd, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> (&s;ayes his Friend to Him) has, I pre&s;ume, &s;hew'n You, that a Con&s;idering Man may very well que&s;tion the Truth of tho&s;e very Sup|po&s;itions which Chymi&s;ts as well as Peripatericks, without proving, take for granted; and upon which Depends the Validity of the Inferences they draw from their Experiments. Wherefore having di&s;pach't that, which though a Chymi&s;t Perhaps will not, yet I do, look upon as the mo&s;t Important, as well as Difficult, part of my Task, it will now be Sea&s;onable for me to pro|ceed
<PB N="166" REF="94">to the Con&s;ideration of the Expe|riments them&s;elves, wherein they are wont &s;o much to Triumph and Glory. And the&s;e will the rather de&s;erve a &s;e|rious Examination, becau&s;e tho&s;e that Alledge them are wont to do it with &s;o much Confidence and O&s;tentation, that they have hitherto impos'd upon almo&s;t all Per&s;ons, without excepting Philo&s;ophers and Phy&s;itians them&s;elves; who have read their Books, or heard them talk. For &s;ome learned Men have been content rather to beleeve what they &s;o boldly Affirm, then be at the trouble and charge, to try whether or no it be True. Others again, who have Curio&s;ity enough to Examine the Truth of what is Averr'd, want Skill and Opportunity to do what they De&s;ire. And the Generality even of Learned Men, &s;eeing the Chymi&s;ts (not contenting them&s;elves with the Schools to amu&s;e the World with empty words) Actually Perform'd di|vers &s;trange things, and, among tho&s;e Re&s;olve Compound Bodies into &s;everal Sub&s;tances not known by former Phi|lo&s;ophers to be contain'd in them: Men I &s;ay, &s;eeing the&s;e Things, and
<PB N="167" REF="94">Hearing with what Confidence Chy|mi&s;ts Averr the Sub&s;tances Obtain'd from Compound Bodies by the Fire to be the True Elements, or, (as they &s;peak) Hypo&s;taticall Principles of them, are forward to think it but Ju&s;t as well as Mode&s;t, that according to the <HI>Logi|cians</HI> Rule, the Skilfull <HI>Artists</HI> &s;hould be Credited in their own Art; E&s;pe|cially when tho&s;e things who&s;e Nature they &s;o Confidently take upon them to teach others are not only Producti|ons of their own Skill, but &s;uch as o|thers Know not el&s;e what to make of.</P>
<P>But though (Continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) the Chymi&s;ts have been able upon &s;ome or other of the mention'd Acounts, not only to Delight but Amaze, and al|mo&s;t to bewitch even Learned Men; yet &s;uch as You and I, who are not unpractis'd in the Trade, mu&s;t not &s;uf|fer our Selves to be impos'd upon by hard Names, or bold A&s;&s;ertions; nor to be dazl'd by that Light which &s;hould but a&s;&s;i&s;t us to di&s;cern things the more clear|ly. It is one thing to be able to help Na|ture to produce things, and another thing to Under&s;tand well the Nature
<PB N="168" REF="95">of the things produc'd. As we &s;ee, that many Per&s;ons that can beget Chil|dren, are for all that as Ignorant of the Number and Nature of the parts, e&s;|pecially the internal ones, that Con&s;ti|tute a Childs? Body, as they that never were Parents. Nor do I Doubt, but you'l excu&s;e me, if as I thank the Chy|mi&s;ts for the things their <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> &s;hews me, &s;o I take the Liberty to con&s;ider how many, and what they are, without being a&s;toni&s;h'd at them; as if, who&s;oe|ver hath Skill enough to &s;hew men &s;ome new thing of his own making, had the Right to make them believe what&s;oever he plea&s;es to tell them con|cerning it.</P>
<P>Wherefore I will now proceed to my Third General Con&s;ideration, which is, That it does not appear, that <HI>Three</HI> is preci&s;ely and Univer&s;ally the Number of the Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances or Elements, whereinto mixt Bodies are re&s;oluble by the Fire; I mean that 'tis not prov'd by Chymi&s;ts, that all the Compound Bodies, which are granted to be perfectly mixt, are upon their Chymical <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> divi&s;ible each of them into ju&s;t Three Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances, nei|ther
<PB N="169" REF="95">more nor le&s;s, which are wont to be lookt upon as Elementary, or may as well be reputed &s;o as tho&s;e that are &s;o reputed. Which la&s;t Clau&s;e I &s;ub|joyne, to prevent your Objecting, that &s;ome of the Sub&s;tances I may have oc|ca&s;ion to mention by and by, are not perfectly Homogeneous, nor Con&s;e|quently worthy of the name of Princi|ples. For that which I am now to con|&s;ider, is, into how many Differing Sub&s;tances, that may plau&s;ibly pa&s;s for the Elementary Ingredients of a mix'd Body, it may be Analyz'd by the Fire; but whether each of the&s;e be un-com|pounded, I re&s;erve to examine, when I &s;hall come to the next General Con|&s;ideration; where I hope to evince, that the Sub&s;tances which the Chymi&s;ts not only allow, but a&s;&s;ert to be the Com|ponent Principles of the Body re&s;olv'd into them, are not wont to be uncom|pounded.</P>
<P>Now there are two Kind of Argu|ments (pur&s;ues <HI>Carneades</HI>) which may be brought to make my Third Pro|po&s;ition &s;eem probable; one &s;ort of them being of a more Speculative Na|ture, and the other drawn from Expe|rience.
<PB N="170" REF="96">To begin then with the fir&s;t of the&s;e.</P>
<P>But as <HI>Carneades</HI> was going to do as he had &s;aid, <HI>Eleutherius</HI> interrupted him, by &s;aying with a &s;omewhat &s;miling coun|tenance;</P>
<P>If you have no mind I &s;hould think, that the Proverb, <HI>That Good Wits have bad Memories,</HI> is Rational and Applica|ble to You, You mu&s;t not Forget now you are upon the Speculative Con&s;ide|rations, that may relate to the Num|ber of the Elements; that your Self did not long &s;ince Deliver and Concede &s;ome Propo&s;itions in Favour of the Chy|mical Doctrine, which I may without di&s;paragement to you think it unea&s;ie, even for <HI>Carneades</HI> to an&s;wer.</P>
<P>I have not, replies he, Forgot the Conce&s;&s;ions you mean; but I hope too, that you have not forgot neither with what Cautions they were made, when I had not yet a&s;&s;umed the Per&s;on I am now &s;u&s;taining. But however, I &s;hall to content You, &s;o di&s;cour&s;e of my Third general con&s;ideration, as to let You &s;ee, That I am not Unmind|ful of the things you would have me re|member.</P>
<PB N="171" REF="96">
<P>To talk then again according to &s;uch principles as I then made u&s;e of, I &s;hall repre&s;ent, that if it be granted rational to &s;uppo&s;e, as I then did, that the Ele|ments con&s;i&s;ted at fir&s;t of certain &s;mall and primary Coalitions of the minute Particles of matter into Corpu&s;cles ve|ry numerous, and very like each other, It will not be ab&s;urd to conceive, that &s;uch primary Clu&s;ters may be of far more &s;orts then three or five; and con&s;equent|ly, that we need not &s;uppo&s;e, that in each of the compound Bodies we are treating of there &s;hould be found ju&s;t three &s;orts of &s;uch primitive Coalitions, as we are &s;peaking of.</P>
<P>And if according to this Notion we allow a con&s;iderable number of differing Elements, I may add, that it &s;eems ve|ry po&s;&s;ible, that to the con&s;titution of one &s;ort of mixt Bodies two kinds of Elementary ones may &s;uffice (as I lately Exemplify'd to you, in that mo&s;t dura|ble Concrete, Gla&s;s,) another &s;ort of Mixts may be compos'd of three Ele|ments, another of four, another of five, and another perhaps of many more. So that according to this Notion, there can be no determinate number a&s;&s;ign'd, as
<PB N="172" REF="97">that of the Elements, of all &s;orts of com|pound Bodies what&s;oever, it being very probable that &s;ome Concretes con|&s;i&s;t of fewer, &s;ome of more Elements. Nay, it does not &s;eem Impo&s;&s;ible, accor|ding to the&s;e Principles, but that there may be two &s;orts of Mixts, whereof the one may not have any of all the &s;ame Elements as the other con&s;i&s;ts of; as we oftentimes &s;ee two words, whereof the one has not any one of the Letters to be met with in the other; or as we often meet with diver&s;e Electuaries, in which no Ingredient (except Sugar) is com|mon to any two of them. I will not here debate whether there may not be a multitude of the&s;e Corpu&s;cles, which by rea&s;on of their being primary and &s;imple, might be called Elementary, if &s;everal &s;orts of them &s;hould convene to compo&s;e any Body, which are as yet free, and neither as yet contex'd and entangl'd with primary Corpu&s;cles of other kinds, but remains liable to be &s;ubdu'd and fa&s;hion'd by Seminal Principles, or the like powerful and Tran&s;muting Agent, by whom they may be &s;o connected a|mong them&s;elves, or with the parts of one of the bodies, as to make the com|pound
<PB N="173" REF="97">Bodies, who&s;e Ingredients they are, re&s;oluble into more, or other Ele|ments then tho&s;e that Chymi&s;ts have hitherto taken notice of.</P>
<P>To all which I may add, that &s;ince it appears, by what I ob&s;erv'd to you of the permanency of Gold and Silver, that even Corpu&s;cles that are not of an Ele|mentary but compounded Nature, may be of &s;o durable a Texture, as to re|main indi&s;&s;oluble in the ordinary <HI>Analy|&s;is</HI> that Chymi&s;ts make of Bodies by the Fire; 'Tis not impo&s;&s;ible but that, though there were but three Elements, yet there may be a greater number of Bodies, which the wonted wayes of A|natomy will not di&s;cover to be no Ele|mentary Bodies.</P>
<P>But, &s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> having thus far, in compliance to you, talk't conjectural|ly of the number of the Elements, 'tis now time to con&s;ider, not of how many Elements it is po&s;&s;ible that Nature may compound mix'd Bodies, but (at lea&s;t as farr as the ordinary Experiments of Chymi&s;ts will informe us) of how many &s;he doth make them up.</P>
<P>I &s;ay then, that it does not by the&s;e &s;ufficiently appear to me, that there is
<PB N="174" REF="98">any one determinate number of Ele|ments to be uniformly met with in all the &s;everal &s;orts of Bodies allow'd to be perfectly mixt.</P>
<P>And for the more di&s;tinct proof of this Propo&s;ition, I &s;hall in the fir&s;t place Reprelent, That there are divers Bodies, which I could never &s;ee by fire divided in|to &s;o many as three Elementary &s;ub&s;tan|ces. I would fain (as I &s;aid lately to <HI>Philo|ponus</HI>) &s;ee that fixt and noble Metal we call Gold &s;eparated into Sait, Sulphur and Mercury: and if any man will &s;ubmit to a comperent forfeiture in ca&s;e of &s;ailing, I &s;hall willingly in ca&s;e of pro&s;perous &s;uc|ce&s;&s;e pay both for the Materials and the charges of &s;uch an Experiment. 'Tis not, that after what I have try'd my &s;elf I dare peremptorily deny, that there may out of Gold be extracted a certain &s;ub&s;tance, which I cannot hinder Chy|mi&s;ts from calling its Tincture or Sulphur; and which leaves the remaining Body depriv'd of its wonted colour. Nor an I &s;ure, that there cannot be drawn out of the &s;ame Metal a real quick and run|ning Mercury. But for the Salt of Gold, I never could either &s;ee it, or be &s;atisfied that there was ever &s;uch a thing &s;epara|ted,
<PB N="175" REF="98"><HI>in rerum natura,</HI> by the relation of any credible eye witne&s;&s;e. And for the &s;everal Proce&s;&s;es that Promi&s;e that ef|fect, the materials that mu&s;t be wrought upon are &s;omewhat too pretious and co&s;tly to be wa&s;ted upon &s;o groundle&s;&s;e adventures, of which not only the &s;uc|ce&s;&s;e is doubtful, but the very po&s;&s;ibility is not yet demon&s;trated. Yet that which mo&s;t deterres me from &s;uch tryalls, is not their chargeablene&s;&s;e, but their un&s;a|tisfactorine&s;&s;e, though they &s;hould &s;uc|ceed. For the Extraction of this golden Salt being in Chymi&s;ts Proce&s;&s;es pre|&s;cribed to be effected by corro&s;ive <HI>Men|&s;truums,</HI> or the Intervention of other Sa|line Bodies, it will remain doubtful to a wary per&s;on, whether the Emergent Salt be that of the Gold it &s;elf; or of the Saline Bodies or Spirits employ'd to pre|pare it; For that &s;uch di&s;gui&s;es of Me|tals do often impo&s;e upon Arti&s;ts, I am &s;ure <HI>Eleutherius</HI> is not &s;o much a &s;tranger to Chymi&s;try as to ignore. I would likewi&s;e willingly &s;ee the three principles &s;eparated from the pure &s;ort of Virgin-Sand, from <HI>Q&s;teocolla,</HI> from refined Sil|ver, from Quick&s;ilver, freed from its ad|ventitious Sulphur, from <HI>Venetian</HI> Talk,
<PB N="176" REF="99">which by long detention in an extreme <HI>Reverberium,</HI> I could but divide into &s;maller Particles, (not the con&s;tituent principles,) Nay, which, when I cau&s;ed it to be kept, I know not how long, in a Gla&s;&s;e-hou&s;e fire, came out in the Fi|gure it's Lumps had when put in, though alter'd to an almo&s;t <HI>Amethy&s;tine</HI> colour; and from divers other Bodies, which it were now unnece&s;&s;ary to enumerate. For though I dare not ab&s;olutely affirme it to be impo&s;&s;ible to Analyze the&s;e Bo|dies into their <HI>Tria Prima;</HI> yet becau&s;e, neither my own Experiments, nor any competent Te&s;timony hath hitherto ei|ther taught me how &s;uch an <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> may be made, or &s;atisfy'd me, that it hath been &s;o, I mu&s;t take the Liberty to re|frain from believing it, till the Chymi&s;ts prove it, or give us intelligible and pra|cticable Proce&s;&s;es to performe what they pretend. For whil&s;t they affect that <HI>Ae|nigmatical</HI> ob&s;curity with which they are wont to puzzle the Readers of their divulg'd Proce&s;&s;es concerning the Ana|lyticall Preparation of Gold or Mercury, they leave wary per&s;ons much un&s;atisfy|ed whether or no the differing Sub&s;tan|ces, they promi&s;e to produce, be truly
<PB N="177" REF="99">the Hypo&s;tatical Principles, or only &s;ome intermixtures of the divided Bodies with tho&s;e employ'd to work upon them, as is Evident in the &s;eeming Cry&s;talls of Silver, and tho&s;e of Mer|cury; which though by &s;ome incon&s;ide|rately &s;uppo&s;ed to be the Salts of tho&s;e Metalls, are plainly but mixtures of the Metalline Bodies, with the Saline parts of <HI>Aqua fortis</HI> or other corro&s;ive Liquors; as is evident by their being reducible into Silver or Quick&s;ilver, as they were before.</P>
<P>I cannot but Confe&s;&s;e (&s;aith <HI>Eleuthe|rius</HI>) that though Chymi&s;ts may upon probable grounds affirm them&s;elves A|ble to obtain their <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> from A|nimals and Vegetables, yet I have often wondred that they &s;hould &s;o confidently pretend al&s;o to re&s;olve all Metalline and other Mineral bodies into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. For 'tis a &s;aying almo&s;t Proverbial, among tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts them&s;elves that are accounted Philo&s;o|phers; and our famous Countryman <HI>Roger Bacon</HI> has particularly adopted it; that <HI>Facilius est aurum facere quam de&s;tru|ere.</HI> And I fear, with You, that Gold is not the only Mineral from which Chy|mi&s;ts are wont fruitle&s;sly to attempt the
<PB N="178" REF="100">&s;eparating of their three Principles. I know indeed (continues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) that the Learned <HI>Sennertus,</HI> even in that book where he takes not upon him to play the Advocate for the Chymi&s;ts, but the Umpier betwixt them and the Peripa|teticks, expre&s;&s;es him&s;elf roundly, thus; <HI>Salem omnibus ine&s;&s;e (mixtis &s;cilicet) &amp; ex iis fieri po&s;&s;e omnibus in re&s;olutionibus Chymicis ver&s;atis noti&s;&s;imum est.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sennert. lib. de con&s;. &amp; di&s;&s;en&s;. pag. 147.</NOTE> And in the next Page, <HI>Quod de &s;ale dixi,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>Idem de Sulphure dici potest:</HI> but by his favour I mu&s;t &s;ee very good proofs, before I believe &s;uch general A&s;&s;ertions, how boldly &s;oever made; and he that would convince me of their truth, mu&s;t fir&s;t teach me &s;ome true and practicable way of &s;eparating Salt and Sulphur from Gold, Silver, and tho&s;e many different &s;ort of Stones, that a violent Fire does not bring to Lime, but to Fu&s;ion; and not only I, for my own part, never &s;aw any of tho&s;e newly nam'd Bodies &s;o re|&s;olved; but <HI>Helmont,</HI> who was much better vers'd in the Chymical Anatomi|zing of Bodies then either <HI>Sennertus</HI> or <HI>I,</HI> has &s;omewhere this re&s;olute pa&s;&s;age; <HI>Scio</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>ex arena,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Helmon. pag. 409.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ilicibus &amp; &s;axis, non Calcariis, nunquam Sulphur aut Mercu|rium
<PB N="179" REF="100">trahi po&s;&s;e;</HI> Nay <HI>Quercetanus</HI> him|&s;elf, though the grand &s;tickler for the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> has this Confe&s;&s;ion of the Irre&s;olublene&s;s of Diamonds;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quercet. apud Billich in The&s;&s;alo redivivo. pag. 99.</NOTE> <HI>Adamas</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>omnium factus Lapidum &s;olidi&s;|&s;imus ac duri&s;&s;imus ex arcti&s;&s;ima videlicet triunt principiorum unione ac Cohaerentia, quae nulla arte &s;eparationis in &s;olutionem principiorum &s;uorum &s;piritualium di&s;jungi pote&s;t.</HI> And indeed, pur&s;ues <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> I was not only glad, but &s;omewhat &s;ur|prized to find you inclined to Admit that there may be a Sulphur and a running Mercury drawn from Gold; for unle&s;&s;e you do (as your expre&s;&s;ion &s;eem'd to intimate) take the word Sulphur in a ve|ry loo&s;e &s;ence, I mu&s;t doubt whether our Chymi&s;ts can &s;eparate a Sulphur from Gold: For when I &s;aw you make the experiment that I &s;uppo&s;e invited you to &s;peak as you did, I did not judge the golden Tincture to be the true principle of Sulphur extracted from the body, but an aggregate of &s;ome &s;uch highly colour'd parts of the Gold, as a Chymi&s;t would have called a <HI>Sulphur incombu&s;tible,</HI> which in plain Engli&s;h &s;eems to be little better man to call it a Sulphur and no Sulphur. And as for Metalline Mercuries, I had
<PB N="180" REF="101">not <HI>wondred</HI> at it, though you had expre&s;|&s;ed much more &s;everity in &s;peaking of them: For I remember that having once met an old and famous Arti&s;t, who had long been (and &s;till is) Chymi&s;t to a great Monarch, the repute he had of a very hone&s;t man invited me to de&s;ire him to tell me ingenuou&s;ly whether or no, a|mong his many labours, he had ever re|ally extracted a true and running Mercu|ry out of Metalls; to which que&s;tion he freely replyed, that he had never &s;e|parated a true Mercury from any Metal; nor had ever &s;een it really done by any man el&s;e. And though Gold is, of all Metalls, That, who&s;e Mercury Chymi&s;ts have mo&s;t endeavoured to extract, and which they do the mo&s;t brag they have extracted; yet the Experienced <HI>Angelus Sala,</HI> in his <HI>Spagyrical</HI> account of the &s;even <HI>Terre&s;trial</HI> Planets (that is the &s;even metalls) affords us this memorable Te|&s;timony, to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e; <HI>Quan|quam</HI> (faies he) <HI>&amp;c. experientia tamen (quam &s;tultorum Magi&s;trum vocamus) certe Comprobavit, Mercurium auri adeo fixum, maturum, &amp; arcte cum reliquis eju&s;dem cor|poris &s;ub&s;tantiis conjungi, ut nullo modo re|trogredi po&s;&s;it.</HI> To which he &s;ub-joynes,
<PB N="181" REF="101">that he him&s;elf had &s;een much Labour &s;pent upon that De&s;ign, but could ne|ver &s;ee any &s;uch Mercury produc'd thereby. And I ea&s;ily beleeve what he annexes; <HI>that he had often &s;een Detected many tricks and Impostures of Cheating</HI> Alchymi&s;ts. For, the mo&s;t part of tho&s;e that are fond of &s;uch <HI>Charlatans,</HI> being unskilfull or Credulous, or both, 'tis ve|ry ea&s;ie for &s;uch as have &s;ome Skill, much craft, more boldne&s;s, and no Con&s;cience, to impo&s;e upon them; and therefore, though many profe&s;s'd <HI>Al|chymists,</HI> and divers Per&s;ons of Quali|ty have told me that they have made or &s;een the Mercury of Gold, or of this or that other Metal; yet I have been &s;till apt to fear that either the&s;e per|&s;ons have had a De&s;ign to deceive o|thers; or have not had Skill and circum|&s;pection enough to keep them&s;elves from being deceived.</P>
<P>You recall to my mind (&s;ayes <HI>Car|neades</HI>) a certain Experiment I once devis'd, innocently to deceive &s;ome per|&s;ons, and let them and others &s;ee how little is to be built upon the affirma|tion of tho&s;e that are either unskillfull or unwary, when they tell us they have
<PB N="182" REF="102">&s;een <HI>Alchymists</HI> make the Mercury of this or that Metal; and to make this the more evident, I made my Experi|ment much more Slight, Short and Simple, than the Chymi&s;ts u&s;uall pro|ce&s;&s;es to Extract Metalline Mercuries; which Operations being commonly more Elaborate and Intricate, and requiring a much more longer time, give the <HI>Alchymi&s;ts</HI> a greater opportunity to Co|zen, and Con&s;equently are more Ob|noxious to the Spectators &s;u&s;picion. And that wherein I endeavour'd to make my Experiment look the more like a True <HI>Analy&s;is,</HI> was, that I not only pretended as well as others to extract a Mercury from the Metal I wrought upon, but likewi&s;e to &s;epa|rate a large proportion of manife&s;t and inflamable Sulphur. I take then, of the filings of Copper, about a Drachme or two, of common &s;ublimate, pow|der'd, the like Weight, and <HI>Sal Armo|niack</HI> near about as much as of Subli|mate; the&s;e three being well mingl'd together I put into a &s;mall Vial with a long neck, or, which I find better, into a Gla&s;s Urinall, which (having fir&s;t &s;topped it with Cotton) to avoid
<PB N="183" REF="102">the Noxious Fumes, I approach by de|grees to a competent Fire of well kindled coals, or (which looks better, but more endangers the Gla&s;s) to the Flame of a candle; and after a while the bottom of the Gla&s;s being held Ju&s;t upon the Kindled Coals, or in the flame, You may in about a quarter of an Hour, or perchance in halfe that time, perceive in the Bottom of the Gla&s;s &s;ome running Mercury; and if then You take away the Gla&s;s and break it, You &s;hall find a Parcel of Quick&s;ilver, Perhaps altogether, and perhaps part of it in the pores of the Solid Ma&s;s; You &s;hall find too, that the remaining Lump being held to the Flame of the Candle will readily burn with a greeni&s;h Flame, and after a little while (perchance pre&s;ently) will in the Air Acquire a Greeni&s;h Blew, which being the Colour that is a&s;crib'd to Copper, when its Body is unlocked, 'Tis ea&s;ie to per&s;wade Men that this is the True Sulphur of <HI>Venus,</HI> e&s;pecially &s;ince not only the Salts may be Sup|pos'd partly to be Flown away, and partly to be Sublim'd to the upper part of the Gla&s;s, who&s;e in&s;ide (will
<PB N="184" REF="103">Commonly appear Whitened by them) but the Metal &s;eems to be quite De|&s;troy'd, the Copper no longer appear|ing in a Metalline Forme, but almo&s;t in that of a Re&s;inous Lump; whereas in|deed the Ca&s;e is only this, That the Saline parts of the Sublimate, together with the <HI>Sal Armoniack,</HI> being excited and actuated by the Vehement heat, fall upon the Copper, (which is a Metal they can more ea&s;ily corrode, than &s;ilver) whereby the &s;mall parts of the Mercury being freed from the Salts that kept them a&s;under, and being by the heat tumbled up and down after many Occur&s;ions, they Convene into a Con&s;picuous Ma&s;s of Liquor; and as for the Salts, &s;ome of the more Volatile of them Sub|liming to the upper part of the Gla&s;s, the others Corrode the Copper, and u|niting them&s;elves with it do &s;trangely alter and Di&s;gui&s;e its Metallick Form, and compo&s;e with it a new kind of Concrete inflamable like Sulphur; con|cerning which I &s;hall not now &s;ay any thing, &s;ince I can Referr You to the Diligent Ob&s;ervations which I remem|ber Mr. <HI>Boyle</HI> has made concerning this Odde kind of Verdigrea&s;e. But Continues
<PB N="185" REF="103"><HI>Carneades</HI> &s;miling, you know I was not cut out for a Mountebank, and therefore I will ha&s;ten to re&s;ume the per&s;on of a Sceptick, and take up my di&s;cour&s;e where You diverted me from pro&s;ecuting it.</P>
<P>In the next place, then, I con&s;ider, that, as there are &s;ome Bodies which yield not &s;o many as the three Prin|ciples; &s;o there are many others, that in their Re&s;olution Exhibite more principles than three; and that there|fore the Ternary Number is not that of the Univer&s;al and Adequate Principles of Bodies. If you allow of the Di&s;|cour&s;e I ately made You, touching the primary A&s;&s;ociations of the &s;mall Particles of matter, You will &s;carce think it improbable, that of &s;uch Ele|mentary Corpu&s;cles there may be more &s;orts then either three, or four, or five. And if you will grant, what will &s;carce be deny'd, that Corpu&s;cles of a com|pounded Nature may in all the wonted Examples of Chymi&s;ts pa&s;s for Elemen|tary, I &s;ee not, why you &s;hould think it impo&s;&s;ible, that as <HI>Aqua Fortis,</HI> or <HI>Aqua Regis</HI> will make a Separation of colli|quated Silver and Gold, though the Fire cannot; &s;o there may be &s;ome A|gent
<PB N="186" REF="104">found out &s;o &s;ubtile and &s;o power|full, at lea&s;t in re&s;pect of tho&s;e particu|lar compounded Corpu&s;cles, as to be a|ble to re&s;olve them into tho&s;e more &s;imple ones, whereof they con&s;i&s;t, and con&s;equently encrea&s;e the number of the Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances, whereinto the mixt Body has been hitherto thought re&s;o|luble. And if that be true, which I recited to you a while ago out of <HI>Hel|mont</HI> concerning the Operations of the <HI>Alkahest,</HI> which divides Bodies into o|ther Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances, both as to num|ber and Nature, then the Fire does; it will not a little countenance my Conjecture. But confining our &s;elves to &s;uch wayes of Analyzing mix'd Bo|dies, as are already not unknown to Chymi&s;ts, it may without Ab&s;urdity be Que&s;tion'd, whether be&s;ides tho&s;e gro&s;|&s;er Elements of Bodies, which they call Salt Sulphur and Mercury, there may not be Ingredients of a more Subtile Nature, which being extreamly little, and not being in them&s;elves Vi&s;ible, may e&s;cape unheeded at the Junctures of the De&s;tillatory Ve&s;&s;els, though never &s;o carefully Luted. For let me ob&s;erve to you one thing, which though
<PB N="187" REF="104">not taken notice of by Chymi&s;ts, may be a notion of good U&s;e in divers Ca&s;es to a Naturali&s;t, that we may well &s;u&s;|pect, that there may be &s;everall Sorts of Bodies, which are not Immediate Ob|jects of any one of our &s;en&s;es; &s;ince we See, that not only tho&s;e little Corpu&s;|cles that i&s;&s;ue out of the Load&s;tone, and perform the Wonders for which it is ju&s;tly admired; But the <HI>Effluviums</HI> of Amber, Jet, and other Electricall Concretes, though by their effects upon the particular Bodies di&s;pos'd to receive their Action, they &s;eem to fall under the Cognizance of our Sight, yet do they not as Electrical immediately Affect any of our &s;en&s;es, as do the bodies, whether mi|nute or greater, that we See, Feel, Ta&s;te, &amp;c. But, continues <HI>Carneades,</HI> becau&s;e you may expect I &s;hould, as the Chy|mi&s;ts do, con&s;ider only the &s;en&s;ible In|gredients of Mixt Bodies, let us now fee, what Experience will, even as to the&s;e, &s;ugge&s;t to us.</P>
<P>It &s;eems then que&s;tionable enough, whether from Grapes variou&s;ly order'd there may not be drawn more di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances by the help of the Fire, then from mo&s;t other mixt Bodies. For the
<PB N="188" REF="105">Grapes them&s;elves being dryed into Ray&s;ins and di&s;till'd, will (be&s;ides <HI>Al|cali,</HI> Phlegm, and Earth) yield a con&s;ide|rable quantity of an Empyreumatical Oyle, and a Spirit of a very different na|ture from that of Wine. Al&s;o the un|fermented Juice of Grapes affords other di&s;til'd Liquors then Wine doth. The Juice of Grapes after fermentation will yield a <HI>Spiritus Ardens;</HI> which if compe|tently rectifyed will all burn away with|out leaving any thing remaining. The &s;ame fermented Juice degenerating into Vinager, yields an acid and corroding Spirit. The &s;ame Juice turn'd up, armes it &s;elf with Tartar; out of which may be &s;eparated, as out of other Bodies, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt and Earth: not to mention what Sub&s;tances may be drawn from the Vine it &s;elf, probably differing from tho&s;e which are &s;eparated from Tartar, which is a body by it &s;elf, that has few re&s;emblers in the World. And I will further con&s;ider that what force &s;oever you will allow this in&s;tance, to evince that there are &s;ome Bodies that yield more Elements then others, it can &s;carce be deny'd but that the Major part of bodies that are divi&s;ible into Ele|ments,
<PB N="189" REF="105">yield more then three. For, be|&s;ides tho&s;e which the Chymi&s;ts are plea&s;ed to name Hypo&s;tatical, mo&s;t bo|dies contain two others, Phlegme and Earth, which concurring as well as the re&s;t to the con&s;titution of Mixts, and be|ing as generally, if not more, found in their <HI>Analy&s;is,</HI> I &s;ee no &s;ufficient cau&s;e why they &s;hould be excluded from the number of Elements. Nor will it &s;uf|fice to object, as the <HI>Paracel&s;ians</HI> are wont to do, that the <HI>Tria prima</HI> are the mo&s;t u&s;eful Elements, and the Earth and Water but worthle&s;&s;e and unactive; for Elements being call'd &s;o in relation to the con&s;tituting of mixt Bodies, it &s;hould be upon the account of its Ingrediency, not of its u&s;e, that any thing &s;hould be affirmed or denyed to be an Element: and as for the pretended u&s;ele&s;sne&s;s of Earth and Water, it would be con&s;ider'd that u&s;efulne&s;&s;e, or the want of it, de|notes only a Re&s;pect or Relation to us; and therefore the pre&s;ence, or ab&s;ence of it, alters not the Intrin&s;ick nature of the thing. The hurtful Teeth of Vipers are for ought I know u&s;ele&s;s to us, and yet are not to be deny'd to be parts of their Bodies; and it were hard to &s;hew of
<PB N="186" REF="106">what greater U&s;e to Us, then Phlegme and Earth, are tho&s;e Undi&s;cern'd Stars, which our New <HI>Tele&s;copes</HI> di&s;cover to Us, in many Blanched places of the Sky; and yet we cannot but acknowledge them Con&s;tituent and Con&s;iderably great parts of the Univer&s;e. Be&s;ides that whether or no the Phlegme and Earth be immediately U&s;eful, but nece&s;&s;ary to con&s;titute the Body whence they are &s;eparated; and con&s;equently, if the mixt Body be not U&s;ele&s;s to us, tho&s;e con|&s;tituent parts, without which it could not have been That mixt Body, may be &s;aid not to be Unu&s;eful to Us: and though the Earth and Water be not &s;o con&s;picuou&s;ly Operative (after &s;eparati|on) as the other three more active Prin|ciples, yet in this ca&s;e it will not be ami&s;s to remember the lucky Fable of <HI>Menemius Aggrippa,</HI> of the dangerous Sedition of the Hands and Legs, and other more bu&s;ie parts of the Body, again&s;t the &s;eemingly unactive Stomack. And to this ca&s;e al&s;o we may not unfitly apply that Rea&s;oning of an Apo&s;tle, to ano|ther purpo&s;e; <HI>If the Ear &s;hall &s;ay, becau&s;e I am not the Eye, I am not of the Body; Is it therefore not of the Body? If the whole
<PB N="187" REF="106" MS="y">Body were Eye, where were the Hearing? If the whole were for hearing, where the &s;melling?</HI> In a word, &s;ince Earth and water appear, as clearly and as generally as the other Principles upon the re&s;oluti|on of Bodies, to be the Ingredients where|of they are made up; and fince they are u&s;eful, if not immediately to us, or ra|ther to Phy&s;itians, to the Bodies they con&s;titute, and &s;o though in &s;omewhat a remoter way, are &s;erviceable to us; to ex|clude them out of the number of Ele|ments, is not to imitate Nature.</P>
<P>But, pur&s;ues <HI>Carneades,</HI> though I think it Evident, that Earth and Phlegme are to be reckon'd among the Elements of mo&s;t Animal and Ve|getable Bodies, yet 'tis not upon that Account alone, that I think divers Bo|dies re&s;oluble into more Sub&s;tances then three. For there are two Experi|ments, that I have &s;ometimes made to &s;hew, that at lea&s;t &s;ome Mixts are divi&s;i|ble into more Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances then five. The one of the&s;e Experiments, though 'twill be more &s;ea&s;onable for me to mention it fully anon, yet in the mean time, I &s;hall tell you thus much of it, That out of two Di&s;till'd Liquors,
<PB N="192" REF="107">which pa&s;s for Elements of the Bodies whence they are drawn, I can without Addition make a true Yellow and In|flamable Sulphur, notwith&s;tanding that the two Liquors remain afterwards Di&s;tinct. Of the other Experiment, which perhaps will not be altogether unworthy your Notice, I mu&s;t now give you this particular Account. I had long ob&s;erv'd, that by the De&s;tillation of di|vers Woods, both in Ordinary, and &s;ome unu&s;uall &s;orts of Ve&s;&s;els, the Co|pious Spirit that came over, had be&s;ides a &s;trong ta&s;t, to be mot with in the Em|pyreumaticall Spirits of many other Bodies, an Acidity almo&s;t like that of Vinager: Wherefore I &s;u&s;pected, that though the &s;owri&s;h Liquor Di&s;till'd, for In&s;tance, from Box-Wood, be lookt up|on by Chymi&s;ts as barely the Spirit of it, and therefore as one &s;ingle Element or Principle; yet it does really con&s;i&s;t of two Differing Sub&s;tances, and may be divi&s;ible into them; and con&s;equently, that &s;uch Woods and other Mixts as abound with &s;uch a Vinager, may be &s;aid to con&s;i&s;t of one Element or Prin|ciple, more then the Chymi&s;ts as yet are Aware of; Wherefore bethinking
<PB N="193" REF="107">my &s;elf, how the &s;eparation of the&s;e two Spirits might be made, I Quickly found, that there were &s;everal wayes of Compa&s;&s;ing it. But that of them which I &s;hall at pre&s;ent mention, was this, Having De&s;till'd a Quantity of Box-Wood <HI>per &s;e,</HI> and &s;lowly rectify'd the &s;owri&s;h Spirit, the better to free it both from Oyle and Phlegme, I ca&s;t in|to this Rectify'd Liquor a convenient Quantity of Powder'd Coral, expecting that the Acid part of the Liquor would Corrode the Coral, and being a&s;&s;ocia|ted with it would be &s;o retain'd by it, that the other part of the Liquor, which was not of an acid Nature, nor fit to fa|&s;ten upon the Corals, would be permit|ted to a&s;cend alone. Nor was I deceiv'd in my Expectation; For having gently ab&s;tracted the Liquor from the Coralls; there came over a Spirit of a Strong &s;mell, and of a ta&s;t very piercing, but without any &s;ourne&s;s; and which was in diver&s;e qualities manife&s;tly different, not only from a Spirit of Vinager, but from &s;ome Spirit of the &s;ame Wood, that I purpo&s;ely kept by me without depriving it of its acid Ingredient. And to &s;atisfy you, that the&s;e two Sub&s;tances were of
<PB N="194" REF="108">a very differing Nature, I might informe you of &s;everal Tryals that I made, but mu&s;t not name &s;ome of them, becau&s;e I cannot do &s;o without making &s;ome un|&s;ea&s;onable di&s;coveries. Yet this I &s;hall tell you at pre&s;ent, that the &s;owre Spirit of <HI>Box,</HI> not only would, as I ju&s;t now related, di&s;&s;olve Corals, which the other would not fa&s;ten on, but being pour'd upon Salt of Tartar would imme|diately boile and hi&s;s, whereas the other would lye quietly upon it. The acid Spirit pour'd upon <HI>Minium</HI> made a Sugar of Lead, which I did not find the other to do; &s;ome drops of this penetrant &s;pi|rit being mingl'd with &s;ome drops of the blew Syrup of Violets &s;eem'd rather to dilute then otherwi&s;e alter the colour; whereas the Acid Spirit turn'd the &s;urup of a reddi&s;h colour, and would probably have made it of as pure a red as Acid Salts are wont to do, had not its opera|tion been hindered by the mixture of the other Spirit. A few drops of the com|pound Spirit being Shaken into a pretty quantity of the infu&s;ion of <HI>Lignum Ne|phriticum,</HI> pre&s;ently de&s;troyed all the blewi&s;h colour, whereas the other Spirit would not take it away. To all which
<PB N="195" REF="108">it might be added, that having for tryals &s;ake pour'd fair water upon the Corals that remained in the bottom of the gla&s;s wherein I had rectifyed the double &s;pirit (if I may &s;o call it) that was fir&s;t drawn from the Box, I found according to my expectation that the Acid Spirit had re|ally di&s;&s;olved the Corals, and had co|agulated with them. For by the affu&s;i|on of fair Water, I Obtain'd a Soluti|on, which (to note that &s;ingularity upon the bye) was red, whence the Water being evaporated, there remained a &s;olu|ble Sub&s;tance much like the Ordinary Salt of Coral, as Chymi&s;ts are pleas'd to call that Magi&s;tery of Corals, which they make by di&s;&s;olving them in common &s;pirit of Vinager, and ab&s;tracting the <HI>Men&s;truum ad Siccitatem.</HI> I know not whether I &s;hould &s;ubjoine, on this occa&s;i|on, that the &s;imple &s;pirit of Box, if Chymi&s;ts will have it therefore Saline becau&s;e it has a &s;trong ta&s;t, will furni&s;h us with a new kind of Saline Bodies, dif|fering from tho&s;e hitherto taken notice of. For whereas of the three chief &s;orts of Salts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous, there is none that &s;eems to be friends with both the other
<PB N="196" REF="109">two, as I may, e're it be long, have oc|ca&s;ion to &s;hew; I did not find but that the &s;imple &s;pirit of Box did agree very well (at lea&s;t as farr as I had occa&s;ion to try it) both with the Acid and the other Salts. For though it would lye very quiet with &s;alt of Tartar, Spirit of Urine, or other bodies, who&s;e Salts were either of an Alcalizate or fugitive Nature; yet did not the mingling of Oyle of Vitriol it &s;elf produce any hi&s;&s;ing or Efferve&s;cence, which you know is wont to en&s;ue upon the Affu&s;ion of that highly Acid Liquor upon eit her of the Bodies newly men|tioned.</P>
<P>I think my &s;elf, &s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> be|holden to you, for this Experiment; not only becau&s;e I for&s;ee you will make it helpful to you in the Enquiry you are now upon, but becau&s;e it teaches us a Method, whereby we may prepare a numerous &s;ort of new &s;pirits, which though more &s;imple then any that are thought Elementary, are manife&s;tly en|dow'd with peculiar and powerfull qua|lities, &s;ome of which may probably be of con&s;iderable u&s;e in Phy&s;ick, as well alone, as a&s;&s;ociated with other things; as one may hopefully gue&s;s by the redne&s;s of
<PB N="197" REF="109">that Solution your &s;our Spirit made of Corals, and by &s;ome other circum&s;tances of your Narrative. And &s;uppo&s;e (pur|&s;ues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) that you are not &s;o confin'd, for the &s;eparation of the Acid parts of the&s;e compound Spirits from the other, to employ Corals; but that you may as well make u&s;e of any Alcali|zate Salt, or of Pearls, or Crabs eyes, or any other Body, upon which common Spirit of Vinager will ea&s;ily work, and, to &s;peak in an <HI>Helmontian</HI> Phra&s;e, Exant|late it &s;elf.</P>
<P>I have not yet tryed, &s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> of what u&s;e the mention'd liquors may be in Phy&s;ick, either as Medicines or as <HI>Men|struums:</HI> But I could mention now (and may another time) divers of the tryals that I made to &s;atisfy my &s;elf of the dif|&s;erence of the&s;e two Liquors. But that, as I allow you thinking what you newly told me about Corals, I pre&s;ume you will allow me, from what I have &s;aid already, to deduce this Corollary; That there are divers compound bodies, which may be re&s;olv'd into four &s;uch differing Sub&s;tan|ces, as may as well merit the name of Principles, as tho&s;e to which the Chy|mi&s;ts freely give it. For &s;ince they &s;cruple
<PB N="198" REF="110">not to reckon that which I call the com|pound Spirit of Box, for the &s;pirit, or as others would have it, the Mercury of that Wood, I &s;ee not, why the Acid li|quor, and the other, &s;hould not each of them, e&s;pecially that la&s;t named, be lookt upon as more worthy to be called an Ele|mentary Principle; &s;ince it mu&s;t needs be of a more &s;imple nature then the Liquor, which was found to be divi&s;ible into that, and the Acid Spirit. And this further u&s;e (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) may be made of our experiment to my pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, that it may give us a ri&s;e to &s;u&s;|pect, that &s;ince a Liquor reputed by the Chymi&s;ts to be, without di&s;pute, Homo|geneous, is by &s;o &s;light a way divi&s;ible into two di&s;tinct and more &s;imple Ingredients, &s;ome more skilful or happier Experimen|ter then I may find a way either further to divide one of the&s;e Spirits, or to re&s;olve &s;ome or other, if not all, of tho&s;e other Ingredients of mixt Bodies, that have hi|therto pa&s;s'd among Chymi&s;ts for their Elements or Principles.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="4" TYPE="part">
<PB N="199" REF="110">
<HEAD>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST. The Fourth Part.</HEAD>
<P>ANd thus much (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades)</HI> may &s;uffice to be &s;aid of the <HI>Num|ber</HI> of the Di&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances &s;eparable from mixt Bodies by the Fire: Where|fore I now proceed to con&s;ider the <HI>na|ture</HI> of them, and &s;hew you, That though they &s;eem <HI>Homogeneous</HI> Bodies, yet have they not the purity and &s;im|plicity that is requi&s;ite to Elements. And I &s;hould immediately proceed to the proof of my A&s;&s;ertion, but that the Confidence wherewith Chymi&s;ts are wont to call each of the Sub&s;tances we &s;peak of by the name of Sulphur or Mercury, or the other of the Hypo&s;ta|ticall
<PB N="200" REF="111">Principles, and the intollerable Ambiguity they allow them&s;elves ie their Writings and Expre&s;&s;ions, makes it nece&s;&s;ary for me in Order to the Keeping you either from mi&s;taking me, or thinking I mi&s;take the Contro|ver&s;ie, to take Notice to you and com|plain of the unrea&s;onable Liberty they give them&s;elves of playing with Names at plea&s;ure. And indeed if I were ob|lig'd in this Di&s;pute, to have &s;uch re|gard to the Phra&s;eology of each parti|cular Chymi&s;t, as not to Write any thing which this or that Author may not pretend, not to contradict this or that &s;ence, which he may give as Oc|ca&s;ion &s;erves to his Ambiguous Expre&s;|&s;ions, I &s;hould &s;carce know how to di&s;|pute, nor which way to turn my &s;elf. For I find that even Eminent Writers, (&s;uch as <HI>Raymund Lully, Paracel&s;us</HI> and others) do &s;o abu&s;e the termes they employ, that as they will now and then give di|vers things, one name; &s;o they will of|tentimes give one thing, many Names; and &s;ome of them (perhaps) &s;uch, as do much more properly &s;ignifie &s;ome Di|&s;tinct Body of another kind; nay even in Technical Words or Termes of Art,
<PB N="201" REF="111">they refrain not from this Confound|ing Liberty; but will, as I have Ob|&s;erv'd, call the &s;ame Sub&s;tance, &s;ome|times the Sulphur, and Sometimes the Mercury of a Body. And now I &s;peak of Mercury, I cannot but take Notice, that the De&s;criptions they give us of that Principle or Ingre|dient of. mixt Bodies, are &s;o intricate, that even tho&s;e that have Endeavour'd to Polli&s;h and Illu&s;trate the Notions of the Chymi&s;ts, are fain to confe&s;s that they know not what to make of it, ei|ther by Ingenuous Acknowledgments, or De&s;criptions that are not Intelligi|ble.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t confe&s;s (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) I have, in the reading of <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> and o|ther Chymical Authors, been troubled to find, that &s;uch hard Words and E|quivocal Expre&s;&s;ions, as You ju&s;tly com|plain of, do even when they treat of Principles, &s;eem to be &s;tudiou&s;ly affected by tho&s;e Writers; whether to make them&s;elves to be admir'd by their Rea|ders, and their Art appear more Ve|nerable and My&s;terious, or, (as they would have us think) to conceal from them a Knowledge them&s;elves judge in|e&s;timable.</P>
<PB N="202" REF="112">
<P>But whatever (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) the&s;e Men may promi&s;e them&s;elves from a Canting way of delivering the Princi|ples of Nature, they will find the Ma|jor part of Knowing Men &s;o vain, as when they under&s;tand not what they read, to conclude, that it is rather the Writers fault then their own. And tho&s;e that are &s;o ambitious to be ad|mir'd by the Vulgar, that rather then go without the Admiration of the Ig|norant they will expo&s;e them&s;elves to the contempt of the Learned, tho&s;e &s;hall, by my con&s;ent, freely enjoy their Option. As for the My&s;tical Writers &s;crupling to Communicate their Know|ledge, they might le&s;s to their own Di&s;paragement, and to the trouble of their Readers, have conceal'd it by wri|ting no Books, then by Writing bad ones. If <HI>Themistius</HI> were here, he would not &s;tick to &s;ay, that Chymi&s;ts write thus darkly, not becau&s;e they think their Notions too precious to be explain'd, but becau&s;e they fear that if they were explain'd, men would di&s;|cern, that they are farr from being pre|cious. And indeed, I fear that the chief Rea&s;on why Chymi&s;ts have written &s;o
<PB N="203" REF="112">ob&s;curely of their three Principles, may be, That not having Clear and Di|&s;tinct Notions of them them&s;elves, they cannot write otherwi&s;e then Confu&s;edly of what they but Confu&s;edly Appre|hend: Not to &s;ay that divers of them, being Con&s;cious to the Invalidity of their Doctrine, might well enough di&s;|cerne that they could &s;carce keep them|&s;elves from being confuted, but by keep|ing them&s;elves from being clearly under|&s;tood. But though much may be &s;aid to Excu&s;e the Chymi&s;ts when they write Darkly, and Aenigmatically, about the Preparation of their <HI>Elixir,</HI> and Some few other grand <HI>Arcana,</HI> the divulging of which they may upon Grounds Plau&s;i|ble enough e&s;teem unfit; yet when they pretend to teach the General Principles of Natural Philo&s;ophers, this Equivo|call Way of Writing is not to be en|dur'd. For in &s;uch Speculative Enqui|ties, where the naked Knowledge of the Truth is the thing Principally aim'd at, what does he teach me worth thanks that does not, if he can, make his No|tion intelligible to me, but by My&s;tical Termes, and Ambiguous Phra&s;es dark|ens what he &s;hould clear up; and makes
<PB N="204" REF="113">me add the Trouble of gue&s;&s;ing at the &s;ence of what he Equivocally expre&s;&s;es, to that of examining the Truth of what he &s;eems to deliver. And if the mat|ter of the Philo&s;ophers Stone, and the manner of preparing it, be &s;uch My&s;te|ries as they would have the World be|lieve them, they may Write Intelligi|bly and Clearly of the Principles of mixt Bodies in General, without Di&s;|covering what they call the Great Work. But for my part (Continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) what my Indignation at this Un-philo&s;ophical way of teaching Prin|ciples has now extorted from me, is meant chiefly to excu&s;e my &s;elf, if I &s;hall hereafter oppo&s;e any Particular O|pinion or a&s;&s;ertion, that &s;ome Follow|er of <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> or any Eminent Arti&s;t may pretend not to be his Ma&s;ters. For, as I told you long &s;ince, I am not Ob|lig'd to examine private mens writings, (which were a Labour as endle&s;s as unprofitable) being only engag'd to ex|amine tho&s;e Opinions about the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> which I find tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts I have met with to agree in mo&s;t: And I Doubt not but my Arguments again&s;t their Doctrine will be in great part ea|&s;ily
<PB N="205" REF="113">enough applicable ev'n to tho&s;e private Opinions, which they do not &s;o directly and expre&s;ly oppo&s;e. And in|deed, that which I am now entering upon being the Con&s;ideration of the things them&s;elves whereinto <HI>Spagyrists</HI> re&s;olve mixt Bodies by the Fire, If I can &s;hew that the&s;e are not of an Elementa|ry Nature, it will be no great matter what names the&s;e or tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts have been plea&s;ed to give them. And I que&s;tion not that to a Wi&s;e man, and con&s;equently to <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> it will be le&s;&s;e con&s;iderable to know, what Men Have thought of Things, then what they Should have thought.</P>
<P>In the fourth and la&s;t place, then, I con&s;ider, that as generally as Chymi&s;ts are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as they u&s;e to in&s;tance the &s;everal &s;ub&s;tances &s;eparated by the Fire from a Mixt Body, as a &s;ufficient proof of their being its component Ele|ments: Yet tho&s;e differing Sub&s;tances are many of them farr enough from Ele|mentary &s;implicity, and may be yet look'd upon as mixt Bodies, mo&s;t of them al&s;o retaining, &s;omewhat at lea&s;t, if not very much, of the Nature of tho&s;e
<PB N="206" REF="114">Concretes whence they were forc'd.</P>
<P>I am glad (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) to &s;ee the Vanity or Envy of the canting Chy|mi&s;ts thus di&s;cover'd and cha&s;tis'd; and I could wi&s;h, that Learned Men would con&s;pire together to make the&s;e deluding Writers &s;en&s;ible, that they mu&s;t no longe hope with Impunity to abu&s;e the World. For whil&s;t &s;uch Men are quiet|ly permitted to publi&s;h Books with pro|mi&s;ing Titles, and therein to A&s;&s;ert what they plea&s;e, and contradict others, and ev'n them&s;elves as they plea&s;e, with as little danger of being confuted as of being under&s;tood, they are encourag'd to get them&s;elves a name, at the co&s;t of the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for the rea&s;on newly menti|on'd, to let their Books and Them a|lone: And the ignorant and credulous (of which the number is &s;till much grea|ter then that of the other) are forward to admire mo&s;t what they lea&s;t under|&s;tand. But if Judicious men skill'd in Chymical affaires &s;hall once agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep men from being &s;tunn'd, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words; 'tis to be hop'd that
<PB N="207" REF="114">the&s;e men finding that they can no long|er write impertinently and ab&s;urdly, without being laugh'd at for doing &s;o, will be reduc'd either to write nothing, or Books that may teach us &s;omething, and not rob men, as formerly, of invalua|ble Time; and &s;o cea&s;ing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we &s;hall either by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their &s;ilence e&s;cape an Inconvenience.</P>
<P>But after all this is &s;aid (continues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) it may be repre&s;ented in fa|vour of the Chymi&s;ts, that, in one regard the Liberty they take in u&s;ing names, if it be excu&s;able at any time, may be more &s;o when they &s;peak of the &s;ub&s;tan|ces whereinto their <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> re&s;olves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name their own Children, it has e|ver been allow'd to the Authors of new Inventions, to Impo&s;e Names upon them. And therefore the &s;ubjects we &s;peak of being &s;o the Productions of the Chymi&s;t's Art, as not to be otherwi&s;e, but by it, obtainable; it &s;eems but equitable to give the Arti&s;ts leave to name them as they plea&s;e: con&s;idering al&s;o that none are &s;o fit and likely to teach us what tho&s;e Bo|dies
<PB N="208" REF="115">are, as they to whom we ow'd them.</P>
<P>I told You already (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) that there is great Difference betwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to give a Philo&s;ophical Ac|count of them. And I will not now add, that many a Mine-digger may meet, whil&s;t he follows his work, with a Gemm or a Mineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he &s;hews it a Jeweller or a Minerali&s;t to be inform'd what it is. But that which I would rather have here ob&s;erv'd, is, That the Chymi&s;ts I am now in debate with have given up the Liberty You challeng'd for them, of u&s;ing Names at Plea&s;ure, and confin'd Them&s;elves by their De&s;criptions, though but &s;uch as they are, of their Principles; &s;o that although they might freely have call'd any thing their <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> pre&s;ents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, or what they pleas'd; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (for in&s;tance) is a Primogeneal and &s;imple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &amp;c. they mu&s;t give me leave to di&s;-believe them, if they tell me that a Body that is either compounded or uninflamable is
<PB N="209" REF="115">&s;uch a Sulphur; and to think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and &s;ome other Minerals abound with an Incombu&s;tible Sulphur, which is as pro|per an Expre&s;&s;ion, as a Sun-&s;hine Night, or Fluid Ice.</P>
<P>But before I de&s;cend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my Fourth Con&s;ideration, I think it convenient to premi&s;e a few Generals; &s;ome of which I &s;hall the le&s;s need to in&s;i&s;t on at pre&s;ent, becau&s;e I have Touched on them al|ready.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t I mu&s;t invite you to take notice of a certain pa&s;&s;age in <HI>Helmont;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Illud notabile, in vino e&s;&s;e Spiri|tum quendam mitiorem ulterioris &amp; nobilioris qualitatis participem qua qui immediat&egrave;per di&s;tillationem eli|citur diciturque aqua vitae dephleg|mata, quod facilius in &s;implici Oli|varum oleo ad oculum &s;pectatur. Quippe di&s;tillatum oleum ab&s;que la|terum aut tigularum additamento, quodque oleum Philo&s;ophorum dici|tur, multum differt ab ejus oleitate, quae elicitur prius reducto oleo &s;im|plici in partes di&s;&s;imilares &s;ola di|ge&s;tione &amp; Salis circulati Paracel|&s;ici appo&s;itione; &s;iquidem &s;al circu|latum idem in pondere &amp; quantita|tibus pri&s;tinis ab oleo &s;egregatur po&s;tquam oleum olivarum in &s;ui be|terogeneitates e&s;t di&s;po&s;itum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum exoleo, prout &amp; &s;uavi&s;&s;imus vini &s;piritus a vino hoc pacto &s;eparantur, long&eacute;que ab aquae vitae acrimoni&acirc; di&s;tinctus.</HI> &mdash; Helmont. Aura vitalis, pag. 725.</NOTE> which though I have not Found much heeded by his Rea|ders, He Him&s;elf <HI>mentions</HI> as a notable thing, and I take to be a very con&s;idera|ble one; for where|as the Di&s;till'd oyle of <HI>oyle-olive,</HI> though
<PB N="210" REF="116">drawn <HI>per &s;e</HI> is (as I have try'd) of a ve|ry &s;harp and fretting Quality, and of an odious ta&s;t, He tells us that Simple oyle being only dige&s;ted with <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI>'s <HI>&s;al circulatum,</HI> is reduc'd into di&s;&s;imilar parts, and yields a &s;weet Oyle, very differ|ing from the oyledi&s;till'd, from &s;allet oyle; as al&s;o that by the &s;ame way there may be &s;eparated from Wine a very &s;weet and gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that which is immediately drawn by di&s;tillation and call'd <HI>Dephlegm'd Aqua vitae,</HI> from who&s;e Acrimony this other &s;pirit is exceedingly remote, although the <HI>&s;al circulatum</HI> that makes the&s;e <HI>Anatomies</HI> be &s;eparated from the Analyz'd Bodies, in the &s;ame weight and with the &s;ame qualities it had before; which Affirmation of <HI>Helmont</HI> if we ad|mit to be true, we mu&s;t acknowledge that there may be a very great di&s;parity betwixt bodies of the &s;ame denomination (as &s;everal oyles, or &s;everal &s;pirits) &s;e|parable from compound Bodies: For, be&s;ides the differences I &s;hall anon take notice of, betwixt tho&s;e di&s;till'd Oyles that are commonly known to Chymi&s;ts, it appears by this, that by means of the <HI>Sal Circulatum,</HI> There may
<PB N="211" REF="116">be quite another &s;ort of Oyles obtain'd from the &s;ame Body; and who knowes but that there may be yet other Agents found in Nature, by who&s;e help there may, whether by Tran&s;mutation or o|therwi&s;e, be obtain'd from the Bodies Vulgarly call'd Mixt, Oyles or other &s;ub|&s;tances, Differing from tho&s;e of the &s;ame Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymi&s;ts, or even to <HI>Helmont</HI> Him&s;elf: but for fear You &s;hould tell me, that this is but a conjecture groun|ded upon another Man's Relation, who&s;e Truth we have not the means to Experi|ment, I will not In&s;i&s;t upon it; but leaving You to Con&s;ider of it at lea|&s;ure, I &s;hall proceed to what is next.</P>
<P>Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion of <HI>Lucippus, Democritus,</HI> and other prime <HI>Anatomi&s;ts</HI> of old, and is in our dayes reviv'd by no mean Phi|lo&s;ophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, &s;uch as Chymi&s;ts u&s;e, con&s;i&s;ts of &s;warmes of little Bodies &s;wiftly moving, which by their &s;mallne&s;s and motion are able to permeate the &s;ollide&s;t and Compacte&s;t Bodies, and even Gla&s;s it Self; If this (I &s;ay) be True, &s;ince we &s;ee that In flints and other Concretes,
<PB N="212" REF="117">the Fiery part is Incorporated with the Gro&s;&s;er, it will not be Irrationall to con|jecture, that multitudes of the&s;e Fiery Corpu&s;cles, getting in at the Pores of the Gla&s;s, may a&s;&s;ociate them&s;elves with the parts of the mixt Body where|on they work, and with them Con&s;ti|tute new Kinds of Compound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections of the Parts of the Di&s;&s;ipa|ted Body happen to di&s;po&s;e them, in Reference to &s;uch Combinations; of which al&s;o there may be the greater Number; if it be likewi&s;e granted that the Corpu&s;cles of the Fire, though all exceeding minute, and very &s;wiftly mo|ved, are not all of the &s;ame bigne&s;s, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Con&s;iderations to Di&s;cour&s;e to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I have newly &s;aid, &s;ome particu|lar Experiments by which I have been Deduc'd to think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon &s;ome Bo|dies may really A&s;&s;ociate them&s;elves therewith, and add to the Quantity. But becau&s;e I am not &s;o &s;ure, that when the Fire works upon Bodies included in Gla&s;&s;es, it does it by a reall Tra|jection
<PB N="213" REF="117">of the Fiery Corpu&s;cles them|&s;elves, through the Sub&s;tance of the Gla&s;s, I will proceed to what is next to be mention'd.</P>
<P>I could (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) help you to &s;ome Proofes, whereby I think it may be made very probable, that when the Fire acts immediately upon a Body, &s;ome of its Corpu&s;cles may &s;tick to tho&s;e of the burnt Body, as they &s;eem to do in Quicklime, but in greater numbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding Your Progre&s;s, I &s;hall de&s;ire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time, and proceed as you intended.</P>
<P>You may then in the next place (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) ob&s;erve with me, that not only there are &s;ome Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do not by the u&s;ual Examens, made by Fire, Di&s;cover them|&s;elves to be mixt; but if (as You may Remember I formerly told You) it be a De-compound Body that is Di&s;&s;ipa|ble into &s;everal Sub&s;tances, by being expos'd to the Fire it may be re&s;olv'd into &s;uch a; are neither Elementary, nor &s;uch as it was upon its la&s;t mix|ture Compounded of; but into new
<PB N="214" REF="118">Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You &s;ome Examples in Sope, Su|gar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we &s;hall Con&s;ider that there are &s;ome Bo|dies, as well Natural, (as that I la&s;t nam'd) as Factitious, manife&s;tly De|compounded; That in the Bowells of the Earth Nature may, as we &s;ee &s;he &s;ometimes does, make &s;trange Mix|tures; That Animals are nouri&s;h'd with other Animals and Plants; And, that the&s;e them&s;elves have almo&s;t all of them their Nutriment and Growth, <HI>either</HI> from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour'd in the Pores of the Earth, or from the Excrements of Animalls, <HI>or</HI> from the pu|trify'd Bodies, either of living Crea|tures or Vegetables, <HI>or</HI> from other Sub|&s;tances of a Compounded Nature; If, I &s;ay, we con&s;ider this, it may &s;eem pro|bable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not to mention tho&s;e of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then men take Notice of; And indeed, as I have for|merly al&s;o ob&s;erv'd, it does not at all ap|pear, that all Mixtures mu&s;t be of Ele|mentary Bodies; but it &s;eems farr more probable, that there are divers &s;orts of
<PB N="215" REF="118">compound Bodies, even in regard of all or &s;ome of their Ingredients, con|&s;ider'd Antecedently to their Mixture. For though &s;ome &s;eem to be made up by the immediate Coalitions of the E|lements, or Principles them&s;elves, and therefore may be call'd <HI>Prima Mista,</HI> or <HI>Mi&s;ta Primaria;</HI> yet it &s;eems that many o|ther Bodies are mingl'd (if I may &s;o &s;peak) at the &s;econd hand, their imme|diate Ingredients being not Elementary, but the&s;e primary Mixts newly &s;poken of; And from divers of the&s;e Secon|dary &s;ort of Mixts may re&s;ult, by a fur|ther Compo&s;ition, a Third &s;ort, and &s;o onwards. Nor is it improbable, that &s;ome Bodies are made up of Mixt Bo|dies, not all of the &s;ame Order, but of &s;everal; as (for In&s;tance) a Concrete may con&s;i&s;t of Ingredients, whereof the one may have been a primary, the other a Secondary Mixt Body; (as I have in Native Cinnaber, by my way of Re|&s;olving it, found both that Cour&s;er the part that &s;eems more properly to be Oar, and a Combu&s;tible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps without any Ingredient of this latter &s;ort, it may be compos'd of Mixt Bodies, &s;ome of
<PB N="216" REF="119">them of the fir&s;t, and &s;ome of the third Kind; And this may perhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens in &s;ome Chymical Pre|parations of tho&s;e Medicines which they call their <HI>Bezoardicum's.</HI> For fir&s;t, they take Antimony and Iron, which may be look'd upon as <HI>Prima Mi&s;ta;</HI> of the&s;e they compound a Starry <HI>Regulus,</HI> and to this they add according to their In|tention, either Gold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Com|po&s;ition. To this they add Sublimate, which is it &s;elf a De-compound body, (con&s;i&s;ting of common Quick&s;ilver, and divers Salts United by Sublimation in|to a Cry&s;talline Sub&s;tance) and from this Sublimate, and the other Metal|line Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow'd to be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymi&s;ts affirm it, that by this Art &s;ome of the Gold or Silver mingl'd with the <HI>Regulus</HI> may be carry'd over the Helme with it by the Sublimate; as indeed a Skilfull and Candid per&s;on complain'd to me a while &s;ince, That an experienc'd Friend of His and mine, having by &s;uch a way brought over a
<PB N="217" REF="119">great Deal of Gold, in hope to do &s;omething further with it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only mi&s;s'd of his Aim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz'd Gold out of the Anti|monial butter, wherewith it is &s;trictly united.</P>
<P>Now (Continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) if a Compound body con&s;i&s;t of Ingredients that are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that the Sub&s;tan|ces into which the Fire Di&s;&s;olves it, though &s;eemingly Homogeneous e|nough, may be of a Compounded Nature, tho&s;e parts of each body that are mo&s;t of Kin a&s;&s;ociating them&s;elves into a Compound of a new Kind. As when (for example &s;ake) I have caus'd Vitrioll and <HI>Sal Armoniack,</HI> and Salt Petre to be mingl'd and De&s;till'd together, the Liquor that came over manife&s;ted it &s;elf not to be either Spirit of Nitre, or of <HI>Sal Armoniack,</HI> or of Vitrioll. For none of the&s;e would di&s;&s;olve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; and thereby manife&s;ted it &s;elf to be a new Compound, con&s;i&s;ting at lea&s;t of Spirit of Nitre, and <HI>Sal Armoniack,</HI> (for the latter di&s;&s;olv'd in the former,
<PB N="218" REF="120">will Work on Gold) which never|thele&s;s are not by any known way &s;e|parable, and con&s;equently would not pa&s;s for a Mixt Body, if we our &s;elves did not, to obtain it, put and Di&s;till to|gether divers Concretes, who&s;e Di&s;tinct Operations were known before hand. And, to add on this Occa&s;ion the Ex|periment I lately promis'd You, be|cau&s;e it is Applicable to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, I &s;hall Acquaint You, that &s;u&s;pecting the Common Oyle of Vitrioll not to be altogether &s;uch a &s;imple Liquor as Chymi&s;ts pre&s;ume it, I mingl'd it with an equal or a Double Quantity (for I try'd the Experiment more then once) of common Oyle of Turpentine, &s;uch as together with the other Liquor I bought at the Drug&s;ters. And ha|ving carefully (for the Experiment is Nice, and &s;omewhat dangerous) Di|&s;till'd the Mixture in a &s;mall Gla&s;s Re|tort, I obtain'd according to my De|&s;ire, (be&s;ides the two Liquors I had put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain &s;ub|&s;tance, which &s;ticking all about the Neck of the Retort Di&s;cover'd it &s;elf to be Sulphur, not only by a very &s;trong Sulphureous &s;mell, and by the colour of
<PB N="219" REF="120">Brim&s;tone; but al&s;o by this, That be|ing put upon a coal, it was immediate|ly kindl'd, and burn'd like common Sul|phur. And of this Sub&s;tance I have yet by me &s;ome little Parcells, which You may command and examine when you plea&s;e. So that from this Experi|ment I may deduce either one, or both of the&s;e Propo&s;itions, That a real Sul|phur may be made by the Conjunction of two &s;uch Sub&s;tances as Chymi&s;ts take for Elementary, And which did not ei|ther of them apart appear to have any &s;uch body in it; or that Oyle of Vitrioll though a Di&s;till'd Liquor, and taken for part of the Saline Principle of the Concrete that yields it, may yet be &s;o Compounded a body as to contain, be|&s;ides its Saline part, a Sulphur like com|mon brim&s;tone, which would hardly be it &s;elf a &s;imple or un-compounded body.</P>
<P>I might (pur&s;ues <HI>Carneades</HI>) remind You, that I formerly repre&s;ented it, as po&s;&s;ible, That as there may be more E|lements then five, or &s;ix; &s;o the Ele|ments of one body may be Different from tho&s;e of another; whence it would follow, that from the Re&s;olution of De|compound
<PB N="220" REF="121">compound body, there may re&s;ult Mixts of an altogether new kind, by the Coa|lition of Elements that never perhaps conven'd before. I might, I &s;ay, mind You of this, and add divers things to this &s;econd Con&s;ideration; but for fear of wanting time I willingly pretermit them, to pa&s;s on to the third, which is this, That the Fire does not alwayes barely re|&s;olve or take a&s;under, but may al&s;o af|ter a new manner mingle and compound together the parts (whether Elementa|ry or not) of the Body Di&s;&s;ipated by it.</P>
<P>This is &s;o evident, &s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> in &s;ome obvious Examples, that I cannot but wonder at their Supine&s;s that have not taken notice of it. For when Wood being burnt in a Chimney is di&s;&s;ipated by the Fire into Smoke and A&s;hes, that &s;moke compo&s;es &s;oot, which is &s;o far from being any one of the principles of the Wood, that (as I noted above) you may by a further <HI>Anly&s;is</HI> &s;epa|rate five or &s;ix di&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances from it. And as for the remaining A&s;hes, the Chy|mi&s;ts them&s;elves teach us, that by a fur|ther degree of fire they may be indi&s;&s;olu|bly united into gla&s;s. 'Tis true, that the <HI>A|naly&s;is</HI>
<PB N="221" REF="121">which the Chymi&s;ts principally build upon is made, not in the open air, but in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els; but however, the Examples lately produc'd may invite you &s;hrewdly to &s;u&s;pect, That heat may as well compound as di&s;&s;ipate the Parts of mixt Bodies: and not to tell you, that I have known a Vitrification made even in clo&s;e ve&s;&s;els, I mu&s;t remind you that the Flowers of Antimony, and tho&s;e of Sul|phur, are very mix'd Bodies, though they a&s;cend in clo&s;e ve&s;&s;ells: And that 'twas in &s;topt gla&s;&s;es that I brought up the whole Body of Camphire. And whereas it may be objected, that all the&s;e Exam|ples are of Bodies forc'd up in a dry, not a Fluid forme, as are the Liquors wont to be obtain'd by di&s;tillation; I an&s;wer, That be&s;ides that 'tis po&s;&s;ible, that a Body may be chang'd from Con|&s;i&s;tent to Fluid, or from Fluid to Con|&s;i&s;tent, without being otherwi&s;e much altered, as may appear by the Ea&s;ine&s;s wherewith in Winter, without any Ad|dition or Separation of Vi&s;ible Ingredi|ents, the &s;ame &s;ub&s;tance may be quickly harden'd into brittle Ice, and thaw'd a|gain into Fluid Water; Be&s;ides this, I &s;ay it would be con&s;ider'd, that common
<PB N="222" REF="122">Quick-&s;ilver it &s;elf, which the Eminen|te&s;t Chymi&s;ts confe&s;s to be a mixt Body, may he Driven over the Helme in its Pri&s;tine forme of Quick&s;ilver, and con|&s;equently, in that of a Liquor. And cer|tainly 'tis po&s;&s;ible that very compounded Bodies may concur to Con&s;titute Li|quors; Since, not to mention that I have found it po&s;&s;ible, by the help of a certain <HI>Men&s;truum,</HI> to di&s;till Gold it &s;elf through a Retort, even with a Moderate Fire: Let us but con&s;ider what happens in Butter of Antimony. For if that be carefully rectify'd, it may be reduc'd in|to a very clear Liquor; and yet if You ca&s;t a quantity of fair water upon it, there will quickly precipitate a Ponderous and Vomitive Calx, which made before a con&s;iderable part of the Liquor, and yet is indeed (though &s;ome eminent Chymi&s;ts would have it Mercurial) an Antimoni|al Body carryed over and kept di&s;&s;olv'd by the Salts of the Sublimate, and con|&s;equently a compounded one; as You may find if You will have the Curio&s;ity to Examine this White powder by a skil|ful Reduction. And that You may not think that Bodies as compounded as flow|ers of Brim&s;tone cannot be brought
<PB N="223" REF="122">to Concurr to Con&s;titute Di&s;till'd Li|quors; And al&s;o That You may not imagine with Divers Learned Men that pretend no &s;mall skill in Chymi&s;try, that at lea&s;t no mixt Body can be brought over the Helme, but by corro&s;ive Salts, I am ready to &s;hew You, when You plea&s;e, among other wayes of bringing over Flowers of Brim&s;tone (perhaps I might add even Mineral Sulphurs) &s;ome, wherein I employ none but Oleaginous bodies to make Volatile Liquors, in which not only the colour, but (which is a much &s;urer mark) the &s;mell and &s;ome Opera|tions manife&s;t that there is brought over a Sulphur that makes part of the Li|quor.</P>
<P>One thing more there is, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> which is &s;o pertinent to my pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, that though I have touch'd upon it before, I cannot but on this occa&s;ion take notice of it. And it is this, That the Qualities or Accidents, upon who&s;e account Chymi&s;ts are wont to call a portion of Matter by the name of Mercury or &s;ome other of their Prin|ciples, are not &s;uch but that 'tis po&s;|&s;ible as Great (and therefore why not the like?) may be produc'd by &s;uch changes
<PB N="224" REF="123">of Texture, and other Alterations, as the Fire may make in the &s;mall Parts of a Body. I have already prov'd, when I di&s;cours'd of the &s;econd General Con&s;i|deration, by what happens to plants nouri&s;h'd only with fair water, and Eggs hatch'd into Chickens, that by changing the di&s;po&s;ition of the compo|nent parts of a Body, Nature is able to effect as great Changes in a parcell of Matter reputed &s;imilar, as tho&s;e requi&s;ite to Denominate one of the <HI>Tria Prima.</HI> And though <HI>Helmont</HI> do &s;omewhere wittily call the Fire the De&s;tructor and the Artificial Death of Things; And al|though another Eminent Chymi&s;t and Phy&s;itian be pleas'd to build upon this, That Fire can never generate any thing but Fire; Yet You will, I doubt not, be of another mind, If You con&s;ider how many new &s;orts of mixt Bodies Chy|mi&s;ts them&s;elves have produc'd by means of the Fire: And particularly, if You con|&s;ider how that Noble and Permanent Body, Gla&s;s, is not only manife&s;tly pro|duc'd by the violent action of the Fire, but has never, for ought we know, been produc'd any other way. And indeed it &s;eems but an incon&s;iderate A&s;&s;ertion of
<PB N="225" REF="123">&s;ome <HI>Helmontians,</HI> that every &s;ort of Body of a Peculiar Denomination mu&s;t be produc'd by &s;ome Seminal power; as I think I could evince, if I thought it &s;o nece&s;&s;ary, as it is for me to ha&s;ten to what I have further to di&s;cour&s;e. Nor need it much move us, that there are &s;ome who look upon what&s;oever the Fire is employ'd to produce, not as up|on Natural but Artificial Bodies. For there is not alwaies &s;uch a difference as many imagine betwixt the one and the other: Nor is it &s;o ea&s;y as they think, clearly to a&s;&s;igne that which Properly, Con&s;tantly, and Sufficiently, Di&s;crimi|nates them. But not to engage my &s;elf in &s;o nice a Di&s;qui&s;ition, it may now &s;uf|fice to ob&s;erve, that a thing is common|ly termed Artificial, when a parcel of matter is by the Artificers hand, or Tools, or both, brought to &s;uch a &s;hape or Form, as he De&s;ign'd before-hand in his Mind: Whereas in many of the Chymical Productions the effect would be produc'd whether the Artificer in|tended it or no; and is oftentimes very much other then he Intended or Look't for; and the In&s;truments employ'd, are not Tools Artificially fa&s;hion'd and
<PB N="226" REF="124">&s;haped, like tho&s;e of Trade&s;men, for this or that particular Work; but, for the mo&s;t part, Agents of Nature's own providing, and who&s;e chief Powers of Operation they receive from their own Nature or Texture, not the Artificer. And indeed, the Fire is as well a Natural Agent as Seed: And the Chymi&s;t that imployes it, does but apply Natural A|gents and Patients, who being thus brought together, and acting according to their re&s;pective Natures, performe the worke them&s;elves; as Apples, Plums, or other fruit, are natural Productions, though the Gardiner bring and fa&s;ten together the Sciens of the Stock, and both Water, and do perhaps divers other wayes Contribute to its bearing fruit. But, to proceed to what I was going to &s;ay, You may ob&s;erve with me, <HI>Eleu|therius,</HI> that, as I told You once before, Qualities &s;leight enough may &s;erve to Denominate a Chymical Principle. For, when they anatomize a compound Body by the Fire, if they get a Sub&s;tance in|flamable, and that will not mingle with Water, that they pre&s;ently call Sulphur; what is &s;apid and Di&s;&s;oluble in Water, that mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e for Salt; What&s;oever is
<PB N="227" REF="124">fix'd and indi&s;&s;oluble in Water, that they name Earth. And I was going to add, that, what&s;oever Volatile &s;ub&s;tance they know not what to make of, not to &s;ay, what&s;oever they plea&s;e, that they call Mercury. But that the&s;e Qualities may either be produc'd, otherwi&s;e then by &s;uch as they call Seminal Agents, or may belong to bodies of a compounded Nature, may be &s;hewn, among other In&s;tances, in Gla&s;s made of a&s;hes, where the exceeding &s;trongly-ta&s;ted <HI>Alcali|zate</HI> Salt joyning with the Earth becomes in&s;ipid, and with it con&s;titutes a Body, which though al&s;o dry, fixt, and indi&s;|&s;oluble in Water, is yet manife&s;tly a mixt Body; and made &s;o by the Fire it &s;elf.</P>
<P>And I remmember to our pre&s;ent pur|po&s;e, that <HI>Helmont,</HI> among&s;t other Me|dicines that he commends, has a &s;hort proce&s;&s;e, wherein, though the Directions for Practice are but ob&s;curely intimated; yet I have &s;ome rea&s;on not to Di&s;-believe the Proce&s;s, without affirming or denying any thing about the vertues of the remedy to be made by it.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Helment pag. 412.</NOTE> <HI>Quando</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>ole|um cinnamomi &amp;c. &s;uo &s;ali alkali mi&s;cetur ab&s;que omni aqua, trium men&s;ium artificio&s;a occultaque circulatione, totum in &s;alem vola|tilem
<PB N="228" REF="125">commutatum est, vere e&s;&s;entiam &s;ui &s;implicis in nobis exprimit, &amp; u&s;que in pri|ma no&s;tri constitutiva&s;e&s;e ingerit.</HI> A not unlike Proce&s;&s;e he delivers in another place; from whence, if we &s;uppo&s;e him to &s;ay true, I may argue, that &s;ince by the Fire there may be produc'd a &s;ub&s;tance that is as well Saline and volatile as the Salt of Harts-horn, blood, &amp;c. which pa&s;s for Elementary; and &s;ince that this Vo|latile Salt is really compounded of a Chymical Oyle and a fixt Salt, the one made Volatile by the Other, and both a&s;&s;ociated by the fire, it may well be &s;u&s;pected that other Sub&s;tances, emer|ging upon the Di&s;&s;ipation of Bodies by the Fire, may be new &s;orts of Mixts, and con&s;i&s;t of Sub&s;tances of differing natures; and particularly, I have &s;ometimes &s;u&s;|pected, that &s;ince the Volatile Salts of Blood, Harts-horn, &amp;c. are figitive and endow'd with an exceeding &s;trong &s;mell, either that Chymi&s;ts do Erroneou&s;ly a|&s;cribe all odours to &s;ulphurs, or that &s;uch Salts con&s;i&s;t of &s;ome oyly parts well in|corporated with the Saline ones. And the like conjecture I have al&s;o made con|cerning Spirit of Vinager, which, though the Chymi&s;ts think one of the Principles
<PB N="229" REF="125">of that Body, and though being an Acid Spirit it &s;eems to be much le&s;s of kin then Volatile Salts to &s;ulphurs; yet, not to mention its piercing &s;mell; which I know not with what congruity the Chy|mi&s;t will deduce from Salt, I wonder they have not taken notice of what their own <HI>Tyrocinium Chymicum</HI> teach us con|cerning the De&s;tillation of <HI>Saccharum Sa|turni;</HI> out of which <HI>Beguinus</HI> a&s;&s;ures Us,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tyroc. Chym. L. 1. C. 4.</NOTE> that he di&s;till'd, be&s;ides a very fine &s;pirit, no le&s;&s;e then two Oyles, the one blood|red and ponderous, but the other &s;wim|ming upon the top of the Spirit, and of a yellow colour; of which he &s;ayes that he kept then &s;ome by him, to verify what he delivers. And though I remember not that I have had two di&s;tinct Oyles from Sugar of Lead, yet that it will though di&s;till'd without addition yield &s;ome Oyle, di&s;agrees not with my Expe|rience. I know the Chymi&s;ts will be apt to pretend, that the&s;e Oyls are but the volatiliz'd &s;ulphur of the lead; and will perhaps argue it from what <HI>Beguinus</HI> re|lates, that when the Di&s;tillation is end|ed, you'l find a <HI>Caput Mortuum</HI> extream|ly black, and (as he &s;peaks) <HI>nullius momenti,</HI> as if the Body, or at lea&s;t the chief part of
<PB N="230" REF="126">the Metal it &s;elf were by the di&s;tillation carried over the Helme. But &s;ince you know as well as I that <HI>Saccharum Saturni</HI> is a kind of Magi&s;tery, made only by cal|cining of Lead <HI>per &s;e,</HI> di&s;&s;olving it in di|&s;till'd Vinager, and cry&s;talizing the &s;o|lution; if I had lea&s;ure to tell You how Differing a thing I did upon examination find the <HI>Caput Mortuum,</HI> &s;o &s;leighted by <HI>Beguinus,</HI> to be from what he repre&s;ents it, I believe you would think the con|jecture propos'd le&s;s probable then one or other of the&s;e three; either that this Oyle did formerly concur to con&s;titute the Spirit of Vinager, and &s;o that what pa&s;&s;es for a Chymical Principle may yet be further re&s;oluble into di&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tan|ces; or that &s;ome parts of the Spirit to|gether with &s;ome parts of the Lead may con&s;titute a Chymical Oyle, which there|fore though it pa&s;s for Homogeneous, may be a very compounded Body: or at lea&s;t that by the action of the Di&s;till'd Vinager and the Saturnine Calx one up|on another, part of the Liquor may be &s;o alter'd as to be tran&s;muted from an Acid Spirit into an Oyle. And though the truth of either of the two former conjectures would make the example I
<PB N="231" REF="126">have reflected on more pertinent to my pre&s;ent argument; yet you'l ea&s;ily di&s;|cern, the Third and la&s;t Conjecture cannot be un&s;erviceable to confirm &s;ome other pa&s;&s;ages of my di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>To return then to what I was &s;aying ju&s;t before I mention'd <HI>Helmont's</HI> Ex|periment, I &s;hall &s;ubjoyne, That Chy|mi&s;ts mu&s;t confe&s;s al&s;o that in the per|fectly Dephlegm'd &s;pirit of Wine, or o|ther Fermented Liquors, that which they call the Sulphur of the Concrete lo&s;es, by the Fermentation, the Proper|ty of Oyle, (which the Chymi&s;ts likewi&s;e take to be the true Sulphur of the Mixt) of being unminglable with the Water.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">O&s;tendi a|lias, quo|modo lib. una aquae vitae com|bibita in &s;ale Tar|tari &s;ic|cato, vix fiat &s;e|muncia &s;alis, cae|terum to|tum cor|pus fiat aqua Ele|mentalis. Helmont. in Aura vitali.</NOTE> And if You will credit <HI>Helmont,</HI> all of the pure&s;t Spirit of Wine may barely by the help of pure Salt of Tartar (which is but the fixed Salt of Wine) be re&s;olv'd or Tran&s;muted into &s;carce half an ounce of Salt, and as much Ele|mentary Water as amounts to the re|maining part of the mention'd weight. And it may (as I think I formerly al&s;o noted) be doubted, whether that Fixt and Alcalizate Salt, which is &s;o unani|mou&s;ly agreed on to be the Saline Principle of incinerated Bodies, be not,
<PB N="232" REF="127" MS="y">as 'tis Alcalizate, a Production of the Fire? For though the ta&s;t of Tartar, for Example, &s;eem to argue that it contains a Salt before it be burn'd, yet that Salt being very Acid is of a quite Differing Ta&s;t from the Lixiviate Salt of Calcin'd Tartar. And though it be not truly Objected again&s;t the Chymi&s;ts, that they obtain all Salts they make, by reducing the Body they work on into A&s;hes with Violent Fires, (&s;ince Hartshorn, Amber, Blood, and divers other Mixts yield a copious Salt before they be burn'd to A&s;hes) yet this Vo|latile Salt Differs much, as we &s;hall &s;ee anon, from the Fixt Alcalizate Salt I &s;peak of; which for ought I remem|ber is not producible by any known Way, without Incineration. 'Tis not unknown to Chymi&s;ts, that Quick&s;ilver may be Precipitated, without Addition, into a dry Powder, that remains &s;o in Water. And &s;ome eminent <HI>Spagy|rists,</HI> and even <HI>Raimund Lully</HI> him&s;elf, teach, that meerly by the Fire Quick|&s;ilver may in convenient Ve&s;&s;els be re|duc'd (at lea&s;t in great part) into a thin Liquor like Water, and mingla|ble with it. So that by the bare Action
<PB N="233" REF="127">of the Fire, 'tis po&s;&s;ible, that the parts of a mixt Body &s;hould be &s;o di&s;pos'd after new and differing manners, that it may be &s;ometimes of one con&s;i&s;tence, &s;ometimes of another; And may in one State be di&s;pos'd to be mingl'd with Water, and in another not. I could al&s;o &s;hew you, that Bodies from which apart Chymi&s;ts cannot ob|tain any thing that is Combu&s;tible, may by being a&s;&s;ociated together, and by the help of the Fire, afford an in|flamable Sub&s;tance. And that on the other &s;ide, 'tis po&s;&s;ible for a Body to be inflamable, from which it would ve|ry much puzzle any ordinary Chymi&s;t, and perhaps any other, to &s;eparate an inflamable Principle or Ingredient. Wherefore, &s;ince the Principles of Chy|mi&s;ts may receive their Denominati|ons from Qualities, which it often ex|ceeds not the power of Art, nor al|wayes that of the Fire to produce; And &s;ince &s;uch Qualities may be found in Bodies that differ &s;o much in other Qualities from one another, that they need not be allow'd to agree in that pure and &s;imple Nature, which Princi|ples, to be &s;o indeed, mu&s;t have; it may
<PB N="234" REF="128">ju&s;tly be &s;u&s;pected, that many Pro|ductions of the Fire that are &s;hew'd us by Chymi&s;ts, as the Principles of the Concrete that afforded them, may be but a new kind of Mixts. And to annex, on this Occa&s;ion, to the&s;e argu|ments taken from the Nature of the thing, one of tho&s;e which <HI>Logicians</HI> call <HI>ad Hominem,</HI> I &s;hall de&s;ire You to take Notice, that though <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> Him|&s;elf, and &s;ome that are &s;o mi&s;taken as to think he could not be &s;o, have ven|tur'd to teach, that not only the bo|dies here below, but the Elements them&s;elves, and all the other Parts of the Univer&s;e, are compos'd of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; yet the learned <HI>Sennertus,</HI> and all the more wary Chy|mi&s;ts, have rejected that conceit, and do many of them confe&s;s, that the <HI>Tria Pri|ma</HI> are each of them made up of the four Elements; and others of them make Earth and Water concur with Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to the Con|&s;titution of Mixt bodies. So that one &s;ort of the&s;e <HI>Spagyri&s;ts,</HI> notwith&s;tanding the &s;pecious Titles they give to the pro|ductions of the Fire, do in effect grant what I contend for. And, of the o|ther
<PB N="235" REF="128">&s;ort I may well demand, to what Kind of Bodies the Phlegme and dead Earth, to be met with in Chymical Re|&s;olutions, are to be referr'd? For either they mu&s;t &s;ay, with <HI>Paracel&s;us,</HI> but a|gain&s;t their own Conce&s;&s;ions as well as again&s;t Experience, that the&s;e are al&s;o compos'd of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> whereof they cannot &s;eparate any one from ei|ther of them; or el&s;e they mu&s;t con|fe&s;s that two of the va&s;te&s;t Bodies here below, Earth, and Water, are neither of them compos'd of the <HI>Tria Prima;</HI> and that con&s;equently tho&s;e three are not the Univer&s;al, and Adequate In|gredients, neither of all Sublunary Bo|dies, nor even of all mixt Bodies.</P>
<P>I know that the chief of the&s;e Chy|mi&s;ts repre&s;ent, that though the Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire, are not pure and Ho|mogeneous; yet &s;ince the four Elements into which the <HI>Aristotelians</HI> pretend to re&s;olve the like bodies by the &s;ame A|gent, are not &s;imple neither, as them|&s;elves acknowledge, 'tis as allowable for the Chymi&s;ts to call the one Princi|ples, as for the Peripateticks to call the other Elements; &s;ince in both ca&s;es the
<PB N="236" REF="129">Impo&s;ition of the name is grounded on|ly upon the Predominancy of that Ele|ment who&s;e name is a&s;crib'd to it. Nor &s;hall I deny, that this Argument of the Chymi&s;ts is no ill one again&s;t the <HI>Ari&s;to|telians.</HI> But what An&s;wer can it prove to me, who you know am di&s;puting a|gain&s;t the <HI>Aristotelian</HI> Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and mu&s;t not look upon any body as a true Prin|ciple or Element, but as yet compoun|ded, which is not perfectly Homogene|ous, but is further Re&s;oluble into any number of Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances how &s;mall &s;oever. And as for the Chymi&s;ts calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mer|cury, upon pretence that the Principle of the &s;ame name is predominant in it, That it &s;elf is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely that the&s;e productions of the Fire, are yet com|pounded bodies. And yet whil&s;t this is granted, it is affirm'd, but not prov'd, that the reputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, con&s;i&s;ts mainly of one body that de&s;erves the name of a principle of the &s;ame Denomination. For how do Chymi&s;ts make it appear that there are any &s;uch primitive and &s;imple bo|dies
<PB N="237" REF="129">in tho&s;e we are &s;peaking of; &s;ince 'tis upon the matter confe&s;s'd by the an|&s;wer lately made, that the&s;e are not &s;uch? And if they pretend by Rea&s;on to evince what they affirm, what becomes of their confident boa&s;ts, that the Chymi&s;ts (whom they therefore, after <HI>Beguinus,</HI> call a <HI>Philo&s;ophus</HI> or <HI>Opifex Sen&s;atus</HI>) can con|vince our Eyes, by manife&s;tly &s;hewing in any mixt body tho&s;e &s;imple &s;ub&s;tances he teaches them to be compos'd of? And indeed, for the Chymi&s;ts to have recour&s;e in this ca&s;e to other proofs then Experi|ments, as it is to wave the grand Argu|ment that has all this while been given out for a Demon&s;trative One; &s;o it re|lea&s;es me from the obligation to pro&s;e|cute a Di&s;pute wherein I am not engag'd to Examine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plau&s;ibly E|nough be Repre&s;ented, in favour of the Chymi&s;ts, that it being evident that much the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, is really &s;uch; it would be very rigid to deny tho&s;e Sub&s;tances the names a&s;cribed them, only becau&s;e of &s;ome &s;leight mix|ture of another Body; &s;ince not only the Peripateticks call particular parcels of
<PB N="238" REF="130">matter Elementary, though they ac|knowledge that Elements are not to be anywhere found pure, at lea&s;t here below; And &s;ince e&s;pecially there is a manife&s;t Analogie and Re&s;emblance betwixt the bodies obtainable by Chymical Anato|mies and the principles who&s;e names are given them; I have, I &s;ay, con&s;ider'd that the&s;e things may be repre&s;ented: But as for what is drawn from the Cu|&s;tome of the Peripateticks, I have alrea|dy told You, that though it may be em|ploy'd again&s;t Them, Yet it is not availa|ble again&s;t me who allow nothing to be an Element that is not perfectly Homo|geneous. And whereas it is alledg'd, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to the &s;ub&s;tance wherein it abounds; I an&s;wer, that that might much more rea&s;onably be &s;aid, if either we or the Chymi&s;ts had &s;een Nature take pure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mer|cury, and compound of them every &s;ort of Mixt Bodies. But, &s;ince 'tis to expe|rience that they appeal, we mu&s;t not take it for granted, that the Di&s;till'd Oyle (for in&s;tance) of a plant is mainly com|pos'd of the pure principle call'd Sulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof,
<PB N="239" REF="130">that there is in that &s;ort of Plants &s;uch an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for the &s;pecious argument, which is drawn from the Re&s;emblance betwixt the Pro|ductions of the Fire, and the Re&s;pective, either <HI>Aristotelian</HI> Elements, or <HI>Chymical</HI> Principles, by who&s;e names they are call'd; it will appear more plau&s;ible then cogent, if You will but recall to mind the &s;tate of the controver&s;ie; which is not, whether or no there be obtain'd from mixt Bodies certain &s;ub&s;tances that a|gree in outward appearance, or in &s;ome Qualities with Quick&s;ilver or Brim&s;tone, or &s;ome &s;uch obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodies confe&s;s'd to be perfectly mixt were compos'd of, and are re&s;oluble into a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keep the &s;tate of the que&s;tion in your Eye, you'l ea&s;ily di&s;cerne that there is much of what &s;hould be Demon&s;trated, left unprov'd by tho&s;e Chymical Experi|ments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I have already di&s;cover'd more at large) I &s;hall now take notice, that it will not pre&s;ently follow, that be|cau&s;e a Production of the Fire has &s;ome affinity with &s;ome of the greater Ma&s;&s;es
<PB N="240" REF="131">of matter here below, that therefore they are both of the &s;ame Nature, and de&s;erve the &s;ame Name; for the Chymi&s;ts are not content, that flame &s;hould be look't upon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, and active, becau&s;e it wants &s;ome other Qualities belonging to the nature of Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call A&s;hes, or Quick|lime, Earth, notwith&s;tanding the many likene&s;&s;es between them; becau&s;e they are not ta&s;tle&s;&s;e, as Elementary Earth ought to be: But if you &s;hould ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomies of Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they con&s;i&s;t of the three Principles into which the fire re&s;olves them? I an&s;wer, that their Di&s;&s;ections may be granted to prove, that &s;ome mixt bodies (for in many it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, (for that Condition al&s;o is often requi&s;ite) di&s;&s;olube into &s;everal Sub&s;tances differing in &s;ome Qualities, but principally in Con&s;i&s;tence. So that out of mo&s;t of them may be obtain'd a fixt &s;ub|&s;tance partly &s;aline, and partly in&s;ipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or
<PB N="241" REF="131">more that without being unctuous have a manife&s;t ta&s;te. Now if Chymi&s;ts will agree to call the dry and &s;apid &s;ub&s;tance &s;alt, the Unctuous liquor Sulphur, and the other Mercury, I &s;hall not much quarrel with them for &s;o doing: But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are &s;imple and primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, and which was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, they mu&s;t give me leave to doubt whe|ther (whatever their other arguments may do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will al&s;o tell me that the Sub&s;tances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, are pure and &s;imilar, as Principles ought to be, they mu&s;t give me leave to believe my own &s;en&s;es; and their own confe&s;&s;ions, before their bare A&s;&s;ertions. And that you may not <HI>(Eleutherius)</HI> think I deal &s;o rigidly with them, becau&s;e I &s;cruple to Take the&s;e Productions of the Fire for &s;uch as the Chymi&s;ts would have them pa&s;s for, up|on the account of their having &s;ome af|finity with them; con&s;ider a little with me, that in regard an Element or Princi|ple ought to be perfectly Similar and
<PB N="242" REF="132">Homogeneous, there is no ju&s;t cau&s;e why I &s;hould rather give the body propos'd the Name of this or that Element or Principle, becau&s;e it has a re&s;emblance to it in &s;ome obvious Quality, rather then deny it that name upon the account of divers other Qualities, wherein the propos'd Bodies are unlike; and if you do but con&s;ider what &s;leight and ea&s;ily producible qualities they are that &s;uffice, as I have already more then once ob&s;erv'd, to Denominate a Chymical Principle or an Element, you'l not, I hope, think my warine&s;s to be de&s;titute either of Exam|ple, or el&s;e of Rea&s;on. For we &s;ee that the Chymi&s;ts will not allow the <HI>Ari&s;to|telians</HI> that the Salt in A&s;hes ought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Ter|re&s;trial part &s;ymbolize in weight, in dry|ne&s;s, in fixne&s;s and fu&s;ibility, only be|cau&s;e the one is &s;apid and di&s;&s;oluble in Water, and the other not: Be&s;ides, we &s;ee that &s;apidne&s;s and volatility are wont to denominate the Chymi&s;ts Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you, may agree in tho&s;e Qualities which may yet be of very differing natures, and di&s;agree in qualities either more nume|rous, or more con&s;iderable, or both. For
<PB N="243" REF="132">not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua For|tis, Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit of Vi|nager, and all Saline Liquors Di&s;till'd from Animal Bodies, but all the A|cetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All the&s;e, I &s;ay, and many others mu&s;t belong to the Chy|mi&s;ts Mercury, though it appear not why &s;ome of them &s;hould more be comprehended under one denomina|tion then the Chymi&s;ts Sulphur, or Oyle &s;hould likewi&s;e be; for their Di|&s;till'd Oyles are al&s;o Fluid, Volatile, and Ta&s;table, as well as their Mer|cury; Nor is it Nece&s;&s;ary, that their Sulphur &s;hould be Unctuous or Di&s;&s;oluble in Water, &s;ince they gene|rally referr Spirit of Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and will freely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability mu&s;t con|&s;titute the E&s;&s;ence of the Chymi&s;ts Sulphur; as uninflamablene&s;&s;e joyn|ed with any ta&s;te is enough to intitle a Di&s;till'd Liquor to be their Mercury. Now &s;ince I can further ob&s;erve to You, that Spirit of Nitre and Spirit of Harts|horne being pour'd together will boile
<PB N="244" REF="133">and hi&s;&s;e and to&s;&s;e up one another into the air, which the Chymi&s;ts make &s;ignes of great Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed the&s;e Spirits differ much both in Ta&s;te, Smell, and Operations;) Since I el&s;ewhere tell you of my having made two &s;orts of Oyle out of the &s;ame mans blood, that would not mingle with one another; And &s;ince I might tell You Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodies which according to the Chymi&s;ts mu&s;t be huddl'd up together under one Deno|mination; I leave you to Judge whether &s;uch a multitude of Sub&s;tances as may agree in the&s;e &s;leight Qualities, and yet Di&s;agree in Others more Con&s;iderable, are more worthy to be call'd by the Name of a Princi|ple (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to have appellati|ons given them that may make them dif|fer, in name too, from the bodies from which they &s;o wildly differ in Nature. And hence al&s;o, by the bye, you may perceive that 'tis not unrea&s;onable to di|&s;tru&s;t the Chymi&s;ts way of Argumenta|tion, when being unable to &s;hew us that
<PB N="245" REF="133">&s;uch a Liquor is (for Example) purely &s;aline, they prove, that at lea&s;t &s;alt is much the predominant principle, becau&s;e that the propos'd &s;ub&s;tance is &s;trongly ta&s;ted, and all Ta&s;t proceeds from &s;alt; whereas tho&s;e Spirits, &s;uch as &s;pirit of Tartar, &s;pirit of Harts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries of the Bodies that afford them, have manife&s;tly a &s;trong and piercing ta&s;t, and &s;o has (according to what I formerly noted) the &s;pirit of Box &amp;c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr'd to com|po&s;e it has been &s;eparated from it. And indeed, if &s;apidne&s;s belong not to the &s;pi|rit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I &s;carce know how it will be di&s;criminated from their phlegm, &s;ince by the ab&s;ence of Inflamability it mu&s;t be di&s;tingui&s;h'd from their &s;ulphur, which affords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the Chymical Do|ctrine is in our pre&s;ent Ca&s;e; &s;ince not only the &s;pirits of Vegitables and Ani|mals, but their Oyles are very &s;trongly ta&s;ted, as he that &s;hall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or of Cloves, or even of Turpentine, may quick|ly find, to his &s;mart. And not only I
<PB N="246" REF="134">never try'd any Chymical Oyles who&s;e ta&s;t was not very manife&s;t and &s;trong; but a skilful and inqui&s;itive per&s;on who made it his bu&s;ine&s;s by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, and reduce them to an Elementary &s;implicity, In|formes us, that he never was able to make them at all Ta&s;tle&s;s; whence I might inferr, that the proof Chymi&s;ts confi|dently give us of a bodies being &s;aline, is &s;o far from demon&s;trating the Predomi|nancy, that it does not clearly Evince &s;o much as the pre&s;ence of the &s;aline Prin|ciple in it. But I will not (pur&s;ues <HI>Car|neades</HI>) remind you, that the Volatile &s;alt of Harts-horn, Amber, Blood, &amp;c. are exceeding &s;trongly &s;cented, notwith|&s;tanding that mo&s;t Chymi&s;ts deduce O|dours from Sulphur, and from them ar|gue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorous body, becau&s;e I mu&s;t not &s;o much as add any new Examples of the incompetency of this &s;ort of Chymical arguments; &s;ince having already detain'd You but too long in tho&s;e generals that appertain to my fourth con&s;ideration, 'tis time that I proceed to the particulars them&s;elves, to which I thought fit they &s;hould be previous:</P>
<PB N="247" REF="134">
<P>The&s;e Generals (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) being thus premis'd, we might the better &s;urvey the Unlikene&s;s that an attentive and unprepo&s;&s;e&s;s'd ob&s;erver may take no|tice of in each &s;ort of Bodies which the Chymi&s;ts are wont to call the &s;alts or &s;ulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretes that yield Them, as if they had all a &s;implicity, and Identity of Nature: where|as &s;alts if they were all Elementary would as little differ as do the Drops of pure and &s;imple Water. 'Tis known that both Chymi&s;ts and Phy&s;itians a&s;|cribe to the fixt &s;alts of calcin'd Bodies the vertues of their concretes; and con|&s;equently very differing Operations. So we find the <HI>Alkali</HI> of Wormwood much commended in di&s;tempers of the &s;to|mach; that of Eyebright for tho&s;e that have a weak &s;ight; and that of <HI>Guaiacum</HI> (of which a great Quantity yields but a very little &s;alt) is not only much com|mended in Venereal Di&s;ea&s;es, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, which yet I have not had occa|&s;ion to try. And though, I confe&s;s, I have long thought, that the&s;e <HI>Alkalizate</HI> &s;alts are, for the mo&s;t part, very neer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of
<PB N="248" REF="135">the Concretes whence they were &s;epa|rated; Yet being minded to Ob&s;erve watchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this General Ob&s;erva|tion, I ob&s;erv'd at the Gla&s;&s;e-hou&s;e, that &s;ometimes the Metal (as the Workmen call it) or Ma&s;&s;e of colliquated Ingredi|ents, which by Blowing they fa&s;hion in|to Ve&s;&s;els of divers &s;hapes, did &s;ome|times prove of a very differing colour, and a &s;omewhat differing Texture, from what was u&s;uall. And having enquired whe|ther the cau&s;e of &s;uch Accidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixt &s;alt employ'd to bring the &s;and to fu&s;ion, I found that the know|ing&s;t Workmen imputed the&s;e Mi&s;-ad|ventures to the A&s;hes, of &s;ome certain kind of Wood, as having ob&s;erv'd the ignobler kind of Gla&s;s I lately mention'd to be frequently produc'd when they had employ'd &s;uch &s;orts of A&s;hes which therefore they &s;cruple to make u&s;e of, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember al&s;o, that an Indu&s;trious Man of my acquaintance having bought a va&s;t quantity of Tobacco &s;talks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curio&s;ity to go &s;ee whether that Exotick Plant, which
<PB N="249" REF="135">&s;o much abounds in volatile &s;alt, would afford a peculiar kind of <HI>Alcali;</HI> and I was pleas'd to find that in the <HI>Lixivium</HI> of it, it was not nece&s;&s;ary, as is u&s;ual, to evaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain'd a Saline Calx, con|&s;i&s;ting like lime quench'd in the Air of a heap of little Corpu&s;cles of unregarded &s;hapes: but the fixt &s;alt &s;hot into figur'd Cry&s;tal, almo&s;t as Nitre or <HI>Sal-armoni|ack</HI> and other uncalcin'd &s;alts are wont to do; And I further remember that I have ob&s;erv'd in the fixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a ta&s;t not &s;o unlike to that of common &s;alt, and very differing from the wonted cau|&s;tick Lixiviate ta&s;t of other &s;alts made by Incineration. But becau&s;e the In&s;tances I have alledg'd of the Difference of <HI>Alca|lizate</HI> &s;alt are but few, and therefore I am &s;till inclin'd to think, that mo&s;t Chy|mi&s;ts and many Phy&s;itians do, incon&s;ide|ratly enough and without Warrant from Experience, a&s;cribe the Vertues of the Concretes expos'd to Calcination, to the &s;alts obtain'd by it; I &s;hall rather, to &s;hew the Di&s;parity of &s;alts, mention in the fir&s;t Place the apparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt &s;alts and the
<PB N="250" REF="136">Animal Volatile ones: As (for Ex|ample) betwixt &s;alt of Tartar, and &s;alt of Harts-horn; whereof the former is &s;o fixt that 'twill indure the brunt of a violent Fire, and &s;tand in fu&s;ion like a Me|tal; whereas the other (be&s;ides that it has a differing ta&s;t and a very differing &s;mell) is &s;o far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat as ea&s;ily as &s;pirit of Wine it &s;elf. And to this I &s;hall add, in the next place, That even among the Volatile &s;alts them&s;elves, there is a con&s;iderable Difference, as ap|pears by the di&s;tinct Properties of (for In&s;tance) &s;alt of Amber, &s;alt of Urine, &s;alt of Mans Skull, (&s;o much extoll'd a|gain&s;t the falling Sickne&s;&s;e) and divers others which cannot e&s;cape an ordinary Ob&s;erver. And this Diver&s;ity of Vola|tile &s;alts I have ob&s;erv'd to be &s;omtimes Di&s;cernable even to the Eye, in their Figures. For the &s;alt of Harts-horn I have ob&s;erv'd to adhere to the Receiver in the forme almo&s;t of a <HI>Parallelipipedon;</HI> and of the Volatile &s;alt of humane blood (long dige&s;ted before di&s;tillation, with &s;pirit of Wine) I can &s;hew you &s;tore of graines of that Figure which <HI>Geometrici|ans</HI> call a <HI>Rhombus;</HI> though I dare not
<PB N="251" REF="136">undertake that the Figures of the&s;e or o|ther Saline Cry&s;tals (if I may &s;o call Them) will be alwaies the &s;ame, what|ever degree of Fire have been employ'd to force them up, or how ha&s;tily &s;oever they have been made to convene in the &s;pirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have u&s;ually ob&s;erv'd them af|ter a while to &s;hoot. And although, as I lately told You, I &s;eldom found a|ny Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixt Salts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have &s;u&s;pected that mo&s;t of the&s;e volatile Salts, having &s;o great a Re&s;emblance in &s;mell, in ta&s;t, and fugi|tivene&s;s, differ but little, if at all, in their Medicinal properties: As indeed I have found them generally to agree in divers of them (as in their being &s;ome|what Diaphoretick and very Deopila|tive;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><P><HI>Error vero per di&s;tillationem nobis mon&s;trat etiam Spiritum &s;alinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gu&s;tu di&s;tinguibilem a &s;piritu &V;rinae; In eo tamen e&s;&s;entialiter diver&s;um, quod &s;piritus talis cruoris curat Epilep&s;iam, non autem &s;piritus &s;alis lotii.</HI></P>
<P>Helmont. Aura Vitalis.</P></NOTE> Yet I remem|ber <HI>Helmont</HI> &s;ome|where informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt the &s;aline &s;pirit of U|rine and that of Mans blood, that the former will not cure the Epilep&s;y,
<PB N="252" REF="137">but the Latter will. Of the Ef|ficacy al&s;o of the Salt of Common Amber again&s;t the &s;ame Di&s;ea&s;e in Children, (for in Grown Per&s;ons it is not a &s;pecifick) I may el&s;ewhere have an Occa&s;ion to Entertain You. And when I con&s;ider that to the ob|taining of the&s;e Volatile Salts (e&s;pe|cially that of Urine) there is not requi|&s;ite &s;uch a De&s;tructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get tho&s;e Salts that mu&s;t be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude, that they may differ from one another, and con|&s;equently recede from an Elementary Simplicity. And, if I could here &s;hew You what Mr. <HI>Boyle</HI> has Ob&s;erv'd, touching the Various Chymicall Di|&s;tinctions of Salts; You would quickly di&s;cern, not only that Chymi&s;ts do give them&s;elves a &s;trange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to their own Rules to be look'd upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that a|mong tho&s;e very Salts that &s;eem Ele|mentary, becau&s;e produc'd upon the Anatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a vi&s;ible Di&s;pa|rity, but, to &s;peak in the common Lan|guage,
<PB N="253" REF="137">a manife&s;t Antipathy or Contra|riety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hi&s;&s;ing that is wont to en&s;ue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for In&s;tance, is pour'd upon pot a&s;hes, or Salt of Tartar. And I &s;hall beg leave of this Gentleman, &s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> ca&s;t|ing his Eyes on me, to let me ob&s;erve to You out of &s;ome of his papers, par|ticularly tho&s;e wherein he treats of &s;ome Preparations of Urine, that not only one and the &s;ame body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he ex|emplifies in the Spirit and <HI>Alkali</HI> of Nitre; but that from the &s;ame body there may without addition be obtain'd three differing and Vi&s;ible Salts. For He Relates, that he ob&s;erv'd in Urine, not only a Volatile and Cry&s;talline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewi&s;e a kind of <HI>Sal Armoniack,</HI> or &s;uch a Salt as would &s;ublime in the form of a &s;alt, and therefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being &s;o fugitive as the Vo|latile &s;alt; from which it &s;eem'd al&s;o o|therwi&s;e to differ. I have indeed &s;u&s;pected that this may be a <HI>Sal Armoniack</HI> proper|ly enough &s;o call'd, as Compounded of the Volatile &s;alt of Urine, and the fixt
<PB N="254" REF="138">of the &s;ame Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike &s;ea-&s;alt; but that it &s;elf argues a manife&s;t Difference betwixt the &s;alts, &s;ince &s;uch a Volatile &s;alt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordi|nary <HI>Alcali,</HI> but to fly away from it in the Heat. And on this occa&s;ion I re|member that, to give &s;ome of my Friends an Ocular proof of the diffe|rence betwixt the fixt and Volatile &s;alt (of the &s;ame Concrete) Wood, I de|vis'd the following Experiment. I took common Venetian &s;ublimate, and di&s;|&s;olv'd as much of it as I well could in fair Water: then I took Wood A&s;hes, and pouring on them Warme Water, Di&s;&s;olv'd their &s;alt; and filtrating the Water, as &s;oon as I found the <HI>Lixi|vium</HI> &s;ufficiently &s;harp upon the tongue, I re&s;erv'd it for u&s;e: Then on part of the former &s;olution of &s;ublimate drop|ping a little of this Di&s;&s;olv'd Fixt &s;alt of Wood, the Liquors pre&s;ently turn'd of an Orange Colour; but upon the other part of the clear &s;olution of &s;ub|limate putting &s;ome of the Volatile &s;alt of Wood (which abounds in the &s;pirit of &s;oot) the Liquor immediately turn'd white, almo&s;t like Milke, and af|ter
<PB N="255" REF="138">a while let fall a white &s;ediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To all this that I have &s;aid concern|ing the Difference of &s;alts,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &amp;c. &s;uo &s;ali Alcali mi&s;cetur ab&s;que om|ni aqua, trium men&s;ium Artificio&s;a occultaque circulatione, totum in &s;alem volatilem commutatum e&s;t. Helmont. Tria Prima Chymicorum, &amp;c. pag.</HI> 412.</NOTE> I might add what I Formerly told you, concern|ing the &s;imple &s;pirit of Box, and &s;uch like Woods, which differ much from the other &s;alts hitherto mention'd, and yet would belong to the &s;aline Princi|ple, if Chymi&s;ts did truly teach that all Ta&s;ts proceed from it. And I might al&s;o annex, what I noted to you out of <HI>Helmont</HI> concerning Bodies, which, though they con&s;i&s;t in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yet ap|pear but Volatile &s;alts; But to in&s;i&s;t on the&s;e things, were to repeat; and there|fore I &s;hall proceed.</P>
<P>This Di&s;parity is al&s;o highly eminent in the &s;eparated &s;ulphurs or Chymical Oyles of things. For they contain &s;o much of the &s;cent, and ta&s;t, and vertues, of the Bodies whence they were drawn, that they &s;eem to be but the Material <HI>Cra&s;is</HI> (if I may &s;o &s;peak) of their Concretes. Thus the Oyles of Cinna|mon,
<PB N="256" REF="139">Cloves, Nutmegs and other &s;pi|ces, &s;eem to be but the United Aroma|tick parts that did ennoble tho&s;e Bo|dies. And 'tis a known thing, that Oyl of Cinnamon, and oyle of Cloves, (which I have likewi&s;e ob&s;erv'd in the Oyles of &s;everal Woods) will &s;ink to the Bottom of Water: whereas tho&s;e of Nutmegs and divers other Vege|tables will &s;wim upon it. The Oyle (abu&s;ively call'd &s;pirit) of Ro&s;es &s;wims at the Top of the Water in the forme of a white butter, which I remember not to have ob&s;erv'd in any other Oyle drawn in any Limbeck; yet there is a way (not here to be declar'd) by which I have &s;een it come over in the forme of other Aromatick Oyles, to the Delight and Wonder of tho&s;e that be|held it. In Oyle of Anni&s;eeds, which I drew both with, and without Fer|mentation, I ob&s;erv'd the whole Body of the Oyle in a coole place to thicken into the Con&s;i&s;tence and Appearance of white Butter, which with the lea&s;t heat re&s;um'd its Former Liquidne&s;s. In the Oyl of Olive drawn over in a Re|tort, I have likewi&s;e more then once &s;een a &s;pontaneous Coagulation in the
<PB N="257" REF="139">Receiver: And I have of it by me thus Congeal'd; which is of &s;uch a &s;trangely Penetrating &s;cent, as if 'twould Perforate the No&s;es that approach it. The like pungent Odour I al&s;o ob&s;erv'd in the Di&s;till'd Liquor of common &s;ope, which forc'd over from <HI>Minium,</HI> lately afforded an oyle of a mo&s;t admirable Penetrancy; And he mu&s;t be a great &s;tranger, both to the Writings and pre|parations of Chymi&s;ts, that &s;ees not in the Oyles they di&s;till from Vegetables and Animals, a con&s;iderable and obvi|ous Difference. Nay I &s;hall venture to add, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> (what perhaps you will think of kin to a Paradox) that di|vers times out of the &s;ame Animal or Ve|getable, there may be extracted Oyles of Natures obviou&s;ly differing. To which purpo&s;e I &s;hall not in&s;i&s;t on the &s;wimming and &s;inking Oyles, which I have &s;ometimes ob&s;erv'd to float on, and &s;ub&s;ide under the &s;pirit of <HI>Guaja|cum,</HI> and that of divers other Vegeta|bles Di&s;till'd with a &s;trong and la&s;ting Fire; Nor &s;hall I in&s;i&s;t on the ob&s;er|vation el&s;ewhere mention'd, of the di|vers and unminglable oyles afforded us by Humane Blood long fermented and
<PB N="258" REF="140">Dige&s;ted with &s;pirit of Wine, becau&s;e the&s;e kind of oyles may &s;eem chiefly to differ in Con&s;i&s;tence and Weight, being all of them high colour'd and a|du&s;t. But the Experiment which I de|vis'd to make out this Difference of the oyles of the &s;ame Vegetable, <HI>ad Ocu|lum,</HI> (as they &s;peak) was this that followes. I took a pound of Anni&s;|&s;eeds, and having gro&s;ly beaten them, cau&s;ed them to be put into a very large gla&s;s Retort almo&s;t filled with fair Water; and placing this Retort in a &s;and Furnace, I caus'd a very Gentle heat to be admini&s;ter'd during the fir&s;t day, and a great part of the &s;econd, till the VVater was for the mo&s;t part drawn off, and had brought over with it at lea&s;t mo&s;t of the Volatile and Aro|matick Oyle of the &s;eeds. And then encrea&s;ing the Fire, and changing the Receiver, I obtain'd be&s;ides an Empy|reumatical Spirit, a quantity of adu&s;t oyle; whereof a little floated upon the Spirit, and the re&s;t was more heavy, and not ea&s;ily &s;eparable from it. And whereas the&s;e oyles were very dark, and &s;mell'd (as Chymi&s;ts &s;peak) &s;o &s;trongly of the Fire, that their Odour
<PB N="259" REF="140">did not betray from what Vegetables they had been forc'd; the other <HI>Aroma|tick</HI> Oyle was enrich'd with the genuine &s;mell and ta&s;t of the Concrete; and &s;pon|taneou&s;ly coagulating it &s;elf into white butter did manife&s;t &s;elf to be the true Oyle of Anni&s;&s;eeds; which Concrete I therefore cho&s;e to employ about this Ex|periment, that the Difference of the&s;e Oyles might be more con&s;picuous then it would have been, had I in&s;tead of it de|&s;till'd another Vegetable.</P>
<P>I had almo&s;t forgot to take notice, that there is another &s;ort of Bodies, which though not obtain'd from Concretes by Di&s;tillation, many Chymi&s;ts are wont to call their Sulphur; not only becau&s;e &s;uch &s;ub&s;tances are, for the mo&s;t part, high colour'd (whence they are al&s;o, and that more properly, called Tinctures) as di&s;|&s;olv'd Sulphurs are wont to be; but e&s;pe|cially becau&s;e they are, for the mo&s;t part, ab&s;tracted and &s;eparated from the re&s;t of the Ma&s;&s;e by Spirit of Wine: which Liquor tho&s;e men &s;uppo&s;ing to be Sulphureous, they conclude, that what it works upon, and ab&s;tracts, mu&s;t be a Sul|phur al&s;o. And upon this account they pre&s;ume, that they can &s;eque&s;ter the &s;ul|phur
<PB N="260" REF="141">even of Minerals and Metalls; from which 'tis known that they cannot by Fire alone &s;eparate it. To all This I &s;hall an&s;wer; That if the&s;e &s;eque&s;tred &s;ub&s;tances where indeed the &s;ulphurs of the Bodies whence they are drawn, there would as well be a great Di&s;parity be|twixt Chymical Sulphurs obtain'd by Spirit of Wine, as I have already &s;hewn there is betwixt tho&s;e obtain'd by Di&s;til|lation in the forme of Oyles: which will be evident from hence, that not to urge that them&s;elves a&s;cribe di&s;tinct vertues to Mineral Tinctures, extolling the Tincture of Gold again&s;t &s;uch and &s;uch Di&s;ea&s;es; the Tincture of Antimony, or of its Gla&s;s, again&s;t others; and the Tincture of Emerauld again&s;t others; 'tis plain, that in Tinctures drawn from Vegetables, if the &s;uperfluous &s;pirit of Wine be di&s;till'd off, it leaves at the bottom that thicker &s;ub|&s;tance which Chymi&s;ts u&s;e to call the Extract of the Vegetable. And that the&s;e Extracts are endow'd with very differing Qualities according to the Na|ture of the Particular Bodies that affor|ded them (though I fear &s;eldom with &s;o much of the &s;pecifick vertues as is wont to be imagin'd) is freely confe&s;s'd
<PB N="261" REF="141">both by Phy&s;itians and Chymi&s;ts. But, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) we may here take Notice that the Chymi&s;ts do as well in this ca&s;e, as in many others, allow them&s;elves a Licen&s;e to abu&s;e Words: For not again to argue from the differing properties of Tinctures, that they are not exactly pure and Elementa|ry Sulphurs; they would ea&s;ily appear not to be &s;o much as Sulphur's, although we &s;hould allow Chymical Oyles to de|&s;erve that Name. For however in &s;ome Mineral Tinctures the Natural fixtne&s;s of the extracted Body does not alwayes &s;uffer it to be ea&s;ily further re&s;oluble in|to differing &s;ub&s;tances; Yet in very ma|ny extracts drawn from Vegetables, it may very ea&s;ily be manife&s;ted that the &s;pirit of Wine has not &s;eque&s;tred the &s;ulphureous Ingredient from the &s;aline and Mercurial ones; but has di&s;&s;olv'd (for I take it to be a Solution) the finer Parts of the Concrete (without making any nice di&s;tinction of their being perfect|ly Sulphureous or not) and united it &s;elf with them into a kind of Magi&s;tery; which con&s;equently mu&s;t contain Ingre|dients or Parts of &s;everal &s;orts. For we &s;ee that the &s;tones that are rich in vitriol,
<PB N="262" REF="142">being often drench'd with rain-Water, the Liquor will then extract a &s;ine and tran&s;parent &s;ub&s;tance coagulable in|to Vitriol; and yet though this Vitriol be readily di&s;&s;oluble in Water, it is not a true Elementary Salt, but, as You know, a body re&s;oluble into very differ|ing Parts, whereof one (as I &s;hall have occa&s;ion to tell You anon) is yet of a Metalline, and con&s;equently not of an E|lementary Nature. You may con&s;ider al&s;o, that common Sulphur is readily di&s;|&s;oluble in Oyle of Turpentine, though notwith&s;tanding its Name it abounds as well, if not as much, in Salt as in true Sulphur; witne&s;s the great quantity of &s;aline Liquor it affords being &s;et to flame away under a gla&s;&s;e Bell. Nay I have, which perhaps You will think &s;trange, with the &s;ame Oyle of Turpentine alone ea&s;ily enough di&s;&s;olv'd crude Antimony finely powder'd into a Blood-red Bal&s;am, wherewith perhaps con&s;iderable things may be perform'd in Surgery. And if it were now Requi&s;ite, I could tell You of &s;ome other Bodies (&s;uch as Perhaps You would not &s;u&s;pect) that I have been able to work upon with certain Chymi|cal Oyles. But in&s;tead of digre&s;&s;ing further
<PB N="263" REF="142">I &s;hall make this u&s;e of the Example I have nam'd. That 'tis not unlikely, but that Spirit of Wine which by its pun|gent ta&s;t, and by &s;ome other Qualities that argue it better (e&s;pecially its Re|duciblene&s;&s;e, according to <HI>Helmont,</HI> into <HI>Alcali,</HI> and Water,) &s;eems to be as well of a Saline as of a Sulphureous Nature, may well be &s;uppos'd Capable of Di&s;&s;olving Sub&s;tances That are not meerly Elementary &s;ulphurs, though perhaps they may abound with Parts that are of kin thereunto. For I find that Spirit of Wine will di&s;&s;olve <HI>Gumm Lacca, Benzoine,</HI> and the <HI>Re&s;inous</HI> Parts of <HI>Jallap,</HI> and even of <HI>Guaiacum;</HI> whence we may well &s;u&s;pect that it may from Spices, Herbs, and other le&s;&s;e com|pacted Vegetables, extract &s;ub&s;tances that are not perfect Sulphurs but mixt Bodies. And to put it pa&s;t Di&s;pute, there is many a Vulgar Extract drawn with Spirit of Wine, which committed to Di&s;tillation will afford &s;uch differing &s;ub&s;tances as will Loudly proclaim it to have been a very compounded Body. So that we may ju&s;tly &s;u&s;pect, that e|ven in Mineral Tinctures it will not al|waies follow, that becau&s;e a red &s;ub&s;tance
<PB N="264" REF="143">is drawn from the Concrete by &s;pirit of Wine, that Sub&s;tance is its true and Ele|mentary Sulphur. And though &s;ome of the&s;e Extracts may perhaps be infla|mable; Yet be&s;ides that others are not, and be&s;ides that their being reduc'd to &s;uch Minutene&s;s of Parts may much fa|cilitate their taking Fire; be&s;ides this, I &s;ay, We &s;ee that common Sulphur, common Oyle, Gumm Lac, and ma|ny Unctuous and Re&s;inous Bodies, will flame well enough, though they be of very compounded natures: Nay Tra|vellers of Un&s;u&s;pected Credit a&s;&s;ure Us, as a known thing, that in &s;ome Nor|thern Countries where Firr trees and Pines abound, the poorer &s;ort of Inha|bitants u&s;e Long &s;plinters of tho&s;e Re&s;i|nous Woods to burne in&s;tead of Candles. And as for the redne&s;&s;e wont to be met with in &s;uch &s;olutions, I could ea&s;ily &s;hew, that 'tis not nece&s;&s;ary it &s;hould proceed from the Sulphur of the Con|crete, Di&s;&s;olv'd by the Spirit of Wine; if I had lea&s;ure to manife&s;t how much Chymi&s;ts are wont to delude them&s;elves and others by the Ignorance of tho&s;e o|ther cau&s;es upon who&s;e account &s;pirit of Wine and other <HI>Men&s;truums</HI> may acquire
<PB N="265" REF="143">a red or &s;ome other high colour. But to returne to our Chymical Oyles, &s;up|po&s;ing that they were exactly pure; Yet I hope they would be, as the be&s;t &s;pirit of Wine is, but the more infla|mable and deflagrable. And therefore &s;ince an Oyle can be by the Fire alone im|mediately turn'd into flame, which is &s;omething of a very differing Nature from it: I &s;hall Demand how this Oyle can be a Primogeneal and Incor|ruptible Body, as mo&s;t Chymi&s;ts would have their Principles; Since it is further re&s;oluble into flame, which whether or no it be a portion of the Element of Fire, as an <HI>Aristotelian</HI> would conclude, is certainly &s;omething of a very differ|ing Nature from a Chymical Oyle, &s;ince it burnes, and &s;hines, and mounts &s;wiftly upwards; none of which a Chymical Oyle does, whil&s;t it continues &s;uch. And if it &s;hould be Objected, that the Di&s;&s;ipated Parts of this flaming Oyle may be caught and collected again into Oyl or Sulphur; I &s;hall demand, what Chymi&s;t appears to have ever done it; and without Examining whether it may not hence be as well &s;aid that &s;ulphur is but compacted Fire, as that Fire is but
<PB N="266" REF="144">diffus'd Sulphur, I &s;hall leave you to con&s;ider whether it may not hence be argu'd, that neither Fire nor Sulphur are primitive and inde&s;tructible Bodies; and I &s;hall further ob&s;erve that, at lea&s;t it will hence appear that a portion of matter may without being Compoun|ded with new Ingredients, by having the Texture and Motion of its &s;mall parts chang'd, be ea&s;ily, by the means of the Fire, endow'd with new Quali|ties, more differing from them it had be|fore, then are tho&s;e which &s;uffice to di&s;criminate the Chymi&s;ts Principles from one another.</P>
<P>We are next to Con&s;ider, whether in the Anatomy of mixt Bodies, that which Chymi&s;ts call the Mercurial part of them be un-compounded, or no. But to tell You True, though Chymi&s;ts do Unanimou&s;ly affirm that their Re&s;oluti|ons di&s;cover a Principle, which they call Mercury, yet I find them to give of it De&s;criptions &s;o Differing, and &s;o Aenigmaticall, that I, who am not a|&s;ham'd to confe&s;s that I cannot under|&s;tand what is not &s;ence, mu&s;t acknow|ledge to you that I know not what to make of them. <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> him&s;elf, and
<PB N="267" REF="144">therefore, as you will ea&s;ily believe, ma|ny of his Followers, does &s;omewhere call that Mercury which a&s;cends upon the burning of Wood, as the Peripate|ticks are wont to take the &s;ame &s;moke for Air; and &s;o &s;eems to define Mer|cury by Volatility, or (if I may coyne &s;uch a Word) Effumability. But &s;ince, in this Example, both Volatile Salt and Sulphur make part of the &s;moke, which does indeed con&s;i&s;t al&s;o both of Phleg|matick and Terrene Corpu&s;cles, this Notion is not to be admitted; And I find that the more &s;ober Chymi&s;ts them|&s;elves di&s;avow it. Yet to &s;hew you how little of clearne&s;s we are to expect in the accounts even of latter <HI>Spagyri&s;ts,</HI> be pleas'd to take notice, that <HI>Beguinus,</HI> e|ven in his <HI>Tyrocinium Chymicum,</HI> written for the In&s;truction of Novices, when he comes to tell us what are meant by the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> which for their being Principles ought to be defin'd the more accurately and plainly, gives us this De|&s;cription of Mercury; <HI>Mercurius</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>est liquor ille acidus, permeabilis,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chm. Ty|rocin. lib.</HI> 1. <HI>Cap.</HI> 2.</NOTE> <HI>pe|netrabilis, aethereus, ac puri&s;&s;imus, a quo omnis Nutricatio, Sen&s;us, Motus, Vires, Colores, Senectuti&s;que Praeproperae retarda|tio.</HI>
<PB N="268" REF="145">Which words are not &s;o much a Definition of it, as an <HI>Encomium:</HI> and yet <HI>Quercetanus</HI> in his De&s;cription of the &s;ame Principle adds to the&s;e, di|vers other <HI>Epithets.</HI> But both of them, to skip very many other faults that may be found with their Metaphoricall De|&s;criptions, &s;peak incongruou&s;ly to the Chymi&s;ts own Principles. For if Mer|cury be an Acid Liquor, either Her|metical Philo&s;ophy mu&s;t err in a&s;cribing all Ta&s;ts to Salt, or el&s;e Mercury mu&s;t not be a Principle, but Compounded of a Saline Ingredient and &s;omewhat el&s;e. <HI>Libavius,</HI> though he find great fault with the ob&s;curity of what the Chymi&s;ts write concerning their Mer|curial Principle, does yet but give us &s;uch a Negative De&s;cription of it, as <HI>Sennertus,</HI> how favourable &s;oever to the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> is not &s;atisfi'd with. And this <HI>Sennertus</HI> Him&s;elf, though the Learned&s;t Champion for the Hypo&s;ta|tical Principles, does almo&s;t as frequent|ly as ju&s;tly complain of the un&s;atis|factorine&s;s of what the Chymi&s;ts teach concerning their Mercury; and yet he him&s;elf (but with his wonted mode&s;ty) Sub&s;titutes in&s;tead of the De&s;cription
<PB N="269" REF="145">of <HI>Libavius,</HI> another, which many Rea|ders, e&s;pecially if they be not Peripa|teticks, will not know what to make of. For &s;carce telling us any more, then that in all bodies that which is found be&s;ides Salt and Sulphur, and the E|lements, or, as they call them, Phlegm and Dead Earth, is that Spirit which in <HI>Aristotles</HI> Language may be call'd <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">. He &s;ayes that which I confe&s;s is not at all &s;atisfacto|ry to me, who do not love to &s;eem to acquie&s;ce in any mans My&s;tical Do|ctrines, that I may be thought to under|&s;tand them.</P>
<P>If (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) I dur&s;t pre|&s;ume that the &s;ame thing would be thought clear by me, and tho&s;e that are fond of &s;uch cloudy Expre&s;&s;ions as You ju&s;tly Tax the Chymi&s;ts for, I &s;hould ven|ture to offer to Con&s;ideration, whether or no, &s;ince the Mercurial Principle that ari&s;es from Di&s;tillation is unanimou&s;ly a&s;&s;erted to be di&s;tinct from the &s;alt and Sulphur of the &s;ame Concrete, that may not be call'd the Mercury of a Body, which though it a&s;cend in Di&s;tillation, as do the Phlegme and Sulphur, is nei|ther in&s;ipid like the former, nor infla|mable
<PB N="270" REF="146">like the latter. And therefore I would &s;ub&s;titute to the too much abu|&s;ed Name of Mercury, the more clear and Familiar Appellation of Spirit, which is al&s;o now very much made u&s;e of even by the Chymi&s;ts them&s;elves, of our times, though they have not given us &s;o Di&s;tinct an Explication, as were fit, of what may be call'd the Spi|rit of a mixt Body.</P>
<P>I &s;hould not perhaps (&s;ayes <HI>Carne|ades</HI>) much quarrel with your Notion of Mercury. But as for the Chymi&s;ts, what they can mean, with congruity to their own Principles, by the Mercu|ry of Animals and Vegetables, 'twill not be &s;o ea&s;ie to find out; for they a&s;|cribe Ta&s;ts only to the Saline Principle, and con&s;equently would be much put to it to &s;hew what Liquor it is, in the Re|&s;olution of Bodies, that not being in|&s;ipid, for that they call Phlegme, nei|ther is inflamable as Oyle or Sulphur, nor has any Ta&s;t; which according to them mu&s;t proceed from a Mixture, at lea&s;t, of Salt. And if we &s;hould take Spirit in the &s;ence of the Word re|ceiv'd among Modern Chymi&s;ts and Phy&s;itians, for any Di&s;till'd Liquor that
<PB N="271" REF="146">is neither Phlegme nor oyle, the Ap|pellation would yet appear Ambigu|ous enough. For, plainly, that which fir&s;t a&s;cends in the Di&s;tillation of Wine and Fermented Liquors, is generally as well by Chymi&s;ts as others reputed a Spirit. And yet pure Spirit of Wine being wholly inflamable ought accor|ding to them to be reckon'd to the Sul|phureous, not the Mercurial Principle. And among the other Liquors that go under the name of Spirits, there are divers which &s;eem to belong to the fa|mily of Salts, &s;uch as are the Spirits of Nitre, Vitriol, Sea-Salt and others, and even the Spirit of Harts-horn, being, as I have try'd, in great part, if not totally reducible into Salt and Phlegme, may be &s;u&s;pected to be but a Volatile Salt disguis'd by the Phlegme mingl'd with it into the forme of a Liquor. How|ever if this be a Spirit, it manife&s;tly dif|fers very much from that of Vinager, the Ta&s;t of the one being Acid, and the other Salt, and their Mixture in ca&s;e they be very pure, &s;ometimes occa&s;ioning an Efferve&s;cence like that of tho&s;e Li|quors the Chymi&s;ts count mo&s;t contra|ry to one another. And even among
<PB N="272" REF="147">tho&s;e Liquors that &s;eem to have a bet|ter title then tho&s;e hitherto mention'd, to the name of Spirits, there appears a &s;en&s;ible Diver&s;ity; For &s;pirit of Oak, for in&s;tance, differs from that of Tartar, and this from that of Box, or of <HI>Guaiacum.</HI> And in &s;hort, even the&s;e &s;pirits as well as other Di&s;till'd Liquors manife&s;t a great Di&s;|parity betwixt them&s;elves, either in their Actions on our &s;en&s;es, or in their other operations.</P>
<P>And (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) be&s;ides this Di&s;parity that is to be met with a|mong tho&s;e Liquors that the Modernes call &s;pirits, &amp; take for &s;imilar bodies, what I have formerly told you concerning the Spirit of Box-wood may let you &s;ee that &s;ome of tho&s;e Liquors not only have qua|lities very differing from others, but may be further re&s;olved into &s;ub&s;tances differing from one another.</P>
<P>And &s;ince many moderne Chymi&s;ts and other Naturali&s;ts are plea&s;ed to take the Mercurial &s;pirit of Bodies for the &s;ame Principle, under differing names, I mu&s;t invite you to ob&s;erve, with me, the great difference that is con&s;picuous be|twixt all the Vegetable and Animal &s;pi|rits I have mention'd and running
<PB N="273" REF="147">Mercury. I &s;peak not of that which is commonly &s;old in &s;hops that many of them&s;elves will confe&s;&s;e to be a mixt Body; but of that which is &s;eparated from Metals, which by &s;ome Chymi&s;ts that &s;eem more Philo&s;ophers then the re&s;t, and e&s;pecially by the above menti|oned <HI>Claveus,</HI> is (for di&s;tinction &s;ake) cal|led <HI>Mercurius Corporum.</HI> Now this Me|talline Liquor being one of tho&s;e three Principles of which Mineral Bodies are by <HI>Spagyri&s;ts</HI> affirmed to be compos'd and to be re&s;oluble into them, the many no|torious Differences betwixt them and the Mercuries, as They call Them, of Ve|getables and Animals will allow me to inferr, either that Minerals and the o|ther two &s;orts of Mixt Bodies con&s;i&s;t not of the &s;ame Elements, or that tho&s;e Principles whereinto Minerals are im|mediately re&s;olved, which Chymi&s;ts with great o&s;tentation &s;hew us as the true principles, of them, are but Secundary Principles, or Mixts of a peculiar &s;ort, which mu&s;t be them&s;elves reduc'd to a very differing forme, to be of the &s;ame kind with Vegetable and Animal Li|quors.</P>
<P>But this is not all; for although I for|merly
<PB N="274" REF="148">told You how Little Credit there is to be given to the Chymical Proce&s;&s;es commonly to be met with, of Extracting the Mercuries of Metals, Yet I will now add, that &s;uppo&s;ing that the more Ju|dicious of Them do not untruly affirme that they have really drawn true and running Mercury from &s;everal Metals (which I wi&s;h they had cleerly taught Us how to do al&s;o,) yet it may be &s;till doubted whether &s;uch extracted Mercu|ries do not as well differ from common Quick&s;ilver, and from one another, as from the Mercuries of Vegetables and Animalls. <HI>Claveus,</HI> in his Apology, &s;peaking of &s;ome <HI>experiments</HI> where|by Metalline Mer|curies may be fixt into the nobler me|tals,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dixi autem de argento vivo a me|tallis prolicito, quod vulgare ob ni|miam frigiditatem &amp; humiditatem nimium concoctioni e&s;t contumax, nec ab auro &s;olum alterato coerceri po|te&s;t. Ga&s;t.</HI> Clave. in Apoll.</NOTE> adds, that he &s;pake of the Mercuries drawn from me|tals; becau&s;e common Quick&s;ilver by rea|&s;on of its exce&s;&s;ive coldne&s;&s;e and moi&s;ture is unfit for that particular kind of opera|tion; for which though a few lines be|fore he pre&s;cribes in general the Mercu|ries of Metalline Bodies, yet he chiefly commends that drawn by art from &s;ilver.
<PB N="275" REF="148">And el&s;ewhere, in the &s;ame Book, he tells us, that he him&s;elf tryed, that by bare coction the quick&s;ilver of Tin or Pewter <HI>(argen um vivum ex &s;tanno prolicitum)</HI> may by an efficient cau&s;e, as he &s;peaks, be turn'd into pure Gold. And the Expe|rienc'd <HI>Alexander van Suchten,</HI> &s;ome|where tells us, that by a way he intimates may be made a Mercury of Copper, not of the Silver colour of other Mercuries, but green; to which I &s;hall add, that an eminent per&s;on, who&s;e name his tra|vells and learned writings have made famous, lately a&s;&s;ur'd me that he had more then once &s;een the Mercury of Lead (which what ever Authors pro|mi&s;e, you will find it very difficult to make, at lea&s;t in any con&s;iderable quanti|ty) fixt into perfect Gold. And being by me demanded whether or no any o|ther Mercury would not as well have been changed by the &s;ame Operations, he a&s;&s;ured me of the Negative.</P>
<P>And &s;ince I am fallen upon the men|tion of the Mercuries of metals, you will perhaps expect <HI>(Eleutherius!)</HI> that I &s;hould &s;ay &s;omething of their two other principles; but I mu&s;t freely confe&s;s to you, that what Di&s;parity there may be be|tween
<PB N="276" REF="149">the &s;alts and &s;ulphurs of Metals and other Menerals, I am not my &s;elf experienced enough in the &s;eparations and examens of them, to venture to de|termine: (for as for the &s;alts of Metals, I formerly repre&s;ented it as a thing much to be que&s;tion'd, whether they have any at all:) And for the proce&s;&s;es of &s;eparation I find in Authors, if they were (what many of them are not) &s;ucce&s;sfully practicable, as I noted above, yet they are to be per|formed by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of other bodies, &s;o hardly, if upon any termes at all, &s;e|parable from them, that it is very difficult to give the &s;eparated principles all their due, and no more. But the Sulphur of Antimony which is vehemently vomi|tive, and the &s;trongly &s;cented Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol inclines me to think that not only Mineral Sulphurs differ from Vegetable ones, but al&s;o from one another, retaining much of the nature of their Concretes. The &s;alts of metals, and of &s;ome &s;ort of minerals, You will ea&s;ily gue&s;&s;e by the Doubts I formerly expre&s;s'd, whether metals have any &s;alt at all, that I have not been &s;o happy as yet to &s;ee, perhaps not for want of cu|rio&s;ity. But if <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> did alwaies
<PB N="277" REF="149">write &s;o con&s;entaneou&s;ly to him&s;elf that his opinion were <HI>confidently</HI> to be collect|ed from every place of his writings where he &s;eems to expre&s;&s;e it, I might &s;afely take upon me to tell you, that he both countenances in general what I have de|livered in my Fourth main con&s;ideration, and in particular warrants me to &s;u&s;pect that there may be a difference in metal|line and mineral Salts, as well as we find it in tho&s;e of other bodies. For, <HI>Sulphur</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>aliud in auro, aliud in argento,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Paracel. de Mine|ral. Troct 1. pag. 141.</NOTE> <HI>aliud in ferro, aliud in plumbo, stanno, &amp;c. &s;ic aliud in Saphiro, aliud in Sma|ragdo, aliud in rubino, chry&s;olito, amethis|to, magnete, &amp;c. Item aliud in lapidibus, &s;ilice, &s;alibus, fontibus, &amp;c. nec vero tot &s;ulphura tantum, &s;ed &amp; tot idem &s;alia; &s;al a|liud in metallis, aliud in gemmis, aliud in lapidibus, aliud in &s;alibus, aliud in vitrio|lo, aliud in alumine: &s;imilis etiam Mercurii est ratio. Alius in Metallis, alius in Gemmis, &amp;c. Ita ut unicuique &s;peciei &s;uus peculiaris Mercurius &s;it. Et tamen res &s;al|tem tres &s;unt; una e&s;&s;entia est &s;ulphur; una e&s;t &s;al; una e&s;t Mercurius. Addo quod &amp; &s;pecialius adhuc &s;ingula dividantur; aurum enim non unum, &s;ed multiplex, ut et non unum pyrum, pomum, &s;ed idem multiplex; totidem e|tiam
<PB N="278" REF="150">&s;ulphura auri, &s;alia auri, mercurii auri; idem competit etiam metallis &amp; gemmis; ut quot &s;aphyri prae&s;tantiores, laeviores, &amp;c. tot etiam &s;aphyrica &s;ulphura, &s;aphyrica &s;alia, &s;uphyrici Mercurii, &amp;c. Idem verum eti|am e&s;t de turconibus &amp; gemmis aliis uni|ver&s;is.</HI> From which pa&s;&s;age <HI>(Eleuthe|rius)</HI> I &s;uppo&s;e you will think I might without ra&s;hne&s;s conclude, either that my opinion is favoured by that of <HI>Para|cel&s;us,</HI> or that <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> his opinion was not alwaies the &s;ame. But becau&s;e in divers other places of his writings he &s;eems to talk at a differing rate of the three Principles and the four Elements, I &s;hall content my &s;elf to inferr from the alledg'd pa&s;&s;age, that if his doctrine be not con&s;i&s;tent with that Part of mine which it is brought to countenance, it is very difficult to know what his opinion concerning &s;alt, &s;ulphur and mercury, was; and that con&s;equently we had rea|&s;on about the beginning of our conferen|ces, to decline taking upon us, either to examine or oppo&s;e it.</P>
<P>I know not whether I &s;hould on this occa&s;ion add, that tho&s;e very bodies the Chymi&s;ts call Phlegme and Earth do yet recede from an Elementary &s;implicity.
<PB N="279" REF="150">That common Earth and Water fre|quently do &s;o, notwith&s;tanding the receiv|ed contrary opinion, is not deny'd by the more wary of the moderne Peripateticks them&s;elves: and certainly, mo&s;t Earths are much le&s;&s;e &s;imple bodies then is com|monly imagined even by Chymi&s;ts, who do not &s;o con&s;ideratly to pre&s;cribe and employ Earths Promi&s;cuou&s;ly in tho&s;e di&s;tillations that require the mixture of &s;ome <HI>caput mortuum,</HI> to hinder the flow|ing together of the matter, and to re|tain its gro&s;&s;er parts. For I have found &s;ome Earths to yield by di&s;tillation a Li|quor very far from being inodorous or in|&s;ipid; and 'tis a known ob&s;ervation, that mo&s;t kinds of fat Earth kept cover'd from the rain, and hindred from &s;pend|ing them&s;elves in the production of vege|tables, will in time become impregnated with Salt-Petre.</P>
<P>But I mu&s;t remember that the Wa|ter and Earths I ought here to &s;peak of, are &s;uch as are &s;eparated from mixt Bo|dies by the fire; and therefore to re&s;train my Di&s;cour&s;e to &s;uch, I &s;hall tell you, That we &s;ee the Phlegme of Vitriol (for in&s;tance) is a very effectual remedie a|gain&s;t burnes; and I know a very Fa|mous
<PB N="280" REF="151">and experienc'd <HI>Phy&s;itian,</HI> who&s;e un|&s;u&s;pected &s;ecret (him&s;elf confe&s;s'd to me) it is, for the di&s;cu&s;&s;ing of hard and Ob&s;ti|nate Tumours. The Phlegme of Vina|ger, though drawn exceeding lea&s;urly in a dige&s;ting Furnace, I have purpo&s;ely made tryall of; and &s;ometimes found it able to draw, though &s;lowly, a &s;accha|rine &s;weetne&s;s out of Lead; and as I re|member by long Dige&s;tion, I di&s;&s;olv'd Corpals in it. The Phlegme of the &s;u|gar of Saturne is &s;aid to have very pecu|liar properties. Divers Eminent Chymi&s;ts teach, that it will di&s;&s;olve Pearls, which being precipitated by the &s;pirit of the &s;ame concrete are thereby (as they &s;ay) rendred volatile; which has been confirm|ed to me, upon his own ob&s;ervation, by a per&s;on of great veracity. The Phlegme of Wine, and indeed divers other Li|quors that are indi&s;criminately condemnd to be ca&s;t away as phlegm, are endow'd with qualities that make them differ both from meer water, and from each other; and whereas the Chymi&s;ts are pleas'd to call the <HI>caput mortuum</HI> of what they have di&s;till'd (after they have by affu&s;ion of water drawn away its &s;alt) <HI>terra damnata,</HI> or Earth, it may be doubted whether or
<PB N="281" REF="151">no tho&s;e earths are all of them perfectly alike: and it is &s;carce to be doubted, but that there are &s;ome of them which re|main yet unreduc'd to an Elementary na|ture. The a&s;hes of wood depriv'd of all the &s;alt, and bone-A&s;hes, or calcin'd Harts|horn, which Refiners choo&s;e to make Te&s;ts of, as free&s;t from Salt, &s;eem unlike: and he that &s;hall compare either of the&s;e in&s;ipid a&s;hes to Lime, and much more to the <HI>calx</HI> of Talk (though by the affu&s;ion of water they be exqui&s;itely dulcify'd) will perhaps &s;ee cau&s;e to think them things of a &s;ome|what differing nature. And it is evident in Colcothar that the exacte&s;t calcination, follow'd by an exqui&s;ite dulcification, does not alwaies reduce the remaining bo|dy into elementary earth; for after the &s;alt or Vitriol (if the Calcination have been too faint) is drawn out of the Colcothar, the re&s;idue is not earth, but a mixt body, rich in Medical vertues (as experience has inform'd me) and which <HI>Angelus Sa|la</HI> affirmes to be partly reducible into malleable Copper; which I judge very probable: for though when I was ma|king Experiments upon Colcothar, I was de&s;titute of a Furnace capable of giving a heat inten&s;e Enough to bring &s;uch a
<PB N="282" REF="152">Calx to Fu&s;ion; yet having conjectur'd that if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find it out there, I put &s;ome dulcifi'd Colcothar into that <HI>Men&s;truum,</HI> and found the Li|quor, according to my Expectation, pre&s;ently Colour'd as Highly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Cop|per.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="5" TYPE="part">
<PB N="283" REF="152">
<HEAD>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST. The Fifth Part.</HEAD>
<P>HEre <HI>Carneades</HI> making a pau&s;e, I mu&s;t not deny (&s;ayes his Friend to him) that I think You have &s;uffici|ently prov'd that the&s;e di&s;tinct Sub&s;tan|ces which Chymi&s;ts are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, by their Vulgar De|&s;tillation, are not pure and &s;imple e|nough to de&s;erve, in Rigour of &s;peaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But I &s;uppo&s;e You have heard, that there are &s;ome Modern <HI>Spagyri&s;ts,</HI> who give out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, &s;o reduce the &s;eparated Ingredients of Mixt Bo|dies to an Elementary &s;implicity, That
<PB N="284" REF="153">the Oyles (for In&s;tance) extracted from all Mixts &s;hall as perfectly re&s;emble one another, as the Drops of Water do.</P>
<P>If you remember (replies <HI>Carneades</HI>) that at the Beginning of our Conference with <HI>Philoponus,</HI> I declar'd to him be|fore the re&s;t of the Company, that I would not <HI>engage</HI> my &s;elf at pre&s;ent to do any more then examine the u&s;ual proofs alledg'd by Chymi&s;ts, for the Vulgar doctrine of their three Hypo&s;tatical Prin|ciples; You will ea&s;ily perceive that I am not oblig'd to make an&s;wer to what you newly propos'd; and that it rather grants, then di&s;proves what I have been contending for: Since by pre|tending to make &s;o great a change in the reputed Principles that De&s;tillation affords the common <HI>Spagyri&s;ts,</HI> 'tis plainly enough pre&s;uppos'd, that before &s;uch Artificial Depurations be made, the Sub&s;tances to be made more &s;imple were not yet &s;imple enough to be look'd upon as Elementary; Wherefore in ca&s;e the <HI>Arti&s;ts</HI> you &s;peak of could per|form what they give out they can, yet I &s;hould not need to be a&s;ham'd of ha|ving que&s;tion'd the Vulgar Opinion
<PB N="285" REF="153">touching the <HI>tria Prima.</HI> And as to the thing it &s;elf, I &s;hall freely acknowledge to you, that I love not to be forward in determining things to be impo&s;&s;ible, till I know and have con&s;ider'd the means by which they are propos'd to be effected. And therefore I &s;hall not pe|remptorily deny either the po&s;&s;ibility of what the&s;e <HI>Arti&s;ts</HI> promi&s;e, or my A&s;|&s;ent to any ju&s;t Inference; however de|&s;tructive to my Conjectures, that may be drawn from their performances. But give me leave to tell you withall, that becau&s;e &s;uch promi&s;es are wont (as Experience has more then once in|form'd me) to be much more ea&s;ily made, then made good by Chymi&s;ts, I mu&s;t withhold my Beliefe from their a&s;|&s;ertions, till their Experiments exact it; and mu&s;t not be &s;o ea&s;ie as to expect before hand, an unlikely thing upon no &s;tronger Inducements then are yet given me: Be&s;ides that I have not yet found by what I have heard of the&s;e Arti&s;ts, that though they pretend to bring the &s;everal Sub&s;tances into which the Fire has divided the Concrete, to an exqui|&s;ite &s;implicity, They pretend al&s;o to be able by the Fire to divide all Concretes,
<PB N="286" REF="154">Minerals, and others, into the &s;ame number of Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances. And in the mean time I mu&s;t think it im|probable, that they can either truly &s;e|parate as many differing Bodies from Gold (for In&s;tance) or <HI>O&s;teocolla,</HI> as we can do from Wine, or Vitriol; or that the Mercury (for Example) of Gold or Saturn would be perfectly of the &s;ame Nature with that of Harts|horn; and that the &s;ulphur of Antimo|ny would be but Numerically different from the Di&s;till'd butter or oyle of Ro|&s;es.</P>
<P>But &s;uppo&s;e (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) that you &s;hould meet with Chymi&s;ts, who would allow you to take in Earth and Water into the number of the prin|ciples of Mixt Bodies; and being al&s;o content to change the Ambiguous Name of Mercury for that more in|telligible one of &s;pirit, &s;hould con&s;e|quently make the principles of Com|pound Bodies to be Five; would you not think it &s;omething hard to reject &s;o plau&s;ible an Opinion, only becau&s;e the Five &s;ub&s;tances into which the Fire divides mixt Bodies are not exactly pure, and Homogeneous? For my part
<PB N="287" REF="154">(Continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) I cannot but think it &s;omewhat &s;trange, in ca&s;e this Opinion be not true, that it &s;hould fall out &s;o luckily, that &s;o great a Variety of Bodies &s;hould be Analyz'd by the Fire into ju&s;t five Di&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances; which &s;o little differing from the Bodies that bear tho&s;e names, may &s;o Plau&s;ibly be call'd Oyle, Spirit, Salt, Water, and Earth.</P>
<P>The Opinion You now propo&s;e (an|&s;wers <HI>Carneades</HI>) being another then that I was engag'd to examine, it is not requi&s;ite for me to Debate it at pre&s;ent; nor &s;hould I have lei&s;ure to do it tho|rowly. Wherefore I &s;hall only tell you in General, that though I think this O|pinion in &s;ome re&s;pects more defen&s;i|ble then that of the Vulgar Chymi&s;ts; yet you may ea&s;ily enough learn from the pa&s;t Di&s;cour&s;e what may be thought of it: Since many of the Objections made again&s;t the Vulgar Doctrine of the Chy|mi&s;ts &s;eem, without much alteration, employable again&s;t this <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> al&s;o. For, be&s;ides that this Doctrine does as well as the other take it for granted, (what is not ea&s;ie to be prov'd) that the Fire is the true and Adequate Ana|lyzer
<PB N="288" REF="155">of Bodies, and that all the Di|&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances obtainable from a mixt Body by the Fire, were &s;o pre-exi&s;tent in it, that they were but extricated from each other by the <HI>Analy&s;is;</HI> Be&s;ides that this Opinion, too, a&s;cribe to the Productions of the Fire an Elementary &s;implicity, which I have &s;hewn not to belong to them; and be&s;ides that this Doctrine is lyable to &s;ome of the o|ther Difficulties, wherewith That of the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> is incumber'd; Be&s;ides all this, I &s;ay, this quinary number of E|lements, (if you pardon the Expre&s;&s;i|on) ought at lea&s;t to have been re|&s;train'd to the Generality of Animal and Vegetable Bodies, &s;ince not only a|mong the&s;e there are &s;ome Bodies (as I formerly argu'd) which, for ought has yet been made to appear, do con|&s;i&s;t, either of fewer or more &s;imilar &s;ub&s;tances then preci&s;ely Five. But in the Mineral Kingdom, there is &s;carce one Concrete that has been evinc'd to be adequatly divi&s;ible into &s;uch five Prin|ciples or Elements, and neither more nor le&s;s, as this Opinion would have e|very mixt Body to con&s;i&s;t of.</P>
<P>And this very thing (continues <HI>Car|neades</HI>)
<PB N="289" REF="155">may &s;erve to take away or le&s;|&s;en your Wonder, that ju&s;t &s;o many Bodies as five &s;hould be found upon the Re&s;olution of Concretes. For &s;ince we find not that the fire can make any &s;uch <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> (into five Elements) of Metals and other Mineral Bodies, who&s;e Texture is more &s;trong and permanent, it remains that the Five Sub&s;tances un|der con&s;ideration be Obtain'd from Ve|getable and Animal Bodies, which (pro|bably by rea&s;on of their loo&s;er Con|texture) are capable of being Di&s;till'd. And as to &s;uch Bodies, 'tis natural e|nough, that, whether we &s;uppo&s;e that there are, or are not, preci&s;ely five E|lements, there &s;hould ordinarily occurr in the Di&s;&s;ipated parts a five Fold Di|ver&s;ity of Scheme (if I may &s;o &s;peak.) For if the Parts do not remain all fix'd, as in Gold, Calcin'd Talck, &amp;c. nor all a&s;cend, as in the Sublimation of Brim|&s;tone, Camphire, &amp;c. but after their Di&s;&s;ipation do a&s;&s;ociate them&s;elves into new Schemes of Matter; it is very like|ly, that they will by the Fire be divided into fix'd and Volatile (I mean, in Re|ference to that degree of heat by which they are de&s;till'd) and tho&s;e Volatile
<PB N="290" REF="156">parts will, for the mo&s;t part, a&s;cend either in a dry forme, which Chymi&s;ts are pleas'd to call, if they be Ta&s;tle&s;s, Flowers; if Sapid, Volatile Salt; or in a Liquid Forme. And this Liquor mu&s;t be either inflamable, and &s;o pa&s;s for oyl, or not inflamable, and yet &s;ubtile and pungent, which may be call'd Spirit; or el&s;e &s;trengthle&s;s or in&s;ipid, which may be nam'd Phlegme, or Water. And as for the fixt part, or <HI>Caput Mor|tuum,</HI> it will mo&s;t commonly con&s;i&s;t of Corpu&s;cles, partly Soluble in Water, or Sapid, (e&s;pecially if the Saline parts were not &s;o Volatile, as to fly away be|fore) which make up its fixt &s;alt; and partly in&s;oluble and in&s;ipid, which there|fore &s;eems to challenge the name of Earth. But although upon this ground one might ea&s;ily enough have foretold, that the differing &s;ub&s;tances obtain'd from a perfectly mixt Body by the Fire would for the mo&s;t part be reducible to the five newly mentioned States of Matter; yet it will not pre&s;ently follow, that the&s;e five Di&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances were &s;imple and primogeneal bodies, &s;o pre|exi&s;tent in the Concrete that the fire does but take them a&s;under. Be&s;ides
<PB N="291" REF="156">that it does not appear, that all Mixt Bodies, (witne&s;s, Gold, Silver, Mercu|ry, &amp;c.) Nay nor perhaps all Vege|tables, which may appear by what we &s;aid above of <HI>Camphire, Benzoin,</HI> &amp;c. are re&s;oluble by Fire into ju&s;t &s;uch dif|fering Schemes of Matter. Nor will the Experiments formerly alledg'd per|mit us to look upon the&s;e &s;eparated Sub&s;tances as Elementary, or uncom|pounded. Neither will it be a &s;uffici|ent Argument of their being Bodies that de&s;erve the Names which Chy|mi&s;ts are pleas'd to give them, that they have an Analogy in point of Con&s;i&s;tence, or either Volatility or Fixtne&s;s, or el&s;e &s;ome other obvious Quality, with the &s;uppos'd Principles, who&s;e names are a&s;crib'd to them. For, as I told you above, notwith&s;tanding this Re&s;emblance in &s;ome one Quality, there may be &s;uch a Di&s;parity in others, as may be more fit to give them Dif|fering Appellations, then the Re&s;em|blance is to give them one and the &s;ame. And indeed it &s;eems but &s;ome|what a gro&s;s Way of judging of the Nature of Bodies, to conclude without Scruple, that tho&s;e mu&s;t be of the &s;ame
<PB N="292" REF="157">Nature that agree in &s;ome &s;uch Gene|ral Quality, as Fluidity, Dryne&s;s, Vo|latility, and the like: &s;ince each of tho&s;e Qualities, or States of Matter, may Comprehend a great Variety of Bo|dies, otherwi&s;e of a very differing Na|ture; as we may &s;ee in the Calxes of Gold, of Vitriol, and of Venetian Talck, compar'd with common A&s;hes, which yet are very dry, and fix'd by the ve|hemence of the Fire, as well as they. And as we may likewi&s;e gather from what I have formerly Ob&s;erv'd, touch|ing the Spirit of Box-Wood, which though a Volatile, Sapid, and not infla|mable Liquor, as well as the Spirits of Harts-horn, of Blood and others, (and therefore has been hitherto call'd, the Spirit, and e&s;teem'd for one of the Principles of the Wood that affords it;) may yet, as I told You, be &s;ubdi|vided into two Liquors, differing from one another, and one of them at lea&s;t, from the Generality of other Chymical Spirits.</P>
<P>But you may your &s;elf, if you plea&s;e, (pur&s;ues <HI>Carneades</HI>) accommodate to the <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> you propos'd what other par|ticulars you &s;hall think applicable to it,
<PB N="293" REF="157">in the foregoing Di&s;cour&s;e. For I think it un&s;ea&s;onable for me to meddle now a|ny further with a Controver&s;ie, which &s;ince it does not now belong to me, Leaves me at Liberty to Take my Own time to Declare my Self about it.</P>
<P><HI>Eleutherius</HI> perceiving that <HI>Carneades</HI> was &s;omewhat unwilling to &s;pend any more time upon the debate of this Opinion, and having perhaps &s;ome thoughts of taking hence a Ri&s;e to make him Di&s;cour&s;e it more fully another time, thought not fit as then to make any fur|ther mention to him of the propos'd opi|nion, but told him;</P>
<P>I pre&s;ume I need not mind you, <HI>Carne|ades,</HI> That both the Patrons of the ternary number of Principles, and tho&s;e that would have five Elements, endeavour to back their experiments with a &s;pecious Rea&s;on or two; and e&s;pe|cially &s;ome of tho&s;e Embracers of the O|pinion la&s;t nam'd (whom I have con|vers'd with, and found them Learned men) a&s;&s;igne this Rea&s;on of the nece&s;&s;ity of five di&s;tinct Elements; that otherwi&s;e mixt Bodies could not be &s;o compounded and temper'd as to obtain a due con&s;i|&s;tence
<PB N="294" REF="158">and competent Duration. For Salt (&s;ay they) is the <HI>Ba&s;is</HI> of Solidity; and Permanency in Compound Bodies, without which the other four Elements might indeed be variou&s;ly and loo&s;ly blended together, but would remain in|compacted; but that Salt might be di&s;|&s;olv'd into minute Parts, and convey'd to the other Sub&s;tances to be compacted by it, and with it, there is a Nece&s;&s;ity of Water. And that the mixture may not be too hard and brittle, a Sulphureous or Oyly Principle mu&s;t intervene to make the ma&s;s more tenacious; to this a Mer|curial &s;pirit mu&s;t be &s;uperadded; which by its activity may for a while premeate, and as it were leaven the whole Ma&s;s, and thereby promote the more ex|qui&s;ite mixture and incorporation of the Ingredients. To all which (la&s;tly) a portion of Earth mu&s;t be added, which by its drine&s;&s;e and poracity may &s;oak up part of that water wherein the Salt was di&s;&s;olv'd, and eminently concurr with the other ingredients to give the whole body the requi&s;ite con&s;i&s;tence.</P>
<P>I perceive (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI> &s;miling) that if it be true, as 'twas lately rooted from the Proverb, <HI>That good Wits have
<PB N="295" REF="158">bad Memories,</HI> You have that Title, as well as a better, to a place among the good Wits. For you have already more then once forgot, that I declar'd to you that I would at this Confe|rence Examine only the Experiments of my Adver&s;aries, not their Specula|tive Rea&s;ons. Yet 'tis not (Subjoynes <HI>Carneades</HI>) for fear of medling with the Argument you have propos'd, that I decline the examining it at pre&s;ent. For if when we are more at lea&s;ure, you &s;hall have a mind that we may So|lemnly con&s;ider of it together; I am confident we &s;hall &s;carce find it in&s;olu|ble. And in the mean time we may ob&s;erve, that &s;uch a way of Arguing may, it &s;eems, be &s;peciou&s;ly accommoda|ted to differing <HI>Hypothe&s;es.</HI> For I find that <HI>Beguinus,</HI> and other A&s;&s;ertors of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> pretend to make out by &s;uch a way, the requi&s;itene&s;s of their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to con&s;titute mixt Bodies, without taking notice of any ne|ce&s;&s;ity of an Addition of Water and Earth.</P>
<P>And indeed neither &s;ort of Chymi&s;ts &s;eem to have duly con&s;ider'd how great Variety there is in the Textures and
<PB N="296" REF="159">Con&s;i&s;tences of Compound Bodie; sand how little the con&s;i&s;tence and Durati|on of many of them &s;eem to accommo|date and be explicable by the propos'd Notion. And not to mention tho&s;e almo&s;t incorruptible Sub&s;tances obtainable by the Fire, which I have prov'd to be &s;omewhat compounded, and which the Chymi&s;ts will readily grant not to be perfectly mixt Bodies: (Not to menti|on the&s;e, I &s;ay) If you will but recall to mind &s;ome of tho&s;e Experiments, whereby I &s;hew'd You that out of com|mon Water only mixt Bodies (and even living ones) of very differing con|&s;i&s;tences, and re&s;oluble by Fire into as many Principles as other bodies ac|knowledg'd to be perfectly mixt; if you do this, I &s;ay, you will not, I &s;uppo&s;e, be aver&s;e from beleeving, that Nature by a convenient di&s;po&s;ition of the minute parts of a portion of matter may con|trive bodies durable enough, and of this, or that, or the other Con&s;i&s;tence, with|out being oblig'd to make u&s;e of all, much le&s;s of any Determinate quantity of each of the five Elements, or of the three Principles to compound &s;uch bodies of. And I have (pur&s;ues <HI>Carne|ades</HI>)
<PB N="297" REF="159">&s;omething wonder'd, Chymi&s;ts &s;hould not con&s;ider, that there is &s;carce any body in Nature &s;o permanent and indi&s;&s;oluble as Gla&s;s; which yet them|&s;elves teach us may be made of bare A&s;hes, brought to fu&s;ion by the meer Violence of the Fire; &s;o that, &s;ince A&s;hes are granted to con&s;i&s;t but of pure Salt and &s;imple Earth, &s;eque&s;tred from all the other Principles or Elements, they mu&s;t acknowledge, That even Art it &s;elf can of two Elements only, or, if you plea&s;e, one Principle and one Element, compound a Body more du|rable then almo&s;t any in the World. Which being undeniable, how will they prove that Nature cannot com|pound Mixt Bodies, and even durable Ones, under all the five Elements or ma|terial Principles.</P>
<P>But to in&s;i&s;t any longer on this Occa|&s;ional Di&s;qui&s;ition, Touching their O|pinion that would E&s;tabli&s;h five Ele|ments, were to remember as little as You did before, that the Debate of this matter is no part of my fir&s;t undertak|ing; and con&s;equently, that I have alrea|dy &s;pent time enough in what I look back upon but as a digre&s;&s;ion, or at be&s;t an Excur&s;ion.</P>
<PB N="298" REF="160">
<P>And thus, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> (&s;ayes <HI>Carnea|des</HI>) having at length gone through the four Con&s;iderations I propos'd to Di&s;|cour&s;e unto you, I hold it not unfit, for fear my having in&s;i&s;ted &s;o long on each of them may have made you forget their <HI>Series,</HI> briefly to repeat them by telling you, that</P>
<P>Since, in the fir&s;t place, it may ju&s;tly be doubted whether or no the Fire be, as Chymi&s;ts &s;uppo&s;e it, the genuine and Univer&s;al Re&s;olver of mixt Bodies;</P>
<P>Since we may doubt, in the next place, whether or no all the Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances that may be obtain'd from a mixt body by the Fire were pre-exi&s;tent there in the formes in which they were &s;eparated from it;</P>
<P>Since al&s;o, though we &s;hould grant the Sub&s;tances &s;eparable from mixt Bo|dies by the fire to have been their component Ingredients, yet the Number of &s;uch &s;ub&s;tances does not appear the &s;ame in all mixt Bodies; &s;ome of them being Re&s;oluble into more differing &s;ub|&s;tances than three, and Others not being Re&s;oluble into &s;o many as three.</P>
<P>And Since, La&s;tly, tho&s;e very &s;ub&s;tan|ces that are thus &s;eparated are not for the
<PB N="299" REF="160">mo&s;t part pure and Elementary bodies, but new kinds of mixts;</P>
<P>Since, I &s;ay, the&s;e things are &s;o, I hope you will allow me to inferr, that the Vulgar Experiments (I might perchance have Added, the Arguments too) wont to be Alledg'd by Chymi&s;ts to prove, that their three Hypo&s;tatical Principles do adequately compo&s;e all mixt Bodies, are not &s;o demon&s;trative as to reduce a wary Per&s;on to acquie&s;ce in their Do|ctrine, which, till they Explain and prove it better, will by its perplexing darkne&s;s be more apt to puzzle then &s;atisfy con|&s;idering men, and will to them appear incumbred with no &s;mall Difficulties.</P>
<P>And from what has been hitherto de|duc'd (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) we may Learn, what to Judge of the common Practice of tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts, who becau&s;e they have found that Diver&s;e compound Bodies (for it will not hold in All) can be re&s;olv'd into, or rather can be brought to afford two or three differing Sub&s;tan|ces more then the Soot and A&s;hes, where|into the naked fire commonly divides them in our Chymnies, cry up their own Sect for the Invention of a New Philo&s;o|phy, &s;ome of them, as <HI>Helmont, &amp;c.</HI> &s;tyling
<PB N="300" REF="161">them&s;elves Philo&s;ophers by the Fire; and the mo&s;t part not only a&s;cribing, but as far as in them lies, engro&s;&s;ing to tho&s;e of their Sect the Title of PHILOSO|PHERS.</P>
<P>But alas, how narrow is this Philo&s;o|phy, that reaches but to &s;ome of tho&s;e compound Bodies, which we find but upon, or in the cru&s;t or out&s;ide of our ter|re&s;trial Globe, which is it &s;elf but a point in compari&s;on of the va&s;t extended Uni|ver&s;e, of who&s;e other and greater parts the Doctrine of the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> does not give us an Account! For what does it teach us, either of the Nature of the Sun, which A&s;tronomers affirme to be eight|&s;core and odd times bigger then the whole Earth? or of that of tho&s;e numerous &s;ixt Starrs, which, for ought we know, would very few, if any of them, appear inferi|our in bulke and brightne&s;s to the Sun, if they were as neer us as He? What does the knowing that Salt, &s;ulphur and Mercury, are the Principles of Mixt Bo|dies, informe us of the Nature of that va&s;t, fluid, and Aetherial Sub&s;tance, that &s;eemes to make up the in|ter&s;tellar, and con&s;equently much the greate&s;t part of the World? for as for
<PB N="301" REF="161">the opinion commonly a&s;crib'd to <HI>Para|cel&s;us,</HI> as if he would have not only the four Peripatetick Elements, but e|ven the Cele&s;tial parts of the Univer&s;e to con&s;i&s;t of his three Principles, &s;ince the modern Chymi&s;ts them&s;elves have not thought &s;o groundle&s;s a conceit worth their owning, I &s;hall not think it Worth my confuting.</P>
<P>But I &s;hould perchance forgive the Hy|pothe&s;is I have been all this while exa|mining, if, though it reaches but to a ve|ry little part of the World, it did at lea&s;t give us a &s;atisfactory account of tho&s;e things to which 'tis &s;aid to reach. But I find not, that it gives us any other then a very imperfect information even about mixt Bodies them&s;elves: For how will the knowledge of the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> di&s;co|ver to us the Rea&s;on, why the Load&s;tone drawes a Needle and di&s;po&s;es it to re|&s;pect the Poles, and yet &s;eldom preci&s;e|ly points at them? how will this Hypo|the&s;is teach Us how a Chick is formed in the Egge, or how the Seminal Princi|ples of Mint, Pompions, and other Ve|gitables, that I mention'd to You above, can fa&s;hion Water into Various Plants, each of them endow'd with its peculiar
<PB N="302" REF="162">and determinate &s;hape, and with divers &s;pecifick and di&s;criminating Qualities? How does this Hypothe&s;is &s;hew us, how much Salt, how much Sulphur, and how much Mereury mu&s;t be taken to make a Chick or a Pompion? and if We know that, what Principle is it, that manages the&s;e Ingredients, and contrives (for in|&s;tance) &s;uch Liquors as the White and Yelk of an Egge into &s;uch a variety of Textures as is requi&s;ite to fa&s;hion the Bones, Veines, Arteries, Nerves, Ten|dons, Feathers, Blood, and other parts of a Chick; and not only to fa&s;hion each Limbe, but to connect them altoge|ther, after that manner that is mo&s;t congruous to the perfection of the Ani|mal which is to Con&s;i&s;t of Them? For to &s;ay, that &s;ome more fine and &s;ubtile part of either or all the Hypo&s;tatical Principles is the Director in all this bu&s;i|ne&s;s, and the Architect of all this Elabo|rate &s;tructure, is to give one occa&s;ion to demand again, what proportion and way of mixture of the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> afford|ed this <HI>Architectonick</HI> Spirit, and what Agent made &s;o skilful and happy a mix|ture? And the An&s;wer to this Que&s;tion, if the Chymi&s;ts will keep them&s;elves
<PB N="303" REF="162">within their three Principles, will be ly|able to the &s;ame Inconvenience, that the An&s;wer to the former was. And if it were not to intrench upon the Theame of a Friend of ours here pre&s;ent, I could ea&s;ily pro&s;ecute the Imperfections of the Vulgar Chymi&s;ts Philo&s;ophy, and &s;hew you, that by going about to expli|cate by their three Principles, I &s;ay not, all the ab&s;tru&s;e Properties of mixt Bodies, but even &s;uch Obvious and more familiar <HI>Phaenomena</HI> as <HI>Fluidity</HI> and <HI>Firmne&s;s,</HI> The Colours and Figures of Stones, Mine|rals, and other compound Bodies, The Nutrition of either Plants or Animals, the Gravity of Gold or Quick&s;ilver com|par'd with Wine or Spirit of Wine; By attempting, I &s;ay, to render a rea&s;on of the&s;e (to omit a thou&s;and others as dif|ficult to account for) from any proporti|on of the three &s;imple Ingredients, Chy|mi&s;ts will be much more likely to di&s;cre|dit them&s;elves and their <HI>Hypothe&s;is,</HI> then &s;atisfy an intelligent Inquirer after Truth.</P>
<P>But (interpo&s;es <HI>Eleutherus</HI>) This Ob|jection &s;eems no more then may be made again&s;t the four Peripatetick Elements. And indeed almo&s;t again&s;t any other <HI>Hy|pothe&s;is,</HI>
<PB N="304" REF="163">that pretends by any Determi|nate Number of Material Ingredients to render a rea&s;on of the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of Na|ture. And as for the u&s;e of the Chymi|cal Doctrine of the three Principles, I &s;uppo&s;e you need not be told by me,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Senn. de Con&s;. &amp; Di&s;&s;en. p.</HI> 165,</NOTE> that The great Champion of it, The Learn|ed <HI>Sennertus,</HI> a&s;&s;ignes this noble u&s;e of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> That from Them, as the neere&s;t and mo&s;t Proper Principles, may be Deduc'd and Demon&s;trated the Properties which are in Mixt Bodies, and which cannot be Proximately (as They &s;peak) deduc'd from the Ele|ments. And This, &s;ayes he, is chiefly Apparent, when we Inquire into the Properties and Faculties of Mede|cines. And I know (continues <HI>Eleu|therius</HI>) That the Per&s;on You have a&s;&s;um'd, of an Opponent of the <HI>Her|metick Doctrine,</HI> will not &s;o far prevaile again&s;t your Native and wonted Equity, as To keep You from acknowledging that Philo&s;ophy is much beholden to the Notions and Di&s;coveries of Chy|mi&s;ts.</P>
<P>If the Chymi&s;ts You &s;peak of (Re|plyes <HI>Carneades</HI>) had been &s;o mode&s;t, or &s;o Di&s;creet, as to propo&s;e their O|pinion
<PB N="305" REF="163">of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> but as a Noti|on u&s;eful among Others, to increa&s;e Humane knowledge, they had de&s;erv'd more of our thanks; and le&s;s of our Op|po&s;ition; but &s;ince the Thing that they pretend is not &s;o much to contribute a Notion toward the Improvement of Philo&s;ophy, as to make this Notion at|tended by a few le&s;&s;e con&s;iderable ones) pa&s;s for a New Philo&s;ophy it &s;elf. Nay, &s;ince they boa&s;t &s;o much of this phancie of theirs, that the famous <HI>Quercetanus</HI> &s;cruples not to write, that if his mo&s;t certain Doctrine of the three Principles were &s;ufficiently Learned, Examin'd, and Cultivated, it would ea&s;ily Di&s;pel all the Darkne&s;s that benights our minds, and bring in a Clear Light, that would remove all Difficulties. This School af|fording Theorems and Axiomes irrefra|gable, and to be admitted without Di&s;|pute by impartial Judges; and &s;o u&s;eful withal, as to exempt us from the nece&s;&s;i|ty of having recour&s;e, for want of the knowledg of cau&s;es, to that Sanctuary of the igorant, Occult Qualities; &s;ince, I &s;ay, this Dome&s;tick Notion of the Chy|mi&s;ts is &s;o much overvalued by them, I cannot think it unfit, they &s;hould be made
<PB N="306" REF="164">&s;en&s;ible of their mi&s;take; and be admo|ni&s;h'd to take in more fruitful and com|prehen&s;ive Principles, if they mean to give us an account of the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of Nature; and not confine them&s;elves and (as far as they can) others to &s;uch narrow Principles, as I fear will &s;carce inable them to give an account (I mean an intelligible one) of the tenth part (I &s;ay not) of all the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of Nature; but even of all &s;uch as by the <HI>Leucippian</HI> or &s;ome of the other &s;orts of Principles may be plau&s;ibly enough ex|plicated. And though I be not unwil|ling to grant, that the incompetency I impute to the Chymical <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> is but the &s;ame which may be Objected a|gain&s;t that of the four Elements, and di|vers other Doctrines that have been maintain'd by Learnedmen; yet &s;ince 'tis the Chymical <HI>Hypothe&s;is</HI> only which I am now examining, I &s;ee not why, if what I impute to it be a real inconveni|ence, either it &s;hould cea&s;e to be &s;o, or I &s;hould &s;cruple to object it, becau&s;e o|ther Theories are lyable thereunto, as well as the Hermetical. For I know not why a Truth &s;hould be thought le&s;&s;e a Truth for the being fit to overthrow variety of Errors.</P>
<PB N="307" REF="164">
<P>I am oblig'd to You (continues <HI>Carne|ades,</HI> a little &s;miling) for the favourable Opinion You are pleas'd to expre&s;s of my Equity, if there be no de&s;ign in it. But I need not be tempted by an Artifice, or invited by a Complement, to acknow|ledge the great &s;ervice that the Labours of Chymi&s;ts have done the Lovers of u&s;eful Learning; nor even on this occa&s;i|on &s;hall their Arrogance hinder my Gra|titude. But &s;ince we are as well exami|ning to the truth of their Doctrine as the merit of their indu&s;try, I mu&s;t in order to the inve&s;tigation of the fir&s;t, continue a reply, to talk at the rate of the part I have a&s;&s;um'd; And tell you, that when I acknowledg the u&s;efulne&s;s of the La|bours of <HI>Spagyri&s;ts</HI> to Natural Philo&s;o|phy, I do it upon the &s;core of their ex|periments, not upon that of Their Spe|culations; for it &s;eems to me, that their Writings, as their Furnaces, afford as well &s;moke as light; and do little le&s;&s;e ob&s;cure &s;ome &s;ubjects, then they illu&s;trate others. And though I am unwilling to deny, that 'tis difficult for a man to be an Accompli&s;ht Naturali&s;t, that is a &s;tranger to Chymi&s;try, yet I look upon the common Operations and practices
<PB N="308" REF="165">of Chymi&s;ts, almo&s;t as I do on the Letters of the Alphabet, without who&s;e know|ledge 'tis very hard for a man to become a Philo&s;opher; and yet that knowledge is very far from being &s;ufficient to make him One.</P>
<P>But (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> re&s;uming a more &s;erious Look) to con&s;ider a little more particularly what you alledg in favour of the Chymical Doctrine of the <HI>Tria Pri|ma,</HI> though I &s;hall readily acknowledge it not to be unu&s;eful, and that the Divi|&s;ers and Embracers of it have done the Common-Wealth of Learning &s;ome &s;ervice, by helping to de&s;troy that ex|ce&s;&s;ive e&s;teem, or rather veneration, wherewith the Doctrine of the four Ele|ments was almo&s;t as generally as unde|&s;ervedly entertain'd; yet what has been alledg'd concerning the u&s;efulne&s;s of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> &s;eems to me liable to no con|temptible Difficulties.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, as for the very way of Pro|bation, which the more Learned and more Sober Champions of the Chymical cau&s;e employ to evince the Chymical Principles in Mixt Bodies, it &s;eems to me to be farr enough from being convincing. This grand and leading Argument, your
<PB N="309" REF="165"><HI>Sennertus</HI> Him&s;elf, who layes Great weight upon it, and tells us, that the mo&s;t Learned Philo&s;ophers employ this way of Rea&s;oning to prove the mo&s;t important things, propo&s;es thus: <HI>Ubi|cunque</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>pluribus eaedem affecti|ones &amp; qualitates in&s;unt, per commune quoddam Principium in&s;int nece&s;&s;e e&s;t, &s;i|cut omnia &s;unt Gravia propter terram, ca|lida propter Ignem. At Colores, Odores, Sapores, e&s;&s;e</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>&amp; &s;imilia alia, mi|neralibus, Metallis, Gemmis, Lapidibus, Plantis, Animalibus in&s;unt. Ergo per com|mune aliquod principium, &amp; &s;ubiectum, in|&s;unt. At tale principium non &s;unt Ele|menta. Nullam enim habent ad tales quali|tates producendas potentiam. Ergo alia prin|cipia, unde fluant, inquirenda &s;unt.</HI></P>
<P>In the Recital of this Argument, (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) I therefore thought fit to retain the Language wherein the Author propo&s;es it, that I might al&s;o retain the propriety of &s;ome Latine Termes, to which I do not readily re|member any that fully an&s;wer in Eng|li&s;h. But as for the Argumentation it &s;elf, 'tis built upon a precarious &s;uppo|&s;ition, that &s;eems to me neither De|mon&s;trable nor true; for, how does it
<PB N="310" REF="166">appear, that where the &s;ame Quality is to be met with in many Bodies, it mu&s;t belong to them upon the Account of &s;ome one Body whereof they all par|take? (For that the Major of our Au|thors Argument is to be Under&s;tood of the Material Ingredients of bodies, appears by the In&s;tances of Earth and Fire he annexes to explain it.) For to begin with that very Example which he is pleas'd to alledge for him&s;elf; how can he prove, that the Gravity of all Bodies proceeds from what they par|ticipate of the Element of Earth? Since we &s;ee, that not only common Water, but the more pure Di&s;till'd Rain Water is heavy; and Quick&s;il|ver is much heavier than Earth it &s;elf; though none of my Adver&s;aries has yet prov'd, that it contains any of that Element. And I the Rather make u&s;e of this Example of Quick&s;ilver, becau&s;e I &s;ee not how the A&s;&s;ertors of the E|lements will give any better Account of it then the Chymi&s;ts. For if it be demanded how it comes to be Fluid, they will an&s;wer, that it participates much of the Nature of Water. And indeed, according to them, Water
<PB N="311" REF="166">may be the Predominant Element in it, &s;ince we &s;ee, that &s;everal Bodies which by Di&s;tillation afford Liquors that weigh more then their <HI>Caput Mor|tuum</HI> do not yet con&s;i&s;t of Liquor e|nough to be Fluid. Yet if it be deman|ded how Quick&s;ilver comes to be &s;o heavy, then 'tis reply'd, that 'tis by rea|&s;on of the Earth that abounds in it; but &s;ince, according to them, it mu&s;t con&s;i&s;t al&s;o of air, and partly of Fire, which they affirm to be light Elements, how comes it that it &s;hould be &s;o much hea|vier then Earth of the &s;ame bulk, though to fill up the poro&s;ities and other Cavi|ties it be made up into a ma&s;s or pa&s;te with Water, which it &s;elf they allow to be a heavy Element. But to returne to our <HI>Spagyrists,</HI> we &s;ee that Chymical Oyles and fixt Salts, though never &s;o exqui&s;itely purify'd and freed from ter|re&s;trial parts, do yet remain ponderous enough. And Experience has inform'd me, that a pound, for in&s;tance, of &s;ome of the heavie&s;t Woods, as <HI>Guajacum</HI> that will &s;ink in Water, being burnt to A&s;hes will yield a much le&s;s weight of them (whereof I found but a &s;mall part to be Alcalyzate) then much ligh|ter
<PB N="312" REF="167">Vegetables: As al&s;o that the black Charcoal of it will not &s;ink as did the wood, but &s;wim; which argues that the Differing Gravity of Bodies proceeds chiefly from their particular Texture, as is manife&s;t in Gold, the clo&s;e&s;t and Compacte&s;t of Bodies, which is many times heavier then we can po&s;&s;ibly make any parcell of Earth of the &s;ame Bulk. I will not examine, what may be ar|gu'd touching the Gravity or Quality Analagous thereunto, of even Cele&s;tial bodies, from the motion of the &s;pots a|bout the Sun, d from the appearing equality of the &s;uppos'd Seas in the Moon; nor con&s;ider how little tho&s;e <HI>Phaemonea</HI> would agree with what <HI>Sen|nertus</HI> pre&s;umes concerning Gravity. But further to invalidate his &s;uppo&s;ition, I &s;hall demand, upon what Chymical Principle Fluidity depends? And yet Flu|idity is, two or three perhaps excepted, the mo&s;t diffu&s;ed quality of the univer&s;e, and far more General then almo&s;t any other of tho&s;e that are to be met with in any of the Chymicall Principles, or <HI>Aristotelian</HI> Elements; &s;ince not only the Air, but that va&s;t expan&s;ion we call Heaven, in compari&s;on of which
<PB N="313" REF="167">our Terre&s;trial Globe (&s;uppo&s;ing it were all Solid) is but a point; and perhaps to the Sun and the fixt Stars are fluid bodies. I demand al&s;o, from which of the Chymical Principles Motion flowes; which yet is an affection of matter much more General then any that can be deduc'd from any of the three Chymical Principles. I might ask the like Que&s;tion concerning Light, which is not only to be found in the Kindl'd Sulphur of mixt Bodis, but (not to mention tho&s;e &s;orts of rotten Woods, and rotten Fi&s;h that &s;hine in the Dark) in the tails of living Glow-wormes, and in the Va&s;t bodies of the Sun and Stars. I would gladly al&s;o know, in which of the three Principles the Qua|lity, we call Sound, re&s;ides as in its proper Subject; &s;ince either Oyl fall|ing upon Oyle, or Spirit upon Spirit, or Salt upon Salt, in a great quantity, and from a con&s;iderable height, will make a noi&s;e, or if you plea&s;e, create a &s;ound, and (that the objection may reach the <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI>) &s;o will al&s;o wa|ter upon water, and Earth upon Earth. And I could name other qualities to be met within divers bodies, of which I
<PB N="314" REF="168">&s;uppo&s;e my Adver&s;aries will not in ha&s;te a&s;&s;ign any Subject, upon who&s;e Account it mu&s;t needs be, that the quality be|longs to all the other &s;everal bodies.</P>
<P>And, before I proceed any further, I mu&s;t here invite you to compare the &s;uppo&s;ition we are examining, with &s;ome other of the Chymical Tenents. For, fir&s;t they do in effect teach that more then one quality may belong to, and be deduc'd from, one Principle. For, they a&s;cribe to Salt Ta&s;ts, and the power of Coagulation; to &s;ulphur, as well Odours as inflamablene&s;s; And &s;ome of them a&s;cribe to Mercury, Co|lours; as all of them do effumability, as they &s;peak. And on the other &s;ide, it is evident that Volatility belongs in common to all the three Principles, and to Water too. For 'tis manife&s;t, that Chymical Oyles are Volatile; That al|&s;o divers Salts Emerging, upon the A|naly&s;is of many Concretes, are very Vo|latile, is plain from the figitivene&s;s of Salt, of Harts-horne, fle&s;h, &amp;c. a&s;cend|ing in the Di&s;tillation of tho&s;e bodies. How ea&s;ily water may be made to a&s;|cend in Vapours, there is &s;carce any body that has not ob&s;erv'd. And as
<PB N="315" REF="168">for what they call the Mercuriall Prin|ciple of bodies, that is &s;o apt to be rais'd in the form of Steam, that <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> and others define it by that aptne&s;s to fly up; &s;o that (to draw that inference by the way) it &s;eems not that Chy|mi&s;ts have been accurate in their Do|ctrine of qualities, and their re&s;pective Principles, &s;ince they both derive &s;eve|ral qualities from the &s;ame Principle, and mu&s;t a&s;cribe the &s;ame quality to al|mo&s;t all their Principles and other bodies be&s;ides. And thus much for the fir&s;t thing taken for granted, without &s;uffi|cient proof, by your <HI>Sennertus:</HI> And to add that upon the Bye (continues <HI>Carne|ades</HI>) we may hence learn what to judge of the way of Argumentation, which that fierce Champion of the <HI>Ari&s;tote|lians</HI> again&s;t the Chymi&s;ts,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In The&s;&s;a|lo redivi|vo. Cap.</HI> 10. <HI>pag.</HI> 73. <HI>&amp;</HI> 74.</NOTE> <HI>Anthonius Guntherus Billichius</HI> employes, where he pretends to prove again&s;t <HI>Beguinus,</HI> that not only the four Elements do imme|diately concur to Con&s;titute every mixt body, and are both pre&s;ent in it, and obtainable from it upon its Di&s;&s;olution; but that in the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> them&s;elves, whereinto Chymi&s;ts are wont to re&s;olve mixt Bodies, each of them clearly di&s;|covers
<PB N="316" REF="169">it &s;elf to con&s;i&s;t of four Elements. The Ratiocination it &s;elf (pur&s;ues <HI>Car|neades</HI>) being &s;omewhat unu&s;ual, I did the other Day Tran&s;cribe it, and (&s;ayes He, pulling a Paper out of his Pocket) it is this. <HI>Ordiamur, cum Beguino, a ligno viridi, quod &s;i concremetur, videbis in &s;u|dore Aquam, in fumo Aerem, in flamma &amp; Prunis Ignem, Terram in cineribus: Quod &s;i Beguino placuerit ex eo colligere humi|dum aquo&s;um, cohibere humidum oleagi|no&s;um, extrahere ex cineribus &s;alem; E|go ip&s;i in unoquoque horum &s;eor&s;im quatu|or Elementa ad oculum demon&s;trabo, eodem artificio quo in ligno viridi ea demon&s;travi. Humorem aquo&s;um admovebo Igni. Ip&s;e Aquam Ebullire videbit, in Vapore Aerem con&s;piciet, Ignem &s;entiet in aestu, plus minus Terrae in &s;edimento apparebit. Humor porro Oleagino&s;us aquam humiditate &amp; flu|iditate per &s;e, accen&s;us vero Ignem flam|ma prodit, fumo Aerem, fuligine, nidore &amp; amurca terram. Salem denique ip&s;e Beguinus &s;iccum vocat &amp; Terre&s;trem, qui tamen nec fu&s;us Aquam, nec cau&s;tica vi ig|nem celare pote&s;t; ignis vero Violentia in halitus ver&s;us nec ab Aere &s;e alienum e&s;&s;e demon&s;trat; Idem de Lacte, de Ovis, de&s;e|mine Lini, de Garyophyllis, de Nitro,
<PB N="317" REF="169">de &s;ale Marino, denique de Antimonio, quod fuit de Ligno viridi Judicium; eadem de illorum partibus, quas</HI> Beguinus <HI>adducit, &s;ententia, quae de viridis ligni humore aquo&s;o, quae de liquore eju&s;dem oleo&s;o, quae de &s;ale fuit.</HI></P>
<P>This bold Di&s;cour&s;e (re&s;umes <HI>Carnea|des,</HI> putting up again his Paper,) I think it were not very difficult to confure, if his Arguments were as con&s;iderable as our time will probably prove &s;hort for the remaining and more nece&s;&s;ary Part of my Di&s;cour&s;e; wherefore referring You for an An&s;wer to what was &s;aid con|cerning the Di&s;&s;ipated Parts of a burnt piece of green Wood, to what I told <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> on the like occa&s;ion, I might ea&s;ily &s;hew You, how &s;leightly and &s;uper|ficially our <HI>Guntherus</HI> talks of the dividing the flame of Green Wood into his four Elements; <HI>When</HI> he makes that vapour to be air, which being caught in Gla&s;&s;es and condens'd, pre&s;ently di&s;covers it &s;elf to have been but an Aggregate of innumerable very minute drops of Li|quor; and <HI>When</HI> he would prove the Phlegmes being compos'd of Fire by that Heat which is adventitious to the Liquor, and cea&s;es upon the ab&s;ence of what pro|duc'd
<PB N="319" REF="170">it (whether that be an Agitati|on proceeding from the motion of the External Fire, or the pre&s;ence of a Multitude of igneous Atomes pervading the pores of the Ve&s;&s;el, and nimbly per|meating the whole Body of the Water) I might, I &s;ay, urge the&s;e and divers o|ther Weakne&s;&s;es of His Di&s;cour&s;e. But I will rather take Notice of what is more pertinent to the Occa&s;ion of this Digre&s;|&s;ion, namely, that Taking it for Granted, that Fluidity (with which he unwarily &s;eems to confound Humidity) mu&s;t pro|ceed from the Element of Water, he makes a Chymical Oyle to Con&s;i&s;t of that Elementary Liquor; and yet in the very next Words proves, that it con&s;i&s;ts al&s;o of Fire, by its Inflamability; not re|membring that exqui&s;itely pure Spirit of Wine is both more Fluid then Water it &s;elf, and yet will Flame all away without leaving the Lea&s;t Aqueous Moi&s;ture behind it; and without &s;uch an <HI>Amurca</HI> and Soot as he would De|duce the pre&s;ence of Earth from. So that the &s;ame Liquor may according to his Doctrine be concluded by its great Fluidity to be almo&s;t all Water; and by its burning all away to be all di&s;gui&s;ed
<PB N="318" REF="170">Fire. And by the like way of Probati|on our Author would &s;hew that the fixt &s;alt of Wood is compounded of the four Elements. For (&s;ayes he) being turn'd by the violence of the Fire into &s;teames, it &s;hews it &s;elf to be of kin to Air; whereas I doubt whether he e|ver &s;aw a true fixt Salt (which to become &s;o, mu&s;t have already endur'd the vio|lence of an Incinerating Fire) brought by the Fire alone to a&s;cend in the Forme of Exhalations; but I do not doubt that if he did, and had caught tho&s;e Exhalati|ons in convenient Ve&s;&s;els, he would have found them as well as the Steames of common Salt, &amp;c. of a Saline and not an Aereal Nature. And whereas our Au|thour takes it al&s;o for Granted, that the Fu&s;ibility of Salt mu&s;t be Deduc'd from Water, it is indeed &s;o much the Effect of heat variou&s;ly agitating the Minute Parts of a Body, without regard to Wa|ter, that Gold (which by its being the hea|vye&s;t and fixte&s;t of Bodies, &s;hould be the mo&s;t Earthy) will be brought to Fu&s;ion by a &s;trong Fire; which &s;ure is more like|ly to drive away then increa&s;e its Aque|ous Ingredient, if it have any; and on the other &s;ide, for want of a &s;ufficient a|gitation
<PB N="320" REF="171">of its minute parts, Ice is not Fluid, but Solid; though he pre|&s;umes al&s;o that the Mordicant Quality of Bodies mu&s;t proceed from a fiery ingredi|ent; whereas, not to urge that the Light and inflamable parts, which are the mo&s;t likely to belong to the Element of Fire, mu&s;t probably be driven away by that time the violence of the Fire has reduc'd the Body to a&s;hes; Not to urge this, I I &s;ay, nor that Oyle of Vitriol which quenches Fire, burnes the Tongue and fle&s;h of tho&s;e that Unwarily ta&s;t or apply it, as a cau&s;tick doth, it is precarious to prove the Pre&s;ence of Fire in fixt &s;alts from their Cau&s;tick power, unle&s;&s;e it were fir&s;t &s;hewn, that all the Qualities a&s;|cribed to &s;alts mu&s;t be deduc'd from tho&s;e of the Elements; which, had I Time, I could ea&s;ily manife&s;t to be no ea&s;y talk. And not to mention that our Authour makes a Body as Homogene|ous as any he can produce for Elementa|ry, belong both to Water and Fire, Though it be neither Fluid nor In&s;ipid, like Water; nor light and Volatile, like Fire; he &s;eems to omit in this Anato|my the Element of Earth, &s;ave That he intimates, That the &s;alt may pa&s;s for
<PB N="321" REF="171">that; But &s;ince a few lines before, he takes A&s;hes for Earth, I &s;ee not how he will avoid an Incon&s;i&s;tency either betwixt the Parts of his Di&s;cour&s;e or betwixt &s;ome of them and his Doctrine. For &s;ince There is a manife&s;t Difference betwixt the Saline and the in&s;ipid Parts of A&s;hes, I &s;ee not how &s;ub&s;tances That Di&s;agree in &s;uch Notable Qualities can be both &s;aid to be Portions of an Ele|ment, who&s;e Nature requires that it be Homogeneous, e&s;pecially in this ca&s;e where an <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> by the Fire is &s;up|pos'd to have &s;eparated it from the admixture of other Elements, which are confe&s;s'd by mo&s;t <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> to be Generally found in common Earth, and to render it impure. And &s;ure if when we have con&s;ider'd for how little a Di&s;parities &s;ake the Peripateticks make the&s;e Symbolizing Bodies Aire and Fire to be two Di&s;tinct Elements, we &s;hall al&s;o con&s;ider that the Saline part of A&s;hes is very &s;trongly Ta&s;ted, and ea&s;ily &s;oluble in Water; whereas the other part of the &s;ame A&s;hes is in&s;ipid and indi&s;&s;oluble in the &s;ame Li|quor: Not to add, that the one &s;ub|&s;tance is Opacous, and the other &s;ome|what
<PB N="322" REF="172">Diaphanous, nor that they differ in Divers other Particulars; If we con|&s;ider tho&s;e things, I &s;ay, we &s;hall hardly think that both the&s;e Sub&s;tances are E|lementary Earth; And as to what is &s;ometimes objected, that their Saline Ta&s;t is only an Effect of Incineration and A|du&s;tion, it has been el&s;ewhere fully re|ply'd to, when propos'd by <HI>Themistius,</HI> and where it has been prov'd again&s;t him, that however in&s;ipid Earth may perhaps by Additaments be turn'd into Salt, yet 'tis not like it &s;hould be &s;o by the Fire alone: For we &s;ee that when we refine Gold and Silver, the violente&s;t Fires We can Employ on them give them not the lea&s;t Relli&s;h of Salt|ne&s;s. And I think <HI>Philoponus</HI> has right|ly ob&s;erv'd, that the A&s;hes of &s;ome Concretes contain very little &s;alt if any at all; For Refiners &s;uppo&s;e that bone|a&s;hes are free from it, and therefore make u&s;e of them for Te&s;ts and Cuppels, which ought to be De&s;titute of Salt, le&s;t the Violence of the Fire &s;hould bring them to Vitrification; And ha|ving purpo&s;ely and heedfully ta&s;ted a Cuppel made of only bone-a&s;hes and fair water, which I had caus'd to be ex|pos'd
<PB N="323" REF="172">to a Very Violent Fire, acuated by the Bla&s;t of a large pair of Double Bellows, I could not perceive that the force of the Fire bad imparted to it the lea&s;t Saltne&s;s, or &s;o much as made it le&s;s In&s;ipid.</P>
<P>But (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) &s;ince neither You nor I love Repetitions, I &s;hall not now make any of what el&s;e was urg'd a|gain&s;t <HI>Themi&s;tius</HI> but rather invite You to take notice with me that when our Au|thour, though a Learned Man, and one that pretends skill enough in Chymi&s;try to reforme the whole Art, comes to make good his confident Undertaking, to give us an occular Demon&s;tration of the immediate Pre&s;ence of the four Elements in the re&s;olution of Green Wood, He is fain to &s;ay things that agree very little with one another. For about the be|ginning of that pa&s;&s;age of His lately re|cited to you, he makes the &s;weat as he calls it of the green Wood to be Water, the &s;moke Aire, the &s;hining Matter Fire, and the A&s;hes Earth; whereas a few lines after, he will in each of the&s;e, nay (as I ju&s;t now noted) in one Di&s;tinct Part of the A&s;hes, &s;hew the four Ele|ments. So that either the former <HI>Ana|ly&s;is</HI>
<PB N="324" REF="173">mu&s;t be incompetent to prove that Number of Elements, &s;ince by it the burnt Concrete is not reduc'd into Ele|mentary Bodies, but into &s;uch as are yet each of them compounded of the four Elements; or el&s;e the&s;e Qualities from which he endeavours to deduce the pre&s;ence of all the Elements, in the fixt &s;alt, and each of the other &s;eparated &s;ub&s;tances, will be but a precarious way of probation: e&s;pecially if you con&s;ider, that the extracted <HI>Alcali</HI> of Wood, being for ought appears at lea&s;t as &s;imilar a Body as any that the Peripateticks can &s;hew us, if its differing Qualities mu&s;t argue the pre&s;ence of Di&s;tinct Elements, it will &s;carce be po&s;&s;ible for them by a|ny way they know of employing the fire upon a Body, to &s;hew that any Body is a Portion of a true Element: And this recals to my mind, that I am now but in an occa&s;ional Excu&s;&s;ion, which aim|ing only to &s;hew that the Peripateticks as well as the Chymi&s;ts take in our pre|&s;ent Controver&s;ie &s;omething for granted which they ought to prove, I &s;hall re|turne to my exceptions, where I ended the fir&s;t of them, and further tell you, that neither is that the only precarious
<PB N="325" REF="173">thing that I take notice of in <HI>Sennertus</HI> his Argumentation; for when he in|ferrs, that becau&s;e the Qualities he Mentions as Colours, Smels, and the like, belong not to the Elements; they therefore mu&s;t to the Chymical Princi|ples, he takes that for granted, which will not in ha&s;te be prov'd; as I might here manife&s;t, but that I may be and by have a fitter opportunity to take no|tice of it. And thus much at pre&s;ent may &s;uffice to have Di&s;cours'd again&s;t the Suppo&s;ition, that almo&s;t every Quali|ty mu&s;t have &s;ome <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, as they &s;peak, &s;ome Native receptacle, wherein as in its proper Subject of in he|&s;ion it peculiarly re&s;ides, and on who&s;e ac|count that quality belongs to the other Bodies, Wherein it is to be met with. Now this Fundamental &s;uppo&s;ition be|ing once De&s;troy'd, what&s;oever is built upon it, mu&s;t fall to ruine of it &s;elf.</P>
<P>But I con&s;ider further, that Chymi&s;ts are (for ought I have found) far from being able to explicate by any of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> tho&s;e qualities which they pretend to belong primarily unto it, and in mixt Bodies to Deduce from it. Tis true indeed, that &s;uch qua|lities
<PB N="326" REF="174">are not explicable by the four E|lements; but it will not therefore fol|low, that they are &s;o by the three herme|tical Principles; and this is it that &s;eems to have deceiv'd the Chymi&s;ts, and is indeed a very common mi&s;take among&s;t mo&s;t Di&s;putants, who argue as if there could be but two Opinions con|cerning the Difficulty about which they contend; and con&s;equently they in|ferr, that if their Adver&s;aries Opinion be Erroneous, Their's mu&s;t needs be the Truth; whereas many que&s;tions, and e&s;pecially in matters Phy&s;iological, may admit of &s;o many Differing <HI>Hypothe&s;es,</HI> that 'twill be very incon&s;iderate and fal|lacious to conclude (except where the Opinions are preci&s;ely Contradictory) the Truth of one from the fal&s;ity of a|nother. And in our particular ca&s;e 'tis no way nece&s;&s;ary, that the Proper|ties of mixt Bodies mu&s;t be explicable either by the Hermetical, or the <HI>Aristo|telian Hypothe&s;is,</HI> there being divers o|ther and more plau&s;ible wayes of ex|plaining them, and e&s;pecially that, which deduces qualities from the moti|on, figure, and contrivance of the &s;mall parts of Bodies; as I think might be
<PB N="327" REF="174">&s;hewn, if the attempt were as &s;ea&s;ona|ble, as I fear it would be Tedious.</P>
<P>I will allow then, that the Chymi&s;ts do not cau&s;ele&s;sly accu&s;e the Doctrine of the four elements of incompetency to ex|plain the Properties of Compound bo|dies. And for this Rejection of a Vul|gar Error, they ought not to be deny'd what prai&s;e men may de&s;erve for ex|ploding a Doctrine who&s;e Imperfecti|ons are &s;o con&s;picuous, that men need|ed but not to &s;hut their Eyes, to di&s;|cover them. But I am mi&s;taken, if our Hermetical Philo&s;ophers Them&s;elves need not, as well as the Peripateticks, have Recour&s;e to more Fruitfull and Comprehen&s;ive Principles then the <HI>trial Prima,</HI> to make out the Properties of the Bodies they conver&s;e with. Not to accumulate Examples to this pur|po&s;e, (becau&s;e I hope for a fitter op|portunity to pro&s;ecute this Subject) let us at pre&s;ent only point at Colour, that you may gue&s;s by what they &s;ay of &s;o obvious and familiar a Quality, how little In&s;truction we are to expect from the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> in tho&s;e more ab&s;tru&s;e ones, which they with the <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> &s;tile Occult. For about Colours, nei|ther
<PB N="328" REF="175">do they at all agree among them|&s;elves, nor have I met with any one, of which of the three Per&s;wa&s;ions &s;oever, that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymi&s;ts are wont to a&s;|cribe Colours to Mercury;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>De Cons. &amp; di&s;&s;en. cap.</HI> 11. <HI>pag.</HI> 186.</NOTE> <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> in divers places attributes them to Salt; and <HI>Sennertus,</HI> having recited their dif|fering Opinions, Di&s;&s;ents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sul|phur. But how Colours do, nay, how they may, ari&s;e from either of the&s;e Principles, I think you will &s;carce &s;ay that any has yet intelligibly explicated. And if Mr. <HI>Boyle</HI> will allow me to &s;hew you the Experiments which he has col|lected about Colours, you will, I doubt not, confe&s;s that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of the Predomi|nancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of their Texture, and e&s;pe|cially the Di&s;po&s;ition of their &s;uperficial parts, whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is &s;o modifi'd, as by differing Impre&s;&s;ions variou&s;ly to affect the Organs of Sight. I might here take notice of the plea&s;ing variety of Co|lours exhibited by the Triangular gla&s;s, (as 'tis wont to be call'd) and demand,
<PB N="329" REF="175">what addition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls the Body of the Gla&s;s by being Pri&s;mati|cally figur'd; and yet 'tis known, that without that &s;hape it would not af|for'd tho&s;e colours as it does. But becau&s;e it may be objected, that the&s;e are not real, but apparent Colours; that I may not lo&s;e time in examing the Di|&s;tinction, I will alledge again&s;t the Chy|mi&s;ts, a couple of examples of Real and Permanent Colours Drawn from Me|talline Bodies, and repre&s;ent, that with|out the addition of any extraneous bo|dy, Quick&s;ilver may by the Fire alone, and that in gla&s;s Ve&s;&s;els, be depriv'd of its &s;ilver-like Colour, and be turn'd into a Red Body; and from this Red Body without Addition likewi&s;e may be obtain'd a Mercury Bright and Spe|cular as it was before; So that I have here a la&s;ting Colour Generated and De&s;troy'd (as I have &s;een) at plea&s;ure, without adding or taking away either Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and &s;lender piece of har|den'd &s;teel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at &s;ome little di&s;tance &s;hort of the point, You &s;hall not have held
<PB N="330" REF="176">the Steel long in the flame, but You &s;hall perceive divers Colours, as Yel|low, Red and Blew, to appear upon the Surface of the metal, and as it were run along in cha&s;e of one another towards the point; So that the &s;ame body, and that in one and the &s;ame part, may not only have a new colour produc'd in it, but exhibite &s;ucce&s;&s;ively divers Colours within a minute of an hour, or thereabouts; and any of the&s;e Colours may by Removing the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and la&s;t many years. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot rea&s;o|nably be &s;uppos'd to proceed from the Acce&s;&s;ion of any of the three Princi|ples, to which of them &s;oever Chy|mi&s;ts will be pleas'd to a&s;cribe Colours; e&s;pecially con&s;idering, that if you but &s;uddenly Refrigerate that Iron, Fir&s;t made Red hot, it will be harden'd and Colourle&s;s again; and not only by the Flame of a Candle, but by any other equivalent heat Conveniently appli'd, the like Colours will again be made to appear and &s;ucceed one another, as at the Fir&s;t. But I mu&s;t not any further pro|&s;ecute an Occa&s;ional Di&s;cour&s;e, though
<PB N="331" REF="176">that were not &s;o Difficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chy|mi&s;ts to give a better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, then they have done of Colours. And your <HI>Sennertus</HI> Him&s;elf (though an Author I much value) would I fear have been ex|ceedingly puzl'd to re&s;olve, by the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> halfe that Catalogue of Pro|blems,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Senuert. de Con. &s;eus. &amp; Di&s;&s;ens. pag.</HI> 165.166.</NOTE> which he challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their four Elements. And &s;uppo&s;ing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur were the Princi|ple to which this or that Quality may be peculiarly referr'd, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us &s;ome|thing concerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but &s;omething. For indeed he does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable mea&s;ure &s;atisfie an in|qui&s;itive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know, that &s;uch a quality re&s;ides in &s;uch a Principle or E|lement, whil&s;t I remain altogether ig|norant of the Cau&s;e of that quality, and the manner of its production and Operation? How little do I know more then any Ordinary Man of Gravity, if I know but that the Heavine&s;s of mixt
<PB N="332" REF="177">bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos'd of, if I know not the rea&s;on why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymi&s;t teach the Philo&s;opher of the Nature of Purgati|tion, if he only tells him that the Purga|tive Vertue of Medicines re&s;ides in their Salt? For, be&s;ides that this mu&s;t not be conceded without Limitation, &s;ince the purging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein they are infus'd, are at mo&s;t but &s;uch com|pounded Salts, (I mean mingl'd with Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjects of the Vegeta|ble Kingdom afford;) And &s;ince too that Quick&s;ilver precipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a pow|der, is wont to be &s;trongly enough Ca|thartical, though the Chymi&s;ts have not yet prov'd, that either Gold or Mercu|ry have any Salt at all, much le&s;s any that is Purgative; Be&s;ides this, I &s;ay, how little is it to me, to know That 'tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for In|&s;tance) that purges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; &s;ince &s;carce any Elementary Salt is in &s;mall quantity ca|thartical. And if I know not how
<PB N="333" REF="177">Purgation in general is effected in a Hu|mane Body? In a word, as 'tis one thing to know a mans Lodging, and another, to be acquainted with him; &s;o it may be one thing to know the &s;ub|ject wherein a Quality principally re|&s;ides, and another thing to have a right notion and knowledg of the quality its &s;elf. Now that which I take to be the rea&s;on of this Chymical Deficiency, is the &s;ame upon who&s;e account I think the <HI>Ari&s;to|telian</HI> and divers other Theories incom|petent to explicate the Origen of Quali|ties. For I am apt to think, that men will never be able to explain the <HI>Phaeno|mena</HI> of Nature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Pre&s;ence and Proportion of &s;uch or &s;uch material In|gredients, and con&s;ider &s;uch ingredients or Elements as Bodies in a &s;tate of re&s;t; whereas indeed the greate&s;t part of the affections of matter, and con&s;equently of the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> of nature, &s;eems to depend upon the motion and the continuance of the &s;mall parts of Bodies. For 'tis by motion that one part of matter acts upon another; and 'tis, for the mo&s;t part, the texture of the Body upon which the mo|ving parts &s;trike, that modifies to moti|on
<PB N="334" REF="178">or Impre&s;&s;ion, and concurrs with it to the production of tho&s;e Effects which make up the chief part of the Naturali&s;ts Theme.</P>
<P>But (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) me thinks for all this, you have left &s;ome part of what I alledg'd in behalf of the three principles, unan&s;wer'd. For all that you have &s;aid will not keep this from being a u&s;eful Di&s;covery, that &s;ince in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur of another and the Mercury of a third, the Medici|nal vertue of it re&s;ides, that Principle ought to be &s;eparated from the re&s;t, and there the de&s;ired faculty mu&s;t be &s;ought for.</P>
<P>I never denyed (Replyes <HI>Carneades</HI>) that the Notion of the <HI>Tria Prima</HI> may be of &s;ome u&s;e, but (continues he laugh|ing) by what you now alledg for it, it will but appear That it is u&s;eful to A|pothecaries, rather than to Philo&s;ophers, The being able to make things Opera|tive being &s;ufficient to tho&s;e, whereas the Knowledge of Cau&s;es is the Thing looked after by The&s;e. And let me Tell You, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> even this it &s;elf will need to be entertained with &s;ome caution.</P>
<PB N="335" REF="178">
<P>For fir&s;t, it will not pre&s;ently fol|low, That if the Purgative or other ver|tue of a &s;imple may be ea&s;ily extracted by Water or Spirit of Wine, it Re&s;ides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unle&s;&s;e the Body have before been re&s;olved by the Fire, or &s;ome Other Powerful Agent, it will, for the mo&s;t part, afford in the Liquors I have nam|ed, rather the finer compounded parts of it &s;elf, Than the Elementary ones. As I noted before, That Water will di&s;&s;olve not only pure Salts, but Cry&s;tals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr'h, and Other Compound Bodies. As al&s;o Spirit of Wine will Di&s;&s;olve not only the pure Sulphur of Concretes, but like|wi&s;e the whole Sub&s;tance of divers Re|&s;inous Bodies, as Benzoin, the Gum|mous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, and Other bodies that are counted per|fectly Mixt. And we &s;ee that the Extracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a &s;imple and Elemen|tary Nature, but Ma&s;&s;es con&s;i&s;ting of the loo&s;er Corpu&s;eles, and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; &s;ince by Di&s;tillation they may be Divided into more Elementary &s;ub|&s;tances.</P>
<PB N="336" REF="179">
<P>Next, we may con&s;ider That even when there intervenes a Chymical re|&s;olution by he Fire, 'tis &s;eldom in the Saline or Sulphureous principle, as &s;uch, that the de&s;ir'd Faculty of the Concrete Re&s;ides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet a mixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predo|minant in it. For, if in Chymical Re|&s;olutions the &s;eparated Sub&s;tances were pure and &s;imple Bodies, and of a per|fect Elementary Nature; no one would be indued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualities would Differ as Little as do tho&s;e of Water. And let me add this upon the bye, That even Eminent Chymi&s;ts have &s;uffer'd them&s;elves to be reprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying &s;ome of the things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though &s;uch compleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bo|dies might perhaps be more &s;atisfactory to our Under&s;tanding; yet others are often more u&s;eful to our Lives, the effi|cacy of &s;uch Chymical Productions de|pending mo&s;t upon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are &s;eparated, or gain by the new a&s;&s;ociations of the Di&s;|&s;ipated
<PB N="337" REF="179">among them&s;elves; whereas if they were meerly Elementary, their u&s;es would be comparatively very &s;mall; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other &s;uch Sub&s;tances of one denominati|on, would be the very &s;ame.</P>
<P>And by the Way <HI>(Eleutherius)</HI> I am inclin'd upon this ground to Think, That the artificial re&s;olution of compound bodies by Fire does not &s;o much en|rich mankind, as it divides them into their &s;uppo&s;ed Principles; as upon the &s;core of its making new compounds by new combinations of the di&s;&s;ipated parts of the re&s;olv'd Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies is con&s;idera|bly increa&s;ed. And many of tho&s;e new productions are indow'd with u&s;eful qua|lities, divers of which they owe not to the body from which they were obtein'd, but to Their newly Acquired Tex|ture.</P>
<P>But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that as there are di|vers Concretes who&s;e Faculties re&s;ide in &s;ome one or other of tho&s;e differing Sub&s;tances that Chymi&s;ts call their Sul|phurs, Salts, and Mercuries, and con|&s;equently may be be&s;t obtain'd, by ana|lyzing
<PB N="338" REF="180">the Concrete whereby the de&s;ir|ed Principles may be had &s;ever'd or freed from the re&s;t; So there are other where|in the noble&s;t properties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but depend immediately upon the form (or if you will) re&s;ult from the determinate &s;tru|cture of the Whole Concrete; and con&s;equently they that go about to ex|tract the Vertues of &s;uch bodies, by ex|po&s;ing them to the Violence of the Fire, do exceedingly mi&s;take, and take the way to De&s;troy what they would ob|tain.</P>
<P>I remmember that <HI>Helmont</HI> him&s;elf &s;omewhere confe&s;&s;es, That as the Fire betters &s;ome things and improves their Vertues, &s;o it &s;poyles others and makes them degenerate. And el&s;ewhere he judiciou&s;ly affirmes, that there may be &s;ometimes greater vertue in a &s;imple, &s;uch as Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire be &s;eparated from it.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Helm out Pharm. &amp; Di&s;|pens. Nov. p. 438.</NOTE> And le&s;t you &s;hould doubt whether he means by the vertues of things tho&s;e that are Medical; he has in one place this ingenuous confe&s;&s;ion; <HI>Cre|do</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>&s;implicia in &s;ua &s;implicitate e&s;&s;e &s;ufficientia pro &s;anatione omnium morborum.</HI>
<PB N="339" REF="180">Nag. Barthias, even in a Comment upon <HI>Beguinus,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17.</NOTE> &s;cruples not to make this ac|knowledgment; <HI>Valde ab&s;urdum e&s;t</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>ex omnibus rebus extracta facere, &s;a|lia, quintas e&s;&s;entias; prae&s;ertim ex &s;ub&s;tan|tiis per &s;e plane vel &s;ubtilibus vel homogeneis, quales &s;unt uniones, Corallia, Mo&s;cus, Am|bra, &amp;c.</HI> Con&s;onantly whereunto he al&s;o tells Us (and Vouches the famous <HI>Platerus,</HI> for having candidly given the &s;ame Adverti&s;ement to his Auditors,) that &s;ome things have greater vertues, and better &s;uited to our humane nature, when unprepar'd, than when they have pa&s;t the Chymi&s;ts Fire; as we &s;ee, &s;ayes my Au|thor, in Pepper; of which &s;ome grains &s;wallowed perform more towards the relief of a Di&s;tempered &s;tomack, than a great quantity of the Oyle of the &s;ame &s;pice.</P>
<P>It has been (pur&s;ues <HI>Carneades</HI>) by our Friend here pre&s;ent ob&s;erv'd concerning Salt-petre, that none of the &s;ub&s;tances into which the Fire is wont to divide it, retaines either the Ta&s;t, the cooling ver|tue, or &s;ome other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of tho&s;e Sub&s;tances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petre it &s;elf. The
<PB N="340" REF="181">&s;hining property of the tayls of gloworms does &s;urvive but &s;o &s;hort a time the little animal made con&s;picuous by it, that in|qui&s;itive men have not &s;crupled publickly to deride <HI>Bapti&s;ta Porta</HI> and others; who deluded perhaps with &s;ome Chymical &s;urmi&s;es have ventur'd to pre&s;cribe the di&s;tillation of a Water from the tayles of Glowormes, as a &s;ure way to obtain a li|quor &s;hining in the Dark. To which I &s;hall now add no other example than that afforded us by Amber; which, whil&s;t it remains an intire body, is en|dow'd with an Electrical faculty of drawing to it &s;elf fethers, &s;trawes, and &s;uch like Bodies; which I never could ob&s;erve either in its Salt, its Spirit, its Oyle, or in the Body I remember I once made by the reunion of its divided Elements; none of the&s;e having &s;uch a Texture as the intire Goncrete. And however Chymi&s;ts boldly deduce &s;uch and &s;uch properties from this or that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretes that abound with this or that Ingredient, 'tis not alwayes &s;o much by vertue of its pre&s;ence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify'd to perform &s;uch and &s;uch Effects; as upon the account
<PB N="341" REF="181">of the particular texture of that and the other Ingredients, a&s;&s;ociated after a determinate Manner into one Concrete (though po&s;&s;ibly &s;uch a proportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other for the con&s;tituting of &s;uch a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov'd upon the dyal, the bell is &s;truck, and the other actions belonging to the engine are perform'd, not becau&s;e the Wheeles are of bra&s;s or iron, or part of one metal and part of another, or becau&s;e the weights are of Lead, but by Vertue of the &s;ize, &s;hape, bigne&s;s, and co-aptati|on of the &s;everal parts; which would performe the &s;ame things though the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights of Stone or Clay; pro|vided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine were the &s;ame: though it be not to be deny'd, that Bra&s;&s;e and Steel are more convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood. And to let you &s;ee, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> that 'tis &s;ometimes at lea&s;t, upon the Texture of the &s;mall parts of a body, and not alwaies upon the pre&s;ence, or rece&s;&s;e, or increa&s;e, or Decrement of any one of its Principle, that it may lo&s;e &s;ome
<PB N="142" REF="182">&s;uch Qualities, and acquire &s;ome &s;uch o|thers as are thought very &s;trongly inhe|rent to the bodies they Re&s;ide in. I will add to what may from my pa&s;t di|&s;cour&s;e be refer'd to this purpo&s;e, this Notable Example, from my Own expe|rience; That Lead may without any ad|ditament, and only by various applica|tions of the Fire, lo&s;e its colour, and acquire &s;ometimes a gray, &s;ometimes a yellowi&s;h, &s;ometimes a red, &s;ometimes an <HI>amethih&s;tine</HI> colour; and after having pa&s;t through the&s;e, and perhaps divers others, again recover its leaden colour, and be made a bright body. That al&s;o this Lead, which is &s;o flexible a metal, may be made as brittle as Gla&s;&s;e, and pre&s;ent|ly be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. And be&s;ides, that the &s;ame lead, which I find by <HI>Micro&s;copes</HI> to be one of the mo&s;t opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a fine tran&s;parent gla&s;&s;e; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Nature again; and all this, as I &s;aid, without the addition of any extraneous body, and meerly by the manner and Method of expo&s;ing it to the Fire.</P>
<P>But (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) after having al|ready
<PB N="343" REF="182">put you to &s;o prolix a trouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a pro|mi&s;e of putting &s;peedily a period to it; And to make good that promi&s;e, I &s;hall from all that I have hitherto di&s;cour&s;ed with you, deduce but this one propo&s;ition by way of Corollary. <HI>[That it may as yet be doubted, whether or no there be any de|terminate Number of Elements; Or, if you plea&s;e, whether or no all compound bodies, do con&s;i&s;t of the &s;ame number of Elementary ingredients or material Principles.]</HI></P>
<P>This being but an inference from the foregoing Di&s;cour&s;e, it will not be re|qui&s;ite to in&s;i&s;t at large on the proofs of it; But only to point at the chief of Them, and Referr You for Particulars to what has been already Delivered.</P>
<P>In the Fir&s;t place then, from what has been &s;o largely di&s;cours'd, it may ap|pear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by the common Peri|pateticks, or by the vulgar Chymi&s;ts, to demon&s;trate that all mixt bodies are made up preci&s;ely either of the four E|lements, or the three Hypo&s;tatical Prin|ciples, do not evince what they are al|ledg'd to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended to be
<PB N="344" REF="183">drawn from Rea&s;on in favour of the <HI>A|ristotelian Hypothe&s;is</HI> (for the Chymi&s;ts are wont to rely almo&s;t altogether upon Experiments) they are Commonly grounded upon &s;uch unrea&s;onable or pre|carious Suppo&s;itions, that 'tis altogether as ea&s;ie and as ju&s;t for any man to re|ject them, as for tho&s;e that take them for granted to a&s;&s;ert them, being indeed all of them as indemon&s;trable as the con|clu&s;ion to be inferr'd from them; and &s;ome of them &s;o manife&s;tly weak and proof|le&s;&s;e; that he mu&s;t be a very courteous ad|ver&s;ary, that can be willing togrant them; and as unskilful a one, that can be com|pelled to do &s;o.</P>
<P>In the next place, it may be con&s;idered, if what tho&s;e Patriarchs of the <HI>Spagyri&s;ts, Paracel&s;us</HI> and <HI>Helmont,</HI> do on divers oc|ca&s;ions po&s;itively deliver, be true; name|ly that the <HI>Alkahest</HI> does Re&s;olve all mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it mu&s;t be decided which of the two re&s;olutions (that made by the <HI>Al|kahest,</HI> or that made by the fire) &s;hall determine the number of the Elements, before we can be certain how many there are.</P>
<P>And in the mean time, we may take
<PB N="345" REF="183">notice in the la&s;t place, that as the di|&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances whereinto the <HI>Alkahe&s;t</HI> divides bodies, are affirm'd to be differ|ing in nature from tho&s;e whereunto they are wont to be re|duc'd by fire,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Novi &s;axum &amp; lapides omnes in merum &s;alem &s;uo &s;axo aut lapidi &amp; aequiponderantem reducere ab&s;|que omni pror&s;us &s;ulphurc aut Mer|curio.</P>
<P>Helmont. pag. 409.</P></NOTE> and to be obtain'd from &s;ome bodies more in Number than from &s;ome others; &s;ince he tells us, he could totally reduce all &s;orts of Stones into Salt only, where|as of a coal he had two di&s;tinct Liquors. So, although we &s;hould acquie&s;ce in that re&s;olution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies are thereby di|vided into the &s;ame number of Elements and Principles; &s;ome Concretes afford|ding more of them than others do; Nay and &s;ometimes this or that Body afford|ing a greater number of Differing &s;ub|&s;tances by one way of management, than the &s;ame yields by another. And they that out of Gold, or Mercury, or Mu&s;co|vy-gla&s;&s;e, will draw me as many di&s;tinct &s;ub&s;tances as I can &s;eparate from Vitriol, or from the juice of Grapes variou&s;ly or|derd, may teach me that which I &s;hall very Thankfully learn. Nor does it ap|pear
<PB N="346" REF="184">more congruous to that variety that &s;o much conduceth to the perfection of the Univer&s;e, that all elemented bodies be compounded of the &s;ame numberof E|lements, then it would be for a language, that all its words &s;hould con&s;i&s;t of the &s;ame number of Letters.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="6" TYPE="part">
<PB N="347" REF="184">
<HEAD>THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST OR, <HI>A Paradoxical Appendix to the Foregoing Treati&s;e.</HI> The Sixth Part.</HEAD>
<P>HEre <HI>Carneades</HI> Having Di&s;pach't what he Thought Requi&s;ite to op|po&s;e again&s;t what the Chymi&s;ts are wont to alledge for Proof of their three Principles, Paus'd awhile, and look'd about him, to di&s;cover whether it were Time for him and his Friend to Re|joyne the Re&s;t of the Company. But <HI>Eleutherius</HI> perceiving nothing yet to
<PB N="348" REF="185">forbid Them to Pro&s;ecute their Di&s;|cour&s;e a little further, &s;aid to his Friend, (who had likewi&s;e taken Notice of the &s;ame thing) I halfe expected, <HI>Car|neades,</HI> that after you had &s;o freely de|clar'd Your doubting, whether there be any Determinate Number of Elements, You would have proceeded to que&s;tion whether there be any Elements at all. And I confe&s;s it will be a Trouble to me if You defeat me of my Expectation; e&s;pecially &s;ince you &s;ee the lea&s;ure we have allow'd us may probably &s;uffice to examine that Paradox; becau&s;e you have &s;o largly Deduc'd already many Things pertinent to it, that you need but intimate how you would have them Apply'd, and what you would inferr from them.</P>
<P><HI>Carneades</HI> having in Vain repre&s;ented that their lea&s;ure could be but very &s;hort, that he had already prated very long, that he was unprepared to main|tain &s;o great and &s;o invidious a Para|dox, was at length prevail'd with to tell his Friend; Since, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> you will have me Di&s;cour&s;e <HI>Ex Tempore</HI> of the Paradox you mention, I am content, (though more perhaps to expre&s;s my
<PB N="349" REF="185">Obedience, then my Opinion) to tell you that (&s;uppo&s;ing the Truth of <HI>Hel|monts</HI> and <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI>'s Alkahe&s;tical Ex|periments, if I may &s;o call them) though it may &s;eem extravagant, yet it is not ab&s;urd to doubt, whether, for ought has been prov'd, there be a nece&s;&s;ity to admit any Elements, or Hypo&s;tatical Principles, at all.</P>
<P>And, as formerly, &s;o now, to avoid the needle&s;s trouble of Di&s;puting &s;eve|rally with the <HI>Aristotelians</HI> and the Chy|mi&s;ts, I will addre&s;s my &s;elf to oppo&s;e them I have la&s;t nam'd, Becau&s;e their Doctrine about the Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretend|ing highly to be grounded upon Expe|rience. And, to deal not only fairly but favourably with them, I will allow them to take in Earth and Water to their other Principles. Which I con|&s;ent to, the rather that my Di&s;cour&s;e may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; who cannot plead for a|ny &s;o probably as for tho&s;e two Ele|ments; that of fire above the Air be|ing Generally by Judicious Men explo|ded as an Imaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compo&s;e Mixt
<PB N="350" REF="186">Bodies as one of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Rather repleni&s;hing, by rea&s;on of its Weight and Fluidity, all tho&s;e Cavities of bo|dies here below, whether compound|ed or not, that are big enough to ad|mit it, and are not fill'd up with any gro&s;&s;er &s;ub&s;tance.</P>
<P>And, to prevent mi&s;takes, I mu&s;t ad|vertize You, that I now mean by Ele|ments, as tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts that &s;peak plaine&s;t do by their Principles, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly un|mingled bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one ano|ther, are the Ingredients of which all tho&s;e call'd perfectly mixt Bodies are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately re&s;olved: now whether there be any one &s;uch body to be con&s;tantly met with in all, and each, of tho&s;e that are &s;aid to be Elemented bodies, is the thing I now que&s;tion.</P>
<P>By this State of the controver&s;ie you will, I &s;uppo&s;e, Gue&s;s, that I need not be &s;o ab&s;ur'd as to deny that there are &s;uch bodies as Earth, and Water, and Quick&s;ilver, and Sulphur: But I look upon Earth and Water, as component parts
<PB N="351" REF="186">of the Univer&s;e, or rather of the Ter|re&s;trial Globe, not of all mixt bo|dies. And though I will not peremp|torily deny that there may &s;ometimes ei|ther a running Mercury, or a Combu&s;tible Sub&s;tance be obtain'd from a Mineral, or even a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Element in the &s;ence above declar'd; as I &s;hall have oc|ca&s;ion to &s;hew you by and by.</P>
<P>To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceed upon, I mu&s;t tell you, that in matters of Phi|lo&s;ophy, this &s;eems to me a &s;ufficient rea&s;on to doubt of a known and impor|tant propo&s;ition, that the Truth of it is not yet by any competent proof made to appear. And congruou&s;ly herunto, if I &s;hew that the grounds upon which men are per&s;waded that there are E|lements are unable to &s;atisfie a con&s;i|dering man, I &s;uppo&s;e my doubts will appear rational.</P>
<P>Now the Con&s;iderations that induce men to think that there are Elements, may be conveniently enough referr'd to two heads. Namely, the one, that it is nece&s;&s;ary that Nature make u&s;e of E|lements to con&s;titute the bodies that
<PB N="352" REF="187">are reputed Mixt. And the other, That the Re&s;olution of &s;uch bodies manife&s;ts that nature had compounded them of Elementary ones.</P>
<P>In reference to the former of the&s;e Con&s;iderations, there are two or three things that I have to Repre&s;ent.</P>
<P>And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not long &s;ince re|lated to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, and other vegetables, out of fair water. For by tho&s;e experiments its &s;eems evident, that Water may be Tran&s;muted into all the other Elements; from whence it may be inferr'd, both, That 'tis not every Thing Chymi&s;ts will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayes be a Primordiate and Ingene|rable body. And that Nature may con|tex a Plant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having all the Elements previou&s;ly pre&s;ented to her to compound it of. And, if you will allow the relation I mention'd out of <HI>Moun&s;ieur De Rochas</HI> to be True; then may not only plants, but Animals and Minerals too, be produced out of Water, And however there is little doubt to be made, but that the plants my tryals afforded me
<PB N="353" REF="187">as they were like in &s;o many other re|&s;pects to the re&s;t of the plants of the &s;ame Denomination; &s;o they would, in ca&s;e I had reduc'd them to putrefaction, have likewi&s;e produc'd Wormes or other infects, as well as the re&s;embling Vege|tables are wont to do; &s;o that Water may, by Various Seminal Principles, be &s;ucce&s;&s;ively Tran&s;muted into both plants and Animals. And if we con&s;i|der that not only Men, but even &s;uck|ing Children are, but too often, Tor|mented with Solid Stones, but that di|vers &s;orts of Bea&s;ts them&s;elves, (whate|ver <HI>Helmont</HI> again&s;t Experience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavy &s;tones in their Kid|neys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Gra&s;s and other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Di&s;gui&s;ed Water, it will not &s;eem improbable that even &s;ome Concretes of a mineral Nature, may Likewi&s;e be form'd of Water.</P>
<P>We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nouri&s;ht, and con|&s;equently may Con&s;i&s;t of Common wa|ter; &s;o may both plants and Animals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Ru|diments) con&s;i&s;t of compound Bodies,
<PB N="354" REF="188">without having any thing meerly Ele|mentary brought them by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in divers men, who whil&s;t they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwards Live altogether upon Fle&s;h, Fi&s;h, wine, and other perfectly mixt Bodies. It may be &s;een al&s;o in &s;heep, who on &s;ome of our Engli&s;h Downs or Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the gra&s;&s;e, with|out &s;carce drinking at all. And yet more manife&s;tly in the magots that breed and grow up to their full bigne&s;&s;e with|in the pulps of Apples, Pears, or the like Fruit. We &s;ee al&s;o, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Salt give a much more &s;peedy increment to corn and o|ther Vegetables than Water alone would do: And it hath been a&s;&s;ur'd me, by a man experienc'd in &s;uch matters, that &s;ometimes when to bring up roots very early, the Mould they were plant|ed in was made over-rich, the very &s;ub|&s;tance of the Plant has ra&s;ted of the Dung. And let us al&s;o con&s;ider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Tree of another kind. As for in&s;tance, the Ciens of a Pear upon a White-thorne; for there the a&s;cending
<PB N="355" REF="188">Liquor is already alter'd, either by the root, or in its a&s;cent by the bark, or both wayes, and becomes a new mixt body: as may appear by the differing qualities to be met with in the &s;aps of &s;everal trees; as particularly, the medicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have &s;ome|times drunk upon <HI>Helmonts</HI> great and not unde&s;erved commendation) Now the graft, being fa&s;ten'd to the &s;tock mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily nouri&s;h its &s;elf, and produce its Fruit, only out of this compound Juice prepared for it by the Stock, being unable to come at any other aliment. And if we con&s;ider, how much of the Vegeta|ble he feeds upon may (as we noted above) remain in an Animal; we may ea|&s;ily &s;uppo&s;e, That the blood of that Ani|mal who Feeds upon this, though it be a Well con&s;tituted Liquor, and have all the differing Corpu&s;cles that make it up kept in order by one prae&s;iding form, may be a &s;trangely Decompounded Body, many of its parts being them&s;elves decompound|ed. So little is it Nece&s;&s;ary that even in the mixtures which nature her &s;elf makes in Animal and Vegetable Bodies, &s;he &s;hould have pure Elements at hand to make her compo&s;itions of.</P>
<PB N="356" REF="189">
<P>Having &s;aid thus much touching the con&s;titution of Plants and Animals, I might perhaps be able to &s;ay as much touching that of Minerals, and even Me|talls, if it were as ea&s;y for us to make ex|periment in Order to the production of the&s;e, as of tho&s;e. But the growth or increment of Minerals being u&s;ually a work of exce&s;&s;ively long time, and for the mo&s;t part perform'd in the bowels of the Earth, where we cannot &s;ee it, I mu&s;t in&s;tead of Experiments make u&s;e, on this occa&s;ion, of Ob&s;ervations.</P>
<P>That &s;tones were not all made at once, but that are &s;ome of them now adayes generated, may (though it be deny'd by &s;ome) be fully prov'd by &s;everal exam|ples, of which I &s;hall now &s;carce alledg any other, then that famous place in <HI>France</HI> known by the name of <HI>Les Caves Gentieres,</HI> where the Water falling from the upper Parts of the cave to the ground does pre&s;ently there conden&s;e into little &s;tones, of &s;uch figures as the drops, fal|ling either &s;everally or upon one another, and coagulating pre&s;ently into &s;tone, chance to exhibit. Of the&s;e &s;tones &s;ome Ingenuous Friends of ours, that went a while &s;ince to vi&s;it that place, did me
<PB N="357" REF="189">the favour to pre&s;ent me with &s;ome that they brought thence. And I remem|ber that both that &s;ober Relator of his Voyages, <HI>Van Lin&s;choten,</HI> and another good Author, inform us that in the Dia|mond Mines (as they call them) in the <HI>East-Indies,</HI> when having dig'd the Earth, though to no great depth, they find Diamonds and take them quite a|way; Yet in a very few years they find in the &s;ame place new Diamonds pro|duc'd there &s;ince. From both which Relations, e&s;pecially the fir&s;t, it &s;eems probable that Nature does not alwayes &s;tay for divers Elementary Bodies, when &s;he is to produce &s;tones. And as for Metals them&s;elves, Authors of good note a&s;&s;ure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc'd at once altogether, but have been ob&s;erv'd to grow; &s;o that what was not a Mineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were ea&s;ie to alledg many te&s;timonies of pro|fe&s;&s;ed Chymi&s;ts. But that they may have the greater authority, I &s;hall rather pre&s;ent you with a few borrowed from more un&s;u&s;pected writers. <HI>Sulphuris Mi|neram</HI> (as the inqui&s;itive <HI>P. Fallopius</HI> notes) <HI>quae nutrix e&s;t caloris &s;ubterranei
<PB N="158" REF="190">fabri &s;eu Archaei fontium &amp; mineralium, Infra terram citi&s;&s;ime rena&s;ci testantur Hi|storiae Metallicae. Sunt enim loca e qui|bus &s;i hoc anno &s;ulphur effo&s;&s;um fuerit; in|termi&s;&s;a fo&s;&s;ione per quadriennium redeunt fo&s;&s;ores &amp; omnia &s;ulphure, ut autea, rur&s;us inveniunt plena. Pliny</HI> Relates, <HI>In Italiae In&s;ula Ilva, gigni ferri metallum.</HI> Stra|bo <HI>multo expre&s;&s;ius; effo&s;&s;um ibi metallum &s;emper regenerari. Nam &s;i effo&s;&s;io &s;patio centum annorum intermittebatur, &amp; iterum illue revertebantur, fo&s;&s;ores reperi&s;&s;e maxi|mam copiam ferri regeneratam.</HI> Which hi&s;tory not only is countenanced by <HI>Fal|lopius,</HI> from the Incom which the Iron of that I&s;land yielded the Duke of <HI>Florence</HI> in his time; but is mention'd more e|pre&s;&s;ely to our porpo&s;e, by the Learned <HI>Ce&s;alpinus. Vena</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>ferri copio|fi&s;&s;ima e&s;t in Italia; ob eam nobilitata Ilva Tirrheni maris In&s;ula incredibili copia, eti|am no&s;tris temporibus eam gignens: Nam terra quae eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venam convertitur.</HI> Which la&s;t clau&s;e is therefore very nota|ble, becau&s;e from thence we may deduce, that earth, by a Metalline pla&s;tick princi|ple latent in it, may be in proce&s;&s;e of time chang'd into a metal. And even <HI>Agricola</HI>
<PB N="359" REF="190">him&s;elf, though the Chymi&s;ts complain of him as their adver&s;ary, acknow|ledges thus much and more; by telling us that at a Town called <HI>Saga</HI> in <HI>Ger|many,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">In Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum, fo&s;&s;is ad al|titudinem bipedaneam actis. Id de|cennio renatum denuo fo ditur non aliter ac Ilvae ferrum.</NOTE> they dig up I|ron in the Fields, by &s;inking ditches two foot deep; And adding,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">&lindx; *</NOTE> that within the &s;pace of ten years the Ditches are digged again for Iron &s;ince produced, As the &s;ame Metal is wont to be ob|tain'd in <HI>Elva.</HI> Al&s;o concerning Lead, not to mention what even <HI>Galen</HI> notes, that it will increa&s;e both in bulk and Weight if it be long kept in Vaults or Sellars, where the Air is gro&s;s and thick, as he collects from the &s;melling of tho&s;e pieces of Lead that were imploy'd to fa&s;ten together the parts of old Statues. Not to mention this, I &s;ay, <HI>Boccacius Certaldus,</HI> as I find him Quoted by a Diligent VVriter, has this Pa&s;&s;age touching the Growth of Lead. <HI>Fe&s;&s;ularum mons</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>in Hetruria, Florentiae civitati imminens, lapides plum|barios babet; qui &s;i excidantur, brevi tem|poris &s;patio, novis incrementis in&s;tauran|tur; ut</HI> (annexes my Author) <HI>tradit
<PB N="360" REF="191">Boccacius Cortaldus, qui id compoti&s;&s;imum e&s;&s;e &s;cribit. Nihil hoc novi e&s;t; &s;ed de eadem Plinius, lib.</HI> 34. <HI>Hi&s;t. Natur. cap.</HI> 17. <HI>dudum prodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his &s;olis plumbi metallis, quod derelicta fertilius revivi&s;cunt. In plumbariis &s;e|cundo Lapide ab Amberga dictis ad A|&s;ylum recrementa congesta in cumulos,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">&rindx;</NOTE> <HI>ex|po&s;ita &s;olibus pluvii&s;que paucis annis, red|dunt &s;uum metallum cum fenore.</HI> I might Add to the&s;e, continues <HI>Carneades,</HI> many things that I have met with concerning the Generation of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I &s;hall men|tion but two or three Narratives. The Fir&s;t you may find Recorded by <HI>Ger|hardus</HI> the Phy&s;ick Profe&s;&s;or, in the&s;e Words. <HI>In valle</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>Joachimaca argentum gramini modo &amp; more e Lapidi|bus minerae velut e radice excrevi&s;&s;e digiti Longitudine, te&s;tis e&s;t Dr. Schreterus, qui eju&s;modi venas a&s;pectu jucundas &amp; ad|mirabiles Domi &s;ua aliis &s;aepe mon&s;travit &amp; Donavit. Item Aqua caerulea Inventa est Annebergae, ubi argentum erat adhuc in primo ente, quae coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi &amp; boni argenti.</HI></P>
<P>The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, and yet
<PB N="361" REF="191">they are both very memorable in them|&s;elves, and as pertinent to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t I meet with in the Commen|tary of <HI>Johannes Valehius</HI> upon the <HI>Kleine Baur,</HI> In which that Indu&s;trious Chy|mi&s;t Relates, with many circum&s;tances, that at a Mine-Town (If I may &s;o Engli&s;h the German <HI>Berg&s;tat</HI>) eight miles or Leagues di&s;tant from <HI>Stra&s;burg</HI> call'd <HI>Mariakirch,</HI> a Workman came to the Over&s;eer, and de&s;ired employment; but he telling him that there was not a|ny of the be&s;t &s;ort at pre&s;ent for him, added that till he could be preferr'd to &s;ome &s;uch, he might in the mean time, to avoid idlene&s;s, work in a Grove or Mine-pit thereabouts, which at that time was little e&s;teem'd. This Work|man after &s;ome weeks Labour, had by a Crack appearing in the Stone upon a Stroak given near the wall, an Invi|tation Given him to Work his Way through, which as &s;oon as he had done, his Eyes were &s;aluted by a mighty &s;tone or Lump which &s;tood in the middle of the Cleft (that had a hollow place be|hind it) upright, and in &s;hew like an armed-man; but con&s;i&s;ted of pure fine
<PB N="362" REF="192">Silver having no Vein or Ore by it, or any other Additament, but &s;tood there free, having only underfoot &s;omething like a burnt matter; and yet this one Lump held in Weight above a 1000 marks, which, according to the Dutch, Account makes 500 pound weight of fine &s;ilver. From which and other Cir|cum&s;tances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of the place, the Noble Metalline Spirits, (Sulphureous and Mercurial) were carri'd from the neigh|bouring Galleries or Vaults, through o|ther &s;maller Cracks and Clefts, into that Cavity, and there collected as in a clo&s;e Chamber or Cellar; whereinto when they were gotten, they did in pro|ce&s;s of time &s;ettle into the forementio|ned precious ma&s;s of Metal.</P>
<P>The other Germane Relation is of That great Traveller and Laborious Chymi&s;t <HI>Johannes</HI> (not <HI>Georgus) Agrico|la;</HI> who in his notes upon what <HI>Poppi|us</HI> has written of Antimony, Relates, that when he was among the <HI>Hungarian</HI> Mines in the deep Groves, he ob&s;erv'd that there would often ari&s;e in them a warm Steam (not of that malignant &s;ort which the Germains call <HI>Shwadt,</HI>
<PB N="363" REF="192">which (&s;ayes he) is a meer poy&s;on, and often &s;uffocates the Diggers, which fa&s;ten'd it &s;elf to the Walls; and that coming again to review it after a couple of dayes, he di&s;cern'd that it was all ve|ry fa&s;t, and gli&s;tering; whereupon ha|ving collected it and Di&s;till'd it <HI>per Re|tortam,</HI> he obtain'd from it a fine Spirit, adding, that the Mine-Men inform'd him, that this Steam or Damp of the Engli&s;h Mine (retaining the dutch Term) would at la&s;t have become a Metal, as Gold or Silver.</P>
<P>I referr (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades</HI>) to another Occa&s;ion, the U&s;e that may be made of the&s;e Narratives towards the explica|ting the Nature of Metalls; and that of Fixtne&s;s, Malleablene&s;s, and &s;ome o|ther Qualities con&s;picuous in them. And in the mean time, this I may at pre|&s;ent deduce from the&s;e Ob&s;ervations, That 'tis not very probable, that, when|&s;oever a Mineral, or even a Metall, is to be Generated in the Bowels of the Earth, Nature needs to have at hand both Salt, and Sulphur, and Mercury to Compound it of; for, not to urge that the two la&s;t Relations &s;eem le&s;s to fa|vour the Chymi&s;ts than <HI>Aristotle,</HI> who
<PB N="364" REF="193">would have Metals Generated of cer|tain <HI>Halitus</HI> or &s;teams, the forementi|on'd Ob&s;ervations together, make it &s;eem more Likely that the mineral Earths or tho&s;e Metalline &s;teams (where|with probably &s;uch Earths are plentifully imbu'd) do contain in them &s;ome &s;emi|nal Rudiment, or &s;ome thing Equiva|lent thereunto; by who&s;e pla&s;tick pow|er the re&s;t of the matter, though per|haps Terre&s;trial and heavy, is in Tract of time fa&s;hion'd into this or That me|talline Ore; almo&s;t as I formerly noted, that fair water was by the &s;eminal Prin|ciple of Mint, Pompions, and other Vegetables, contriv'd into Bodies an|&s;werable to &s;uch Seeds. And that &s;uch Alterations of Terre&s;trial matter are not impo&s;&s;ible, &s;eems evident from that no|table Practice of the Boylers of Salt-Petre, who unanimou&s;ly ob&s;erve, as well here in <HI>England</HI> as in other Coun|tries; That if an Earth pregnant with Nitre be depriv'd, by the affu&s;ion of wa|ter, of all its true and di&s;&s;oluble Salt, yet the Earth will after &s;ome years yield them Salt-Petre again; For which rea|&s;on &s;ome of the eminent and skillfulle&s;t of them keep it in heaps as a perpetual
<PB N="365" REF="193">Mine of Salt Petre; whence it may ap|pear, that the Seminal Principle of Ni|tre latent in the Earth does by degrees Transforme the neighbouring matter in|to a Nitrous Body; for though I deny that &s;ome Volatile Nitre may by &s;uch Earths be attracted (as they &s;peak) out of the Air, yet that the inner|mo&s;t parts of &s;uch great heaps that lye &s;o remote from the Air &s;hould borrow from it all the Nitre they abound with, is not probable, for other rea&s;ons be|&s;ides the remotene&s;s of the Air, though I have not the Lea&s;ure to mention them.</P>
<P>And I remember, that a per&s;onof Great Credit, and well acquainted with the wayes of making Vitriol, affirm'd to me, that he had ob&s;erv'd, that a kind of mineral which abounds in that Salt, being kept within Doors and not ex|pos'd (as is u&s;ual) to the free Air and Rains, did of it &s;elf in no very long time turn into Vitriol, not only in the out|ward or &s;uperficial, but even in the in|ternal and mo&s;t Central parts.</P>
<P>And I al&s;o remember, that I met with a certain kind of Merka&s;ite that lay together in great Quantities under
<PB N="366" REF="194">ground, which did, even in my chamber, in &s;o few hours begin of it &s;elf to turne in|to Vitriol, that we need not di&s;tru&s;t the newly recited narrative. But to return to what I was &s;aying of Nitre; as Nature made this Salt-Petre out of the once al|mo&s;t and inodorous Earth it was bred in, and did not find a very &s;tinking and corro&s;ive Acid Liquor, and a &s;harp Al|calyzate Salt to compound it of, though the&s;e be the Bodies into which the Fire di&s;&s;olves it; &s;o it were not nece&s;&s;ary that Nature &s;hould make up all Metals and other Minerals of Pre-exi&s;tent Salt, and Sulphur, and Mereury, though &s;uch Bodies might by Fire be obtained from it. Which one con&s;ideration duly weigh'd is very con&s;iderable in the pre&s;ent con|trover&s;y: And to this agree well the Relations of our two German Chymi&s;ts; for be&s;ides that it cannot be convincing|ly prov'd, it is not &s;o much as likely that &s;o languid and moderate a heat as that within the Mines, &s;hould carry up to &s;o great a heat, though in the forme of fumes, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; &s;ince we find in our Di&s;tillations, that it re|quires a con&s;iderable Degree of Fire to rai&s;e &s;o much as to the height of one
<PB N="367" REF="194">foot not only Salt, but even Mercury it &s;elf, in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els. And if it be object|ed, that it &s;eems by the &s;tink that is &s;ometimes ob&s;erv'd when Lightening falls down here below, that &s;ulphureous &s;teams may a&s;cend very high without any extraordinary Degree of heat; It may be an&s;wer'd, among other things, that the Sulphur of Silver is by Chymi&s;ts &s;aid to be a fixt Sulphur, though not al|together &s;o well Dige&s;ted as that of Gold.</P>
<P>But, proceeds <HI>Carneades,</HI> If it had not been to afford You &s;ome hints con|cerning the Origine of Metals, I need not have deduc'd any thing from the&s;e Ob&s;ervations; It not being nece&s;&s;ary to the Validity of my Argument that my Deductions from them &s;hould be irre|fragable, becau&s;e my Adver&s;aries the <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> and Vulgar Chymi&s;ts do not, I pre&s;ume, know any better then I, <HI>a priori,</HI> of what ingredients Nature com|pounds Metals and Minerals. For their Argument to prove that tho&s;e Bodies are made up of &s;uch Principles, is drawn <HI>a po&s;teriori;</HI> I mean from this, that upon the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> of Mineral bodies they are re&s;olv'd into tho&s;e differing &s;ub&s;tances.
<PB N="368" REF="195">That we may therefore examine this Argument, Let us proceed to con&s;ider what can be alledg'd in behalf of the <HI>E.</HI> lements from the Re&s;olutions of Bodies by the fire; which you remember was the &s;econd Tophick whence I told you the Arguments of my Adver&s;aries were de|&s;um'd.</P>
<P>And that I may fir&s;t di&s;patch what I have to &s;ay concerning Minerals, I will begin the remaining part of my di&s;cour&s;e with con&s;idering how the fire divides them.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, I have partly noted above, that though Chymi&s;ts pretend from &s;ome to draw &s;alt, from others running Mercu|ry, and from others a Sulphur; Yet they have not hitherto taught us by any way in us among them to &s;eparate any one principle, whether Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, from all &s;orts of Minerals with|out exception. And thence I may be al|low'd to conclude that there is not any of the Elements that is an Ingredient of all Bodies, &s;ince there are &s;ome of which it is not &s;o.</P>
<P>In the next place, &s;uppo&s;ing that either Sulphur or Mercury were obtainable from all &s;orts of Minerals. Yet &s;till this
<PB N="369" REF="195">Sulphur or Mercury would be but a com|pounded, not an Elementary body, as I told you already on another occa&s;ion. And certainly he that takes notice of the wonderful Operations of Quick&s;ilver, whether it be common, or drawn from Mineral Bodies, can &s;carce be &s;o incon&s;i|derate as to think it of the very &s;ame na|ture with that immature and fugitive &s;ub|&s;tance which in Vegetables and Ani|mals Chymi&s;ts have been pleas'd to call their Mercury. So that when Mercury is got by the help of the fire out of a me|tal or other Mineral Body, if we will not &s;uppo&s;e that it was not pre-exi&s;tent in it, but produc'd by the action of the fire upon the Concrete, we may at lea&s;t &s;up|po&s;e this Quick&s;ilver to have been a per|fect Body of its own kind (though per|haps le&s;&s;e heterogeneous then more &s;e|cundary mixts) which happen'd to be mingl'd <HI>per minima,</HI> and coagulated with the other &s;ub&s;tances, whereof the Metal or Mineral con&s;i&s;ted. As may be exem|plyfied partly by Native Vermillion wherein the Quick&s;ilver and Sulphur be|ing exqui&s;itely blended both with one a|nother, and that other cour&s;e Mineral &s;tuff (what ever it be) that harbours
<PB N="370" REF="196">them, make up a red body differing e|nough from both; and yet from which part of the Quick&s;ilver, and of the Sul|phur, may be ea&s;ily enough obtain'd; Partly by tho&s;e Mines wherein nature has &s;o curiou&s;ly incorporated Silver with Lead, that 'tis extreamly difficult, and yet po&s;&s;ible, to &s;eparate the former out of the Latter. And partly too by na|tive Vitriol, wherein the Metalline Cor|pu&s;cles are by skill and indu&s;try &s;epara|ble from the &s;aline ones, though they be &s;o con-coagulated with them, that the whole Concrete is reckon'd among Salts.</P>
<P>And here I further ob&s;erve, that I ne|ver could &s;ee any Earth or Water, pro|perly &s;o call'd, &s;eparated from either Gold or Silver (to name now no other Metalline Bodies) and therefore to re|tort the argument upon my Adver&s;aries, I may conclude, that &s;ince there are &s;ome bodies in which, for ought appears, there is neither Earth nor Water. I may be allow'd to conclude that neither of tho&s;e two is an Univer&s;al Ingredient of all tho&s;e Bodies that are counted per|fectly mixt, which I de&s;ire you would re|member again&s;t Anon.</P>
<PB N="371" REF="196">
<P>It may indeed be objected, that the rea&s;on why from Gold or Silver we can|not &s;eparate any moi&s;ture, is, becau&s;e that when it is melted out of the Oare, the vehement Fire requi&s;ite to its Fu&s;ion forc'd away all the aqueous and fugitive moi&s;ture; and the like fire may do from the materials of Gla&s;s. To which I &s;hall An&s;wer, that I Remember I read not long &s;ince in the Learned <HI>Jo&s;ephus Aco&s;ta,</HI> who relates it upon his own ob&s;ervation; that in <HI>America,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ace&s;ta</HI> Natural. and Mo|ral hi&s;tory of the Indies, L. 3. c. 5, P. 212.</NOTE> (where he long lived) there is a kind of Silver which the <HI>Indians</HI> call <HI>Papas,</HI> and &s;ometimes (&s;ayes he) they find pieces very fine and pure like to &s;mall round roots, the which is rare in that metal, but u&s;uall in Gold; Concerning which metal he tells us, that be&s;ides this they find &s;ome which they call Gold in grains, which he tells us are &s;mall mor&s;els of Gold that they find whole without mix|ture of any other metal, which hath no need of melting or Refining in the fire.</P>
<P>I remember that a very skilful and credible per&s;on affirmed to me, that be|ing in the <HI>Hungarian</HI> mines he had the good fortune to &s;ee a mineral that was
<PB N="372" REF="197">there digg'd up, wherein pieces of Gold of the length, and al&s;o almo&s;t of the bigne&s;s of a humane Finger, grew in the Oar, as if they had been parts and Branches of Trees.</P>
<P>And I have my &s;elf &s;een a Lump of whiti&s;h Mineral, that was brought as a Rarity to a Great and knowing Prince, wherein there grew here and there in the Stone, which looked like a kind of &s;parr, divers little Lumps of fine Gold, (for &s;uch I was a&s;&s;ured that Tryal had manife&s;ted it to be) &s;ome of them Seeming to be about the Bigne&s;s of pea&s;e.</P>
<P>But that is nothing to what our <HI>A|co&s;ta</HI> &s;ubjoynes, which is indeed very memorable, namely, that of the mor|&s;els of Native and pure Gold, which we lately heard him mentioning he had now and then &s;een &s;ome that weighed many pounds; to which I &s;hall add, that I my &s;elf have &s;een a Lump of Oar not long &s;ince digged up,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Aco&s;la</HI> in the fore-cited Place, and the pa&s;|&s;age of <HI>Pliny</HI> quoted by him.</NOTE> in who&s;e &s;tony part there grew, almo&s;t like Trees, divers parcels though not of Gold, yet of (what perhaps Minerali&s;ts will more wonder at) another Metal which &s;eemed to be very pure or un|mixt
<PB N="373" REF="197">with any Heterogeneous Sub&s;tan|ces, and were &s;ome of them as big as my Finger, if not bigger. But upon Ob&s;ervations of this kind, though per|haps I could, yet I mu&s;t not at pre&s;ent dwell any longer.</P>
<P>To proceed Therefore now (&s;ayes <HI>Carneades)</HI> to the Con&s;ideration of the <HI>Analy&s;is</HI> of Vegetables, although my Tryals give me no cau&s;e to doubt but that out of mo&s;t of them five differing Sub&s;tances may be obtain'd by the fire, yet I think it will not be &s;o ea&s;ily De|mon&s;trated that the&s;e de&s;erve to be call'd Elements in the Notion above ex|plain'd.</P>
<P>And before I de&s;cend to particulars, I &s;hall repeat and premi&s;e this General Con&s;ideration, that the&s;e differing &s;ub|&s;tances that are call'd Elements or Principles, differ not from each other as Metals, Plants and Animals, or as &s;uch Creatures as are immediately produc'd each by its peculiar Seed, and Con&s;ti|tutes a di&s;tinct propagable &s;ort of Crea|tures in the Univer&s;e; but the&s;e are on|ly Various Schemes of matter or Sub|&s;tances that differ from each other, but in con&s;i&s;tence (as Running Mercury and
<PB N="174" REF="198">the &s;ame Metal congeal'd by the Vapor of Lead) and &s;ome very few other ac|cidents, as Ta&s;t, or Smel, or Inflama|bility, or the want of them. So that by a change of Texture not impo&s;&s;ible to be wrought by the Fire and other A|gents that have the Faculty not only to di&s;&s;ociate the &s;mal parts of Bodies, but afterwards to connect them after a new manner, the &s;ame parcell of mat|ter may acquire or lo&s;e &s;uch accidents as may &s;uffice to Denominate it Salt, or Sulphur, or Earth. If I were fully to clear to you my apprehen&s;ions con|cerning this matter, I &s;hould perhaps be obliged to acquaint you with divers of the Conjectures (for I mu&s;t yet call them no more) I have had Concerning the Principles of things purely Corpo|real: For though becau&s;e I &s;eem not &s;atisfi'd with the Vulgar Doctrines, ei|ther of the Peripatetick or Paracel&s;i|an Schools, many of tho&s;e that know me, (and perhaps, among Them, <HI>Eleu|therius</HI> him&s;elf) have thought me wed|ded to the Epicurean <HI>Hypothe&s;es,</HI> (as others have mi&s;taken me for an <HI>Hel|montian;)</HI> yet if you knew how little Conver&s;ant I have been with <HI>Epicurean</HI>
<PB N="375" REF="198">Authors, and how great a part of <HI>Lu|cretius</HI> him&s;elf I never yet had the Cu|lio&s;ity to read, you would perchance be of another mind; e&s;pecially if I were to entertain you at large, I &s;ay not, of my pre&s;ent Notions; but of my former thoughts concerning the Principles of things. But, as I &s;aid above, fully to clear my Apprehen&s;ions would require a Longer Di&s;cour&s;e than we can now have.</P>
<P>For, I &s;hould tell you that I have &s;ometimes thought it not unfit, that to the Principles which may be a&s;&s;ign'd to things, as the World is now Con&s;ti|tuted, we &s;hould, if we con&s;ider the Great Ma&s;s of matter as it was whil&s;t the Univer&s;e was in making, add ano|ther, which may Conveniently enough be call'd an Architectonick Principle or power; by which I mean tho&s;e Various Determinations, and that Skilfull Guidance of the motions of the &s;mall parts of the Univer|&s;al matter by the mo&s;t wi&s;e Author of things, which were nece&s;&s;ary at the be|ginning to turn that confus'd <HI>Chaos</HI> into this Orderly and beautifull World; and E&s;pecially, to contrive the Bodies of A|nimals
<PB N="376" REF="199">and Plants, and the Seeds of tho&s;e things who&s;e kinds were to be propagated. For I confe&s;s I cannot well Conceive, how from matter, Barely put into Motion, and then left to it &s;elf, there could Emerge &s;uch Curious Fa|bricks as the Bodies of men and perfect Animals, and &s;uch yet more admirably Contriv'd parcels of matter, as the &s;eeds of living Creatures.</P>
<P>I &s;hould likewi&s;e tell you upon what grounds, and in what &s;ence, I &s;u&s;pected the Principles of the World, as it now is, to be Three, <HI>Matter, Motion</HI> and <HI>Rest.</HI> I &s;ay, <HI>as the World now is,</HI> be|cau&s;e the pre&s;ent Fabrick of the Uni|ver&s;e, and e&s;pecially the &s;eeds of things, together with the e&s;tabli&s;ht Cour&s;e of Nature, is a Requi&s;ite or Condition, upon who&s;e account divers things may be made out by our three Principles, which otherwi&s;e would be very hard, if po&s;&s;ible, to explicate.</P>
<P>I &s;hould moreover declare in gene|ral (for I pretend not to be able to do it otherwi&s;e) not only why I Conceive that Colours, Odors, Ta&s;ts, Fluidne&s;s and Solidity, and tho&s;e other qualities that Diver&s;ifie and Denominate Bodies
<PB N="377" REF="199">may Intelligibly be Deduced from the&s;e three; <HI>but how two of the Three</HI> Epicurean Principles (which, I need not tell, you are Magnitude, Figure and Weight) are Them&s;elves Deducible from Matter and Motion; &s;ince the Latter of the&s;e Variou&s;ly Agitating, and, as it were, Di&s;tracting the Former, mu&s;t needs disjoyne its parts; which be|ing Actually &s;eparated mu&s;t Each of them nece&s;&s;arily both be of &s;ome Size, and obtain &s;ome &s;hape or other. Nor did I add to our Principles the <HI>Ari&s;tote|lean Privation,</HI> partly for other Rea&s;ons, which I mu&s;t not now &s;tay to in&s;i&s;t on; and partly becau&s;e it &s;eems to be ra|ther an Antecedent, or a <HI>Terminus a quo,</HI> then a True Principle, as the &s;tarting-Po&s;t is none of the Hor&s;es Legs or Limbs.</P>
<P>I &s;hould al&s;o explain why and how I made re&s;t to be, though not &s;o con&s;i|derable a Principle of things, as Moti|on, yet a Principle of them; partly be|cau&s;e it is (for ought we know as An|cient at lea&s;t as it, and depends not upon Motion, nor any other quality of mat|ter; and partly, becau&s;e it may enable the Body in which it happens to be,
<PB N="378" REF="200">both to continue in a State of Re&s;t till &s;ome external force put it out of that &s;tate, and to concur to the production of divers Changes in the bodies that hit again&s;t it, by either quite &s;topping or le&s;sning their Motion (whil&s;t the bo|dy formerly at Re&s;t Receives all or part of it into it &s;elf) or el&s;e by giving a new Bya&s;s, or &s;ome other Modification, to Motion, that is, To the Grand and Pri|mary in&s;trument whereby Nature pro|duces all the Changes and other Qua|lities that are to be met with in the World.</P>
<P>I &s;hould likewi&s;e, after all this, ex|plain to you how, although Matter, Mo|tion and Re&s;t, &s;eem'd to me to be the Catholick Principles of the Univer&s;e, I thought the Principles of Particular bo|dies might be Commodiou&s;ly enough reduc'd to two, namely <HI>Matter,</HI> and (what Comprehends the two other, and their effects) the re&s;ult or Aggregate of tho&s;e Accidents, which are the Motion or Re&s;t, (for in &s;ome Bodies both are not to be found) the Bigne&s;s, Figure, Tex|ture) and the thence re&s;ulting Qualities of the &s;mall parts) which are nece&s;&s;a|ry to intitle the Body whereto they
<PB N="379" REF="200">belong to this or that Peculiar Deno|mination; and di&s;criminating it from o|thers to appropriate it to a Determi|nate Kind of Things, as Yellowne&s;s, Fixtne&s;s, &s;uch a Degree of Weight, and of Ductility, do make the Portion of matter wherein they Concur, to be reckon'd among perfect metals, and ob|tain the name of Gold.) Which Ag|gregate or re&s;ult of Accidents you may, if You plea&s;e, call either <HI>Structure</HI> or Texture.</P>
<P>Though indeed, that do not &s;o proper|ly Comprehend the motion of the con|&s;tituent parts e&s;pecially in ca&s;e &s;ome of them be Fluid, or what other appella|tion &s;hall appear mo&s;t Expre&s;&s;ive. Or if, retaining the Vulgar Terme, You will call it the <HI>Forme</HI> of the thing it de|nominates, I &s;hall not much oppo&s;e it; Provided the word be interpreted to mean but what I have expre&s;s'd, and not a Schola&s;tick <HI>Sub&s;tantial Forme,</HI> which &s;o many intelligent men profe&s;s to be to them altogether Un-intelligi|ble.</P>
<P>But, &s;ayes <HI>Carneades,</HI> if you remember that 'tis a Sceptick &s;peaks to you, and that 'tis not &s;o much my pre&s;ent Talk
<PB N="380" REF="201">to make a&s;&s;ertions as to &s;ugge&s;t doubts, I hope you will look upon what I have propos'd, rather as a Narrative of my for|mer conjectures touching the principles of things, then as a Re&s;olute Declarati|on of my pre&s;ent opinions of them; e&s;|pecially &s;ince although they cannot but appear Very much to their Di&s;ad|vantage, If you Con&s;ider Them as they are propos'd without tho&s;e Rea|&s;ons and Explanations by which I could perhaps make them appear much le&s;&s;e extravagant; yet I want time to of|fer you what may be alledg'd to clear and countenance the&s;e notions; my de|&s;ign in mentioning them unto you at pre|&s;ent being, <HI>partly,</HI> to bring &s;ome Light and Confirmation to divers pa&s;&s;ages of my di&s;cour&s;e to you; <HI>partly</HI> to &s;hew you, that I do not (as you &s;eem to have &s;u&s;pected) embrace all <HI>Epicurus</HI> his principles; but Di&s;&s;ent from him in &s;ome main things, as well as from <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> and the Chymi&s;ts, in others; &amp; <HI>partly</HI> al&s;o, or rather chiefly, to intimate to you the grounds upon which I likewi&s;e differ from <HI>Helmont</HI> in this, that whereas he a&s;cribes almo&s;t all things, and even di&s;ea&s;es them&s;elves, to their de|terminate Seeds; I am of opinion, that
<PB N="381" REF="201">be&s;ides the peculiar Fabricks of the Bo|dies of Plants and Animals (and per|haps al&s;o of &s;ome Metals and Minerals) which I take to be the Effects of &s;eminal principles, there are many other bodies in nature which have and de&s;erve di&s;tinct and Proper names, but yet do but re&s;ult from &s;uch contextures of the matter they are made of, as may without determi|nate &s;eeds be effected by heat, cold, arti|ficial mixtures and compo&s;itions, and di|vers other cau&s;es which &s;ometimes nature imployes of her own accord; and often|times man by his power and skill makes u&s;e of to fa&s;hion the matter according to his Intentions. This may be exemplifi|ed both in the productions of Nature, and in tho&s;e of Art; of the fir&s;t &s;ort I might name multitudes; but to &s;hew how &s;leight a variation of Textures without addition of new ingredients may procure a parcel of matter divers names, and make it be Lookt upon as Different Things;</P>
<P>I &s;hall invite you to ob&s;erve with me, That Clouds, Rain, Hail, Snow, Froth, and Ice, may be but water, having its parts varyed as to their &s;ize and di&s;tance in re&s;pect of each other, and as to motion
<PB N="383" REF="202">and re&s;t. And among Artificial Produ|ctions we may take notice (to skip the Cry&s;tals of Tartar) of Gla&s;s, Regulus, Martis-Stellatus, and particularly of the Sugar of Lead, which though made of that in&s;ipid Metal and &s;our &s;alt of Vina|ger, has in it a &s;weetne&s;&s;e &s;urpa&s;&s;ing that of common Sugar, and divers other qua|lities, which being not to be found in ei|ther of its two ingredients, mu&s;t be con|fe&s;s'd to belong to the Concrete it &s;elf, upon the account of its Texture.</P>
<P>This Con&s;ideration premis'd, it will be, I hope, the more ea&s;ie to per&s;wade you that the Fire may as well produce &s;ome new textures in a parcel of matter, as de&s;troy the old.</P>
<P>Wherefore hoping that you have not forgot the Arguments formerly imploy'd again&s;t the Doctrine of the <HI>Tria prima;</HI> namely that the Salt, Sulphur and Mer|cury, into which the Fire &s;eems to re&s;olve Vegetable and Animal Bodies, are yet compounded, not &s;imple and Elementa|ry Sub&s;tances; And that (as appeared by the Experiment of Pompions) the <HI>Tria prima</HI> may be made out of Water; hoping I &s;ay, that you remember The&s;e and the other Things that I formerly repre&s;ented
<PB N="382" REF="202">to the &s;ame purpo&s;e, I &s;hall now add on|ly, that if we doubt not the Truth of &s;ome of <HI>Helmonts</HI> Relation, We may well doubt whether any of the&s;e Heteroge|neities be (I &s;ay not pre-exi&s;tent, &s;o as to convene together, when a plant or Animal is to be con&s;tituted but) &s;o much as in-exi&s;tent in the Concrete whence they are obtain'd, when the Chymi&s;ts fir&s;t goes about to re&s;olve it; For, not to in&s;i&s;t upon the un-inflamable Spirit of &s;uch Concretes, becau&s;e that may be pretend|ed to be but a mixture of Phlegme and Salt; the Oyle or Sulphur of Vegetables or Animals is, according to him, reduci|ble by the help of Lixiviate Salts into Sope; as that Sope is by the help of re|peated Di&s;tillations from a <HI>Caput Mortu|um</HI> of Chalk into in&s;ipid Water. And as for the &s;aline &s;ub&s;tance that &s;eems &s;eparable from mixt bodies;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Omne autem Alcali additae pinguedine in aqueum liquo|rem, qui tandem mera &amp; &s;im|plex aqua fit, reducitur, (ut videre e&s;t in Sapone, Lazurio lapide, &amp;c.) quoties per adjuncta fixa &s;emen Pingue|dinis deponit.</HI> Helmont.</NOTE> the &s;ame <HI>Helmonts</HI> tryals give us cau&s;e to think, That it may be a pro|duction of the Fire, which by tran&s;porting and otherwi&s;e al|tering the particles of the matter, does bring it to a Saline nature.</P>
<PB N="384" REF="203">
<P>For I know (&s;ayes he, in the place formerly alledg'd to another purpo&s;e) a way to reduce all &s;tones into a meer Salt of equal weight with the &s;tone whence it was produc'd, and that without any of the lea&s;t either Sulphur or Mercury; which a&s;&s;everation of my Author would perhaps &s;eem le&s;s incredible to You, if I dur&s;t acquaint You with all I could &s;ay upon that &s;ubject. And hence by the way you may al&s;o conclude that the Sul|phur and Mercury, as they call them, that Chymi&s;ts are wont to obtain from compound Bodies by the Fire, may po&s;&s;ibly in many Ca&s;es be the producti|ons of it; &s;ince if the &s;ame bodies had been wrought upon by the Agents em|ploy'd by <HI>Helmont,</HI> they would have yielded neither Sulphur nor Mercury; and tho&s;e portions of them which the Fire would have pre&s;ented Us in the forme of Sulphureous and Mercurial Bodies would have, by <HI>Helmonts</HI> method, been exhibited to us in the form of Salt.</P>
<P>But though (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) You have alledg'd very plau&s;ible Arguments again&s;t the <HI>tria Prima,</HI> yet I &s;ee not how it will be po&s;&s;ible for you to avoid ac|knowledging that Earth and Water are
<PB N="385" REF="203">Elementary Ingredients, though not of Mineral Concretes, yet of all Ani|mal and Vegetable Bodies; Since if any of the&s;e of what &s;ort &s;oever be commit|ted to Di&s;tillation, there is regularly and con&s;tantly &s;eparated from it a phlegme or aqueous part and a <HI>Caput Mortuum</HI> or Earth.</P>
<P>I readily acknowledged (an&s;wers <HI>Carneades</HI>) it is not &s;o ea&s;y to reject Wa|ter and Earth (and e&s;pecially the former) as 'tis to reject the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> from be|ing the Elements of mixt Bodies; but 'tis not every difficult thing that is impo&s;&s;i|ble.</P>
<P>I con&s;ider then, as to Water, that the chief Qualities which make men give that name to any vi&s;ible Sub&s;tance, are, that it is Fluid or Liquid, and that it is in&s;ipid and inodorous. Now as for the ta&s;t of the&s;e qualities, I think you have never &s;een any of tho&s;e &s;eparated &s;ub|&s;tances that the Chymi&s;ts call Phlegme which was perfectly devoyd both of Ta&s;t and Smell: and if you object, that yet it may be rea&s;onably &s;uppos'd, that &s;ince the whole Body is Liquid, the ma&s;s is nothing but Elementary Water faintly imbu'd with &s;ome of the Saline or Sul|phureous
<PB N="386" REF="204">parts of the &s;ame Concrete, which it retain'd with it upon its Separa|tion from the Other Ingredients. To this I an&s;wer, That this Objection would not appear &s;o &s;tong as it is plau&s;ible, if Chymi&s;ts under&s;tood the Nature of Flui|dity and Compactne&s;&s;e; and that, as I formerly ob&s;erv'd, to a Bodies being Fluid there is nothing nece&s;&s;ary, but that it be divided into parts &s;mall enough; and that the&s;e parts be put into &s;uch a motion among them&s;elves as to glide &s;ome this way and &s;ome that way, along each others Surfaces. So that, although a Concrete were never &s;o dry, and had not any Water or other Liquor in|exi&s;tent in it, yet &s;uch a Comminution of its parts may be made, by the fire or o|ther Agents, as to turn a great portion of them into Liquor. Of this Truth I will give an in&s;tance, employ'd by our friend here pre&s;ent as one of the mo&s;t conducive of his experiments to Illu&s;trate the nature of Salts. If you Take, then, &s;ea &s;alt and melt it in the Fire to free it from the a|queous parts, and afterward di&s;till it with a vehement Fire from burnt Clay, or any other, as dry a <HI>Caput mortuum</HI> as you plea&s;e, you will, as Chymi&s;ts confe&s;s,
<PB N="387" REF="204">by teaching it drive over a good part of the Salt in the form of a Liquor. And to &s;atisfy &s;ome ingenious men, That a great part of this Liquor was &s;till true &s;ea &s;alt brought by the Operation of the Fire into Corpu&s;cles &s;o &s;mall, and per|haps &s;o advantageou&s;ly &s;hap'd, as to be capable of the forme of a Fluid Body, He did in my pre&s;ence poure to &s;uch &s;pi|titual &s;alts a due proportion of the &s;pirit (or &s;alt and Phlegme) of Urine, where|by having evaporated the &s;uperfluous moi&s;ture, he &s;oon obtain'd &s;uch another Concrete, both as to ta&s;t and &s;mell, and ea&s;ie &s;ublimablene&s;s as common Salt <HI>Ar|moniack,</HI> which you know is made up of gro&s;&s;e and undi&s;till'd &s;ea &s;alt united with the &s;alts of Urine and of Soot, which two are very neer of kin to each other. And further, to manife&s;t that the Cor|pu&s;cles of &s;ea &s;alt and the Saline ones of Urine retain their &s;everal Natures in this Concrete, He mixt it with a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar, and commit|ting it to Di&s;tillation &s;oon regain'd his &s;pirit of Urine in a liquid form by its &s;elf, the Sea &s;alt &s;taying behind with the Salt of Tartar. Wherefore it is very po&s;&s;ible that dry Bodies may by the Fire be re|duc'd
<PB N="388" REF="205">to Liquors without any &s;eparation of Elements, but barely by a certain kind of Di&s;&s;ipation and Comminution of the matter, whereby its parts are brought in|to a new &s;tate. And if it be &s;till objected, that the Phlegme of mixt Bodies mu&s;t be reputed water, becau&s;e &s;o weak a ta&s;t needs but a very &s;mall proportion of Salt to impart it; It may be reply'd, that for ought appears, common Salt and di|vers other bodies, though they be di|&s;till'd never &s;o dry, and in never &s;o clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, will yield each of them pretty &s;tore of a Liquor, wherein though (as I lately noted) Saline Corpu&s;cles abound, Yet there is be&s;ides a large proportion of Phlegme, as may ea&s;ily be di&s;covered by coagulating the Saline Corpu&s;eles with any convenient Body; as I lately told you, our Friend coagulated part of the Spirit of Salt with Spirit of Urine: and as I have divers times &s;eparated a &s;alt from Oyle of Vitriol it &s;elf (though a very ponderous Liquor and drawn from a &s;a|line body) by boyling it with a ju&s;t quan|tity of Mercury, and then wa&s;hing the newly coagulated &s;alt from the Precipi|tate with fair Water. Now to what can we more probably a&s;cribe this plenty
<PB N="389" REF="205">of aqueous Sub&s;tance afforded us by the Di&s;tillation of &s;uch bodies, than unto this, That among the various operations of the Fire upon the matter of a Concrete, divers particles of that matter are re|duc'd to &s;uch a &s;hape and bigne&s;&s;e as is re|qui&s;ite to compo&s;e &s;uch a Liquor as Chy|mi&s;ts are wont to call Phlegme or Water. How I conjecture this change may be ef|fected, 'tis neither nece&s;&s;ary for me to tell you, nor po&s;&s;ible to do &s;o without a much longer di&s;cour&s;e then were now &s;ea&s;ona|ble. But I de&s;ire you would with me re|flect upon what I formerly told you con|terning the change of Quick&s;ilver into Water; For that Water having but a very faint ta&s;t, if any whit more than divers of tho&s;e liquors that Chymi&s;ts re|ferr to Phlegme; By that experiment it &s;eems evident, that even a metalline bo|dy, and therefore much more &s;uch as are but Vegetable or Animal, may by a &s;imple operation of the Fire be turn'd in great part into Water. And &s;ince tho&s;e I di&s;pute with are not yet able out of Gold, or Silver, or divers other Con|cretes to &s;eparate any thing like Water; I hope I may be allow'd to conclude a|gain&s;t Them, that water it &s;elf is not an
<PB N="390" REF="206">Univer&s;al and pre-exi&s;tent Ingredient of Mixt Bodies.</P>
<P>But as for tho&s;e Chymi&s;ts that, Sup|po&s;ing with me the Truth of what <HI>Hel|mont</HI> relates of the <HI>Alkahest</HI>'s wonder|ful Effects, have a right to pre&s;s me with his Authority concerning them, and to alledge that he could Tran&s;mute all re|putedly mixt Bodies into in&s;ipid and meer Water; To tho&s;e I &s;hall repre|&s;ent, That though his Affirmations con|clude &s;trongly again&s;t the Vulgar Chy|mi&s;ts (again&s;t whom I have not there|fore &s;crupl'd to Employ Them) &s;ince they Evince that the Commonly repu|ted Principles or Ingredients of Things are not Permanent and inde&s;tructible, &s;ince they may be further reduc'd into In&s;ipid Phlegme differing from them all; Yet till we can be allow'd to ex|amine this Liquor, I think it not un|rea&s;onable to doubt whether it be not &s;omething el&s;e then meer Water. For I find not any other rea&s;on given by <HI>Helmont</HI> of his Pronouncing it &s;o, then that it is in&s;ipid. Now Sapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to our Tongue, Palate, and other Organs of Ta&s;t, it may very po&s;&s;ibly be,
<PB N="391" REF="206">that the &s;mall Parts of a Body may be of &s;uch a Size and Shape, as either by their extream Littlene&s;s, or by their &s;len|derne&s;s, or by their Figure, to be una|ble to pierce into and make a percepti|ble Impre&s;&s;ion upon the Nerves or Membranous parts of the Organs of Ta&s;t, and what may be fit to work o|therwi&s;e upon divers other Bodies than meer Water can, and con&s;equently to Di&s;clo&s;e it &s;elf to be of a Nature farr e|nough from Elementary. In Silke dyed Red or of any other Colour, whil&s;t ma|ny Contiguous Threads makes up a skein, the Colour of the Silke is con|&s;picuous; but if only a very few of them be lookt upon, the Colour will appear much fainter then before. But if You take out one &s;imple Thread, you &s;hall not ea&s;ily be able to di&s;cern any Colour at all; So &s;ubtile an Object having not the Force to make upon the Optick Nerve an Impre&s;&s;ion great enough to be taken Notice of. It is al&s;o ob&s;erv'd, that the be&s;t &s;ort of Oyl-Olive is almo&s;t ta&s;t|le&s;s, and yet I need not tell you how exceedingly di&s;tant in Nature Oyle is from VVater. The Liquor into which I told you, upon the Relation of <HI>Lully,</HI>
<PB N="392" REF="207">and Eye-witne&s;s that Mercury might be Tran&s;muted, has &s;ometimes but a very Languid, if any Ta&s;t, and yet its Ope|rations even upon &s;ome Mineral Bodies are very peculiar. Quick&s;ilver it &s;elf al&s;o, though the Corpu&s;cles it con&s;i&s;ts of be &s;o very &s;mall as to get into the Pores of that Clo&s;e&s;t and compacte&s;t of Bo|dies, Gold, is yet (you know) altogether Ta&s;tle&s;s. And our <HI>Helmont</HI> &s;everal times tells us, that fair Water wherein a little Quantity f Quick&s;ilver has lain for &s;ome time, though it acquire no certain Ta&s;t or other &s;en&s;ible Quality from the Quick&s;ilver; Yet it has a power to de|&s;troy wormes in humane Bodies; which he does much, but not cau&s;ele&s;sly extoll. And I remember, a great Lady, that had been Eminent for her Beauty in Divers Courts, confe&s;s'd to me, that this in&s;ipid Liquor was of all innocent wa&s;hes for the Face the be&s;t that &s;he ever met with.</P>
<P>And here let me conclude my Di&s;|cour&s;e, concerning &s;uch waters or Li|quors as I have hitherto been exami|ning, with the&s;e two Con&s;iderations. VVhereof the fir&s;t is, That by rea&s;on of our being wont to drink nothing but
<PB N="393" REF="207">VVine, Bear, Cyder, or other &s;trongly ta&s;ted Liquors, there may be in &s;everal of the&s;e Liquors, that are wont to pa&s;s for in&s;ipid Phlegme, very peculiar and Di&s;tinct, Ta&s;ts though unheeded (and perhaps not to be perceiv'd) by Us. For to omit what Naturali&s;ts affirm of Apes, (and which probably may be true of divers other Animals) that they have a more exqui&s;ite palate than Men: among Men them&s;elves, tho&s;e that are wont to drink nothing but water may (as I have try'd in my &s;elf) Di&s;|cern very &s;en&s;ibly a great Difference of Ta&s;ts in &s;everal waters, which one un-ac|cu&s;tomed to drink water would take to be all alike in&s;ipid. And this is the <HI>first</HI> of my two Con&s;iderations; the <HI>O|ther</HI> is, That it is not impo&s;&s;ible that the Corpu&s;cles into which a body is di&s;|&s;ipated by the Fire may by the Opera|tion of the &s;ame fire have their figures &s;o altered, or may be by a&s;&s;ociations with one another brought into little Ma&s;&s;es of &s;uch a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to make &s;en&s;ible Impre&s;&s;ions on the Tongue. And that you may not think &s;uch alterations impo&s;&s;ible, be plea&s;ed to con&s;ider with me; that not
<PB N="394" REF="208">only the &s;harpe&s;t Spirit of Vinager ha|ving di&s;&s;olved as much Corall as it can, will Coagulate with it into a Sub&s;tance, which though &s;oluble in water, like &s;alt, is incomparably le&s;s &s;trongly Ta&s;ted then the Vinager was before; but (what is more con&s;iderable) though the A|cid &s;alts that are carried up with Quick|&s;ilver in the preparation of common &s;ublimate are &s;o &s;harp, that being moi|&s;tened with water it will Corrode &s;ome of the Metals them&s;elves; yet this Cor|ro&s;ive Sublimate being twice or thrice re-&s;ublim'd with a full proportion of in|&s;ipid Quick&s;ilver, Con&s;titutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, which the Chymi&s;ts call <HI>Mercurius dul|cis;</HI> not becau&s;e it is &s;weet, but becau&s;e the &s;harpne&s;s of the Corro&s;ive Salts is &s;o taken away by their Combination with the Mercurial Corpu&s;cles, that the whole mixture when it is prepar'd is judg'd to be in&s;ipid.</P>
<P>And thus (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) ha|ving given you &s;ome Rea&s;ons why I re|fu&s;e to admit Elementary water for a con&s;tant Ingredient of Mixt Bodies, It will be ea&s;ie for me to give you an Ac|count why I al&s;o reject Earth.</P>
<PB N="395" REF="208">
<P>For fir&s;t, it may well be &s;u&s;pected that many Sub&s;tances pa&s;s among Chymi&s;ts under the name of Earth, becau&s;e, like it, they are Dry, and Heavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Ele|mentary Nature. This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what I formerly told you concerning what Chymi&s;ts call the Dead Earth of things, and e&s;pecially touching the cop|per to be drawn from the <HI>Caput Mor|tuum</HI> of Vitriol; And if al&s;o you allow me to &s;ubjoyn a ca&s;ual but memorable Experiment made by <HI>Johannes Agrico|la</HI> upon the <HI>Terra Damnata</HI> of Brim|&s;tone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon <HI>Popius,</HI>) that in the year 1621 he made an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining <HI>Faeces</HI> he reverberated in a moderate Fire fourteen dayes; after|wards he put them well luted up in a VVind Oven, and gave them a &s;trong Fire for &s;ix hours, purpo&s;ing to calcine the <HI>Faeces</HI> to a perfect Whitene&s;s, that he might make &s;ometing el&s;e out of them. But coming to break the pot, he found above but very little <HI>Faeces,</HI> and tho&s;e Grey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine Red <HI>Regulus</HI>
<PB N="396" REF="209">which he fir&s;t marvell'd at and knew not what to make of, being well a&s;&s;u|red that not the lea&s;t thing, be&s;ides the <HI>Faeces</HI> of the Sulphur, came into the pot; and that the Sulphur it &s;elf had only been di&s;&s;olv'd in Lin&s;eed Oyle; this <HI>Regulus</HI> he found heavy and malleable almo&s;t as Lead; having caus'd a Gold&s;mith to draw him a Wire of it, he found it to be of the Faire&s;t copper, and &s;o right|ly colour'd, that a Jew of <HI>Prague</HI> Offer'd him a great price for it. And of this Metal he &s;ayes he had 12 <HI>loth</HI> (or &s;ix ounces) out of one pound of A&s;hes or <HI>Faeces.</HI> And this Story may well incline us to &s;u&s;pect that &s;ince the <HI>Ca|put Mortuum</HI> of the Sulphur was kept &s;o long in the fire before it was found to be any thing el&s;e then a <HI>Terra dam|nata,</HI> there may be divers other Re&s;i|dences of Bodies which are wont to pa&s;s only for the Terre&s;trial <HI>Faeces</HI> of things, and therefore to be thrown a|way as &s;oon as the Di&s;tillation or Cal|cination of the Body that yielded them is ended; which yet if they were long and Skilfully examin'd by the fire would appear to be differing from Elementary Earth. And I have taken notice of the
<PB N="397" REF="209">unwarrantable forwardne&s;s of common Chymi&s;ts to pronounce things u&s;ele&s;s <HI>Faeces,</HI> by ob&s;erving how often they re|ject the <HI>Caput Mortuum</HI> of Verdegrea&s;e; which is yet &s;o farr from de&s;erving that Name, that not only by &s;trong fires and convenient Additaments it may in &s;ome hours be reduc'd into copper, but with a certain Flux Powder I &s;ometimes make for Recreation, I have in two or three minutes obtain'd that Metal from it. To which I may add, that having for tryall &s;ake kept Venetian Taclk in no le&s;s a heat than that of a gla&s;s Fur|nace, I found after all the Brunt of the fire it had indur'd, the remaining Body though brittle and di&s;colour'd, had not lo&s;t very much of its former Bulke, and &s;eem'd &s;till to be nearer of kin to Talck than to meer Earth. And I remem|ber too, that a candid Minerali&s;t, fa|mous for his Skill in trying of Oars, reque&s;ting me one day to procure him a certain <HI>American</HI> Mineral Earth of a <HI>Virtuo&s;o,</HI> who he thought would not refu&s;e me; I enquir'd of him why he &s;eem'd &s;o greedy of it: he confe&s;s'd to me that this Gentleman having brought that Earth to the publick Say-Ma&s;ters;
<PB N="398" REF="210">and they upon their being unable by any means to bring it to fu&s;ion or make it fly away, he (the Relator) had pro|cur'd a little of it; and having try'd it with a peculiar Flux &s;eparated from it neer a third part of pure Gold; &s;o great mi&s;takes may be committed in ha|&s;tily concluding things to be U&s;ele&s;&s;e Earth.</P>
<P>Next, it may be &s;uppos'd, That as in the Re&s;olution of Bodies by the Fire &s;ome of the di&s;&s;ipated Parts may, by their various occur&s;ion occa&s;ion'd by the heat, be brought to &s;tick together &s;o clo&s;ely as to con&s;titute Corpu&s;cles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; the aggregate of which Corpu&s;cles is wont to be call'd A&s;hes or Earth; So other Agents may re&s;olve the Concrete into Minute Parts, after &s;o differing a manner as not to pro|duce any <HI>Caput mortuum,</HI> or dry and heavy Body. As you may remember <HI>Helmont</HI> above inform'd us, that with his great Di&s;&s;olvent he divided a Coal into two liquid and volatile Bodies, aequiponderant to the Coal, without any dry or fixt Re&s;i|dence at all.</P>
<P>And indeed, I &s;ee not why it &s;hould be nece&s;&s;ary that all Agents that re&s;olve
<PB N="399" REF="210">Bodies into portions of differingly quali|fi'd matter mu&s;t work on them the &s;ame way, and divide them into ju&s;t &s;uch parts, both for nature and Number, as the Fire di&s;&s;ipates them into. For &s;ince, as I noted before, the Bulk and &s;hape of the &s;mall Parts of bodies, together with their Fitne&s;s and Unfitne&s;s to be ea&s;ily put into Motion, may make the liquors or other &s;ub&s;tances &s;uch Corpu&s;cles com|po&s;e, as much to differ from each other as do &s;ome of the Chymical principles: Why may not &s;omething happen in this ca&s;e, not unlike what is u&s;uall in the gro&s;&s;er divi&s;ions of bodies by Mechani|cal In&s;truments? Where we &s;ee that &s;ome Tools reduce Wood, for In&s;tance, into darts of &s;everal &s;hapes, bigne&s;&s;e, and other qualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into gro&s;&s;er parts; &s;ome more long and &s;lender, as &s;plinters; and &s;ome more thick and irregular, as chips; but all of con&s;iderable bulk; but Files and Saws makes a Comminution of it into Du&s;t; which, as all the others, is of the more &s;olid &s;ort of parts; whereas others divide it into long and broad, but thin and flexible parts, as do <HI>Planes:</HI> And of this kind of parts it &s;elf there is al&s;o a
<PB N="400" REF="211">variety according to the Difference of the Tools employ'd to work on the Wood; the &s;havings made by the <HI>plane</HI> being in &s;ome things differing from tho&s;e &s;hives or thin and flexible pieces of wood that are obtain'd by <HI>Borers,</HI> and the&s;e from &s;ome others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examples applicable to this purpo&s;e I have el&s;ewhere given you. To which I may add, that where|as in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar well melted and incorporated to|gether, the action of pure &s;pirit of wine dige&s;ted on it is to &s;eparate the &s;ulphu|reous from the Alcalizate Parts, by di&s;|&s;olving the former and leaving the latter, the action of Wine (probably upon the &s;core of its copious Phlegme) upon the &s;ame mixture is to divide it into Cor|pu&s;cles con&s;i&s;ting of both Alcalizate and Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is but a Factitious Con|crete; I an&s;wer, that however the in|&s;tance may &s;erve to illu&s;trate what I propos'd, if not to prove it; and that Nature her &s;elf doth in the bowels of the Earth make Decompounded Bodies, as we &s;ee in Vitriol, Cinnaber, and even in Sulphur it &s;elf; I will not urge that
<PB N="401" REF="211">the Fire divides new Milk into five dif|fering Sub&s;tances; but Runnet and Acid Liquors divide it into a Coagulated mat|ter and a thin Whey: And on the o|ther &s;ide churning divides it into Butter and Butter-milk, which may either of them be yet reduc'd to other &s;ub&s;tances differing from the former. I will not pre&s;&s;e this, I &s;ay, nor other in&s;tances of this Nature, becau&s;e I cannot in few words an&s;wer what may be objected, that the&s;e Concretes &s;eque&s;tred without the help of the Fire may by it be further divided into Hypo&s;tatical Principles. But I will rather repre&s;ent, That where|as the &s;ame &s;pirit of Wine will di&s;&s;oci|are the Parts of Camphire, and make them one Liquor with it &s;elf; <HI>Aqua Fortis</HI> will al&s;o disjoyn them, and put them into motion; but &s;o as to keep them to|gether, and yet alter their Texture into the form of an Oyle. I know al&s;o an uncompounded Liquor, that an extra|ordinary Chymi&s;t would not allow to be &s;o much as Saline, which doth (as I have try'd) from Coral it &s;elf (as fixt as divers judicious writers a&s;&s;ert that Concrete to be) not only obtain a noble Tincture, without the Intervention of Nitre or o|ther
<PB N="402" REF="212">Salts; but will carry over the Tin|cture in Di&s;tillation. And if &s;ome rea|&s;ons did not forbid me, I could now tell you of a <HI>Men&s;truum</HI> I make my &s;elf, that doth more odly di&s;&s;ociate the parts of Minerals very fixt in the fire. So that it &s;eems not incredible, that there may be &s;ome Agent or way of Operation found, whereby this or that Concrete, if not all Firme Bodies, may be re&s;olv'd into parts &s;o very minute and &s;o unapt to &s;tick clo&s;e to one another, that none of them may be fixt enough to &s;tay behind in a &s;trong Fire, and to be incapable of Di&s;tillation; nor con&s;equently to be look'd upon as Earth. But to return to <HI>Helmont,</HI> the &s;ame Authour &s;omewhere &s;upply's me with another Argument again&s;t the Earth's being &s;uch an Element as my Adver&s;aries would have it. For he &s;ome|where affirms, that he can reduce all the Terre&s;trial parts of mixt bodies into infi|pid water; whence we may argue a|gain&s;t the Earths being one of their Ele|ments, even from that Notion of Ele|ments which you may remember <HI>Philo|ponus</HI> recited out of <HI>Aristotle</HI> him&s;elf, when he lately di&s;puted for his Chymi&s;ts again&s;t <HI>Themi&s;tius.</HI> And here we may
<PB N="403" REF="212">on this occa&s;ion con&s;ider, that &s;ince a Body from which the Fire hath driven a|way its loo&s;er parts is wont to be look'd upon as Earth, upon the Account of its being endow'd with both the&s;e qualities, Ta&s;tle&s;&s;ene&s;&s;e and Fixtne&s;&s;e, (for Salt of Tartar though Fixt pa&s;&s;es not among the Chymi&s;ts for Earth, becau&s;e 'tis &s;trongly Ta&s;ted) if it be in the power of Natural Agents to deprive the <HI>Caput Mortuum</HI> of a body of either of tho&s;e two Qualities, or to give them both to a portion of matter that had them not both before, the Chy|mi&s;ts will not ea&s;ily define what part of a re&s;olv'd Concrete is earth, and make out, that that Earth is a primary, &s;imple, and inde&s;tructible Body. Now there are &s;ome ca&s;es wherein the more skilful of the Vulgar Chymi&s;ts them&s;elves pre|tend to be able, by repeated Cohobati|ons and other fit Operations, to make the Di&s;tilled parts of a Concrete bring its own <HI>Caput Mortuum</HI> over the Helme, in the forme of a Liquor; in which &s;tate being both Fluid and Volatile, you will ea&s;ily believe it would not be taken for Earth. And indeed by a skilful, but not Vulgar, way of managing &s;ome Concretes, there may be more effected
<PB N="404" REF="213">in this kind, then you perhaps would ea&s;ily think. And on the other &s;ide, that either Earth may be Generated, or at lea&s;t Bodies that did not before ap|pear to be neer Totally Earth, may be &s;o alter'd as to pa&s;s for it, &s;eems very po&s;&s;ible, if <HI>Helmont</HI> have done that by Art which he mentions in &s;everal places;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Novi item modos quibus to|tum Salpetiae in terram conver|titur, totumque Sulphur &s;emel di&s;&s;olutum fixetur in Pulve|crem terreum. Helmont in Compl. atque Mi&s;t. Elementor, Sect.</HI> 24.</NOTE> e&s;peci|ally where He &s;ayes that he knowes wayes whereby Sulphur once di&s;&s;olv'd is all of it fix'd into a Ter|re&s;trial Powder, and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn'd into Earth: Which la&s;t he el&s;ewhere &s;ayes is Done by the Odour only of a certain Sulphu|reous Fire. And in another place He mentions one way of doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; be|cau&s;e the Materialls I had prepar'd for Trying it, were by a Servants mi&s;take unhappily thrown away.</P>
<P>And the&s;e La&s;t Arguments may be confirm'd by the Experiment I have of|ten had occa&s;ion to mention concerning the Mint I produc'd out of Water. And partly by an Ob&s;ervation of <HI>Ron|deletius</HI>
<PB N="405" REF="213">concerning the Growth of Ani|mals al&s;o, Nouri&s;h'd but by Water, which I remember'd not to mention, when I di&s;cours'd to you about the Pro|duction of things out of Water.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib</HI> 1. <HI>cap.</HI> 2.</NOTE> This Diligent VVriter then in his in&s;tructive book of fi&s;hes, affirmes That his Wife kept a fi&s;h in a Gla&s;s of water without any other Food for three years; in which &s;pace it was con&s;tantly augmented, till at la&s;t it could not come out of the Place at which it was put in, and at length was too big for the gla&s;s it &s;elf though that were of a large capacity. And becau&s;e there is no ju&s;t rea&s;on to doubt, that this Fi&s;h, if Di&s;till'd, would have yielded the like differing &s;ub&s;tances with other Animals: And However, be|cau&s;e the Mint which I had out of wa|ter afforded me upon Di&s;tillation a good quantity of Charcoal, I think I may from thence inferr, that Earth it &s;elf may be produc'd out of Water; or if you plea&s;e, that water may be tran&s;muted into Earth; and con&s;equently, that though it could be prov'd that Earth is an Ingredient actually in-exi&s;tent in the Vegetable and Animal Bodies whence it may be obtain'd by Fire: yet it would
<PB N="406" REF="214">not nece&s;&s;arily follow, that Earth as a pre-exi&s;tent Element Does with other Principles convene to make up tho&s;e Bo|dies whence it &s;eems to have been &s;e|parated.</P>
<P>After all is &s;aid (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius</HI>) I have yet &s;omething to Object, that I cannot but think con&s;iderable, &s;ince <HI>Carneades</HI> Him&s;elf alledg'd it as &s;uch; for, (continues <HI>Eleutherius</HI> &s;miling) I mu&s;t make bold to try whether you can as luckily an&s;wer your own Arguments, as tho&s;e of your Antagoni&s;ts, I mean (pur|&s;ues he) that part of your Conce&s;&s;ions, wherein you cannot but remember that you &s;upply'd your Adver&s;aries with an Example to prove that there may be E|lementary Bodies, by taking Notice that Gold may be an Ingredient in a multi|tude of differing Mixtures, and yet re|tain its Nature, notwith&s;tanding all that the Chymi&s;ts by their Fires and Corro|&s;ive Waters are able to do to De&s;troy it.</P>
<P>I &s;ufficiently intimated to you at that time (replies <HI>Carneades</HI>) that I propos'd this Example, chiefly to &s;hew you how Nature may be Conceived to have made Elements, not to prove that &s;he
<PB N="407" REF="214">actually has made any; And you know, that <HI>a po&s;&s;e ad e&s;&s;e</HI> the Inference will not hold. But (continues <HI>Carneades</HI>) to an&s;wer more directly to the Objecti|on drawn from Gold, I mu&s;t tell You, that though I know very well that di|vers of the more &s;ober Chymi&s;ts have complain'd of the Vulgar Chymi&s;ts, as of Mountebanks or Cheats, for pretend|ing &s;o vainly, as hitherto they have done, to De&s;troy Gold; Yet I know a cer|tain <HI>Menstruum</HI> (which our Friend has made, and intends &s;hortly to commu|nicate to the Ingenious) of &s;o piercing and powerfull a Quality, That if not|with&s;tanding much care, and &s;ome skill, I did not much deceive my &s;elf, I have with it really de&s;troy'd even refin'd Gold, and brought it into a Metalline Body of another colour and Nature, as I found by Tryals purpo&s;ely made. And if &s;ome ju&s;t Con&s;iderations did not for the pre&s;ent Forbid it, I could Perchance here &s;hew you by another Experiment or Two of my own Trying, that &s;uch <HI>Men&s;truums</HI> may be made as to entice a|way and retain divers parts, from Bo|dies, which even the more Judicious and Experienc'd <HI>Spagyri&s;ts</HI> have pro|nounc'd
<PB N="408" REF="215">irre&s;oluble by the Fire. Though (which I De&s;ire you would mark) in neither of the&s;e In&s;tances, the Gold or Precious Stones be Analys'd into any of the <HI>Tria Prima,</HI> but only Reduc'd to new Concretes. And indeed there is a great Di&s;parity betwixt the Operati|ons of the &s;everal Agents whereby the Parts of a Body come to be Di&s;&s;ipated. As if (for In&s;tance) you di&s;&s;olve the pu|rer &s;ort of Vitriol in common Water, the Liquor will &s;wallow up the Mineral, and &s;o Di&s;&s;ociate its Corpu&s;cles, that they will &s;eem to make up but one Li|quor with tho&s;e of the water; and yet each of the&s;e Corpu&s;cles retains its Na|ture and Texture, and remains a Vitri|olate and Compounded Body. But if the &s;ame Vitriol be expo&s;ed to a &s;trong Fire, it will then be divided not only, as before, into &s;maller parts, but into Hete|rogeneous Sub&s;tances, each of the Vi|triolate Corpu&s;cles that remain'd en|tire in the water, being it &s;elf upon the De&s;truction of its former Texture di&s;&s;i|pated or divided into new Particles of differing Qualities. But In&s;tances more fitly applicable to this purpo&s;e, I have already given you. Wherefore to re|turn
<PB N="409" REF="215">to what I told you about the De|&s;truction of Gold, that Experiment Invites me to Repre&s;ent to you, that Though there were either Saline, or Sulphureous, or Terre&s;trial Portions of Matter, who&s;e parts were &s;o &s;mall, &s;o firmly united together, or of a figure &s;o fit to make them cohere to one another, (as we &s;ee that in quick&s;ilver broken into little Globes, the Parts brought to touch one another do immediately re-imbody) that neither the Fire, nor the u&s;ual A|gents employ'd by Chymi&s;ts, are pierce|ing enough to divide their Parts, &s;o as to de&s;troy the Texture of the &s;ingle Corpu&s;cles; yet it would not nece&s;&s;arily follow, That &s;uch Permanent Bodies were Elementary, &s;ince tis po&s;&s;ible there may be Agents found in Nature, &s;ome of who&s;e parts may be of &s;uch a Size and Figure as to take better Hold of &s;ome parts of the&s;e &s;eemingly Elemen|tary Corpu&s;cles than the&s;e parts do of the re&s;t, and Con&s;equently may carry away &s;uch parts with them, and &s;o di&s;|&s;olve the Texture of the Corpu&s;cle by pulling its parts a&s;under. And if it be &s;aid, that at lea&s;t we may this way di&s;|cover the Elementary Ingredients of
<PB N="410" REF="216">Things, by ob&s;erving into what Sub&s;tan|ces the&s;e Corpu&s;cles that were reputed pure are divided; I an&s;wer, that it is not nece&s;&s;ary that &s;uch a Di&s;covery &s;hould be practicable. For if the Particles of the Di&s;&s;olvent do take &s;uch firme hold of tho&s;e of the Di&s;&s;olved Body, they mu&s;t con&s;titute together new Bodies, as well as De&s;troy the Old; and the &s;trickt Union, which according to this <HI>Hypo|the&s;is</HI> may well be &s;uppos'd betwixt the Parts of the Emergent Body, will make it as Little to be Expected that they &s;hould be pull'd a&s;under, but by little Parts of matter, that to Divide them A&s;&s;ociate Them&s;elves and &s;tick extreamly clo&s;e to tho&s;e of them which they &s;ever from their Former Adhe|rents. Be&s;ides that it is not impo&s;&s;ible, that a Corpu&s;cle &s;uppos'd to be Elemen|tary may have its Nature changed, with|out &s;uffering a Divorce of its parts, bare|ly by a new Texture Effected by &s;ome powerfull Agent; as I formerly told you, the &s;ame portion of matter may ea&s;ily by the Operation of the Fire be turn'd at plea&s;ure into the form of a Brittle and Tran&s;parent, or an Opacous and Malleable Body.</P>
<PB N="411" REF="216">
<P>And indeed, if you con&s;ider how farr the bare Change of Texture, whether made by Art or Nature (or rather by Nature with or without the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of man) can go in producing &s;uch New Qualities in the &s;ame parcel of matter, and how many inanimate Bodies (&s;uch as are all the Chymical productions of the Fire) we know are Denominated and Di&s;tingui&s;h'd not &s;o much by any I|maginary Sub&s;tantial Form, as by the aggregate of the&s;e Qualities. If you con|&s;ider the&s;e Things, I &s;ay, and that the varying of either the figure, or the Size, or the Motion, or the Situation, or Con|nexion of the Corpu&s;cles whereof any of the&s;e Bodies is compos'd, may alter the Fabrick of it, you will po&s;&s;ibly be invited to &s;u&s;pect, with me, that there is no great need that Nature &s;hould al|wayes have Elements before hand, whereof to make &s;uch Bodies as we call mixts. And that it is not &s;o ea&s;ie as Chymi&s;ts and others have hitherto Ima|gin'd, to di&s;cern, among the many differ|ing Sub&s;tances that may without any extraordinary skill be obtain'd from the &s;ame portion of matter, Which ought to be e&s;teemed exclu&s;ively to all the re&s;t,
<PB N="412" REF="217">its in-exi&s;tent Elementary Ingredients; much le&s;&s;e to determine what Primoge|neal and Simple Bodies convened toge|ther to compo&s;e it. To exemplify this, I &s;hall add to what I have already on &s;e|veral occa&s;ions Repre&s;ented, but this &s;in|gle in&s;tance.</P>
<P>You may remember <HI>(Eleutherius)</HI> that I formerly intimated to you, that be&s;ides Mint and Pompions, I produced divers other Vegetables of very differing Na|tures out of Water. Wherefore you will not, I pre&s;ume, think it incongru|ous to &s;uppo&s;e, that when a &s;lender Vine|&s;lip is &s;et into the ground, and takes root, there it may likewi&s;e receive its Nutri|ment from the water attracted out of the earth by his roots, or impell'd by the warm'th of the &s;un, or pre&s;&s;ure of the am|bient air into the pores of them. And this you will the more ea&s;ily believe, if you ever ob&s;erv'd what a &s;trange quan|tity of Water will Drop out of a wound given to the Vine, in a convenient place, at a &s;ea&s;onable time in the Spring; and how little of Ta&s;t or Smell this <HI>Aqua Vi|tis,</HI> as Phy&s;itians call it, is endow'd with, notwith&s;tanding what concoction or al|teration it may receive in its pa&s;&s;age
<PB N="413" REF="217">through the Vine, to di&s;criminate it from common Water. Suppo&s;ing then this Liquor, at its fir&s;t entrance into the roots of the Vine, to be common Water; Let Us a little con&s;ider how many vari|ous Sub&s;tances may be obtain'd from it; though to do &s;o, I mu&s;t repeat &s;omewhat that I had a former occa&s;ion to touch up|on. And fir&s;t, this Liquor being Di|ge&s;ted in the plant, and a&s;&s;imilated by the &s;everal parts of it, is turn'd into the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &amp;c. of the Vine; The &s;ame Liquor may be fur|ther dry'd, and fa&s;hon'd into Vine-buds, and the&s;e a while after are advanced unto &s;our Grapes, which expre&s;&s;'d yield Verjuice, a Liquor very differing in &s;e|veral qualities both from Wine and o|ther Liquors obtainable from the Vine: The&s;e &s;oure Grapes being by the heat of the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well ta&s;ted Grapes; Tho&s;e if dry'd in the Sun and Di&s;till'd, afford a faetid Oyle and a piercing <HI>Empyreumatical</HI> Spi|rit, but not a Vinous Spirit; The&s;e dry'd Grapes or Rai&s;ins boyl'd in a con|venient proportion of Water make a &s;weet Liquor, which being betimes di|&s;till'd afford an Oyle and Spirit much like
<PB N="414" REF="218">tho&s;e of the Rai&s;ins them&s;elves; If the juice of the Grapes be &s;queez'd out and put to Ferment, it fir&s;t becomes a &s;weet and turbid Liquor, then grows le&s;&s;e &s;weet and more clear, and then affords in common Di&s;tillations not an Oyle but a Spirit, which, though inflamable like Oyle, differs much from it, in that it is not fat, and that it will readily mingle with Water. I have likewi&s;e without Addition obtain'd in proce&s;&s;e of time (and by an ea&s;ie way which I am ready to teach you) from one of the noble&s;t &s;orts of Wine, pretty &s;tore of pure and curiou&s;ly figured Cry&s;tals of Salt, toge|ther with a great proportion of a Liquor as &s;weet almo&s;t as Hony; and the&s;e I obtained not from Mu&s;t, but True and &s;prightly Wine; be&s;ides the Vinous Liquor, the fermented Juice of Grapes is partly turned into liquid Dregs or Leeze, and partly into that cru&s;t or dry feculan|cy that is commonly called Tartar; and this Tartar may by the Fire be ea&s;ily di|vided into five differing &s;ub&s;tances; four of which are not Acid, and the other not &s;o manife&s;tly Acid as the Tartar it &s;elf; The &s;ame Vinous Juice after &s;ome time, e&s;pecially if it be not carefully
<PB N="415" REF="218">kept, Degenerates into that very &s;our Li|quor called Vinegar; from which you may obtain by the Fire a Spirit and a Cry&s;tal|line Salt differing enough from the Spirit and Lixiviate Salt of Tartar. And if you pour the Dephlegm'd Spirit of the Vine|gar upon the Salt of Tartar, there will be produc'd &s;uch a Conflict or Ebul|lition as if there were &s;carce two more contrary Bodies in Nature; and often|times in this Vinager you may ob&s;erve part of the matter to be turned into an innumerable company of &s;wimming Ani|mals, which our Friend having divers years ago ob&s;erved, hath in one of his Papers taught us how to di&s;cover clearly without the help of a <HI>Micro&s;cope.</HI></P>
<P>Into all the&s;e various Schemes of mat|ter, or differingly Qualifyed Bodies, be&s;ides divers others that I purpo&s;ely forbear to mention, may the Water that is imbib'd by the roots of the Vine be brought, partly by the formative power of the plant, and partly by &s;upervenient Agents or Cau&s;es, without the vi&s;ible concurrence of any extraneous Ingredi|ent; but if we be allowed to add to the Productions of this tran&s;muted Water a &s;ew other &s;ub&s;tances, we may much
<PB N="416" REF="219">encrea&s;e the Variety of &s;uch Bodies; al|though in this &s;econd &s;ort of Producti|ons, the Vinous parts &s;eem &s;carce to re|tain any thing of the much more fix'd Bodies wherewith they were mingl'd, but only to have by their Mixture with them acquir'd &s;uch a Di&s;po&s;ition, that in their rece&s;s occa&s;ion'd by the Fire they came to be alter'd as to &s;hape, or Bigne&s;s, or both, and a&s;&s;ociated after a New manner. Thus, as I formerly told you, I did by the Addition of a <HI>Caput Mortuum</HI> of Antimony, and &s;ome o|ther Bodies unfit for Di&s;tillation, ob|tain from crude Tartar, &s;tore of a very Volatile and Cry&s;talline Salt, differing very much in &s;mell and other Qualities from the u&s;uall &s;alts of Tartar.</P>
<P>But (&s;ayes <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> interrupting him at the&s;e Words) if you have no re|&s;traint upon you, I would very gladly before you go any further, be more par|ticularly inform'd, how you make this Volatile Salt, becau&s;e (you know) that &s;uch Multitudes of Chymi&s;ts have by a &s;carce imaginable Variety of wayes, at|tempted in Vain the Volatilization of the Salt of Tartar, that divers learned <HI>Spagyrists</HI> &s;peak as if it were impo&s;&s;ible,
<PB N="417" REF="219">to make any thing out of Tartar, that &s;hall be Volatile in a Saline Forme, or as &s;ome of them expre&s;s it, <HI>in forma &s;ic|ca.</HI> I am very farr from thinking (an|&s;wers <HI>Carneades</HI>) that the Salt I have mention'd is that which <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> and <HI>Helmont</HI> mean when they &s;peak of <HI>Sal Tartari Volatile,</HI> and a&s;cribe &s;uch great things to it. For the Salt I &s;peak of falls extreamly &s;hort of tho&s;e Vir|tues, not &s;eeming in its Ta&s;t, Smel, and other Obvious Qualities, to differ very much (though &s;omething it do differ) from Salt of Harts-horn, and other Vo|latile Salts drawn from the Di&s;till'd Parts of Animals. Nor have I yet made Tryals enough to be &s;ure, that it is a pure Salt of Tartar without parti|cipating any thing at all of the Nitre, or Antimony. But becau&s;e it &s;eems more likely to proceed from the Tar|tar, than from any of the other In|gredients, and becau&s;e the Experiment is in it &s;elf not Ignoble, and Luciferous enough (as &s;hewing a new way to pro|duce a Volatile Salt contrary to Acid Salts from Bodies that otherwi&s;e are Ob&s;erv'd to yield no &s;uch Liquor, but either only, or chiefly, Acid ones,) I
<PB N="418" REF="220">&s;hall, to &s;atisfie you, acquaint you be|fore any of my other Friends with the way I now u&s;e (for I have formerly us'd &s;ome others) to make it.</P>
<P>Take then of good Antimony, Salt-Petre and Tartar, of each an equal weight, and of Quicklime Halfe the Weight of any one of them; let the&s;e be powder'd and well mingl'd; this done, you mu&s;t have in readine&s;s a long neck or Retort of Earth, which mu&s;t be plac'd in a Furnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of a convenient Bigne&s;s, at which you may ca&s;t in the Mixture, and pre&s;ently &s;top it up again; this Ve&s;&s;el being fitted with a large Re|ceiver mu&s;t have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the &s;ides be red hot, and then you mu&s;t ca&s;t in the above pre|par'd Mixture, by about halfe a &s;poon|full (more or le&s;s) at a time, at the hole made for that purpo&s;e; which being nimbly &s;topt, the Fumes will pa&s;s into the Receiver and conden&s;e there into a Liquor, that being rectifi'd will be of a pure golden Colour, and carry up that colour to a great height; this Spirit a|bounds in the Salt I told you of, part of which may ea&s;ily enough be &s;eparated
<PB N="419" REF="220">by the way I u&s;e in &s;uch ca&s;es, which is, to put the Liquor into a gla&s;s Egg, or bolthead with a long and narrow Neck. For if this be plac'd a little in|clining in hot &s;and, there will &s;ublime up a fine Salt, which, as I told you, I find to be much of kin to the Volatile Salts of Animals: For like them it has a Salti&s;h, not an Acid Salt; it hi&s;&s;es up|on the Affu&s;ion of Spirit of Nitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Di&s;&s;olv'd in Spirit of Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; it pre&s;ently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whitene&s;s; and in &s;umm, has divers Operations like tho&s;e that I have ob&s;erv'd in that &s;ort of Salts to which I have re&s;embled it: and is &s;o Volatile, that for Di&s;tinction &s;ake, I call it <HI>Tartari Fugitivus.</HI> What virtues it may have in Phy&s;ick I have not yet had the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not be de|&s;picable. And be&s;ides that a very Inge|nious Friend of mine tells me he hath done great matters again&s;t the &s;tone, with a Preparation not very much Dif|fering from ours, a very Experienc'd Germane Chymi&s;t finding that I was
<PB N="420" REF="221">unacquainted with the wayes of making this &s;alt, told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymi&s;t prizes it &s;o highly, that he had a while &s;ince pro|cur'd a Priviledge from the Magi&s;trates, that none but He, or by his Licence, &s;hould vent a Spirit made almo&s;t after the &s;ame Way with mine, &s;ave that he leaves out one of the Ingredients, name|ly the Quick-lime. But, continues <HI>Car|neades,</HI> to re&s;ume my Former Di&s;cour&s;e where your Curio&s;ity interrupted it;</P>
<P>Tis al&s;o a common practice in <HI>France</HI> to bury thin Plates of Copper in the Marc (as the French call it) or Husks of Grapes, whence the Juice has been &s;queez'd out in the Wine-pre&s;s, and by this means the more &s;aline parts of tho&s;e Husks working by little and little upon the Copper, Coagulate Them&s;elves with it into that Blewi&s;h Green Sub&s;tance we in Engli&s;h call Verdigrea&s;e. Of which I therefore take Notice, becau&s;e having Di&s;till'd it in a Naked Fire, I found as I expected, that by the A&s;&s;ociation of the Saline with the Metalline parts, the former were &s;o alter'd, that the Di&s;till'd Liquor, even without Rectification, &s;eem'd by &s;mell
<PB N="421" REF="221">and Ta&s;t, &s;trong almo&s;t like <HI>Aqua For|tis,</HI> and very much &s;urpa&s;&s;ed the pure&s;t and mo&s;t Rectifi'd Spirit of Vinager that ever I made. And this Spirit I there|fore a&s;cribe to the &s;alt of the Husks al|ter'd by their Co-Mixture with the cop|per (though the Fire afterwards Di|vorce and Tran&s;mute them) becau&s;e I found this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of a <HI>Crocus</HI> or red|i&s;h powder: And becau&s;e Copper is of too &s;luggi&s;h a Nature to be forc'd over in clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els by no &s;tronger a heat. And that which is al&s;o &s;ome|what Remarkable in the De&s;tillation of good Verdigrea&s;e, (or at lea&s;t of that &s;ort that I us'd) is this, that I Never could ob&s;erve that it yielded me any oyl, (unle&s;s a little black &s;lime which was &s;eparated in Rectification may pa&s;s for Oyle) though both Tartar and Vinager, (e&s;pecially the former) will by De&s;til|lation yield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewi&s;e you pour Spirit of Vina|ger upon Calcin'd Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by its Commixture with the Metalline parts, though In&s;i|pid, acquire in a few hours a more than Saccharine &s;weetne&s;s; and the&s;e Saline
<PB N="422" REF="222">parts being by a &s;trong Fire De&s;till'd from the Lead wherewith they were imbody'd, will, as I formerly al&s;o noted to a Different purpo&s;e, leave the Me|tal behind them alter'd in &s;ome quali|ties from what it was, and will them|&s;elves a&s;cend, partly in the Forme of an unctuous Body or Oyle, partly in that of Phlegme; but for the greate&s;t part in the Forme of a &s;ubtile Spirit, in|dow'd, be&s;ides divers new Qualities which I am not now willing to take no|tice of, with a &s;trong &s;mell very much other than that of Vinager, and a pier|cing ta&s;t quite differing both from the Sowerne&s;s of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetne&s;s of the Sugar of Lead.</P>
<P>To be &s;hort, As the difference of Bo|dies may depend meerly upon that of the &s;chemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the &s;eeds of Things, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minute parts of a Body (ei|ther by breaking them into &s;maller ones of differing &s;hapes, or by Uniting to|gether the&s;e Fragments with the un|broken Corpu&s;cles, or &s;uch Corpu&s;cles a|mong Them&s;elves) and the &s;ame A|gents partly by Altering the &s;hape or
<PB N="423" REF="222">bigne&s;s of the Con&s;tituent Corpu&s;cles of a Body, partly by driving away &s;ome of them, partly by blending others with them, and partly by &s;ome new manner of connecting them, may give the whole por|tion of matter a new Texture of its mi|nute parts; and thereby make it de|&s;erve a new and Di&s;tinct name. So that according as the &s;mall parts of matter recede from each other, or work upon each other, or are connected together af|ter this or that determinate manner, a Body of this or that denomination is produced, as &s;ome other Body happens thereby to be alter'd or de&s;troy'd.</P>
<P>Since then tho&s;e things which Chy|mi&s;ts produce by the help of the Fire are but inanimate Bodies; &s;ince &s;uch fruits of the Chymi&s;ts skill differ from one ano|ther but in &s;o few qualities that we &s;ee plainly that by fire and other Agents we can employ, we can ea&s;ily enough work as great alterations upon matter, as tho&s;e that are requi&s;ite to change one of the&s;e Chymical Productions into a|nother; Since the &s;ame portion of mat|ter may without being Compounded with any extraneous Body, or at lea&s;t Element, be made to put on &s;uch a va|riety
<PB N="424" REF="223">of formes, and con&s;equently to be (&s;ucce&s;&s;ively) turn'd into &s;o many dif|fering Bodies. And &s;ince the matter cloath'd with &s;o many differing formes was originally but water, and that in its pa&s;&s;age thorow &s;o many transformations, it was never reduc'd into any of tho&s;e &s;ub&s;tances which are reputed to be the Principles or Elements of mixt Bodies, except by the violence of the fire, which it &s;elf divides not Bodies into perfectly &s;imple or Elementary &s;ub&s;tances, but in|to new Compounds; Since, I &s;ay, the&s;e things are &s;o, I &s;ee not why we mu&s;t needs believe that there are any Primo|geneal and &s;imple Bodies, of which as of Pre-ex&s;i&s;tent Elements Nature is obli|ged to compound all others. Nor do I &s;ee why we may not conceive that &s;he may produce the Bodies accounted mixt out of one another by Variou&s;ly altering and contriving their minute parts, with|out re&s;olving the matter into any &s;uch &s;imple or Homogeneous &s;ub&s;tances as are pretended. Neither, to di&s;patch, do I &s;ee why it &s;hould be counted ab&s;ur'd to think, that when a Body is re&s;olv'd by the Fire into its &s;uppos'd &s;imple Ingre|dients, tho&s;e &s;ub&s;tances are not true and
<PB N="425" REF="223">proper Elements, but rather were, as it were, Accidentally produc'd by the fire, which by Di&s;&s;ipating a Body in|to minute Parts does, if tho&s;e parts be &s;hut up in Clo&s;e Ve&s;&s;els, for the mo&s;t part nece&s;&s;arily bring them to A&s;&s;ociate Them&s;elves after another manner than before, and &s;o bring Them into Bo|dies of &s;uch Different Con&s;i&s;tences as the Former Texture of the Body, and Concurrent Circum&s;tances make &s;uch disbanded particles apt to Con&s;titute; as experience &s;hews us (and I have both noted it, and prov'd it already) that as there are &s;ome Concretes who&s;e parts when di&s;&s;ipated by fire are fitted to be put into &s;uch Schemes of mat|ter as we call Oyle, and Salt, and Spi|rit; So there are others, &s;uch as are e&s;|pecially the greate&s;t part of Minerals, who&s;e Corpu&s;cles being of another Size or figure, or perhaps contriv'd a|nother Way, will not in the Fire yield Bodies of the like Con&s;i&s;tences, but ra|ther others of differing Textures; Not to mention, that from Gold and &s;ome o|ther Bodies, we &s;ee not that the Fire &s;eparates any Di&s;tinct Sub&s;tances at all; nor That even tho&s;e Similar Parts of
<PB N="426" REF="224">Bodies which the Chymi&s;ts Obtain by the Fire, are the Elements who&s;e names they bear, but Compound Bodies, upon which, for their re&s;emblance to them in con&s;i&s;tence, or &s;ome other obvious Qua|lity, Chymi&s;ts have been pleas'd to be|&s;tow &s;uch Appellations.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="conclusion">
<PB N="473" REF="224">
<HEAD>THE CONCLUSION.</HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e la&s;t Words of <HI>Carneades</HI> be|ing &s;oon after follow'd by a noi&s;e which &s;eem'd to come from the place where the re&s;t of the Company was, he took it for a warning, that it was time for him to conclude or break off his Di|&s;cour&s;e; and told his Friend; By this time I hope you &s;ee, <HI>Eleutherius,</HI> that if <HI>Helmonts</HI> Experiments be true, it is no ab&s;urdity to que&s;tion whether that Do|ctrine be one, that doth not a&s;&s;ert Any Elements in the &s;ence before explain'd. But becau&s;e that, as divers of my Ar|guments &s;uppo&s;e the marvellous power of the <HI>Alkahest</HI> in the Analyzing of Bodies, &s;o the Effects a&s;crib'd to that power are &s;o unparallell'd and &s;tupen|dious,
<PB N="428" REF="225">that though I am not &s;ure but that there <HI>may be</HI> &s;uch an Agent, yet little le&s;s than <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> &s;eems requi&s;ite to make a man &s;ure there <HI>is.</HI> And con&s;e|quently I leave it to you to judge, how farre tho&s;e of my Arguments that are built upon <HI>Alkahestical</HI> Operations are weakned by that Liquors being Match|le&s;s; and &s;hall therefore de&s;ire you not to think that I propo&s;e this Paradox that rejects all Elements, as an Opinion equally probable with the former part of my di&s;cour&s;e. For by that, I hope, you are &s;atisfied, that the Arguments wont to be brought by Chymi&s;ts, to prove That all Bodies con&s;i&s;t of either Three Principles, or Five, are far from being &s;o &s;trong as tho&s;e that I have employ'd to prove, that there is not any certain and Determinate number of &s;uch Princi|ples or Elements to be met with Uni|ver&s;ally in all mixt Bodies. And I &s;up|po&s;e I need not tell you, that the&s;e <HI>An|ti-Chymical</HI> Paradoxes might have been manag'd more to their Advantage; but that having not confin'd my Curio&s;ity to Chymical Experiments, I who am but a young Man, and younger Chymi&s;t, can yet be but &s;lenderly furni&s;hed with
<PB N="429" REF="225">them, in reference to &s;o great and diffi|cult a Task as you impos'd upon me; Be&s;ides that, to tell you the Truth, I dur&s;t not employ &s;ome even of the be&s;t Experiments I am acquainted with, be|cau&s;e I mu&s;t not yet di&s;clo&s;e them; but however, I think I may pre&s;ume that what I have hitherto Di&s;cour&s;ed will induce you to think, that Chymi&s;ts have been much more happy in finding Ex|periments than the Cau&s;es of them; or in a&s;&s;igning the Principles by which they may be&s;t be explain'd. And indeed, when in the writings of <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> I meet with &s;uch Phanta&s;tick and Un-intel|ligible Di&s;cour&s;es as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with, fa|ther'd upon &s;uch excellent Experiments, as though he &s;eldom clearly teaches, I often find he knew; me thinks the Chymi&s;ts, in their &s;earches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators of <HI>Solo|mons Tar&s;hi&s;h</HI> Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages, not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too; For &s;o the Writings of &s;everal (for I &s;ay not, all) of your Hermetick Philo&s;ophers pre&s;ent us, together with divers Sub&s;tantial and
<PB N="430" REF="226">noble Experiments, Theories, which ei|ther like Peacocks feathers make a great &s;hew, but are neither &s;olid nor u&s;eful; or el&s;e like Apes, if they have &s;ome appearance of being rational, are blemi&s;h'd with &s;ome ab&s;urdity or other, that when they are <HI>Attentively</HI> con&s;i|der'd, makes them appear Ridicu|lous.</P>
<P><HI>Carneades</HI> having thus fini&s;h'd his Di|&s;cour&s;e again&s;t the received Doctrines of the <HI>Elements; Eleutherius</HI> judging he &s;hould not have time to &s;ay much to him before their &s;eparation, made &s;ome ha&s;te to tell him; I confe&s;s, <HI>Carneades,</HI> that you have &s;aid more in favour of your Para|doxes then I expected. For though di|vers of the Experiments you have menti|on'd are no &s;ecrets, and were not un|known to me, yet be&s;ides that you have added many of your own unto them, you have laid them together in &s;uch a way, and apply'd them to &s;uch purpo&s;es, and made &s;uch Deductions From them, as I have not Hitherto met with.</P>
<P>But though I be therefore inclin'd to think, that <HI>Philoponus,</HI> had he heard you, would &s;carce have been able in all
<PB N="431" REF="226">points to defend the Chymical <HI>Hypo|the&s;is</HI> again&s;t the arguments wherewith you have oppos'd it; yet me thinks that however your Objections &s;eem to evince a great part of what they pretend to, yet they evince it not all; and the nu|merous tryals of tho&s;e you call the vulgar Chymi&s;ts, may be allow'd to prove &s;ome|thing too.</P>
<P>Wherefore, if it be granted you that you have made it probable,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, that the differing &s;ub&s;tances in|to which mixt Bodies are wont to be re|&s;olved by the Fire are not of a pure and an Elementary nature, e&s;pecially for this Rea&s;on, that they yet retain &s;o much of the nature of the Concrete that afforded them, as to appear to be yet &s;omewhat compounded, and often|times to differ in one Concrete from Principles of the &s;ame denomination in another:</P>
<P>Next, that as to the number of the&s;e differing &s;ub&s;tances, neither is it preci&s;e|ly three, becau&s;e in mo&s;t Vegetable and Animal bodies Earth and Phlegme are al&s;o to be found among their Ingre|dients; nor is there any one determinate number into which the Fire (as it is
<PB N="432" REF="227">wont to be employ'd) does preci&s;ely and univer&s;ally re&s;olve all compound Bodies what&s;oever, as well Minerals as others that are reputed perfectly mixt.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, that there are divers Qualities which cannot well be refer'd to any of the&s;e Sub&s;tances, as if they primarily re|&s;ided in it and belong'd to it; and &s;ome o|ther qualities, which though they &s;eem to have their chief and mo&s;t ordinary re|&s;idence in &s;ome one of the&s;e Principles or Elements of mixt Bodies, are not yet &s;o deducible from it, but that al&s;o &s;ome more general Principles mu&s;t be taken in to explicate them.</P>
<P>If, I &s;ay, the Chymi&s;ts (continues <HI>Eleu|therius</HI>) be &s;o Liberall as to make you the&s;e three Conce&s;&s;ions, I hope you will, on your part, be &s;o civil and Equitable as to grant them the&s;e three other pro|po&s;itions, namely;</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, that divers Mineral Bodies, and therefore probably all the re&s;t, may be re&s;olv'd into a Saline, a Sulphureous, and a Mercurial part; And that almo&s;t all Vegetable and Animal Concretes may, if not by the Fire alone, yet, by a skilfull Arti&s;t Employing the Fire as
<PB N="433" REF="227">his chief In&s;trument, be divided into five differing Sub&s;tances, Salt, Spirit, Oyle, Phlegme and Earth; of which the three former by rea&s;on of their being &s;o much more Operative than the Two Later, de&s;erve to be Lookt upon as the Three active Principles, and by way of Emi|nence to be call'd the three principles of mixt bodies.</P>
<P>Next, that the&s;e Principles, Though they be not perfectly Devoid of all Mixture, yet may without inconveni|ence be &s;til'd the Elements of Com|pounded bodies, and bear the Names of tho&s;e Sub&s;tances which they mo&s;t Re|&s;emble, and which are manife&s;tly pre|dominant in them; and that e&s;pecially for this rea&s;on, that none of the&s;e E|lements is Divi&s;ible by the Fire into Four or Five differing &s;ub&s;tances, like the Concrete whence it was &s;eparated.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, That Divers of the Qualities of a mixt Body, and e&s;pecially the Me|dical Virtues, do for the mo&s;t part lodge in &s;ome One or Other of its principles, and may Therefore u&s;efully be &s;ought for in That Principle &s;ever'd from the others.</P>
<P>And in this al&s;o (pur&s;ues <HI>Eleutherius</HI>)
<PB N="434" REF="228">methinks both you and the Chymi&s;ts may ea&s;ily agree, that the &s;ure&s;t way is to Learn by particular Experiments, what differing parts particular Bodies do con&s;i&s;t of, and by what wayes (ei|ther Actual or potential fire) they may be&s;t and mo&s;t Conveniently be Separa|ted, as without relying too much upon the Fire alone, for the re&s;olving of Bo|dies, &s;o without fruitle&s;sly contending to force them into more Elements than Nature made Them up of, or &s;trip the &s;ever'd Principles &s;o naked, as by ma|king Them Exqui&s;itely Elementary to make them almo&s;t u&s;ele&s;s,</P>
<P>The&s;e things (&s;ubjoynes <HI>Eleu.)</HI> I pro|po&s;e, without de&s;pairing to &s;ee them granted by you; not only becau&s;e I know that you &s;o much preferr the Reputation of <HI>Candor</HI> before that of &s;ubtility, that your having once &s;uppos'd a truth would not hinder you from imbracing it when clearly made out to you; but becau&s;e, up|on the pre&s;ent occa&s;ion, it will be no di|&s;paragement to you to recede from &s;ome of your Paradoxes, &s;ince the nature and occa&s;ion of your pa&s;t Di&s;cour&s;e did not oblige you to declare your own opinions, but only to per&s;onate an Antagoni&s;t of
<PB N="435" REF="228">the Chymi&s;ts. So that (concludes he, with a &s;mile) you may now by granting what I propo&s;e, add the Reputation of Loving the truth &s;incerely to that of having been able to oppo&s;e it &s;ubtilly.</P>
<P><HI>Carneades</HI>'s ha&s;te forbidding him to an|&s;wer this crafty piece of flattery; Till I &s;hal (&s;ayes he) have an opportunity to ac|quaint you with my own Opinions about the controver&s;ies I have been di&s;cour&s;ing of, you will not, I hope, expect I &s;hould declare my own &s;ence of the Arguments I have employ'd. Wherefore I &s;hall only tell you thus much at pre&s;ent; that though not only an acute Naturali&s;t, but even I my &s;elf could take plau&s;ible Exceptions at &s;ome of them; yet di|vers of them too are &s;uch as will not perhaps be readily an&s;wer'd, and will Reduce my Adver&s;aries, at lea&s;t, to al|ter and Reform their <HI>Hypothe&s;is.</HI> I perceive I need not minde you that the Objections I made again&s;t the Qua|ternary of Elements and Ternary of Principles needed not to be oppos'd &s;o much again&s;t the Doctrines Them|&s;elves (either of which, e&s;pecially the latter, may be much more probably maintain'd than hitherto it &s;eems to
<PB N="436" REF="229">have been, by tho&s;e Writers for it I have met with) as again&s;t the unac|curatene&s;s and the unconcludingne&s;s of the <HI>Analytical</HI> Experiments vul|garly Relyed On to Demon&s;trate them.</P>
<P>And therefore, if either of the two examin'd Opinions, or any other The|ory of Elements, &s;hall upon rational and Experimental grounds be clearly made out to me; 'Tis Obliging, but not irrational, in you to Expect, that I &s;hall not be &s;o farr in Love with my Di&s;quieting Doubts, as not to be con|tent to change them for undoubted truths. And (concludes <HI>Carneades</HI> &s;miling) it were no great di&s;paragement for a Sceptick to confe&s;&s;e to you, that as un|&s;atisfy'd as the pa&s;t di&s;cour&s;e may have made you think me with the Doctrines of the Peripateticks, and the Chymi&s;ts, about the Elements and Principles, I can yet &s;o little di&s;cover what to acquie&s;ce in, that perchance the Enquiries of others have &s;carce been more un&s;atisfactory to me, than my own have been to my &s;elf.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<PB N="437" REF="229">
<P>THe Authors con&s;tant Ab&s;ence from the Pre&s;&s;e, whil&s;t the for|mer Treati&s;e was Printing, and the Na|ture of the Subject it &s;elf, wherewith ordinary Compo&s;ers are not wont to be at all acquainted, will, 'tis hop'd, procure the Readers Excu&s;e, till the next Editi|on, if the <HI>Errata</HI> be &s;omewhat nume|rous, and if among them there want not &s;ome gro&s;&s;er mi&s;takes, which yet are not the only Blemi&s;hes the&s;e lines mu&s;t take notice of and acknowledg; For the Au|thor now perceives that through the fault of tho&s;e to whom he had commit|ted the former Treati&s;e in loo&s;e Sheets, &s;ome Papers that belonged to it, have altogether mi&s;carryed. And though it have luckily enough happen'd, for the mo&s;t part, that the Omi&s;&s;ion of them does not marr the Cohaerence of the re&s;t; yet till the next de&s;ign'd Edition afford an <HI>opportunity</HI> of in&s;erting them, it is thought fit that the Printer give notice of one Omi&s;&s;ion at the End of the fir&s;t Dialogue; and that to the&s;e <HI>Errata</HI> there be annex'd the en&s;uing &s;heet of Paper, that was ca|&s;ually lo&s;t, or forgotten by him that &s;hould have put it into the Pre&s;&s;e;
<PB N="438" REF="230">where it ought to have been in&s;erted, in the 187. printed Page, at the break, be|twixt the words, <HI>[Nature]</HI> in the 13th. line, and <HI>[But]</HI> in the next line after. Though it is to be noted here, that by the mi&s;take of the Printer, in &s;ome Books, the number of 187 is placed at the top of two &s;omewhat di&s;tant pages; and in &s;uch copies the following addition ought to be in&s;erted in the latter of the two, as followeth.</P>
<P>And on this occa&s;ion I cannot but take notice, that whereas the great Argu|ment which the Chymi&s;ts are wont to employ to vilify Earth and Water, and make them be look'd upon as u&s;ele&s;s and unworthy to be reckon'd among the Principles of Mixt Bodies, is, that they are not endow'd with Specifick Proper|ties, but only with Elementary qualities; of which they u&s;e to &s;peak very &s;leightingly, as of qualities contemptible and unactive: I &s;ee no &s;ufficient Rea&s;on for this Practice of the Chymi&s;ts: For 'tis confe&s;s'd that Heat is an Elementary Quality, and yet that an almo&s;t innume|rable company of confiderable Things are perform'd by Heat, is manife&s;t to
<PB N="439" REF="230">them that duly con&s;ider the various <HI>Phae|nomena</HI> wherein it intervenes as a princi|pall Actor; and none ought le&s;s to ig|nore or di&s;tru&s;t this Truth then a Chy|mi&s;t. Since almo&s;t all the operations and Productions of his Art are perform|ed chiefly by the means of Heat. And as for Cold it &s;elf, upon who&s;e account they &s;o de&s;pi&s;e the Earth and Water, if they plea&s;e to read in the Voyages of our Engli&s;h and Dutch Navigators in <HI>Nova Zembla</HI> and other Northern Regi|ons what &s;tupendious Things may be ef|fected by Cold, they would not perhaps think it &s;o de&s;picable. And not to re|peat what I lately recited to You out of <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> him&s;elf, who by the help of an inten&s;e Cold teaches to &s;eparate the Quinte&s;&s;ence of Wine; I will only now ob&s;erve to You, that the Con&s;ervation of the Texture of many Bodies both ani|mate and inanimate do's &s;o much de|pend upon the convenient motion both of their own Fluid and Loo&s;er Parts, and of the ambient Bodies, whether Air, Water, &amp;c. that not only in humane Bodies we &s;ee that the immoderate or un&s;ea&s;onable coldne&s;s of the Air (e&s;pe|cially when it finds &s;uch Bodies everhea|ted)
<PB N="440" REF="231">do's very frequently di&s;compo&s;e the <HI>Oeconomie</HI> of them, and occa&s;ion va|riety of Di&s;ea&s;es; but in the &s;olid and durable Body of Iron it &s;elf, in which one would not expect that &s;uddain Cold &s;hould produce any notable change, it may have &s;o great an operation, that if you take a Wire, or other &s;lender piece of &s;teel, and having brought it in the fire to a white heat, You &s;uffer it afterwards to cool lea&s;urely in the Air, it will when it is cold be much of the &s;ame hardne&s;&s;e it was of before: Whereas if as &s;oon as You remove it from the fire, you plunge it into cold water, it will upon the &s;ud|den Refrigeration acquire a very much greater hardne&s;s then it had before; Nay, and will become manife&s;tly brittle. And that you may not impute this to any pe|culiar Quality in the Water, or other Liquor, or Unctuous matter, wherein &s;uch heated &s;teel is wont to be quenched that it may be temper'd; I know a very skillful Trade&s;man, that divers times hardens &s;teel by &s;uddenly cooling it in a Body that is neither a liquor, nor &s;o much as moi&s;t. A tryal of that Nature I re|member I have &s;een made. And how|ever by the operation that Water has
<PB N="441" REF="231" MS="y">upon &s;teel quenched in it, whether upon the Account of its coldne&s;s and moi&s;ture, or upon that of any other of its qualities, it appears, that water is not alwaies &s;o inefficacious and contemptible a Body, as our Chymi&s;ts would have it pa&s;&s;e for. And what I have &s;aid of the Efficacy of Cold and Heat, might perhaps be ea&s;ily enough carried further by other con&s;ide|rations and experiments; were it not that having been mention'd only upon the Bye, I mu&s;t not in&s;i&s;t on it, but pro|ceed to another Subject.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>ERRATA.</HEAD>
<P>PAg. 5. line. 6. read <HI>&s;o qualify'd,</HI> 15.19. <HI>Ratioci|nations,</HI> 25.15. <HI>for a,</HI> 33.17. in a parenth. <HI>(that is no more)</HI> 51.24. <HI>be&s;ides another Caput,</HI> 79.10. <HI>em|ploy,</HI> 86.13. <HI>&s;tructure,</HI> 97.13. <HI>Sack,</HI> ibid. 22. <HI>Sack,</HI> 104.29. in&s;tead of <HI>appear it, will,</HI> leg. <HI>appear, it will,</HI> 118.20. <HI>lea&s;ure,</HI> ibid. <HI>principal,</HI> 126.20. <HI>and till it &s;uffer,</HI> 129. 3 leg. in parenth <HI>(notwith&s;tanding, &amp;c.</HI> 131.15. <HI>&s;o,</HI> 144.15. <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, 151.5. <HI>nor have been re&s;olved,</HI> 180.25. <HI>Magi&s;tram,</HI> 185.15. <HI>lately,</HI> 188.15. <HI>tunned,</HI> 200.1. <HI>intolerable,</HI> ibid. 2. <HI>in,</HI> 209 21. <HI>tegularum,</HI> 210.7. <HI>di&s;till'd from,</HI> 215.25. dele <HI>the,</HI> 220.1. <HI>bodies,</HI> 228.11. <HI>fugitive,</HI> 231.17. in&s;tead of <HI>all</HI> lege <HI>a pound,</HI> 237.6. <HI>Chymi&s;t,</HI> 248.18. <HI>A&s;hes off,</HI> 251. 23 <HI>Deopilative)</HI> 259.6. <HI>it &s;elf,</HI> 269.10 <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>ibid.</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, 276.25. make a parenth at the words, <HI>by the,</HI> and &s;hut it after the words in the 27. line <HI>at all,</HI> 280.11. <HI>Corals,</HI> 288.6. <HI>a&s;cribes,</HI> 294 22. <HI>pore&s;ity,</HI> ibid 28. <HI>noted,</HI> 296.1. <HI>Bodies.</HI> 305.8. (<HI>attended,</HI> 307.12. dele <HI>to,</HI> 308.12. <HI>devi&s;ers.</HI> 312
<PB N="442" REF="232">14. <HI>and,</HI> 313.3. <HI>too,</HI> 314.24. <HI>fugitivene&s;&s;e,</HI> 333.13. <HI>origine,</HI> ibid. 24. <HI>contrivance of,</HI> 339.1. <HI>Nay, Bar|thias,</HI> 142.3. <HI>in; I will,</HI> 350.26. <HI>ab&s;urd,</HI> 356.11. <HI>Goutieres.</HI> 358.6. <HI>antea.</HI> 360.1. <HI>comperti&s;&s;imum,</HI> ibid 18. <HI>Joachimica,</HI> ibid. 19. <HI>graminis,</HI> ibid. 23. <HI>&s;ua,</HI> 362 6. <HI>Dutch account,</HI> 363.2. diggers) ibid 11. and 12. lin. read <HI>damp as the Engli&s;hmen al&s;o call it,</HI> 366.25 <HI>a height,</HI> 368.19. <HI>in u&s;e.</HI> 370.9. <HI>latter; And,</HI> ibid. 24. <HI>Water; J,</HI> 377.22. <HI>Re&s;t,</HI> ibid. 25. <HI>know</HI>) 378.23. after <HI>Aggregate</HI> in&s;ert <HI>or complex,</HI> ibid 27. dele) ibid 28. dele), 379.4. before <HI>as</HI> begin a parenth. which ends lin. 9. at <HI>Gold.</HI> ibid. in&s;tead of <HI>Which,</HI> put <HI>This,</HI> ibid. 12. with the word <HI>Texture</HI> &s;hould be connected the next line, <HI>Though,</HI> and this word <HI>Though</HI> is to have put before it a parenthe&s;is, which is to end at the word <HI>Fluid</HI> in the 16th line, 383 3. <HI>Regulus Martis Stellatus,</HI> 382.3. <HI>Relations,</HI> ibid 9. <HI>Chymi&s;t,</HI> 386.29. <HI>confe&s;&s;e by teaching it,</HI> 391.8. <HI>and yet may,</HI> 392.1. <HI>an,</HI> ibid. 12. <HI>of,</HI> 393. <HI>di&s;tinct Ta&s;ts;</HI> 397.13. <HI>Talck,</HI> 398.18. <HI>Earth,</HI> 399.18. <HI>parts,</HI> 404.8. <HI>&s;al-petrae,</HI> 419.20. after <HI>it</HI> put in <HI>Sal.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<P><HI>The Publi&s;her doth adverti&s;e the Reader, that &s;eeing there are divers Experiments re|lated in this Treati&s;e, which the Author is not unwilling to &s;ubmit to the con&s;ideration al&s;o of Forraign Philo&s;ophers, he believes this piece will be very &s;oon tran&s;lated into Latin.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>END.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="232">
<PB REF="233" MS="y">
<PB REF="233" MS="y">
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</GROUP>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
