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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Sceptical Chymist, by Robert Boyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Sceptical Chymist
+       or Chymico-Physical Doubts & 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 præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
+
+
+Author: Robert Boyle
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 8, 2007  [eBook #22914]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Robert Shimmin, Linda Cantoni, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net).
+Color title-page images were generously provided by the University of
+Pennsylvania Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image
+(http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti).
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   This e-book was prepared from a facsimile of the 1661 first
+   edition and contains spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
+   inconsistencies typical of the era. These have been preserved
+   as they appear in the original.
+
+   Printer errors have also been preserved. Those mentioned in
+   the Errata at the end of the book are noted with [Errata:
+   corrected text]. Other obvious printer errors are noted with
+   [Transcriber's Note: corrected text] where the meaning might
+   be unclear without the correction. See also the printer's note
+   preceding the Errata, which contains material omitted from the
+   text (the place where it should be inserted is marked in the
+   text with a Transcriber's Note).
+
+   There are a number of sidenotes in this book, most of which
+   function as footnotes (e.g., citations to other works) and some
+   of which function as true sidenotes. For the sake of clarity,
+   sidenotes functioning as footnotes have been converted to
+   numbered footnotes, with number markers at appropriate places
+   in the text.
+
+   A character with a macron is represented by an equal sign.
+   E.g., [=a] indicates "a" with macron.
+
+   A table of contents has been provided for the reader's
+   convenience.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:
+
+OR
+
+CHYMICO-PHYSICAL
+
+Doubts & 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 præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same
+Subject.
+
+
+BY
+
+The Honourable _ROBERT BOYLE_, Esq;
+
+
+_LONDON,_
+
+Printed by _J. Cadwell_ for _J. Crooke_, and are to be Sold at the
+_Ship_ in St. _Paul's_ Church-Yard.
+
+_MDCLXI._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+A Præface Introductory
+Physiological Considerations
+The First Part
+The Second Part
+The Third Part
+The Fourth Part
+The Fifth Part
+The Sixth Part
+The Conclusion
+Printer's Note
+Errata
+
+
+
+
+A
+
+PRÆFACE
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+_To the following Treatise._
+
+
+_To give the Reader an account, Why the following Treatise is suffer'd
+to pass abroad so maim'd and imperfect, I must inform him that 'tis
+now long since, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I set down
+some of the Reasons that kept me from fully acquiescing either in the
+Peripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principles
+of mixt Bodies. This Discourse some years after falling into the hands
+of some Learned men, had the good luck to be so favourably receiv'd,
+and advantageously spoken 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 some things that seem'd not so fit to
+be shewn to every Reader, And substitute some of those other things
+that occurr'd to me of the trials and observations I had since made.
+What became of my papers, I elsewhere mention in a Preface where I
+complain of it: But since I writ That, I found many sheets that
+belong'd to the subjects I am now about to discourse of. Wherefore
+seeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue as
+was requisite to state the Case, and serve for an Introduction as well
+to the conference betwixt_ Carneades _and_ Eleutherius, _as to some
+other Dialogues, which for certain reasons are not now herewith
+publish'd, I resolv'd to supply, as well as I could, the Contents of a
+Paper belonging to the second of the following Discourses, which I
+could not possibly retrive, though it were the chief of them all. And
+having once more try'd the Opinion of Friends, but not of the same,
+about this imperfect work, I found it such, that I was content in
+complyance with their Desires; that not only it should be publish'd,
+but that it should be publish'd as soon as conveniently might be. I
+had indeed all along the Dialogues spoken of my self, as of a third
+Person; For, they containing Discourses which were among the first
+Treatises that I ventur'd long ago to write of matters Philosophical,
+I had reason to desire, with the Painter, to_ latere pone tabulam,
+_and hear what men would say of them, before I own'd my self to be
+their Author. But besides that now I find, 'tis not unknown to many
+who it is that writ them, I am made to believe that 'tis not
+inexpedient, they should be known to come from a Person not altogether
+a stranger to Chymical Affairs. And I made the lesse scruple to let
+them come abroad uncompleated, partly, because my affairs and
+Præ-ingagements to publish divers other Treatises allow'd me small
+hopes of being able in a great while to compleat these Dialogues. And
+partly, because I am not unapt to think, that they may come abroad
+seasonably enough, though not for the Authors reputation, yet for
+other purposes. For I observe, that of late Chymistry begins, as
+indeed it deserves, to be cultivated by Learned Men who before
+despis'd it; and to be pretended to by many who never cultivated it,
+that they may be thought not to ignore it: Whence it is come to passe,
+that divers Chymical Notions about Matters Philosophical are taken for
+granted and employ'd, and so adopted by very eminent Writers both
+Naturalists and Physitians. Now this I fear may prove somewhat
+prejudicial to the Advancement of solid Philosophy: For though I am a
+great Lover of Chymical Experiments, and though I have no mean esteem
+of divers Chymical Remedies, yet I distinguish these from their
+Notions about the causes of things, and their manner of Generation.
+And for ought I can hitherto discern, there are a thousand_ Phænomena
+_in Nature, besides a Multitude of Accidents relating to the humane
+Body, which will scarcely be clearly & satisfactorily made out by them
+that confine themselves 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 small Parts of Matter, and the other more Catholick
+and Fruitful affections of Bodies. Wherefore it will not perhaps be
+now unseasonable to let our_ Carneades _warne Men, not to subscribe to
+the grand Doctrine of the Chymists touching their three Hypostatical
+Principles, till they have a little examin'd it, and consider'd, how
+they can clear it from his Objections, divers of which 'tis like they
+may never have thought on; since a Chymist scarce would, and none but
+a Chymist could propose them. I hope also it will not be unacceptable
+to several Ingenious Persons, who are unwilling to determine of any
+important Controversie, without a previous consideration of what may
+be said on both sides, and yet have greater desires to understand
+Chymical Matters, than Opportunities of learning them, to find here
+together, besides several Experiments of my own purposely made to
+Illustrate the Doctrine of the Elements, divers others scarce to be
+met with, otherwise then Scatter'd among many Chymical Books. And to
+Find these Associated Experiments so Deliver'd as that an Ordinary
+Reader, if he be but Acquainted with the usuall Chymical Termes, may
+easily enough Understand Them; and even a wary One may safely rely on
+Them. These Things I add, because a Person any Thing vers'd in the
+Writings of Chymists cannot but Discern by their obscure, Ambiguous,
+and almost Ænigmatical Way of expressing what they pretend to Teach,
+that they have no Mind, to be understood at all, but by_ the Sons of
+Art _(as they call them) nor to be Understood even by these without
+Difficulty And Hazardous Tryalls. Insomuch that some of Them Scarce
+ever speak so candidly, as when they make use of that known Chymical
+Sentence;_ Ubi palam locuti fumus, ibi nihil diximus. _And as the
+obscurity of what some Writers deliver makes it very difficult to be
+understood; so the Unfaithfulness of too many others makes it unfit to
+be reli'd on. For though unwillingly, Yet I must for the truths sake,
+and the Readers, warne him not to be forward to believe Chymical
+Experiments when they are set down only by way of Prescriptions, and
+not of Relations; that is, unless he that delivers them mentions his
+doing it upon his own particular knowledge, or upon the Relation of
+some credible person, avowing it upon his own experience. For I am
+troubled, I must complain, that even Eminent Writers, both Physitians
+and Philosophers, whom I can easily name, if it be requir'd, have of
+late suffer'd themselves to be so far impos'd upon, as to Publish and
+Build upon Chymical Experiments, which questionless 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 wish'd, that now that those begin to
+quote Chymical Experiments that are not themselves Acquainted with
+Chymical Operations, men would Leave off that Indefinite Way of
+Vouching the Chymists say this, or the Chymists affirme that, and
+would rather for each Experiment they alledge name the Author or
+Authors, upon whose credit they relate it; For, by this means they
+would secure themselves from the suspition of falshood (to which the
+other Practice Exposes them) and they would Leave the Reader to Judge
+of what is fit for him to Believe of what is Deliver'd, whilst they
+employ not their own great names to Countenance doubtfull Relations;
+and they will also do Justice to the Inventors or Publishers of true
+Experiments, as well as upon the Obtruders of false ones. Whereas by
+that general Way of quoting the Chymists, the candid Writer is
+Defrauded of the particular Praise, and the Impostor escapes the
+Personal Disgrace that is due to him._
+
+_The remaining Part of this Præface must be imploy'd in saying
+something for_ Carneades, _and something for my Self._
+
+_And first_, Carneades _hopes that he will be thought to have disputed
+civilly and Modestly enough for one that was to play the Antagonist
+and the Sceptick. And if he any where seem to sleight his Adversaries
+Tenents and Arguments, he is willing to have it look'd upon as what he
+was induc'd to, not so much by his Opinion of them, as the Examples
+of_ Themistius _and_ Philoponus, _and the custom of such kind of
+Disputes._
+
+_Next, In case that some of his Arguments shall not be thought of the
+most Cogent sort that may be, he hopes it will be consider'd that it
+ought not to be Expected, that they should be So. For, his Part being
+chiefly but to propose Doubts and Scruples, he does enough, if he
+shews that his Adversaries Arguments are not strongly Concluding,
+though his own be not so neither. And if there should appear any
+disagreement betwixt the things he delivers in divers passages, he
+hopes it will be consider'd, that it is not necessary that all the
+things a Sceptick Proposes, should be consonant; since it being his
+work to Suggest doubts against the Opinion he questions, it is
+allowable for him to propose two or more severall_ Hypotheses _about
+the same thing: And to say that it may be accounted for this way, or
+that way, or the other Way, though these wayes be perhaps inconsistent
+among Themselves. Because it is enough for him, if either of the
+proposed_ Hypotheses _be but as probable as that he calls a question.
+And if he proposes many that are Each of them probable, he does the
+more satisfie his doubts, by making it appear the more difficult to be
+sure, that that which they alwayes differ from is the true. And our_
+Carneades _by holding the Negative, he has this Advantage, that if
+among all the Instances he brings to invalidate all the Vulgar
+Doctrine of those he Disputes with, any one be Irrefragable, that
+alone is sufficient to overthrow a Doctrine which Universally asserts
+what he opposes. For, it cannot be true, that all Bodies whatsoever
+that are reckon'd among the Perfectly mixt Ones, are Compounded of
+such a Determinate Number of such or such Ingredients, in case any one
+such Body can be produc'd, that is not so compounded; and he hopes
+too, that Accurateness will be the less expected from him, because his
+undertaking obliges him to maintain such Opinions in Chymistry, and
+that chiefly by Chymical Arguments, as are Contrary to the very
+Principles of the Chymists; From whose writings it is not Therefore
+like he should receive any intentionall Assistance, except from some
+Passages of the Bold and Ingenious_ Helmont, _with whom he yet
+disagrees in many things (which reduce him to explicate Divers
+Chymical_ Phænomena, _according to other Notions;) And of whose
+Ratiocinations, not only some seem very Extravagant, but even the Rest
+are not wont to be as considerable as his Experiments. And though it
+be True indeed, that some_ Aristotelians _have occasionally written
+against the Chymical Doctrine he Oppugnes, yet since they have done it
+according to their Principles, And since our_ Carneades _must as well
+oppose their_ Hypothesis _as that of the Spagyrist, he was fain to
+fight his Adversaries with their own Weapons, Those of the
+Peripatetick being Improper, if not hurtfull for a Person of his
+Tenents; besides that those_ Aristotelians, _(at Least, those he met
+with,) that have written against the Chymists, seem to have had so
+little Experimental Knowledge in Chymical Matters, that by their
+frequent Mistakes and unskilfull Way of Oppugning, they have too often
+expos'd Themselves to the Derision of their Adversaries, for writing
+so Confidently against what they appear so little to understand._
+
+_And Lastly_, Carneades _hopes, he shall doe the Ingenious this Piece
+of service, that by having Thus drawn the Chymists Doctrine out of
+their Dark and Smoakie Laboratories, and both brought it into the open
+light, and shewn the weakness of their Proofs, that have hitherto
+been wont to be brought for it, either Judicious Men shall henceforth
+be allowed calmly and after due information to disbelieve it, or those
+abler Chymists, that are zealous for the reputation of it, will be
+oblig'd to speak plainer then hitherto has been done, and maintain it
+by better Experiments and Arguments then Those_ Carneades _hath
+examin'd: so That he hopes, the Curious will one Way or other Derive
+either satisfaction or instruction from his endeavours. And as he is
+ready to make good the profession he makes in the close of his
+Discourse, he being ready to be better inform'd, so he expects either
+to be indeed inform'd, or to be let alone. For Though if any Truly
+knowing Chymists shall Think fit in a civil and rational way to shew
+him any truth touching the matter in Dispute That he yet discernes
+not,_ Carneades _will not refuse either to admit, or to own a
+Conviction: yet if any impertinent Person shall, either to get Himself
+a Name, or for what other end soever, wilfully or carelesly mistake
+the State of the Controversie, or the sence of his Arguments, or shall
+rail instead of arguing, as hath been done of Late in Print by divers
+Chymists;_[1] _or lastly, shall write against them in a canting way; I
+mean, shall express himself in ambiguous or obscure termes, or argue
+from experiments not intelligibly enough Deliver'd_, Carneades
+_professes, That he values his time so much, as not to think the
+answering such Trifles worth the loss of it._
+
+[Footnote 1: G. and F. and H. and others, in their books against one
+another.]
+
+_And now having said thus much for_ Carneades, _I hope the Reader will
+give me leave to say something too for my self._
+
+_And first, if some morose Readers shall find fault with my having
+made the Interlocutors upon occasion complement with one another, and
+that I have almost all along written these Dialogues in a stile more
+Fashionable then That of meer scholars is wont to be, I hope I shall
+be excus'd by them that shall consider, that to keep a due_ decorum
+_in the Discourses, it was fit that in a book written by a Gentleman,
+and wherein only Gentlemen are introduc'd as speakers, the Language
+should be more smooth, and the Expressions more civil than is usual in
+the more Scholastick way of writing. And indeed, I am not sorry to
+have this Opportunity of giving an example how to manage even Disputes
+with Civility; whence perhaps some Readers will be assisted to discern
+a Difference betwixt Bluntness of speech and Strength of reason, and
+find that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without being an Enemy to
+Civility; and may confute an Opinion without railing at Them that hold
+it; To whom he that desires to convince and not to provoke them, must
+make some amends by his Civility to their Persons, for his severity
+to their mistakes; and must say as little else as he can, to displease
+them, when he says that they are in an error._
+
+_But perhaps other Readers will be less apt to find fault with the
+Civility of my Disputants, than the Chymists will be, upon the reading
+of some Passages of the following Dialogue, to accuse_ Carneades _of
+Asperity. But if I have made my Sceptick sometimes speak sleightingly
+of the Opinions he opposes, I hope it will not be found that I have
+done any more, than became the Part he was to act of an Opponent:
+Especially, if what I have made him say be compar'd with what the
+Prince of the Romane Orators himself makes both great Persons and
+Friends say of one anothers Opinions, in his excellent Dialogues,_ De
+Natura Deorum: _And I shall scarce be suspected of Partiality, in the
+case, by them that take Notice that there is full as much (if not far
+more) liberty of sleighting their Adversaries Tenents to be met with
+in the Discourses of those with whom_ Carneades _disputes. Nor needed
+I make the Interlocutors speak otherwise then freely in a Dialogue,
+wherein it was sufficiently intimated, that I meant not to declare my
+own Opinion of the Arguments propos'd, much lesse of the whole
+Controversy it self otherwise than as it may by an attentive Reader be
+guess'd at by some Passages of_ Carneades: _(I say, some Passages,
+because I make not all that he says, especially in the heat of
+Disputation, mine,) partly in this Discourse, and partly in some other
+Dialogues betwixt the same speakers (though they treat not immediately
+of the Elements) which have long layn by me, and expect the
+Entertainment that these present Discourses will meet with. And indeed
+they will much mistake me, that shall conclude from what I now
+publish, that I am at Defyance with Chymistry, or would make my
+Readers so. I hope the_ Specimina _I have lately publish'd of an
+attempt to shew the usefulness of Chymical Experiments to
+Contemplative Philosophers, will give those that shall read them other
+thoughts of me: & I had a design (but wanted opportunity) to publish
+with these Papers an Essay I have lying by me, the greater part of
+which is Apologetical for one sort of Chymists. And at least, as for
+those 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 Chymists Art,
+(though I am no friend to many that disgrace it by professing it,) and
+perswade them to believe me when I declare that I distinguish betwixt
+those Chymists that are either Cheats, or but Laborants, and the true_
+Adepti; _By whom, could I enjoy their Conversation, I would both
+willingly and thankfully be instructed; especially concerning the
+Nature and Generation of Metals: And possibly, those that know how
+little I have remitted of my former addictedness to make Chymical
+Experiments, will easily believe, that one of the chief Designes of
+this Sceptical Discourse was, not so much to discredit Chymistry, as
+to give an occasion and a kind of necessity to the more knowing
+Artists to lay aside a little of their over-great Reservedness, &
+either explicate or prove the Chymical Theory better than ordinary
+Chymists have done, or by enriching us with some of their nobler
+secrets to evince that Their art is able to make amends even for the
+deficiencies of their Theory: And thus much I shall here make bold to
+add, that we shall much undervalue Chymistry, if we imagine, that it
+cannot teach us things farr more useful, not only to Physick but to
+Philosophy, than those that are hitherto known to vulgar Chymists. And
+yet as for inferiour Spagyrists themselves, they have by their labours
+deserv'd so well of the Common-wealth of Learning, that methinks 'tis
+Pity they should ever misse the Truth which they have so industriously
+sought. And though I be no Admirer of the Theorical Part of their Art,
+yet my conjectures will much deceive me, if the Practical Part be not
+much more cultivated than hitherto it has been, and do not both employ
+Philosophy and Philosophers, and help to make men such. Nor would I
+that have been diverted by other Studies as well as affairs, be
+thought to pretend being a profound Spagyrist, by finding so many
+faults in the Doctrine wherein the Generality of Chymists scruples not
+to Acquiesce: For besides that 'tis most commonly far easier to frame
+Objections against any propos'd_ Hypothesis, _than to propose an_
+Hypothesis _not lyable to Objections (besides this I say) 'tis no such
+great matter, if whereas Beginners in Chymistry are commonly at once
+imbu'd with the Theory and Operations of their profession, I who had
+the good Fortune to Learn the Operations from illiterate Persons,
+upon whose credit I was not Tempted to take up any opinion about them,
+should consider things with lesse prejudice, and consequently with
+other Eyes than the Generality of Learners; And should be more
+dispos'd to accommodate the_ Phænomena _that occur'd to me to other
+Notions than to those of the Spagyrists. And having at first
+entertain'd a suspition That the Vulgar Principles were lesse General
+and comprehensive, or lesse considerately Deduc'd from Chymical
+Operations, than was believ'd; it was not uneasie for me both to Take
+notice of divers_ Phænomena, _overlook'd by prepossest Persons, that
+seem'd not to suite so well with the_ Hermetical _Doctrine; and, to
+devise some Experiments likely to furnish me with Objections against
+it, not known to many, that having practis'd Chymistry longer
+perchance then I have yet liv'd, may have far more Experience, Than I,
+of particular processes._
+
+_To conclude, whether the Notions I have propos'd, and the Experiments
+I have communicated, be considerable, or not, I willingly leave others
+to Judge; and This only I shall say for my Self, That I have
+endeavour'd to deliver matters of Fact, so faithfully, that I may as
+well assist the lesse skilful Readers to examine the Chymical_
+Hypothesis, _as provoke the Spagyrical Philosophers to illustrate it:
+which if they do, and that either the Chymical opinion, or the
+Peripatetick, or any other Theory of the Elements differing from that
+I am most inclin'd to, shall be intelligibly explicated, and duly
+prov'd to me; what I have hitherto discours'd will not hinder it from
+making a Proselyte of a Person that Loves Fluctuation of Judgment
+little enough to be willing to be eas'd of it by any thing but
+Error._
+
+
+
+
+PHYSIOLOGICAL
+
+CONSIDERATIONS
+
+Touching
+
+_The experiments wont to be employed to evince either the IV
+Peripatetick Elements, or the III Chymical Principles of Mixt Bodies._
+
+Part of the First Dialogue.
+
+
+I Perceive that divers of my Friends have thought it very strange to
+hear me speak so irresolvedly, as I have been wont to do, concerning
+those things which some take to be the Elements, and others to be the
+Principles of all mixt Bodies. But I blush not to acknowledge that I
+much lesse scruple to confess that I Doubt, when I do so, then to
+profess that I Know what I do not: And I should have much stronger
+Expectations then I dare yet entertain, to see Philosophy solidly
+establish't, if men would more carefully distinguish those things that
+they know, from those that they ignore or do but think, and then
+explicate clearly the things they conceive they understand,
+acknowledge ingenuously what it is they ignore, and profess so
+candidly their Doubts, that the industry of intelligent persons might
+be set on work to make further enquiries, and the easiness of less
+discerning Men might not be impos'd on. But because a more particular
+accompt will probably be expected of my unsatisfyedness not only with
+the Peripatetick, but with the Chymical Doctrine of the Primitive
+Ingredients of Bodies: It may possibly serve to satisfy others of the
+excusableness of my disatisfaction to peruse the ensuing Relation of
+what passed a while since at a meeting of persons of several opinions,
+in a place that need not here be named; where the subject whereof we
+have been speaking, was amply and variously discours'd of.
+
+It was on one of the fairest dayes of this Summer that the inquisitive
+_Eleutherius_ came to invite me to make a visit with him to his friend
+_Carneades_. I readily consented to this motion, telling him that if
+he would but permit me to go first and make an excuse at a place not
+far off, where I had at that hour appointed to meet, but not about a
+business either of moment, or that could not well admit of a delay, I
+would presently wait on him, because of my knowing _Carneades_ to be
+so conversant with nature and with Furnaces, and so unconfin'd to
+vulgar Opinions, that he would probably by some ingenious Paradox or
+other, give our mindes at least a pleasing Exercise, and perhaps
+enrich them with some solid instruction. _Eleutherius_ then first
+going with me to the place where my Apology was to be made, I
+accompanied him to the lodging of _Carneades_, where when we were
+come, we were told by the Servants, that he was retired with a couple
+of Friends (whose names they also told us) to one of the Arbours in
+his Garden, to enjoy under its coole shades a delightful protection
+from the yet troublesome heat of the Sun.
+
+_Eleutherius_ being perfectly acquainted with that Garden immediately
+led me to the Arbour, and relying on the intimate familiarity that had
+been long cherish'd betwixt him and _Carneades_; in spight of my
+Reluctancy to what might look like an intrusion upon his privacy,
+drawing me by the hand, he abruptly entered the Arbour, where we found
+_Carneades_, _Philoponus_, and _Themistius_, sitting close about a
+little round Table, on which besides paper, pen, and inke, there lay
+two or three open Books; _Carneades_ appeared not at all troubled at
+this surprise, but rising from the Table, received his Friend with
+open looks and armes, and welcoming me also with his wonted freedom
+and civility, invited us to rest our selves by him, which, as soon as
+we had exchanged with his two Friends (who were ours also) the
+civilities accustomed on such occasions, we did. And he presently
+after we had seated our selves, shutting the Books that lay open, and
+turning to us with a smiling countenance seemed ready to begin some
+such unconcerning discourse as is wont to pass or rather waste the
+time in promiscuous companies.
+
+But _Eleutherius_ guessing at what he meant to do, prevented him by
+telling him, I perceive _Carneades_ by the books that you have been
+now shutting, and much more by the posture wherein I found Persons
+qualifi'd [Errata: so qualify'd] to discourse of serious matters; and
+so accustom'd to do it, that you three were before our coming, engag'd
+in some Philosophical conference, which I hope you will either
+prosecute, and allow us to be partakers of, in recompence of the
+freedome we have us'd in presuming to surprise you, or else give us
+leave to repair the injury we should otherwise do you, by leaving you
+to the freedom we have interrupted, and punishing our selves for our
+boldness by depriving our selves of the happiness of your company.
+With these last words he and I rose up, as if we meant to be gone, But
+_Carneades_ suddenly laying hold on his arme, and stopping him by it,
+smileingly told him, We are not so forward to lose good company as you
+seem to imagine; especially since you are pleas'd to desire to be
+present at what we shall say, about such a Subject as that You found
+us considering. For that, being the number of the Elements,
+Principles, or Materiall Ingredients of Bodies, is an enquiry whose
+truth is of that Importance, and of that Difficulty, that it may as
+well deserve as require to be searched into by such skilfull
+Indagators of Nature as your selves. And therefore we sent to invite
+the bold and acute _Leucippus_ to lend us some light by his Atomical
+Paradox, upon which we expected such 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 likewise begg'd the Assistance
+of your presence and thoughts, had not the messenger we employ'd to
+_Leucippus_ inform'd us, that as he was going, he saw you both pass by
+towards another part of the Town; And this frustrated expectation of
+_Leucippus_ his company, who told me but last night that he would be
+ready to give me a meeting where I pleas'd to day, having very long
+suspended our conference about the freshly mention'd Subject, it was
+so newly begun when you came in, that we shall scarce need to repeat
+any thing to acquaint you with what has pass'd betwixt us before your
+arrival, so that I cannot but look upon it as a fortunate Accident
+that you should come so seasonably, to be not hearers alone, but we
+hope Interlocutors at our conference. For we shall not only allow of
+your presence at it, but desire your Assistance in it; which I adde
+both for other reasons, and because though these learned Gentlemen
+(sayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to discourse
+before any Auditory, provided it be intelligent enough to understand
+them, yet for my part (continues he with a new smile,) I shall not
+dare to vent my unpremeditated thoughts before two such Criticks,
+unless by promising to take your turnes of speaking, You will allow me
+mine of quarrelling, with what has been said. He and his friends added
+divers things to convince us that they were both desirous that we
+should hear them, and resolved against our doing so, unless we allowed
+them sometimes to hear us. _Elutherius_ [Transcriber's Note:
+Eleutherius] after having a while fruitlesly endeavoured to obtain
+leave to be silent promis'd he would not be so alwayes, provided that
+he were permitted according to the freedom of his Genious and
+Principles to side with one of them in the managing of one Argument,
+and, if he saw cause, with his Antagonist, in the Prosecution of
+another, without being confin'd to stick to any one party or Opinion,
+which was after some debate accorded him. But I conscious to my own
+Disability's told them resolutely that _I_ was as much more willing as
+more fit to be a hearer then a speaker, among such knowing Persons,
+and on so abstruse a Subject. And that therefore I beseeched them
+without necessitating me to proclaim my weaknesses, to allow me to
+lessen them by being a silent Auditor of their Discourses: to suffer
+me to be at which I could present them no motive, save that their
+instructions would make them in me a more intelligent Admirer. I
+added, that I desir'd not to be idle whilst they were imploy'd, but
+would if they pleas'd, by writing down in short hand what should be
+delivered, preserve Discourses that I knew would merit to be lasting.
+At first _Carneades_ and his two friends utterly rejected this motion;
+and all that my Resoluteness to make use of my ears, not tongue, at
+their debates, could do, was to make them acquiesce in the Proposition
+of _Eleutherius_, who thinking himself concern'd, because he brought
+me thither, to afford me some faint assistance, was content that I
+should register their Arguments, that I might be the better able after
+the conclusion of their conference to give them my sence upon the
+Subject of it, (The number of Elements or Principles:) which he
+promis'd I should do at the end of the present Debates, if time would
+permit, or else at our next meeting. And this being by him undertaken
+in my name, though without my consent, the company would by no means
+receive my Protestation against it, but casting, all at once, their
+eyes on _Carneades_, they did by that and their unanimous silence,
+invite him to begin; which (after a short pause, during which he
+turn'd himself to _Eleutherius_ and me) he did in this manner.
+
+Notwithstanding the subtile reasonings I have met with in the books of
+the Peripateticks, and the pretty experiments that have been shew'd me
+in the Laboratories of Chymists, I am of so diffident, or dull a
+Nature, as to think that if neither of them can bring more cogent
+arguments to evince the truth of their assertion then are wont to be
+brought; a Man may rationally enough retain some doubts concerning the
+very number of those materiall Ingredients of mixt bodies, which some
+would have us call Elements, and others principles. Indeed when I
+considered that the Tenents concerning the Elements are as
+considerable amongst the Doctrines of natural Philosophy as the
+Elements themselves are among the bodies of the Universe, I expected
+to find those Opinions solidly establish'd, upon which so many others
+are superstructed. But when I took the pains impartially to examine
+the bodies themselves that are said to result from the blended
+Elements, and to torture them into a confession of their constituent
+Principles, I was quickly induc'd to think that the number of the
+Elements has been contended about by Philosophers with more
+earnestness then success. This unsatisfiedness of mine has been much
+wonder'd at, by these two Gentlemen (at which words he pointed at
+_Themistius_ and _Philoponus_) who though they differ almost as much
+betwixt themselves about the question we are to consider, as I do from
+either of them, yet they both agree very well in this, that there is a
+determinate number of such ingredients as I was just now speaking of,
+and that what that number is, I say not, may be, (for what may not
+such as they perswade?) but is wont to be clearly enough demonstrated
+both by Reason and Experience. This has occasion'd our present
+Conference. For our Discourse this afternoon, having fallen from one
+subject to another, and at length setl'd on this, they proffer'd to
+demonstrate to me, each of them the truth of his opinion, out of both
+the Topicks that I have freshly nam'd. But on the former (that of
+Reason strictly so taken) we declin'd insisting at the present, lest
+we should not have time enough before supper to go thorough the
+Reasons and Experiments too. The latter of which we unanimously
+thought the most requisite to be seriously examin'd. I must desire you
+then to take notice Gentlemen (continued _Carneades_) that my present
+business doth not oblige me so to declare my own opinion on the
+Subject in question, as to assert or deny the truth either of the
+Peripatetick, or the Chymical Doctrine concerning the number of the
+Elements, but only to shew you that neither of these Doctrines hath
+been satisfactorily proved by the arguments commonly alledged on its
+behalfe. So that if I really discern (as perhaps I think I do) that
+there may be a more rational account then ordinary, given of one of
+these opinions, I am left free to declare my self of it,
+notwithstanding my present engagement, it being obvious to all your
+observation, that a solid truth may be generally maintained by no
+other, then incompetent Arguments. And to this Declaration I hope it
+will be needless to add, that my task obliges me not to answer the
+Arguments that may be drawn either for _Themistius_ or _Philoponus's_
+Opinion from the Topick of reason, as opposed to experiments; since
+'tis these only that I am to examine and not all these neither, but
+such of them alone as either of them shall think fit to insist on, and
+as have hitherto been wont to be brought either to prove that 'tis
+the four Peripatetick Elements, or that 'tis the three Chymical
+Principles that all compounded bodies consist of. These things (adds
+_Carneades_) I thought my self obliged to premise, partly lest you
+should do these Gentlemen (pointing at _Themistius_ and _Philoponus_,
+and smiling on them) the injury of measuring their parts by the
+arguments they are ready to propose, the lawes of our Conference
+confining them to make use of those that the vulgar of Philosophers
+(for even of them there is a vulgar) has drawn up to their hands; and
+partly, that you should not condemn me of presumption for disputing
+against persons over whom I can hope for no advantage, that _I_ must
+not derive from the nature, or rules of our controversy, wherein I
+have but a negative to defend, and wherein too I am like on several
+occasions to have the Assistance of one of my disagreeing adversaries
+against the other.
+
+_Philoponus_ and _Themistius_ soon returned this complement with
+civilities of the like nature, in which _Eleutherius_ perceiving them
+engaged, to prevent the further loss of that time of which they were
+not like to have very much to spare, he minded them that their
+present businesse was not to exchange complements, but Arguments: and
+then addressing his speech to _Carneades_, I esteem it no small
+happinesse (saies he) that I am come here so luckily this Evening. For
+I have been long disquieted with Doubts concerning this very subject
+which you are now ready to debate. And since a Question of this
+importance is to be now discussed by persons that maintain such
+variety of opinions concerning it, and are both so able to enquire
+after truth, and so ready to embrace it by whomsoever and on what
+occasion soever it is presented them; I cannot but promise my self
+that I shall before we part either lose my Doubts or the hopes of ever
+finding them resolved; _Eleutherius_ paused not here; but to prevent
+their answer, added almost in the same breath; and I am not a little
+pleased to find that you are resolved on this occasion to insist
+rather on Experiments then Syllogismes. For I, and no doubt You, have
+long observed, that those Dialectical subtleties, that the Schoolmen
+too often employ about Physiological Mysteries, are wont much more to
+declare the wit of him that uses them, then increase the knowledge or
+remove the doubts of sober lovers of truth. And such captious
+subtleties do indeed often puzzle and sometimes silence men, but
+rarely satisfy them. Being like the tricks of Jugglers, whereby men
+doubt not but they are cheated, though oftentimes they cannot declare
+by what slights they are imposed on. And therefore I think you have
+done very wisely to make it your businesse to consider the _Phænomena_
+relating to the present Question, which have been afforded by
+experiments, especially since it might seem injurious to our senses,
+by whose mediation we acquire so much of the knowledge we have of
+things corporal, to have recourse to far-fetched and abstracted
+Ratiocination [Errata: Ratiocinations], to know what are the sensible
+ingredients of those sensible things that we daily see and handle, and
+are supposed to have the liberty to untwist (if I may so speak) into
+the primitive bodies they consist of. He annexed that he wished
+therefore they would no longer delay his expected satisfaction, if
+they had not, as he feared they had, forgotten something preparatory
+to their debate; and that was to lay down what should be all along
+understood by the word Principle or Element. _Carneades_ thank'd him
+for his admonition, but told him that they had not been unmindful of
+so requisite 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 promiscuously
+to use when they pleased, Elements and Principles as terms equivalent:
+and to understand both by the one and the other, those primitive and
+simple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and into
+which they are ultimately resolved. And upon the same account (he
+added) we agreed to discourse of the opinions to be debated, as we
+have found them maintained by the Generality of the assertors of the
+four Elements of the one party, and of those that receive the three
+Principles on the other, without tying our selves to enquire
+scrupulously what notion either _Aristotle_ or _Paracelsus_, or this
+or that Interpreter, or follower of either of those great persons,
+framed of Elements or Principles; our design being to examine, not
+what these or those writers thought or taught, but what we find to be
+the obvious and most general opinion of those, who are willing to be
+accounted Favourers of the Peripatetick or Chymical Doctrine,
+concerning this subject.
+
+I see not (saies _Eleutherius_) why you might not immediately begin to
+argue, if you were but agreed which of your two friendly Adversaries
+shall be first heard. And it being quickly resolv'd on that
+_Themistius_ should first propose the Proofs for his Opinion, because
+it was the antienter, and the more general, he made not the company
+expect long before he thus addressed himself to _Eleutherius_, as to
+the Person least interessed in the dispute.
+
+If you have taken sufficient notice of the late Confession which was
+made by _Carneades_, and which (though his Civility dressed it up in
+complementall Expressions) was exacted of him by his Justice, I
+suppose You will be easily made sensible, that I engage in this
+Controversie with great and peculiar Disadvantages, besides those
+which his Parts and my Personal Disabilities would bring to any other
+cause to be maintained by me against him. For he justly apprehending
+the force of truth, though speaking by no better a tongue then mine,
+has made it the chief condition of our Duell, that I should lay aside
+the best Weapons I have, and those I can best handle; Whereas if I
+were allowed the freedom, in pleading for the four Elements, to employ
+the Arguments suggested to me by Reason to demonstrate them, I should
+almost as little doubt of making You a Proselyte to those unsever'd
+Teachers, Truth and _Aristotle_, as I do of your Candour and your
+Judgment. And I hope you will however consider, that that great
+Favorite and Interpreter of Nature, _Aristotle_, who was (as his
+_Organum_ witnesses) the greatest Master of Logick that ever liv'd,
+disclaim'd the course taken by other petty Philosophers (Antient and
+Modern) who not attending the Coherence and Consequences of their
+Opinions, are more sollicitous to make each particular Opinion
+plausible independently upon the the [Transcriber's Note: extra "the"
+in original] rest, then to frame them all so, as not only to be
+consistent together, but to support each other. For that great Man in
+his vast and comprehensive Intellect, so fram'd each of his Notions,
+that being curiously adapted into one Systeme, they need not each of
+them any other defence then that which their mutuall Coherence gives
+them: As 'tis in an Arch, where each single stone, which if sever'd
+from the rest would be perhaps defenceless, is sufficiently secur'd by
+the solidity and entireness of the whole Fabrick of which it is a
+part. How justly this may be apply'd to the present case, I could
+easily shew You, if I were permitted to declare to You, how harmonious
+_Aristotles_ Doctrine of the Elements is with his other Principles of
+Philosophy; and how rationally he has deduc'd their number from that
+of the combinations of the four first Qualities from the kinds of
+simple Motion belonging to simple bodies, and from I know not how many
+other Principles and _Phænomena_ of Nature, which so conspire with his
+Doctrine of the Elements, that they mutually strengthen and support
+each other. But since 'tis forbidden me to insist on Reflections of
+this kind, I must proceed to tell You, that though the Assertors of
+the four Elements value Reason so highly, and are furnish'd with
+Arguments enough drawn from thence, to be satisfi'd that there must be
+four Elements, though no Man had ever yet made any sensible tryal to
+discover their Number, yet they are not destitute of Experience to
+satisfie others that are wont to be more sway'd by their senses then
+their Reason. And I shall proceed to consider the testimony of
+Experience, when I shall have first advertis'd You, that if Men were
+as perfectly rational as 'tis to be wish'd they were, this sensible
+way of Probation would be as needless as 'tis wont to be imperfect.
+For it is much more high and Philosophical to discover things _a
+priore_, then _a posteriore_. And therefore the Peripateticks have not
+been very sollicitous to gather Experiments to prove their Doctrines,
+contenting themselves with a few only, to satisfie those that are not
+capable of a Nobler Conviction. And indeed they employ Experiments
+rather to illustrate then to demonstrate their Doctrines, as
+Astronomers use Sphæres of pastboard, to descend to the capacities of
+such as must be taught by their senses, for want of being arriv'd to a
+clear apprehension of purely Mathematical Notions and Truths. I speak
+thus _Eleutherius_ (adds _Themistius_) only to do right to Reason, and
+not out of Diffidence of the Experimental proof I am to alledge. For
+though I shall name but one, yet it is such a one as will make all
+other appear as needless as it self will be found Satisfactory. For if
+You but consider a piece of green-Wood burning in a Chimney, You will
+readily discern in the disbanded parts of it the four Elements, of
+which we teach It and other mixt bodies to be compos'd. The fire
+discovers it self in the flame by its own light; the smoke by
+ascending to the top of the chimney, and there readily vanishing into
+air, like a River losing it self in the Sea, sufficiently manifests to
+what Element it belongs and gladly returnes. The water in its own form
+boyling and hissing at the ends of the burning Wood betrayes it self
+to more then one of our senses; and the ashes by their weight, their
+firiness, and their dryness, put it past doubt that they belong to the
+Element of Earth. If I spoke (continues _Themistius_) to less knowing
+Persons, I would perhaps make some Excuse for building upon such an
+obvious and easie _Analysis_, but 'twould be, I fear, injurious, not
+to think such an Apology needless to You, who are too judicious either
+to think it necessary that Experiments to prove obvious truths should
+be farr fetch'd, or to wonder that among so many mixt Bodies that are
+compounded of the four Elements, some of them should upon a slight
+_Analysis_ manifestly exhibite the Ingredients they consist of.
+Especially since it is very agreeable to the Goodness of Nature, to
+disclose, even in some of the most obvious Experiments that Men make,
+a Truth so important, and so requisite to be taken notice of by them.
+Besides that our _Analysis_ by how much the more obvious we make it,
+by so much the more suittable it will be to the Nature of that
+Doctrine which 'tis alledged to prove, which being as clear and
+intelligible to the Understanding as obvious to the sense, tis no
+marvail the learned part of Mankind should so long and so generally
+imbrace it. For this Doctrine is very different from the whimseys of
+_Chymists_ and other Modern Innovators, of whose _Hypotheses_ we may
+observe, as Naturalists do of less perfect Animals, that as they are
+hastily form'd, so they are commonly short liv'd. For so these, 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
+Experiments are destroyed by a third or fourth, whereas the doctrine
+of the four Elements was fram'd by _Aristotle_ after he had leasurely
+considered those Theories of former Philosophers, which are now with
+great applause revived, as discovered by these latter ages; And had so
+judiciously detected and supplyed the Errors and defects of former
+_Hypotheses_ concerning the Elements, that his Doctrine of them has
+been ever since deservedly embraced by the letter'd part of Mankind:
+All the Philosophers that preceded him having in their several ages
+contributed to the compleatness of this Doctrine, as those of
+succeeding times have acquiesc'd in it. Nor has an _Hypothesis_ so
+deliberately and maturely established been called in Question till in
+the last Century _Paracelsus_ and some few other sooty Empiricks,
+rather then (as they are fain to call themselves) Philosophers, having
+their eyes darken'd, and their Brains troubl'd with the smoke of their
+own Furnaces, began to rail at the Peripatetick Doctrine, which they
+were too illiterate to understand, and to tell the credulous World,
+that they could see but three Ingredients in mixt Bodies; which to
+gain themselves the repute of Inventors, they endeavoured to disguise
+by calling them, instead of Earth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt,
+Sulphur, and Mercury; to which they gave the canting title of
+Hypostatical Principles: but when they came to describe them, they
+shewed how little they understood what they meant by them, by
+disagreeing as much from one another, as from the truth they agreed in
+opposing: For they deliver their _Hypotheses_ as darkly as their
+Processes; and 'tis almost as impossible for any sober Man to find
+their meaning, as 'tis for them to find their Elixir. And indeed
+nothing has spread their Philosophy, but their great Brags and
+undertakings; notwithstanding all which, (sayes _Themistius_ smiling)
+I scarce know any thing they have performed worth wondering at, save
+that they have been able to draw _Philoponus_ to their Party, and to
+engage him to the Defence of an unintelligible _Hypothesis_, who
+knowes so well as he does, that Principles ought to be like Diamonds,
+as well very clear, as perfectly solid.
+
+_Themistius_ having after these last words declared by his silence,
+that he had finished his Discourse, _Carneades_ addressing himself, as
+his Adversary had done, to _Eleutherius_, returned this Answer to it,
+I hop'd for [Errata: for a] Demonstration, but I perceive _Themistius_
+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 Distrust for his
+_Hypothesis_, since for it even a Man of such Learning can bring no
+better Arguments. The Rhetorical part of his Discourse, though it make
+not the least part of it, I shall say nothing to, designing to examine
+only the Argumentative part, and leaving it to _Philoponus_ to answer
+those passages wherein either _Paracelsus_ or _Chymists_ are
+concern'd: I shall observe to You, that in what he has said besides,
+he makes it his Business to do these two things. The one to propose
+and make out an Experiment to demonstrate the common Opinion about the
+four Elements; And the other, to insinuate divers things which he
+thinks may repair the weakness of his Argument, from Experience, and
+upon other Accounts bring some credit to the otherwise defenceless
+Doctrine he maintains.
+
+To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it seems to me
+to be obnoxious to not a few considerable Exceptions.
+
+And first, if I would now deal rigidly with my Adversary, I might here
+make a great Question of the very way of Probation which he and others
+employ, without the least scruple, to evince, that the Bodies commonly
+call'd mixt, are made up of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, which they
+are pleas'd also to call Elements; namely that upon the suppos'd
+_Analysis_ made by the fire, of the former sort of _Concretes_, there
+are wont to emerge Bodies resembling those which they take for the
+Elements. For not to Anticipate here what I foresee I shall have
+occasion to insist on, when I come to discourse with _Philoponus_
+concerning the right that fire has to pass for the proper and
+Universal Instrument of Analysing mixt Bodies, not to Anticipate that,
+I say, if I were dispos'd to wrangle, I might alledge, that by
+_Themistius_ his Experiment it would appear rather that those he calls
+Elements, are made of those he calls mixt Bodies, then mix'd Bodies of
+the Elements. For in _Themistius's_ Analyz'd Wood, and in other Bodies
+dissipated and alter'd by the fire, it appears, and he confesses, that
+which he takes for Elementary 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
+perswasion, yet prov'd that nothing can be obtained from a Body by the
+fire that was not _Pre-existent_ in it.
+
+At this unexpected objection, not only _Themistius_, but the rest of
+the company appear'd not a little surpriz'd; but after a while
+_Philoponus_ conceiving his opinion, as well as that of _Aristotle_,
+concern'd in that Objection, You cannot sure (sayes he to
+_Carneades_) propose this Difficulty; not to call it Cavill, otherwise
+then as an Exercise of wit, and not as laying any weight upon it. For
+how can that be separated from a thing that was not existent in it.
+When, for instance, a Refiner mingles Gold and Lead, and exposing this
+Mixture upon a Cuppell to the violence of the fire, thereby separates
+it into pure and refulgent Gold and Lead (which driven off together
+with the Dross of the Gold is thence call'd _Lithargyrium Auri_) can
+any man doubt that sees these two so differing substances separated
+from the Mass, that they were existent in it before it was committed
+to the fire.
+
+I should (replies _Carneades_) allow your Argument to prove something,
+if, as Men see the Refiners commonly take before hand both Lead and
+Gold to make the Mass you speak of, so we did see Nature pull down a
+parcell of the Element of Fire, that is fancy'd to be plac'd I know
+not how many thousand Leagues off, contiguous to the Orb of the Moon,
+and to blend it with a quantity of each of the three other Elements,
+to compose every mixt Body, upon whose Resolution the Fire presents
+us with Fire, and Earth, and the rest. And let me add, _Philoponus_,
+that to make your Reasoning cogent, it must be first prov'd, that the
+fire do's only take the Elementary Ingredients asunder, without
+otherwise altering them. For else 'tis obvious, that Bodies may afford
+substances which were not pre-existent in them; as Flesh too long kept
+produces Magots, and old Cheese Mites, which I suppose you will not
+affirm to be Ingredients of those Bodies. Now that fire do's not
+alwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at least
+alter also the Ingredients of Bodies, if I did not expect ere long a
+better occasion to prove it, I might make probable out of your very
+Instance, wherein there is nothing Elementary separated by the great
+violence of the Refiners fire: the Gold and Lead which are the two
+Ingredients separated upon the _Analysis_ being confessedly yet
+perfectly mixt Bodies, and the Litharge being Lead indeed; but such
+Lead as is differing in consistence and other Qualities from what it
+was before. To which I must add that I have sometimes seen, and so
+questionlesse have you much oftener, some parcells of Glasse adhering
+to the Test or Cuppel, and this Glass though Emergent as well as the
+Gold or Litharge upon your Analysis, you will not I hope allow to have
+been a third Ingredient of the Mass out of which the fire produc'd it.
+
+Both _Philoponus_ and _Themistius_ were about to reply, when
+_Eleutherius_ apprehending that the Prosecution of this Dispute would
+take up time, which might be better employ'd, thought fit to prevent
+them by saying to _Carneades_: You made at least half a Promise, when
+you first propos'd this Objection, that you would not (now at least)
+insist on it, nor indeed does it seem to be of absolute necessity to
+your cause, that you should. For though you should grant that there
+are Elements, it would not follow that there must be precisely four.
+And therefore I hope you will proceed to acquaint us with your other
+and more considerable Objections against _Themistius's_ Opinion,
+especially since there is so great a Disproportion in Bulke betwixt
+the Earth, Water and Air, on the one part, and those little parcells
+of resembling substances, that the fire separates from _Concretes_ on
+the other part, that I can scarce think that you are serious, when to
+lose no advantage against your Adversary, you seem to deny it to be
+rational, to conclude these great simple Bodies to be the Elements,
+and not the Products of compounded ones.
+
+What you alledge (replies _Carneades_) of the Vastness of the Earth
+and Water, has long since made me willing to allow them to be the
+greatest and chief Masses of Matter to be met with here below: But I
+think I could shew 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
+such Ingredients as every mixt Body must consist of. But since You
+challenge me of something of a Promise, though it be not an entire
+one, Yet I shall willingly perform it. And indeed I intended not when
+I first mention'd this Objection, to insist on it at present against
+_Themistius_, (as I plainly intimated in my way of proposing it:)
+being only desirous to let you see, that though I discern'd my
+Advantages, yet I was willing to forego some of them, rather then
+appear a rigid Adversary of a Cause so weak, that it may with safety
+be favourably dealt with. But I must here profess, and desire You to
+take Notice of it, that though I pass on to another Argument, it is
+not because I think this first invalid. For You will find in the
+Progress of our Dispute, that I had some reason to question the very
+way of Probation imploy'd both by Peripateticks and Chymists, to
+evince the being and number of the Elements. For that there are such,
+and that they are wont to be separated by the Analysis made by Fire,
+is indeed taken for granted by both Parties, but has not (for ought I
+know) been so much as plausibly attempted to be proved by either.
+Hoping then that when we come to that part of our Debate, wherein
+Considerations relating to this Matter are to be treated of, you will
+remember what I have now said, and that I do rather for a while
+suppose, then absolutely grant the truth of what I have question'd, I
+will proceed to another Objection.
+
+And hereupon _Eleutherius_ having promis'd him not to be unmindfull,
+when time should serve, of what he had declar'd.
+
+I consider then (sayes _Carneades_) in the next place, that there are
+divers Bodies out of which _Themistius_ will not prove in haste, that
+there can be so many Elements as four extracted by the Fire. And I
+should perchance trouble him if I should ask him what Peripatetick can
+shew us, (I say not, all the four Elements, for that would be too
+rigid a Question, but) any one of them extracted out of Gold by any
+degree of Fire whatsoever. Nor is Gold the only Bodie in Nature that
+would puzzle an _Aristotelian_, that is no more [Errata: (that is no
+more)] to analyze by the Fire into Elementary Bodies, since, for ought
+I have yet observ'd, both Silver and calcin'd _Venetian_ Talck, and
+some other Concretes, not necessary here to be nam'd, are so fixt,
+that to reduce any of them into four Heterogeneous Substances has
+hitherto prov'd a Task much too hard, not only for the Disciples of
+_Aristotle_, but those of _Vulcan_, at least, whilst the latter have
+employ'd only Fire to make the _Analysis_.
+
+The next Argument (continues _Carneades_) that I shall urge against
+_Themistius's_ Opinion shall be this, That as there are divers Bodies
+whose _Analysis_ by Fire cannot reduce them into so many Heterogeneous
+Substances or Ingregredients [Transcriber's Note: Ingredients] as
+four, so 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 distinct Substances, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt and
+Earth, as Experience has shewn us in distilling Mans Blood,
+Harts-Horns, and divers other Bodies that belonging to the
+Animal-Kingdom abound with not uneasily sequestrable Salt.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:
+
+OR
+
+CHYMICO-PHYSICAL
+
+Doubts & 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.
+
+
+_Utinam jam tenerentur omnia, & inoperta ac confessa Veritas esset!
+Nihil ex Decretis mutaremus. Nunc Veritatem cum eis qui docent,
+quærimus._ Sen.
+
+
+_LONDON,_
+
+Printed for _J. Crooke_, and are to be sold at the Ship in St. _Pauls_
+Church-Yard. 1661.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The First Part._
+
+
+I am (sayes _Carneades_) so unwilling to deny _Eleutherius_ any thing,
+that though, before the rest of the Company I am resolv'd to make good
+the part I have undertaken of a Sceptick; yet I shall readily, since
+you will have it so, lay aside for a while the Person of an Adversary
+to the Peripateticks and Chymists; and before I acquaint you with my
+Objections against their Opinions, acknowledge to you what may be
+(whether 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 _Analysis_ of compound Bodies, which I may possibly
+hereafter be able to confute.
+
+And that you may the more easily Examine, and the better Judge of what
+I have to say, I shall cast it into a pretty number of distinct
+Propositions, to which I shall not premise any thing; because I take
+it for granted, that you need not be advertis'd, that much of what I
+am to deliver, whether for or against a determinate number of
+Ingredients of mix'd Bodies, may be indifferently apply'd to the four
+Peripatetick Elements, and the three Chymical Principles, though
+divers of my Objections will more peculiarly belong to these last
+nam'd, because the Chymical _Hypothesis_ seeming to be much more
+countenanc'd by Experience then the other, it will be expedient to
+insist chiefly upon the disproving of that; especially since most of
+the Arguments that are imploy'd against it, may, by a little
+variation, be made to conclude, at least as strongly against the less
+plausible, _Aristotelian_ Doctrine.
+
+To proceed then to my Propositions, I shall begin with this. That
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. I.]
+
+_It seems not absurd to conceive that at the first Production of mixt
+Bodies, the Universal Matter whereof they among other Parts of the
+Universe consisted, was actually divided into little Particles of
+several sizes and shapes variously mov'd._
+
+This (sayes _Carneades_) I suppose you will easily enough allow. For
+besides that which happens in the Generation, Corruption, Nutrition,
+and wasting of Bodies, that which we discover partly by our
+_Microscopes_ of the extream littlenesse of even the scarce sensible
+parts of Concretes; and partly by the Chymical Resolutions of mixt
+Bodies, and by divers other Operations of Spagyrical Fires upon them,
+seems sufficiently to manifest their consisting of parts very minute
+and of differing Figures. And that there does also intervene a various
+local Motion of such small Bodies, will scarce be denied; whether we
+chuse to grant the Origine of Concretions assign'd by _Epicurus_, or
+that related by _Moses_. For the first, as you well know, supposes not
+only all mixt Bodies, but all others to be produc'd by the various
+and casual occursions of Atomes, moving themselves to and fro by an
+internal Principle in the Immense or rather Infinite _Vacuum_. And as
+for the inspir'd Historian, He, informing us that the great and Wise
+Author of Things did not immediately create Plants, Beasts, Birds, &c.
+but produc'd them out of those portions of the pre-existent, though
+created, Matter, that he calls Water and Earth, allows us to conceive,
+that the constituent Particles whereof these new Concretes were to
+consist, were variously moved in order to their being connected into
+the Bodies they were, by their various Coalitions and Textures, to
+compose.
+
+But (continues _Carneades_) presuming that the first Proposition needs
+not be longer insisted on, I will pass on to the second, and tell you
+that
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. II.]
+
+_Neither is it impossible that of these minute Particles divers of the
+smallest and neighbouring ones were here and there associated into
+minute Masses or Clusters, and did by their Coalitions constitute
+great store of such little primary Concretions or Masses as were not
+easily dissipable into such Particles as compos'd them._
+
+To what may be deduc'd, in favour of this Assertion, from the Nature
+of the Thing it self, I will add something out of Experience, which
+though I have not known it used to such a purpose, seems to me more
+fairly to make out that there May be Elementary Bodies, then the more
+questionable Experiments of Peripateticks and Chymists prove that
+there Are such. I consider then that Gold will mix and be colliquated
+not only with Silver, Copper, Tin and Lead, but with Antimony,
+_Regulus Martis_ and many other Minerals, with which it will compose
+Bodies very differing both from Gold, and the other Ingredients of the
+resulting Concretes. And the same Gold will also by common _Aqua
+Regis_, and (I speak it knowingly) by divers other _Menstruums_ be
+reduc'd into a seeming Liquor, in so much that the Corpuscles of Gold
+will, with those of the _Menstruum_, pass through Cap-Paper, and with
+them also coagulate into a Crystalline Salt. And I have further try'd,
+that with a small quantity of a certain Saline Substance I prepar'd,
+I can easily enough sublime Gold into the form of red Crystalls of a
+considerable length; and many other wayes may Gold be disguis'd, and
+help to constitute Bodies of very differing Natures both from It and
+from one another, and neverthelesse be afterward reduc'd to the
+self-same Numerical, Yellow, Fixt, Ponderous and Malleable Gold it was
+before its commixture. Nor is it only the fixedst of Metals, but the
+most fugitive, that I may employ in favour of our Proposition: for
+Quicksilver will with divers Metals compose an _Amalgam_, with divers
+_Menstruums_ it seems to be turn'd into a Liquor, with _Aqua fortis_
+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 compose a
+blood-red and volatile Cinaber, with some Saline Bodies it will ascend
+in form of a Salt which will be dissoluble in water; with _Regulus_ of
+Antimony and Silver I have seen it sublim'd into a kinde of Crystals,
+with another Mixture I reduc'd it into a malleable Body, into a hard
+and brittle Substance by another: And some there are who affirm, that
+by proper Additaments they can reduce Quicksilver into Oyl, nay into
+Glass, to mention no more. And yet out of all these exotick Compounds,
+we may recover the very same running Mercury that was the main
+Ingredient of them, and was so disguis'd in them. Now the Reason
+(proceeds _Carneades_) that I have represented these things concerning
+Gold and Quicksilver, is, That it may not appear absurd to conceive,
+that such little primary Masses or Clusters, as our Proposition
+mentions, may remain undissipated, notwithstanding their entring into
+the composition of various Concretions, since the Corpuscle of Gold
+and Mercury, though they be not primary Concretions of the most minute
+Particles or matter, but confessedly mixt Bodies, are able to concurre
+plentifully to the composition of several very differing Bodies,
+without losing their own Nature or Texture, or having their cohæsion
+violated by the divorce of their associated parts or Ingredients.
+
+Give me leave to add (sayes _Eleutherius_) on this occasion, to what
+you now observ'd, that as confidently as some Chymists, and other
+modern Innovators in Philosophy are wont to object against the
+Peripateticks, That from the mixture of their four Elements there
+could arise but an inconsiderable variety of compound Bodies; yet if
+the _Aristotelians_ were but half as well vers'd in the works of
+Nature as they are in the Writings of their Master, the propos'd
+Objection would not so calmly triumph, as for want of Experiments they
+are fain to suffer it to do. For if we assigne to the Corpuscles,
+whereof each Element consists, a peculiar size and shape, it may
+easily enough be manifested, That such differingly figur'd Corpuscles
+may be mingled in such various Proportions, and may be connected so
+many several wayes, that an almost incredible number of variously
+qualified Concretes may be compos'd of them. Especially since the
+Corpuscles of one Element may barely, by being associated among
+themselves, make up little Masses of differing size and figure from
+their constituent parts: and since also to the strict union of such
+minute Bodies there seems oftentimes nothing requisite, besides the
+bare Contact of a great part of their Surfaces. And how great a
+variety of _Phænomena_ the same matter, without the addition of any
+other, and only several ways dispos'd or contexed, is able to exhibit,
+may partly appear by the multitude of differing Engins which by the
+contrivances of skilful Mechanitians, and the dexterity of expert
+Workmen, may be made of Iron alone. But in our present case being
+allow'd to deduce compound Bodies from four very differently qualified
+sorts of matter, he who shall but consider what you freshly took
+notice of concerning the new Concretes resulting from the mixture of
+incorporated Minerals, will scarce doubt but that the four Elements
+mannag'd by Natures Skill may afford a multitude of differing
+Compounds.
+
+I am thus far of your minde (sayes _Carneades_) that the
+_Aristotelians_ might with probability deduce a much greater number of
+compound Bodies from the mixture of their four Elements, than
+according to their present _Hypothesis_ they can, if instead 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 with the four first Qualities, they had
+endeavoured to do it by the Bulk and Figure of the smallest parts of
+those supposed Elements. For from these more Catholick and Fruitfull
+Accidents of the Elementary matter may spring a great variety of
+Textures, upon whose Account a multitude of compound Bodies may very
+much differ from one another. And what I now observe touching the four
+Peripatetick Elements, may be also applyed, _mutatis mutandis_, (as
+they speak) to the Chymical Principles. But (to take notice of that by
+the by) both the one and the other, must, I fear, call in to their
+assistance something that is not Elementary, to excite or regulate the
+motion of the parts of the matter, and dispose them after the manner
+requisite to the Constitution of particular Concretes. For that
+otherwise 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 perswade you, if it would not spend time, and were no Digression,
+to examine, what they are wont to alledge of the Origine of the
+Textures and Qualities of mixt Bodies, from a certain substantial
+Form, whose Origination they leave more obscure than what it is
+assum'd to explicate.
+
+But to proceed to a new Proposition.
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. III.]
+
+_I shall not peremptorily deny, that from most of such mixt Bodies as
+partake either of Animal or Vegetable Nature, there may by the Help of
+the Fire, be actually obtain'd a determinate number (whether Three,
+Four or Five, or fewer or more) of Substances, worthy of differing
+Denominations._
+
+Of the Experiments that induce me to make this Concession, I am like
+to have occasion enough to mention several in the prosecution of my
+Discourse. And therefore, that I may not hereafter be oblig'd to
+trouble You and my self with needless Repetitions, I shall now only
+desire you to take notice of such Experiments, when they shall be
+mention'd, and in your thoughts referre them hither.
+
+To these three Concessions I have but this Fourth to add, That
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. IV.]
+
+_It may likewise be granted, that those distinct Substances, which
+Concretes generally either afford or are made up of, may without very
+much Inconvenience be call'd the Elements or Principles of them._
+
+When I said, _without very much Inconvenience_, I had in my Thoughts
+that sober Admonition of _Galen_, _Cum de re constat, de verbis non
+est Litigandum_. And therefore also I scruple not to say _Elements_ or
+_Principles_, partly because the Chymists are wont to call the
+Ingredients of mixt Bodies, _Principles_, as the _Aristotelians_ name
+them _Elements_; I would here exclude neither. And, partly, because it
+seems doubtfull whether the same Ingredients may not be call'd
+_Principles_? as not being compounded of any more primary Bodies: and
+_Elements_, in regard that all mix'd Bodies are compounded of them.
+But I thought it requisite to limit my Concession by premising the
+words, _very much_, to the word _Inconvenience_, because that though
+the Inconvenience of calling the distinct Substances, mention'd in the
+Proposition _Elements_ or _Principles_, be not very great, yet that
+it is an Impropriety of Speech, and consequently in a matter of this
+moment not to be altogether overlook'd, You will perhaps think, as
+well as I, by that time you shall have heard the following part of my
+Discourse, by which you will best discern what Construction to put
+upon the former Propositions, and how far they may be look'd upon, as
+things that I concede as true, and how far as things I only represent
+as specious enough to be fit to be consider'd.
+
+And now _Eleutherius_ (continues _Carneades_) I must resume the person
+of a Sceptick, and as such, propose some part of what may be either
+dislik't, or at least doubted of in the common _Hypothesis_ of the
+Chymists: which if I examine with a little the more freedom, I hope I
+need not desire you (a Person to whom I have the Happinesse of being
+so well known) to look upon it as something more suitable to the
+Employment whereto the Company has, for this Meeting, doom'd me; then
+either to my Humour or my Custom.
+
+Now though I might present you many things against the Vulgar Chymical
+Opinion of the three Principles, and the Experiments wont to be
+alledg'd as Demonstrations of it, yet those I shall at present offer
+you may be conveniently enough comprehended in four Capital
+Considerations; touching all which I shall only premise this in
+general, That since it is not my present Task so much to assert an
+_Hypothesis_ of my own, as to give an Account wherefore I suspect the
+Truth of that of the Chymists, it ought not to be expected that all my
+Objections should be of the most cogent sort, since it is reason
+enough to Doubt of a propos'd Opinion, that there appears no cogent
+Reason for it.
+
+To come then to the Objections themselves; I consider in the first
+place, That notwithstanding what common Chymists have prov'd or
+taught, it may reasonably enough be Doubted, how far, and in what
+sence, Fire ought to be esteem'd the genuine and universal Instrument
+of analyzing mixt Bodies.
+
+This Doubt, you may remember, was formerly mention'd, but so
+transiently discours'd of, that it will now be fit to insist upon it;
+And manifest that it was not so inconsiderately propos'd as our
+Adversaries then imagin'd.
+
+But, before I enter any farther into this Disquisition, I cannot but
+here take notice, that it were to be wish'd, our Chymists had clearly
+inform'd us what kinde of Division of Bodies by Fire must determine
+the number of the Elements: For it is nothing near so easy as many
+seem to think, to determine distinctly the Effects of Heat, as I could
+easily manifest, if I had leasure to shew you how much the Operations
+of Fire may be diversify'd by Circumstances. But not wholly to pass by
+a matter of this Importance, I will first take notice to you, that
+_Guajacum_ (for Instance) burnt with an open Fire in a Chimney, is
+sequestred into Ashes and Soot, whereas the same Wood distill'd in a
+Retort does yield far other Heterogeneities, (to use the _Helmontian_
+expression) and is resolv'd into Oyl, Spirit, Vinager, Water and
+Charcoal; the last of which to be reduc'd into Ashes, requires the
+being farther calcin'd then it can be in a close Vessel: Besides
+having kindled Amber, and held a clean Silver Spoon, or some other
+Concave and smooth Vessel over the Smoak of its Flame, I observ'd the
+Soot into which that Fume condens'd, to be very differing from any
+thing that I had observ'd to proceed from the steam of Amber purposely
+(for that is not usual) distilled _per se_ in close Vessels. Thus
+having, for Tryals sake, kindled Camphire, and catcht the Smoak that
+copiously ascended out of the Flame, it condens'd into a Black and
+unctuous Soot, which would not have been guess'd by the Smell or other
+Properties to have proceeded from Camphire: whereas having (as I shall
+otherwhere more fully declare) expos'd a quantity of that Fugitive
+Concrete to a gentle heat in a close Glass-Vessel, it sublim'd up
+without seeming to have lost any thing of its whiteness, or its
+Nature, both which it retain'd, though afterwards I so encreased the
+Fire as to bring it to Fusion. And, besides Camphire, there are divers
+other Bodies (that I elsewhere name) in which the heat in close
+Vessels is not wont to make any separation of Heterogeneities, but
+only a comminution of Parts, those that rise first being Homogeneal
+with the others, though subdivided into smaller Particles: whence
+Sublimations have been stiled, _The Pestles of the Chymists_. But not
+here to mention what I elsewhere take notice of, concerning common
+Brimstone once or twice sublim'd, that expos'd to a moderate Fire in
+Subliming-Pots, it rises all into dry, and almost tastless, Flowers;
+Whereas being expos'd to a naked Fire it affords store of a Saline and
+Fretting Liquor: Not to mention this, I say, I will further observe to
+you, that as it is considerable in the _Analysis_ of mixt Bodies,
+whether the Fire act on them when they are expos'd to the open Air, or
+shut up in close Vessels, so is the degree of Fire by which the
+_Analysis_ is attempted of no small moment. For a milde _Balneum_ will
+sever unfermented Blood (for Instance) but into Phlegme and _Caput
+mortuum_, the later whereof (which I have sometimes had) hard,
+brittle, and of divers Colours, (transparent almost like
+Tortoise-shell) press'd by a good Fire in a Retort yields a Spirit, an
+Oyl or two, and a volatile Salt, besides a [Errata: another] _Caput
+mortuum_. It may be also pertinent to our present Designe, to take
+notice of what happens in the making and distilling of Sope; for by
+one degree of Fire the Salt, the Water and the Oyl or Grease, whereof
+that factitious Concrete is made up, being boyl'd up together are
+easily brought to mingle and incorporate into one Mass; but by another
+and further degree of Heat the same Mass may be again divided into an
+oleagenous, an aqueous, a Saline, and an Earthy part. And so we may
+observe that impure Silver and Lead being expos'd together to a
+moderate Fire, will thereby be colliquated into one Mass, and mingle
+_per minima_, as they speak, whereas a much vehementer Fire will drive
+or carry off the baser Metals (I mean the Lead, and the Copper or
+other Alloy) from the Silver, though not, for ought appears, separate
+them from one another. Besides, when a Vegetable abounding in fixt
+Salt is analyz'd by a naked Fire, as one degree of Heat will reduce it
+into Ashes, (as the Chymists themselves teach us) so, by only a
+further degree of Fire, those Ashes may be vitrified and turn'd into
+Glass. I will not stay to examine how far a meere Chymist might on
+this occasion demand, If it be lawful for an _Aristotelian_ to make
+Ashes, (which he mistakes for meere Earth) pass for an Element,
+because by one degree of Fire it may be produc'd, why a Chymist may
+not upon the like Principle argue, that Glass is one of the Elements
+of many Bodies, because that also may be obtain'd from them, barely by
+the Fire? I will not, I say, lose time to examine this, but observe,
+that by a Method of applying the Fire, such similar Bodies may be
+obtain'd from a Concrete, as Chymists have not been able to separate;
+either by barely burning it in an open Fire, or by barely distilling
+it in close Vessels. For to me it seems very considerable, and I
+wonder that men have taken so little notice of it, that I have not by
+any of the common wayes of Distillation in close Vessels, seen any
+separation made of such a volatile Salt as is afforded us by Wood,
+when that is first by an open Fire divided into Ashes and Soot, and
+that Soot is afterwards plac'd in a strong 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 _Guajacum_ and other
+Woods distill'd in Retorts after the common manner, there may be
+Saline parts, which by reason of the Analogy may pretend to the name
+of some kinde of volatile Salts; yet questionless there is a great
+disparity betwixt such Salts and that which we have sometimes obtain'd
+upon the first Distillation of Soot (though for the most part it has
+not been separated from the first or second Rectification, and
+sometimes not till the third) For we could never yet see separated
+from Woods analyz'd only the vulgar way in close vessels any volatile
+Salt in a dry and Saline form, as that of Soot, which we have often
+had very Crystalline and Geometrically figur'd. And then, whereas the
+Saline parts of the Spirits of _Guajacum_, &c. appear upon
+distillation sluggish enough, the Salt of Soot seems to be one of the
+most volatile Bodies in all Nature; and if it be well made will
+readily ascend with the milde heat of a Furnace, warm'd only by the
+single Wieck of a Lamp, to the top of the highest Glass Vessels that
+are commonly made use of for Distillation: and besides all this, the
+taste and smell of the Salt of Soot are exceeding differing from those
+of the Spirits of _Guajacum_, &c. and the former not only smells and
+tastes much less like a vegetable Salt, than like that of Harts-horn,
+and other Animal Concretes; but in divers other Properties seems more
+of Kinne to the Family of Animals, than to that of vegetable Salts, as
+I may elsewhere (God permitting) have an occasion more particularly to
+declare. I might likewise by some other Examples manifest, That the
+Chymists, 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 Division made by the
+Fire to be a true _Analysis_ into their Principles, and the
+Productions of it to deserve the name of Elementary Bodies. But it is
+time that I proceed to mention the particular Reasons that incline me
+to Doubt, whether the Fire be the true and universal Analyzer of mixt
+Bodies; of which Reasons what has been already objected may pass for
+one.
+
+In the next place I observe, That there are some mixt Bodies from
+which it has not been yet made appear, that any degree of Fire can
+separate either Salt or Sulphur or Mercury, much less all the Three.
+The most obvious Instance of this Truth is Gold, which is a Body so
+fix'd, and wherein the Elementary Ingredients (if it have any) are so
+firmly united to each other, that we finde not in the operations
+wherein Gold is expos'd to the Fire, how violent soever, that it does
+discernably so much as lose of its fixednesse or weight, so far is it
+from being dissipated into those Principles, whereof one at least is
+acknowledged to be Fugitive enough; and so justly did the Spagyricall
+Poet somewhere exclaim,
+
+     _Cuncta adeo miris illic compagibus harent._
+
+And I must not omit on this occasion to mention to you, _Eleutherius_,
+the memorable Experiment that I remember I met with in _Gasto
+Claveus_,[2] who, though a Lawyer by Profession, seems to have had no
+small Curiosity and Experience in Chymical affairs: He relates then,
+that having put into one small Earthen Vessel an Ounce of the most
+pure Gold, and into another the like weight of pure Silver, he plac'd
+them both in that part of a Glass-house Furnace wherein the Workmen
+keep their Metal, (as our English Artificers call their Liquid Glass)
+continually melted, and that having there kept both the Gold and the
+Silver in constant Fusion for two Moneths together, he afterwards took
+them out of the Furnace and the Vessels, and weighing both of them
+again, found that the Silver had not lost above a 12th part of its
+weight, but the Gold had not of his lost any thing at all. And though
+our Author endeavours to give us of this a Scholastick Reason, which I
+suppose you would be as little satisfied with, as I was when I read
+it; yet for the matter of Fact, which will serve our present turne, he
+assures us, that though it be strange, yet Experience it self taught
+it him to be most true.
+
+[Footnote 2: _Gasto Claveus_ Apolog. Argur. & Chrysopera.]
+
+And though there be not perhaps any other Body to be found so
+perfectly fix'd as Gold, yet there are divers others so fix'd or
+compos'd, at least of so strictly united parts, that I have not yet
+observ'd the Fire to separate from them any one of the Chymists
+Principles. I need not tell you what Complaints the more Candid and
+Judicious of the Chymists themselves are wont to make of those
+Boasters that confidently pretend, that they have extracted the Salt
+or Sulphur of Quicksilver, when they have disguis'd it by Additaments,
+wherewith it resembles the Concretes whose Names are given it;
+whereas by a skilful and rigid _Examen_, it may be easily enough
+stript of its Disguises, and made to appear again in the pristine form
+of running Mercury. The pretended Salts and Sulphurs being so far from
+being Elementary parts extracted out of the Bodie of Mercurie, that
+they are rather (to borrow a terme of the Grammarians) De-compound
+Bodies, made up of the whole Metal and the _Menstruum_ or other
+Additaments imploy'd to disguise it. And as for Silver, I never could
+see any degree of Fire make it part with any of its three Principles.
+And though the Experiment lately mentioned from _Claveus_ may beget a
+Suspition that Silver may be dissipated by Fire, provided it be
+extreamly violent and very lasting: yet it will not necessarily
+follow, that because the Fire was able at length to make the Silver
+lose a little of its weight, it was therefore able to dissipate it
+into its Principles. For first I might alledge that I have observ'd
+little Grains of Silver to lie hid in the small Cavities (perhaps
+glas'd over by a vitrifying heat) in Crucibles, wherein Silver has
+been long kept in Fusion, whence some Goldsmiths of my Acquaintance
+make a Benefit by grinding such Crucibles to powder, to recover out of
+them the latent particles of Silver. And hence I might argue, that
+perhaps _Claveus_ was mistaken, and imagin'd that Silver to have been
+driven away by the Fire, that indeed lay in minute parts hid in his
+Crucible, in whose pores so small a quantity as he mist of so
+ponderous a Bodie might very well lie conceal'd.
+
+But Secondly, admitting that some parts of the Silver were driven away
+by the violence of the Fire, what proof is there that it was either
+the Salt, the Sulphur, or the Mercury of the Metal, and not rather a
+part of it homogeneous to what remain'd? For besides, that the Silver
+that was left seem'd not sensibly alter'd, which probably would have
+appear'd, had so much of any one of its Principles been separated from
+it: We finde in other Mineral Bodies of a less permanent nature than
+Silver, that the Fire may divide them into such minute parts, as to be
+able to carry them away with its self, without at all destroying their
+Nature. Thus we see that in the refining of Silver, the Lead that is
+mix'd with it (to carry away the Copper or other ignoble Mineral that
+embases the Silver) will, if it be let alone, in time evaporate away
+upon the Test; but if (as is most usual amongst those that refine
+great quantities of Metals together) the Lead be blown off from the
+Silver by Bellowes, that which would else have gone away in the Form
+of unheeded steams, will in great part be collected not far from the
+Silver, in the Form of a darkish Powder or Calx, which, because it is
+blown off from Silver, they call Litharge of Silver. And thus
+_Agricola_[3] in divers places informs us, when Copper, or the Oare of
+it is colliquated by the violence of the Fire with _Cadmia_, the
+Sparks that in great multitudes do fly upwards do, some of them, stick
+to the vaulted Roofs of the Furnaces, in the form of little and (for
+the most part) White Bubbles, which therefore the Greeks, and, in
+Imitation of them, our Drugsters call _Pompholix_: and others more
+heavy partly adhere to the sides of the Furnace, and partly
+(especially if the Covers be not kept upon the Pots) fall to the
+Ground, and by reason of their Ashy Colour as well as Weight were
+called by the same Greeks [Greek: spodos], which, I need not tell you,
+in their Language signifies Ashes. I might add, that I have not found
+that from Venetian Talck (I say Venetian, because I have found other
+kinds of that Mineral more open) from the _Lapis Ossifragus_, (which
+the Shops call _Ostiocolla_) from _Muscovia_ Glass, from pure and
+Fusible Sand, to mention now no other Concretes; those of my
+Acquaintance that have try'd have been able by the Fire to separate
+any one of the Hypostatical Principles, which you will the less
+scruple to believe, if you consider that Glass may be made by the bare
+Colliquation of the Salt and Earth remaining in the Ashes of a burnt
+Plant, and that yet common Glass, once made, does so far resist the
+violence of the Fire, that most Chymists think it a Body more
+undestroyable then Gold it self. For if the Artificer can so firmly
+unite such comparative gross Particles as those of Earth and Salt that
+make up common Ashes, into a Body indissoluble by Fire; why may not
+Nature associate in divers Bodies the more minute Elementary
+Corpuscles she has at hand too firmly to let them be separable by the
+Fire? And on this Occasion, _Eleutherius_, give me leave to mention to
+you two or three sleight Experiments, which will, I hope, be found
+more pertinent to our present Discourse, than at first perhaps they
+will appear. The first is, that, having (for Tryals sake) put a
+quantity of that Fugitive Concrete, Camphire, into a Glass Vessel, and
+plac'd it in a gentle Heat, I found it (not leaving behinde, according
+to my Estimate, not so much as one Grain) to sublime to the Top of the
+Vessel into Flowers: which in Whiteness, Smell, &c. seem'd not to
+differ from the Camphire it self. Another Experiment is that of
+_Helmont_, who in several places affirms, That a Coal kept in a Glass
+exactly clos'd will never be calcin'd to Ashes, though kept never so
+long in a strong Fire. To countenance which I shall tell you this
+Tryal of my own, That having sometimes distilled some Woods, as
+particularly Box, whilst our _Caput mortuum_ 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 soon as ever it was brought
+out of the candent Vessel into the open Air, the burning Coals did
+hastily degenerate or fall asunder, without the Assistance of any new
+Calcination, into pure white Ashes. And to these two I shall add but
+this obvious and known Observation, that common Sulphur (if it be pure
+and freed from its Vinager) being leasurely sublim'd in close Vessels,
+rises into dry Flowers, which may be presently melted into a Bodie of
+the same Nature with that which afforded them. Though if Brimstone be
+burnt in the open Air it gives, you know, a penetrating Fume, which
+being caught in a Glass-Bell condenses into that acid Liquor called
+Oyl of Sulphur _per Campanam_. The use I would make of these
+Experiments collated with what I lately told you out of _Agricola_ is
+this, That even among the Bodies that are not fixt, there are divers
+of such a Texture, that it will be hard to make it appear, how the
+Fire, as Chymists are wont to imploy it, can resolve them into
+Elementary Substances. For some Bodies being of such a Texture that
+the Fire can drive them into the cooler and less hot part of the
+Vessels wherein they are included, and if need be, remove them from
+place to place to fly the greatest heat, more easily than it can
+divorce their Elements (especially without the Assistance of the Air)
+we see that our Chymists cannot Analyze them in close Vessels, and of
+other compound Bodies the open Fire can as little separate the
+Elements. For what can a naked Fire do to Analyze a mixt Bodie, if its
+component Principles be so minute, and so strictly united, that the
+Corpuscles of it need less heat to carry them up, than is requisite to
+divide them into their Principles. So that of some Bodies the Fire
+cannot in close Vessels make any _Analysis_ 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 similar parts of a Concrete be combin'd by
+Nature or by Art; For in factitious _Sal Armoniack_ we finde the
+common and the Urinous Salts so well mingled, that both in the open
+Fire, and in subliming Vessels they rise together as one Salt, which
+seems in such Vessels irresoluble by Fire alone. For I can shew you
+_Sal Armoniack_ which after the ninth Sublimation does still retain
+its compounded Nature. And indeed I scarce know any one Mineral, from
+which by Fire alone Chymists are wont to sever any Substance simple
+enough to deserve the name of an Element or Principle. For though out
+of native Cinnaber they distill Quicksilver, and though from many of
+those Stones that the Ancients called _Pyrites_ they sublime
+Brimstone, yet both that Quicksilver and this Sulphur being very often
+the same with the common Minerals that are sold in the Shops under
+those names, are themselves too much compounded Bodies to pass for the
+Elements of such. And thus much, _Eleutherius_, for the Second
+Argument that belongs to my First Consideration; the others I shall
+the lesse insist on, because I have dwelt so long upon this.
+
+[Footnote 3: _Agricola_ de Natura Fossil. Lib. 9. Cap. 11. & 12.]
+
+Proceed we then in the next place to consider, That there are divers
+Separations to be made by other means, which either cannot at all, or
+else cannot so well be made by the Fire alone. When Gold and Silver
+are melted into one Mass, it would lay a great Obligation upon
+Refiners and Goldsmiths to teach them the Art of separating them by
+the Fire, without the trouble and charge they are fain to be at to
+sever them. Whereas they may be very easily parted by the Affusion of
+Spirit of Nitre or _Aqua fortis_ (which the French therefore call _Eau
+de Depart_:) so likewise the Metalline part of Vitriol will not be so
+easily and conveniently separated from the Saline part even by a
+violent Fire, as by the Affusion of certain 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
+precipitated to the bottom almost like Mud. And that I may not give
+Instances only in De-compound Bodies, I will add a not useless one of
+another kinde. Not only Chymists have not been able (for ought is
+vulgarly known) by Fire alone to separate true Sulphur from Antimony;
+but though you may finde in their Books many plausible Processes of
+Extracting it, yet he that shall make as many fruitlesse Tryals as I
+have done to obtain it by, most of them will, I suppose, be easily
+perswaded, that the Productions of such Processes are Antimonial
+Sulphurs rather in Name than Nature. But though Antimony sublim'd by
+its self is reduc'd but to a volatile Powder, or Antimonial Flowers,
+of a compounded Nature like the Mineral that affords them: yet I
+remember that some years ago I sublim'd out of Antimony a Sulphur, and
+that in greater plenty then ever I saw obtain'd from that Mineral, by
+a Method which I shall therefore acquaint you with, because Chymists
+seem not to have taken notice of what Importance such Experiments may
+be in the Indagation of the Nature, and especially of the Number of
+the Elements. Having then purposely for Tryals sake digested eight
+Ounces of good and well powder'd Antimony with twelve Ounces of Oyl of
+Vitriol in a well stopt Glas-Vessel for about six or seven Weeks; and
+having caus'd the Mass (grown hard and brittle) to be distill'd in a
+Retort plac'd in Sand, with a strong Fire; we found the Antimony to be
+so opened, or alter'd by the _Menstruum_ wherewith it had been
+digested, That whereas crude Antimony, forc'd up by the Fire, arises
+only in Flowers, our Antimony thus handled afforded us 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 Brimstone, and of
+so Sulphureous a smell, that upon the unluting the Vessels it infected
+the Room with a scarce supportable stink. And this Sulphur, besides
+the Colour and Smell, had the perfect Inflamability of common
+Brimstone, and would immediately kindle (at the Flame of a Candle) and
+burn blew like it. And though it seem'd that the long digestion
+wherein our Antimony and _Menstruum_ were detain'd, did conduce to the
+better unlocking of the Mineral, yet if you have not the leasure to
+make so long a Digestion, you may by incorporating with powder'd
+Antimony a convenient Quantity of Oyl of Vitriol, and committing them
+immediately to Distillation, obtain a little Sulphur like unto the
+common one, and more combustible than perhaps you will at first take
+notice of. For I have observ'd, that though (after its being first
+kindled) the Flame would sometimes go out too soon of its self, if the
+same Lump of Sulphur were held again to the Flame of a Candle, it
+would be rekindled and burn a pretty while, not only after the
+second, but after the third or fourth accension. You, to whom I think
+I shewed my way of discovering something of Sulphureous in Oyl of
+Vitriol, may perchance suspect, _Eleutherius_, either that this
+Substance was some Venereal Sulphur that lay hid in that Liquor, and
+was by this operation only reduc'd into a manifest Body; or else that
+it was a compound of the unctuous parts of the Antimony, and the
+Saline ones of the Vitriol, in regard that (as _Gunther_[4] 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
+combustible Substance. But the Quantity of Sulphur we obtain'd by
+Digestion was much too great to have been latent in the Oyl of
+Vitriol. And that Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
+Constitution of such a Sulphur as ours, I could easily manifest, if I
+would acquaint you with the several wayes by which I have obtain'd,
+though not in such plenty, a Sulphur of Antimony, colour'd and
+combustible like common Brimstone. And though I am not now minded to
+discover them, yet I shall tell you, that to satisfie some Ingenious
+Men, that distill'd Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
+obtaining of such a Sulphur as we have been considering, I did by the
+bare distillation of only Spirit of Nitre, from its weight of crude
+Antimony separate, in a short time, a yellow and very inflamable
+Sulphur, which, for ought I know, deserves as much the name of an
+Element, as any thing that Chymists are wont to separate from any
+Mineral by the Fire. I could perhaps tell you of other Operations upon
+Antimony, whereby That may be extracted from it, which cannot be
+forc'd out of it by the Fire; but I shall reserve them for a fitter
+Opportunity, and only annex at present this sleight, but not
+impertinent Experiment. That whereas I lately observed to you, that
+the Urinous and common Salts whereof _Sal Armoniack_ consists,
+remain'd unsever'd by the Fire in many successive Sublimations, they
+may be easily separated, and partly without any Fire at all, by
+pouring upon the Concrete finely powder'd, a Solution of Salt of
+Tartar, or of the Salt of Wood-Ashes; for upon your diligently mixing
+of these you will finde your Nose invaded with a very strong smell of
+Urine, and perhaps too your Eyes forc'd to water by the same subtle
+and piercing Body that produces the stink; both these effects
+proceeding from hence, that by the Alcalizate Salt, the Sea Salt that
+enter'd the composition of the _Sal Armoniack_ is mortify'd and made
+more fixt, and thereby a divorce is made between it and the volatile
+Urinous Salt, which being at once set at liberty, and put into motion,
+begins presently to fly away, and to offend the Nostrils and Eyes it
+meets with by the way. And if the operation of these Salts be in
+convenient Glasses promoted by warmth, though but by that of a Bath,
+the ascending Steams may easily be caught and reduc'd into a penetrant
+Spirit, abounding with a Salt, which I have sometimes found to be
+separable in a Crystalline Form. I might add to these Instances, that
+whereas Sublimate, consisting, as you know, of Salts & Quicksilver
+combin'd and carried up together by Heat, may be Sublim'd, I know not
+how often, by a like degree of Fire, without suffering any divorce of
+the component Bodies, the Mercury may be easily sever'd from the
+adhering Salts, if the Sublimate be distill'd from Salt of Tartar,
+Quick Lime, or such Alcalizate Bodies. But I will rather observe to
+you, _Eleutherius_, what divers ingenious men have thought somewhat
+strange; that by such an Additament that seems but only to promote the
+Separation, there may be easily obtain'd from a Concrete that by the
+Fire alone is easily divisible into all the Elements that Vegetables
+are suppos'd to consist of, such a similar Substance as differs in
+many respects from them all, and consequently has by many of the most
+Intelligent Chymists been denied to be contain'd in the mixt Body. For
+I know a way, and have practis'd it, whereby common Tartar, without
+the addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral except
+Salt-petre, may by one Distillation in an Earthen Retort be made to
+afford good store of real Salt, readily dissoluble in water, which I
+found to be neither acid, nor of the smell of Tartar, and to be almost
+as volatile as Spirit of Wine it self, and to be indeed of so
+differing a Nature from all that is wont to be separated by Fire from
+Tartar, that divers Learned Men, with whom I discours'd of it, could
+hardly be brought to beleeve, that so fugitive a Salt could be
+afforded by Tartar, till I assur'd it them upon my own Knowledge. And
+if I did not think you apt to suspect 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.
+
+[Footnote 4: Lib. 1. Observat. Cap. 6.]
+
+The Fourth thing that I shall alledge to countenance my first
+Consideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body into
+Substances of divers Consistences, does not most commonly analyze it
+into Hypostatical Principles, but only disposes its parts into new
+Textures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of a
+compound Nature. This Argument it will be requisite for me to
+prosecute so fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confess that
+'tis not for want of good Proofs that I desire leave to suspend my
+Proofs till the _Series_ of my Discourse shall make it more proper and
+seasonable to propose them.
+
+It may be further alledg'd on the behalf of my First Consideration,
+That some such distinct Substances may be obtain'd from some
+Concretes without Fire, as deserve no less the name of Elementary,
+than many that Chymists extort by the Violence of the Fire.
+
+We see that the Inflamable Spirit, or as the Chymists esteem it, the
+Sulphur of Wine, may not only be separated from it by the gentle heat
+of a Bath, but may be distill'd either by the help of the Sun-Beams,
+or even of a Dunghill, being indeed of so Fugitive a Nature, that it
+is not easy to keep it from flying away, even without the Application
+of external heat. I have likewise observ'd that a Vessel full of Urine
+being plac'd in a Dunghill, the Putrefaction is wont after some weeks
+so to open the Body, that the parts disbanding the Saline Spirit, will
+within no very long time, if the Vessel be not stopt, fly away of it
+self; Insomuch that from such Urine I have been able to distill little
+or nothing else than a nauseous Phlegme, instead of the active and
+piercing Salt and Spirit that it would have afforded, when first
+expos'd to the Fire, if the Vessel had been carefully stopt.
+
+And this leads me to consider in the Fifth place, That it will be very
+hard to prove, that there can no other Body or way be given which
+will as well as the Fire divide Concretes into several homogeneous
+Substances, which may consequently be call'd their Elements or
+Principles, as well as those separated or produc'd by the Fire. For
+since we have lately seen, that Nature can successefully employ other
+Instruments than the Fire to separate distinct Substances from mixt
+Bodies, how know we, but that Nature has made, or Art may make, some
+such Substance as may be a fit Instrument to Analyze mixt Bodies, or
+that some such Method may be found by Humane Industry or Luck, by
+whose means compound Bodies may be resolv'd into other Substances,
+than such as they are wont to be divided into by the Fire. And why the
+Products of such an _Analysis_ may not as justly be call'd the
+component Principles of the Bodies that afford them, it will not be
+easy to shew, especially since I shall hereafter make it evident, that
+the Substances which Chymists are wont to call the Salts, and
+Sulphurs, and Mercuries of Bodies, are not so pure and Elementary as
+they presume, and as their _Hypothesis_ requires. And this may
+therefore be the more freely press'd upon the Chymists, because
+neither the _Paracelsians_, nor the _Helmontians_ can reject it
+without apparent Injury to their respective Masters. For _Helmont_
+do's more than once Inform his Readers, that both _Paracelsus_ and
+Himself were Possessors of the famous Liquor, _Alkahest_, which for
+its great power in resolving Bodies irresoluble by Vulgar Fires, he
+somewhere seems to call _Ignis Gehennæ_. To this Liquor he ascribes,
+(and that in great part upon his own Experience) such wonders, that if
+we suppose them all true, I am so much the more a Friend to Knowledge
+than to Wealth, that I should think the _Alkahest_ a nobler and more
+desireable Secret than the Philosophers Stone it self. Of this
+Universal Dissolvent he relates, That having digested with it for a
+competent time a piece of Oaken Charcoal, it was thereby reduc'd into
+a couple of new and distinct Liquors, discriminated from each other by
+their Colour and Situation, and that the whole body of the Coal was
+reduc'd into those Liquors, both of them separable from his Immortal
+_Menstruum_, which remain'd as fit for such Operations as before. And
+he moreover tells us in divers places of his Writings, that by this
+powerful, and unwearied Agent, he could dissolve Metals, Marchasites,
+Stones, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of what kinde soever, and even
+Glass it self (first reduc'd to powder,) and in a word, all kinds of
+mixt Bodies in the World into their several similar Substances,
+without any Residence or _Caput mortuum_. And lastly, we may gather
+this further from his Informations, That the homogeneous Substances
+obtainable from compound Bodies by his piercing Liquor, were
+oftentimes different enough both as to Number and as to Nature, from
+those into which the same Bodies are wont to be divided by common
+Fire. Of which I shall need in this place to mention no other proof,
+then that whereas we know that in our common _Analysis_ of a mixt
+Body, there remains a terrestrial and very fixt Substance, oftentimes
+associated with a Salt as fixt; Our Author tells us, that by his way
+he could Distill over all Concretes without any _Caput mortuum_, and
+consequently could make those parts of the Concrete volatile, which in
+the Vulgar _Analysis_ would have been fixt. So that if our Chymists
+will not reject the solemn and repeated Testimony of a Person, who
+cannot but be acknowledg'd for one of the greatest Spagyrists that
+they can boast of, they must not deny that there is to be found in
+Nature another Agent able to Analyze compound Bodies less violently,
+and both more genuinely and more universally than the Fire. And for my
+own part, though I cannot but say on this Occasion what (you know) our
+Friend Mr. _Boyle_ is wont to say, when he is askt his Opinion of any
+strange Experiment; _That He that hath seen it hath more Reason to
+beleeve it, than He that hath not_; yet I have found _Helmont_ so
+faithful a Writer, even in divers of his improbable Experiments (I
+alwayes except that Extravagant Treatise _De Magnetica Vulnerum
+Curatione_, which some of his Friends affirm to have been first
+publish'd by his Enemies) that I think it somewhat harsh to give him
+the Lye, especially to what he delivers upon his own proper Tryal. And
+I have heard from very credible Eye-witnesses some things, and seen
+some others my self, which argue so strongly, that a circulated Salt,
+or a _Menstruum_ (such as it may be) may by being abstracted from
+compound Bodies, whether Mineral, Animal, or Vegetable, leave them
+more unlockt than a wary Naturalist would easily beleeve, that I dare
+not confidently measure the Power of Nature and Art by that of the
+_Menstruums_, and other Instruments that eminent Chymists themselves
+are as yet wont to Empoly [Errata: employ] about the Analyzing of
+Bodies; nor Deny that a _Menstruum_ may at least from this or that
+particular Concrete obtain some apparently similar Substance,
+differing from any obtainable from the same Body by any degree or
+manner of Application of the Fire. And I am the more backward to deny
+peremptorily, that there may be such Openers of compound Bodies,
+because among the Experiments that make me speak thus warily, there
+wanted not some in which it appear'd not, that one of the Substances
+not separable by common Fires and _Menstruums_ could retain any thing
+of the Salt by which the separation was made.
+
+And here, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) I should conclude as much
+of my Discourse as belongs to the first Consideration I propos'd, but
+that I foresee, that what I have delivered will appear liable to two
+such specious Objections, that I cannot safely proceed any further
+till I have examin'd them.
+
+And first, one sort of Opposers will be forward to tell me, That they
+do not pretend by Fire alone to separate out of all compound Bodies
+their _Hypostatical_ Principles; it being sufficient that the Fire
+divides them into such, though afterwards they employ other Bodies to
+collect the similar parts of the Compound; as 'tis known, that though
+they make use of water to collect the Saline parts of Ashes from the
+Terrestrial 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, whereof Ashes are made up. This Objection is not, I
+confess, inconsiderable, and I might in great part allow of it,
+without granting it to make against me, if I would content my self to
+answer, that it is not against those that make it that I have been
+disputing, but against those Vulgar Chymists, who themselves believe,
+and would fain make others do so, That the Fire is not only an
+universal, but an adæquate [Transcriber's Note: adequate] and
+sufficient Instrument to analyze mixt Bodies with. For as to their
+Practice of Extracting the fix'd Salt out of Ashes by the Affusion of
+Water, 'tis obvious to alleadge, that the Water does only assemble
+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 distinct heaps the Flour and the Bran, whose Corpuscles before lay
+promiscuously blended together in the Meal. This I say I might
+alleadge, and thereby exempt my self from the need of taking any
+farther notice of the propos'd Objection. But not to lose the Rise it
+may afford me of Illustrating the matter under Consideration, I am
+content briefly to consider it, as far forth as my present
+Disquisition may be concern'd in it.
+
+Not to repeat then what has been already answer'd, I say farther, that
+though I am so civil an Adversary, that I will allow the Chymists,
+after the Fire has done all its work, the use of fair Water to make
+their Extractions with, in such cases wherein the Water does not
+cooperate with the Fire to make the _Analysis_; yet since I Grant
+this but upon Supposition that the Water does only wash off the Saline
+Particles, which the Fire Alone has Before Extricated in the Analyz'd
+Body, it will not be Reasonable, that this Concession should Extend to
+other Liquors that may Add to what they Dissolve, nor so much as to
+other Cases than those Newly Mentioned: Which Limitation I Desire You
+would be Pleas'd to Bear in Mind till I shall Anon have Occasion to
+make Use of it. And This being thus Premis'd, I shall Proceed to
+Observe,
+
+First, That Many of the Instances I Propos'd in the Preceding
+Discourse are Such, that the Objection we are Considering will not at
+all Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the Assistance of Water than
+without it Separate any of the Three Principles, either from Gold,
+Silver, Mercury, or some Others of the Concretes named Above.
+
+Hence We may Inferre, That Fire is not an Universal Analyzer of all
+Mixt Bodies, since of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymists have most
+Exercis'd Themselves, there Appear scarce Any which they are able to
+Analyze by Fire, Nay, from which they can Unquestionably Separate so
+much as any One of their Hypostatical Principles; Which may well
+Appear no small Disparagement as well to their _Hypothesis_ as to
+their Pretensions.
+
+It will also remain True, notwithstanding the Objection, That there
+may be Other Wayes than the wonted _Analysis_ by Fire, to Separate
+from a Compound Body Substances as Homogeneneous [Transcriber's Note:
+Homogeneous] as those that Chymists Scruple not to Reckon among their
+_Tria Prima_ (as some of them, for Brevity Sake, call their Three
+Principles.)
+
+And it Appears, That by Convenient Additaments such Substances may be
+Separated by the Help of the Fire, as could not be so by the Fire
+alone: Witness the Sulphur of Antimony.
+
+And Lastly, I must Represent, That since it appears too that the Fire
+is but One of the Instruments that must be Employ'd in the Resolution
+of Bodies, We may Reasonably Challenge the Liberty of doing Two
+Things. For when ever any _Menstruum_ or other Additament is Employ'd,
+together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from a Body, We
+may well take the Freedom to Examine, whether or no That _Menstruum_
+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 Those of the _Menstruum_, whereby the Produc'd Concrete may be
+Judg'd to Result from the Union of Both. And it will be farther
+Allowable for Us to Consider, how far any Substance, Separated by the
+Help of such Additaments, Ought to pass for one of the _Tria Prima_;
+since by One Way of Handling the same Mixt Body it may according to
+the Nature of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, be
+made to Afford differing Substances from those Obtainable from it by
+other Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may appear by what
+I Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Substances
+into which a Concrete is Divisible by the Fire without Additaments,
+though perhaps those Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter the
+Composition of the Obtained Body, but only Diversify the Operation of
+the Fire upon the Concrete; and though that Concrete by the Fire
+alone may be Divided into a Number of Differing Substances, as Great
+as any of the Chymists that I have met with teach us that of the
+Elements to be. And having said thus much (sayes _Carneades_) to the
+Objection likely to be Propos'd by some Chymists, I am now to Examine
+that which I Foresee will be Confidently press'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
+_Aristotle_, and Generally Received, _Congregare Homogenea, &
+Heterogenea Segregare_, to Assemble Things of a Resembling, and
+Disjoyn those of a Differing Nature. To this I answer, That this
+Effect is far from being so Essential to Heat, as 'tis Generally
+Imagin'd; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property of
+Heat is, to set a Moving, and thereby to Dissociate the parts of
+Bodies, and Subdivide them into Minute Particles, without regard to
+their being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in the
+Boyling of Water, the Distillation of Quicksilver, or the Exposing of
+Bodies to the action of the Fire, whose Parts either Are not (at
+least in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Dissimilar, where all that
+the Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts which
+are of the same Nature with one another, and with their _Totum_, as
+their Reduction by Condensation Evinces. And even when the Fire seems
+most so _Congregare Homogenea, & Segregare Heterogenea_, it Produces
+that Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Dissolve the
+Cement, or rather Shatter the Frame, or [tructure [Errata: structure]
+that kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one Common
+Form; upon which Dissolution the Component Particles of the Mixt,
+being Freed and set at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes without
+any Operation of the Fire, Associate themselves each with its Like, or
+rather do take those places which their Several Degrees of Gravity and
+Levity, Fixedness or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious from
+the Impression of the Fire) Assigne them. Thus in the Distillation
+(for Instance) of Man's Blood, the Fire do's First begin to Dissolve
+the _Nexus_ or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the most
+Volatile, and Easy to be Extracted, is either by the Igneous Atomes,
+or the Agitation they are put into by the Fire, first carried up, till
+Forsaken by what carried it up, its Weight sinks it down into the
+Receiver: but all this while the other Principles of the Concrete
+Remain Unsever'd, and Require a stronger Degree of Heat to make a
+Separation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire must be
+Increas'd which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, they
+being, though Beleev'd to be Differing Principles, and though Really
+of Different Consistency, yet of an almost Equal Volatility. After
+them, as less Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde the
+Earth and the _Alcali_, which being of an Equal Fixednesse, the Fire
+Severs them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into a
+Red-hot Earthen or Iron Retort you cast the Matter to be Distill'd,
+You may Observe, as I have often done, that the Predominant Fire will
+Carry up all the Volatile Elements Confusedly in one Fume, which will
+afterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to the
+Degree of their Gravity, or according to the Exigency of their
+respective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the most part, to the
+Sides and Top, and the Phlegme Fastening it self there too in great
+Drops, the Oyle and Spirit placing themselves Under, or Above one
+another, according as their Ponderousness makes them Swim or Sink. For
+'tis Observable, that though Oyl or Liquid Sulphur be one of the
+Elements Separated by this Fiery _Analysis_, yet the Heat which
+Accidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Principles,
+has not alwayes the same Operation on this, there being divers Bodies
+which Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One sinks to the Bottom of that
+Spirit on which the other Swims; as I can shew You in some Oyls of the
+same Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can shew you Two Oyls
+carefully made of the same 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 themselves Divorce again.
+
+And that the Fire doth oftentimes divide Bodies, upon the account that
+some of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how far
+soever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature is
+Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which
+the Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter of
+these is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth and
+Salt; but the Former being condens'd into that Soot which adheres to
+our Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, and
+Spirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all
+almost, 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 _Colcothar_, Sublim'd by _Sal Armoniack_ Blended with it)
+are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other
+Degrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity of
+their Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing Bodies
+United into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no
+Parts Volatile enough to be Expell'd or carried up, makes no
+Separation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver
+and Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever'd by _Aqua
+Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ (according to the Predominancy of the Silver
+or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain
+unsever'd, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles
+(whose Littlenesse may be argu'd from their Fluidity) in which either
+the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokes
+upon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without any
+Sequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimes
+does not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature;
+provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in the
+Figure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the making
+of many Plaisters, Oyntments, &c. And in such Metalline Mixtures as
+that made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one of
+pure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curious
+Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works) as I have sometimes taken great
+Pleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire are
+Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are so
+combin'd by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarce
+afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instance
+is afforded us by the Common Preparation of _Mercurius Dulcis_, where
+the Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre,
+Employ'd to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with the
+Mercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then to
+Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together in
+many successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And
+sometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements
+of a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does very
+seldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meeting
+with some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead of
+making a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, is
+unable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alcalizate Salt and the
+Terrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and
+by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course or
+greenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire,
+which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to
+Divorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flow
+down from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos'd for a good while, with
+Silver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in the
+Fusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a
+Crucible into Glass is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember,
+I have Observ'd too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of
+the Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm that
+Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigious
+Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by great
+Wheels turn'd about by Water) part of the Materials Expos'd to it was,
+instead of being Analyz'd, Colliquated, and turn'd into a Dark, Solid
+and very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quantity, that in some
+places I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mended
+with Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. And
+I have also Observ'd, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, having
+been employ'd in Furnaces wherein it was expos'd to very strong and
+lasting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts so 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 Transparent Glass. And lest You
+might think, _Eleutherius_, that the Question'd Definition of Heat may
+be Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given and
+Acquiesc'd in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taught
+to be _tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare_; Give me leave to
+represent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; for
+not to Mention the Exceptions, which a _Logician_, as such, may Take
+at it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is
+Suppos'd to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform'd by
+every Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of
+Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer'd a while to stand, the
+Cold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, which
+Subsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if the
+Urinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole
+Liquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood,
+Straw, Dust, Water, &c. are Suppos'd to be United into one Lump of
+Ice, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may so
+Speak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the
+Liquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in that
+Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if
+we Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes,
+or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute of
+Aqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold,
+we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much as
+Compacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselves
+we find _Phænomena_ which Induce us to Question the Definition which
+we are examining. If _Paracelsus_ his Authority were to be look't upon
+as a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insist
+on that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Wine
+may be Sever'd from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance of
+Congelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process,
+not only by _Paracelsians_, but other Writers, some of whom seem not
+to have perus'd it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage in
+the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of his
+_Archidoxis_, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it sounds
+thus. _De Vino sciendum est, fæcem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, &
+Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auri
+in auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam
+ponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum
+vetustissimum & optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque ad
+placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat,
+& sigillo Hermetis occlusum in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, & in
+continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum
+frigus & gelu maxime sæviunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur.
+Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protrudit
+in vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero
+congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc in
+Pelicanum positum in arenæ digestione non adeo calida per aliquod
+tempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quo
+locuti sumus._
+
+But I dare not _Eleu._ lay much Weight upon this Process, because I
+have found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable in
+this Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hath
+been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied with
+lasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure 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 suppose _Eleu._ that tis not every
+Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to
+make such an _Analysis_ (if I may so call it) of them by Separating
+their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though not
+often, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not
+Observe the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc'd to
+Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call'd _Nova
+Zembla_, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was a
+Separation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle of
+_November_, yet of the Freezing of their Back [Errata: Sack] in
+_December_ following they give but this Account: _Yea and our Sack,
+which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Man
+to have his part, we were forc'd to melt it in the Fire; which we
+shar'd every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we
+were forc'd to sustain our selves._ In which words they imply not,
+that their Back [Errata: Sack] was divided by the Frost into differing
+Substances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All which
+notwithstanding, _Eleu._ suppose that it may be made to appear, that
+even Cold sometimes may _Congregare Homogenea, & Heterogenea
+Segregare_: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once,
+purposely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with
+Sulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos'd the Decoction to
+a keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ'd, that the more
+Aqueous Parts of it were turn'd by the next Morning into Ice, towards
+the innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I
+then conjectur'd, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be their
+Environing Enemy, they had there preserv'd themselves unfrozen in the
+Form of a high colour'd Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts
+having been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in the
+Decoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold as
+would not have been able to have Divorc'd the Parts of Urine or Wine,
+which by Fermentation or Digestion are wont, as Tryal has inform'd me,
+to be more intimately associated each with other. But I have already
+intimated, _Eleutherius_, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment,
+not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have been
+mistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that much
+more full and eminent Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream
+Cold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention'd Dutch
+men that Winter'd in _Nova Zembla_; the Relation of whose Voyage being
+a very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorable
+part of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus'd the Passage
+to be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.
+
+"_Gerard de Veer_, _John Cornelyson_ and Others, sent out of
+_Amsterdam_, _Anno Dom._ 1596. being forc'd by unseasonable Weather to
+Winter in _Nova Zembla_, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of
+_October_, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and
+laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to
+our House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great a
+Storm and Cold, that we were forc'd to go into the Ship again, because
+we were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer into
+the Ship again, but were forc'd to let it stand without upon the Sled:
+the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of
+Beer standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yet
+by reason 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 sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, and
+drank it up; but first we were forc'd to melt the Beer, for there was
+scarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest that
+was unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strong
+to drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and being
+melted we Mix'd one with the other, and so drank it; but it had
+neither Strength nor Taste."
+
+And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very Sharp
+Winter purposely try'd to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beer
+moderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ'd,
+that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, it
+seems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I found
+turn'd into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour and
+consistence seem'd mafestly [Transcriber's Note: manifestly] enough
+to be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail'd, because I did
+not either discerne by the Taste, 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 since to a neere Friend
+of mine, who complained to me, that having Brew'd some Beer or Ale for
+his own drinking in _Holland_ (where he then dwelt) the Keenness of
+the late bitter Winter froze the Drink so as to reduce it into Ice,
+and a small Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I
+must not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely because
+you may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does not
+directly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have already
+enlarg'd my self too much upon the first Consideration I propos'd,
+though it appears so much a Paradox, that it seem'd to Require that I
+should say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance;
+yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption of our
+Chymists and _Aristotelians_ appear Questionable, I hope I have so
+Perform'd that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following
+Considerations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on the
+First.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Second Part._
+
+
+The Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This,
+That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and _Aristotelians_ are wont
+to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that
+is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in
+it as a Principle or Element of it.
+
+That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I will
+First Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed to
+Argue for it.
+
+And I suppose You will easily Believe That I do not mean that any
+thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially
+pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall
+Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one
+Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create;
+which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers
+have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the
+_Epicureans_ and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their
+Gods themselves.
+
+Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things
+Obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely
+Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before
+they be Expos'd to the Fire afford us several Documents of their
+abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve
+the present Turn, if it appear that diverse 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 [Errata: appear, it will] be Rationall
+enough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others,
+in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the
+Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of
+which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till
+some other Argument then that drawn from the _Analysis_ be Brought to
+resolve the Doubt.
+
+That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That it
+may without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing
+Substances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were so
+Exsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts)
+wherein we find them when the _Analysis_ is over, that the Fire did
+only Dis-joyne and Extricate the Corpuscles of one Principle from
+those of the other wherewith before they were Blended.
+
+Having thus Explain'd my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do two
+things, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that such
+Substances as Chymists call Principles May be produc'd _De novo_ (as
+they speak.) And the other is to make it probable that by the Fire we
+may Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were not
+in the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.
+
+To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be as
+true as 'tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another
+but in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion,
+and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall to
+conceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may by
+Various Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name,
+somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous
+Body. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr.
+_Boyle_ has promis'd us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme I
+now willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquired
+into. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I have
+lately Deliver'd shall be Deduc'd from Experiments made Divers Years
+since. The first of which would have been much more considerable, but
+that by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the best
+time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design'd; it
+being about he [Transcriber's Note: the] middle of _May_ before I was
+able to begin an Experiment which should have then been two moneths
+old; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to Give
+You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention'd, I caus'd My
+Gardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder'd from being present
+myself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry it
+well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost level
+with the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed he
+had before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is an
+Indian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him to
+Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasions
+permitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew,
+though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder'd it from
+attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found
+the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, as
+big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up;
+Which about the Middle of _October_ was carefully Done by the same
+Gardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it; _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 First, 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._
+
+But to deal Candidly with You, _Eleutherius_, I must not conceal from
+You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this present
+Summer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as may
+appear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner,
+in these Words. _To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have
+Gain'd two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and
+a Halfe, the Branches with the Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two
+Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak'd it in
+several small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, I
+found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was formerly;
+yet I was not satisfi'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
+Suppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I think
+that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by the
+Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and the
+like) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You should
+send for them.)_ But yet in this Tryal, _Eleutherius_, it appears that
+though some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour'd in
+it, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of Transmuted
+Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus'd the formerly
+mentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with
+so good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it did
+not only much surpass any that I made before, but seem'd strangely to
+conclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappily
+lost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the
+Circumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may be
+as conveniently try'd with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth is
+hasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Grow
+well in Earth undung'd, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it;
+for 'tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes 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
+shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of
+Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because
+every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment
+neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more Expeditions
+[Transcriber's Note: Expeditious] Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint,
+about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water,
+so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and
+the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint
+began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,
+and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and
+Leaves, and these very strong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint:
+but the Heat of my Chamber, as I suppose, kill'd the Plant when it was
+grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and
+ramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth,
+presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant to
+behold. The like I try'd with sweet Marjoram, and I found the
+Experiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme and
+Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of these Vegetables,
+cherish'd only by Water, having obtain'd a competent Growth, I did,
+for Tryals sake, cause to be Distill'd in a small Retort, and thereby
+obtain'd some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a small
+Quantity of adust Oyl, and a _Caput mortuum_; which appearing to be a
+Coal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but the Quantity of
+it was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us'd to
+nourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I chose
+Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more
+discernably a kinde of [Greek: panspermia], which, though it be
+granted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it,
+besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which may
+be suppos'd to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, which
+may be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit of
+the World Corporify'd, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I
+may elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.
+
+But perhaps I might have sav'd a great part of my Labour. For I finde
+that _Helmont_ (an Author more considerable for his Experiments than
+many Learned men are pleas'd to think him) having had an Opportunity
+to prosecute an Experiment much of the same nature with those I have
+been now speaking of, for five Years together, obtain'd at the end of
+that time so notable a Quantity of Transmuted Water, that I should
+scarce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention'd
+together, were it not that the Length of Time Requisite to this may
+deterr the Curiosity of some, and exceed the leasure of Others; and
+partly, that so Paradoxical a Truth as that which these Experiments
+seem to hold forth, needs to be Confirm'd by more Witnesses then one,
+especially since the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with in
+_Helmonts_ Treatise of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made his
+Testimonies suspected in his other Writings, though as to some of the
+Unlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might safely undertake
+to be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I was
+mentioning to You, he sayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earth
+dry'd in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Vessel and
+moisten'd it with Raine water he planted in it the Trunk of a Willow
+tree of five pound Weight; this he Water'd, as need required, with
+Rain or with Distill'd Water; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth from
+getting into the Vessell, he employ'd a plate of Iron tinn'd over and
+perforated with many holes. Five years being 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 again Dry'd the Earth it grew in, he found it want
+of its Former Weight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; so
+that 164 pound of the Roots, Wood, and Bark, which Constituted the
+Tree, seem to have Sprung from the Water. And though it appears not
+that _Helmont_ had the Curiosity to make any _Analysis_ of this Plant,
+yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nourish'd
+with Water only, will I suppose keep You from Doubting that if he had
+Distill'd this Tree, it would have afforded him the like Distinct
+Substances as another Vegetable of the same kind. I need not Subjoyne
+that I had it also in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the same
+purpose with those I related to You would succeed in other Bodies then
+Vegetables, because importunate Avocations having hitherto hinder'd me
+from putting my Design in Practise, I can yet speak but Confecturally
+[Transcriber's Note: Conjecturally] of the Success: but the best is,
+that the Experiments already made and mention'd to you need not the
+Assistance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my present task makes it
+concern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.
+
+One would suspect (sayes _Eleutherius_ after his long silence) by what
+You have been discoursing, that You are not far from _Helmonts_
+Opinion about the Origination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps too
+dislike not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.
+
+What _Helmontian_ Opinion, and what Arguments do you mean (askes
+_Carneades_.)
+
+What You have been Newly Discoursing (replies _Eleutherius_) tells us,
+that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyrist scruples
+not to Assert that all mixt Bodies spring from one Element; and that
+Vegetables, Animals, Marchasites, Stones, Metalls, &c. are Materially
+but simple Water disguis'd into these Various Formes, by the plastick
+or Formative Virtue of their seeds. And as for his Reasons you may
+find divers of them scatter'd up and down his writings; the
+considerabl'st of which seem to be these three; The Ultimate Reduction
+of mixt Bodies into Insipid Water, the Vicissitude of the supposed
+Elements, and the production of perfectly mixt Bodies out of simple
+Water. And first he affirmes that the _Sal circulatus Paracelsi_, or
+his Liquor _Alkahest_, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, and
+Mineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their several
+internall Disparities of Parts (without _Caput Mortuum_, or the
+Destruction of their seminal Virtues;) and that the _Alkahest_ being
+abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and Virtue wherewith
+it Dissolv'd them, the Liquors may by frequent Cohobations from chalke
+or some other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv'd of their seminal
+Endowments, and return at last to their first matter, Insipid Water;
+some other wayes he proposes here and there, to divest some particular
+Bodies of their borrow'd shapes, and make them remigrate to their
+first Simplicity. The second Topick whence _Helmont_ drawes his
+Arguments, to prove Water to be the Material cause of Mixt Bodies, I
+told You was this, that the other suppos'd Elements may be transmuted
+into one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc'd
+on this Occasion, are so uneasie to be made and to be judg'd of, that
+I shall not insist on them; not to mention, that if they were granted
+to be true, his Inference from them is somewhat disputable; and
+therefore I shall pass on to tell You, That as, in his First Argument,
+our Paradoxical Author endeavours to prove Water the Sole Element of
+Mixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Resolution, when by his _Alkahest_, or
+some other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been Destroy'd, which
+Disguis'd them, or when by time those seeds are Weari'd or Exantlated
+or unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Universe any
+Longer: So in His Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the same
+Conclusion, by the constitution of Bodies which he asserts to be
+nothing but Water Subdu'd by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives here
+and there in his Writings several Instances, as to Plants and Animals;
+but divers of them being Difficult either to be try'd or to be
+Understood, and others of them being not altogether Unobnoxious to
+Exceptions, I think you have singl'd out the Principal and less
+Questionable Experiment when you lately mention'd that of the Willow
+Tree. And having thus, Continues _Eleutherius_, to Answer your
+Question, given you a Summary Account of what I am Confident You know
+better then I do, I shall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, if
+the giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Prosecution of
+your Discourse.
+
+That _If_ (replies _Carneades_) was not needlessly annex'd: for
+thorowly to examine such an Hypothesis and such Arguments would
+require so many Considerations, and Consequently so much time, that I
+should not now have the Liesure [Errata: leasure] to perfect such a
+Digression, and much less to finish my Principle [Errata: principal]
+Discourse. Yet thus much I shall tell You at present, that you need
+not fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; since, however the
+_Helmontians_ may in complement to their Master pretend it to be a new
+Discovery, Yet though the Arguments be for the most part his, the
+Opinion it self is very Antient: For _Diogenes Laertius_ and divers
+other Authors speak of _Thales_, as the first among the _Græcians_
+that made disquisitions upon nature. And of this _Thales_, I Remember,
+_Tully_[5] informes us, that he taught all things were at first made
+of Water. And it seems by _Plutarch_ and _Justin Martyr_, that the
+Opinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us'd to defend
+his Tenet by the Testimony of _Homer_. And a Greek Author, (the
+_Scholiast_ of _Apollonius_) upon these Words
+
+     [Greek: Ex iliou [Transcriber's Note: iluos] eblastêse chthôn
+     autê],[6]
+
+     _The Earth of Slime was made,_
+
+Affirms (out of _Zeno_) that the _Chaos_, whereof all things were
+made, was, according to _Hesiod_, Water; which, settling first, became
+Slime, and then condens'd into solid Earth. And the same Opinion about
+the Generation of Slime seems to have been entertain'd by _Orpheus_,
+out of whom one of the Antients[7] cites this Testimony,
+
+     [Greek: Ek tou hydatos ilui katistê.]
+
+     _Of Water Slime was made._
+
+[Footnote 5: De Natura Deorum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Argonaut. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Athenagoras.]
+
+It seems also by what is delivered in _Strabo_[8] out of another
+Author, concerning the _Indians_, That they likewise held that all
+things had differing Beginnings, but that of which the World was made,
+was Water. And the like Opinion has been by some of the Antients
+ascrib'd to the _Phoenicians_, from whom _Thales_ himself is
+conceiv'd to have borrow'd it; as probably the Greeks did much of
+their Theologie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philosophy too;
+since the Devising of the Atomical _Hypothesis_ commonly ascrib'd to
+_Lucippus_ and his Disciple _Democritus_, is by Learned Men attributed
+to one _Moschus_ a _Phoenician_. And possibly the Opinion is yet
+antienter than so; For 'tis known that the _Phoenicians_ borrow'd
+most of their Learning from the _Hebrews_. And among those that
+acknowledge the Books of _Moses_, many have been inclin'd to think
+Water to have been the Primitive and Universal Matter, by perusing the
+Beginning of _Genesis_, where the Waters seem to be mention'd as the
+Material Cause, not only of Sublunary Compounded Bodies, but of all
+those that make up the Universe; whose Component Parts did orderly,
+as it were, emerge out of that vast Abysse, by the Operation of the
+Spirit of God, who is said to have been moving Himself as hatching
+Females do (as the Original [Hebrew: merachephet], _Meracephet_[9] is
+said to Import, and as it seems to signifie in one of the two other
+places, wherein alone I have met with it in the Hebrew Bible)[10] upon
+the Face of the Waters; which being, as may be suppos'd, Divinely
+Impregnated with the seeds of all things, were by that productive
+Incubation qualify'd to produce them. But you, I presume, Expect that
+I should Discourse of this Matter like a Naturalist, not a Philologer.
+Wherefore I shall add, to Countenance _Helmont's_ Opinion, That
+whereas he gives not, that I remember, any Instance of any Mineral
+Body, nor scarce of any Animal, generated of Water, a French Chymist,
+_Monsieur de Rochas_, has presented his Readers an Experiment, which
+if it were punctually such as he has deliver'd it, is very Notable. He
+then, Discoursing of the Generation of things according to certain
+Chymical and Metaphorical Notions (which I confess are not to me
+Intelligible) sets down, among divers Speculations not pertinent to
+our Subject, the following Narrative, which I shall repeat to you the
+sence of in English, with as little variation from the Literal sence
+of the French words, as my memory will enable me. _Having_ (sayes he)
+_discern'd such great Wonders by the Natural Operation 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_ (whereof he had spoken
+before;) _and with a Heat Artificial, Continual and Proportionate, I
+prepar'd and dispos'd it by the above mention'd Graduations of
+Coagulation, 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 Minerals, for that is reserv'd for
+another Occasion: but the Animals did Move of themselves, Eat,
+&c.--and by the true Anatomie I made of them, I found that they were
+compos'd of much Sulphur, little Mercury, and less Salt.--The Minerals
+began to grow and encrease by converting into their own Nature one
+part of the Earth thereunto dispos'd; they were solid and heavy. And
+by this truly Demonstrative Science, namely Chymistry, I found that
+they were compos'd of much Salt, little Sulphur, and less Mercury._
+
+[Footnote 8: Universarum rerum primordia diverta esse, faciendi autem
+mundi initium aquam. Strabo. Geograp. lib. 15. circa medium.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Deuter. 32. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Jerem. 23. 9.]
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_) I have some Suspitions concerning this strange
+Relation, which make me unwilling to Declare an Opinion of it, unless
+I were satisfied concerning divers Material Circumstances that our
+Author has left unmentioned; though as for the Generation of Living
+Creatures, both Vegetable and Sensitive, it needs not seem Incredible,
+since we finde that our common water (which indeed is often
+Impregnated with Variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) being
+long kept in a quiet place will putrifie and stink, and then perhaps
+too produce Moss and little Worms, or other Insects, according to the
+nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. I must likewise desire
+you to take Notice, that as _Helmont_ gives us no Instance of the
+Production of Minerals out of Water, so the main Argument that he
+employ's to prove that they and other Bodies may be resolv'd into
+water, is drawn from the Operations of his _Alkahest_, and
+consequently cannot be satisfactorily Examin'd by You and Me.
+
+Yet certainly (sayes _Eleutherius_) You cannot but have somewhat
+wonder'd as well as I, to observe how great a share of Water goes to
+the making up of Divers Bodies, whose Disguises promise nothing neere
+so much. The Distillation of Eeles, though it yielded me some Oyle,
+and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, besides the _Caput mortuum_, yet were
+all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (and
+in which at first they boyl'd as in a Pot of Water) that they seem'd
+to have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewise
+strangely abound in Vipers, though they are esteem'd very hot in
+Operation, and will in a Convenient Aire survive some dayes the loss
+of their Heads and Hearts, so vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloud
+it self as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as 'tis reputed, does
+so abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Distilling some of it on
+purpose to try the Experiment (as I had formerly done in Deers Bloud)
+out of about seven Ounces and a half of pure Bloud we drew neere six
+Ounces of Phlegm, before any of the more operative Principles began
+to arise, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to satisfie my
+self that some of these Animall Phlegms were void enough of Spirit to
+deserve that Name, I would not content my self to taste them only, but
+fruitlesly 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 discover'd it self by making an Ebullition with the
+affused Liquor. And now I mention Corrosive Spirits, I am minded to
+Informe you, That though they seem to be nothing else but Fluid Salts,
+yet they abound in Water, as you may Observe, if either you Entangle,
+and so Fix their Saline Part, by making them Corrode some idoneous
+Body, or else if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have very
+manifestly Observ'd in the making a Medecine somewhat like _Helmont's
+Balsamus Samech_, with Distill'd Vinager instead of Spirit of Wine,
+wherewith he prepares it: For you would scarce Beleeve (what I have
+lately Observ'd) that of that acid Spirit, the Salt of Tartar, from
+which it is Distill'd, will by mortifying and retaining the acid Salt
+turn into worthless Phlegm neere twenty times its weight, before it be
+so fully Impregnated as to rob no more Distill'd Vinager of its Salt.
+And though Spirit of Wine Exquisitely rectify'd seem of all Liquors to
+be the most free from Water, it being so Igneous that it will Flame
+all away without leaving the least Drop behinde it, yet even this
+Fiery Liquor is by _Helmont_ not improbably affirm'd, in case what he
+relates be True, to be Materially Water, under a Sulphureous Disguise:
+For, according to him, in the making that excellent Medecine,
+_Paracelsus_ his _Balsamus Samech_, (which is nothing but _Sal
+Tartari_ dulcify'd by Distilling from it Spirit of Wine till the Salt
+be sufficiently glutted with its Sulphur, and suffer [Errata: and till
+it suffer] the Liquor to be drawn off, as strong as it was pour'd on)
+when the Salt of Tartar from which it is Distill'd hath retain'd, or
+depriv'd it of the Sulphureous parts of the Spirit of Wine, the rest,
+which is incomparably the greater part of the Liquor, will remigrate
+into Phlegm. I added that Clause [_In case what he Relates be True_]
+because I have not as yet sufficiently try'd it my self. But not only
+something of Experiment keeps me from thinking it, as many Chymists
+do, absurd, (though I have, as well as they, in vain try'd it with
+ordinary Salt of Tartar;) but besides that _Helmont_ often Relates it,
+and draws Consequences from it; A Person noted for his Sobernesse and
+Skill in Spagyrical Preparations, having been askt by me, Whether the
+Experiment might not be made to succeed, if the Salt and Spirit were
+prepar'd according to a way suitable to my Principles, he affirm'd to
+me, that he had that way I propos'd made _Helmont's_ Experiment
+succeed very well, without adding any thing to the Salt and Spirit.
+But our way is neither short nor Easie.
+
+I have indeed (sayes _Carneades_) sometimes wonder'd to see how much
+Phlegme may be obtain'd from Bodies by the Fire. But concerning that
+Phlegme I may anon have Occasion to note something, which I therefore
+shall not now anticipate. But to return to the Opinion of _Thales_,
+and of _Helmont_, I consider, that supposing the _Alkahest_ could
+reduce all Bodies into water, yet whether that water, because insipid,
+must be Elementary, may not groundlesly be doubted; For I remember
+the Candid and Eloquent _Petrus Laurembergius_ in his Notes upon
+_Sala's_ Aphorismes affirmes, that he saw an insipid _Menstruum_ that
+was a powerfull Dissolvent, and (if my Memory do not much mis-informe
+me) could dissolve Gold. And the water which may be Drawn from
+Quicksilver without Addition, though it be almost Tastless, You will I
+believe think of a differing Nature from simple Water, especially if
+you Digest in it Appropriated Mineralls. To which I shall add but
+this, that this Consideration may be further extended. For I see no
+Necessity to conceive that the Water mention'd in the Beginning of
+_Genesis_, as the Universal Matter, was simple and Elementary Water;
+since though we should Suppose it to have been an Agitated Congeries
+or Heap consisting of a great Variety of Seminal Principles and
+Rudiments, and of other Corpuscles fit to be subdu'd and Fashion'd by
+them, it might yet be a Body Fluid like Water, in case the Corpuscles
+it was made up of, were by their Creator made small enough, and put
+into such an actuall Motion as might make them Glide along one
+another. And as we now say, the Sea consists of Water, notwithstanding
+[Errata: (notwithstanding] the Saline, Terrestrial, and other Bodies
+mingl'd with it,) such a Liquor may well enough be called Water,
+because that was the greatest of the known Bodies whereunto it was
+like; Though, that a Body may be Fluid enough to appear a Liquor, and
+yet contain Corpuscles of a very differing Nature, You will easily
+believe, if You but expose a good Quantity of Vitriol in a strong
+Vessel to a Competent Fire. For although it contains both Aqueous,
+Earthy, Saline, Sulphureous, and Metalline Corpuscles, yet the whole
+Mass will at first be Fluid like water, and boyle like a seething pot.
+
+I might easily (Continues _Carneades_) enlarge my self on such
+Considerations, if I were Now Oblig'd to give You my Judgment of the
+_Thalesian_, and _Helmontian_, _Hypothesis_. But Whether or no we
+conclude that all things were at first Generated of Water, I may
+Deduce from what I have try'd Concerning the Growth of Vegetables,
+nourish'd with water, all that I now propos'd to my Self or need at
+present to prove, namely that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and ev'n Oyl
+(though that be thought of all Bodies the most opposite to Water) may
+be produc'd out of Water; and consequently that a Chymical Principle
+as well as a Peripatetick Element, may (in some cases) be Generated
+anew, or obtain'd from such a parcel of Matter as was not endow'd with
+the form of such a principle or Element before.
+
+And having thus, _Eleutherius_, Evinc'd that 'tis possible that such
+Substances as those that Chymists are wont to call their _Tria Prima_,
+may be Generated, anew: I must next Endeavour to make it Probable,
+that the Operation of the Fire does Actually (sometimes) not only
+divide Compounded Bodies into smal Parts, but Compound those Parts
+after a new Manner; whence Consequently, for ought we Know, there may
+Emerge as well Saline and Sulphureous Substances, as Bodies of other
+Textures. And perhaps it will assist us in our Enquiry after the
+Effects of the Operations of the Fire upon other Bodies, to Consider a
+little, what it does to those Mixtures which being Productions of the
+Art of Man, We best know the Composition of. You may then be pleas'd
+to take Notice that though Sope is made up by the Sope-Boylers of Oyle
+or Grease, and Salt, and Water Diligently Incorporated together, yet
+if You expose the Mass they Constitute to a Graduall Fire in a Retort,
+You shall then indeed make a Separation, but not of the same
+Substances that were United into Sope, but of others of a Distant and
+yet not an Elementary Nature, and especially of an Oyle very sharp and
+Fætid, and of a very Differing Quality from that which was Employ'd to
+make the Sope: fo [Errata: so] if you Mingle in a due Proportion, _Sal
+Armoniack_ with Quick-Lime, and Distill them by Degrees of Fire, You
+shall not Divide the _Sal Armoniack_ from the Quick-Lime, though the
+one be a Volatile, and the other a Fix'd Substance, but that which
+will ascend will be a Spirit much more Fugitive, Penetrant, and
+stinking, then _Sal Armoniack_; and there will remain with the
+Quick-Lime all or very near all the Sea Salt that concurr'd to make up
+the _Sal Armoniack_; concerning which Sea Salt I shall, to satisfie
+You how well it was United to the Lime, informe You, that I have by
+making the Fire at length very Vehement, caus'd both the Ingredients
+to melt in the Retort it self into one Mass and such Masses are apt to
+Relent in the Moist Air. If it be here Objected, that these Instances
+are taken from factitious Concretes which are more Compounded then
+those which Nature produces; I shall reply, that besides that I have
+Mention'd them as much to Illustrate what I propos'd, as to prove it,
+it will be Difficult to Evince that Nature her self does not make
+Decompound Bodies, I mean mingle together such mixt Bodies as are
+already Compounded of Elementary, or rather of more simple ones. For
+Vitriol (for Instance) though I have sometimes taken it out of
+Minerall Earths, where Nature had without any assistance of Art
+prepar'd it to my Hand, is really, though Chymists are pleas'd to
+reckon it among Salts, a De-compounded Body Consisting (as I shall
+have occasion to declare anon) of a Terrestriall Substance, of a
+Metal, and also of at least one Saline Body, of a peculiar and not
+Elementary Nature. And we see also in Animals, that their blood may
+be compos'd of Divers very Differing Mixt Bodies, since we find it
+observ'd that divers Sea-Fowle tast rank of the Fish on which they
+ordinarily feed; and _Hipocrates_ himself Observes, that a Child may
+be purg'd by the Milke of the Nurse, if she have taken _Elaterium_;
+which argues that the purging Corpuscles of the Medicament Concurr to
+make up the Milke of the Nurse; and that white Liquor is generally by
+Physitians suppos'd to be but blanch'd and alter'd Blood. And I
+remember I have observ'd, not farr from the _Alps_, that at a certain
+time of the Year the Butter of that Country was very Offensive to
+strangers, by reason of the rank tast of a certain Herb, whereon the
+Cows were then wont plentifully to feed. But (proceeds _Carneades_) to
+give you Instances of another kind, to shew that things may be
+obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body that were not Pre-existent in
+it, let Me Remind You, that from many Vegetables there may without any
+Addition be Obtain'd Glass, a Body, which I presume You will not say
+was Pre-existent in it, but produc'd by the Fire. To which I shall
+add but this one Example more, namely that by a certain Artificial way
+of handling Quicksilver, You may without Addition separate from it at
+least a 5th. or 4th. part of a clear Liquor, which with an Ordinary
+Peripatetick would pass for Water, and which a Vulgar Chymist would
+not scruple to call Phlegme, and which, for ought I have yet seen or
+heard, is not reducible into Mercury again, and Consequently is more
+then a Disguise of it. Now besides that divers Chymists will not allow
+Mercury to have any or at least any Considerable Quantity of either of
+the Ignoble Ingredients, Earth and Water; Besides this, I say, the
+great Ponderousness of Quicksilver makes it very unlikely that it can
+have so much Water in it as may be thus obtain'd from it, since
+Mercury weighs 12 or 14 times as much as water of the same Bulk. Nay
+for a further Confirmation of this Argument, I will add this Strange
+Relation, that two Friends of mine, the one a Physitian, and the other
+a Mathematician, and both of them Persons of unsuspected Credit, have
+Solemnly assured me, that after many Tryals they made, to reduce
+Mercury into Water, in Order to a Philosophicall Work, upon Gold
+(which yet, by the way, I know prov'd Unsuccesfull) they did once by
+divers Cohobations reduce a pound of Quicksilver into almost a pound
+of Water, and this without the Addition of any other Substance, but
+only by pressing the Mercury by a Skillfully Manag'd Fire in purposely
+contriv'd Vessels. But of these Experiments our Friend (sayes
+_Carneades_, pointing at the Register of this Dialogue) will perhaps
+give You a more Particular Account then it is necessary for me to do:
+Since what I have now said may sufficiently evince, that the Fire may
+sometimes as well alter Bodies as divide them, and by it we may obtain
+from a Mixt Body what was not Pre-existent in it. And how are we sure
+that in no other Body what we call Phlegme is barely separated, not
+Produc'd by the Action of the Fire: Since so many other Mixt Bodies
+are of a much less Constant, and more alterable Nature, then Mercury,
+by many Tricks it is wont to put upon Chymists, and by the Experiments
+I told You of, about an hour since, Appears to be. But because I
+shall ere long have Occasion to resume into Consideration the Power of
+the Fire to produce new Concretes, I shall no longer insist on this
+Argument at present; only I must mind You, that if You will not
+dis-believe _Helmonts_ Relations, You must confess that the _Tria
+Prima_ are neither ingenerable nor incorruptible Substances; since by
+his _Alkahest_ some of them may be produc'd of Bodies that were before
+of another Denomination; and by the same powerfull _Menstruum_ all of
+them may be reduc'd into insipid Water.
+
+Here _Carneades_ was about to pass on to his Third Consideration, when
+_Eleutherius_ being desirous to hear what he could say to clear his
+second General Consideration from being repugnant to what he seem'd to
+think the true Theory of Mistion, prevented him by telling him, I
+somewhat wonder, _Carneades_, that You, who are in so many Points
+unsatisfied with the Peripatetick Opinion touching the Elements and
+Mixt Bodies, should also seem averse to that Notion touching the
+manner of Mistion, wherein the Chymists (though perhaps without
+knowing that they do so) agree with most of the Antient Philosophers
+that preceded _Aristotle_, and that for Reasons so considerable, that
+divers Modern Naturalists and Physitians, in other things unfavourable
+enough to the Spagyrists, do in this case side with them against the
+common Opinion of the Schools. If you should ask me (continues
+_Eleutherius_) what Reasons I mean? I should partly by the Writings of
+_Sennertus_ and other learned Men, and partly by my own Thoughts, be
+supply'd with more, then 'twere at present proper for me to Insist
+largely on. And therefore I shall mention only, and that briefly,
+three or four. Of these, I shall take the First from the state of the
+Controversie itself, and the genuine Notion of Mistion, which though
+much intricated by the Schoolmen, I take in short to be this,
+_Aristotle_, at least as many of his Interpreters expound him, and as
+indeed he Teaches in some places, where he professedly Dissents from
+the Antients, declares Mistion to be such a mutual Penetration, and
+perfect Union of the mingl'd Elements, that there is no Portion of the
+mixt Body, how Minute soever, which does not contain All, and Every
+of the Four Elements, or in which, if you please, all the Elements are
+not. And I remember, that he reprehends the Mistion taught by the
+Ancients, as too sleight or gross, for this Reason, that Bodies mixt
+according to their _Hypothesis_, though they appear so to humane Eyes,
+would not appear such to the acute Eyes of a _Lynx_, whose perfecter
+Sight would discerne the Elements, if they were no otherwise mingled,
+than as his Predecessors 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 almost unanimously hold, that in a
+compounded Bodie, though the _Miscibilia_, whether Elements,
+Principles, or whatever they pleas'd to call them, were associated in
+such small Parts, and with so much Exactness, that there was no
+sensible Part of the Mass but seem'd to be of the same Nature with the
+rest, and with the whole; Yet as to the Atomes, or other Insensible
+Parcels of Matter, whereof each of the _Miscibilia_ consisted, they
+retain'd each of them its own Nature, being but by Apposition or
+_Juxta_-Position united with the rest into one Bodie. So that
+although by virtue of this composition the mixt Body did perhaps
+obtain Divers new Qualities, yet still the Ingredients that Compounded
+it, retaining their own Nature, were by the Destruction of the
+_Compositum_ separable from each other, the minute Parts disingag'd
+from those of a differing Nature, and associated with those of their
+own sort returning to be again, Fire, Earth, or Water, as they were
+before they chanc'd to be Ingredients of that _Compositum_. This may
+be explain'd (Continues _Eleutherius_,) 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 resulting Colour, that is
+gray, yet each of the white and black threds that compose it, remains
+what it was before, as would appear if the threds were pull'd asunder,
+and sorted each Colour by it self. This (pursues _Eleutherius_) being,
+as I understand it, the State of the Controversie, and the
+_Aristotelians_ after their Master Commonly Defining, that Mistion is
+_Miscibilium alteratorum Unio_, that seems to comport much better
+with the Opinion of the Chymists, then with that of their Adversaries,
+since according to that as the newly mention'd Example declares, there
+is but a _Juxta_-position of separable Corpuscles, retaining each its
+own Nature, whereas according to the _Aristotelians_, when what they
+are pleas'd to call a mixt Body results from the Concourse of the
+Elements, the _Miscibilia_ cannot so properly be said to be Alter'd,
+as Destroy'd, since there is no Part in the mixt Body, how small
+soever, that can be call'd either Fir [Transcriber's Note: Fire], or
+Air, or Water, or Earth.
+
+Nor indeed can I well understand, how Bodies can be mingl'd other
+wayes then as I have declar'd, or at least how they can be mingl'd, as
+our Peripateticks would have it. For whereas _Aristotle_ tells us,
+that if a Drop of Wine be put into ten thousand Measures of Water, the
+Wine being Overpower'd by so Vast a Quantity of Water will be turn'd
+into it, he speaks to my Apprehension, very improbably; For though One
+should add to that Quantity of Water as many Drops of Wine as would a
+Thousand times exceed it all, yet by his Rule the whole Liquor should
+not be a _Crama_, a Mixture of Wine and Water, wherein the Wine would
+be Predominant, but Water only; Since the Wine being added but by a
+Drop at a time would still Fall into nothing but Water, and
+Consequently would be turn'd into it. And if this would hold in Metals
+too, 'twere a rare secret for Goldsmiths, and Refiners; For by melting
+a Mass of Gold, or Silver, and by but casting into it Lead or
+Antimony, Grain after Grain, they might at pleasure, within a
+reasonable Compass of time, turn what Quantity they desire, of the
+Ignoble into the Noble Metalls. And indeed since a Pint of wine, and a
+pint of water, amount to about a Quart of Liquor, it seems manifest to
+sense, that these Bodies doe not Totally Penetrate one another, as one
+would have it; but that each retains its own Dimensions; and
+Consequently, that they are by being Mingl'd only divided into minute
+Bodies, that do but touch one another with their Surfaces, as do the
+Grains, of Wheat, Rye, Barley, &c. in a heap of severall sorts of
+Corn: And unless we say, that as when one measure of wheat, for
+Instance, is Blended with a hundred measures of Barley, there happens
+only a _Juxta_-position 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
+Apposition of so many Vinous Corpuscles to a Correspondent Number of
+Aqueous ones; Unless I say this be said, I see not how that Absurdity
+will be avoyded, whereunto the Stoical Notion of mistion (namely by
+[Greek: synchysis] [Errata: [Greek: Synchysis]], or Confusion) was
+Liable, according to which the least Body may be co-extended with the
+greatest: Since in a mixt Body wherein before the Elements were
+Mingl'd there was, for Instance, but one pound of water to ten
+thousand of Earth, yet according to them there must not be the least
+part of that Compound, that Consisted not as well of Earth, as water.
+But I insist, Perhaps, too long (sayes _Eleutherius_) upon the proofs
+afforded me by the Nature of Mistion: Wherefore I will but name Two or
+Three other Arguments; whereof the first shall be, that according to
+_Aristotle_ himself, the motion of a mixt Body followes the Nature of
+the Predominant Element, as those wherein the Earth prevails, tend
+towards the Centre of heavy Bodies. And since many things make it
+Evident, that in divers Mixt Bodies the Elementary Qualities are as
+well Active, though not altogether so much so as in the Elements
+themselves, it seems not reasonable to deny the actual Existence of
+the Elements in those Bodies wherein they Operate.
+
+To which I shall add this Convincing Argument, that Experience
+manifests, and _Aristotle_ Confesses it, that the _Miscibilia_ may be
+again separated from a mixt Body, as is Obvious in the Chymical
+Resolutions of Plants and Animalls, which could not be unless they did
+actually retain their formes in it: For since, according to
+_Aristotle_, and I think according to truth, there is but one common
+Mass of all things, which he has been pleas'd to call _Materia Prima_;
+And since tis not therefore the Matter but the Forme that Constitutes
+and Discriminates Things, to say that the Elements remain not in a
+Mixt Body, according to their Formes, but according to their Matter,
+is not to say that they remain there at all; Since although those
+Portions of Matter were Earth and water, &c. before they concurr'd,
+yet the resulting Body being once Constituted, may as well be said to
+be simple as any of the Elements, the Matter being confessedly of the
+same Nature in all Bodies, and the Elementary Formes being according
+to this _Hypothesis_ perish'd and abolish'd.
+
+And lastly, and if we will Consult Chymical Experiments, we shall find
+the Advantages of the Chymical Doctrine above the Peripatetick Title
+little less then Palpable. For in that Operation that Refiners call
+Quartation, which they employ to purifie Gold, although three parts of
+Silver be so exquisitely mingl'd by Fusion with a fourth Part of Gold
+(whence the Operation is Denominated) that the resulting Mass acquires
+severall new Qualities, by virtue of the Composition, and that there
+is scarce any sensible part of it that is not Compos'd of both the
+metalls; Yet if You cast this mixture into _Aqua Fortis_, the Silver
+will be dissolv'd in the _Menstruum_, 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 such a Metal as it was before, which shews: that it
+retain'd its Nature, notwithstanding its being mixt _per Minima_ with
+the other: We likewise see, 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 easily and perfectly separate them again. And that
+which I would have you peculiarly Consider on this Occasion is, that
+not only in Chymicall Anatomies there is a Separation made of the
+Elementary Ingredients, but that some Mixt Bodies afford a very much
+greater Quantity of this or that Element or Principle than of another;
+as we see, that Turpentine and Amber yield much more Oyl and Sulphur
+than they do Water, whereas Wine, which is confess'd to be a perfectly
+mixt Bodie, yields but a little Inflamable Spirit, or Sulphur, and not
+much more Earth; but affords a vast proportion of Phlegm or water:
+which could not be, if as the Peripateticks suppose, every, even of
+the minutest Particles, were of the same nature with the whole, and
+consequently did contain both Earth and Water, and Aire, and Fire;
+Wherefore as to what _Aristotle_ principally, and almost only Objects,
+that unless his Opinion be admitted, there would be no true and
+perfect Mistion, but onely Aggregates or Heaps of contiguous
+Corpuscles, which, though the Eye of Man cannot discerne, yet the Eye
+of a _Lynx_ might perceive not to be of the same Nature with one
+another and with their _Totum_, as the Nature of Mistion requires, if
+he do not beg the Question, and make Mistion to consist in what other
+Naturalists deny to be requisite to it, yet He at least objects That
+as a great Inconvenience which I cannot take for such, till he have
+brought as Considerable Arguments as I have propos'd to prove the
+contrary, to evince that Nature makes other Mistions than such as I
+have allowed, wherein the _Miscibilia_ are reduc'd into minute Parts,
+and United as farr as sense can discerne: which if You will not grant
+to be sufficient for a true Mistion, he must have the same Quarrel
+with Nature her self, as with his Adversaries.
+
+Wherefore (Continues _Eleutherius_) I cannot but somewhat marvail that
+_Carneades_ should oppose the Doctrine of the Chymist in a Particular,
+wherein they do as well agree with his old Mistress, Nature, as
+dissent from his old Adversary, _Aristotle_.
+
+I must not (replies _Carneades_) engage my self at present to examine
+thorowly the Controversies concerning Mistion: And if there were no
+third thing, but that I were reduc'd to embrace absolutely and
+unreservedly either the Opinion of _Aristotle_, or that of the
+Philosophers that went before him, I should look upon the latter,
+which the Chymists have adopted, as the more defensible Opinion: But
+because differing in the Opinions about the Elements from both
+Parties, I think I can take a middle Course, and Discourse to you of
+Mistion after a way that does neither perfectly agree, nor perfectly
+disagree with either, as I will not peremptorily define, whether there
+be not Cases wherein some _Phænomena_ of Mistion seem to favour the
+Opinion that the Chymists Patrons borrow'd of the Antients, I shall
+only endeavour to shew You that there are some cases which may keep
+the Doubt, which makes up my second General Consideration from being
+unreasonable.
+
+I shall then freely acknowledge to You (sayes _Carneades_) that I am
+not over well satisfi'd with the Doctrine that is ascribed to
+_Aristotle_, concerning Mistion, especially since it teaches that the
+four Elements may again be separated from the mixt Body; whereas if
+they continu'd not in it, it would not be so much a Separation as a
+Production. And I think the Ancient Philosophers that Preceded
+_Aristotle_, and Chymists who have since receiv'd the same Opinion, do
+speak of this matter more intelligibly, if not more probably, then the
+Peripateticks: but though they speak Congruously enough, to their
+believing, that there are a certain Number of Primogeneal Bodies, by
+whose Concourse all those we call Mixts are Generated, and which in
+the Destruction of mixt Bodies do barely part company, and recede from
+one another, just such as they were when they came together; yet I,
+who meet with very few Opinions that I can entirely Acquiesce in,
+must confess to You that I am inclin'd to differ not only from the
+_Aristotelians_, but from the old Philosophers and the Chymists, about
+the Nature of Mistion: And if You will give me leave, I shall Briefly
+propose to you my present Notion of it, provided you will look upon
+it, not so much as an Assertion as an _Hypothesis_; in talking of
+which I do not now pretend to propose and debate the whole Doctrine of
+Mistion, but to shew that 'tis not Improbable, that sometimes mingl'd
+substances may be so strictly united, that it doth not by the usuall
+Operations of the Fire, by which Chymists are wont to suppose
+themselves to have made the _Analyses_ of mixt Bodies, sufficiently
+appear, that in such Bodies the _Miscibilia_ that concurr'd to make
+them up do each of them retain its own peculiar Nature: and by the
+_Spagyrists_ Fires may be more easily extricated and Recover'd, than
+Alter'd, either by a Change of Texture in the Parts of the same
+Ingredient, or by an Association with some parts of another Ingredient
+more strict than was that of the parts of this or that _Miscibile_
+among themselves. At these words _Eleu._ having press'd him to do
+what he propos'd, and promis'd to do what he desir'd;
+
+I consider then (resumes _Carneades_) that, not to mention those
+improper Kinds of mistion, wherein _Homogeneous_ Bodies are Joyn'd, as
+when Water is mingl'd with water, or two Vessels full of the same kind
+of Wine with one another, the mistion I am now to Discourse of seems,
+Generally speaking, to be but an Union _per Minima_ of any two or more
+Bodies of differing Denominations; as when Ashes and Sand are
+Colliquated into Glass or Antimony, and Iron into _Regulus Martis_, or
+Wine and Water are mingl'd, and Sugar is dissolv'd in the Mixture. Now
+in this general notion of Mistion it does not appear clearly
+comprehended, that the _Miscibilia_ or Ingredients do in their small
+Parts so retain their Nature and remain distinct in the Compound, that
+they may thence by the Fire be again taken asunder: For though I deny
+not that in some Mistions of certain permanent Bodies this Recovery of
+the same Ingredients may be made, yet I am not convinc'd that it will
+hold in all or even in most, or that it is necessarily deducible from
+Chymicall Experiments, and the true Notion of Mistion. To explain
+this a little, I assume, that Bodies may be mingl'd, and that very
+durably, that are not Elementary or resolv'd [Errata: nor have been
+resolved] into Elements or Principles that they may be mingl'd; as is
+evident in the _Regulus_ of Colliquated Antimony, and Iron newly
+mention'd; and in Gold Coyne, which lasts so many ages; wherein
+generally the Gold is alloy'd by the mixture of a quantity, greater or
+lesser, (in our Mints they use about a 12th. part) of either silver,
+or Copper, or both. Next, I consider, that there being but one
+Universal matter of things, as 'tis known that the _Aristotelians_
+themselves acknowledge, who call it _Materia Prima_ (about which
+nevertheless I like not all their Opinions,) the Portions of this
+matter seem to differ from One Another, but in certain Qualities or
+Accidents, fewer or more; upon whose Account the Corporeal Substance
+they belong to receives its Denomination, and is referr'd to this or
+that particular sort of Bodies; so that if it come to lose, or be
+depriv'd of those Qualities, though it ceases not to be a body, yet it
+ceases from being that kind of Body as a Plant, or Animal; or Red,
+Green, Sweet, Sowre, or the like. I consider that it very often
+happens that the small parts of Bodies cohere together but by
+immediate Contact and Rest; and that however, there are few Bodies
+whose minute Parts stick so close together, to what cause soever their
+Combination be ascrib'd, but that it is possible to meet with some
+other Body, whose small Parts may get between them, and so dis-joyn
+them; or may be fitted to cohere more strongly with some of them, then
+those some do with the rest; or at least may be combin'd so closely
+with them, as that neither the Fire, nor the other usual Instruments
+of Chymical Anatomies will separate them. These things being promis'd,
+I will not peremptorily deny, but that there may be some Clusters of
+Particles, wherein the Particles are so minute, and the Coherence so
+strict, or both, that when Bodies of Differing Denominations, and
+consisting of such durable Clusters, happen to be mingl'd, though the
+Compound Body made up of them may be very Differing from either of
+the Ingredients, yet each of the little Masses or Clusters may so
+retain its own Nature, as to be again separable, such 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 Experiment will not succeed) _Aqua Fortis_ will dissolve the
+Silver, and leave the Gold untoucht; by which means, as you lately
+noted, both the Metalls may be recover'd from the mixed Mass. But
+(Continues _Carneades_) there are other Clusters wherein the Particles
+stick not so close together, but that they may meet with Corpuscles of
+another Denomination, which are dispos'd to be more closely United
+with some of them, then they were among themselves. And in such case,
+two thus combining Corpuscles losing that Shape, or Size, or Motion,
+or other Accident, upon whose Account they were endow'd with such a
+Determinate Quality or Nature, each of them really ceases to be a
+Corpuscle of the same Denomination it was before; and from the
+Coalition of these there may emerge a new Body, as really one, as
+either of the Corpuscles was before they were mingl'd, or, if you
+please, Confounded: Since this Concretion is really endow'd with its
+own Distinct qualities, and can no more by the Fire, or any other
+known way of _Analysis_, be divided again into the Corpuscles that at
+first concurr'd to make it, than either of them could by the same
+means be subdivided into other Particles. But (sayes _Eleutherius_) to
+make this more intelligible by particular examples; If you dissolve
+Copper in _Aqua Fortis_, or Spirit of Nitre, (for I remember not which
+I us'd, nor do I think it much Material) You may by Crystalizing the
+Solution Obtain a goodly Vitriol; which though by Virtue of the
+Composition it have manifestly diverse Qualities, not to be met with
+in either of the Ingredients, yet it seems that the Nitrous Spirits,
+or at least many of them, may in this Compounded Mass retain their
+former Nature; for having for tryal sake Distill'd this Vitrioll
+Spirit, there came over store of Red Fumes, which by that Colour, by
+their peculiar stinke, and by their Sourness, manifested themselves to
+be, Nitrous Spirits; and that the remaining Calx continu'd Copper, I
+suppose you'l easily beleeve. But if you dissolve _Minium_, which is
+but Lead Powder'd by the Fire, in good Spirit of Vinager, and
+Crystalize the Solution, you shall not only have a Saccharine Salt
+exceedingly differing from both its Ingredients; but the Union of some
+Parts of the _Menstruum_ with some of those of the Metal is so strict,
+that the Spirit of Vinager seems to be, as such, destroy'd, since the
+Saline Corpuscles have quite lost that acidity, upon whose Account the
+Liquor was call'd Spirit of Vinager; nor can any such Acid Parts as
+were put to the _Minium_ be Separated by any known way from the
+_Saccharum Saturni_ resulting from them both; for not only there is no
+Sowrness at all, but an admirable Sweetness to be tasted in the
+Concretion; and not only I found not that Spirit of Wine, which
+otherwise will immediately hiss when mingl'd with strong Spirit of
+Vinager, would hiss being pour'd upon _Saccharum Saturni_, wherein yet
+the Acid Salt of Vinager, did it Survive, may seem to be concentrated;
+but upon the Distillation of _Saccharum Saturni_ by its Self I found
+indeed a Liquor very Penetrant, but not at all Acid, and differing as
+well in smell and other Qualities, as in tast, from the Spirit of
+Vinager; which likewise seem'd to have left some of its Parts very
+firmly united to the _Caput Mortuum_, which though of a Leaden Nature
+was in smell, Colour, &c. differing from _Minium_; which brings into
+my mind, that though two Powders, the one Blew, and the other Yellow,
+may appear a Green mixture, without either of them losing its own
+Colour, as a good Microscope has sometimes inform'd me; yet having
+mingl'd _Minium_ and _Sal Armoniack_ in a requisite Proportion, and
+expos'd them in a Glass Vessel to the Fire, the whole Mass became
+White, and the Red Corpuscles were destroy'd; for though the Calcin'd
+Lead was separable from the Salt, yet you'l easily beleeve it did not
+part from it in the Forme of a Red Powder, such as was the _Minium_,
+when it was put to the _Sal Armoniack_. I leave it also to be
+consider'd, whether in Blood, and divers other Bodies, it be probable,
+that each of the Corpuscles that concurr to make a Compound Body doth,
+though some of them in some Cases may, retain its own Nature in it,
+so that Chymsts [Transcriber's Note: Chymists] may Extricate each sort
+of them from all the others, wherewith it concurr'd to make a Body of
+one Denomination.
+
+I know there may be a Distinction betwixt Matter _Immanent_, when the
+material Parts remain and retain their own Nature in the things
+materiated, as some of the Schoolmen speak, (in which sence Wood,
+Stones and Lime are the matter of a House,) and _Transient_, which in
+the materiated thing is so alter'd, as to receive a new Forme, without
+being capable of re-admitting again the Old. In which sence the
+Friends of this Distinction say, that _Chyle_ is the matter of Blood,
+and Blood that of a Humane Body, of all whose Parts 'tis presum'd to
+be the Aliment. I know also that it may be said, that of material
+Principles, some are _common_ to all mixt Bodies, as _Aristotles_ four
+Elements, or the Chymists _Tria Prima_; others _Peculiar_, which
+belong to this or that sort of Bodies; as Butter and a kind of whey
+may be said to be the Proper Principles of Cream: and I deny not, but
+that these Distinctions may in some Cases be of Use; but partly by
+what I have said already, and partly by what I am to say, You may
+easily enough guess in what sence I admit them, and discerne that in
+such a sence they will either illustrate some of my Opinions, or at
+least will not overthrow any of them.
+
+To prosecute then what I was saying before, I will add to this
+purpose, That since the Major part of Chymists Credit, what those they
+call Philosophers affirme of their Stone, I may represent to them,
+that though when Common Gold and Lead are mingled Together, the Lead
+may be sever'd almost un-alter'd from the Gold; yet if instead of Gold
+a _Tantillum_ of the Red _Elixir_ be mingled with the Saturn, their
+Union will be so indissoluble in the perfect Gold that will be
+produc'd by it, that there is no known, nor perhaps no possible way of
+separating the diffus'd _Elixir_ from the fixed Lead, but they both
+Constitute a most permanent Body, wherein the Saturne seems to have
+quite lost its Properties that made it be call'd Lead, and to have
+been rather transmuted by the _Elixir_, then barely associated to it.
+So that it seems not alwayes necessary, that the Bodies that are put
+together _per minima_, should each retain its own Nature; So as when
+the Mass it Self is dissipated by the Fire, to be more dispos'd to
+re-appear in its Pristine Forme, then in any new one, which by a
+stricter association of its Parts with those of some of the other
+Ingredients of the _Compositum_, then with one another, it may have
+acquired.
+
+And if it be objected, that unless the _Hypothesis_ I oppose be
+admitted, in such Cases as I have proposed there would not be an Union
+but a Destruction of mingled Bodies, which seems all one as to say,
+that of such Bodies there is no mistion at all; I answer, that
+_though_ the Substances that are mingl'd remain, only their Accidents
+are Destroy'd, and _though_ we may with tollerable Congruity call them
+_Miscibilia_, because they are Distinct Bodies before they are put
+together, however afterwards they are so Confounded that I should
+rather call them Concretions, or Resulting Bodies, than mixt ones; and
+_though_, perhaps, some other and better Account may be propos'd, upon
+which the name of mistion may remain; yet if what I have said be
+thought Reason, I shall not wrangle about Words, though I think it
+fitter to alter a Terme of Art, then reject a new Truth, because it
+suits not with it. If it be also Objected that this Notion of mine,
+concerning mixtion, though it may be allow'd, when Bodies already
+Compounded are put to be mingl'd, yet it is not applicable to those
+mixtions that are immediately made of the Elements, or Principles
+themselves; I Answer in the first place, that I here Consider the
+Nature of mixtion somewhat more Generally, then the Chymists, who yet
+cannot deny that there are oftentimes Mixtures, and those very durable
+ones, made of Bodies that are not Elementary. And in the next place,
+that though it may be probably pretended that in those Mixtures that
+are made immediately of the Bodies that are call'd Principles or
+Elements, the mingl'd Ingredients may better retain their own Nature
+in the Compounded Mass, and be more easily separated from thence; yet,
+besides that it may be doubted, whether there be any such Primary
+Bodies, I see not why the reason I alleadg'd, of the destructibility
+of the Ingredients of Bodies in General, may not sometimes be
+Applicable to Salt Sulphur or Mercury; 'till it be shewn upon what
+account we are to believe them Priviledged. And however, (if you
+please but to recall to mind, to what purpose I told you at First, I
+meant to speak of Mistion at this Time) you will perhaps allow that
+what I have hitherto Discoursed about it may not only give some Light
+to the Nature of it in general (especially when I shall have an
+Opportunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that subject more fully)
+but may on some Occasions also be Serviceable to me in the Insuing
+Part of this Discourse.
+
+But, to look back Now to that part of our Discourse, whence this
+Excursion concerning Mistion has so long diverted us, though we there
+Deduc'd, from the differing Substances obtained from a Plant nourished
+only with Water, and from some other things, that it was not necessary
+that nature should alwaies compound a Body at first of all such
+differing bodies as the fire could afterwards make it afford; yet this
+is not all that may be collected from those Experiments. For from
+them there seems also Deducible something that Subverts an other
+Foundation of the Chymical Doctrine. For since that (as we have seen)
+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
+Primogeneal Bodies, and principles, since 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 perhaps seem so strange, if
+through pride, or negligence, We were not Wont to Overlook the Obvious
+and Familiar Workings of Nature; For if We consider what slight
+Qualities they are that serve to denominate one of the _Tria Prima_,
+We shall find that Nature do's frequently enough work as great
+Alterations in divers parcells of matter: For to be readily dissoluble
+in water, is enough to make the body that is so, passe for a Salt. And
+yet I see not why from a new shufling and Disposition of the Component
+Particles of a body, it should be much harder for Nature to compose a
+body dissoluble in Water, of a portion of Water that was not so
+before, then of the Liquid substance of an Egg, which will easily mix
+with Water, to produce by the bare warmth of a hatching Hen, Membrans,
+Feathers, Tendons, and other parts, that are not dissoluble in Water
+as that Liquid Substance was: Nor is the Hardness and Brittleness of
+Salt more difficult for Nature to introduce into such a yielding body
+as Water, then it is for her to make the Bones of a Chick out of the
+tender Substance of the Liquors of an Egg. But instead of prosecuting
+this consideration, as I easily might, I will proceed, as soon as I
+have taken notice of an objection that lies in my Way. For I easily
+foresee it will be alledged, that the above mentioned Examples are all
+taken from Plants, and Animals, in whom the Matter is Fashioned by the
+Plastick power of the seed, or something analogous thereunto. Whereas
+the Fire do's not act like any of the Seminal Principles, but
+destroyes them all, when they come within its Reach. But to this I
+shall need at present to make but this easy Answer, That whether it be
+a Seminal Principle, or any other which fashions that Matter after
+those various manners I have mentioned to You, yet 'tis Evident, that
+either by the Plastick principle Alone, or that and Heat Together, or
+by some Other cause capable to contex the matter, it is yet possible
+that the matter may be Anew contriv'd into such Bodies. And 'tis only
+for the Possibility of this that I am now contending.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Third Part._
+
+
+What I have hitherto Discours'd, _Eleutherius_, (sayes his Friend to
+Him) has, I presume, shew'n You, that a Considering Man may very well
+question the Truth of those very Suppositions which Chymists as well
+as Peripateticks, without proving, take for granted; and upon which
+Depends the Validity of the Inferences they draw from their
+Experiments. Wherefore having dispach't that, which though a Chymist
+Perhaps will not, yet I do, look upon as the most Important, as well
+as Difficult, part of my Task, it will now be Seasonable for me to
+proceed to the Consideration of the Experiments themselves, wherein
+they are wont so much to Triumph and Glory. And these will the rather
+deserve a serious Examination, because those that Alledge them are
+wont to do it with so much Confidence and Ostentation, that they have
+hitherto impos'd upon almost all Persons, without excepting
+Philosophers and Physitians themselves, who have read their Books, or
+heard them talk. For some learned Men have been content rather to
+beleeve what they so boldly Affirm, then be at the trouble and charge,
+to try whether or no it be True. Others again, who have Curiosity
+enough to Examine the Truth of what is Averr'd, want Skill and
+Opportunity to do what they Desire. And the Generality even of Learned
+Men, seeing the Chymists (not contenting themselves with the Schools
+to amuse the World with empty words) Actually Perform'd divers strange
+things, and, among those Resolve Compound Bodies into several
+Substances not known by former Philosophers to be contain'd in them:
+Men I say, seeing these Things, and Hearing with what Confidence
+Chymists Averr the Substances Obtain'd from Compound Bodies by the
+Fire to be the True Elements, or, (as they speak) Hypostaticall
+Principles of them, are forward to think it but Just as well as
+Modest, that according to the _Logicians_ Rule, the Skilfull _Artists_
+should be Credited in their own Art; Especially when those things
+whose Nature they so Confidently take upon them to teach others are
+not only Productions of their own Skill, but such as others Know not
+else what to make of.
+
+But though (Continues _Carneades_) the Chymists have been able upon
+some or other of the mention'd Acounts, not only to Delight but Amaze,
+and almost to bewitch even Learned Men; yet such as You and I, who are
+not unpractis'd in the Trade, must not suffer our Selves to be impos'd
+upon by hard Names, or bold Assertions; nor to be dazl'd by that Light
+which should but assist us to discern things the more clearly. It is
+one thing to be able to help Nature to produce things, and another
+thing to Understand well the Nature of the things produc'd. As we
+see, that many Persons that can beget Children, are for all that as
+Ignorant of the Number and Nature of the parts, especially the
+internal ones, that Constitute a Childs Body, as they that never were
+Parents. Nor do I Doubt, but you'l excuse me, if as I thank the
+Chymists for the things their _Analysis_ shews me, so I take the
+Liberty to consider how many, and what they are, without being
+astonish'd at them; as if, whosoever hath Skill enough to shew men
+some new thing of his own making, had the Right to make them believe
+whatsoever he pleases to tell them concerning it.
+
+Wherefore I will now proceed to my Third General Consideration, which
+is, That it does not appear, that _Three_ is precisely and Universally
+the Number of the Distinct Substances or Elements, whereinto mixt
+Bodies are resoluble by the Fire; I mean that 'tis not prov'd by
+Chymists, that all the Compound Bodies, which are granted to be
+perfectly mixt, are upon their Chymical _Analysis_ divisible each of
+them into just Three Distinct Substances, neither more nor less,
+which are wont to be lookt upon as Elementary, or may as well be
+reputed so as those that are so reputed. Which last Clause I subjoyne,
+to prevent your Objecting, that some of the Substances I may have
+occasion to mention by and by, are not perfectly Homogeneous, nor
+Consequently worthy of the name of Principles. For that which I am now
+to consider, is, into how many Differing Substances, that may
+plausibly pass for the Elementary Ingredients of a mix'd Body, it may
+be Analyz'd by the Fire; but whether each of these be un-compounded, I
+reserve to examine, when I shall come to the next General
+Consideration; where I hope to evince, that the Substances which the
+Chymists not only allow, but assert to be the Component Principles of
+the Body resolv'd into them, are not wont to be uncompounded.
+
+Now there are two Kind of Arguments (pursues _Carneades_) which may be
+brought to make my Third Proposition seem probable; one sort of them
+being of a more Speculative Nature, and the other drawn from
+Experience. To begin then with the first of these.
+
+But as _Carneades_ was going to do as he had said, _Eleutherius_
+interrupted him, by saying with a somewhat smiling countenance;
+
+If you have no mind I should think, that the Proverb, _That Good Wits
+have bad Memories_, is Rational and Applicable to You, You must not
+Forget now you are upon the Speculative Considerations, that may
+relate to the Number of the Elements; that your Self did not long
+since Deliver and Concede some Propositions in Favour of the Chymical
+Doctrine, which I may without disparagement to you think it uneasie,
+even for _Carneades_ to answer.
+
+I have not, replies he, Forgot the Concessions you mean; but I hope
+too, that you have not forgot neither with what Cautions they were
+made, when I had not yet assumed the Person I am now sustaining. But
+however, I shall to content You, so discourse of my Third general
+consideration, as to let You see, That I am not Unmindful of the
+things you would have me remember.
+
+To talk then again according to such principles as I then made use of,
+I shall represent, that if it be granted rational to suppose, as I
+then did, that the Elements consisted at first of certain small and
+primary Coalitions of the minute Particles of matter into Corpuscles
+very numerous, and very like each other, It will not be absurd to
+conceive, that such primary Clusters may be of far more sorts then
+three or five; and consequently, that we need not suppose, that in
+each of the compound Bodies we are treating of there should be found
+just three sorts of such primitive Coalitions, as we are speaking of.
+
+And if according to this Notion we allow a considerable number of
+differing Elements, I may add, that it seems very possible, that to
+the constitution of one sort of mixt Bodies two kinds of Elementary
+ones may suffice (as I lately Exemplify'd to you, in that most durable
+Concrete, Glass,) another sort of Mixts may be compos'd of three
+Elements, another of four, another of five, and another perhaps of
+many more. So that according to this Notion, there can be no
+determinate number assign'd, as that of the Elements; of all sorts of
+compound Bodies whatsoever, it being very probable that some Concretes
+consist of fewer, some of more Elements. Nay, it does not seem
+Impossible, according to these Principles, but that there may be two
+sorts of Mixts, whereof the one may not have any of all the same
+Elements as the other consists of; as we oftentimes see 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 diverse Electuaries, in which no
+Ingredient (except Sugar) is common to any two of them. I will not
+here debate whether there may not be a multitude of these Corpuscles,
+which by reason of their being primary and simple, might be called
+Elementary, if several sorts of them should convene to compose any
+Body, which are as yet free, and neither as yet contex'd and entangl'd
+with primary Corpuscles of other kinds, but remains liable to be
+subdu'd and fashion'd by Seminal Principles, or the like powerful and
+Transmuting Agent, by whom they may be so connected among themselves,
+or with the parts of one of the bodies, as to make the compound
+Bodies, whose Ingredients they are, resoluble into more, or other
+Elements then those that Chymists have hitherto taken notice of.
+
+To all which I may add, that since it appears, by what I observ'd to
+you of the permanency of Gold and Silver, that even Corpuscles that
+are not of an Elementary but compounded Nature, may be of so durable a
+Texture, as to remain indissoluble in the ordinary _Analysis_ that
+Chymists make of Bodies by the Fire; 'Tis not impossible but that,
+though there were but three Elements, yet there may be a greater
+number of Bodies, which the wonted wayes of Anatomy will not discover
+to be no Elementary Bodies.
+
+But, sayes _Carneades_, having thus far, in compliance to you, talk't
+conjecturally of the number of the Elements, 'tis now time to
+consider, not of how many Elements it is possible that Nature may
+compound mix'd Bodies, but (at least as farr as the ordinary
+Experiments of Chymists will informe us) of how many she doth make
+them up.
+
+I say then, that it does not by these sufficiently appear to me, that
+there is any one determinate number of Elements to be uniformly met
+with in all the several sorts of Bodies allow'd to be perfectly mixt.
+
+And for the more distinct proof of this Proposition, I shall in the
+first place Represent, That there are divers Bodies, which I could
+never see by fire divided into so many as three Elementary substances.
+I would fain (as I said lately to _Philoponus_) see that fixt and
+noble Metal we call Gold separated into Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: and
+if any man will submit to a competent forfeiture in case of failing, I
+shall willingly in case of prosperous successe pay both for the
+Materials and the charges of such an Experiment. 'Tis not, that after
+what I have try'd my self I dare peremptorily deny, that there may out
+of Gold be extracted a certain substance, which I cannot hinder
+Chymists from calling its Tincture or Sulphur; and which leaves the
+remaining Body depriv'd of its wonted colour. Nor am I sure, that
+there cannot be drawn out of the same Metal a real quick and running
+Mercury. But for the Salt of Gold, I never could either see it, or be
+satisfied that there was ever such a thing separated, _in rerum
+natura_, by the relation of any credible eye witnesse. And for the
+several Processes that Promise that effect, the materials that must be
+wrought upon are somewhat too pretious and costly to be wasted upon so
+groundlesse adventures, of which not only the successe is doubtful,
+but the very possibility is not yet demonstrated. Yet that which most
+deterres me from such tryalls, is not their chargeablenesse, but their
+unsatisfactorinesse, though they should succeed. For the Extraction of
+this golden Salt being in Chymists Processes prescribed to be effected
+by corrosive _Menstruums_, or the Intervention of other Saline Bodies,
+it will remain doubtful to a wary person, whether the Emergent Salt be
+that of the Gold it self; or of the Saline Bodies or Spirits employ'd
+to prepare it; For that such disguises of Metals do often impose upon
+Artists, I am sure _Eleutherius_ is not so much a stranger to
+Chymistry as to ignore. I would likewise willingly see the three
+principles separated from the pure sort of Virgin-Sand, from
+_Osteocolla_, from refined Silver, from Quicksilver, freed from its
+adventitious Sulphur, from _Venetian_ Talk [Transcriber's Note:
+Talck], which by long detention in an extreme _Reverberium_, I could
+but divide into smaller Particles, (not the constituent principles,)
+Nay, which, when I caused it to be kept, I know not how long, in a
+Glasse-house fire, came out in the Figure it's Lumps had when put in,
+though alter'd to an almost _Amethystine_ colour; and from divers
+other Bodies, which it were now unnecessary to enumerate. For though I
+dare not absolutely affirme it to be impossible to Analyze these
+Bodies into their _Tria Prima_; yet because, neither my own
+Experiments, nor any competent Testimony hath hitherto either taught
+me how such an _Analysis_ may be made, or satisfy'd me, that it hath
+been so, I must take the Liberty to refrain from believing it, till
+the Chymists prove it, or give us intelligible and practicable
+Processes to performe what they pretend. For whilst they affect that
+_Ænigmatical_ obscurity with which they are wont to puzzle the Readers
+of their divulg'd Processes concerning the Analyticall Preparation of
+Gold or Mercury, they leave wary persons much unsatisfyed whether or
+no the differing Substances, they promise to produce, be truly the
+Hypostatical Principles, or only some intermixtures of the divided
+Bodies with those employ'd to work upon them, as is Evident in the
+seeming Crystalls of Silver, and those of Mercury; which though by
+some inconsiderately supposed to be the Salts of those Metalls, are
+plainly but mixtures of the Metalline Bodies, with the Saline parts of
+_Aqua fortis_ or other corrosive Liquors; as is evident by their being
+reducible into Silver or Quicksilver, as they were before.
+
+I cannot but Confesse (saith _Eleutherius_) that though Chymists may
+upon probable grounds affirm themselves Able to obtain their _Tria
+Prima_, from Animals and Vegetables, yet I have often wondred that
+they should so confidently pretend also to resolve all Metalline and
+other Mineral bodies into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. For 'tis a
+saying almost Proverbial, among those Chymists themselves that are
+accounted Philosophers; and our famous Countryman _Roger Bacon_ has
+particularly adopted it; that _Facilius est aurum facere quam
+destruere_. And I fear, with You, that Gold is not the only Mineral
+from which Chymists are wont fruitlessly to attempt the separating of
+their three Principles. I know indeed (continues _Eleutherius_) that
+the Learned _Sennertus_, even in that book where he takes not upon him
+to play the Advocate for the Chymists, but the Umpier betwixt them and
+the Peripateticks, expresses himself roundly, thus;[11] _Salem omnibus
+inesse (mixtis scilicet) & ex iis fieri posse omnibus in
+resolutionibus Chymicis versatis notissimum est._ And in the next
+Page, _Quod de sale dixi_, saies he, _Idem de Sulphure dici potest_:
+but by his favour I must see very good proofs, before I believe such
+general Assertions, how boldly soever made; and he that would convince
+me of their truth, must first teach me some true and practicable way
+of separating Salt and Sulphur from Gold, Silver, and those many
+different sort of Stones, that a violent Fire does not bring to Lime,
+but to Fusion; and not only I, for my own part, never saw any of those
+newly nam'd Bodies so resolved; but _Helmont_, who was much better
+vers'd in the Chymical Anatomizing of Bodies then either _Sennertus_
+or _I_, has somewhere this resolute passage;[12] _Scio_ (saies he) _ex
+arena, silicibus & saxis, non Calcariis, nunquam Sulphur aut
+Mercurium trahi posse_; Nay _Quercetanus_ himself, though the grand
+stickler for the _Tria Prima_, has this Confession of the
+Irresolubleness of Diamonds;[13] _Adamas_ (saith he) _omnium factus
+Lapidum solidissimus ac durissimus ex arctissima videlicet trium
+principiorum unione ac Cohærentia, quæ nulla arte separationis in
+solutionem principiorum suorum spiritualium disjungi potest._ And
+indeed, pursues _Eleutherius_, I was not only glad, but somewhat
+surprized to find you inclined to Admit that there may be a Sulphur
+and a running Mercury drawn from Gold; for unlesse you do (as your
+expression seem'd to intimate) take the word Sulphur in a very loose
+sence, I must doubt whether our Chymists can separate a Sulphur from
+Gold: For when I saw you make the experiment that I suppose invited
+you to speak 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
+some such highly colour'd parts of the Gold, as a Chymist would have
+called a _Sulphur incombustible_, which in plain English seems to be
+little better than to call it a Sulphur and no Sulphur. And as for
+Metalline Mercuries, I had not _wondred_ at it, though you had
+expressed much more severity in speaking of them: For I remember that
+having once met an old and famous Artist, who had long been (and still
+is) Chymist to a great Monarch, the repute he had of a very honest man
+invited me to desire him to tell me ingenuously whether or no, among
+his many labours, he had ever really extracted a true and running
+Mercury out of Metalls; to which question he freely replyed, that he
+had never separated a true Mercury from any Metal; nor had ever seen
+it really done by any man else. And though Gold is, of all Metalls,
+That, whose Mercury Chymists have most endeavoured to extract, and
+which they do the most brag they have extracted; yet the Experienced
+_Angelus Sala_, in his _Spagyrical_ account of the seven _Terrestrial_
+Planets (that is the seven metalls) affords us this memorable
+Testimony, to, our present purpose; _Quanquam_ (saies he) _&c.
+experientia tamen (quam stultorum Magistrum [Errata: Magistram]
+vocamus) certe Comprobavit, Mercurium auri adeo fixum, maturum, &
+arcte cum reliquis ejusdem corporis substantiis conjungi, ut nullo
+modo retrogredi possit._ To which he sub-joynes, that he himself had
+seen much Labour spent upon that Design, but could never see any such
+Mercury produc'd thereby. And I easily beleeve what he annexes; _that
+he had often seen Detected many tricks and Impostures of Cheating_
+Alchymists. For, the most part of those that are fond of such
+_Charlatans_, being unskilfull or Credulous, or both, 'tis very easie
+for such as have some Skill, much craft, more boldness, and no
+Conscience, to impose upon them; and therefore, though many profess'd
+_Alchymists_, and divers Persons of Quality have told me that they
+have made or seen the Mercury of Gold, or of this or that other Metal;
+yet I have been still apt to fear that either these persons have had a
+Design to deceive others; or have not had Skill and circumspection
+enough to keep themselves from being deceived.
+
+[Footnote 11: Sennert. lib. de cons. & dissens. pag. 147.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Helmon. pag. 409.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Quercet. apud Billich. in Thessalo redivivo. pag. 99.]
+
+You recall to my mind (sayes _Carneades_) a certain Experiment I once
+devis'd, innocently to deceive some persons, and let them and others
+see how little is to be built upon the affirmation of those that are
+either unskillfull or unwary, when they tell us they have seen
+_Alchymists_ make the Mercury of this or that Metal; and to make this
+the more evident, I made my Experiment much more Slight, Short and
+Simple, than the Chymists usuall processes to Extract Metalline
+Mercuries; which Operations being commonly more Elaborate and
+Intricate, and requiring a much more longer time, give the
+_Alchymists_ a greater opportunity to Cozen, and Consequently are more
+Obnoxious to the Spectators suspicion. And that wherein I endeavour'd
+to make my Experiment look the more like a True _Analysis_, was, that
+I not only pretended as well as others to extract a Mercury from the
+Metal I wrought upon, but likewise to separate a large proportion of
+manifest and inflamable Sulphur. I take then, of the filings of
+Copper, about a Drachme or two, of common sublimate, powder'd, the
+like Weight, and _Sal Armoniack_ near about as much as of Sublimate;
+these three being well mingl'd together I put into a small Vial with a
+long neck, or, which I find better, into a Glass Urinall, which
+(having first stopped it with Cotton) to avoid the Noxious Fumes, I
+approach by degrees to a competent Fire of well kindled coals, or
+(which looks better, but more endangers the Glass) to the Flame of a
+candle; and after a while the bottom of the Glass being held Just 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
+Glass some running Mercury; and if then You take away the Glass and
+break it, You shall find a Parcel of Quicksilver, Perhaps altogether,
+and perhaps part of it in the pores of the Solid Mass; You shall find
+too, that the remaining Lump being held to the Flame of the Candle
+will readily burn with a greenish Flame, and after a little while
+(perchance presently) will in the Air Acquire a Greenish Blew, which
+being the Colour that is ascrib'd to Copper, when its Body is
+unlocked, 'Tis easie to perswade Men that this is the True Sulphur of
+_Venus_, especially since not only the Salts may be Suppos'd partly to
+be Flown away, and partly to be Sublim'd to the upper part of the
+Glass, whose inside (will Commonly appear Whitened by them) but the
+Metal seems to be quite Destroy'd, the Copper no longer appearing in a
+Metalline Forme, but almost in that of a Resinous Lump; whereas indeed
+the Case is only this, That the Saline parts of the Sublimate,
+together with the _Sal Armoniack_, being excited and actuated by the
+Vehement heat, fall upon the Copper, (which is a Metal they can more
+easily corrode, than silver) whereby the small parts of the Mercury
+being freed from the Salts that kept them asunder, and being by the
+heat tumbled up and down after many Occursions, they Convene into a
+Conspicuous Mass of Liquor; and as for the Salts, some of the more
+Volatile of them Subliming to the upper part of the Glass, the others
+Corrode the Copper, and uniting themselves with it do strangely alter
+and Disguise its Metallick Form, and compose with it a new kind of
+Concrete inflamable like Sulphur; concerning which I shall not now say
+any thing, since I can Referr You to the Diligent Observations which I
+remember Mr. _Boyle_ has made concerning this Odde kind of
+Verdigrease. But Continues _Carneades_ smiling, you know I was not
+cut out for a Mountebank, and therefore I will hasten to resume the
+person of a Sceptick, and take up my discourse where You diverted me
+from prosecuting it.
+
+In the next place, then, I consider, that, as there are some Bodies
+which yield not so many as the three Principles; so there are many
+others, that in their Resolution Exhibite more principles than three;
+and that therefore the Ternary Number is not that of the Universal and
+Adequate Principles of Bodies. If you allow of the Discourse I ately
+[Errata: lately] made You, touching the primary Associations of the
+small Particles of matter, You will scarce think it improbable, that
+of such Elementary Corpuscles there may be more sorts then either
+three, or four, or five. And if you will grant, what will scarce be
+deny'd, that Corpuscles of a compounded Nature may in all the wonted
+Examples of Chymists pass for Elementary, I see not, why you should
+think it impossible, that as _Aqua Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ will make
+a Separation of colliquated Silver and Gold, though the Fire cannot;
+so there may be some Agent found out so subtile and so powerfull, at
+least in respect of those particular compounded Corpuscles, as to be
+able to resolve them into those more simple ones, whereof they
+consist, and consequently encrease the number of the Distinct
+Substances, whereinto the mixt Body has been hitherto thought
+resoluble. And if that be true, which I recited to you a while ago out
+of _Helmont_ concerning the Operations of the _Alkahest_, which
+divides Bodies into other Distinct Substances, both as to number and
+Nature, then the Fire does; it will not a little countenance my
+Conjecture. But confining our selves to such wayes of Analyzing mix'd
+Bodies, as are already not unknown to Chymists, it may without
+Absurdity be Question'd, whether besides those grosser 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 themselves Visible, may escape unheeded at the
+Junctures of the Destillatory Vessels, though never so carefully
+Luted. For let me observe to you one thing, which though not taken
+notice of by Chymists, may be a notion of good Use in divers Cases to
+a Naturalist, that we may well suspect, that there may be severall
+Sorts of Bodies, which are not Immediate Objects of any one of our
+senses; since we See, that not only those little Corpuscles that issue
+out of the Loadstone, and perform the Wonders for which it is justly
+admired; But the _Effluviums_ of Amber, Jet, and other Electricall
+Concretes, though by their effects upon the particular Bodies dispos'd
+to receive their Action, they seem to fall under the Cognizance of our
+Sight, yet do they not as Electrical immediately Affect any of our
+senses, as do the bodies, whether minute or greater, that we See,
+Feel, Taste, &c. But, continues _Carneades_, because you may expect I
+should, as the Chymists do, consider only the sensible Ingredients of
+Mixt Bodies, let us now see, what Experience will, even as to these,
+suggest to us.
+
+It seems then questionable enough, whether from Grapes variously
+order'd there may not be drawn more distinct Substances by the help of
+the Fire, then from most other mixt Bodies. For the Grapes themselves
+being dryed into Raysins and distill'd, will (besides _Alcali_,
+Phlegm, and Earth) yield a considerable quantity of an Empyreumatical
+Oyle, and a Spirit of a very different nature from that of Wine. Also
+the unfermented Juice of Grapes affords other distil'd Liquors then
+Wine doth. The Juice of Grapes after fermentation will yield a
+_Spiritus Ardens_; which if competently rectifyed will all burn away
+without leaving any thing remaining. The same fermented Juice
+degenerating into Vinager, yields an acid and corroding Spirit. The
+same Juice turn'd [Errata: tunned] up, armes it self with Tartar; out
+of which may be separated, as out of other Bodies, Phlegme, Spirit,
+Oyle, Salt and Earth: not to mention what Substances may be drawn from
+the Vine it self, probably differing from those which are separated
+from Tartar, which is a body by it self, that has few resemblers in
+the World. And I will further consider that what force soever you will
+allow this instance, to evince that there are some Bodies that yield
+more Elements then others, it can scarce be deny'd but that the Major
+part of bodies that are divisible into Elements, yield more then
+three. For, besides those which the Chymists are pleased to name
+Hypostatical, most bodies contain two others, Phlegme and Earth, which
+concurring as well as the rest to the constitution of Mixts, and being
+as generally, if not more, found in their _Analysis_, I see no
+sufficient cause why they should be excluded from the number of
+Elements. Nor will it suffice to object, as the _Paracelsians_ are
+wont to do, that the _Tria prima_ are the most useful Elements, and
+the Earth and Water but worthlesse and unactive; for Elements being
+call'd so in relation to the constituting of mixt Bodies, it should be
+upon the account of its Ingrediency, not of its use, that any thing
+should be affirmed or denyed to be an Element: and as for the
+pretended uselessness of Earth and Water, it would be consider'd that
+usefulnesse, or the want of it, denotes only a Respect or Relation to
+us; and therefore the presence, or absence of it, alters not the
+Intrinsick nature of the thing. The hurtful Teeth of Vipers are for
+ought I know useless to us, and yet are not to be deny'd to be parts
+of their Bodies; and it were hard to shew of what greater Use to Us,
+then Phlegme and Earth, are those Undiscern'd Stars, which our New
+_Telescopes_ discover to Us, in many Blanched places of the Sky; and
+yet we cannot but acknowledge them Constituent and Considerably great
+parts of the Universe. Besides that whether or no the Phlegme and
+Earth be immediately Useful, but necessary to constitute the Body
+whence they are separated; and consequently, if the mixt Body be not
+Useless to us, those constituent parts, without which it could not
+have been That mixt Body, may be said not to be Unuseful to Us: and
+though the Earth and Water be not so conspicuously Operative (after
+separation) as the other three more active Principles, yet in this
+case it will not be amiss to remember the lucky Fable of _Menemius
+Aggrippa_, of the dangerous Sedition of the Hands and Legs, and other
+more busie parts of the Body, against the seemingly unactive Stomack.
+And to this case also we may not unfitly apply that Reasoning of an
+Apostle, to another purpose; _If the Ear shall say, because I Am not
+the Eye, I am not of the Body; Is it therefore not of the Body? If the
+whole Body were Eye, where were the Hearing? If the whole were for
+hearing, where the smelling?_ In a word, since Earth and water appear,
+as clearly and as generally as the other Principles upon the
+resolution of Bodies, to be the Ingredients whereof they are made up;
+and since they are useful, if not immediately to us, or rather to
+Physitians, to the Bodies they constitute, and so though in somewhat a
+remoter way, are serviceable to us; to exclude them out of the number
+of Elements, is not to imitate Nature.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: See the printer's note (beginning "The Authors
+constant Absence") at the end of the book for material that the
+printer inadvertently omitted from this page.]
+
+But, pursues _Carneades_, though I think it Evident, that Earth and
+Phlegme are to be reckon'd among the Elements of most Animal and
+Vegetable Bodies, yet 'tis not upon that Account alone, that I think
+divers Bodies resoluble into more Substances then three. For there are
+two Experiments, that I have sometimes made to shew, that at least
+some Mixts are divisible into more Distinct Substances then five. The
+one of these Experiments, though 'twill be more seasonable for me to
+mention it fully anon, yet in the mean time, I shall tell you thus
+much of it, That out of two Distill'd Liquors, which pass for
+Elements of the Bodies whence they are drawn, I can without Addition
+make a true Yellow and Inflamable Sulphur, notwithstanding that the
+two Liquors remain afterwards Distinct. Of the other Experiment, which
+perhaps will not be altogether unworthy your Notice, I must now give
+you this particular Account. I had long observ'd, that by the
+Destillation of divers Woods, both in Ordinary, and some unusuall
+sorts of Vessels, the Copious Spirit that came over, had besides a
+strong tast, to be met with in the Empyreumaticall Spirits of many
+other Bodies, an Acidity almost like that of Vinager: Wherefore I
+suspected, that though the sowrish Liquor Distill'd, for Instance,
+from Box-Wood, be lookt upon by Chymists as barely the Spirit of it,
+and therefore as one single Element or Principle; yet it does really
+consist of two Differing Substances, and may be divisible into them;
+and consequently, that such Woods and other Mixts as abound with such
+a Vinager, may be said to consist of one Element or Principle, more
+then the Chymists as yet are Aware of; Wherefore bethinking my self,
+how the separation of these two Spirits might be made, I Quickly
+found, that there were several wayes of Compassing it. But that of
+them which I shall at present mention, was this, Having Destill'd a
+Quantity of Box-Wood _per se_, and slowly rectify'd the sowrish
+Spirit, the better to free it both from Oyle and Phlegme, I cast into
+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 associated with it would be so retain'd by it, that the
+other part of the Liquor, which was not of an acid Nature, nor fit to
+fasten upon the Corals, would be permitted to ascend alone. Nor was I
+deceiv'd in my Expectation; For having gently abstracted the Liquor
+from the Coralls, there came over a Spirit of a Strong smell, and of a
+tast very piercing, but without any sourness; and which was in diverse
+qualities manifestly different, not only from a Spirit of Vinager, but
+from some Spirit of the same Wood, that I purposely kept by me without
+depriving it of its acid Ingredient. And to satisfy you, that these
+two Substances were of a very differing Nature, I might informe you
+of several Tryals that I made, but must not name some of them, because
+I cannot do so without making some unseasonable discoveries. Yet this
+I shall tell you at present, that the sowre Spirit of _Box_, not only
+would, as I just now related, dissolve Corals, which the other would
+not fasten on, but being pour'd upon Salt of Tartar would immediately
+boile and hiss, whereas the other would lye quietly upon it. The acid
+Spirit pour'd upon _Minium_ made a Sugar of Lead, which I did not find
+the other to do; some drops of this penetrant spirit being mingl'd
+with some drops of the blew Syrup of Violets seem'd rather to dilute
+then otherwise alter the colour; whereas the Acid Spirit turn'd the
+syrup of a reddish colour, and would probably have made it of as pure
+a red as Acid Salts are wont to do, had not its operation been
+hindered by the mixture of the other Spirit. A few drops of the
+compound Spirit being Shaken into a pretty quantity of the infusion of
+_Lignum Nephriticum_, presently destroyed all the blewish colour,
+whereas the other Spirit would not take it away. To all which it
+might be added, that having for tryals sake pour'd fair water upon the
+Corals that remained in the bottom of the glass wherein I had
+rectifyed the double spirit (if I may so call it) that was first drawn
+from the Box, I found according to my expectation that the Acid Spirit
+had really dissolved the Corals, and had coagulated with them. For by
+the affusion of fair Water, I Obtain'd a Solution, which (to note that
+singularity upon the bye) was red, whence the Water being evaporated,
+there remained a soluble Substance much like the Ordinary Salt of
+Coral, as Chymists are pleas'd to call that Magistery of Corals, which
+they make by dissolving them in common spirit of Vinager, and
+abstracting the _Menstruum ad Siccitatem_. I know not whether I should
+subjoine, on this occasion, that the simple spirit of Box, if Chymists
+will have it therefore Saline because it has a strong tast, will
+furnish us with a new kind of Saline Bodies, differing from those
+hitherto taken notice of. For whereas of the three chief sorts of
+Salts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous, there is none
+that seems to be friends with both the other two, as I may, e're it
+be long, have occasion to shew; I did not find but that the simple
+spirit of Box did agree very well (at least as farr as I had occasion
+to try it) both with the Acid and the other Salts. For though it would
+lye very quiet with salt of Tartar, Spirit of Urine, or other bodies,
+whose Salts were either of an Alcalizate or fugitive Nature; yet did
+not the mingling of Oyle of Vitriol it self produce any hissing or
+Effervescence, which you know is wont to ensue upon the Affusion of
+that highly Acid Liquor upon either of the Bodies newly mentioned.
+
+I think my self, sayes _Eleutherius_, beholden to you, for this
+Experiment; not only because I forsee you will make it helpful to you
+in the Enquiry you are now upon, but because it teaches us a Method,
+whereby we may prepare a numerous sort of new spirits, which though
+more simple then any that are thought Elementary, are manifestly
+endow'd with peculiar and powerfull qualities, some of which may
+probably be of considerable use in Physick, as well alone, as
+associated with other things; as one may hopefully guess by the
+redness of that Solution your sour Spirit made of Corals, and by some
+other circumstances of your Narrative. And suppose (pursues
+_Eleutherius_) that you are not so confin'd, for the separation of the
+Acid parts of these compound Spirits from the other, to employ Corals;
+but that you may as well make use of any Alcalizate Salt, or of
+Pearls, or Crabs eyes, or any other Body, upon which common Spirit of
+Vinager will easily work, and, to speak in an _Helmontian_ Phrase,
+Exantlate it self.
+
+I have not yet tryed, sayes _Carneades_, of what use the mention'd
+liquors may be in Physick, either as Medicines or as _Menstruums_: But
+I could mention now (and may another time) divers of the tryals that I
+made to satisfy my self of the difference of these two Liquors. But
+that, as I allow your thinking what you newly told me about Corals, I
+presume you will allow me, from what I have said already, to deduce
+this Corollary; That there are divers compound bodies, which may be
+resolv'd into four such differing Substances, as may as well merit the
+name of Principles, as those to which the Chymists freely give it. For
+since they scruple not to reckon that which I call the compound
+Spirit of Box, for the spirit, or as others would have it, the Mercury
+of that Wood, I see not, why the Acid liquor, and the other, should
+not each of them, especially that last named, be lookt upon as more
+worthy to be called an Elementary Principle; since it must needs be of
+a more simple nature then the Liquor, which was found to be divisible
+into that, and the Acid Spirit. And this further use (continues
+_Carneades_) may be made of our experiment to my present purpose, that
+it may give us a rise to suspect, that since a Liquor reputed by the
+Chymists to be, without dispute, Homogeneous, is by so slight a way
+divisible into two distinct and more simple Ingredients, some more
+skilful or happier Experimenter then I may find a way either further
+to divide one of these Spirits, or to resolve some or other, if not
+all, of those other Ingredients of mixt Bodies, that have hitherto
+pass'd among Chymists for their Elements or Principles.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Fourth Part._
+
+
+And thus much (sayes _Carneades_) may suffice to be said of the
+_Number_ of the Distinct substances separable from mixt Bodies by the
+Fire: Wherefore I now proceed to consider the _nature_ of them, and
+shew you, That though they seem _Homogeneous_ Bodies, yet have they
+not the purity and simplicity that is requisite to Elements. And I
+should immediately proceed to the proof of my Assertion, but that the
+Confidence wherewith Chymists are wont to call each of the Substances
+we speak of by the name of Sulphur or Mercury, or the other of the
+Hypostaticall Principles, and the intollerabln [Errata: intolerable]
+Ambiguity they allow themselves ie [Errata: in] their Writings and
+Expressions, makes it necessary for me in Order to the Keeping you
+either from mistaking me, or thinking I mistake the Controversie, to
+take Notice to you and complain of the unreasonable Liberty they give
+themselves of playing with Names at pleasure. And indeed if I were
+oblig'd in this Dispute, to have such regard to the Phraseology of
+each particular Chymist, as not to Write any thing which this or that
+Author may not pretend, not to contradict this or that sence, which he
+may give as Occasion serves to his Ambiguous Expressions, I should
+scarce know how to dispute, nor which way to turn myself. For I find
+that even Eminent Writers, (such as _Raymund Lully_, _Paracelsus_ and
+others) do so abuse the termes they employ, that as they will now and
+then give divers things, one name; so they will oftentimes give one
+thing, many Names; and some of them (perhaps) such, as do much more
+properly signifie some Distinct Body of another kind; nay even in
+Technical Words or Termes of Art, they refrain not from this
+Confounding Liberty; but will, as I have Observ'd, call the same
+Substance, sometimes the Sulphur, and Sometimes the Mercury of a Body.
+And now I speak of Mercury, I cannot but take Notice, that the
+Descriptions they give us of that Principle or Ingredient of mixt
+Bodies, are so intricate, that even those that have Endeavour'd to
+Pollish and Illustrate the Notions of the Chymists, are fain to
+confess that they know not what to make of it, either by Ingenuous
+Acknowledgments, or Descriptions that are not Intelligible.
+
+I must confess (sayes _Eleutherius_) I have, in the reading of
+_Paracelsus_ and other Chymical Authors, been troubled to find, that
+such hard Words and Equivocal Expressions, as You justly complain of,
+do even when they treat of Principles, seem to be studiously affected
+by those Writers; whether to make themselves to be admir'd by their
+Readers, and their Art appear more Venerable and Mysterious, or, (as
+they would have us think) to conceal from them a Knowledge themselves
+judge inestimable.
+
+But whatever (sayes _Carneades_) these Men may promise themselves from
+a Canting way of delivering the Principles of Nature, they will find
+the Major part of Knowing Men so vain, as when they understand not
+what they read, to conclude, that it is rather the Writers fault then
+their own. And those that are so ambitious to be admir'd by the
+Vulgar, that rather then go without the Admiration of the Ignorant
+they will expose themselves to the contempt of the Learned, those
+shall, by my consent, freely enjoy their Option. As for the Mystical
+Writers scrupling to Communicate their Knowledge, they might less to
+their own Disparagement, and to the trouble of their Readers, have
+conceal'd it by writing no Books, then by Writing bad ones. If
+_Themistius_ were here, he would not stick to say, that Chymists write
+thus darkly, not because they think their Notions too precious to be
+explain'd, but because they fear that if they were explain'd, men
+would discern, that they are farr from being precious. And indeed, I
+fear that the chief Reason why Chymists have written so obscurely of
+their three Principles, may be, That not having Clear and Distinct
+Notions of them themselves, they cannot write otherwise then
+Confusedly of what they but Confusedly Apprehend: Not to say that
+divers of them, being Conscious to the Invalidity of their Doctrine,
+might well enough discerne that they could scarce keep themselves from
+being confuted, but by keeping themselves from being clearly
+understood. But though much may be said to Excuse the Chymists when
+they write Darkly, and Ænigmatically, about the Preparation of their
+_Elixir_, and Some few other grand _Arcana_, the divulging of which
+they may upon Grounds Plausible enough esteem unfit; yet when they
+pretend to teach the General Principles of Natural Philosophers, this
+Equivocall Way of Writing is not to be endur'd. For in such
+Speculative Enquiries, 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 Notion intelligible to me, but by
+Mystical Termes, and Ambiguous Phrases darkens what he should clear
+up; and makes me add the Trouble of guessing at the sence of what he
+Equivocally expresses, to that of examining the Truth of what he seems
+to deliver. And if the matter of the Philosophers Stone, and the
+manner of preparing it, be such Mysteries as they would have the World
+believe them, they may Write Intelligibly and Clearly of the
+Principles of mixt Bodies in General, without Discovering what they
+call the Great Work. But for my part (Continues _Carneades_) what my
+Indignation at this Un-philosophical way of teaching Principles has
+now extorted from me, is meant chiefly to excuse my self, if I shall
+hereafter oppose any Particular Opinion or assertion, that some
+Follower of _Paracelsus_ or any Eminent Artist may pretend not to be
+his Masters. For, as I told you long since, I am not Oblig'd to
+examine private mens writings, (which were a Labour as endless as
+unprofitable) being only engag'd to examine those Opinions about the
+_Tria Prima_, which I find those Chymists I have met with to agree in
+most: And I Doubt not but my Arguments against their Doctrine will be
+in great part easily enough applicable ev'n to those private
+Opinions, which they do not so directly and expresly oppose. And
+indeed, that which I am now entering upon being the Consideration of
+the things themselves whereinto _Spagyrists_ resolve mixt Bodies by
+the Fire, If I can shew that these are not of an Elementary Nature, it
+will be no great matter what names these or those Chymists have been
+pleased to give them. And I question not that to a Wise man, and
+consequently to _Eleutherius_, it will be lesse considerable to know,
+what Men Have thought of Things, then what they Should have thought.
+
+In the fourth and last place, then, I consider, that as generally as
+Chymists are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as they
+use to instance the several substances separated by the Fire from a
+Mixt Body, as a sufficient proof of their being its component
+Elements: Yet those differing Substances are many of them farr enough
+from Elementary simplicity, and may be yet look'd upon as mixt Bodies,
+most of them also retaining, somewhat at least, if not very much, of
+the Nature of those Concretes whence they were forc'd.
+
+I am glad (sayes _Eleutherius_) to see the Vanity or Envy of the
+canting Chymists thus discover'd and chastis'd; and I could wish, that
+Learned Men would conspire together to make these deluding Writers
+sensible, that they must no longe [Transcriber's Note: longer] hope
+with Impunity to abuse the World. For whilst such Men are quietly
+permitted to publish Books with promising Titles, and therein to
+Assert what they please, and contradict others, and ev'n themselves as
+they please, with as little danger of being confuted as of being
+understood, they are encourag'd to get themselves a name, at the cost
+of the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for the
+reason newly mention'd, to let their Books and Them alone: And the
+ignorant and credulous (of which the number is still much greater then
+that of the other) are forward to admire most what they least
+understand. But if Judicious men skill'd in Chymical affaires shall
+once agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep men
+from being stunn'd, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words;
+'tis to be hop'd that these men finding that they can no longer write
+impertinently and absurdly, without being laugh'd at for doing so,
+will be reduc'd either to write nothing, or Books that may teach us
+something, and not rob men, as formerly, of invaluable Time; and so
+ceasing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we shall
+either by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their silence escape
+an Inconvenience.
+
+But after all this is said (continues _Eleutherius_) it may be
+represented in favour of the Chymists, that, in one regard the Liberty
+they take in using names, if it be excusable at any time, may be more
+so when they speak of the substances whereinto their _Analysis_
+resolves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name their
+own Children, it has ever been allow'd to the Authors of new
+Inventions, to Impose Names upon them. And therefore the subjects we
+speak of being so the Productions of the Chymist's Art, as not to be
+otherwise, but by it, obtainable; it seems but equitable to give the
+Artists leave to name them as they please: considering also that none
+are so fit and likely to teach us what those Bodies are, as they to
+whom we ow'd them.
+
+I told You already (sayes _Carneades_) that there is great Difference
+betwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to give
+a Philosophical Account of them. And I will not now add, that many a
+Mine-digger may meet, whilst he follows his work, with a Gemm or a
+Mineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he shews it a
+Jeweller or a Mineralist to be inform'd what it is. But that which I
+would rather have here observ'd, is, That the Chymists I am now in
+debate with have given up the Liberty You challeng'd for them, of
+using Names at Pleasure, and confin'd Themselves by their
+Descriptions, though but such as they are, of their Principles; so
+that although they might freely have call'd any thing their _Analysis_
+presents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, or
+what they pleas'd; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (for
+instance) is a Primogeneal and simple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &c.
+they must give me leave to dis-believe them, if they tell me that a
+Body that is either compounded or uninflamable is such a Sulphur; and
+to think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and some
+other Minerals abound with an Incombustible Sulphur, which is as
+proper an Expression, as a Sun-shine Night, or Fluid Ice.
+
+But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my
+Fourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals;
+some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because I
+have Touched on them already.
+
+And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage in
+_Helmont_;[14] which though I have not Found much heeded by his
+Readers, He Himself _mentions_ as a notable thing, and I take to be a
+very considerable one; for whereas the Distill'd oyle of _oyle-olive_,
+though drawn _per se_ is (as I have try'd) of a very sharp and
+fretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oyle
+being only digested with _Paracelsus's sal circulatum_, is reduc'd
+into dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing from
+the oyle distill'd, from [Errata: distill'd from] sallet oyle; as also
+that by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet and
+gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that
+which is immediately drawn by distillation and call'd _Dephlegm'd Aqua
+vitæ_, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote,
+although the _sal circulatum_ that makes these _Anatomies_ be
+separated from the Analyz'd Bodies, in the same weight and with the
+same qualities it had before; which Affirmation of _Helmont_ if we
+admit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very great
+disparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles,
+or several spirits) separable from compound Bodies: For, besides the
+differences I shall anon take notice of, betwixt those distill'd Oyles
+that are commonly known to Chymists, it appears by this, that by means
+of the _Sal Circulatum_, There may be quite another sort of Oyles
+obtain'd from the same Body; and who knowes but that there may be yet
+other Agents found in Nature, by whose help there may, whether by
+Transmutation or otherwise, be obtain'd from the Bodies Vulgarly
+call'd Mixt, Oyles or other substances, Differing from those of the
+same Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymists, or even to
+_Helmont_ Himself: but for fear You should tell me, that this is but a
+conjecture grounded upon another Man's Relation, whose Truth we have
+not the means to Experiment, I will not Insist upon it; but leaving
+You to Consider of it at leasure, I shall proceed to what is next.
+
+[Footnote 14: _Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitiorem
+ulterioris & nobilioris qualitatis participem qu[=a] qui immediatè per
+distillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vitæ dephlegmata, quod
+facilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippe
+distillatum oleum absque laterum aut tigularum [Errata: tegularum]
+additamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert ab
+ejus oleitate; quæ elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partes
+dissimilares sola digestione & Salis circulati Paracelsici
+appositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere & quantitatibus
+pristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in sui
+heterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum ex
+oleo, prout & suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur,
+longéque ab aquæ vitæ acrimoniâ distinctus._--Helmont. Aura vitalis,
+pag. 725.]
+
+Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion of _Lucippus_,
+_Democritus_, and other prime _Anatomists_ of old, and is in our dayes
+reviv'd by no mean Philosophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, such
+as Chymists use, consists of swarmes of little Bodies swiftly moving,
+which by their smallness and motion are able to permeate the sollidest
+and Compactest Bodies, and even Glass it Self; If this (I say) be
+True, since we see that In flints and other Concretes, the Fiery part
+is Incorporated with the Grosser, it will not be Irrationall to
+conjecture, that multitudes of these Fiery Corpuscles, getting in at
+the Pores of the Glass, may associate themselves with the parts of the
+mixt Body whereon they work, and with them Constitute new Kinds of
+Compound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections of
+the Parts of the Dissipated Body happen to dispose them, in Reference
+to such Combinations; of which also there may be the greater Number;
+if it be likewise granted that the Corpuscles of the Fire, though all
+exceeding minute, and very swiftly moved, are not all of the same
+bigness, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Considerations to
+Discourse to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I have
+newly said, some particular Experiments by which I have been Deduc'd
+to think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon some Bodies
+may really Associate themselves therewith, and add to the Quantity.
+But because I am not so sure, that when the Fire works upon Bodies
+included in Glasses, it does it by a reall Trajection of the Fiery
+Corpuscles themselves, through the Substance of the Glass, I will
+proceed to what is next to be mention'd.
+
+I could (sayes _Eleutherius_) help you to some Proofes, whereby I
+think it may be made very probable, that when the Fire acts
+immediately upon a Body, some of its Corpuscles may stick to those of
+the burnt Body, as they seem to do in Quicklime, but in greater
+numbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding Your
+Progress, I shall desire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time,
+and proceed as you intended.
+
+You may then in the next place (sayes _Carneades_) observe with me,
+that not only there are some Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do not
+by the usual Examens, made by Fire, Discover themselves to be mixt;
+but if (as You may Remember I formerly told You) it be a De-compound
+Body that is Dissipable into several Substances, by being expos'd to
+the Fire it may be resolv'd into such as are neither Elementary, nor
+such as it was upon its last mixture Compounded of; but into new
+Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You some Examples in
+Sope, Sugar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we shall Consider that there
+are some Bodies, as well Natural, (as that I last nam'd) as
+Factitious, manifestly De-compounded; That in the Bowells of the Earth
+Nature may, as we see she sometimes does, make strange Mixtures; That
+Animals are nourish'd with other Animals and Plants; And, that these
+themselves have almost all of them their Nutriment and Growth,
+_either_ from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour'd in the Pores of the
+Earth, _or_ from the Excrements of Animalls, _or_ from the putrify'd
+Bodies, either of living Creatures or Vegetables, _or_ from other
+Substances of a Compounded Nature; If, I say, we consider this, it may
+seem probable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not to
+mention those of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then men
+take Notice of; And indeed, as I have formerly also observ'd, it does
+not at all appear, that all Mixtures must be of Elementary Bodies; but
+it seems farr more probable, that there are divers sorts of compound
+Bodies, even in regard of all or some of their Ingredients, consider'd
+Antecedently to their Mixture. For though some seem to be made up by
+the immediate Coalitions of the Elements, or Principles themselves,
+and therefore may be call'd _Prima Mista_, or _Mista Primaria_; yet it
+seems that many other Bodies are mingl'd (if I may so speak) at the
+second hand, their immediate Ingredients being not Elementary, but
+these primary Mixts newly spoken of; And from divers of these
+Secondary sort of Mixts may result, by a further Composition, a Third
+sort, and so onwards. Nor is it improbable, that some Bodies are made
+up of Mixt Bodies, not all of the same Order, but of several; as (for
+Instance) a Concrete may consist 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 Resolving it, found both that Courser
+the [Errata: delete "the"] part that seems more properly to be Oar,
+and a Combustible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps without
+any Ingredient of this latter sort, it may be compos'd of Mixt Bodies,
+some of them of the first, and some of the third Kind; And this may
+perhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens in
+some Chymical Preparations of those Medicines which they call their
+_Bezoardicum's_. For first, they take Antimony and Iron, which may be
+look'd upon as _Prima Mista_; of these they compound a Starry
+_Regulus_, and to this they add according to their Intention, either
+Gold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Composition. To
+this they add Sublimate, which is it self a De-compound body,
+(consisting of common Quicksilver, and divers Salts United by
+Sublimation into a Crystalline Substance) and from this Sublimate, and
+the other Metalline Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow'd
+to be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymists
+affirm it, that by this Art some of the Gold or Silver mingl'd with
+the _Regulus_ may be carry'd over the Helme with it by the Sublimate;
+as indeed a Skilfull and Candid person complain'd to me a while since,
+That an experienc'd Friend of His and mine, having by such a way
+brought over a great Deal of Gold, in hope to do something further
+with it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only miss'd of his
+Aim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz'd Gold out of the
+Antimonial butter, wherewith it is strictly united.
+
+Now (Continues _Carneades_) if a Compound body consist of Ingredients
+that are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that the
+Substances into which the Fire Dissolves it, though seemingly
+Homogeneous enough, may be of a Compounded Nature, those parts of each
+body that are most of Kin associating themselves into a Compound of a
+new Kind. As when (for example sake) I have caus'd Vitrioll and _Sal
+Armoniack_, and Salt Petre to be mingl'd and Destill'd together, the
+Liquor that came over manifested it self not to be either Spirit of
+Nitre, or of _Sal Armoniack_, or of Vitrioll. For none of these would
+dissolve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; and
+thereby manifested it self to be a new Compound, consisting at least
+of Spirit of Nitre, and _Sal Armoniack_, (for the latter dissolv'd in
+the former, will Work on Gold) which nevertheless are not by any
+known way separable, and consequently would not pass for a Mixt Body,
+if we our selves did not, to obtain it, put and Distill together
+divers Concretes, whose Distinct Operations were known before hand.
+And, to add on this Occasion the Experiment I lately promis'd You,
+because it is Applicable to our present purpose, I shall Acquaint You,
+that suspecting the Common Oyle of Vitrioll not to be altogether such
+a simple Liquor as Chymists presume 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, such as together with the other Liquor I
+bought at the Drugsters. And having carefully (for the Experiment is
+Nice, and somewhat dangerous) Distill'd the Mixture in a small Glass
+Retort, I obtain'd according to my Desire, (besides the two Liquors I
+had put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain substance, which sticking
+all about the Neck of the Retort Discover'd it self to be Sulphur, not
+only by a very strong Sulphureous smell, and by the colour of
+Brimstone; but also by this, That being put upon a coal, it was
+immediately kindl'd, and burn'd like common Sulphur. And of this
+Substance I have yet by me some little Parcells, which You may command
+and examine when you please. So that from this Experiment I may deduce
+either one, or both of these Propositions, That a real Sulphur may be
+made by the Conjunction of two such Substances as Chymists take for
+Elementary, And which did not either of them apart appear to have any
+such body in it; or that Oyle of Vitrioll though a Distill'd Liquor,
+and taken for part of the Saline Principle of the Concrete that yields
+it, may yet be so Compounded a body as to contain, besides its Saline
+part, a Sulphur like common brimstone, which would hardly be it self a
+simple or un-compounded body.
+
+I might (pursues _Carneades_) remind You, that I formerly represented
+it, as possible, That as there may be more Elements then five, or six;
+so the Elements of one body may be Different from those of another;
+whence it would follow, that from the Resolution of De-compound body
+[Errata: bodies], there may result Mixts of an altogether new kind, by
+the Coalition of Elements that never perhaps conven'd before. I might,
+I say, mind You of this, and add divers things to this second
+Consideration; but for fear of wanting time I willingly pretermit
+them, to pass on to the third, which is this, That the Fire does not
+alwayes barely resolve or take asunder, but may also after a new
+manner mingle and compound together the parts (whether Elementary or
+not) of the Body Dissipated by it.
+
+This is so evident, sayes _Carneades_, in some obvious Examples, that
+I cannot but wonder at their Supiness that have not taken notice of
+it. For when Wood being burnt in a Chimney is dissipated by the Fire
+into Smoke and Ashes, that smoke composes soot, which is so far from
+being any one of the principles of the Wood, that (as I noted above)
+you may by a further _Analysis_ separate five or six distinct
+substances from it. And as for the remaining Ashes, the Chymists
+themselves teach us, that by a further degree of fire they may be
+indissolubly united into glass. 'Tis true, that the _Analysis_ which
+the Chymists principally build upon is made, not in the open air, but
+in close Vessels; but however, the Examples lately produc'd may invite
+you shrewdly to suspect, That heat may as well compound as dissipate
+the Parts of mixt Bodies: and not to tell you, that I have known a
+Vitrification made even in close vessels, I must remind you that the
+Flowers of Antimony, and those of Sulphur, are very mix'd Bodies,
+though they ascend in close vessells: And that 'twas in stopt glasses
+that I brought up the whole Body of Camphire. And whereas it may be
+objected, that all these Examples are of Bodies forc'd up in a dry,
+not a Fluid forme, as are the Liquors wont to be obtain'd by
+distillation; I answer, That besides that 'tis possible, that a Body
+may be chang'd from Consistent to Fluid, or from Fluid to Consistent,
+without being otherwise much altered, as may appear by the Easiness
+wherewith in Winter, without any Addition or Separation of Visible
+Ingredients, the same substance may be quickly harden'd into brittle
+Ice, and thaw'd again into Fluid Water; Besides this, I say it would
+be consider'd, that common Quick-silver it self, which the Eminentest
+Chymists confess to be a mixt Body, may be Driven over the Helme in
+its Pristine forme of Quicksilver, and consequently, in that of a
+Liquor. And certainly 'tis possible that very compounded Bodies may
+concur to Constitute Liquors; Since, not to mention that I have found
+it possible, by the help of a certain _Menstruum_, to distill Gold it
+self through a Retort, even with a Moderate Fire: Let us but consider
+what happens in Butter of Antimony. For if that be carefully
+rectify'd, it may be reduc'd into a very clear Liquor; and yet if You
+cast a quantity of fair water upon it, there will quickly precipitate
+a Ponderous and Vomitive Calx, which made before a considerable part
+of the Liquor, and yet is indeed (though some eminent Chymists would
+have it Mercurial) an Antimonial Body carryed over and kept dissolv'd
+by the Salts of the Sublimate, and consequently a compounded one; as
+You may find if You will have the Curiosity to Examine this White
+powder by a skilful Reduction. And that You may not think that Bodies
+as compounded as flowers of Brimstone cannot be brought to Concurr to
+Constitute Distill'd Liquors; And also That You may not imagine with
+Divers Learned Men that pretend no small skill in Chymistry, that at
+least no mixt Body can be brought over the Helme, but by corrosive
+Salts, I am ready to shew You, when You please, among other wayes of
+bringing over Flowers of Brimstone (perhaps I might add even Mineral
+Sulphurs) some, wherein I employ none but Oleaginous bodies to make
+Volatile Liquors, in which not only the colour, but (which is a much
+surer mark) the smell and some Operations manifest that there is
+brought over a Sulphur that makes part of the Liquor.
+
+One thing more there is, _Eleutherius_, sayes _Carneades_, which is so
+pertinent to my present purpose, that though I have touch'd upon it
+before, I cannot but on this occasion take notice of it. And it is
+this, That the Qualities or Accidents, upon whose account Chymists are
+wont to call a portion of Matter by the name of Mercury or some other
+of their Principles, are not such but that 'tis possible as Great (and
+therefore why not the like?) may be produc'd by such changes of
+Texture, and other Alterations, as the Fire may make in the small
+Parts of a Body. I have already prov'd, when I discours'd of the
+second General Consideration, by what happens to plants nourish'd only
+with fair water, and Eggs hatch'd into Chickens, that by changing the
+disposition of the component parts of a Body, Nature is able to effect
+as great Changes in a parcell of Matter reputed similar, as those
+requisite to Denominate one of the _Tria Prima_. And though _Helmont_
+do somewhere wittily call the Fire the Destructor and the Artificial
+Death of Things; And although another Eminent Chymist and Physitian 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 consider
+how many new sorts of mixt Bodies Chymists themselves have produc'd by
+means of the Fire: And particularly, if You consider how that Noble
+and Permanent Body, Glass, is not only manifestly produc'd by the
+violent action of the Fire, but has never, for ought we know, been
+produc'd any other way. And indeed it seems but an inconsiderate
+Assertion of some _Helmontians_, that every sort of Body of a
+Peculiar Denomination must be produc'd by some Seminal power; as I
+think I could evince, if I thought it so necessary, as it is for me to
+hasten to what I have further to discourse. Nor need it much move us,
+that there are some who look upon whatsoever the Fire is employ'd to
+produce, not as upon Natural but Artificial Bodies. For there is not
+alwaies such a difference as many imagine betwixt the one and the
+other: Nor is it so easy as they think, clearly to assigne that which
+Properly, Constantly, and Sufficiently, Discriminates them. But not to
+engage my self in so nice a Disquisition, it may now suffice to
+observe, that a thing is commonly termed Artificial, when a parcel of
+matter is by the Artificers hand, or Tools, or both, brought to such a
+shape or Form, as he Design'd before-hand in his Mind: Whereas in many
+of the Chymical Productions the effect would be produc'd whether the
+Artificer intended it or no; and is oftentimes very much other then he
+Intended or Look't for; and the Instruments employ'd, are not Tools
+Artificially fashion'd and shaped, like those of Tradesmen, for this
+or that particular Work; but, for the most part, Agents of Nature's
+own providing, and whose 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 Chymist that imployes it,
+does but apply Natural Agents and Patients, who being thus brought
+together, and acting according to their respective Natures, performe
+the worke themselves; as Apples, Plums, or other fruit, are natural
+Productions, though the Gardiner bring and fasten 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 say, You may observe with me, _Eleutherius_, that, as I told You
+once before, Qualities sleight enough may serve to Denominate a
+Chymical Principle. For, when they anatomize a compound Body by the
+Fire, if they get a Substance inflamable, and that will not mingle
+with Water, that they presently call Sulphur; what is sapid and
+Dissoluble in Water, that must pass for Salt; Whatsoever is fix'd and
+indissoluble in Water, that they name Earth. And I was going to add,
+that, whatsoever Volatile substance they know not what to make of, not
+to say, whatsoever they please, that they call Mercury. But that these
+Qualities may either be produc'd, otherwise then by such as they call
+Seminal Agents, or may belong to bodies of a compounded Nature, may be
+shewn, among other Instances, in Glass made of ashes, where the
+exceeding strongly-tasted _Alcalizate_ Salt joyning with the Earth
+becomes insipid, and with it constitutes a Body, which though also
+dry, fixt, and indissoluble in Water, is yet manifestly a mixt Body;
+and made so by the Fire itself.
+
+And I remmember to our present purpose, that _Helmont_,[15] amongst
+other Medicines that he commends, has a short processe, wherein,
+though the Directions for Practice are but obscurely intimated; yet I
+have some reason not to Dis-believe the Process, without affirming or
+denying any thing about the vertues of the remedy to be made by it.
+_Quando_ (sayes he) _oleum cinnamomi &c. suo sali alkali miscetur
+absque omni aqua, trium mensium artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
+totum in salem volatilem commutatum est, vere essentiam sui simplicis
+in nobis exprimit, & usque in prima nostri constitutivasese ingerit._
+A not unlike Processe he delivers in another place; from whence, if we
+suppose him to say true, I may argue, that since by the Fire there may
+be produc'd a substance that is as well Saline and volatile as the
+Salt of Harts-horn, blood, &c. which pass for Elementary; and since
+that this Volatile Salt is really compounded of a Chymical Oyle and a
+fixt Salt, the one made Volatile by the other, and both associated by
+the fire, it may well be suspected that other Substances, emerging
+upon the Dissipation of Bodies by the Fire, may be new sorts of Mixts,
+and consist of Substances of differing natures; and particularly, I
+have sometimes suspected, that since the Volatile Salts of Blood,
+Harts-horn, &c. are figitive [Errata: fugitive] and endow'd with an
+exceeding strong smell, either that Chymists do Erroneously ascribe
+all odours to sulphurs, or that such Salts consist of some oyly parts
+well incorporated with the Saline ones. And the like conjecture I have
+also made concerning Spirit of Vinager, which, though the Chymists
+think one of the Principles of that Body, and though being an Acid
+Spirit it seems to be much less of kin then Volatile Salts to
+sulphurs; yet, not to mention its piercing smell; which I know not
+with what congruity the Chymist will deduce from Salt, I wonder they
+have not taken notice of what their own _Tyrocinium Chymicum_ teach us
+concerning the Destillation of _Saccharum Saturni_; out of which
+_Beguinus_[16] assures Us, that he distill'd, besides a very fine
+spirit, no lesse then two Oyles, the one blood-red and ponderous, but
+the other swimming upon the top of the Spirit, and of a yellow colour;
+of which he sayes that he kept then some by him, to verify what he
+delivers. And though I remember not that I have had two distinct Oyles
+from Sugar of Lead, yet that it will though distill'd without addition
+yield some Oyle, disagrees not with my Experience. I know the Chymists
+will be apt to pretend, that these Oyls are but the volatiliz'd
+sulphur of the lead; and will perhaps argue it from what _Beguinus_
+relates, that when the Distillation is ended, you'l find a _Caput
+Mortuum_ extreamly black, and (as he speaks) _nullius momenti_, as if
+the Body, or at least the chief part of the Metal it self were by the
+distillation carried over the Helme. But since you know as well as I
+that _Saccharum Saturni_ is a kind of Magistery, made only by
+calcining of Lead _per se_, dissolving it in distill'd Vinager, and
+crystalizing the solution; if I had leasure to tell You how Differing
+a thing I did upon examination find the _Caput Mortuum_, so sleighted
+by _Beguinus_, to be from what he represents it, I believe you would
+think the conjecture propos'd less probable then one or other of these
+three; either that this Oyle did formerly concur to constitute the
+Spirit of Vinager, and so that what passes for a Chymical Principle
+may yet be further resoluble into distinct substances; or that some
+parts of the Spirit together with some parts of the Lead may
+constitute a Chymical Oyle, which therefore though it pass for
+Homogeneous, may be a very compounded Body: or at least that by the
+action of the Distill'd Vinager and the Saturnine Calx one upon
+another, part of the Liquor may be so alter'd as to be transmuted from
+an Acid Spirit into an Oyle. And though the truth of either of the two
+former conjectures would make the example I have reflected on more
+pertinent to my present argument; yet you'l easily discern, the Third
+and last Conjecture cannot be unserviceable to confirm some other
+passages of my discourse.
+
+[Footnote 15: Helmont pag. 412.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Tyroc. Chym. L. 1. C. 4.]
+
+To return then to what I was saying just before I mention'd
+_Helmont's_ Experiment, I shall subjoyne, That Chymists must confess
+also that in the perfectly Dephlegm'd spirit of Wine, or other
+Fermented Liquors, that which they call the Sulphur of the Concrete
+loses, by the Fermentation, the Property of Oyle, (which the Chymists
+likewise take to be the true Sulphur of the Mixt) of being unminglable
+with the Water. And if You will credit _Helmont_,[17] all [Errata: a
+pound] of the purest Spirit of Wine may barely by the help of pure
+Salt of Tartar (which is but the fixed Salt of Wine) be resolv'd or
+Transmuted into scarce half an ounce of Salt, and as much Elementary
+Water as amounts to the remaining part of the mention'd weight. And it
+may (as I think I formerly also noted) be doubted, whether that Fixt
+and Alcalizate Salt, which is so unanimously agreed on to be the
+Saline Principle of incinerated Bodies, be not, as 'tis Alcalizate, a
+Production of the Fire? For though the tast of Tartar, for Example,
+seem to argue that it contains a Salt before it be burn'd, yet that
+Salt being very Acid is of a quite Differing Tast from the Lixiviate
+Salt of Calcin'd Tartar. And though it be not truly Objected against
+the Chymists, that they obtain all Salts they make, by reducing the
+Body they work on into Ashes with Violent Fires, (since Hartshorn,
+Amber, Blood, and divers other Mixts yield a copious Salt before they
+be burn'd to Ashes) yet this Volatile Salt Differs much, as we shall
+see anon, from the Fixt Alcalizate Salt I speak of; which for ought I
+remember is not producible by any known Way, without Incineration.
+'Tis not unknown to Chymists, that Quicksilver may be Precipitated,
+without Addition, into a dry Powder, that remains so in Water. And
+some eminent _Spagyrists_, and even _Raimund Lully_ himself, teach,
+that meerly by the Fire Quicksilver may in convenient Vessels be
+reduc'd (at least in great part) into a thin Liquor like Water, and
+minglable with it. So that by the bare Action of the Fire, 'tis
+possible, that the parts of a mixt Body should be so dispos'd after
+new and differing manners, that it may be sometimes of one
+consistence, sometimes of another; And may in one State be dispos'd to
+be mingl'd with Water, and in another not. I could also shew you, that
+Bodies from which apart Chymists cannot obtain any thing that is
+Combustible, may by being associated together, and by the help of the
+Fire, afford an inflamable Substance. And that on the other side, 'tis
+possible for a Body to be inflamable, from which it would very much
+puzzle any ordinary Chymist; and perhaps any other, to separate an
+inflamable Principle or Ingredient. Wherefore, since the Principles of
+Chymists may receive their Denominations from Qualities, which it
+often exceeds not the power of Art, nor alwayes that of the Fire to
+produce; And since such Qualities may be found in Bodies that differ
+so much in other Qualities from one another, that they need not be
+allow'd to agree in that pure and simple Nature, which Principles, to
+be so indeed, must have; it may justly be suspected, that many
+Productions of the Fire that are shew'd us by Chymists, as the
+Principles of the Concrete that afforded them, may be but a new kind
+of Mixts. And to annex, on this Occasion, to these arguments taken
+from the Nature of the thing, one of those which _Logicians_ call _ad
+Hominem_, I shall desire You to take Notice, that though _Paracelsus_
+Himself, and some that are so mistaken as to think he could not be so,
+have ventur'd to teach, that not only the bodies here below, but the
+Elements themselves, and all the other Parts of the Universe, are
+compos'd of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; yet the learned _Sennertus_,
+and all the more wary Chymists, have rejected that conceit, and do
+many of them confess, that the _Tria Prima_ 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 Constitution of Mixt bodies. So
+that one sort of these _Spagyrists_, notwithstanding the specious
+Titles they give to the productions of the Fire, do in effect grant
+what I contend for. And, of the other sort I may well demand, to what
+Kind of Bodies the Phlegme and dead Earth, to be met with in Chymical
+Resolutions, are to be referr'd? For either they must say, with
+_Paracelsus_, but against their own Concessions as well as against
+Experience, that these are also compos'd of the _Tria Prima_, whereof
+they cannot separate any one from either of them; or else they must
+confess that two of the vastest Bodies here below, Earth, and Water,
+are neither of them compos'd of the _Tria Prima_; and that
+consequently those three are not the Universal, and Adequate
+Ingredients, neither of all Sublunary Bodies, nor even of all mixt
+Bodies.
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ostendi alias, quomodo lib. una aquæ vitæ combibita in
+sale Tartari siccato, vix fiat semuncia salis, cæterum totum corpus
+fiat aqua Elementalis. Helmont. in Aura vitali._]
+
+I know that the chief of these Chymists represent, that though the
+Distinct Substances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire,
+are not pure and Homogeneous; yet since the four Elements into which
+the _Aristotelians_ pretend to resolve the like bodies by the same
+Agent, are not simple neither, as themselves acknowledge, 'tis as
+allowable for the Chymists to call the one Principles, as for the
+Peripateticks to call the other Elements; since in both cases the
+Imposition of the name is grounded only upon the Predominancy of that
+Element whose name is ascrib'd to it. Nor shall I deny, that this
+Argument of the Chymists is no ill one against the _Aristotelians_.
+But what Answer can it prove to me, who you know am disputing against
+the _Aristotelian_ Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and must not
+look upon any body as a true Principle or Element, but as yet
+compounded, which is not perfectly Homogeneous, but is further
+Resoluble into any number of Distinct Substances how small soever. And
+as for the Chymists calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, upon
+pretence that the Principle of the same name is predominant in it,
+That it self is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely that
+these productions of the Fire, are yet compounded bodies. And yet
+whilst this is granted, it is affirm'd, but not prov'd, that the
+reputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, consists mainly of one body that
+deserves the name of a principle of the same Denomination. For how do
+Chymists make it appear that there are any such primitive and simple
+bodies in those we are speaking of; since 'tis upon the matter
+confess'd by the answer lately made, that these are not such? And if
+they pretend by Reason to evince what they affirm, what becomes of
+their confident boasts, that the Chymists [Errata: Chymist] (whom they
+therefore, after _Beguinus_, call a _Philosophus_ or _Opifex
+Sensatus_) can convince our Eyes, by manifestly shewing in any mixt
+body those simple substances he teaches them to be compos'd of? And
+indeed, for the Chymists to have recourse in this case to other proofs
+then Experiments, as it is to wave the grand Argument that has all
+this while been given out for a Demonstrative One; so it releases me
+from the obligation to prosecute a Dispute wherein I am not engag'd to
+Examine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plausibly Enough
+be Represented, in favour of the Chymists, that it being evident that
+much the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, or
+Mercury, is really such; it would be very rigid to deny those
+Substances the names ascribed them, only because of some sleight
+mixture of another Body; since not only the Peripateticks call
+particular parcels of matter Elementary, though they acknowledge that
+Elements are not to be anywhere found pure, at least here below; And
+since especially there is a manifest Analogie and Resemblance betwixt
+the bodies obtainable by Chymical Anatomies and the principles whose
+names are given them; I have, I say, consider'd that these things may
+be represented: But as for what is drawn from the Custome of the
+Peripateticks, I have already told You, that though it may be employ'd
+against Them, Yet it is not available against me who allow nothing to
+be an Element that is not perfectly Homogeneous. And whereas it is
+alledg'd, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to the
+substance wherein it abounds; I answer, that that might much more
+reasonably be said, if either we or the Chymists had seen Nature take
+pure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mercury, and compound of them every
+sort of Mixt Bodies. But, since 'tis to experience that they appeal,
+we must not take it for granted, that the Distill'd Oyle (for
+instance) of a plant is mainly compos'd of the pure principle call'd
+Sulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof, that there is in
+that sort of Plants such an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for the
+specious argument, which is drawn from the Resemblance betwixt the
+Productions of the Fire, and the Respective, either _Aristotelian_
+Elements, or _Chymical_ Principles, by whose names they are call'd; it
+will appear more plausible then cogent, if You will but recall to mind
+the state of the controversie; which is not, whether or no there be
+obtain'd from mixt Bodies certain substances that agree in outward
+appearance, or in some Qualities with Quicksilver or Brimstone, or
+some such obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodies
+confess'd to be perfectly mixt were compos'd of, and are resoluble
+into a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keep
+the state of the question in your Eye, you'l easily discerne that
+there is much of what should be Demonstrated, left unprov'd by those
+Chymical Experiments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I have
+already discover'd more at large) I shall now take notice, that it
+will not presently follow, that because a Production of the Fire has
+some affinity with some of the greater Masses of matter here below,
+that therefore they are both of the same Nature, and deserve the same
+Name; for the Chymists are not content, that flame should be look't
+upon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, and
+active, because it wants some other Qualities belonging to the nature
+of Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call Ashes, or
+Quicklime, Earth, notwithstanding the many likenesses between them;
+because they are not tastlesse, as Elementary Earth ought to be: But
+if you should ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomies
+of Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they consist of the three
+Principles into which the fire resolves them? I answer, that their
+Dissections may be granted to prove, that some mixt bodies (for in
+many it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included in
+close Vessels, (for that Condition also is often requisite) dissolube
+[Transcriber's Note: dissoluble] into several Substances differing in
+some Qualities, but principally in Consistence. So that out of most of
+them may be obtain'd a fixt substance partly saline, and partly
+insipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or more that without
+being unctuous have a manifest taste. Now if Chymists will agree to
+call the dry and sapid substance salt, the Unctous liquor Sulphur, and
+the other Mercury, I shall not much quarrel with them for so doing:
+But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are simple
+and primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, and
+which was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, they
+must give me leave to doubt whether (whatever their other arguments
+may do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will also tell
+me that the Substances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, are
+pure and similar, as Principles ought to be, they must give me leave
+to believe my own senses; and their own confessions, before their bare
+Assertions. And that you may not (_Eleutherius_) think I deal so
+rigidly with them, because I scruple to Take these Productions of the
+Fire for such as the Chymists would have them pass for, upon the
+account of their having some affinity with them; consider a little
+with me, that in regard an Element or Principle ought to be perfectly
+Similar and Homogeneous, there is no just cause why I should rather
+give the body propos'd the Name of this or that Element or Principle,
+because it has a resemblance to it in some 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 consider
+what sleight and easily producible qualities they are that suffice, as
+I have already more then once observ'd, to Denominate a Chymical
+Principle or an Element, you'l not, I hope, think my wariness to be
+destitute either of Example, or else of Reason. For we see that the
+Chymists will not allow the _Aristotelians_ that the Salt in Ashes
+ought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Terrestrial part
+symbolize in weight, in dryness, in fixness and fusibility, only
+because the one is sapid and dissoluble in Water, and the other not:
+Besides, we see that sapidness and volatility are wont to denominate
+the Chymists Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you,
+may agree in those Qualities which may yet be of very differing
+natures, and disagree in qualities either more numerous, or more
+considerable, or both. For not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua Fortis,
+Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit of
+Vinager, and all Saline Liquors Distill'd from Animal Bodies, but all
+the Acetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All these, I
+say, and many others must belong to the Chymists Mercury, though it
+appear not why some of them should more be comprehended under one
+denomination then the Chymists Sulphur, or Oyle should likewise be;
+for their Distill'd Oyles are also Fluid, Volatile, and Tastable, as
+well as their Mercury; Nor is it Necessary, that their Sulphur should
+be Unctuous or Dissoluble in Water, since they generally referr Spirit
+of Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and will
+freely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability must constitute
+the Essence of the Chymists Sulphur; as uninflamablenesse joyned with
+any taste is enough to intitle a Distill'd Liquor to be their Mercury.
+Now since I can further observe to You, that Spirit of Nitre and
+Spirit of Harts-horne being pour'd together will boile and hisse and
+tosse up one another into the air, which the Chymists make signes of
+great Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed these Spirits
+differ much both in Taste, Smell, and Operations;) Since I elsewhere
+tell you of my having made two sorts of Oyle out of the same mans
+blood, that would not mingle with one another; And since I might tell
+You Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodies
+which according to the Chymists must be huddl'd up together under one
+Denomination; I leave you to Judge whether such a multitude of
+Substances as may agree in these sleight Qualities, and yet Disagree
+in Others more Considerable, are more worthy to be call'd by the Name
+of a Principle (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to have
+appellations given them that may make them differ, in name too, from
+the bodies from which they so wildly differ in Nature. And hence also,
+by the bye, you may perceive that 'tis not unreasonable to distrust
+the Chymists way of Argumentation, when being unable to shew us that
+such a Liquor is (for Example) purely saline, they prove, that at
+least salt is much the predominant principle, because that the
+propos'd substance is strongly tasted, and all Tast proceeds from
+salt; whereas those Spirits, such as spirit of Tartar, spirit of
+Harts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries of
+the Bodies that afford them, have manifestly a strong and piercing
+tast, and so has (according to what I formerly noted) the spirit of
+Box &c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr'd to compose it has
+been separated from it. And indeed, if sapidness belong not to the
+spirit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I scarce know
+how it will be discriminated from their phlegm, since by the absence
+of Inflamability it must be distinguish'd from their sulphur, which
+affords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the Chymical
+Doctrine is in our present Case; since not only the spirits of
+Vegitables and Animals, but their Oyles are very strongly tasted, as
+he that shall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or of
+Cloves, or even of Turpentine, may quickly find, to his smart. And not
+only I never try'd any Chymical Oyles whose tast was not very
+manifest and strong; but a skilful and inquisitive person who made it
+his business by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, and
+reduce them to an Elementary simplicity, Informes us, that he never
+was able to make them at all Tastless; whence I might inferr, that the
+proof Chymists confidently give us of a bodies being saline, is so far
+from demonstrating the Predominancy, that it does not clearly Evince
+so much as the presence of the saline Principle in it. But I will not
+(pursues _Carneades_) remind you, that the Volatile salt of
+Harts-horn, Amber, Blood, &c. are exceeding strongly scented,
+notwithstanding that most Chymists deduce Odours from Sulphur, and
+from them argue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorous
+body, because I must not so much as add any new Examples of the
+incompetency of this sort of Chymical arguments; since having already
+detain'd You but too long in those generals that appertain to my
+fourth consideration, 'tis time that I proceed to the particulars
+themselves, to which I thought fit they should be previous:
+
+These Generals (continues _Carneades_) being thus premis'd, we might
+the better survey the Unlikeness that an attentive and unprepossess'd
+observer may take notice of in each sort of Bodies which the Chymists
+are wont to call the salts or sulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretes
+that yield Them, as if they had all a simplicity, and Identity of
+Nature: whereas salts if they were all Elementary would as little
+differ as do the Drops of pure and simple Water. 'Tis known that both
+Chymists and Physitians ascribe to the fixt salts of calcin'd Bodies
+the vertues of their concretes; and consequently very differing
+Operations. So we find the _Alkali_ of Wormwood much commended in
+distempers of the stomach; that of Eyebright for those that have a
+weak sight; and that of _Guaiacum_ (of which a great Quantity yields
+but a very little salt) is not only much commended in Venereal
+Diseases, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, which
+yet I have not had occasion to try. And though, I confess, I have long
+thought, that these _Alkalizate_ salts are, for the most part, very
+neer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of the
+Concretes whence they were separated; Yet being minded to Observe
+watchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this General
+Observation, I observ'd at the Glasse-house, that sometimes the Metal
+(as the Workmen call it) or Masse of colliquated Ingredients, which by
+Blowing they fashion into Vessels of divers shapes, did sometimes
+prove of a very differing colour, and a somewhat differing Texture,
+from what was usuall. And having enquired whether the cause of such
+Accidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixt
+salt employ'd to bring the sand to fusion, I found that the knowingst
+Workmen imputed these Mis-adventures to the Ashes, of [Errata: Ashes
+off] some certain kind of Wood, as having observ'd the ignobler kind
+of Glass I lately mention'd to be frequently produc'd when they had
+employ'd such sorts of Ashes which therefore they scruple to make use
+of, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember also, that an
+Industrious Man of my acquaintance having bought a vast quantity of
+Tobacco stalks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curiosity to go see
+whether that Exotick Plant, which so much abounds in volatile salt,
+would afford a peculiar kind of _Alcali_; and I was pleas'd to find
+that in the _Lixivium_ of it, it was not necessary, as is usual, to
+evaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain'd a Saline Calx,
+consisting like lime quench'd in the Air of a heap of little
+Corpuscles of unregarded shapes; but the fixt salt shot into figur'd
+Crystal, almost as Nitre or _Sal-armoniack_ and other uncalcin'd salts
+are wont to do; And I further remember that I have observ'd in the
+fixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a tast not
+so unlike to that of common salt, and very differing from the wonted
+caustick Lixiviate tast of other salts made by Incineration. But
+because the Instances I have alledg'd of the Difference of
+_Alcalizate_ salt are but few, and therefore I am still inclin'd to
+think, that most Chymists and many Physitians do, inconsideratly
+enough and without Warrant from Experience, ascribe the Vertues of the
+Concretes expos'd to Calcination, to the salts obtain'd by it; I shall
+rather, to shew the Disparity of salts, mention in the first Place the
+apparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt salts and the Animal
+Volatile ones: As (for Example) betwixt salt of Tartar, and salt of
+Harts-horn; whereof the former is so fixt that 'twill indure the brunt
+of a violent Fire, and stand in fusion like a Metal; whereas the other
+(besides that it has a differing tast and a very differing smell) is
+so far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat as
+easily as Spirit of Wine it self. And to this I shall add, in the next
+place, That even among the Volatile salts themselves, there is a
+considerable Difference, as appears by the distinct Properties of (for
+Instance) salt of Amber, salt of Urine, salt of Mans Skull, (so much
+extoll'd against the falling Sicknesse) and divers others which cannot
+escape an ordinary Observer. And this Diversity of Volatile salts I
+have observ'd to be somtimes Discernable even to the Eye, in their
+Figures. For the salt of Harts-horn I have observ'd to adhere to the
+Receiver in the forme almost of a _Parallelipipedon_; and of the
+Volatile salt of humane blood (long digested before distillation, with
+spirit of Wine) I can shew you store of graines of that Figure which
+_Geometricians_ call a _Rhombus_; though I dare not undertake that
+the Figures of these or other Saline Crystals (if I may so call Them)
+will be alwaies the same, whatever degree of Fire have been employ'd
+to force them up, or how hastily soever they have been made to convene
+in the spirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have usually
+observ'd them after a while to shoot. And although, as I lately told
+You, I seldom found any Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixt
+Salts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have suspected that most
+of these volatile Salts, having so great a Resemblance in smell, in
+tast, and fugitiveness, 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 somewhat Diaphoretick and very
+Deopilative; [Errata: Deopilative)] Yet I remember _Helmont_[18]
+somewhere informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt the
+saline spirit of Urine and that of Mans blood, that the former will
+not cure the Epilepsy, but the Latter will. Of the Efficacy also of
+the Salt of Common Amber against the same Disease in Children, (for in
+Grown Persons it is not a specifick) I may elsewhere have an Occasion
+to Entertain You. And when I consider that to the obtaining of these
+Volatile Salts (especially that of Urine) there is not requisite such
+a Destructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get those Salts
+that must be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude,
+that they may differ from one another, and consequently recede from an
+Elementary Simplicity. And, if I could here shew You what Mr. _Boyle_
+has Observ'd, touching the Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts;
+You would quickly discern, not only that Chymists do give themselves a
+strange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to their
+own Rules to be look'd upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that among
+those very Salts that seem Elementary, because produc'd upon the
+Anatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a visible
+Disparity, but, to speak in the common Language, a manifest Antipathy
+or Contrariety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hissing that is
+wont to ensue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for Instance, is
+pour'd upon pot ashes, or Salt of Tartar. And I shall beg leave of
+this Gentleman, sayes _Carneades_, casting his Eyes on me, to let me
+observe to You out of some of his papers, particularly those wherein
+he treats of some Preparations of Urine, that not only one and the
+same body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he exemplifies
+in the Spirit and _Alkali_ of Nitre; but that from the same body there
+may without addition be obtain'd three differing and Visible Salts.
+For He Relates, that he observ'd in Urine, not only a Volatile and
+Crystalline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewise a kind of _Sal
+Armoniack_, or such a Salt as would sublime in the form of a salt, and
+therefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being so fugitive as the
+Volatile salt; from which it seem'd also otherwise to differ. I have
+indeed suspected that this may be a _Sal Armoniack_ properly enough so
+call'd, as Compounded of the Volatile salt of Urine, and the fixt of
+the same Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike sea-salt; but that
+it self argues a manifest Difference betwixt the salts, since such a
+Volatile salt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordinary _Alcali_, but
+to fly away from it in the Heat. And on this occasion I remember that,
+to give some of my Friends an Ocular proof of the difference betwixt
+the fixt and Volatile salt (of the same Concrete) Wood, I devis'd the
+following Experiment. I took common Venetian sublimate, and dissolv'd
+as much of it as I well could in fair Water: then I took Wood Ashes,
+and pouring on them Warme Water, Dissolv'd their salt; and filtrating
+the Water, as soon as I found the _Lixivium_ sufficiently sharp upon
+the tongue, I reserv'd it for use: Then on part of the former solution
+of sublimate dropping a little of this Dissolv'd Fixt salt of Wood,
+the Liquors presently turn'd of an Orange Colour; but upon the other
+part of the clear solution of sublimate putting some of the Volatile
+salt of Wood (which abounds in the spirit of soot) the Liquor
+immediately turn'd white, almost like Milke, and after a while let
+fall a white sediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To all
+this that I have said concerning the Difference of salts, I might add
+what I Formerly told you, concerning the simple spirit of Box, and
+such like Woods, which differ much from the other salts hitherto
+mention'd, and yet would belong to the saline Principle, if Chymists
+did truly teach that all Tasts proceed from it. And I might also
+annex, what I noted to you out of _Helmont_[19] concerning Bodies,
+which, though they consist in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yet
+appear but Volatile salts; But to insist on these things, were to
+repeat; and therefore I shall proceed.
+
+[Footnote 18: _Error vero per distillationem nobis monstrat etiam
+Spiritum salinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gustu
+distinguibilem a spiritu Urinæ; In eo tamen essentialiter diversum,
+quod spiritus talis cruoris curat Epilepsiam, non autem Spiritus salis
+lotii._ Helmont. Aura Vitalis.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Aliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &c. suo sali Alcali miscetur
+absque omni aqua, trium mensium Artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
+totum in salem volatilem commutatum est. Helmont. Tria Prima
+Chymicorum, &c. pag. 412._]
+
+This Disparity is also highly eminent in the separated sulphurs or
+Chymical Oyles of things. For they contain so much of the scent, and
+tast, and vertues, of the Bodies whence they were drawn, that they
+seem to be but the Material _Crasis_ (if I may so speak) of their
+Concretes. Thus the Oyles of Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmegs and other
+spices, seem to be but the United Aromatick parts that did ennoble
+those Bodies. And 'tis a known thing, that Oyl of Cinnamon, and oyle
+of Cloves, (which I have likewise observ'd in the Oyles of several
+Woods) will sink to the Bottom of Water: whereas those of Nutmegs and
+divers other Vegetables will swim upon it. The Oyle (abusively call'd
+spirit) of Roses swims at the Top of the Water in the forme of a white
+butter, which I remember not to have observ'd in any other Oyle drawn
+in any Limbeck; yet there is a way (not here to be declar'd) by which
+I have seen it come over in the forme of other Aromatick Oyles, to the
+Delight and Wonder of those that beheld it. In Oyle of Anniseeds,
+which I drew both with, and without Fermentation, I observ'd the whole
+Body of the Oyle in a coole place to thicken into the Consistence and
+Appearance of white Butter, which with the least heat resum'd its
+Former Liquidness. In the Oyl of Olive drawn over in a Retort, I have
+likewise more then once seen a spontaneous Coagulation in the
+Receiver: And I have of it by me thus Congeal'd; which is of such a
+strangely Penetrating scent, as if 'twould Perforate the Noses that
+approach it. The like pungent Odour I also observ'd in the Distill'd
+Liquor of common sope, which forc'd over from _Minium_, lately
+afforded an oyle of a most admirable Penetrancy; And he must be a
+great stranger, both to the Writings and preparations of Chymists,
+that sees not in the Oyles they distill from Vegetables and Animals, a
+considerable and obvious Difference. Nay I shall venture to add,
+_Eleutherius_, (what perhaps you will think of kin to a Paradox) that
+divers times out of the same Animal or Vegetable, there may be
+extracted Oyles of Natures obviously differing. To which purpose I
+shall not insist on the swimming and sinking Oyles, which I have
+sometimes observ'd to float on, and subside under the spirit of
+_Guajacum_, and that of divers other Vegetables Distill'd with a
+strong and lasting Fire; Nor shall I insist on the observation
+elsewhere mention'd, of the divers and unminglable oyles afforded us
+by Humane Blood long fermented and Digested with spirit of Wine,
+because these kind of oyles may seem chiefly to differ in Consistence
+and Weight, being all of them high colour'd and adust. But the
+Experiment which I devis'd to make out this Difference of the oyles of
+the same Vegetable, _ad Oculum_, (as they speak) was this that
+followes. I took a pound of Annisseeds, and having grosly beaten them,
+caused them to be put into a very large glass Retort almost filled
+with fair Water; and placing this Retort in a sand Furnace, I caus'd a
+very Gentle heat to be administer'd during the first day, and a great
+part of the second, till the Water was for the most part drawn off,
+and had brought over with it at least most of the Volatile and
+Aromatick Oyle of the seeds. And then encreasing the Fire, and
+changing the Receiver, I obtain'd besides an Empyreumatical Spirit, a
+quantity of adust oyle; whereof a little floated upon the Spirit, and
+the rest was more heavy, and not easily separable from it. And whereas
+these oyles were very dark, and smell'd (as Chymists speak) so
+strongly of the Fire, that their Odour did not betray from what
+Vegetables they had been forc'd; the other _Aromatick_ Oyle was
+enrich'd with the genuine smell and tast of the Concrete; and
+spontaneously coagulating it self into white butter did manifest self
+[Errata: it self] to be the true Oyle of Annisseeds; which Concrete I
+therefore chose to employ about this Experiment, that the Difference
+of these Oyles might be more conspicuous then it would have been, had
+I instead of it destill'd another Vegetable.
+
+I had almost forgot to take notice, that there is another sort of
+Bodies, which though not obtain'd from Concretes by Distillation, many
+Chymists are wont to call their Sulphur; not only because such
+substances are, for the most part, high colour'd (whence they are
+also, and that more properly, called Tinctures) as dissolv'd Sulphurs
+are wont to be; but especially because they are, for the most part,
+abstracted and separated from the rest of the Masse by Spirit of Wine:
+which Liquor those men supposing to be Sulphureous, they conclude,
+that what it works upon, and abstracts, must be a Sulphur also. And
+upon this account they presume, that they can sequester the sulphur
+even of Minerals and Metalls; from which 'tis known that they cannot
+by Fire alone separate it. To all This I shall answer; That if these
+sequestred substances where indeed the sulphurs of the Bodies whence
+they are drawn, there would as well be a great Disparity betwixt
+Chymical Sulphurs obtain'd by Spirit of Wine, as I have already shewn
+there is betwixt those obtain'd by Distillation in the forme of Oyles:
+which will be evident from hence, that not to urge that themselves
+ascribe distinct vertues to Mineral Tinctures, extolling the Tincture
+of Gold against such and such Diseases; the Tincture of Antimony, or
+of its Glass, against others; and the Tincture of Emerauld against
+others; 'tis plain, that in Tinctures drawn from Vegetables, if the
+superfluous spirit of Wine be distill'd off, it leaves at the bottom
+that thicker substance which Chymists use to call the Extract of the
+Vegetable. And that these Extracts are endow'd with very differing
+Qualities according to the Nature of the Particular Bodies that
+afforded them (though I fear seldom with so much of the specifick
+vertues as is wont to be imagin'd) is freely confess'd both by
+Physitians and Chymists. But, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) we
+may here take Notice that the Chymists do as well in this case, as in
+many others, allow themselves a License to abuse Words: For not again
+to argue from the differing properties of Tinctures, that they are not
+exactly pure and Elementary Sulphurs; they would easily appear not to
+be so much as Sulphur's, although we should allow Chymical Oyles to
+deserve that Name. For however in some Mineral Tinctures the Natural
+fixtness of the extracted Body does not alwayes suffer it to be easily
+further resoluble into differing substances; Yet in very many extracts
+drawn from Vegetables, it may very easily be manifested that the
+spirit of Wine has not sequestred the sulphureous Ingredient from the
+saline and Mercurial ones; but has dissolv'd (for I take it to be a
+Solution) the finer Parts of the Concrete (without making any nice
+distinction of their being perfectly Sulphureous or not) and united it
+self with them into a kind of Magistery; which consequently must
+contain Ingredients or Parts of several sorts. For we see that the
+stones that are rich in vitriol, being often drench'd with
+rain-Water, the Liquor will then extract a fine and transparent
+substance coagulable into Vitriol; and yet though this Vitriol be
+readily dissoluble in Water, it is not a true Elementary Salt, but, as
+You know, a body resoluble into very differing Parts, whereof one (as
+I shall have occasion to tell You anon) is yet of a Metalline, and
+consequently not of an Elementary Nature. You may consider also, that
+common Sulphur is readily dissoluble in Oyle of Turpentine, though
+notwithstanding its Name it abounds as well, if not as much, in Salt
+as in true Sulphur; witness the great quantity of saline Liquor it
+affords being set to flame away under a glasse Bell. Nay I have, which
+perhaps You will think strange, with the same Oyle of Turpentine alone
+easily enough dissolv'd crude Antimony finely powder'd into a
+Blood-red Balsam, wherewith perhaps considerable things may be
+perform'd in Surgery. And if it were now Requisite, I could tell You
+of some other Bodies (such as Perhaps You would not suspect) that I
+have been able to work upon with certain Chymical Oyles. But instead
+of digressing further I shall make this use of the Example I have
+nam'd. That 'tis not unlikely, but that Spirit of Wine which by its
+pungent tast, and by some other Qualities that argue it better
+(especially its Reduciblenesse, according to _Helmont_, into _Alcali_,
+and Water,) seems to be as well of a Saline as of a Sulphureous
+Nature, may well be suppos'd Capable of Dissolving Substances That are
+not meerly Elementary sulphurs, though perhaps they may abound with
+Parts that are of kin thereunto. For I find that Spirit of Wine will
+dissolve _Gumm Lacca_, _Benzoine_, and the _Resinous_ Parts of
+_Jallap_, and even of _Guaiacum_; whence we may well suspect that it
+may from Spices, Herbs, and other lesse compacted Vegetables, extract
+substances that are not perfect Sulphurs but mixt Bodies. And to put
+it past Dispute, there is many a Vulgar Extract drawn with Spirit of
+Wine, which committed to Distillation will afford such differing
+substances as will Loudly proclaim it to have been a very compounded
+Body. So that we may justly suspect, that even in Mineral Tinctures it
+will not alwaies follow, that because a red substance is drawn from
+the Concrete by spirit of Wine, that Substance is its true and
+Elementary Sulphur. And though some of these Extracts may perhaps be
+inflamable; Yet besides that others are not, and besides that their
+being reduc'd to such Minuteness of Parts may much facilitate their
+taking Fire; besides this, I say, We see that common Sulphur, common
+Oyle, Gumm Lac, and many Unctuous and Resinous Bodies, will flame well
+enough, though they be of very compounded natures: Nay Travellers of
+Unsuspected Credit assure Us, as a known thing, that in some Northern
+Countries where Firr trees and Pines abound, the poorer sort of
+Inhabitants use Long splinters of those Resinous Woods to burne
+instead of Candles. And as for the rednesse wont to be met with in
+such solutions, I could easily shew, that 'tis not necessary it should
+proceed from the Sulphur of the Concrete, Dissolv'd by the Spirit of
+Wine; if I had leasure to manifest how much Chymists are wont to
+delude themselves and others by the Ignorance of those other causes
+upon whose account spirit of Wine and other _Menstruums_ may acquire
+a red or some other high colour. But to returne to our Chymical Oyles,
+supposing that they were exactly pure; Yet I hope they would be, as
+the best spirit of Wine is, but the more inflamable and deflagrable.
+And therefore since an Oyle can be by the Fire alone immediately
+turn'd into flame, which is something of a very differing Nature from
+it: I shall Demand how this Oyle can be a Primogeneal and
+Incorruptible Body, as most Chymists would have their Principles;
+Since it is further resoluble into flame, which whether or no it be a
+portion of the Element of Fire, as an _Aristotelian_ would conclude,
+is certainly something of a very differing Nature from a Chymical
+Oyle, since it burnes, and shines, and mounts swiftly upwards; none of
+which a Chymical Oyle does, whilst it continues such. And if it should
+be Objected, that the Dissipated Parts of this flaming Oyle may be
+caught and collected again into Oyl or Sulphur; I shall demand, what
+Chymist appears to have ever done it; and without Examining whether it
+may not hence be as well said that sulphur is but compacted Fire, as
+that Fire is but diffus'd Sulphur, I shall leave you to consider
+whether it may not hence be argu'd, that neither Fire nor Sulphur are
+primitive and indestructible Bodies; and I shall further observe that,
+at least it will hence appear that a portion of matter may without
+being Compounded with new Ingredients, by having the Texture and
+Motion of its small parts chang'd, be easily, by the means of the
+Fire, endow'd with new Qualities, more differing from them it had
+before, then are those which suffice to discriminate the Chymists
+Principles from one another.
+
+We are next to Consider, whether in the Anatomy of mixt Bodies, that
+which Chymists call the Mercurial part of them be un-compounded, or
+no. But to tell You True, though Chymists do Unanimously affirm that
+their Resolutions discover a Principle, which they call Mercury, yet I
+find them to give of it Descriptions so Differing, and so
+Ænigmaticall, that I, who am not asham'd to confess that I cannot
+understand what is not sence, must acknowledge to you that I know not
+what to make of them. _Paracelsus_ himself, and therefore, as you
+will easily believe, many of his Followers, does somewhere call that
+Mercury which ascends upon the burning of Wood, as the Peripateticks
+are wont to take the same smoke for Air; and so seems to define
+Mercury by Volatility, or (if I may coyne such a Word) Effumability.
+But since, in this Example, both Volatile Salt and Sulphur make part
+of the smoke, which does indeed consist also both of Phlegmatick and
+Terrene Corpuscles, this Notion is not to be admitted; And I find that
+the more sober Chymists themselves disavow it. Yet to shew you how
+little of clearness we are to expect in the accounts even of latter
+_Spagyrists_, be pleas'd to take notice, that _Beguinus_, even in his
+_Tyrocinium Chymicum_,[20] written for the Instruction of Novices,
+when he comes to tell us what are meant by the _Tria Prima_, which for
+their being Principles ought to be defin'd the more accurately and
+plainly, gives us this Description of Mercury; _Mercurius_ (sayes he)
+_est liquor ille acidus, permeabilis, penetrabilis, æthereus, ac
+purissimus, a quo omnis Nutricatio, Sensus, Motus, Vires, Colores,
+Senectutisque Præproperæ retardatio._ Which words are not so much a
+Definition of it, as an _Encomium_: and yet _Quercetanus_ in his
+Description of the same Principle adds to these, divers other
+_Epithets_. But both of them, to skip very many other faults that may
+be found with their Metaphoricall Descriptions, speak incongruously to
+the Chymists own Principles. For if Mercury be an Acid Liquor, either
+Hermetical Philosophy must err in ascribing all Tasts to Salt, or else
+Mercury must not be a Principle, but Compounded of a Saline Ingredient
+and somewhat else. _Libavius_, though he find great fault with the
+obscurity of what the Chymists write concerning their Mercurial
+Principle, does yet but give us such a Negative Description of it, as
+_Sennertus_, how favourable soever to the _Tria Prima_, is not
+satisfi'd with. And this _Sennertus_ Himself, though the Learnedst
+Champion for the Hypostatical Principles, does almost as frequently as
+justly complain of the unsatisfactoriness of what the Chymists teach
+concerning their Mercury; and yet he himself (but with his wonted
+modesty) Substitutes instead of the Description of _Libavius_,
+another, which many Readers, especially if they be not Peripateticks,
+will not know what to make of. For scarce telling us any more, then
+that in all bodies that which is found besides Salt and Sulphur, and
+the Elements, or, as they call them, Phlegm and Dead Earth, is that
+Spirit which in _Aristotles_ Language may be call'd [Greek: ousian
+analogon [Errata: ousia analogos] tô tôn astrôn stoichaiô [Errata:
+astrôn stoicheiô]]. He sayes that which I confess is not at all
+satisfactory to me, who do not love to seem to acquiesce in any mans
+Mystical Doctrines, that I may be thought to understand them.
+
+[Footnote 20: _Chm. Tyrocin. lib. 1. Cap. 2._]
+
+If (sayes _Eleutherius_) I durst presume that the same thing would be
+thought clear by me, and those that are fond of such cloudy
+Expressions as You justly Tax the Chymists for, I should venture to
+offer to Consideration, whether or no, since the Mercurial Principle
+that arises from Distillation is unanimously asserted to be distinct
+from the salt and Sulphur of the same Concrete, that may not be call'd
+the Mercury of a Body, which though it ascend in Distillation, as do
+the Phlegme and Sulphur, is neither insipid like the former, nor
+inflamable like the latter. And therefore I would substitute to the
+too much abused Name of Mercury, the more clear and Familiar
+Appellation of Spirit, which is also now very much made use of even by
+the Chymists themselves, of our times, though they have not given us
+so Distinct an Explication, as were fit, of what may be call'd the
+Spirit of a mixt Body.
+
+I should not perhaps (sayes _Carneades_) much quarrel with your Notion
+of Mercury. But as for the Chymists, what they can mean, with
+congruity to their own Principles, by the Mercury of Animals and
+Vegetables, 'twill not be so easie to find out; for they ascribe Tasts
+only to the Saline Principle, and consequently would be much put to it
+to shew what Liquor it is, in the Resolution of Bodies, that not being
+insipid, for that they call Phlegme, neither is inflamable as Oyle or
+Sulphur, nor has any Tast; which according to them must proceed from a
+Mixture, at least, of Salt. And if we should take Spirit in the sence
+of the Word receiv'd among Modern Chymists and Physitians, for any
+Distill'd Liquor that is neither Phlegme nor oyle, the Appellation
+would yet appear Ambiguous enough. For, plainly, that which first
+ascends in the Distillation of Wine and Fermented Liquors, is
+generally as well by Chymists as others reputed a Spirit. And yet pure
+Spirit of Wine being wholly inflamable ought according to them to be
+reckon'd to the Sulphureous, not the Mercurial Principle. And among
+the other Liquors that go under the name of Spirits, there are divers
+which seem to belong to the family of Salts, such 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 suspected to be but a Volatile
+Salt disguis'd by the Phlegme mingl'd with it into the forme of a
+Liquor. However if this be a Spirit, it manifestly differs very much
+from that of Vinager, the Tast of the one being Acid, and the other
+Salt, and their Mixture in case they be very pure, sometimes
+occasioning an Effervescence like that of those Liquors the Chymists
+count most contrary to one another. And even among those Liquors that
+seem to have a better title then those hitherto mention'd, to the name
+of Spirits, there appears a sensible Diversity; For spirit of Oak, for
+instance, differs from that of Tartar, and this from that of Box, or
+of _Guaiacum_. And in short, even these spirits as well as other
+Distill'd Liquors manifest a great Disparity betwixt themselves,
+either in their Actions on our senses, or in their other operations.
+
+And (continues _Carneades_) besides this Disparity that is to be met
+with among those Liquors that the Modernes call spirits, & take for
+similar bodies, what I have formerly told you concerning the Spirit of
+Box-wood may let you see that some of those Liquors not only have
+qualities very differing from others, but may be further resolved into
+substances differing from one another.
+
+And since many moderne Chymists and other Naturalists are pleased to
+take the Mercurial spirit of Bodies for the same Principle, under
+differing names, I must invite you to observe, with me, the great
+difference that is conspicuous betwixt all the Vegetable and Animal
+spirits I have mention'd and running Mercury. I speak not of that
+which is commonly sold in shops that many of themselves will confesse
+to be a mixt Body; but of that which is separated from Metals, which
+by some Chymists that seem more Philosophers then the rest, and
+especially by the above mentioned _Claveus_, is (for distinction sake)
+called _Mercurius Corporum_. Now this Metalline Liquor being one of
+those three Principles of which Mineral Bodies are by _Spagyrists_
+affirmed to be compos'd and to be resoluble into them, the many
+notorious Differences betwixt them and the Mercuries, as They call
+Them, of Vegetables and Animals will allow me to inferr, either that
+Minerals and the other two sorts of Mixt Bodies consist not of the
+same Elements, or that those Principles whereinto Minerals are
+immediately resolved, which Chymists with great ostentation shew us as
+the true principles, of them, are but Secundary Principles, or Mixts
+of a peculiar sort, which must be themselves reduc'd to a very
+differing forme, to be of the same kind with Vegetable and Animal
+Liquors.
+
+But this is not all; for although I formerly told You how Little
+Credit there is to be given to the Chymical Processes commonly to be
+met with, of Extracting the Mercuries of Metals, Yet I will now add,
+that supposing that the more Judicious of Them do not untruly affirme
+that they have really drawn true and running Mercury from several
+Metals (which I wish they had cleerly taught Us how to do also,) yet
+it may be still doubted whether such extracted Mercuries do not as
+well differ from common Quicksilver, and from one another, as from the
+Mercuries of Vegetables and Animalls. _Claveus_,[21] in his Apology,
+speaking of some _experiments_ whereby Metalline Mercuries may be fixt
+into the nobler metals, adds, that he spake of the Mercuries drawn
+from metals; because common Quicksilver by reason of its excessive
+coldnesse and moisture is unfit for that particular kind of operation;
+for which though a few lines before he prescribes in general the
+Mercuries of Metalline Bodies, yet he chiefly commends that drawn by
+art from silver. And elsewhere, in the same Book, he tells us, that
+he himself tryed, that by bare coction the quicksilver of Tin or
+Pewter (_argentum vivum ex stanno prolicitum_) may by an efficient
+cause, as he speaks, be turn'd into pure Gold. And the Experienc'd
+_Alexander van Suchten_, somewhere 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 shall add, that an eminent
+person, whose name his travells and learned writings have made famous,
+lately assur'd me that he had more then once seen the Mercury of Lead
+(which whatever Authors promise, you will find it very difficult to
+make, at least in any considerable quantity) fixt into perfect Gold.
+And being by me demanded whether or no any other Mercury would not as
+well have been changed by the same Operations, he assured me of the
+Negative.
+
+[Footnote 21: _Dixi autem de argento vivo a metallis prolicito, quod
+vulgare ob nimiam frigiditatem & humiditatem nimium concoctioni est
+contumax, nec ab auro solum alterato coerceri potest._ Gast. Clave. in
+Apoll.]
+
+And since I am fallen upon the mention of the Mercuries of metals, you
+will perhaps expect (_Eleutherius_!) that I should say something of
+their two other principles; but must freely confess to you, that what
+Disparity there may be between the salts and sulphurs of Metals and
+other Menerals [Transcriber's Note: Minerals], I am not my self
+experienced enough in the separations and examens of them, to venture
+to determine: (for as for the salts of Metals, I formerly represented
+it as a thing much to be question'd, whether they have any at all:)
+And for the processes of separation I find in Authors, if they were
+(what many of them are not) successfully practicable, as I noted
+above, yet they are to be performed by the assistance of other bodies,
+so hardly, if upon any termes at all, separable from them, that it is
+very difficult to give the separated principles all their due, and no
+more. But the Sulphur of Antimony which is vehemently vomitive, and
+the strongly scented Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol inclines me to think
+that not only Mineral Sulphurs differ from Vegetable ones, but also
+from one another, retaining much of the nature of their Concretes. The
+salts of metals, and of some sort of minerals, You will easily guesse
+by [Errata: (by] the Doubts I formerly express'd, whether metals have
+any salt at all [Errata: all)], that I have not been so happy as yet
+to see, perhaps not for want of curiosity. But if _Paracelsus_ did
+alwaies write so consentaneously to himself that his opinion were
+_confidently_ to be collected from every place of his writings where
+he seems to expresse it, I might safely take upon me to tell you, that
+he both countenances in general what I have delivered in my Fourth
+main consideration, and in particular warrants me to suspect that
+there may be a difference in metalline and mineral Salts, as well as
+we find it in those of other bodies. For, _Sulphur_ (sayes he)[22]
+_aliud in auro, aliud in argento, aliud in ferro, aliud in plumbo,
+stanno, &c. sic aliud in Saphiro, aliud in Smaragdo, aliud in rubino,
+chrysolito, amethisto, magnete, &c. Item aliud in lapidibus, silice,
+salibus, fontibus, &c. nec vero tot sulphura tantum, sed & totidem
+salia; sal aliud in metallis, aliud in gemmis, aliud in lapidibus,
+aliud in salibus, aliud in vitriolo, aliud in alumine: similis etiam
+Mercurii est ratio. Alius in Metallis, alius in Gemmis, &c. Ita ut
+unicuique speciei suus peculiaris Mercurius sit. Et tamen res saltem
+tres sunt; una essentia est sulphur; una est sal; una est Mercurius.
+Addo quod & specialius adhuc singula dividantur; aurum enim non unum,
+sed multiplex, ut et non unum pyrum, pomum, sed idem multiplex;
+totidem etiam sulphura auri, salia auri, mercurii auri; idem competit
+etiam metallis & gemmis; ut quot saphyri præstantiores, lævioris, &c.
+tot etiam saphyrica sulphura, saphyrica salia, saphyrici Mercurii, &c.
+Idem verum etiam est de turconibus & gemmis aliis universis._ From
+which passage (_Eleutherius_) I suppose you will think I might without
+rashness conclude, either that my opinion is favoured by that of
+_Paracelsus_, or that _Paracelsus_ his opinion was not alwaies the
+same. But because in divers other places of his writings he seems to
+talk at a differing rate of the three Principles and the four
+Elements, I shall content my self to inferr from the alledg'd passage,
+that if his doctrine be not consistent with that Part of mine which it
+is brought to countenance, it is very difficult to know what his
+opinion concerning salt, sulphur and mercury, was; and that
+consequently we had reason about the beginning of our conferences, to
+decline taking upon us, either to examine or oppose it.
+
+[Footnote 22: Paracel. de Mineral. Tract. 1. pag. 141.]
+
+I know not whether I should on this occasion add, that those very
+bodies the Chymists call Phlegme and Earth do yet recede from an
+Elementary simplicity. That common Earth and Water frequently do so,
+notwithstanding the received contrary opinion, is not deny'd by the
+more wary of the moderne Peripateticks themselves: and certainly, most
+Earths are much lesse simple bodies then is commonly imagined even by
+Chymists, who do not so consideratly to prescribe and employ Earths
+Promiscuously in those distillations that require the mixture of some
+_caput mortuum_, to hinder the flowing together of the matter, and to
+retain its grosser parts. For I have found some Earths to yield by
+distillation a Liquor very far from being inodorous or insipid; and
+'tis a known observation, that most kinds of fat Earth kept cover'd
+from the rain, and hindred from spending themselves in the production
+of vegetables, will in time become impregnated with Salt-Petre.
+
+But I must remember that the Water and Earths I ought here to speak
+of, are such as are separated from mixt Bodies by the fire; and
+therefore to restrain my Discourse to such, I shall tell you, That we
+see the Phlegme of Vitriol (for instance) is a very effectual remedie
+against burnes; and I know a very Famous and experienc'd _Physitian_,
+whose unsuspected secret (himself confess'd to me) it is, for the
+discussing of hard and Obstinate Tumours. The Phlegme of Vinager,
+though drawn exceeding leasurly in a digesting Furnace, I have
+purposely made tryall of; and sometimes found it able to draw, though
+slowly, a saccharine sweetness out of Lead; and as I remember by long
+Digestion, I dissolv'd Corpals [Errata: Corals] in it. The Phlegme of
+the sugar of Saturne is said to have very peculiar properties. Divers
+Eminent Chymists teach, that it will dissolve Pearls, which being
+precipitated by the spirit of the same concrete are thereby (as they
+say) rendred volatile; which has been confirmed to me, upon his own
+observation, by a person of great veracity. The Phlegme of Wine, and
+indeed divers other Liquors that are indiscriminately condemnd to be
+cast away as phlegm, are endow'd with qualities that make them differ
+both from meer water, and from each other; and whereas the Chymists
+are pleas'd to call the _caput mortuum_ of what they have distill'd
+(after they have by affusion of water drawn away its salt) _terra
+damnata_, or Earth, it may be doubted whether or no those earths are
+all of them perfectly alike: and it is scarce to be doubted, but that
+there are some of them which remain yet unreduc'd to an Elementary
+nature. The ashes of wood depriv'd of all the salt, and bone-Ashes, or
+calcin'd Harts-horn, which Refiners choose to make Tests of, as freest
+from Salt, seem unlike: and he that shall compare either of these
+insipid ashes to Lime, and much more to the _calx_ of Talk
+[Transcriber's Note: Talck] (though by the affusion of water they be
+exquisitely dulcify'd) will perhaps see cause to think them things of
+a somewhat differing nature. And it is evident in Colcothar that the
+exactest calcination, follow'd by an exquisite dulcification, does not
+alwaies reduce the remaining body into elementary earth; for after the
+salt or Vitriol (if the Calcination have been too faint) is drawn out
+of the Colcothar, the residue is not earth, but a mixt body, rich in
+Medical vertues (as experience has inform'd me) and which _Angelus
+Sala_ affirmes to be partly reducible into malleable Copper; which I
+judge very probable: for though when I was making Experiments upon
+Colcothar, I was destitute of a Furnace capable of giving a heat
+intense Enough to bring such a Calx to Fusion; yet having conjectur'd
+that if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find it
+out there, I put some dulcifi'd Colcothar into that _Menstruum_, and
+found the Liquor, according to my Expectation, presently Colour'd as
+Highly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Copper.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Fifth Part._
+
+
+Here _Carneades_ making a pause, I must not deny (sayes his Friend to
+him) that I think You have sufficiently prov'd that these distinct
+Substances which Chymists are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, by
+their Vulgar Destillation, are not pure and simple enough to deserve,
+in Rigour of speaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But I
+suppose You have heard, that there are some Modern _Spagyrists_, who
+give out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, so
+reduce the separated Ingredients of Mixt Bodies to an Elementary
+simplicity, That the Oyles (for Instance) extracted from all Mixts
+shall as perfectly resemble one another, as the Drops of Water do.
+
+If you remember (replies _Carneades_) that at the Beginning of our
+Conference with _Philoponus_, I declar'd to him before the rest of the
+Company, that I would not _engage_ my self at present to do any more
+then examine the usual proofs alledg'd by Chymists, for the Vulgar
+doctrine of their three Hypostatical Principles; You will easily
+perceive that I am not oblig'd to make answer to what you newly
+propos'd; and that it rather grants, then disproves what I have been
+contending for: Since by pretending to make so great a change in the
+reputed Principles that Destillation affords the common _Spagyrists_,
+'tis plainly enough presuppos'd, that before such Artificial
+Depurations be made, the Substances to be made more simple were not
+yet simple enough to be look'd upon as Elementary; Wherefore in case
+the _Artists_ you speak of could perform what they give out they can,
+yet I should not need to be asham'd of having question'd the Vulgar
+Opinion touching the _tria Prima_. And as to the thing it self, I
+shall freely acknowledge to you, that I love not to be forward in
+determining things to be impossible, till I know and have consider'd
+the means by which they are propos'd to be effected. And therefore I
+shall not peremptorily deny either the possibility of what these
+_Artists_ promise, or my Assent to any just Inference; however
+destructive to my Conjectures, that may be drawn from their
+performances. But give me leave to tell you withall, that because such
+promises are wont (as Experience has more then once inform'd me) to be
+much more easily made, then made good by Chymists, I must withhold my
+Beliefe from their assertions, till their Experiments exact it; and
+must not be so easie as to expect before hand, an unlikely thing upon
+no stronger Inducements then are yet given me: Besides that I have not
+yet found by what I have heard of these Artists, that though they
+pretend to bring the several Substances into which the Fire has
+divided the Concrete, to an exquisite simplicity, They pretend also to
+be able by the Fire to divide all Concretes, Minerals, and others,
+into the same number of Distinct Substances. And in the mean time I
+must think it improbable, that they can either truly separate as many
+differing Bodies from Gold (for Instance) or _Osteocolla_, as we can
+do from Wine, or Vitriol; or that the Mercury (for Example) of Gold or
+Saturn would be perfectly of the same Nature with that of Harts-horn;
+and that the sulphur of Antimony would be but Numerically different
+from the Distill'd butter or oyle of Roses.
+
+But suppose (sayes _Eleutherius_) that you should meet with Chymists,
+who would allow you to take in Earth and Water into the number of the
+principles of Mixt Bodies; and being also content to change the
+Ambiguous Name of Mercury for that more intelligible one of spirit,
+should consequently make the principles of Compound Bodies to be Five;
+would you not think it something hard to reject so plausible an
+Opinion, only because the Five substances into which the Fire divides
+mixt Bodies are not exactly pure, and Homogeneous? For my part
+(Continues _Carneades_) I cannot but think it somewhat strange, in
+case this Opinion be not true, that it should fall out so luckily,
+that so great a Variety of Bodies should be Analyz'd by the Fire into
+just five Distinct substances; which so little differing from the
+Bodies that bear those names, may so Plausibly be call'd Oyle, Spirit,
+Salt, Water, and Earth.
+
+The Opinion You now propose (answers _Carneades_) being another then
+that I was engag'd to examine, it is not requisite for me to Debate it
+at present; nor should I have leisure to do it thorowly. Wherefore I
+shall only tell you in General, that though I think this Opinion in
+some respects more defensible then that of the Vulgar Chymists; yet
+you may easily enough learn from the past Discourse what may be
+thought of it: Since many of the Objections made against the Vulgar
+Doctrine of the Chymists seem, without much alteration, employable
+against this _Hypothesis_ also. For, besides that this Doctrine does
+as well as the other take it for granted, (what is not easie to be
+prov'd) that the Fire is the true and Adequate Analyzer of Bodies,
+and that all the Distinct substances obtainable from a mixt Body by
+the Fire, were so pre-existent in it, that they were but extricated
+from each other by the _Analysis_; Besides that this Opinion, too,
+ascribe [Errata: ascribes] to the Productions of the Fire an
+Elementary simplicity, which I have shewn not to belong to them; and
+besides that this Doctrine is lyable to some of the other
+Difficulties, wherewith That of the _Tria Prima_ is incumber'd;
+Besides all this, I say, this quinary number of Elements, (if you
+pardon the Expression) ought at least to have been restrain'd to the
+Generality of Animal and Vegetable Bodies, since not only among these
+there are some Bodies (as I formerly argu'd) which, for ought has yet
+been made to appear, do consist, either of fewer or more similar
+substances then precisely Five. But in the Mineral Kingdom, there is
+scarce one Concrete that has been evinc'd to be adequatly divisible
+into such five Principles or Elements, and neither more nor less, as
+this Opinion would have every mixt Body to consist of.
+
+And this very thing (continues _Carneades_) may serve to take away or
+lessen your Wonder, that just so many Bodies as five should be found
+upon the Resolution of Concretes. For since we find not that the fire
+can make any such _Analysis_ (into five Elements) of Metals and other
+Mineral Bodies, whose Texture is more strong and permanent, it remains
+that the Five Substances under consideration be Obtain'd from
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies, which (probably by reason of their looser
+Contexture) are capable of being Distill'd. And as to such Bodies,
+'tis natural enough, that, whether we suppose that there are, or are
+not, precisely five Elements, there should ordinarily occurr in the
+Dissipated parts a five Fold Diversity of Scheme (if I may so speak.)
+For if the Parts do not remain all fix'd, as in Gold, Calcin'd Talck,
+&c. nor all ascend, as in the Sublimation of Brimstone, Camphire, &c.
+but after their Dissipation do associate themselves into new Schemes
+of Matter; it is very likely, that they will by the Fire be divided
+into fix'd and Volatile (I mean, in Reference to that degree of heat
+by which they are destill'd) and those Volatile parts will, for the
+most part, ascend either in a dry forme, which Chymists are pleas'd to
+call, if they be Tastless, Flowers; if Sapid, Volatile Salt; or in a
+Liquid Forme. And this Liquor must be either inflamable, and so pass
+for oyl, or not inflamable, and yet subtile and pungent, which may be
+call'd Spirit; or else strengthless or insipid, which may be nam'd
+Phlegme, or Water. And as for the fixt part, or _Caput Mortuum_, it
+will most commonly consist of Corpuscles, partly Soluble in Water, or
+Sapid, (especially if the Saline parts were not so Volatile, as to fly
+away before) which make up its fixt salt; and partly insoluble and
+insipid, which therefore seems to challenge the name of Earth. But
+although upon this ground one might easily enough have foretold, that
+the differing substances obtain'd from a perfectly mixt Body by the
+Fire would for the most part be reducible to the five newly mentioned
+States of Matter; yet it will not presently follow, that these five
+Distinct substances were simple and primogeneal bodies, so
+pre-existent in the Concrete that the fire does but take them asunder.
+Besides that it does not appear, that all Mixt Bodies, (witness,
+Gold, Silver, Mercury, &c.) Nay nor perhaps all Vegetables, which may
+appear by what we said above of _Camphire_, _Benzoin_, &c. are
+resoluble by Fire into just such differing Schemes of Matter. Nor will
+the Experiments formerly alledg'd permit us to look upon these
+separated Substances as Elementary, or uncompounded. Neither will it
+be a sufficient Argument of their being Bodies that deserve the Names
+which Chymists are pleas'd to give them, that they have an Analogy in
+point of Consistence, or either Volatility or Fixtness, or else some
+other obvious Quality, with the suppos'd Principles, whose names are
+ascrib'd to them. For, as I told you above, notwithstanding this
+Resemblance in some one Quality, there may be such a Disparity in
+others, as may be more fit to give them Differing Appellations, then
+the Resemblance is to give them one and the same. And indeed it seems
+but somewhat a gross Way of judging of the Nature of Bodies, to
+conclude without Scruple, that those must be of the same Nature that
+agree in some such General Quality, as Fluidity, Dryness, Volatility,
+and the like: since each of those Qualities, or States of Matter, may
+Comprehend a great Variety of Bodies, otherwise of a very differing
+Nature; as we may see in the Calxes of Gold, of Vitriol, and of
+Venetian Talck, compar'd with common Ashes, which yet are very dry,
+and fix'd by the vehemence of the Fire, as well as they. And as we may
+likewise gather from what I have formerly Observ'd, touching the
+Spirit of Box-Wood, which though a Volatile, Sapid, and not inflamable
+Liquor, as well as the Spirits of Harts-horn, of Blood and others,
+(and therefore has been hitherto call'd, the Spirit, and esteem'd for
+one of the Principles of the Wood that affords it;) may yet, as I told
+You, be subdivided into two Liquors, differing from one another, and
+one of them at least, from the Generality of other Chymical Spirits.
+
+But you may your self, if you please, (pursues _Carneades_)
+accommodate to the _Hypothesis_ you propos'd what other particulars
+you shall think applicable to it, in the foregoing Discourse. For I
+think it unseasonable for me to meddle now any further with a
+Controversie, which since it does not now belong to me, Leaves me at
+Liberty to Take my Own time to Declare my Self about it.
+
+_Eleutherius_ perceiving that _Carneades_ was somewhat unwilling to
+spend any more time upon the debate of this Opinion, and having
+perhaps some thoughts of taking hence a Rise to make him Discourse it
+more fully another time, thought not fit as then to make any further
+mention to him of the propos'd opinion, but told him;
+
+I presume I need not mind you, _Carneades_, That both the Patrons of
+the ternary number of Principles, and those that would have five
+Elements, endeavour to back their experiments with a specious Reason
+or two; and especially some of those Embracers of the Opinion last
+nam'd (whom I have convers'd with, and found them Learned men) assigne
+this Reason of the necessity of five distinct Elements; that otherwise
+mixt Bodies could not be so compounded and temper'd as to obtain a due
+consistence and competent Duration. For Salt (say they) is the
+_Basis_ of Solidity; and Permanency in Compound Bodies, without which
+the other four Elements might indeed be variously and loosly blended
+together, but would remain incompacted; but that Salt might be
+dissolv'd into minute Parts, and convey'd to the other Substances to
+be compacted by it, and with it, there is a Necessity of Water. And
+that the mixture may not be too hard and brittle, a Sulphureous or
+Oyly Principle must intervene to make the mass more tenacious; to this
+a Mercurial spirit must be superadded; which by its activity may for a
+while premeate [Transcriber's Note: permeate], and as it were leaven
+the whole Mass, and thereby promote the more exquisite mixture and
+incorporation of the Ingredients. To all which (lastly) a portion of
+Earth must be added, which by its drinesse and poracity [Errata:
+porosity] may soak up part of that water wherein the Salt was
+dissolv'd, and eminently concurr with the other ingredients to give
+the whole body the requisite consistence.
+
+I perceive (sayes _Carneades_ smiling) that if it be true, as 'twas
+lately rooted [Errata: noted] from the Proverb, _That good Wits have
+bad Memories_, 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 Conference Examine only the
+Experiments of my Adversaries, not their Speculative Reasons. Yet 'tis
+not (Subjoynes _Carneades_) for fear of medling with the Argument you
+have propos'd, that I decline the examining it at present. For if when
+we are more at leasure, you shall have a mind that we may Solemnly
+consider of it together; I am confident we shall scarce find it
+insoluble. And in the mean time we may observe, that such a way of
+Arguing may, it seems, be speciously accommodated to differing
+_Hypotheses_. For I find that _Beguinus_, and other Assertors of the
+_Tria Prima_, pretend to make out by such a way, the requisiteness of
+their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to constitute mixt Bodies, without
+taking notice of any necessity of an Addition of Water and Earth.
+
+And indeed neither sort of Chymists seem to have duly consider'd how
+great Variety there is in the Textures and Consistences of Compound
+Bodie; sand [Errata: Bodies; and] how little the consistence and
+Duration of many of them seem to accommodate and be explicable by the
+propos'd Notion. And not to mention those almost incorruptible
+Substances obtainable by the Fire, which I have prov'd to be somewhat
+compounded, and which the Chymists will readily grant not to be
+perfectly mixt Bodies: (Not to mention these, I say) If you will but
+recall to mind some of those Experiments, whereby I shew'd You that
+out of common Water only mixt Bodies (and even living ones) of very
+differing consistences, and resoluble by Fire into as many Principles
+as other bodies acknowledg'd to be perfectly mixt; if you do this, I
+say, you will not, I suppose, be averse from beleeving, that Nature by
+a convenient disposition of the minute parts of a portion of matter
+may contrive bodies durable enough, and of this, or that, or the other
+Consistence, without being oblig'd to make use of all, much less of
+any Determinate quantity of each of the five Elements, or of the three
+Principles to compound such bodies of. And I have (pursues
+_Carneades_) something wonder'd, Chymists should not consider, that
+there is scarce any body in Nature so permanent and indissoluble as
+Glass; which yet themselves teach us may be made of bare Ashes,
+brought to fusion by the meer Violence of the Fire; so that, since
+Ashes are granted to consist but of pure Salt and simple Earth,
+sequestred from all the other Principles or Elements, they must
+acknowledge, That even Art it self can of two Elements only, or, if
+you please, one Principle and one Element, compound a Body more
+durable then almost any in the World. Which being undeniable, how will
+they prove that Nature cannot compound Mixt Bodies, and even durable
+Ones, under all the five Elements or material Principles.
+
+But to insist any longer on this Occasional Disquisition, Touching
+their Opinion that would Establish five Elements, were to remember as
+little as You did before, that the Debate of this matter is no part of
+my first undertaking; and consequently, that I have already spent time
+enough in what I look back upon but as a digression, or at best an
+Excursion.
+
+And thus, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) having at length gone
+through the four Considerations I propos'd to Discourse unto you, I
+hold it not unfit, for fear my having insisted so long on each of them
+may have made you forget their _Series_, briefly to repeat them by
+telling you, that
+
+Since, in the first place, it may justly be doubted whether or no the
+Fire be, as Chymists suppose it, the genuine and Universal Resolver of
+mixt Bodies;
+
+Since we may doubt, in the next place, whether or no all the Distinct
+Substances that may be obtain'd from a mixt body by the Fire were
+pre-existent there in the formes in which they were separated from it;
+
+Since also, though we should grant the Substances separable from mixt
+Bodies by the fire to have been their component Ingredients, yet the
+Number of such substances does not appear the same in all mixt Bodies;
+some of them being Resoluble into more differing substances than
+three, and Others not being Resoluble into so many as three.
+
+And Since, Lastly, those very substances that are thus separated are
+not for the most part pure and Elementary bodies, but new kinds of
+mixts;
+
+Since, I say, these things are so, 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 Chymists to prove, that their
+three Hypostatical Principles do adequately compose all mixt Bodies,
+are not so demonstrative as to reduce a wary Person to acquiesce in
+their Doctrine, which, till they Explain and prove it better, will by
+its perplexing darkness be more apt to puzzle then satisfy considering
+men, and will to them appear incumbred with no small Difficulties.
+
+And from what has been hitherto deduc'd (continues _Carneades_) we may
+Learn, what to Judge of the common Practice of those Chymists, who
+because they have found that Diverse compound Bodies (for it will not
+hold in All) can be resolv'd into, or rather can be brought to afford
+two or three differing Substances more then the Soot and Ashes,
+whereinto the naked fire commonly divides them in our Chymnies, cry up
+their own Sect for the Invention of a New Philosophy, some of them, as
+_Helmont, &c._ styling themselves Philosophers by the Fire; and the
+most part not only ascribing, but as far as in them lies, engrossing
+to those of their Sect the Title of PHILOSOPHERS.
+
+But alas, how narrow is this Philosophy, that reaches but to some of
+those compound Bodies, which we find but upon, or in the crust or
+outside of our terrestrial Globe, which is it self but a point in
+comparison of the vast extended Universe, of whose other and greater
+parts the Doctrine of the _Tria Prima_ does not give us an Account!
+For what does it teach us, either of the Nature of the Sun, which
+Astronomers affirme to be eight-score and odd times bigger then the
+whole Earth? or of that of those numerous fixt Starrs, which, for
+ought we know, would very few, if any of them, appear inferiour in
+bulke and brightness to the Sun, if they were as neer us as He? What
+does the knowing that Salt, sulphur and Mercury, are the Principles of
+Mixt Bodies, informe us of the Nature of that vast, fluid, and
+Ætherial Substance, that seemes to make up the interstellar, and
+consequently much the greatest part of the World? for as for the
+opinion commonly ascrib'd to _Paracelsus_, as if he would have not
+only the four Peripatetick Elements, but even the Celestial parts of
+the Universe to consist of his three Principles, since the modern
+Chymists themselves have not thought so groundless a conceit worth
+their owning, I shall not think it Worth my confuting.
+
+But I should perchance forgive the Hypothesis I have been all this
+while examining, if, though it reaches but to a very little part of
+the World, it did at least give us a satisfactory account of those
+things to which 'tis said to reach. But I find not, that it gives us
+any other then a very imperfect information even about mixt Bodies
+themselves: For how will the knowledge of the _Tria Prima_ discover to
+us the Reason, why the Loadstone drawes a Needle and disposes it to
+respect the Poles, and yet seldom precisely points at them? how will
+this Hypothesis teach Us how a Chick is formed in the Egge, or how the
+Seminal Principles of Mint, Pompions, and other Vegitables, that I
+mention'd to You above, can fashion Water into Various Plants, each of
+them endow'd with its peculiar and determinate shape, and with divers
+specifick and discriminating Qualities? How does this Hypothesis shew
+us, how much Salt, how much Sulphur, and how much Mercury must be
+taken to make a Chick or a Pompion? and if We know that, what
+Principle is it, that manages these Ingredients, and contrives (for
+instance) such Liquors as the White and Yelk of an Egge into such a
+variety of Textures as is requisite to fashion the Bones, Veines,
+Arteries, Nerves, Tendons, Feathers, Blood, and other parts of a
+Chick; and not only to fashion each Limbe, but to connect them
+altogether, after that manner that is most congruous to the perfection
+of the Animal which is to Consist of Them? For to say, that some more
+fine and subtile part of either or all the Hypostatical Principles is
+the Director in all this business, and the Architect of all this
+Elaborate structure, is to give one occasion to demand again, what
+proportion and way of mixture of the _Tria Prima_ afforded this
+_Architectonick_ Spirit, and what Agent made so skilful and happy a
+mixture? And the Answer to this Question, if the Chymists will keep
+themselves within their three Principles, will be lyable to the same
+Inconvenience, that the Answer to the former was. And if it were not
+to intrench upon the Theame of a Friend of ours here present, I could
+easily prosecute the Imperfections of the Vulgar Chymists Philosophy,
+and shew you, that by going about to explicate by their three
+Principles, I say not, all the abstruse Properties of mixt Bodies, but
+even such Obvious and more familiar _Phænomena_ as _Fluidity_ and
+_Firmness_, The Colours and Figures of Stones, Minerals, and other
+compound Bodies, The Nutrition of either Plants or Animals, the
+Gravity of Gold or Quicksilver compar'd with Wine or Spirit of Wine;
+By attempting, I say, to render a reason of these (to omit a thousand
+others as difficult to account for) from any proportion of the three
+simple Ingredients, Chymists will be much more likely to discredit
+themselves and their _Hypothesis_, then satisfy an intelligent
+Inquirer after Truth.
+
+But (interposes _Eleutherus_) [Transcriber's Note: Eleutherius] This
+Objection seems no more then may be made against the four Peripatetick
+Elements. And indeed almost against any other _Hypothesis_, that
+pretends by any Determinate Number of Material Ingredients to render a
+reason of the _Phænomena_ of Nature. And as for the use of the
+Chymical Doctrine of the three Principles, I suppose you need not be
+told by me, that The great Champion of it, The Learned _Sennertus_,[23]
+assignes this noble use of the _Tria Prima_, That from Them, as the
+neerest and most Proper Principles, may be Deduc'd and Demonstrated
+the Properties which are in Mixt Bodies, and which cannot be
+Proximately (as They speak) deduc'd from the Elements. And This, sayes
+he, is chiefly Apparent, when we Inquire into the Properties and
+Faculties of Medecines. And I know (continues _Eleutherius_) That the
+Person You have assum'd, of an Opponent of the _Hermetick Doctrine_,
+will not so far prevaile against your Native and wonted Equity, as To
+keep You from acknowledging that Philosophy is much beholden to the
+Notions and Discoveries of Chymists.
+
+[Footnote 23: _Senn. de Cons. & Dissen. p. 165._]
+
+If the Chymists You speak of (Replyes _Carneades_) had been so modest,
+or so Discreet, as to propose their Opinion of the _Tria Prima_, but
+as a Notion useful among Others, to increase Humane knowledge, they
+had deserv'd more of our thanks; and less of our Opposition; but since
+the Thing that they pretend is not so much to contribute a Notion
+toward the Improvement of Philosophy, as to make this Notion attended
+[Errata: (attended] by a few lesse considerable ones) pass for a New
+Philosophy itself. Nay, since they boast so much of this phancie of
+theirs, that the famous _Quercetanus_ scruples not to write, that if
+his most certain Doctrine of the three Principles were sufficiently
+Learned, Examin'd, and Cultivated, it would easily Dispel all the
+Darkness that benights our minds, and bring in a Clear Light, that
+would remove all Difficulties. This School affording Theorems and
+Axiomes irrefragable, and to be admitted without Dispute by impartial
+Judges; and so useful withal, as to exempt us from the necessity of
+having recourse, for want of the knowledg of causes, to that Sanctuary
+of the igorant [Transcriber's Note: ignorant], Occult Qualities;
+since, I say, this Domestick Notion of the Chymists is so much
+overvalued by them, I cannot think it unfit, they should be made
+sensible of their mistake; and be admonish'd to take in more fruitful
+and comprehensive Principles, if they mean to give us an account of
+the _Phænomena_ of Nature; and not confine themselves and (as far as
+they can) others to such narrow Principles, as I fear will scarce
+inable them to give an account (I mean an intelligible one) of the
+tenth part (I say not) of all the _Phænomena_ of Nature; but even of
+all such as by the _Leucippian_ or some of the other sorts of
+Principles may be plausibly enough explicated. And though I be not
+unwilling to grant, that the incompetency I impute to the Chymical
+_Hypothesis_ is but the same which may be Objected against that of the
+four Elements, and divers other Doctrines that have been maintain'd by
+Learned men; yet since 'tis the Chymical _Hypothesis_ only which I am
+now examining, I see not why, if what I impute to it be a real
+inconvenience, either it should cease to be so, or I should scruple to
+object it, because either Theories are lyable thereunto, as well as
+the Hermetical. For I know not why a Truth should be thought lesse a
+Truth for the being fit to overthrow variety of Errors.
+
+I am oblig'd to You (continues _Carneades_, a little smiling) for the
+favourable Opinion You are pleas'd to express of my Equity, if there
+be no design in it. But I need not be tempted by an Artifice, or
+invited by a Complement, to acknowledge the great service that the
+Labours of Chymists have done the Lovers of useful Learning; nor even
+on this occasion shall their Arrogance hinder my Gratitude. But since
+we are as well examining to [Errata: delete "to"] the truth of their
+Doctrine as the merit of their industry, I must in order to the
+investigation of the first, continue a reply, to talk at the rate of
+the part I have assum'd; And tell you, that when I acknowledg the
+usefulness of the Labours of _Spagyrists_ to Natural Philosophy, I do
+it upon the score of their experiments, not upon that of Their
+Speculations; for it seems to me, that their Writings, as their
+Furnaces, afford as well smoke as light; and do little lesse obscure
+some subjects, then they illustrate others. And though I am unwilling
+to deny, that 'tis difficult for a man to be an Accomplisht
+Naturalist, that is a stranger to Chymistry, yet I look upon the
+common Operations and practices of Chymists, almost as I do on the
+Letters of the Alphabet, without whose knowledge 'tis very hard for a
+man to become a Philosopher; and yet that knowledge is very far from
+being sufficient to make him One.
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_, resuming a more serious Look) to consider a
+little more particularly what you alledg in favour of the Chymical
+Doctrine of the _Tria Prima_, though I shall readily acknowledge it
+not to be unuseful, and that the Divisers [Errata: devisers] and
+Embracers of it have done the Common-Wealth of Learning some service,
+by helping to destroy that excessive esteem, or rather veneration,
+wherewith the Doctrine of the four Elements was almost as generally as
+undeservedly entertain'd; yet what has been alledg'd concerning the
+usefulness of the _Tria Prima_, seems to me liable to no contemptible
+Difficulties.
+
+And first, as for the very way of Probation, which the more Learned
+and more Sober Champions of the Chymical cause employ to evince the
+Chymical Principles in Mixt Bodies, it seems to me to be farr enough
+from being convincing. This grand and leading Argument, your
+_Sennertus_ Himself, who layes Great weight upon it, and tells us,
+that the most Learned Philosophers employ this way of Reasoning to
+prove the most important things, proposes thus: _Ubicunque_ (sayes he)
+_pluribus eædem affectiones & qualitates insunt, per commune quoddam
+Principium insint necesse est, sicut omnia sunt Gravia propter terram,
+calida propter Ignem. At Colores, Odores, Sapores, esse_ [Greek:
+phlogiston] _& similia alia, mineralibus, Metallis, Gemmis, Lapidibus,
+Plantis, Animalibus insunt. Ergo per commune aliquod principium, &
+subiectum, insunt. At tale principium non sunt Elementa. Nullam enim
+habent ad tales qualitates producendas potentiam. Ergo alia principia,
+unde fluant, inquirenda sunt._
+
+In the Recital of this Argument, (sayes _Carneades_) I therefore
+thought fit to retain the Language wherein the Author proposes it,
+that I might also retain the propriety of some Latine Termes, to which
+I do not readily remember any that fully answer in English. But as for
+the Argumentation it self, 'tis built upon a precarious supposition,
+that seems to me neither Demonstrable nor true; for, how does it
+appear, that where the same Quality is to be met with in many Bodies,
+it must belong to them upon the Account of some one Body whereof they
+all partake? (For that the Major of our Authors Argument is to be
+Understood of the Material Ingredients of bodies, appears by the
+Instances of Earth and Fire he annexes to explain it.) For to begin
+with that very Example which he is pleas'd to alledge for himself; how
+can he prove, that the Gravity of all Bodies proceeds from what they
+participate of the Element of Earth? Since we see, that not only
+common Water, but the more pure Distill'd Rain Water is heavy; and
+Quicksilver is much heavier than Earth it self; though none of my
+Adversaries has yet prov'd, that it contains any of that Element. And
+I the Rather make use of this Example of Quicksilver, because I see
+not how the Assertors of the Elements will give any better Account of
+it then the Chymists. For if it be demanded how it comes to be Fluid,
+they will answer, that it participates much of the Nature of Water.
+And indeed, according to them, Water may be the Predominant Element
+in it, since we see, that several Bodies which by Distillation afford
+Liquors that weigh more then their _Caput Mortuum_ do not yet consist
+of Liquor enough to be Fluid. Yet if it be demanded how Quicksilver
+comes to be so heavy, then 'tis reply'd, that 'tis by reason of the
+Earth that abounds in it; but since, according to them, it must
+consist also of air, and partly of Fire, which they affirm to be light
+Elements, how comes it that it should be so much heavier then Earth of
+the same bulk, though to fill up the porosities and other Cavities it
+be made up into a mass or paste with Water, which it self they allow
+to be a heavy Element. But to returne to our _Spagyrists_, we see that
+Chymical Oyles and fixt Salts, though never so exquisitely purify'd
+and freed from terrestrial parts, do yet remain ponderous enough. And
+Experience has inform'd me, that a pound, for instance, of some of the
+heaviest Woods, as _Guajacum_ that will sink in Water, being burnt to
+Ashes will yield a much less weight of them (whereof I found but a
+small part to be Alcalyzate) then much lighter Vegetables: As also
+that the black Charcoal of it will not sink as did the wood, but swim;
+which argues that the Differing Gravity of Bodies proceeds chiefly
+from their particular Texture, as is manifest in Gold, the closest and
+Compactest of Bodies, which is many times heavier then we can possibly
+make any parcell of Earth of the same Bulk. I will not examine, what
+may be argu'd touching the Gravity or Quality Analagous thereunto, of
+even Celestial bodies, from the motion of the spots about the Sun, d
+[Errata: and] from the appearing equality of the suppos'd Seas in the
+Moon; nor consider how little those _Phæmonea_ [Transcriber's Note:
+Phænomena] would agree with what _Sennertus_ presumes concerning
+Gravity. But further to invalidate his supposition, I shall demand,
+upon what Chymical Principle Fluidity depends? And yet Fluidity is,
+two or three perhaps excepted, the most diffused quality of the
+universe, and far more General then almost any other of those that are
+to be met with in any of the Chymicall Principles, or _Aristotelian_
+Elements; since not only the Air, but that vast expansion we call
+Heaven, in comparison of which our Terrestrial Globe (supposing it
+were all Solid) is but a point; and perhaps to [Errata: too] the Sun
+and the fixt Stars are fluid bodies. I demand also, 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 Question concerning Light,
+which is not only to be found in the Kindl'd Sulphur of mixt Bodis
+[Transcriber's Note: Bodies], but (not to mention those sorts of
+rotten Woods, and rotten Fish that shine in the Dark) in the tails of
+living Glow-wormes, and in the Vast bodies of the Sun and Stars. I
+would gladly also know, in which of the three Principles the Quality,
+we call Sound, resides as in its proper Subject; since either Oyl
+falling upon Oyle, or Spirit upon Spirit, or Salt upon Salt, in a
+great quantity, and from a considerable height, will make a noise, or
+if you please, create a sound, and (that the objection may reach the
+_Aristotelians_) so will also water upon water, and Earth upon Earth.
+And I could name other qualities to be met within divers bodies, of
+which I suppose my Adversaries will not in haste assign any Subject,
+upon whose Account it must needs be, that the quality belongs to all
+the other several bodies.
+
+And, before I proceed any further, I must here invite you to compare
+the supposition we are examining, with some other of the Chymical
+Tenents. For, first they do in effect teach that more then one quality
+may belong to, and be deduc'd from, one Principle. For, they ascribe
+to Salt Tasts, and the power of Coagulation; to sulphur, as well
+Odours as inflamableness; And some of them ascribe to Mercury,
+Colours; as all of them do effumability, as they speak. And on the
+other side, it is evident that Volatility belongs in common to all the
+three Principles, and to Water too. For 'tis manifest, that Chymical
+Oyles are Volatile; That also divers Salts Emerging, upon the Analysis
+of many Concretes, are very Volatile, is plain from the figitiveness
+[Errata: fugitivenesse] of Salt, of Harts-horne, flesh, &c. ascending
+in the Distillation of those bodies. How easily water may be made to
+ascend in Vapours, there is scarce any body that has not observ'd. And
+as for what they call the Mercuriall Principle of bodies, that is so
+apt to be rais'd in the form of Steam, that _Paracelsus_ and others
+define it by that aptness to fly up; so that (to draw that inference
+by the way) it seems not that Chymists have been accurate in their
+Doctrine of qualities, and their respective Principles, since they
+both derive several qualities from the same Principle, and must
+ascribe the same quality to almost all their Principles and other
+bodies besides. And thus much for the first thing taken for granted,
+without sufficient proof, by your _Sennertus_: And to add that upon
+the Bye (continues _Carneades_) we may hence learn what to judge of
+the way of Argumentation, which that fierce Champion of the
+_Aristotelians_ against the Chymists, _Anthonius Guntherus
+Billichius_[24] employes, where he pretends to prove against
+_Beguinus_, that not only the four Elements do immediately concur to
+Constitute every mixt body, and are both present in it, and obtainable
+from it upon its Dissolution; but that in the _Tria Prima_ themselves,
+whereinto Chymists are wont to resolve mixt Bodies, each of them
+clearly discovers it self to consist of four Elements. The
+Ratiocination it self (pursues _Carneades_) being somewhat unusual, I
+did the other Day Transcribe it, and (sayes He, pulling a Paper out of
+his Pocket) it is this. _Ordiamur, cum Beguino, a ligno viridi, quod
+si concremetur, videbis in sudore Aquam, in fumo Aerem, in flamma &
+Prunis Ignem, Terram in cineribus: Quod si Beguino placuerit ex eo
+colligere humidum aquosum, cohibere humidum oleaginosum, extrahere ex
+cineribus salem; Ego ipsi in unoquoque horum seorsim quatuor Elementa
+ad oculum demonstrabo, eodem artificio quo in ligno viridi ea
+demonstravi. Humorem aquosum admovebo Igni. Ipse Aquam Ebullire
+videbit, in Vapore Aerem conspiciet, Ignem sentiet in æstu, plus minus
+Terræ in sedimento apparebit. Humor porro Oleaginosus aquam humiditate
+& fluiditate per se, accensus vero Ignem flamma prodit, fumo Aerem,
+fuligine, nidore & amurca terram. Salem denique ipse Beguinus siccum
+vocat & Terrestrem, qui tamen nec fusus Aquam, nec caustica vi ignem
+celare potest; ignis vero Violentia in halitus versus nec ab Aere se
+alienum esse demonstrat; Idem de Lacte, de Ovis, de semine Lini, de
+Garyophyllis, de Nitro, de sale Marino, denique de Antimonio, quod
+fuit de Ligno viridi Judicium; eadem de illorum partibus, quas_
+Beguinus _adducit, sententia, quæ de viridis ligni humore aquoso, quæ
+de liquore ejusdem oleoso, quæ de sale fuit._
+
+[Footnote 24: _In Thessalo redivivo. Cap. 10. pag. 73. & 74._]
+
+This bold Discourse (resumes _Carneades_, putting up again his Paper,)
+I think it were not very difficult to confute, if his Arguments were
+as considerable as our time will probably prove short for the
+remaining and more necessary Part of my Discourse; wherefore referring
+You for an Answer to what was said concerning the Dissipated Parts of
+a burnt piece of green Wood, to what I told _Themistius_ on the like
+occasion, I might easily shew You, how sleightly and superficially our
+_Guntherus_ talks of the dividing the flame of Green Wood into his
+four Elements; _When_ he makes that vapour to be air, which being
+caught in Glasses and condens'd, presently discovers it self to have
+been but an Aggregate of innumerable very minute drops of Liquor; and
+_When_ he would prove the Phlegmes being compos'd of Fire by that Heat
+which is adventitious to the Liquor, and ceases upon the absence of
+what produc'd it (whether that be an Agitation proceeding from the
+motion of the External Fire, or the presence of a Multitude of igneous
+Atomes pervading the pores of the Vessel, and nimbly permeating the
+whole Body of the Water) I might, I say, urge these and divers other
+Weaknesses of His Discourse. But I will rather take Notice of what is
+more pertinent to the Occasion of this Digression, namely, that Taking
+it for Granted, that Fluidity (with which he unwarily seems to
+confound Humidity) must proceed from the Element of Water, he makes a
+Chymical Oyle to Consist of that Elementary Liquor; and yet in the
+very next Words proves, that it consists also of Fire, by its
+Inflamability; not remembring that exquisitely pure Spirit of Wine is
+both more Fluid then Water it self, and yet will Flame all away
+without leaving the Least Aqueous Moisture behind it; and without such
+an _Amurca_ and Soot as he would Deduce the presence of Earth from. So
+that the same Liquor may according to his Doctrine be concluded by its
+great Fluidity to be almost all Water; and by its burning all away to
+be all disguised Fire. And by the like way of Probation our Author
+would shew that the fixt salt of Wood is compounded of the four
+Elements. For (sayes he) being turn'd by the violence of the Fire into
+steames, it shews it self to be of kin to Air; whereas I doubt whether
+he ever saw a true fixt Salt (which to become so, must have already
+endur'd the violence of an Incinerating Fire) brought by the Fire
+alone to ascend in the Forme of Exhalations; but I do not doubt that
+if he did, and had caught those Exhalations in convenient Vessels, he
+would have found them as well as the Steames of common Salt, &c. of a
+Saline and not an Aereal Nature. And whereas our Authour takes it also
+for Granted, that the Fusibility of Salt must be Deduc'd from Water,
+it is indeed so much the Effect of heat variously agitating the Minute
+Parts of a Body, without regard to Water, that Gold (which by its
+being the heavyest and fixtest of Bodies, should be the most Earthy)
+will be brought to Fusion by a strong Fire; which sure is more likely
+to drive away then increase its Aqueous Ingredient, if it have any;
+and on the other side, for want of a sufficient agitation of its
+minute parts, Ice is not Fluid, but Solid; though he presumes also
+that the Mordicant Quality of Bodies must proceed from a fiery
+ingredient; whereas, not to urge that the Light and inflamable parts,
+which are the most likely to belong to the Element of Fire, must
+probably be driven away by that time the violence of the Fire has
+reduc'd the Body to ashes; Not to urge this, I I [Transcriber's Note:
+extra "I" in original] say, nor that Oyle of Vitriol which quenches
+Fire, burnes the Tongue and flesh of those that Unwarily tast or apply
+it, as a caustick doth, it is precarious to prove the Presence of Fire
+in fixt salts from their Caustick power, unlesse it were first shewn,
+that all the Qualities ascribed to salts must be deduc'd from those of
+the Elements; which, had I Time, I could easily manifest to be no easy
+talk. And not to mention that our Authour makes a Body as Homogeneous
+as any he can produce for Elementary, belong both to Water and Fire,
+Though it be neither Fluid nor Insipid, like Water; nor light and
+Volatile, like Fire; he seems to omit in this Anatomy the Element of
+Earth, save That he intimates, That the salt may pass for that; But
+since a few lines before, he takes Ashes for Earth, I see not how he
+will avoid an Inconsistency either betwixt the Parts of his Discourse
+or betwixt some of them and his Doctrine. For since There is a
+manifest Difference betwixt the Saline and the insipid Parts of Ashes,
+I see not how substances That Disagree in such Notable Qualities can
+be both said to be Portions of an Element, whose Nature requires that
+it be Homogeneous, especially in this case where an _Analysis_ by the
+Fire is suppos'd to have separated it from the admixture of other
+Elements, which are confess'd by most _Aristotelians_ to be Generally
+found in common Earth, and to render it impure. And sure if when we
+have consider'd for how little a Disparities sake the Peripateticks
+make these Symbolizing Bodies Aire and Fire to be two Distinct
+Elements, we shall also consider that the Saline part of Ashes is very
+strongly Tasted, and easily soluble in Water; whereas the other part
+of the same Ashes is insipid and indissoluble in the same Liquor: Not
+to add, that the one substance is Opacous, and the other somewhat
+Diaphanous, nor that they differ in Divers other Particulars; If we
+consider those things, I say, we shall hardly think that both these
+Substances are Elementary Earth; And as to what is sometimes objected,
+that their Saline Tast is only an Effect of Incineration and Adustion,
+it has been elsewhere fully reply'd to, when propos'd by _Themistius_,
+and where it has been prov'd against him, that however insipid Earth
+may perhaps by Additaments be turn'd into Salt, yet 'tis not like it
+should be so by the Fire alone: For we see that when we refine Gold
+and Silver, the violentest Fires We can Employ on them give them not
+the least Rellish of Saltness. And I think _Philoponus_ has rightly
+observ'd, that the Ashes of some Concretes contain very little salt if
+any at all; For Refiners suppose that bone-ashes are free from it, and
+therefore make use of them for Tests and Cuppels, which ought to be
+Destitute of Salt, lest the Violence of the Fire should bring them to
+Vitrification; And having purposely and heedfully tasted a Cuppel made
+of only bone-ashes and fair water, which I had caus'd to be expos'd
+to a Very Violent Fire, acuated by the Blast of a large pair of Double
+Bellows, I could not perceive that the force of the Fire had imparted
+to it the least Saltness, or so much as made it less Insipid.
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_) since neither You nor I love Repetitions, I
+shall not now make any of what else was urg'd against _Themistius_ but
+rather invite You to take notice with me that when our Authour, though
+a Learned Man, and one that pretends skill enough in Chymistry to
+reforme the whole Art, comes to make good his confident Undertaking,
+to give us an occular Demonstration of the immediate Presence of the
+four Elements in the resolution of Green Wood, He is fain to say
+things that agree very little with one another. For about the
+beginning of that passage of His lately recited to you, he makes the
+sweat as he calls it of the green Wood to be Water, the smoke Aire,
+the shining Matter Fire, and the Ashes Earth; whereas a few lines
+after, he will in each of these, nay (as I just now noted) in one
+Distinct Part of the Ashes, shew the four Elements. So that either the
+former _Analysis_ must be incompetent to prove that Number of
+Elements, since by it the burnt Concrete is not reduc'd into
+Elementary Bodies, but into such as are yet each of them compounded of
+the four Elements; or else these Qualities from which he endeavours to
+deduce the presence of all the Elements, in the fixt salt, and each of
+the other separated substances, will be but a precarious way of
+probation: especially if you consider, that the extracted _Alcali_ of
+Wood, being for ought appears at least as similar a Body as any that
+the Peripateticks can shew us, if its differing Qualities must argue
+the presence of Distinct Elements, it will scarce be possible for them
+by any way they know of employing the fire upon a Body, to shew that
+any Body is a Portion of a true Element: And this recals to my mind,
+that I am now but in an occasional excussion, which aiming only to
+shew that the Peripateticks as well as the Chymists take in our
+present Controversie something for granted which they ought to prove,
+I shall returne to my exceptions, where I ended the first of them, and
+further tell you, that neither is that the only precarious thing that
+I take notice of in _Sennertus_ his Argumentation; for when he
+inferrs, that because the Qualities he Mentions as Colours, Smels, and
+the like, belong not to the Elements; they therefore must to the
+Chymical Principles, he takes that for granted, which will not in
+haste be prov'd; as I might here manifest, but that I may by and by
+have a fitter opportunity to take notice of it. And thus much at
+present may suffice to have Discours'd against the Supposition, that
+almost every Quality must have some [Greek: dektikon prôton], as they
+speak, some Native receptacle, wherein as in its proper Subject of
+inhesion it peculiarly resides, and on whose account that quality
+belongs to the other Bodies, Wherein it is to be met with. Now this
+Fundamental supposition being once Destroy'd, whatsoever is built upon
+it, must fall to ruine of it self.
+
+But I consider further, that Chymists are (for ought I have found) far
+from being able to explicate by any of the _Tria Prima_, those
+qualities which they pretend to belong primarily unto it, and in mixt
+Bodies to Deduce from it. Tis true indeed, that such qualities are
+not explicable by the four Elements; but it will not therefore follow,
+that they are so by the three hermetical Principles; and this is it
+that seems to have deceiv'd the Chymists, and is indeed a very common
+mistake amongst most Disputants, who argue as if there could be but
+two Opinions concerning the Difficulty about which they contend; and
+consequently they inferr, that if their Adversaries Opinion be
+Erroneous, Their's must needs be the Truth; whereas many questions,
+and especially in matters Physiological, may admit of so many
+Differing _Hypotheses_, that 'twill be very inconsiderate and
+fallacious to conclude (except where the Opinions are precisely
+Contradictory) the Truth of one from the falsity of another. And in
+our particular case 'tis no way necessary, that the Properties of mixt
+Bodies must be explicable either by the Hermetical, or the
+_Aristotelian Hypothesis_, there being divers other and more plausible
+wayes of explaining them, and especially that, which deduces qualities
+from the motion, figure, and contrivance of the small parts of Bodies;
+as I think might be shewn, if the attempt were as seasonable, as I
+fear it would be Tedious.
+
+I will allow then, that the Chymists do not causelessly accuse the
+Doctrine of the four elements of incompetency to explain the
+Properties of Compound bodies. And for this Rejection of a Vulgar
+Error, they ought not to be deny'd what praise men may deserve for
+exploding a Doctrine whose Imperfections are so conspicuous, that men
+needed but not to shut their Eyes, to discover them. But I am
+mistaken, if our Hermetical Philosophers Themselves need not, as well
+as the Peripateticks, have Recourse to more Fruitfull and
+Comprehensive Principles then the _tria Prima_, to make out the
+Properties of the Bodies they converse with. Not to accumulate
+Examples to this purpose, (because I hope for a fitter opportunity to
+prosecute this Subject) let us at present only point at Colour, that
+you may guess by what they say of so obvious and familiar a Quality,
+how little Instruction we are to expect from the _Tria Prima_ in those
+more abstruse ones, which they with the _Aristotelians_ stile Occult.
+For about Colours, neither do they at all agree among themselves, nor
+have I met with any one, of which of the three Perswasions soever,
+that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymists are wont to
+ascribe Colours to Mercury; _Paracelsus_ in divers places attributes
+them to Salt; and _Sennertus_,[25] having recited their differing
+Opinions, Dissents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sulphur.
+But how Colours do, nay, how they may, arise from either of these
+Principles, I think you will scarce say that any has yet intelligibly
+explicated. And if Mr. _Boyle_ will allow me to shew you the
+Experiments which he has collected about Colours, you will, I doubt
+not, confess that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of the
+Predominancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of their
+Texture, and especially the Disposition of their superficial parts,
+whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is so modifi'd, as by
+differing Impressions variously to affect the Organs of Sight. I might
+here take notice of the pleasing variety of Colours exhibited by the
+Triangular glass, (as 'tis wont to be call'd) and demand, what
+addition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls the
+Body of the Glass by being Prismatically figur'd; and yet 'tis known,
+that without that shape it would not affor'd those colours as it does.
+But because it may be objected, that these are not real, but apparent
+Colours; that I may not lose time in examing the Distinction, I will
+alledge against the Chymists, a couple of examples of Real and
+Permanent Colours Drawn from Metalline Bodies, and represent, that
+without the addition of any extraneous body, Quicksilver may by the
+Fire alone, and that in glass Vessels, be depriv'd of its silver-like
+Colour, and be turn'd into a Red Body; and from this Red Body without
+Addition likewise may be obtain'd a Mercury Bright and Specular as it
+was before; So that I have here a lasting Colour Generated and
+Destroy'd (as I have seen) at pleasure, without adding or taking away
+either Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and slender
+piece of harden'd steel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at some
+little distance short of the point, You shall not have held the Steel
+long in the flame, but You shall perceive divers Colours, as Yellow,
+Red and Blew, to appear upon the Surface of the metal, and as it were
+run along in chase of one another towards the point; So that the same
+body, and that in one and the same part, may not only have a new
+colour produc'd in it, but exhibite successively divers Colours within
+a minute of an hour, or thereabouts, and any of these Colours may by
+Removing the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and last many
+years. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot reasonably be
+suppos'd to proceed from the Accession of any of the three Principles,
+to which of them soever Chymists will be pleas'd to ascribe Colours;
+especially considering, that if you but suddenly Refrigerate that
+Iron, First made Red hot, it will be harden'd and Colourless 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 succeed one another, as at the First. But I must not any
+further prosecute an Occasional Discourse, though that were not so
+Difficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chymists to give
+a better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, then
+they have done of Colours. And your _Sennertus_ Himself (though an
+Author I much value) would I fear have been exceedingly puzl'd to
+resolve, by the _Tria Prima_, halfe that Catalogue of Problems, which
+he challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their four
+Elements.[26] And supposing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur were
+the Principle to which this or that Quality may be peculiarly
+referr'd, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us something
+concerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but something. For indeed
+he does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable measure satisfie
+an inquisitive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know,
+that such a quality resides in such a Principle or Element, whilst I
+remain altogether ignorant of the Cause 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 Heaviness of mixt
+bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos'd of, if I know
+not the reason why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymist
+teach the Philosopher of the Nature of Purgatition, if he only tells
+him that the Purgative Vertue of Medicines resides in their Salt? For,
+besides that this must not be conceded without Limitation, since the
+purging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein they
+are infus'd, are at most but such compounded Salts, (I mean mingl'd
+with Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjects
+of the Vegetable Kingdom afford;) And since too that Quicksilver
+precipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a powder, is
+wont to be strongly enough Cathartical, though the Chymists have not
+yet prov'd, that either Gold or Mercury have any Salt at all, much
+less any that is Purgative; Besides this, I say, how little is it to
+me, to know That 'tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for Instance) that
+purges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; since scarce any
+Elementary Salt is in small quantity cathartical. And if I know not
+how Purgation in general is effected in a Humane Body? In a word, as
+'tis one thing to know a mans Lodging, and another, to be acquainted
+with him; so it may be one thing to know the subject wherein a Quality
+principally resides, and another thing to have a right notion and
+knowledg of the quality its self. Now that which I take to be the
+reason of this Chymical Deficiency, is the same upon whose account I
+think the _Aristotelian_ and divers other Theories incompetent to
+explicate the Origen [Errata: origine] of Qualities. For I am apt to
+think, that men will never be able to explain the _Phænomena_ of
+Nature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Presence and
+Proportion of such or such material Ingredients, and consider such
+ingredients or Elements as Bodies in a state of rest; whereas indeed
+the greatest part of the affections of matter, and consequently of the
+_Phænomena_ of nature, seems to depend upon the motion and the
+continuance [Errata: contrivance] of the small parts of Bodies. For
+'tis by motion that one part of matter acts upon another; and 'tis,
+for the most part, the texture of the Body upon which the moving parts
+strike, that modifies to motion or Impression, and concurrs with it
+to the production of those Effects which make up the chief part of the
+Naturalists Theme.
+
+[Footnote 25: _De Cons. & dissen. cap. 11. pag. 186._]
+
+[Footnote 26: _Sennert. de Con. seus. [Transcriber's Note: Consens.] &
+Dissens. pag. 165. 166._]
+
+But (sayes _Eleutherius_) me thinks for all this, you have left some
+part of what I alledg'd in behalf of the three principles, unanswer'd.
+For all that you have said will not keep this from being a useful
+Discovery, that since in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur of
+another and the Mercury of a third, the Medicinal vertue of it
+resides, that Principle ought to be separated from the rest, and there
+the desired faculty must be sought for.
+
+I never denyed (Replyes _Carneades_) that the Notion of the _Tria
+Prima_ may be of some use, but (continues he laughing) by what you now
+alledg for it, it will but appear That it is useful to Apothecaries,
+rather than to Philosophers, The being able to make things Operative
+being sufficient to those, whereas the Knowledge of Causes is the
+Thing looked after by These. And let me Tell You, _Eleutherius_, even
+this it self will need to be entertained with some caution.
+
+For first, it will not presently follow, That if the Purgative or
+other vertue of a simple may be easily extracted by Water or Spirit of
+Wine, it Resides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unlesse
+the Body have before been resolved by the Fire, or some Other Powerful
+Agent, it will, for the most part, afford in the Liquors I have named,
+rather the finer compounded parts of it self, Than the Elementary
+ones. As I noted before, That Water will dissolve not only pure Salts,
+but Crystals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr'h, and Other Compound
+Bodies. As also Spirit of Wine will Dissolve not only the pure Sulphur
+of Concretes, but likewise the whole Substance of divers Resinous
+Bodies, as Benzoin, the Gummous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, and
+Other bodies that are counted perfectly Mixt. And we see that the
+Extracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a simple
+and Elementary Nature, but Masses consisting of the looser Corpuscles,
+and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; since by
+Distillation they may be Divided into more Elementary substances.
+
+Next, we may consider That even when there intervenes a Chymical
+resolution by he [Transcriber's Note: the] Fire, 'tis seldom in the
+Saline or Sulphureous principle, as such, that the desir'd Faculty of
+the Concrete Resides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet a
+mixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predominant in
+it. For, if in Chymical Resolutions the separated Substances were pure
+and simple Bodies, and of a perfect Elementary Nature; no one would be
+indued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualities
+would Differ as Little as do those of Water. And let me add this upon
+the bye, That even Eminent Chymists have suffer'd themselves to be
+reprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying some of
+the things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though such
+compleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bodies might perhaps be more
+satisfactory to our Understanding; yet others are often more useful to
+our Lives, the efficacy of such Chymical Productions depending most
+upon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are separated, or gain
+by the new associations of the Dissipated among themselves; whereas
+if they were meerly Elementary, their uses would be comparatively very
+small; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other such Substances of
+one denomination, would be the very same.
+
+And by the Way (_Eleutherius_) I am inclin'd upon this ground to
+Think, That the artificial resolution of compound bodies by Fire does
+not so much enrich mankind, as it divides them into their supposed
+Principles; as upon the score of its making new compounds by now
+[Transcriber's Note: new] combinations of the dissipated parts of the
+resolv'd Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies is
+considerably increased. And many of those new productions are indow'd
+with useful qualities, divers of which they owe not to the body from
+which they were obtein'd, but to Their newly Acquired Texture.
+
+But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that as
+there are divers Concretes whose Faculties reside in some one or other
+of those differing Substances that Chymists call their Sulphurs,
+Salts, and Mercuries, and consequently may be best obtain'd, by
+analyzing the Concrete whereby the desired Principles may be had
+sever'd or freed from the rest; So there are other wherein the noblest
+properties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but depend
+immediately upon the form (or if you will) result from the determinate
+structure of the Whole Concrete; and consequently they that go about
+to extract the Vertues of such bodies, by exposing them to the
+Violence of the Fire, do exceedingly mistake, and take the way to
+Destroy what they would obtain.
+
+I remmember that _Helmont_ himself somewhere confesses, That as the
+Fire betters some things and improves their Vertues, so it spoyles
+others and makes them degenerate. And elsewhere he judiciously
+affirmes, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a simple, such
+as Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire be
+separated from it. And lest you should doubt whether he means by the
+vertues of things those that are Medical; he has in one place[27] this
+ingenuous confession; _Credo_ (sayes he) _simplicia in sua
+simplicitate esse sufficientia pro sanatione omnium morborum._ Nag.
+[Errata: Nay,] Barthias, even in a Comment upon _Beguinus_,[28]
+scruples not to make this acknowledgment; _Valde absurdum est_ (sayes
+he) _ex omnibus rebus extracta facere, salia, quintas essentias;
+præsertim ex substantiis per se plane vel subtilibus vel homogeneis,
+quales sunt uniones, Corallia, Moscus, Ambra, &c._ Consonantly
+whereunto he also tells Us (and Vouches the famous _Platerus_, for
+having candidly given the same Advertisement to his Auditors,) that
+some things have greater vertues, and better suited to our humane
+nature, when unprepar'd, than when they have past the Chymists Fire;
+as we see, sayes my Author, in Pepper; of which some grains swallowed
+perform more towards the relief of a Distempered stomack, than a great
+quantity of the Oyle of the same spice.
+
+[Footnote 27: Helmont Pharm. & Dispens. Nov. p. 458.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17.]
+
+It has been (pursues _Carneades_) by our Friend here present observ'd
+concerning Salt-petre, that none of the substances into which the Fire
+is wont to divide it, retaines either the Tast, the cooling vertue, or
+some other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of those
+Substances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petre
+it self. The shining property of the tayls of gloworms does survive
+but so short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, that
+inquisitive men have not scrupled publickly to deride _Baptista Porta_
+and others; who deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises have
+ventur'd to prescribe the distillation of a Water from the tayles of
+Glowormes, as a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. To
+which I shall now add no other example than that afforded us by Amber;
+which, whilst it remains an intire body, is endow'd with an Electrical
+faculty of drawing to it self fethers, strawes, and such like Bodies;
+which I never could observe 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 these having such a Texture as the intire Concrete.
+And however Chymists boldly deduce such and such properties from this
+or that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretes
+that abound with this or that Ingredient, 'tis not alwayes so much by
+vertue of its presence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify'd
+to perform such and such Effects; as upon the account of the
+particular texture of that and the other Ingredients, associated after
+a determinate Manner into one Concrete (though possibly such a
+proportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other for
+the constituting of such a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov'd
+upon the dyal, the bell is struck, and the other actions belonging to
+the engine are perform'd, not because the Wheeles are of brass or
+iron, or part of one metal and part of another, or because the weights
+are of Lead, but by Vertue of the size, shape, bigness, and
+co-aptation of the several parts; which would performe the same things
+though the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights of
+Stone or Clay; provided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine were
+the same: though it be not to be deny'd, that Brasse and Steel are
+more convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood.
+And to let you see, _Eleutherius_, that 'tis sometimes at least, upon
+the Texture of the small parts of a body, and not alwaies upon the
+presence, or recesse, or increase, or Decrement of any one of its
+Principle, that it may lose some such Qualities, and acquire some
+such others as are thought very strongly inherent to the bodies they
+Reside in. [Errata: in;] I will add to what may from my past discourse
+be refer'd to this purpose, this Notable Example, from my Own
+experience; That Lead may without any additament, and only by various
+applications of the Fire, lose its colour, and acquire sometimes a
+gray, sometimes a yellowish, sometimes a red, sometimes an
+_amethihstine_ [Transcriber's Note: amethistine] colour; and after
+having past through these, and perhaps divers others, again recover
+its leaden colour, and be made a bright body. That also this Lead,
+which is so flexible a metal, may be made as brittle as Glasse, and
+presently be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. And
+besides, that the same lead, which I find by _Microscopes_ to be one
+of the most opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a fine
+transparent glasse; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Nature
+again; and all this, as I said, without the addition of any extraneous
+body, and meerly by the manner and Method of exposing it to the Fire.
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_) after having already put you to so prolix a
+trouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a promise of putting
+speedily a period to it; And to make good that promise, I shall from
+all that I have hitherto discoursed with you, deduce but this one
+proposition by way of Corollary. [_That it may as yet be doubted,
+whether or no there be any determinate Number of Elements; Or, if you
+please, whether or no all compound bodies, do consist of the same
+number of Elementary ingredients or material Principles._]
+
+This being but an inference from the foregoing Discourse, it will not
+be requisite to insist 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.
+
+In the First place then, from what has been so largely discours'd, it
+may appear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by the
+common Peripateticks, or by the vulgar Chymists, to demonstrate that
+all mixt bodies are made up precisely either of the four Elements, or
+the three Hypostatical Principles, do not evince what they are
+alledg'd to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended to
+be drawn from Reason in favour of _Aristotelian Hypothesis_ (for the
+Chymists are wont to rely almost altogether upon Experiments) they are
+Commonly grounded upon such unreasonable or precarious Suppositions,
+that 'tis altogether as easie and as just for any man to reject them,
+as for those that take them for granted to assert them, being indeed
+all of them as indemonstrable as the conclusion to be inferr'd from
+them; and some of them so manifestly weak and prooflesse; that he must
+be a very courteous adversary, that can be willing to grant them; and
+as unskilful a one, that can be compelled to do so.
+
+In the next place, it may be considered, if what those Patriarchs of
+the _Spagyrists_, _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_, do on divers occasions
+positively deliver, be true; namely that the _Alkahest_ does Resolve
+all mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it must be
+decided which of the two resolutions (that made by the _Alkahest_, or
+that made by the fire) shall determine the number of the Elements,
+before we can be certain how many there are.
+
+And in the mean time, we may take notice in the last place, that as
+the distinct substances whereinto the _Alkahest_ divides bodies, are
+affirm'd to be differing in nature from those whereunto they are wont
+to be reduc'd by fire, and to be obtain'd from some bodies more in
+Number than from some others; since he tells us, he could totally
+reduce all sorts of Stones into Salt only, whereas of a coal he had
+two distinct Liquors.[29] So, although we should acquiesce in that
+resolution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies are
+thereby divided into the same number of Elements and Principles; some
+Concretes affordding more of them than others do; Nay and sometimes
+this or that Body affording a greater number of Differing substances
+by one way of management, than the same yields by another. And they
+that out of Gold, or Mercury, or Muscovy-glasse, will draw me as many
+distinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juice
+of Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall very
+Thankfully learn. Nor does it appear more congruous to that variety
+that so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that all
+elemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then it
+would be for a language, that all its words should consist of the same
+number of Letters.
+
+[Footnote 29: _Novi saxum & lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo aut
+lapidi & æquiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure aut
+Mercurio._ Helmont. pag. 409.]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST
+
+OR,
+
+_A Paradoxical Appendix to the Foregoing Treatise._
+
+_The Sixth Part._
+
+
+Here _Carneades_ Having Dispach't what he Thought Requisite to oppose
+against what the Chymists are wont to alledge for Proof of their three
+Principles, Paus'd awhile, and look'd about him, to discover whether
+it were Time for him and his Friend to Rejoyne the Rest of the
+Company. But _Eleutherius_ perceiving nothing yet to forbid Them to
+Prosecute their Discourse a little further, said to his Friend, (who
+had likewise taken Notice of the same thing) I halfe expected,
+_Carneades_, that after you had so freely declar'd Your doubting,
+whether there be any Determinate Number of Elements, You would have
+proceeded to question whether there be any Elements at all. And I
+confess it will be a Trouble to me if You defeat me of my Expectation;
+especially since you see the leasure we have allow'd us may probably
+suffice to examine that Paradox; because you have so 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.
+
+_Carneades_ having in Vain represented that their leasure could be but
+very short, that he had already prated very long, that he was
+unprepared to maintain so great and so invidious a Paradox, was at
+length prevail'd with to tell his Friend; Since, _Eleutherius_, you
+will have me Discourse _Ex Tempore_ of the Paradox you mention, I am
+content, (though more perhaps to express my Obedience, then my
+Opinion) to tell you that (supposing the Truth of _Helmonts_ and
+_Paracelsus's_ Alkahestical Experiments, if I may so call them) though
+it may seem extravagant, yet it is not absurd to doubt, whether, for
+ought has been prov'd, there be a necessity to admit any Elements, or
+Hypostatical Principles, at all.
+
+And, as formerly, so now, to avoid the needless trouble of Disputing
+severally with the _Aristotelians_ and the Chymists, I will address my
+self to oppose them I have last nam'd, Because their Doctrine about
+the Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretending highly to
+be grounded upon Experience. 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 consent to, the rather that my
+Discourse may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; who
+cannot plead for any so probably as for those two Elements; that of
+fire above the Air being Generally by Judicious Men exploded as an
+Imaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compose Mixt Bodies as
+one of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Rather
+replenishing, by reason of its Weight and Fluidity, all those Cavities
+of bodies here below, whether compounded or not, that are big enough
+to admit it, and are not fill'd up with any grosser substance.
+
+And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize You, that I now mean by
+Elements, as those Chymists that speak plainest do by their
+Principles, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly unmingled
+bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another,
+are the Ingredients of which all those call'd perfectly mixt Bodies
+are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately
+resolved: now whether there be any one such body to be constantly met
+with in all, and each, of those that are said to be Elemented bodies,
+is the thing I now question.
+
+By this State of the controversie you will, I suppose, Guess, that I
+need not be so absur'd [Errata: absurd] as to deny that there are such
+bodies as Earth, and Water, and Quicksilver, and Sulphur: But I look
+upon Earth and Water, as component parts of the Universe, or rather
+of the Terrestrial Globe, not of all mixt bodies. And though I will
+not peremptorily deny that there may sometimes either a running
+Mercury, or a Combustible Substance be obtain'd from a Mineral, or
+even a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Element
+in the sence above declar'd; as I shall have occasion to shew you by
+and by.
+
+To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceed
+upon, I must tell you, that in matters of Philosophy, this seems to me
+a sufficient reason to doubt of a known and important proposition,
+that the Truth of it is not yet by any competent proof made to appear.
+And congruously herunto, if I shew that the grounds upon which men are
+perswaded that there are Elements are unable to satisfie a considering
+man, I suppose my doubts will appear rational.
+
+Now the Considerations that induce men to think that there are
+Elements, may be conveniently enough referr'd to two heads. Namely,
+the one, that it is necessary that Nature make use of Elements to
+constitute the bodies that are reputed Mixt. And the other, That the
+Resolution of such bodies manifests that nature had compounded them of
+Elementary ones.
+
+In reference to the former of these Considerations, there are two or
+three things that I have to Represent.
+
+And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not long
+since related to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, and
+other vegetables, out of fair water. For by those experiments its
+seems evident, that Water may be Transmuted into all the other
+Elements; from whence it may be inferr'd, both, That 'tis not every
+Thing Chymists will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayes
+be a Primordiate and Ingenerable body. And that Nature may contex a
+Plant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having all
+the Elements previously presented to her to compound it of. And, if
+you will allow the relation I mention'd out of _Mounsieur De Rochas_
+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 as they were like in so
+many other respects to the rest of the plants of the same
+Denomination; so they would, in case I had reduc'd them to
+putrefaction, have likewise produc'd Wormes or other insects, as well
+as the resembling Vegetables are wont to do; so that Water may, by
+Various Seminal Principles, be successively Transmuted into both
+plants and Animals. And if we consider that not only Men, but even
+sucking Children are, but too often, Tormented with Solid Stones, but
+that divers sorts of Beasts themselves, (whatever _Helmont_ against
+Experience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavy
+stones in their Kidneys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Grass
+and other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Disguised Water, it will
+not seem improbable that even some Concretes of a mineral Nature, may
+Likewise be form'd of Water.
+
+We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nourisht, and
+consequently may Consist of Common water; so may both plants and
+Animals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Rudiments) consist of
+compound Bodies, without having any thing meerly Elementary brought
+them by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in divers
+men, who whilst they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwards
+Live altogether upon Flesh, Fish, wine, and other perfectly mixt
+Bodies. It may be seen also in sheep, who on some of our English Downs
+or Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the grasse, without scarce
+drinking at all. And yet more manifestly in the magots that breed and
+grow up to their full bignesse within the pulps of Apples, Pears, or
+the like Fruit. We see also, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Salt
+give a much more speedy increment to corn and other Vegetables than
+Water alone would do: And it hath been assur'd me, by a man
+experienc'd in such matters, that sometimes when to bring up roots
+very early, the Mould they were planted in was made over-rich, the
+very substance of the Plant has tasted of the Dung. And let us also
+consider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Tree
+of another kind. As for instance, the Ciens of a Pear upon a
+White-thorne; for there the ascending Liquor is already alter'd,
+either by the root, or in its ascent 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 saps of several trees; as particularly, the
+medicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have sometimes drunk upon
+_Helmonts_ great and not undeserved commendation) Now the graft, being
+fasten'd to the stock must necessarily nourish its self, 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 consider,
+how much of the Vegetable he feeds upon may (as we noted above) remain
+in an Animal; we may easily suppose, That the blood of that Animal who
+Feeds upon this, though it be a Well constituted Liquor, and have all
+the differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by one
+præsiding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of its
+parts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary that
+even in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal and
+Vegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make her
+compositions of.
+
+Having said thus much touching the constitution of Plants and Animals,
+I might perhaps be able to say as much touching that of Minerals, and
+even Metalls, if it were as easy for us to make experiment in Order to
+the production of these, as of those. But the growth or increment of
+Minerals being usually a work of excessively long time, and for the
+most part perform'd in the bowels of the Earth, where we cannot see
+it, I must instead of Experiments make use, on this occasion, of
+Observations.
+
+That stones were not all made at once, but that are some of them now
+adayes generated, may (though it be deny'd by some) be fully prov'd by
+several examples, of which I shall now scarce alledg any other, then
+that famous place in _France_ known by the name of _Les Caves
+Gentieres_ [Errata: Goutieres], where the Water falling from the upper
+Parts of the cave to the ground does presently there condense into
+little stones, of such figures as the drops, falling either severally
+or upon one another, and coagulating presently into stone, chance to
+exhibit. Of these stones some Ingenuous Friends of ours, that went a
+while since to visit that place, did me the favour to present me with
+some that they brought thence. And I remember that both that sober
+Relator of his Voyages, _Van Linschoten_, and another good Author,
+inform us that in the Diamond Mines (as they call them) in the
+_East-Indies_, when having dig'd the Earth, though to no great depth,
+they find Diamonds and take them quite away; Yet in a very few years
+they find in the same place new Diamonds produc'd there since. From
+both which Relations, especially the first, it seems probable that
+Nature does not alwayes stay for divers Elementary Bodies, when she is
+to produce stones. And as for Metals themselves, Authors of good note
+assure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc'd at once
+altogether, but have been observ'd to grow; so that what was not a
+Mineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were easie
+to alledg many testimonies of professed Chymists. But that they may
+have the greater authority, I shall rather present you with a few
+borrowed from more unsuspected writers. _Sulphuris Mineram_ (as the
+inquisitive _P. Fallopius_ notes) _quæ nutrix est caloris subterranei
+fabri seu Archæi fontium & mineralium, Infra terram citissime renasci
+testantur Historiæ Metallicæ. Sunt enim loca e quibus si hoc anno
+sulphur effossum fuerit; intermissa fossione per quadriennium redeunt
+fossores & omnia sulphure, ut autea [Errata: antea], rursus inveniunt
+plena._ _Pliny_ Relates, _In Italiæ Insula Ilva, gigni ferri
+metallum._ Strabo _multo expressius; effossum ibi metallum semper
+regenerari. Nam si effossio spatio centum annorum intermittebatur, &
+iterum illuc revertebantur, fossores reperisse maximam copiam ferri
+regeneratam._ Which history not only is countenanced by _Fallopius_,
+from the Incom which the Iron of that Island yielded the Duke of
+_Florence_ in his time; but is mention'd more expressely to our
+purpose, by the Learned _Cesalpinus_. _Vena_ (sayes he) _ferri
+copiosissima est in Italia; ob eam nobilitata Ilva Tirrheni maris
+Insula incredibili copia, etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens: Nam
+terra quæ eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venam
+convertitur._ Which last clause is therefore very notable, because
+from thence we may deduce, that earth, by a Metalline plastick
+principle latent in it, may be in processe of time chang'd into a
+metal. And even _Agricola_ himself, though the Chymists complain of
+him as their adversary, acknowledges thus much and more; by telling us
+that at a Town called _Saga_ in _Germany_,[30] they dig up Iron in the
+Fields, by sinking ditches two foot deep; And adding, that within the
+space of ten years the Ditches are digged again for Iron since
+produced, As the same Metal is wont to be obtain'd in _Elva_. Also
+concerning Lead, not to mention what even _Galen_ notes, that it will
+increase both in bulk and Weight if it be long kept in Vaults or
+Sellars, where the Air is gross and thick, as he collects from the
+smelling of those pieces of Lead that were imploy'd to fasten together
+the parts of old Statues. Not to mention this, I say, _Boccacius
+Certaldus_, as I find him Quoted by a Diligent Writer, has this
+Passage touching the Growth of Lead. _Fessularum mons_ (sayes he) _in
+Hetruria, Florentiæ civitati imminens, lapides plumbarios habet; qui
+si excidantur, brevi temporis spatio, novis incrementis instaurantur;
+ut_ (annexes my Author) _tradit Boccacius Certaldus, qui id
+compotissimum [Errata: compertissimum] esse scribit. Nihil hoc novi
+est; sed de eadem Plinius, lib. 34. Hist. Natur. cap. 17. dudum
+prodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his solis plumbi metallis, quod derelicta
+fertilius reviviscunt. In plumbariis secundo Lapide ab Amberga dictis
+ad Asylum recrementa congesta in cumulos, exposita solibus pluviisque
+paucis annis, redunt suum metallum cum fenore._ I might Add to these,
+continues _Carneades_, many things that I have met with concerning the
+Generation of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I shall
+mention but two or three Narratives. The First you may find Recorded
+by _Gerhardus_ the Physick Professor, in these Words. _In valle_
+(sayes he) _Joachimaca [Errata: Joachimica] argentum gramini [Errata:
+graminis] modo & more e Lapidibus mineræ velut e radice excrevisse
+digiti Longitudine, testis est Dr. Schreterus, qui ejusmodi venas
+aspectu jucundas & admirabiles Domi sua aliis sæpe monstravit &
+Donavit. Item Aqua cærulea Inventa est Annebergæ, ubi argentum erat
+adhuc in primo ente, quæ coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi & boni
+argenti._
+
+[Footnote 30: _In Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum,
+fossis ad altitudinem bipedaneam actis. Id decennio renatum denuo
+foditur non aliter ac Ilvæ ferrum._]
+
+The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, and
+yet they are both very memorable in themselves, and as pertinent to
+our present purpose.
+
+The first I meet with in the Commentary of _Johannes Valehius_ upon
+the _Kleine Baur_, In which that Industrious Chymist Relates, with
+many circumstances, that at a Mine-Town (If I may so English the
+German _Bergstat_) eight miles or Leagues distant from _Strasburg_
+call'd _Mariakirch_, a Workman came to the Overseer, and desired
+employment; but he telling him that there was not any of the best sort
+at present for him, added that till he could be preferr'd to some
+such, he might in the mean time, to avoid idleness, work in a Grove or
+Mine-pit thereabouts, which at that time was little esteem'd. This
+Workman after some weeks Labour, had by a Crack appearing in the Stone
+upon a Stroak given near the wall, an Invitation Given him to Work his
+Way through, which as soon as he had done, his Eyes were saluted by a
+mighty stone or Lump which stood in the middle of the Cleft (that had
+a hollow place behind it) upright, and in shew like an armed-man; but
+consisted of pure fine Silver having no Vein or Ore by it, or any
+other Additament, but stood there free, having only underfoot
+something like a burnt matter; and yet this one Lump held in Weight
+above a 1000 marks, which, according to the Dutch, Account [Errata:
+Dutch account] makes 500 pound weight of fine silver. From which and
+other Circumstances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of the
+place, the Noble Metalline Spirits, (Sulphureous and Mercurial) were
+carri'd from the neighbouring Galleries or Vaults, through other
+smaller Cracks and Clefts, into that Cavity, and there collected as in
+a close Chamber or Cellar; whereinto when they were gotten, they did
+in process of time settle into the forementioned precious mass of
+Metal.
+
+The other Germane Relation is of That great Traveller and Laborious
+Chymist _Johannes_ (not _Georgus_) _Agricola_; who in his notes upon
+what _Poppius_ has written of Antimony, Relates, that when he was
+among the _Hungarian_ Mines in the deep Groves, he observ'd that there
+would often arise in them a warm Steam (not of that malignant sort
+which the Germains call _Shwadt_, which (sayes he) is a meer poyson,
+and often suffocates the Diggers [Errata: diggers)], which fasten'd it
+self to the Walls; and that coming again to review it after a couple
+of dayes, he discern'd that it was all very fast, and glistering;
+whereupon having collected it and Distill'd it _per Retortam_, he
+obtain'd from it a fine Spirit, adding, that the Mine-Men inform'd
+him, that this Steam or Damp of the English Mine [Errata: damp as the
+Englishmen also call it] (retaining the dutch Term) would at last have
+become a Metal, as Gold or Silver.
+
+I referr (sayes _Carneades_) to another Occasion, the Use that may be
+made of these Narratives towards the explicating the Nature of
+Metalls; and that of Fixtness, Malleableness, and some other Qualities
+conspicuous in them. And in the mean time, this I may at present
+deduce from these Observations, That 'tis not very probable, that,
+whensoever 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
+last Relations seem less to favour the Chymists than _Aristotle_, who
+would have Metals Generated of certain _Halitus_ or steams, the
+foremention'd Observations together, make it seem more Likely that the
+mineral Earths or those Metalline steams (wherewith probably such
+Earths are plentifully imbu'd) do contain in them some seminal
+Rudiment, or some thing Equivalent thereunto; by whose plastick power
+the rest of the matter, though perhaps Terrestrial and heavy, is in
+Tract of time fashion'd into this or That metalline Ore; almost as I
+formerly noted, that fair water was by the seminal Principle of Mint,
+Pompions, and other Vegetables, contriv'd into Bodies answerable to
+such Seeds. And that such Alterations of Terrestrial matter are not
+impossible, seems evident from that notable Practice of the Boylers of
+Salt-Petre, who unanimously observe, as well here in _England_ as in
+other Countries; That if an Earth pregnant with Nitre be depriv'd, by
+the affusion of water, of all its true and dissoluble Salt, yet the
+Earth will after some years yield them Salt-Petre again; For which
+reason some of the eminent and skillfullest of them keep it in heaps
+as a perpetual Mine of Salt Petre; whence it may appear, that the
+Seminal Principle of Nitre latent in the Earth does by degrees
+Transforme the neighbouring matter into a Nitrous Body; for though I
+deny that some Volatile Nitre may by such Earths be attracted (as they
+speak) out of the Air, yet that the innermost parts of such great
+heaps that lye so remote from the Air should borrow from it all the
+Nitre they abound with, is not probable, for other reasons besides the
+remoteness of the Air, though I have not the Leasure to mention them.
+
+And I remember, that a person of Great Credit, and well acquainted
+with the wayes of making Vitriol, affirm'd to me, that he had
+observ'd, that a kind of mineral which abounds in that Salt, being
+kept within Doors and not expos'd (as is usual) to the free Air and
+Rains, did of it self in no very long time turn into Vitriol, not only
+in the outward or superficial, but even in the internal and most
+Central parts.
+
+And I also remember, that I met with a certain kind of Merkasite that
+lay together in great Quantities under ground, which did, even in my
+chamber, in so few hours begin of it self to turne into Vitriol, that
+we need not distrust the newly recited narrative. But to return to
+what I was saying of Nitre; as Nature made this Salt-Petre out of the
+once almost and inodorous Earth it was bred in, and did not find a
+very stinking and corrosive Acid Liquor, and a sharp Alcalyzate Salt
+to compound it of, though these be the Bodies into which the Fire
+dissolves it; so it were not necessary that Nature should make up all
+Metals and other Minerals of Pre-existent Salt, and Sulphur, and
+Mercury, though such Bodies might by Fire be obtained from it. Which
+one consideration duly weigh'd is very considerable in the present
+controversy: And to this agree well the Relations of our two German
+Chymists; for besides that it cannot be convincingly prov'd, it is not
+so much as likely that so languid and moderate a heat as that within
+the Mines, should carry up to so great a heat [Errata: height], though
+in the forme of fumes, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; since we find in our
+Distillations, that it requires a considerable Degree of Fire to raise
+so much as to the height of one foot not only Salt, but even Mercury
+it self, in close Vessels. And if it be objected, that it seems by the
+stink that is sometimes observ'd when Lightening falls down here
+below, that sulphureous steams may ascend very high without any
+extraordinary Degree of heat; It may be answer'd, among other things,
+that the Sulphur of Silver is by Chymists said to be a fixt Sulphur,
+though not altogether so well Digested as that of Gold.
+
+But, proceeds _Carneades_, If it had not been to afford You some hints
+concerning the Origine of Metals, I need not have deduc'd any thing
+from these Observations; It not being necessary to the Validity of my
+Argument that my Deductions from them should be irrefragable, because
+my Adversaries the _Aristotelians_ and Vulgar Chymists do not, I
+presume, know any better then I, _a priori_, of what ingredients
+Nature compounds Metals and Minerals. For their Argument to prove that
+those Bodies are made up of such Principles, is drawn _a posteriori_;
+I mean from this, that upon the _Analysis_ of Mineral bodies they are
+resolv'd into those differing substances. That we may therefore
+examine this Argument, Let us proceed to consider what can be alledg'd
+in behalf of the Elements from the Resolutions of Bodies by the fire;
+which you remember was the second Tophick [Transcriber's Note: Topick]
+whence I told you the Arguments of my Adversaries were desum'd.
+
+And that I may first dispatch what I have to say concerning Minerals,
+I will begin the remaining part of my discourse with considering how
+the fire divides them.
+
+And first, I have partly noted above, that though Chymists pretend
+from some to draw salt, from others running Mercury, and from others a
+Sulphur; Yet they have not hitherto taught us by any way in us
+[Errata: use] among them to separate any one principle, whether Salt,
+Sulphur, or Mercury, from all sorts of Minerals without exception. And
+thence I may be allow'd to conclude that there is not any of the
+Elements that is an Ingredient of all Bodies, since there are some of
+which it is not so.
+
+In the next place, supposing that either Sulphur or Mercury were
+obtainable from all sorts of Minerals. Yet still this Sulphur or
+Mercury would be but a compounded, not an Elementary body, as I told
+you already on another occasion. And certainly he that takes notice of
+the wonderful Operations of Quicksilver, whether it be common, or
+drawn from Mineral Bodies, can scarce be so inconsiderate as to think
+it of the very same nature with that immature and fugitive substance
+which in Vegetables and Animals Chymists have been pleas'd to call
+their Mercury. So that when Mercury is got by the help of the fire out
+of a metal or other Mineral Body, if we will not suppose that it was
+not pre-existent in it, but produc'd by the action of the fire upon
+the Concrete, we may at least suppose this Quicksilver to have been a
+perfect Body of its own kind (though perhaps lesse heterogeneous then
+more secundary mixts) which happen'd to be mingl'd _per minima_, and
+coagulated with the other substances, whereof the Metal or Mineral
+consisted. As may be exemplyfied partly by Native Vermillion wherein
+the Quicksilver and Sulphur being exquisitely blended both with one
+another, and that other course Mineral stuff (what ever it be) that
+harbours them, make up a red body differing enough from both; and yet
+from which part of the Quicksilver, and of the Sulphur, may be easily
+enough obtain'd; Partly by those Mines wherein nature has so curiously
+incorporated Silver with Lead, that 'tis extreamly difficult, and yet
+possible, to separate the former out of the Latter. [Errata: latter;]
+And partly too by native Vitriol, wherein the Metalline Corpuscles are
+by skill and industry separable from the saline ones, though they be
+so con-coagulated with them, that the whole Concrete is reckon'd among
+Salts.
+
+And here I further observe, that I never could see any Earth or Water,
+properly so call'd, separated from either Gold or Silver (to name now
+no other Metalline Bodies) and therefore to retort the argument upon
+my Adversaries, I may conclude, that since there are some bodies in
+which, for ought appears, there is neither Earth nor Water. [Errata:
+Water;] I may be allow'd to conclude that neither of those two is an
+Universal Ingredient of all those Bodies that are counted perfectly
+mixt, which I desire you would remember against Anon.
+
+It may indeed be objected, that the reason why from Gold or Silver we
+cannot separate any moisture, is, because that when it is melted out
+of the Oare, the vehement Fire requisite to its Fusion forc'd away all
+the aqueous and fugitive moisture; and the like fire may do from the
+materials of Glass. To which I shall Answer, that I Remember I read
+not long since in the Learned _Josephus Acosta_,[31] who relates it
+upon his own observation; that in _America_, (where he long lived)
+there is a kind of Silver which the _Indians_ call _Papas_, and
+sometimes (sayes he) they find pieces very fine and pure like to small
+round roots, the which is rare in that metal, but usuall in Gold;
+Concerning which metal he tells us, that besides this they find some
+which they call Gold in grains, which he tells us are small morsels of
+Gold that they find whole without mixture of any other metal, which
+hath no need of melting or Refining in the fire.
+
+[Footnote 31: _Acosta_ Natural and Moral history of the Indies, L. 3.
+c. 5, p. 212.]
+
+I remember that a very skilful and credible person affirmed to me,
+that being in the _Hungarian_ mines he had the good fortune to see a
+mineral that was there digg'd up, wherein pieces of Gold of the
+length, and also almost of the bigness of a humane Finger, grew in the
+Oar, as if they had been parts and Branches of Trees.
+
+And I have my self seen a Lump of whitish 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 sparr, divers little
+Lumps of fine Gold, (for such I was assured that Tryal had manifested
+it to be) some of them Seeming to be about the Bigness of pease.
+
+But that is nothing to what our _Acosta_ subjoynes, which is indeed
+very memorable, namely, that of the morsels of Native and pure Gold,
+which we lately heard him mentioning he had now and then seen some
+that weighed many pounds;[32] to which I shall add, that I my self
+have seen a Lump of Oar not long since digged up, in whose stony part
+there grew, almost like Trees, divers parcels though not of Gold, yet
+of (what perhaps Mineralists will more wonder at) another Metal which
+seemed to be very pure or unmixt with any Heterogeneous Substances,
+and were some of them as big as my Finger, if not bigger. But upon
+Observations of this kind, though perhaps I could, yet I must not at
+present dwell any longer.
+
+[Footnote 32: See _Acosta_ in the fore-cited Place, and the passage of
+_Pliny_ quoted by him.]
+
+To proceed Therefore now (sayes _Carneades_) to the Consideration of
+the _Analysis_ of Vegetables, although my Tryals give me no cause to
+doubt but that out of most of them five differing Substances may be
+obtain'd by the fire, yet I think it will not be so easily
+Demonstrated that these deserve to be call'd Elements in the Notion
+above explain'd.
+
+And before I descend to particulars, I shall repeat and premise this
+General Consideration, that these differing substances that are call'd
+Elements or Principles, differ not from each other as Metals, Plants
+and Animals, or as such Creatures as are immediately produc'd each by
+its peculiar Seed, and Constitutes a distinct propagable sort of
+Creatures in the Universe; but these are only Various Schemes of
+matter or Substances that differ from each other, but in consistence
+(as Running Mercury and the same Metal congeal'd by the Vapor of
+Lead) and some very few other accidents, as Tast, or Smel, or
+Inflamability, or the want of them. So that by a change of Texture not
+impossible to be wrought by the Fire and other Agents that have the
+Faculty not only to dissociate the smal parts of Bodies, but
+afterwards to connect them after a new manner, the same parcell of
+matter may acquire or lose such accidents as may suffice to Denominate
+it Salt, or Sulphur, or Earth. If I were fully to clear to you my
+apprehensions concerning this matter, I should perhaps be obliged to
+acquaint you with divers of the Conjectures (for I must yet call them
+no more) I have had Concerning the Principles of things purely
+Corporeal: For though because I seem not satisfi'd with the Vulgar
+Doctrines, either of the Peripatetick or Paracelsian Schools, many of
+those that know me, (and perhaps, among Them, _Eleutherius_ himself)
+have thought me wedded to the Epicurean _Hypotheses_, (as others have
+mistaken me for an _Helmontian_;) yet if you knew how little
+Conversant I have been with _Epicurean_ Authors, and how great a part
+of _Lucretius_ himself I never yet had the Curiosity to read, you
+would perchance be of another mind; especially if I were to entertain
+you at large, I say not, of my present Notions; but of my former
+thoughts concerning the Principles of things. But, as I said above,
+fully to clear my Apprehensions would require a Longer Discourse than
+we can now have.
+
+For, I should tell you that I have sometimes thought it not unfit,
+that to the Principles which may be assign'd to things, as the World
+is now Constituted, we should, if we consider the Great Mass of matter
+as it was whilst the Universe was in making, add another, which may
+Conveniently enough be call'd an Architectonick Principle or power; by
+which I mean those Various Determinations, and that Skilfull Guidance
+of the motions of the small parts of the Universal matter by the most
+wise Author of things, which were necessary at the beginning to turn
+that confus'd _Chaos_ into this Orderly and beautifull World; and
+Especially, to contrive the Bodies of Animals and Plants, and the
+Seeds of those things whose kinds were to be propagated. For I confess
+I cannot well Conceive, how from matter, Barely put into Motion, and
+then left to it self, there could Emerge such Curious Fabricks as the
+Bodies of men and perfect Animals, and such yet more admirably
+Contriv'd parcels of matter, as the seeds of living Creatures.
+
+I should likewise tell you upon what grounds, and in what sence, I
+suspected the Principles of the World, as it now is, to be Three,
+_Matter_, _Motion_ and _Rest_. I say, _as the World now is_, because
+the present Fabrick of the Universe, and especially the seeds of
+things, together with the establisht Course of Nature, is a Requisite
+or Condition, upon whose account divers things may be made out by our
+three Principles, which otherwise would be very hard, if possible, to
+explicate.
+
+I should moreover declare in general (for I pretend not to be able to
+do it otherwise) not only why I Conceive that Colours, Odors, Tasts,
+Fluidness and Solidity, and those other qualities that Diversifie and
+Denominate Bodies may Intelligibly be Deduced from these three; _but
+how two of the Three_ Epicurean Principles (which, I need not tell,
+you [Transcriber's Note: tell you,] are Magnitude, Figure and Weight)
+are Themselves Deducible from Matter and Motion; since the Latter of
+these Variously Agitating, and, as it were, Distracting the Former,
+must needs disjoyne its parts; which being Actually separated must
+Each of them necessarily both be of some Size, and obtain some shape
+or other. Nor did I add to our Principles the _Aristotelean
+Privation_, partly for other Reasons, which I must not now stay to
+insist on; and partly because it seems to be rather an Antecedent, or
+a _Terminus a quo_, then a True Principle, as the starting-Post is
+none of the Horses Legs or Limbs.
+
+I should also explain why and how I made rest [Errata: Rest] to be,
+though not so considerable a Principle of things, as Motion, yet a
+Principle of them; partly because it is (for ought we know [Errata:
+know)] as Ancient at least as it, and depends not upon Motion, nor any
+other quality of matter; and partly, because it may enable the Body in
+which it happens to be, both to continue in a State of Rest till some
+external force put it out of that state, and to concur to the
+production of divers Changes in the bodies that hit against it, by
+either quite stopping or lessning their Motion (whilst the body
+formerly at Rest Receives all or part of it into it self) or else by
+giving a new Byass, or some other Modification, to Motion, that is, To
+the Grand and Primary instrument whereby Nature produces all the
+Changes and other Qualities that are to be met with in the World.
+
+I should likewise, after all this, explain to you how, although
+Matter, Motion and Rest, seem'd to me to be the Catholick Principles
+of the Universe, I thought the Principles of Particular bodies might
+be Commodiously enough reduc'd to two, namely _Matter_, and (what
+Comprehends the two other, and their effects) the result or Aggregate
+[Errata: Aggregate or complex] of those Accidents, which are the
+Motion or Rest, (for in some Bodies both are not to be found) the
+Bigness, Figure, Texture) [Errata: delete )] and the thence resulting
+Qualities of the small parts) [Errata: delete )] which are necessary
+to intitle the Body whereto they belong to this or that Peculiar
+Denomination; and discriminating it from others to appropriate it to a
+Determinate Kind of Things, as [Errata: (as] Yellowness, Fixtness,
+such a Degree of Weight, and of Ductility, do make the Portion of
+matter wherein they Concur, to be reckon'd among perfect metals, and
+obtain the name of Gold.) Which [Errata: This] Aggregate or result of
+Accidents you may, if You please, call either _Structure_ or Texture.
+
+[Errata: no paragraph break] Though [Errata: (Though] indeed, that do
+not so properly Comprehend the motion of the constituent parts
+especially in case some of them be Fluid [Errata: Fluid)], or what
+other appellation shall appear most Expressive. Or if, retaining the
+Vulgar Terme, You will call it the _Forme_ of the thing it
+denominates, I shall not much oppose it; Provided the word be
+interpreted to mean but what I have express'd, and not a Scholastick
+_Substantial Forme_, which so many intelligent men profess to be to
+them altogether Un-intelligible.
+
+But, sayes _Carneades_, if you remember that 'tis a Sceptick speaks to
+you, and that 'tis not so much my present Talk to make assertions as
+to suggest doubts, I hope you will look upon what I have propos'd,
+rather as a Narrative of my former conjectures touching the principles
+of things, then as a Resolute Declaration of my present opinions of
+them; especially since although they cannot but appear Very much to
+their Disadvantage, If you Consider Them as they are propos'd without
+those Reasons and Explanations by which I could perhaps make them
+appear much lesse extravagant; yet I want time to offer you what may
+be alledg'd to clear and countenance these notions; my design in
+mentioning them unto you at present being, _partly_, to bring some
+Light and Confirmation to divers passages of my discourse to you;
+_partly_ to shew you, that I do not (as you seem to have suspected)
+embrace all _Epicurus_ his principles; but Dissent from him in some
+main things, as well as from _Aristotle_ and the Chymists, in others;
+& _partly_ also, or rather chiefly, to intimate to you the grounds
+upon which I likewise differ from _Helmont_ in this, that whereas he
+ascribes almost all things, and even diseases themselves, to their
+determinate Seeds; I am of opinion, that besides the peculiar
+Fabricks of the Bodies of Plants and Animals (and perhaps also of some
+Metals and Minerals) which I take to be the Effects of seminal
+principles, there are many other bodies in nature which have and
+deserve distinct and Proper names, but yet do but result from such
+contextures of the matter they are made of, as may without determinate
+seeds be effected by heat, cold, artificial mixtures and compositions,
+and divers other causes which sometimes nature imployes of her own
+accord; and oftentimes man by his power and skill makes use of to
+fashion the matter according to his Intentions. This may be
+exemplified both in the productions of Nature, and in those of Art; of
+the first sort I might name multitudes; but to shew how sleight 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;
+
+I shall invite you to observe with me, That Clouds, Rain, Hail, Snow,
+Froth, and Ice, may be but water, having its parts varyed as to their
+size and distance in respect of each other, and as to motion and
+rest. And among Artificial Productions we may take notice (to skip the
+Crystals of Tartar) of Glass, Regulus, Martis-Stellatus [Errata:
+Regulus Martis Stellatus], and particularly of the Sugar of Lead,
+which though made of that insipid Metal and sour salt of Vinager, has
+in it a sweetnesse surpassing that of common Sugar, and divers other
+qualities, which being not to be found in either of its two
+ingredients, must be confess'd to belong to the Concrete it self, upon
+the account of its Texture.
+
+This Consideration premis'd, it will be, I hope, the more easie to
+perswade you that the Fire may as well produce some new textures in a
+parcel of matter, as destroy the old.
+
+Wherefore hoping that you have not forgot the Arguments formerly
+imploy'd against the Doctrine of the _Tria prima_; namely that the
+Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, into which the Fire seems to resolve
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies, are yet compounded, not simple and
+Elementary Substances; And that (as appeared by the Experiment of
+Pompions) the _Tria prima_ may be made out of Water; hoping I say,
+that you remember These and the other Things that I formerly
+represented to the same purpose, I shall now add only, that if we
+doubt not the Truth of some of _Helmonts_ Relation [Errata:
+Relations], We may well doubt whether any of these Heterogeneities be
+(I say not pre-existent, so as to convene together, when a plant or
+Animal is to be constituted but) so much as in-existent in the
+Concrete whence they are obtain'd, when the Chymists [Errata: Chymist]
+first goes about to resolve it; For not to insist upon the
+un-inflamable Spirit of such Concretes, because that may be pretended
+to be but a mixture of Phlegme and Salt; the Oyle or Sulphur of
+Vegetables or Animals is, according to him, reducible by the help of
+Lixiviate Salts into Sope; as that Sope is by the help of repeated
+Distillations from a _Caput Mortuum_ of Chalk into insipid Water. And
+as for the saline substance that seems separable from mixt bodies; the
+same _Helmonts_ tryals[33] give us cause to think, That it may be a
+production of the Fire, which by transporting and otherwise altering
+the particles of the matter, does bring it to a Saline nature.
+
+[Footnote 33: _Omne autem Alcali addita pinguedine in aqueum liquorem,
+qui tandem mera & simplex aqua fit, reducitur, (ut videre est in
+Sapone, Lazurio lapide, &c.) quoties per adjuncta fixa semen
+Pinguedinis deponit._ Helmont.]
+
+For I know (sayes he, in the place formerly alledg'd to another
+purpose) a way to reduce all stones into a meer Salt of equal weight
+with the stone whence it was produc'd, and that without any of the
+least either Sulphur or Mercury; which asseveration of my Author would
+perhaps seem less incredible to You, if I durst acquaint You with all
+I could say upon that subject. And hence by the way you may also
+conclude that the Sulphur and Mercury, as they call them, that
+Chymists are wont to obtain from compound Bodies by the Fire, may
+possibly in many Cases be the productions of it; since if the same
+bodies had been wrought upon by the Agents employ'd by _Helmont_, they
+would have yielded neither Sulphur nor Mercury; and those portions of
+them which the Fire would have presented Us in the forme of
+Sulphureous and Mercurial Bodies would have, by _Helmonts_ method,
+been exhibited to us in the form of Salt.
+
+But though (sayes _Eleutherius_) You have alledg'd very plausible
+Arguments against the _tria Prima_, yet I see not how it will be
+possible for you to avoid acknowledging that Earth and Water are
+Elementary Ingredients, though not of Mineral Concretes, yet of all
+Animal and Vegetable Bodies; Since if any of these of what sort soever
+be committed to Distillation, there is regularly and constantly
+separated from it a phlegme or aqueous part and a _Caput Mortuum_ or
+Earth.
+
+I readily acknowledged (answers _Carneades_) it is not so easy to
+reject Water and Earth (and especially the former) as 'tis to reject
+the _Tria Prima_, from being the Elements of mixt Bodies; but 'tis not
+every difficult thing that is impossible.
+
+I consider then, as to Water, that the chief Qualities which make men
+give that name to any visible Substance, are, that it is Fluid or
+Liquid, and that it is insipid and inodorous. Now as for the tast of
+these qualities, I think you have never seen any of those separated
+substances that the Chymists call Phlegme which was perfectly devoyd
+both of Tast and Smell: and if you object, that yet it may be
+reasonably suppos'd, that since the whole Body is Liquid, the mass is
+nothing but Elementary Water faintly imbu'd with some of the Saline or
+Sulphureous parts of the same Concrete, which it retain'd with it
+upon its Separation from the Other Ingredients. To this I answer, That
+this Objection would not appear so stong [Transcriber's Note: strong]
+as it is plausible, if Chymists understood the Nature of Fluidity and
+Compactnesse; and that, as I formerly observ'd, to a Bodies being
+Fluid there is nothing necessary, but that it be divided into parts
+small enough; and that these parts be put into such a motion among
+themselves as to glide some this way and some that way, along each
+others Surfaces. So that, although a Concrete were never so dry, and
+had not any Water or other Liquor in-existent in it, yet such a
+Comminution of its parts may be made, by the fire or other Agents, as
+to turn a great portion of them into Liquor. Of this Truth I will give
+an instance, employ'd by our friend here present as one of the most
+conducive of his experiments to Illustrate the nature of Salts. If you
+Take, then, sea salt and melt it in the Fire to free it from the
+aqueous parts, and afterward distill it with a vehement Fire from
+burnt Clay, or any other, as dry a _Caput mortuum_ as you please, you
+will, as Chymists confess, [Errata: confesse (delete comma)] by
+teaching it drive over a good part of the Salt in the form of a
+Liquor. And to satisfy some ingenious men, That a great part of this
+Liquor was still true sea salt brought by the Operation of the Fire
+into Corpuscles so small, and perhaps so advantageously shap'd, as to
+be capable of the forme of a Fluid Body, He did in my presence poure
+to such spiritual salts a due proportion of the spirit (or salt and
+Phlegme) of Urine, whereby having evaporated the superfluous moisture,
+he soon obtain'd such another Concrete, both as to tast and smell, and
+easie sublimableness as common Salt _Armoniack_, which you know is
+made up of grosse and undistill'd sea salt united with the salts of
+Urine and of Soot, which two are very neer of kin to each other. And
+further, to manifest that the Corpuscles of sea salt and the Saline
+ones of Urine retain their several Natures in this Concrete, He mixt
+it with a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar, and committing it to
+Distillation soon regain'd his spirit of Urine in a liquid form by its
+self, the Sea salt staying behind with the Salt of Tartar. Wherefore
+it is very possible that dry Bodies may by the Fire be reduc'd to
+Liquors without any separation of Elements, but barely by a certain
+kind of Dissipation and Comminution of the matter, whereby its parts
+are brought into a new state. And if it be still objected, that the
+Phlegme of mixt Bodies must be reputed water, because so weak a tast
+needs but a very small proportion of Salt to impart it; It may be
+reply'd, that for ought appears, common Salt and divers other bodies,
+though they be distill'd never so dry, and in never so close Vessels,
+will yield each of them pretty store of a Liquor, wherein though (as I
+lately noted) Saline Corpuscles abound, Yet there is besides a large
+proportion of Phlegme, as may easily be discovered by coagulating the
+Saline Corpuscles 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 separated a salt from Oyle of Vitriol it self
+(though a very ponderous Liquor and drawn from a saline body) by
+boyling it with a just quantity of Mercury, and then washing the newly
+coagulated salt from the Precipitate with fair Water. Now to what can
+we more probably ascribe this plenty of aqueous Substance afforded us
+by the Distillation of such bodies, than unto this, That among the
+various operations of the Fire upon the matter of a Concrete, divers
+particles of that matter are reduc'd to such a shape and bignesse as
+is requisite to compose such a Liquor as Chymists are wont to call
+Phlegme or Water. How I conjecture this change may be effected, 'tis
+neither necessary for me to tell you, nor possible to do so without a
+much longer discourse then were now seasonable. But I desire you would
+with me reflect upon what I formerly told you concerning the change of
+Quicksilver into Water; For that Water having but a very faint tast,
+if any whit more than divers of those liquors that Chymists referr to
+Phlegme; By that experiment it seems evident, that even a metalline
+body, and therefore much more such as are but Vegetable or Animal, may
+by a simple operation of the Fire be turn'd in great part into Water.
+And since those I dispute with are not yet able out of Gold, or
+Silver, or divers other Concretes to separate any thing like Water; I
+hope I may be allow'd to conclude against Them, that water it self is
+not an Universal and pre-existent Ingredient of Mixt Bodies.
+
+But as for those Chymists that, Supposing with me the Truth of what
+_Helmont_ relates of the _Alkahest's_ wonderful Effects, have a right
+to press me with his Authority concerning them, and to alledge that he
+could Transmute all reputedly mixt Bodies into insipid and meer Water;
+To those I shall represent, That though his Affirmations conclude
+strongly against the Vulgar Chymists (against whom I have not
+therefore scrupl'd to Employ Them) since they Evince that the Commonly
+reputed Principles or Ingredients of Things are not Permanent and
+indestructible, since they may be further reduc'd into Insipid Phlegme
+differing from them all; Yet till we can be allow'd to examine this
+Liquor, I think it not unreasonable to doubt whether it be not
+something else then meer Water. For I find not any other reason given
+by _Helmont_ of his Pronouncing it so, then that it is insipid. Now
+Sapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to our
+Tongue, Palate, and other Organs of Tast, it may very possibly be,
+that the small Parts of a Body may be of such a Size and Shape, as
+either by their extream Littleness, or by their slenderness, or by
+their Figure, to be unable to pierce into and make a perceptible
+Impression upon the Nerves or Membranous parts of the Organs of Tast,
+and what [Errata: yet] may be fit to work otherwise upon divers other
+Bodies than meer Water can, and consequently to Disclose it self to be
+of a Nature farr enough from Elementary. In Silke dyed Red or of any
+other Colour, whilst many Contiguous Threads makes up a skein, the
+Colour of the Silke is conspicuous; 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 simple Thread, you shall not easily be able to
+discern any Colour at all; So subtile an Object having not the Force
+to make upon the Optick Nerve an Impression great enough to be taken
+Notice of. It is also observ'd, that the best sort of Oyl-Olive is
+almost tastless, and yet I need not tell you how exceedingly distant
+in Nature Oyle is from Water. The Liquor into which I told you, upon
+the Relation of _Lully_, and [Errata: an] Eye-witness that Mercury
+might be Transmuted, has sometimes but a very Languid, if any Tast,
+and yet its Operations even upon some Mineral Bodies are very
+peculiar. Quicksilver it self also, though the Corpuscles it consists
+of be so very small as to get into the Pores of that Closest and
+compactest of Bodies, Gold, is yet (you know) altogether Tastless. And
+our _Helmont_ several times tells us, that fair Water wherein a little
+Quantity f [Errata: of] Quicksilver has lain for some time, though it
+acquire no certain Tast or other sensible Quality from the
+Quicksilver; Yet it has a power to destroy wormes in humane Bodies;
+which he does much, but not causelessly extoll. And I remember, a
+great Lady, that had been Eminent for her Beauty in Divers Courts,
+confess'd to me, that this insipid Liquor was of all innocent washes
+for the Face the best that she ever met with.
+
+And here let me conclude my Discourse, concerning such waters or
+Liquors as I have hitherto been examining, with these two
+Considerations. Whereof the first is, That by reason of our being wont
+to drink nothing but Wine, Bear, Cyder, or other strongly tasted
+Liquors, there may be in several of these Liquors, that are wont to
+pass for insipid Phlegme, very peculiar and Distinct, Tasts [Errata:
+distinct Tasts] though unheeded (and perhaps not to be perceiv'd) by
+Us. For to omit what Naturalists affirm of Apes, (and which probably
+may be true of divers other Animals) that they have a more exquisite
+palate than Men: among Men themselves, those that are wont to drink
+nothing but water may (as I have try'd in my self) Discern very
+sensibly a great Difference of Tasts in several waters, which one
+un-accustomed to drink water would take to be all alike insipid. And
+this is the _first_ of my two Considerations; the _Other_ is, That it
+is not impossible that the Corpuscles into which a body is dissipated
+by the Fire may by the Operation of the same fire have their figures
+so altered, or may be by associations with one another brought into
+little Masses of such a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to make
+sensible Impressions on the Tongue. And that you may not think such
+alterations impossible, be pleased to consider with me, that not only
+the sharpest Spirit of Vinager having dissolved as much Corall as it
+can, will Coagulate with it into a Substance, which though soluble in
+water, like salt, is incomparably less strongly Tasted then the
+Vinager was before; but (what is more considerable) though the Acid
+salts that are carried up with Quicksilver in the preparation of
+common sublimate are so sharp, that being moistened with water it will
+Corrode some of the Metals themselves; yet this Corrosive Sublimate
+being twice or thrice re-sublim'd with a full proportion of insipid
+Quicksilver, Constitutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, which
+the Chymists call _Mercurius dulcis_; not because it is sweet, but
+because the sharpness of the Corrosive Salts is so taken away by their
+Combination with the Mercurial Corpuscles, that the whole mixture when
+it is prepar'd is judg'd to be insipid.
+
+And thus (continues _Carneades_) having given you some Reasons why I
+refuse to admit Elementary water for a constant Ingredient of Mixt
+Bodies, It will be easie for me to give you an Account why I also
+reject Earth.
+
+For first, it may well be suspected that many Substances pass among
+Chymists under the name of Earth, because, like it, they are Dry, and
+Heavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Elementary Nature.
+This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what I
+formerly told you concerning what Chymists call the Dead Earth of
+things, and especially touching the copper to be drawn from the _Caput
+Mortuum_ of Vitriol; And if also you allow me to subjoyn a casual but
+memorable Experiment made by _Johannes Agricola_ upon the _Terra
+Damnata_ of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon
+_Popius_ [Transcriber's Note: Poppius],) that in the year 1621 he made
+an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining _Fæces_ he reverberated in a
+moderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up in
+a Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing to
+calcine the _Fæces_ to a perfect Whiteness, that he might make
+someting [Transcriber's Note: something] else out of them. But coming
+to break the pot, he found above but very little _Fæces_, and those
+Grey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine Red _Regulus_ which
+he first marvell'd at and knew not what to make of, being well assured
+that not the least thing, besides the _Fæces_ of the Sulphur, came
+into the pot; and that the Sulphur it self had only been dissolv'd in
+Linseed Oyle; this _Regulus_ he found heavy and malleable almost as
+Lead; having caus'd a Goldsmith to draw him a Wire of it, he found it
+to be of the Fairest copper, and so rightly colour'd, that a Jew of
+_Prague_ offer'd him a great price for it. And of this Metal he sayes
+he had 12 _loth_ (or six ounces) out of one pound of Ashes or _Fæces_.
+And this Story may well incline us to suspect that since the _Caput
+Mortuum_ of the Sulphur was kept so long in the fire before it was
+found to be any thing else then a _Terra damnata_, there may be divers
+other Residences of Bodies which are wont to pass only for the
+Terrestrial _Fæces_ of things, and therefore to be thrown away as soon
+as the Distillation or Calcination 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 unwarrantable forwardness of common Chymists to
+pronounce things useless _Fæces_, by observing how often they reject
+the _Caput Mortuum_ of Verdegrease; which is yet so farr from
+deserving that Name, that not only by strong fires and convenient
+Additaments it may in some hours be reduc'd into copper, but with a
+certain Flux Powder I sometimes 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 sake kept Venetian Taclk [Errata: Talck] in no less
+a heat than that of a glass Furnace, I found after all the Brunt of
+the fire it had indur'd, the remaining Body though brittle and
+discolour'd, had not lost very much of its former Bulke, and seem'd
+still to be nearer of kin to Talck than to meer Earth. And I remember
+too, that a candid Mineralist, famous for his Skill in trying of Oars,
+requesting me one day to procure him a certain _American_ Mineral
+Earth of a _Virtuoso_, who he thought would not refuse me; I enquir'd
+of him why he seem'd so greedy of it: he confess'd to me that this
+Gentleman having brought that Earth to the publick Say-Masters; and
+they upon their being unable by any means to bring it to fusion or
+make it fly away, he (the Relator) had procur'd a little of it; and
+having try'd it with a peculiar Flux separated from it neer a third
+part of pure Gold; so great mistakes may be committed in hastily
+concluding things to be Uselesse Earth.
+
+Next, it may be suppos'd, That as in the Resolution of Bodies by the
+Fire some of the dissipated Parts may, by their various occursion
+occasion'd by the heat, be brought to stick together so closely as to
+constitute Corpuscles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; the
+aggregate of which Corpuscles is wont to be call'd Ashes or Earrh
+[Errata: Earth]; So other Agents may resolve the Concrete into Minute
+Parts, after so differing a manner as not to produce any _Caput
+mortuum_, or dry and heavy Body. As you may remember _Helmont_ above
+inform'd us, that with his great Dissolvent he divided a Coal into two
+liquid and volatile Bodies, æquiponderant to the Coal, without any dry
+or fixt Residence at all.
+
+And indeed, I see not why it should be necessary that all Agents that
+resolve Bodies into portions of differingly qualifi'd matter must
+work on them the same way, and divide them into just such parts, both
+for nature and Number, as the Fire dissipates them into. For since, as
+I noted before, the Bulk and shape of the small Parts of bodies,
+together with their Fitness and Unfitness to be easily put into
+Motion, may make the liquors or other substances such Corpuscles
+compose, as much to differ from each other as do some of the Chymical
+principles: Why may not something happen in this case, not unlike what
+is usuall in the grosser divisions of bodies by Mechanical
+Instruments? Where we see that some Tools reduce Wood, for Instance,
+into darts [Errata: parts] of several shapes, bignesse, and other
+qualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into grosser parts; some
+more long and slender, as splinters; and some more thick and
+irregular, as chips; but all of considerable bulk; but Files and Saws
+makes a Comminution of it into Dust; which, as all the others, is of
+the more solid sort of parts; whereas others divide it into long and
+broad, but thin and flexible parts, as do _Planes_: And of this kind
+of parts it self there is also a variety according to the Difference
+of the Tools employ'd to work on the Wood; the shavings made by the
+_plane_ being in some things differing from those shives or thin and
+flexible pieces of wood that are obtain'd by _Borers_, and these from
+some others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examples
+applicable to this purpose I have elsewhere given you. To which I may
+add, that whereas in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar well
+melted and incorporated together, the action of pure spirit of wine
+digested on it is to separate the sulphureous from the Alcalizate
+Parts, by dissolving the former and leaving the latter, the action of
+Wine (probably upon the score of its copious Phlegme) upon the same
+mixture is to divide it into Corpuscles consisting of both Alcalizate
+and Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is but
+a Factitious Concrete; I answer, that however the instance may serve
+to illustrate what I propos'd, if not to prove it; and that Nature her
+self doth in the bowels of the Earth make Decompounded Bodies, as we
+see in Vitriol, Cinnaber, and even in Sulphur it self; I will not urge
+that the Fire divides new Milk into five differing Substances; but
+Runnet and Acid Liquors divide it into a Coagulated matter and a thin
+Whey: And on the other side churning divides it into Butter and
+Butter-milk, which may either of them be yet reduc'd to other
+substances differing from the former. I will not presse this, I say,
+nor other instances of this Nature, because I cannot in few words
+answer what may be objected, that these Concretes sequestred without
+the help of the Fire may by it be further divided into Hypostatical
+Principles. But I will rather represent, That whereas the same spirit
+of Wine will dissociare [Transcriber's Note: dissociate] the Parts of
+Camphire, and make them one Liquor with it self; _Aqua Fortis_ will
+also disjoyn them, and put them into motion; but so as to keep them
+together, and yet alter their Texture into the form of an Oyle. I know
+also an uncompounded Liquor, that an extraordinary Chymist would not
+allow to be so much as Saline, which doth (as I have try'd) from Coral
+it self (as fixt as divers judicious writers assert that Concrete to
+be) not only obtain a noble Tincture, Without the Intervention of
+Nitre or other Salts; but will carry over the Tincture in
+Distillation. And if some reasons did not forbid me, I could now tell
+you of a _Menstruum_ I make my self, that doth more odly dissociate
+the parts of Minerals very fixt in the fire. So that it seems not
+incredible, that there may be some Agent or way of Operation found,
+whereby this or that Concrete, if not all Firme Bodies, may be
+resolv'd into parts so very minute and so unapt to stick close to one
+another, that none of them may be fixt enough to stay behind in a
+strong Fire, and to be incapable of Distillation; nor consequently to
+be look'd upon as Earth. But to return to _Helmont_, the same Authour
+somewhere supply's me with another Argument against the Earth's being
+such an Element as my Adversaries would have it. For he somewhere
+affirms, that he can reduce all the Terrestrial parts of mixt bodies
+into insipid water; whence we may argue against the Earths being one
+of their Elements, even from that Notion of Elements which you may
+remember _Philoponus_ recited out of _Aristotle_ himself, when he
+lately disputed for his Chymists against _Themistius_. And here we
+may on this occasion consider, that since a Body from which the Fire
+hath driven away its looser parts is wont to be look'd upon as Earth,
+upon the Account of its being endow'd with both these qualities,
+Tastlessenesse and Fixtnesse, (for Salt of Tartar though Fixt passes
+not among the Chymists for Earth, because 'tis strongly Tasted) if it
+be in the power of Natural Agents to deprive the _Caput Mortuum_ of a
+body of either of those two Qualities, or to give them both to a
+portion of matter that had them not both before, the Chymists will not
+easily define what part of a resolv'd Concrete is earth, and make out,
+that that Earth is a primary, simple, and indestructible Body. Now
+there are some cases wherein the more skilful of the Vulgar Chymists
+themselves pretend to be able, by repeated Cohobations and other fit
+Operations, to make the Distilled parts of a Concrete bring its own
+_Caput Mortuum_ over the Helme, in the forme of a Liquor; in which
+state being both Fluid and Volatile, you will easily believe it would
+not be taken for Earth. And indeed by a skilful, but not Vulgar, way
+of managing some Concretes, there may be more effected in this kind,
+then you perhaps would easily think. And on the other side, that
+either Earth may be Generated, or at least Bodies that did not before
+appear to be neer Totally Earth, may be so alter'd as to pass for it,
+seems very possible, if _Helmont_[34] have done that by Art which he
+mentions in several places; especially where He sayes that he knowes
+wayes whereby Sulphur once dissolv'd is all of it fix'd into a
+Terrestrial Powder; and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn'd
+into Earth: Which last he elsewhere sayes is Done by the Odour only of
+a certain Sulphureous Fire. And in another place He mentions one way
+of doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; because the
+Materialls I had prepar'd for Trying it, were by a Servants mistake
+unhappily thrown away.
+
+[Footnote 34: _Novi item modos quibus totum Salpetiæ [Errata:
+sal-petræ] in terram convertitur, totumque Sulphur semel dissolutum
+fixetur in Pulvearem terreum. Helmont in Compl. atque Mist. Elementor.
+Sect. 24._]
+
+And these Last Arguments may be confirm'd by the Experiment I have
+often had occasion to mention concerning the Mint I produc'd out of
+Water. And partly by an Observation of _Rondeletius_ concerning the
+Growth of Animals also, Nourish'd but by Water, which I remember'd not
+to mention, when I discours'd to you about the Production of things
+out of Water. This Diligent Writer then in his instructive book of
+fishes,[35] affirmes That his Wife kept a fish in a Glass of water
+without any other Food for three years; in which space it was
+constantly augmented, till at last it could not come out of the Place
+at which it was put in, and at length was too big for the glass it
+self though that were of a large capacity. And because there is no
+just reason to doubt, that this Fish, if Distill'd, would have yielded
+the like differing substances with other Animals: And However, because
+the Mint which I had out of water afforded me upon Distillation a good
+quantity of Charcoal, I think I may from thence inferr, that Earth it
+self may be produc'd out of Water; or if you please, that water may be
+transmuted into Earth; and consequently, that though it could be
+prov'd that Earth is an Ingredient actually in-existent in the
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies whence it may be obtain'd by Fire: yet it
+would not necessarily follow, that Earth as a pre-existent Element
+Does with other Principles convene to make up those Bodies whence it
+seems to have been separated.
+
+[Footnote 35: _Lib. 1. cap. 2._]
+
+After all is said (sayes _Eleutherius_) I have yet something to
+Object, that I cannot but think considerable, since _Carneades_
+Himself alledg'd it as such; for, (continues _Eleutherius_ smiling) I
+must make bold to try whether you can as luckily answer your own
+Arguments, as those of your Antagonists, I mean (pursues he) that part
+of your Concessions, wherein you cannot but remember that you supply'd
+your Adversaries with an Example to prove that there may be Elementary
+Bodies, by taking Notice that Gold may be an Ingredient in a multitude
+of differing Mixtures, and yet retain its Nature, notwithstanding all
+that the Chymists by their Fires and Corrosive Waters are able to do
+to Destroy it.
+
+I sufficiently intimated to you at that time (replies _Carneades_)
+that I propos'd this Example, chiefly to shew you how Nature may be
+Conceived to have made Elements, not to prove that she actually has
+made any; And you know, that _a posse ad esse_ the Inference will not
+hold. But (continues _Carneades_) to answer more directly to the
+Objection drawn from Gold, I must tell You, that though I know very
+well that divers of the more sober Chymists have complain'd of the
+Vulgar Chymists, as of Mountebanks or Cheats, for pretending so
+vainly, as hitherto they have done, to Destroy Gold; Yet I know a
+certain _Menstruum_ (which our Friend has made, and intends shortly to
+communicate to the Ingenious) of so piercing and powerfull a Quality,
+That if notwithstanding much care, and some skill, I did not much
+deceive myself, I have with it really destroy'd even refin'd Gold, and
+brought it into a Metalline Body of another colour and Nature, as I
+found by Tryals purposely made. And if some just Considerations did
+not for the present Forbid it, I could Perchance here shew you by
+another Experiment or Two of my own Trying, that such _Menstruums_ may
+be made as to entice away and retain divers parts, from Bodies, which
+even the more Judicious and Experienc'd _Spagyrists_ have pronounc'd
+irresoluble by the Fire. Though (which I Desire you would mark) in
+neither of these Instances, the Gold or Precious Stones be Analys'd
+into any of the _Tria Prima_, but only Reduc'd to new Concretes. And
+indeed there is a great Disparity betwixt the Operations of the
+several Agents whereby the Parts of a Body come to be Dissipated. As
+if (for Instance) you dissolve the purer sort of Vitriol in common
+Water, the Liquor will swallow up the Mineral, and so Dissociate its
+Corpuscles, that they will seem to make up but one Liquor with those
+of the water; and yet each of these Corpuscles retains its Nature and
+Texture, and remains a Vitriolate and Compounded Body. But if the same
+Vitriol be exposed to a strong Fire, it will then be divided not only,
+as before, into smaller parts, but into Heterogeneous Substances, each
+of the Vitriolate Corpuscles that remain'd entire in the water, being
+it self upon the Destruction of its former Texture dissipated or
+divided into new Particles of differing Qualities. But Instances more
+fitly applicable to this purpose, I have already given you. Wherefore
+to return to what I told you about the Destruction of Gold, that
+Experiment Invites me to Represent to you, that Though there were
+either Saline, or Sulphureous, or Terrestrial Portions of Matter,
+whose parts were so small, so firmly united together, or of a figure
+so fit to make them cohere to one another, (as we see that in
+quicksilver broken into little Globes, the Parts brought to touch one
+another do immediately re-imbody) that neither the Fire, nor the usual
+Agents employ'd by Chymists, are pierceing enough to divide their
+Parts, so as to destroy the Texture of the single Corpuscles; yet it
+would not necessarily follow, That such Permanent Bodies were
+Elementary, since tis possible there may be Agents found in Nature,
+some of whose parts may be of such a Size and Figure as to take better
+Hold of some parts of these seemingly Elementary Corpuscles than these
+parts do of the rest, and Consequently may carry away such parts with
+them, and so dissolve the Texture of the Corpuscle by pulling its
+parts asunder. And if it be said, that at least we may this way
+discover the Elementary Ingredients of Things, by observing into what
+Substances these Corpuscles that were reputed pure are divided; I
+answer, that it is not necessary that such a Discovery should be
+practicable. For if the Particles of the Dissolvent do take such firme
+hold of those of the Dissolved Body, they must constitute together new
+Bodies, as well as Destroy the Old; and the strickt Union, which
+according to this _Hypothesis_ may well be suppos'd betwixt the Parts
+of the Emergent Body, will make it as Little to be Expected that they
+should be pull'd asunder, but by little Parts of matter, that to
+Divide them Associate Themselves and stick extreamly close to those of
+them which they sever from their Former Adherents. Besides that it is
+not impossible, that a Corpuscle suppos'd to be Elementary may have
+its Nature changed, without suffering a Divorce of its parts, barely
+by a new Texture Effected by some powerfull Agent; as I formerly told
+you, the same portion of matter may easily by the Operation of the
+Fire be turn'd at pleasure into the form of a Brittle and Transparent,
+or an Opacous and Malleable Body.
+
+And indeed, if you consider how farr the bare Change of Texture,
+whether made by Art or Nature (or rather by Nature with or without the
+assistance of man) can go in producing such New Qualities in the same
+parcel of matter, and how many inanimate Bodies (such as are all the
+Chymical productions of the Fire) we know are Denominated and
+Distinguish'd not so much by any Imaginary Substantial Form, as by the
+aggregate of these Qualities. If you consider these Things, I say, and
+that the varying of either the figure, or the Size, or the Motion, or
+the Situation, or Connexion of the Corpuscles whereof any of these
+Bodies is compos'd, may alter the Fabrick of it, you will possibly be
+invited to suspect, with me, that there is no great need that Nature
+should alwayes have Elements before hand, whereof to make such Bodies
+as we call mixts. And that it is not so easie as Chymists and others
+have hitherto Imagin'd, to discern, among the many differing
+Substances that may without any extraordinary skill be obtain'd from
+the same portion of matter, Which ought to be esteemed exclusively to
+all the rest, its in-existent Elementary Ingredients; much lesse to
+determine what Primogeneal and Simple Bodies convened together to
+compose it. To exemplify this, I shall add to what I have already on
+several occasions Represented, but this single instance.
+
+You may remember (_Eleutherius_) that I formerly intimated to you,
+that besides Mint and Pompions, I produced divers other Vegetables of
+very differing Natures out of Water. Wherefore you will not, I
+presume, think it incongruous to suppose, that when a slender
+Vine-slip is set into the ground, and takes root, there it may
+likewise receive its Nutriment from the water attracted out of the
+earth by his roots, or impell'd by the warm'th of the sun, or pressure
+of the ambient air into the pores of them. And this you will the more
+easily believe, if you ever observ'd what a strange quantity of Water
+will Drop out of a wound given to the Vine, in a convenient place, at
+a seasonable time in the Spring; and how little of Tast or Smell this
+_Aqua Vitis_, as Physitians call it, is endow'd with, notwithstanding
+what concoction or alteration it may receive in its passage through
+the Vine, to discriminate it from common Water. Supposing then this
+Liquor, at its first entrance into the roots of the Vine, to be common
+Water; Let Us a little consider how many various Substances may be
+obtain'd from it; though to do so, I must repeat somewhat that I had a
+former occasion to touch upon. And first, this Liquor being Digested
+in the plant, and assimilated by the several parts of it, is turn'd
+into the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &c. of the Vine; The same Liquor
+may be further dry'd, and fashon'd into Vine-buds, and these a while
+after are advanced unto sour Grapes, which express'd yield Verjuice, a
+Liquor very differing in several qualities both from Wine and other
+Liquors obtainable from the Vine: These soure Grapes being by the heat
+of the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well tasted Grapes; These
+if dry'd in the Sun and Distill'd, afford a fætid Oyle and a piercing
+_Empyreumatical_ Spirit, but not a Vinous Spirit; These dry'd Grapes
+or Raisins boyl'd in a convenient proportion of Water make a sweet
+Liquor, which being betimes distill'd afford an Oyle and Spirit much
+like those of the Raisins themselves; If the juice of the Grapes be
+squeez'd out and put to Ferment, it first becomes a sweet and turbid
+Liquor, then grows lesse sweet and more clear, and then affords in
+common Distillations 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 likewise without
+Addition obtain'd in processe of time (and by an easie way which I am
+ready to teach you) from one of the noblest sorts of Wine, pretty
+store of pure and curiously figured Crystals of Salt, together with a
+great proportion of a Liquor as sweet almost as Hony; and these I
+obtained not from Must, but True and sprightly Wine; besides the
+Vinous Liquor, the fermented Juice of Grapes is partly turned into
+liquid Dregs or Leeze, and partly into that crust or dry feculancy
+that is commonly called Tartar; and this Tartar may by the Fire be
+easily divided into five differing substances; four of which are not
+Acid, and the other not so manifestly Acid as the Tartar it self; The
+same Vinous Juice after some time, especially if it be not carefully
+kept, Degenerates into that very sour Liquor called Vinegar; from
+which you may obtain by the Fire a Spirit and a Crystalline Salt
+differing enough from the Spirit and Lixiviate Salt of Tartar. And if
+you pour the Dephlegm'd Spirit of the Vinegar upon the Salt of Tartar,
+there will be produc'd such a Conflict or Ebullition as if there were
+scarce two more contrary Bodies in Nature; and oftentimes in this
+Vinager you may observe part of the matter to be turned into an
+innumerable company of swimming Animals, which our Friend having
+divers years ago observed, hath in one of his Papers taught us how to
+discover clearly without the help of a _Microscope_.
+
+Into all these various Schemes of matter, or differingly Qualifyed
+Bodies, besides divers others that I purposely 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 supervenient Agents
+or Causes, without the visible concurrence of any extraneous
+Ingredient; but if we be allowed to add to the Productions of this
+transmuted Water a few other substances, we may much encrease the
+Variety of such Bodies; although in this second sort of Productions,
+the Vinous parts seem scarce to retain 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 such a Disposition, that in their recess
+occasion'd by the Fire they came to be alter'd as to shape, or
+Bigness, or both, and associated after a New manner. Thus, as I
+formerly told you, I did by the Addition of a _Caput Mortuum_ of
+Antimony, and some other Bodies unfit for Distillation, obtain from
+crude Tartar, store of a very Volatile and Crystalline Salt, differing
+very much in smell and other Qualities from the usuall salts of
+Tartar.
+
+But (sayes _Eleutherius_, interrupting him at these Words) if you have
+no restraint upon you, I would very gladly before you go any further,
+be more particularly inform'd, how you make this Volatile Salt,
+because (you know) that such Multitudes of Chymists have by a scarce
+imaginable Variety of wayes, attempted in Vain the Volatilization of
+the Salt of Tartar, that divers learned _Spagyrists_ speak as if it
+were impossible, to make any thing out of Tartar, that shall be
+Volatile in a Saline Forme, or as some of them express it, _in forma
+sicca_. I am very farr from thinking (answers _Carneades_) that the
+Salt I have mention'd is that which _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_ mean
+when they speak of _Sal Tartari Volatile_, and ascribe such great
+things to it. For the Salt I speak of falls extreamly short of those
+Virtues, not seeming in its Tast, Smel, and other Obvious Qualities,
+to differ very much (though something it do differ) from Salt of
+Harts-horn, and other Volatile Salts drawn from the Distill'd Parts of
+Animals. Nor have I yet made Tryals enough to be sure, that it is a
+pure Salt of Tartar without participating any thing at all of the
+Nitre, or Antimony. But because it seems more likely to proceed from
+the Tartar, than from any of the other Ingredients, and because the
+Experiment is in it self not Ignoble, and Luciferous enough (as
+shewing a new way to produce a Volatile Salt contrary to Acid Salts
+from Bodies that otherwise are Observ'd to yield no such Liquor, but
+either only, or chiefly, Acid ones,) I shall, to satisfie you,
+acquaint you before any of my other Friends with the way I now use
+(for I have formerly us'd some others) to make it.
+
+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
+these be powder'd and well mingl'd; this done, you must have in
+readiness a long neck or Retort of Earth, which must be plac'd in a
+Furnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of a
+convenient Bigness, at which you may cast in the Mixture, and
+presently stop it up again; this Vessel being fitted with a large
+Receiver must have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the sides be
+red hot, and then you must cast in the above prepar'd Mixture, by
+about halfe a spoonfull (more or less) at a time, at the hole made for
+that purpose; which being nimbly stopt, the Fumes will pass into the
+Receiver and condense 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 abounds in the Salt I told you of, part of which
+may easily enough be separated by the way I use in such cases, which
+is, to put the Liquor into a glass Egg, or bolthead with a long and
+narrow Neck. For if this be plac'd a little inclining in hot sand,
+there will sublime 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
+Saltish, not an Acid Salt; it hisses upon the Affusion of Spirit of
+Nitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Dissolv'd in Spirit
+of Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; it
+presently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whiteness;
+and in summ, has divers Operations like those that I have observ'd in
+that sort of Salts to which I have resembled it: and is so Volatile,
+that for Distinction sake, I call it _Tartari Fugitivus_ [Errata: Sal
+Tartari Fugitivus]. What virtues it may have in Physick I have not yet
+had the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not be
+despicable. And besides that a very Ingenious Friend of mine tells me
+he hath done great matters against the stone, with a Preparation not
+very much Differing from ours, a very Experienc'd Germane Chymist
+finding that I was unacquainted with the wayes of making this salt,
+told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymist prizes it
+so highly, that he had a while since procur'd a Priviledge from the
+Magistrates, that none but He, or by his Licence, should vent a Spirit
+made almost after the same Way with mine, save that he leaves out one
+of the Ingredients, namely the Quick-lime. But, continues _Carneades_,
+to resume my Former Discourse where your Curiosity interrupted it;
+
+Tis also a common practice in _France_ to bury thin Plates of Copper
+in the Marc (as the French call it) or Husks of Grapes, whence the
+Juice has been squeez'd out in the Wine-press, and by this means the
+more saline parts of those Husks working by little and little upon the
+Copper, Coagulate Themselves with it into that Blewish Green Substance
+we in English call Verdigrease. Of which I therefore take Notice,
+because having Distill'd it in a Naked Fire, I found as I expected,
+that by the Association of the Saline with the Metalline parts, the
+former were so alter'd, that the Distill'd Liquor, even without
+Rectification, seem'd by smell and Tast, strong almost like _Aqua
+Fortis_, and very much surpassed the purest and most Rectifi'd Spirit
+of Vinager that ever I made. And this Spirit I therefore ascribe to
+the salt of the Husks alter'd by their Co-Mixture with the copper
+(though the Fire afterwards Divorce and Transmute them) because I
+found this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of a
+_Crocus_ or redish powder: And because Copper is of too sluggish a
+Nature to be forc'd over in close Vessels by no stronger a heat. And
+that which is also somewhat Remarkable in the Destillation of good
+Verdigrease, (or at least of that sort that I us'd) is this, that I
+Never could observe that it yielded me any oyl, (unless a little black
+slime which was separated in Rectification may pass for Oyle) though
+both Tartar and Vinager, (especially the former) will by Destillation
+yield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewise you pour Spirit of
+Vinager upon Calcin'd Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by its
+Commixture with the Metalline parts, though Insipid, acquire in a few
+hours a more than Saccharine sweetness; and these Saline parts being
+by a strong Fire Destill'd from the Lead wherewith they were imbody'd,
+will, as I formerly also noted to a Different purpose, leave the Metal
+behind them alter'd in some qualities from what it was, and will
+themselves ascend, partly in the Forme of an unctuous Body or Oyle,
+partly in that of Phlegme; but for the greatest part in the Forme of a
+subtile Spirit, indow'd, besides divers new Qualities which I am not
+now willing to take notice of, with a strong smell very much other
+than that of Vinager, and a piercing tast quite differing both from
+the Sowerness of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetness of the Sugar
+of Lead.
+
+To be short, As the difference of Bodies may depend meerly upon that
+of the schemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the seeds of
+Things, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minute
+parts of a Body (either by breaking them into smaller ones of
+differing shapes, or by Uniting together these Fragments with the
+unbroken Corpuscles, or such Corpuscles among Themselves) and the same
+Agents partly by Altering the shape or bigness of the Constituent
+Corpuscles of a Body, partly by driving away some of them, partly by
+blending others with them, and partly by some new manner of connecting
+them, may give the whole portion of matter a new Texture of its minute
+parts; and thereby make it deserve a new and Distinct name. So that
+according as the small parts of matter recede from each other, or work
+upon each other, or are connected together after this or that
+determinate manner, a Body of this or that denomination is produced,
+as some other Body happens thereby to be alter'd or destroy'd.
+
+Since then those things which Chymists produce by the help of the Fire
+are but inanimate Bodies; since such fruits of the Chymists skill
+differ from one another but in so few qualities that we see plainly
+that by fire and other Agents we can employ, we can easily enough work
+as great alterations upon matter, as those that are requisite to
+change one of these Chymical Productions into another; Since the same
+portion of matter may without being Compounded with any extraneous
+Body, or at least Element, be made to put on such a variety of
+formes, and consequently to be (successively) turn'd into so many
+differing Bodies. And since the matter cloath'd with so many differing
+formes was originally but water, and that in its passage thorow so
+many transformations, it was never reduc'd into any of those
+substances which are reputed to be the Principles or Elements of mixt
+Bodies, except by the violence of the fire, which it self divides not
+Bodies into perfectly simple or Elementary substances, but into new
+Compounds; Since, I say, these things are so, I see not why we must
+needs believe that there are any Primogeneal and simple Bodies, of
+which as of Pre-exsistent Elements Nature is obliged to compound all
+others. Nor do I see why we may not conceive that she may produce the
+Bodies accounted mixt out of one another by Variously altering and
+contriving their minute parts, without resolving the matter into any
+such simple or Homogeneous substances as are pretended. Neither, to
+dispatch, do I see why it should be counted absur'd [Transcriber's
+Note: absurd] to think, that when a Body is resolv'd by the Fire into
+its suppos'd simple Ingredients, those substances are not true and
+proper Elements, but rather were, as it were, Accidentally produc'd by
+the fire, which by Dissipating a Body into minute Parts does, if those
+parts be shut up in Close Vessels, for the most part necessarily bring
+them to Associate Themselves after another manner than before, and so
+bring Them into Bodies of such Different Consistences as the Former
+Texture of the Body, and Concurrent Circumstances make such disbanded
+particles apt to Constitute; as experience shews us (and I have both
+noted it, and prov'd it already) that as there are some Concretes
+whose parts when dissipated by fire are fitted to be put into such
+Schemes of matter as we call Oyle, and Salt, and Spirit; So there are
+others, such as are especially the greatest part of Minerals, whose
+Corpuscles being of another Size or figure, or perhaps contriv'd
+another Way, will not in the Fire yield Bodies of the like
+Consistences, but rather others of differing Textures; Not to mention,
+that from Gold and some other Bodies, we see not that the Fire
+separates any Distinct Substances at all; nor That even those Similar
+Parts of Bodies which the Chymists Obtain by the Fire, are the
+Elements whose names they bear, but Compound Bodies, upon which, for
+their resemblance to them in consistence, or some other obvious
+Quality, Chymists have been pleas'd to bestow such Appellations.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONCLUSION.
+
+
+These last Words of _Carneades_ being soon after follow'd by a noise
+which seem'd to come from the place where the rest of the Company was,
+he took it for a warning, that it was time for him to conclude or
+break off his Discourse; and told his Friend; By this time I hope you
+see, _Eleutherius_, that if _Helmonts_ Experiments be true, it is no
+absurdity to question whether that Doctrine be one, that doth not
+assert Any Elements in the sence before explain'd. But because that,
+as divers of my Arguments suppose the marvellous power of the
+_Alkahest_ in the Analyzing of Bodies, so the Effects ascrib'd to that
+power are so unparallell'd and stupendious, that though I am not sure
+but that there _may be_ such an Agent, yet little less than [Greek:
+autopsia] seems requisite to make a man sure there _is_. And
+consequently I leave it to you to judge, how farre those of my
+Arguments that are built upon _Alkahestical_ Operations are weakned by
+that Liquors being Matchless; and shall therefore desire you not to
+think that I propose this Paradox that rejects all Elements, as an
+Opinion equally probable with the former part of my discourse. For by
+that, I hope, you are satisfied, that the Arguments wont to be brought
+by Chymists, to prove That all Bodies consist of either Three
+Principles, or Five, are far from being so strong as those that I have
+employ'd to prove, that there is not any certain and Determinate
+number of such Principles or Elements to be met with Universally in
+all mixt Bodies. And I suppose I need not tell you, that these
+_Anti-Chymical_ Paradoxes might have been manag'd more to their
+Advantage; but that having not confin'd my Curiosity to Chymical
+Experiments, I who am but a young Man, and younger Chymist, can yet be
+but slenderly furnished with them, in reference to so great and
+difficult a Task as you impos'd upon me; Besides that, to tell you the
+Truth, I durst not employ some even of the best Experiments I am
+acquainted with, because I must not yet disclose them; but however, I
+think I may presume that what I have hitherto Discoursed will induce
+you to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in finding
+Experiments than the Causes of them; or in assigning the Principles by
+which they may best be explain'd. And indeed, when in the writings of
+_Paracelsus_ I meet with such Phantastick and Un-intelligible
+Discourses as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with,
+father'd upon such excellent Experiments, as though he seldom clearly
+teaches, I often find he knew; me thinks the Chymists, in their
+searches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators of _Solomons
+Tarshish_ Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages,
+not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too; For
+so the Writings of several (for I say not, all) of your Hermetick
+Philosophers present us, together with divers Substantial and noble
+Experiments, Theories, which either like Peacocks feathers make a
+great shew, but are neither solid nor useful; or else like Apes, if
+they have some appearance of being rational, are blemish'd with some
+absurdity or other, that when they are _Attentively_ consider'd, makes
+them appear Ridiculous.
+
+_Carneades_ having thus finish'd his Discourse against the received
+Doctrines of the _Elements_; _Eleutherius_ judging he should not have
+time to say much to him before their separation, made some haste to
+tell him; I confess, _Carneades_, that you have said more in favour of
+your Paradoxes then I expected. For though divers of the Experiments
+you have mention'd are no secrets, and were not unknown to me, yet
+besides that you have added many of your own unto them, you have laid
+them together in such a way, and apply'd them to such purposes, and
+made such Deductions From them, as I have not Hitherto met with.
+
+But though I be therefore inclin'd to think, that _Philoponus_, had he
+heard you, would scarce have been able in all points to defend the
+Chymical _Hypothesis_ against the arguments wherewith you have oppos'd
+it; yet me thinks that however your Objections seem to evince a great
+part of what they pretend to, yet they evince it not all; and the
+numerous tryals of those you call the vulgar Chymists, may be allow'd
+to prove something too.
+
+Wherefore, if it be granted you that you have made it probable,
+
+First, that the differing substances into which mixt Bodies are wont
+to be resolved by the Fire are not of a pure and an Elementary nature,
+especially for this Reason, that they yet retain so much of the nature
+of the Concrete that afforded them, as to appear to be yet somewhat
+compounded, and oftentimes to differ in one Concrete from Principles
+of the same denomination in another:
+
+Next, that as to the number of these differing substances, neither is
+it precisely three, because in most Vegetable and Animal bodies Earth
+and Phlegme are also to be found among their Ingredients; nor is there
+any one determinate number into which the Fire (as it is wont to be
+employ'd) does precisely and universally resolve all compound Bodies
+whatsoever, as well Minerals as others that are reputed perfectly
+mixt.
+
+Lastly, that there are divers Qualities which cannot well be refer'd
+to any of these Substances, as if they primarily resided in it and
+belong'd to it; and some other qualities, which though they seem to
+have their chief and most ordinary residence in some one of these
+Principles or Elements of mixt Bodies, are not yet so deducible from
+it, but that also some more general Principles must be taken in to
+explicate them.
+
+If, I say, the Chymists (continues _Eleutherius_) be so Liberall as to
+make you these three Concessions, I hope you will, on your part, be so
+civil and Equitable as to grant them these three other propositions,
+namely;
+
+First, that divers Mineral Bodies, and therefore probably all the
+rest, may be resolv'd into a Saline, a Sulphureous, and a Mercurial
+part; And that almost all Vegetable and Animal Concretes may, if not
+by the Fire alone, yet, by a skilfull Artist Employing the Fire as
+his chief Instrument, be divided into five differing Substances, Salt,
+Spirit, Oyle, Phlegme and Earth; of which the three former by reason
+of their being so much more Operative than the Two Later, deserve to
+be Lookt upon as the Three active Principles, and by way of Eminence
+to be call'd the three principles of mixt bodies.
+
+Next, that these Principles, Though they be not perfectly Devoid of
+all Mixture, yet may without inconvenience be stil'd the Elements of
+Compounded bodies, and bear the Names of those Substances which they
+most Resemble, and which are manifestly predominant in them; and that
+especially for this reason, that none of these Elements is Divisible
+by the Fire into Four or Five differing substances, like the Concrete
+whence it was separated.
+
+Lastly, That Divers of the Qualities of a mixt Body, and especially
+the Medical Virtues, do for the most part lodge in some One or Other
+of its principles, and may Therefore usefully be sought for in That
+Principle sever'd from the others.
+
+And in this also (pursues _Eleutherius_) methinks both you and the
+Chymists may easily agree, that the surest way is to Learn by
+particular Experiments, what differing parts particular Bodies do
+consist of, and by what wayes (either Actual or potential fire) they
+may best and most Conveniently be Separated, as without relying too
+much upon the Fire alone, for the resolving of Bodies, so without
+fruitlessly contending to force them into more Elements than Nature
+made Them up of, or strip the sever'd Principles so naked, as by
+making Them Exquisitely Elementary to make them almost useless,
+
+These things (subjoynes _Eleu._) I propose, without despairing to see
+them granted by you; not only because I know that you so much preferr
+the Reputation of _Candor_ before that of subtility, that your having
+once suppos'd a truth would not hinder you from imbracing it when
+clearly made out to you; but because, upon the present occasion, it
+will be no disparagement to you to recede from some of your Paradoxes,
+since the nature and occasion of your past Discourse did not oblige
+you to declare your own opinions, but only to personate an Antagonist
+of the Chymists. So that (concludes he, with a smile) you may now by
+granting what I propose, add the Reputation of Loving the truth
+sincerely to that of having been able to oppose it subtilly.
+
+_Carneades's_ haste forbidding him to answer this crafty piece of
+flattery; Till I shal (sayes he) have an opportunity to acquaint you
+with my own Opinions about the controversies I have been discoursing
+of, you will not, I hope, expect I should declare my own sence of the
+Arguments I have employ'd. Wherefore I shall only tell you thus much
+at present; that though not only an acute Naturalist, but even I my
+self could take plausible Exceptions at some of them; yet divers of
+them too are such as will not perhaps be readily answer'd, and will
+Reduce my Adversaries, at least, to alter and Reform their
+_Hypothesis_. I perceive I need not minde you that the Objections I
+made against the Quaternary of Elements and Ternary of Principles
+needed not to be oppos'd so much against the Doctrines Themselves
+(either of which, especially the latter, may be much more probably
+maintain'd than hitherto it seems to have been, by those Writers for
+it I have met with) as against the unaccurateness and the
+unconcludingness of the _Analytical_ Experiments vulgarly Relyed On to
+Demonstrate them.
+
+And therefore, if either of the two examin'd Opinions, or any other
+Theory of Elements, shall upon rational and Experimental grounds be
+clearly made out to me; 'Tis Obliging, but not irrational, in you to
+Expect, that I shall not be so farr in Love with my Disquieting
+Doubts, as not to be content to change them for undoubted truths. And
+(concludes _Carneades_ smiling) it were no great disparagement for a
+Sceptick to confesse to you, that as unsatisfy'd as the past discourse
+may have made you think me with the Doctrines of the Peripateticks,
+and the Chymists, about the Elements and Principles, I can yet so
+little discover what to acquiesce in, that perchance the Enquiries of
+others have scarce been more unsatisfactory to me, than my own have
+been to my self.
+
+
+_FINIS._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Authors constant Absence from the Presse, whilst the former
+Treatise was Printing, and the Nature of the Subject it self,
+wherewith ordinary Composers are not wont to be at all acquainted,
+will, 'tis hop'd, procure the Readers Excuse, till the next Edition,
+if the _Errata_ be somewhat numerous, and if among them there want not
+some grosser mistakes, which yet are not the only Blemishes these
+lines must take notice of and acknowledg; For the Author now perceives
+that through the fault of those to whom he had committed the former
+Treatise in loose Sheets, some Papers that belonged to it, have
+altogether miscarryed. And though it have luckily enough happen'd, for
+the most part, that the Omission of them does not marr the Cohærence
+of the rest; yet till the next design'd Edition afford an
+_opportunity_ of inserting them, it is thought fit that the Printer
+give notice of one Omission at the End of the first Dialogue; and that
+to these _Errata_ there be annex'd the ensuing sheet of Paper, that
+was casually lost, or forgotten by him that should have put it into
+the Presse; where it ought to have been inserted, in the 187. printed
+Page, at the break, betwixt the words, [_Nature_] in the 13th. line,
+and [_But_] in the next line after. Though it is to be noted here,
+that by the mistake of the Printer, in some Books, the number of 187
+is placed at the top of two somewhat distant pages; and in such copies
+the following addition ought to be inserted in the latter of the two,
+as followeth.
+
+     And on this occasion I cannot but take notice, that whereas
+     the great Argument which the Chymists are wont to employ to
+     vilify Earth and Water, and make them be look'd upon as
+     useless and unworthy to be reckon'd among the Principles of
+     Mixt Bodies, is, that they are not endow'd with Specifick
+     Properties, but only with Elementary qualities; of which
+     they use to speak very sleightingly, as of qualities
+     contemptible and unactive: I see no sufficient Reason for
+     this Practice of the Chymists: For 'tis confess'd that Heat
+     is an Elementary Quality, and yet that an almost innumerable
+     company of considerable Things are perform'd by Heat, is
+     manifest to them that duly consider the various _Phænomena_
+     wherein it intervenes as a principall Actor; and none ought
+     less to ignore or distrust this Truth then a Chymist. Since
+     almost all the operations and Productions of his Art are
+     performed chiefly by the means of Heat. And as for Cold it
+     self, upon whose account they so despise the Earth and
+     Water, if they please to read in the Voyages of our English
+     and Dutch Navigators in _Nova Zembla_ and other Northern
+     Regions what stupendious Things may be effected by Cold,
+     they would not perhaps think it so despicable. And not to
+     repeat what I lately recited to You out of _Paracelsus_
+     himself, who by the help of an intense Cold teaches to
+     separate the Quintessence of Wine; I will only now observe
+     to You, that the Conservation of the Texture of many Bodies
+     both animate and inanimate do's so much depend upon the
+     convenient motion both of their own Fluid and Looser Parts,
+     and of the ambient Bodies, whether Air, Water, &c. that not
+     only in humane Bodies we see that the immoderate or
+     unseasonable coldness of the Air (especially when it finds
+     such Bodies overheated) do's very frequently discompose the
+     _Oeconomie_ of them, and occasion variety of Diseases; but
+     in the solid and durable Body of Iron it self, in which one
+     would not expect that suddain Cold should produce any
+     notable change, it may have so great an operation, that if
+     you take a Wire, or other slender piece of steel, and having
+     brought it in the fire to a white heat, You suffer it
+     afterwards to cool leasurely in the Air, it will when it is
+     cold be much of the same hardnesse it was of before: Whereas
+     if as soon as You remove it from the fire, you plunge it
+     into cold water, it will upon the sudden Refrigeration
+     acquire a very much greater hardness then it had before;
+     Nay, and will become manifestly brittle. And that you may
+     not impute this to any peculiar Quality in the Water, or
+     other Liquor, or Unctuous matter, wherein such heated steel
+     is wont to be quenched that it may be temper'd; I know a
+     very skillful Tradesman, that divers times hardens steel by
+     suddenly cooling it in a Body that is neither a liquor, nor
+     so much as moist. A tryal of that Nature I remember I have
+     seen made. And however by the operation that Water has upon
+     steel quenched in it, whether upon the Account of its
+     coldness and moisture, or upon that of any other of its
+     qualities, it appears, that water is not alwaies so
+     inefficacious and contemptible a Body, as our Chymists would
+     have it passe for. And what I have said of the Efficacy of
+     Cold and Heat, might perhaps be easily enough carried
+     further by other considerations and experiments; were it not
+     that having been mention'd only upon the Bye, I must not
+     insist on it, but proceed to another Subject.
+
+
+
+
+_ERRATA._
+
+
+Pag. 5. line. 6. read _so qualify'd_, 15. 19. _Ratiocinations_, 25.
+15. _for a_, 33. 17. in a parenth. (_that is no more_), 51. 24.
+_besides another Caput_, 79. 10. _employ_, 86. 13. _structure_, 97.
+13. _Sack_, ibid. 22. _Sack_, 104. 29. instead of _appear it, will_,
+leg. _appear, it will_, 118. 20. _leasure_, ibid. _principal_, 126.
+20. _and till it suffer_, 129. 3. leg. in parenth. (_notwithstanding,
+&c._ 131. 15. _so_, 144. 15. [Greek: Synchysis], 151. 5. _nor have
+been resolved_, 180. 25. _Magistram_, 185. 15. _lately_, 188. 15.
+_tunned_, 200. 1. _intolerable_, ibid. 2. _in_, 209. 21. _tegularum_,
+210. 7. _distill'd from_, 215. 25. dele _the_, 220. 1. _bodies_, 228.
+11. [Transcriber's Note: 21.] _fugitive_, 231. 17. instead of _all_
+lege _a pound_, 237. 6. _Chymist_, 248. 18. _Ashes off_, 251. 23.
+_Deopilative)_, 259. 6. _it self_, 269. 10. [Greek: ousia analogos],
+_ibid._ [Greek: astrôn stoicheiô], 276. 25. make a parenth. at the
+words, _by the_, and shut it after the words in the 27. line _at all_,
+280. 11. _Corals_, 288. 6. _ascribes_, 294. 22. _porosity_, ibid. 28.
+_noted_, 296. 1. _Bodies_, 305. 8. _(attended_, 307. 12. dele _to_,
+308. 12. _devisers_, 312. 14. _and_, 313. 3. _too_, 314. 24.
+_fugitivenesse_, 333. 13. _origine_, ibid. 24. _contrivance of_, 339.
+1. _Nay, Barthias_, 142. [Transcriber's Note: 342.] 3. _in; I will_,
+350. 26. _absurd_, 356. 11. [Transcriber's Note: 21.] _Goutieres_,
+358. 6. _antea_, 360. 1. _compertissimum_, ibid. 18. _Joachimica_,
+ibid. 19 _graminis_, ibid. 23. _sua_ [Transcriber's Note: this appears
+to be correct on the original page 360], 362. 6. _Dutch account_, 363.
+2. _diggers)_, ibid. 11. and 12. lin. read _damp as the Englishmen
+also call it_, 366. 25. _a height_, 368. 19. _in use_, 370. 9.
+_latter; And_, ibid. 24. _Water; I_, 377. 22. _Rest_, ibid. 25.
+_know)_, 378. 23. after _Aggregate_ insert _or complex_, ibid. 27.
+dele ), ibid. 28. dele ), 379. 4. before _as_ begin a parenth. which
+ends lin. 9. at _Gold_, ibid. instead of _Which_, put _This_, ibid.
+12. with the word _Texture_ should be connected the next line,
+_Though_, and this word _Though_ is to have put before it a
+parenthesis, which is to end at the word _Fluid_ in the 16th. line,
+383. 3. _Regulus Martis Stellatus_, 382. 3. _Relations_, ibid. 9.
+_Chymist_, 386. 29. _confesse by teaching it_, 391. 8. _and yet may_,
+392. 1. _an_, ibid. 12. _of_, 393. [Transcriber's Note: line 5]
+_distinct Tasts_, 397. 13. _Talck_, 398. 18. _Earth_, 399. 18.
+_parts_, 404. 8. _sal-petræ_, 419. 20. after _it_ put in _Sal_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Publisher doth advertise the Redaer [Transcriber's Note: Reader],
+that seeing there are divers Experiments related in this Treatise,
+which the Author is not unwilling to submit to the consideration also
+of Forraign Philosophers, he believes this piece will be very soon
+translated into Latin._
+
+
+END.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST***
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Sceptical Chymist, by Robert Boyle</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Sceptical Chymist</p>
+<p>       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 præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.</p>
+<p>Author: Robert Boyle</p>
+<p>Release Date: October 8, 2007  [eBook #22914]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Robert Shimmin, Linda Cantoni,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>).</h3>
+<h4>Color title-page images were generously provided by the<br />
+    University of Pennsylvania Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text &amp; Image<br />
+    (<a href="http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti">http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti</a>).</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="notes">
+<p class="center"><b>Transcriber&#8217;s Notes</b></p>
+
+<p>This e-book was prepared from a facsimile of the 1661 first
+edition and contains spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
+inconsistencies typical of the era. These have been preserved
+as they appear in the original.</p>
+
+<p>Printer errors have also been preserved. Those mentioned in
+the <a href="#ERRATA">Errata</a> at the end of the book
+are hyperlinked to that section. Other obvious printer errors,
+where the meaning might be unclear without correction,
+are marked with red dotted underlining; hover the mouse over the underlined word
+to see a pop-up <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: corrected text">transcriber&#8217;s
+note</span>. See also the <a href="#PRINTER">printer&#8217;s note</a> containing
+material omitted from <a href="#Page_191">page 191</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the page numbers in the original are misnumbered, though
+the text itself is in the proper order. The original page numbers
+have been preserved, and incorrect numbers are marked with red
+dotted underlining and a mouse-hover pop-up with the correct number.</p>
+
+<p>This e-text contains some Greek and Hebrew characters, which may
+not display properly in all browsers. Diacriticals have been
+omitted. Hover the mouse over the
+characters to see a pop-up transliteration, e.g.,
+<span lang="el" title="Greek: biblos">&#946;&#953;&#946;&#955;&#959;&#962;</span>.
+</p>
+
+<p>A <a href="#CONTENTS">table of contents</a> has been provided for the
+reader&#8217;s convenience.</p>
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center"><br />
+<img src="images/title01.jpg" width="428" height="700" alt="Title Page" />
+<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<h2><span class="gesperrt">THE</span></h2>
+
+<h1><span class="red">SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:</span></h1>
+
+<h2><span class="gesperrt">OR</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="gesperrt">CHYMICO-PHYSICAL</span></h2>
+
+<h1><span class="red">Doubts</span> &amp; <span class="red">Paradoxes,</span></h1>
+
+<h3>Touching the</h3>
+
+<h2>SPAGYRIST&#8217;S PRINCIPLES</h2>
+
+<h3>Commonly call&#8217;d</h3>
+
+<h1><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt">HYPOSTATICAL</span>,</span></h1>
+
+<h3>As they are wont to be Propos&#8217;d and<br />
+Defended by the Generality of</h3>
+
+<h1><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt">ALCHYMISTS</span>.</span></h1>
+
+<h3>Whereunto is pr&aelig;mis&#8217;d Part of another Discourse<br />
+relating to the same Subject.</h3>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h3><span class="gesperrt">BY</span><br />
+<br />
+The Honourable <i>ROBERT BOYLE</i>, Esq;</h3>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h3><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt"><i>LONDON,</i></span></span><br />
+<br />
+Printed by <i>J. Cadwell</i> for <i>J. Crooke</i>, and are to be<br />
+Sold at the <i>Ship</i> in St. <i>Paul&#8217;s</i> Church-Yard.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="red"><i><span class="gesperrt">MDCLXI</span>.</i></span></h3>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><br /><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#PREFACE">A Præface Introductory</a><br />
+<a href="#PHYSIOLOGICAL">Physiological Considerations</a><br />
+<a href="#FIRST">The First Part</a><br />
+<a href="#SECOND">The Second Part</a><br />
+<a href="#THIRD">The Third Part</a><br />
+<a href="#FOURTH">The Fourth Part</a><br />
+<a href="#FIFTH">The Fifth Part</a><br />
+<a href="#SIXTH">The Sixth Part</a><br />
+<a href="#CONCLUSION">The Conclusion</a><br />
+<a href="#PRINTER">Printer&#8217;s Note</a><br />
+<a href="#ERRATA">Errata</a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><br />
+<img src="images/deco01.png" width="600" height="57" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>A<br />
+<br />
+<span class="gesperrt">PR&AElig;FACE</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="large">INTRODUCTORY</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>To the following Treatise.</i></h2>
+
+
+<p><br /><img src="images/capt.png" width="125" height="124" alt="T" title="T" class="floatl" /><i>O give the Reader an account,
+Why the following Treatise is suffer&#8217;d
+to pass abroad so maim&#8217;d and imperfect, I must inform him that &#8217;tis
+now long since, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I set down
+some of the Reasons that kept me from fully acquiescing either in the
+Peripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principles
+of mixt Bodies. This Discourse some years after falling into the hands
+of some Learned men, had the good luck to be so favourably receiv&#8217;d,
+and advantageously spoken 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 some things that seem&#8217;d not so fit to
+be shewn to every Reader, And substitute some of those other things
+that occurr&#8217;d to me of the trials and observations I had since made.
+What became of my papers, I elsewhere mention in a Preface where I
+complain of it: But since I writ That, I found many sheets that
+belong&#8217;d to the subjects I am now about to discourse of. Wherefore
+seeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue as
+was requisite to state the Case, and serve for an Introduction as well
+to the conference betwixt</i> Carneades <i>and</i> Eleutherius, <i>as to some
+other Dialogues, which for certain reasons are not now herewith
+publish&#8217;d, I resolv&#8217;d to supply, as well as I could, the Contents of a
+Paper belonging to the second of the following Discourses, which I
+could not possibly retrive, though it were the chief of them all. And
+having once more try&#8217;d the Opinion of Friends, but not of the same,
+about this imperfect work, I found it such, that I was content in
+complyance with their Desires; that not only it should be publish&#8217;d,
+but that it should be publish&#8217;d as soon as conveniently might be. I
+had indeed all along the Dialogues spoken of my self, as of a third
+Person; For, they containing Discourses which were among the first
+Treatises that I ventur&#8217;d long ago to write of matters Philosophical,
+I had reason to desire, with the Painter, to</i> latere pone tabulam,
+<i>and hear what men would say of them, before I own&#8217;d my self to be
+their Author. But besides that now I find, &#8217;tis not unknown to many
+who it is that writ them, I am made to believe that &#8217;tis not
+inexpedient, they should be known to come from a Person not altogether
+a stranger to Chymical Affairs. And I made the lesse scruple to let
+them come abroad uncompleated, partly, because my affairs and
+Pr&aelig;-ingagements to publish divers other Treatises allow&#8217;d me small
+hopes of being able in a great while to compleat these Dialogues. And
+partly, because I am not unapt to think, that they may come abroad
+seasonably enough, though not for the Authors reputation, yet for
+other purposes. For I observe, that of late Chymistry begins, as
+indeed it deserves, to be cultivated by Learned Men who before
+despis&#8217;d it; and to be pretended to by many who never cultivated it,
+that they may be thought not to ignore it: Whence it is come to passe,
+that divers Chymical Notions about Matters Philosophical are taken for
+granted and employ&#8217;d, and so adopted by very eminent Writers both
+Naturalists and Physitians. Now this I fear may prove somewhat
+prejudicial to the Advancement of solid Philosophy: For though I am a
+great Lover of Chymical Experiments, and though I have no mean esteem
+of divers Chymical Remedies, yet I distinguish these from their
+Notions about the causes of things, and their manner of Generation.
+And for ought I can hitherto discern, there are a thousand</i> Ph&aelig;nomena
+<i>in Nature, besides a Multitude of Accidents relating to the humane
+Body, which will scarcely be clearly &amp; satisfactorily made out by them
+that confine themselves 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 small Parts of Matter, and the other more Catholick
+and Fruitful affections of Bodies. Wherefore it will not perhaps be
+now unseasonable to let our</i> Carneades <i>warne Men, not to subscribe to
+the grand Doctrine of the Chymists touching their three Hypostatical
+Principles, till they have a little examin&#8217;d it, and consider&#8217;d, how
+they can clear it from his Objections, divers of which &#8217;tis like they
+may never have thought on; since a Chymist scarce would, and none but
+a Chymist could propose them. I hope also it will not be unacceptable
+to several Ingenious Persons, who are unwilling to determine of any
+important Controversie, without a previous consideration of what may
+be said on both sides, and yet have greater desires to understand
+Chymical Matters, than Opportunities of learning them, to find here
+together, besides several Experiments of my own purposely made to
+Illustrate the Doctrine of the Elements, divers others scarce to be
+met with, otherwise then Scatter&#8217;d among many Chymical Books. And to
+Find these Associated Experiments so Deliver&#8217;d as that an Ordinary
+Reader, if he be but Acquainted with the usuall Chymical Termes, may
+easily enough Understand Them; and even a wary One may safely rely on
+Them. These Things I add, because a Person any Thing vers&#8217;d in the
+Writings of Chymists cannot but Discern by their obscure, Ambiguous,
+and almost &AElig;nigmatical Way of expressing what they pretend to Teach,
+that they have no Mind, to be understood at all, but by</i> the Sons of
+Art <i>(as they call them) nor to be Understood even by these without
+Difficulty And Hazardous Tryalls. Insomuch that some of Them Scarce
+ever speak so candidly, as when they make use of that known Chymical
+Sentence;</i> Ubi palam locuti fumus, ibi nihil diximus. <i>And as the
+obscurity of what some Writers deliver makes it very difficult to be
+understood; so the Unfaithfulness of too many others makes it unfit to
+be reli&#8217;d on. For though unwillingly, Yet I must for the truths sake,
+and the Readers, warne him not to be forward to believe Chymical
+Experiments when they are set down only by way of Prescriptions, and
+not of Relations; that is, unless he that delivers them mentions his
+doing it upon his own particular knowledge, or upon the Relation of
+some credible person, avowing it upon his own experience. For I am
+troubled, I must complain, that even Eminent Writers, both Physitians
+and Philosophers, whom I can easily name, if it be requir&#8217;d, have of
+late suffer&#8217;d themselves to be so far impos&#8217;d upon, as to Publish and
+Build upon Chymical Experiments, which questionless they never try&#8217;d;
+for if they had, they would, as well as I, have found them not to be
+true. And indeed it were to be wish&#8217;d, that now that those begin to
+quote Chymical Experiments that are not themselves Acquainted with
+Chymical Operations, men would Leave off that Indefinite Way of
+Vouching the Chymists say this, or the Chymists affirme that, and
+would rather for each Experiment they alledge name the Author or
+Authors, upon whose credit they relate it; For, by this means they
+would secure themselves from the suspition of falshood (to which the
+other Practice Exposes them) and they would Leave the Reader to Judge
+of what is fit for him to Believe of what is Deliver&#8217;d, whilst they
+employ not their own great names to Countenance doubtfull Relations;
+and they will also do Justice to the Inventors or Publishers of true
+Experiments, as well as upon the Obtruders of false ones. Whereas by
+that general Way of quoting the Chymists, the candid Writer is
+Defrauded of the particular Praise, and the Impostor escapes the
+Personal Disgrace that is due to him.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The remaining Part of this Pr&aelig;face must be imploy&#8217;d in saying
+something for</i> Carneades, <i>and something for my Self.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And first</i>, Carneades <i>hopes that he will be thought to have disputed
+civilly and Modestly enough for one that was to play the Antagonist
+and the Sceptick. And if he any where seem to sleight his Adversaries
+Tenents and Arguments, he is willing to have it look&#8217;d upon as what he
+was induc&#8217;d to, not so much by his Opinion of them, as the Examples
+of</i> Themistius <i>and</i> Philoponus, <i>and the custom of such kind of
+Disputes.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Next, In case that some of his Arguments shall not be thought of the
+most Cogent sort that may be, he hopes it will be consider&#8217;d that it
+ought not to be Expected, that they should be So. For, his Part being
+chiefly but to propose Doubts and Scruples, he does enough, if he
+shews that his Adversaries Arguments are not strongly Concluding,
+though his own be not so neither. And if there should appear any
+disagreement betwixt the things he delivers in divers passages, he
+hopes it will be consider&#8217;d, that it is not necessary that all the
+things a Sceptick Proposes, should be consonant; since it being his
+work to Suggest doubts against the Opinion he questions, it is
+allowable for him to propose two or more severall</i> Hypotheses <i>about
+the same thing: And to say that it may be accounted for this way, or
+that way, or the other Way, though these wayes be perhaps inconsistent
+among Themselves. Because it is enough for him, if either of the
+proposed</i> Hypotheses <i>be but as probable as that he calls a question.
+And if he proposes many that are Each of them probable, he does the
+more satisfie his doubts, by making it appear the more difficult to be
+sure, that that which they alwayes differ from is the true. And our</i>
+Carneades <i>by holding the Negative, he has this Advantage, that if
+among all the Instances he brings to invalidate all the Vulgar
+Doctrine of those he Disputes with, any one be Irrefragable, that
+alone is sufficient to overthrow a Doctrine which Universally asserts
+what he opposes. For, it cannot be true, that all Bodies whatsoever
+that are reckon&#8217;d among the Perfectly mixt Ones, are Compounded of
+such a Determinate Number of such or such Ingredients, in case any one
+such Body can be produc&#8217;d, that is not so compounded; and he hopes
+too, that Accurateness will be the less expected from him, because his
+undertaking obliges him to maintain such Opinions in Chymistry, and
+that chiefly by Chymical Arguments, as are Contrary to the very
+Principles of the Chymists; From whose writings it is not Therefore
+like he should receive any intentionall Assistance, except from some
+Passages of the Bold and Ingenious</i> Helmont, <i>with whom he yet
+disagrees in many things (which reduce him to explicate Divers
+Chymical</i> Ph&aelig;nomena, <i>according to other Notions;) And of whose
+Ratiocinations, not only some seem very Extravagant, but even the Rest
+are not wont to be as considerable as his Experiments. And though it
+be True indeed, that some</i> Aristotelians <i>have occasionally written
+against the Chymical Doctrine he Oppugnes, yet since they have done it
+according to their Principles, And since our</i> Carneades <i>must as well
+oppose their</i> Hypothesis <i>as that of the Spagyrist, he was fain to
+fight his Adversaries with their own Weapons, Those of the
+Peripatetick being Improper, if not hurtfull for a Person of his
+Tenents; besides that those</i> Aristotelians, <i>(at Least, those he met
+with,) that have written against the Chymists, seem to have had so
+little Experimental Knowledge in Chymical Matters, that by their
+frequent Mistakes and unskilfull Way of Oppugning, they have too often
+expos&#8217;d Themselves to the Derision of their Adversaries, for writing
+so Confidently against what they appear so little to understand.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And Lastly</i>, Carneades <i>hopes, he shall doe the Ingenious this Piece
+of service, that by having Thus drawn the Chymists Doctrine out of
+their Dark and Smoakie Laboratories, and both brought it into the open
+light, and shewn the weakness of their Proofs, that have hitherto
+been wont to be brought for it, either Judicious Men shall henceforth
+be allowed calmly and after due information to disbelieve it, or those
+abler Chymists, that are zealous for the reputation of it, will be
+oblig&#8217;d to speak plainer then hitherto has been done, and maintain it
+by better Experiments and Arguments then Those</i> Carneades <i>hath
+examin&#8217;d: so That he hopes, the Curious will one Way or other Derive
+either satisfaction or instruction from his endeavours. And as he is
+ready to make good the profession he makes in the close of his
+Discourse, he being ready to be better inform&#8217;d, so he expects either
+to be indeed inform&#8217;d, or to be let alone. For Though if any Truly
+knowing Chymists shall Think fit in a civil and rational way to shew
+him any truth touching the matter in Dispute That he yet discernes
+not,</i> Carneades <i>will not refuse either to admit, or to own a
+Conviction: yet if any impertinent Person shall, either to get Himself
+a Name, or for what other end soever, wilfully or carelesly mistake
+the State of the Controversie, or the sence of his Arguments, or shall
+rail instead of arguing, as hath been done of Late in Print by divers
+Chymists;</i><span class="sidenote">G. and F. and H. and others, in their books against one
+another.</span> <i>or lastly, shall write against them in a canting way; I
+mean, shall express himself in ambiguous or obscure termes, or argue
+from experiments not intelligibly enough Deliver&#8217;d</i>, Carneades
+<i>professes, That he values his time so much, as not to think the
+answering such Trifles worth the loss of it.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And now having said thus much for</i> Carneades, <i>I hope the Reader will
+give me leave to say something too for my self.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And first, if some morose Readers shall find fault with my having
+made the Interlocutors upon occasion complement with one another, and
+that I have almost all along written these Dialogues in a stile more
+Fashionable then That of meer scholars is wont to be, I hope I shall
+be excus&#8217;d by them that shall consider, that to keep a due</i> decorum
+<i>in the Discourses, it was fit that in a book written by a Gentleman,
+and wherein only Gentlemen are introduc&#8217;d as speakers, the Language
+should be more smooth, and the Expressions more civil than is usual in
+the more Scholastick way of writing. And indeed, I am not sorry to
+have this Opportunity of giving an example how to manage even Disputes
+with Civility; whence perhaps some Readers will be assisted to discern
+a Difference betwixt Bluntness of speech and Strength of reason, and
+find that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without being an Enemy to
+Civility; and may confute an Opinion without railing at Them that hold
+it; To whom he that desires to convince and not to provoke them, must
+make some amends by his Civility to their Persons, for his severity
+to their mistakes; and must say as little else as he can, to displease
+them, when he says that they are in an error.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>But perhaps other Readers will be less apt to find fault with the
+Civility of my Disputants, than the Chymists will be, upon the reading
+of some Passages of the following Dialogue, to accuse</i> Carneades <i>of
+Asperity. But if I have made my Sceptick sometimes speak sleightingly
+of the Opinions he opposes, I hope it will not be found that I have
+done any more, than became the Part he was to act of an Opponent:
+Especially, if what I have made him say be compar&#8217;d with what the
+Prince of the Romane Orators himself makes both great Persons and
+Friends say of one anothers Opinions, in his excellent Dialogues,</i> De
+Natura Deorum: <i>And I shall scarce be suspected of Partiality, in the
+case, by them that take Notice that there is full as much (if not far
+more) liberty of sleighting their Adversaries Tenents to be met with
+in the Discourses of those with whom</i> Carneades <i>disputes. Nor needed
+I make the Interlocutors speak otherwise then freely in a Dialogue,
+wherein it was sufficiently intimated, that I meant not to declare my
+own Opinion of the Arguments propos&#8217;d, much lesse of the whole
+Controversy it self otherwise than as it may by an attentive Reader be
+guess&#8217;d at by some Passages of</i> Carneades: <i>(I say, some Passages,
+because I make not all that he says, especially in the heat of
+Disputation, mine,) partly in this Discourse, and partly in some other
+Dialogues betwixt the same speakers (though they treat not immediately
+of the Elements) which have long layn by me, and expect the
+Entertainment that these present Discourses will meet with. And indeed
+they will much mistake me, that shall conclude from what I now
+publish, that I am at Defyance with Chymistry, or would make my
+Readers so. I hope the</i> Specimina <i>I have lately publish&#8217;d of an
+attempt to shew the usefulness of Chymical Experiments to
+Contemplative Philosophers, will give those that shall read them other
+thoughts of me: &amp; I had a design (but wanted opportunity) to publish
+with these Papers an Essay I have lying by me, the greater part of
+which is Apologetical for one sort of Chymists. And at least, as for
+those 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 Chymists Art,
+(though I am no friend to many that disgrace it by professing it,) and
+perswade them to believe me when I declare that I distinguish betwixt
+those Chymists that are either Cheats, or but Laborants, and the true</i>
+Adepti; <i>By whom, could I enjoy their Conversation, I would both
+willingly and thankfully be instructed; especially concerning the
+Nature and Generation of Metals: And possibly, those that know how
+little I have remitted of my former addictedness to make Chymical
+Experiments, will easily believe, that one of the chief Designes of
+this Sceptical Discourse was, not so much to discredit Chymistry, as
+to give an occasion and a kind of necessity to the more knowing
+Artists to lay aside a little of their over-great Reservedness, &amp;
+either explicate or prove the Chymical Theory better than ordinary
+Chymists have done, or by enriching us with some of their nobler
+secrets to evince that Their art is able to make amends even for the
+deficiencies of their Theory: And thus much I shall here make bold to
+add, that we shall much undervalue Chymistry, if we imagine, that it
+cannot teach us things farr more useful, not only to Physick but to
+Philosophy, than those that are hitherto known to vulgar Chymists. And
+yet as for inferiour Spagyrists themselves, they have by their labours
+deserv&#8217;d so well of the Common-wealth of Learning, that methinks &#8217;tis
+Pity they should ever misse the Truth which they have so industriously
+sought. And though I be no Admirer of the Theorical Part of their Art,
+yet my conjectures will much deceive me, if the Practical Part be not
+much more cultivated than hitherto it has been, and do not both employ
+Philosophy and Philosophers, and help to make men such. Nor would I
+that have been diverted by other Studies as well as affairs, be
+thought to pretend being a profound Spagyrist, by finding so many
+faults in the Doctrine wherein the Generality of Chymists scruples not
+to Acquiesce: For besides that &#8217;tis most commonly far easier to frame
+Objections against any propos&#8217;d</i> Hypothesis, <i>than to propose an</i>
+Hypothesis <i>not lyable to Objections (besides this I say) &#8217;tis no such
+great matter, if whereas Beginners in Chymistry are commonly at once
+imbu&#8217;d with the Theory and Operations of their profession, I who had
+the good Fortune to Learn the Operations from illiterate Persons,
+upon whose credit I was not Tempted to take up any opinion about them,
+should consider things with lesse prejudice, and consequently with
+other Eyes than the Generality of Learners; And should be more
+dispos&#8217;d to accommodate the</i> Ph&aelig;nomena <i>that occur&#8217;d to me to other
+Notions than to those of the Spagyrists. And having at first
+entertain&#8217;d a suspition That the Vulgar Principles were lesse General
+and comprehensive, or lesse considerately Deduc&#8217;d from Chymical
+Operations, than was believ&#8217;d; it was not uneasie for me both to Take
+notice of divers</i> Ph&aelig;nomena, <i>overlook&#8217;d by prepossest Persons, that
+seem&#8217;d not to suite so well with the</i> Hermetical <i>Doctrine; and, to
+devise some Experiments likely to furnish me with Objections against
+it, not known to many, that having practis&#8217;d Chymistry longer
+perchance then I have yet liv&#8217;d, may have far more Experience, Than I,
+of particular processes.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>To conclude, whether the Notions I have propos&#8217;d, and the Experiments
+I have communicated, be considerable, or not, I willingly leave others
+to Judge; and This only I shall say for my Self, That I have
+endeavour&#8217;d to deliver matters of Fact, so faithfully, that I may as
+well assist the lesse skilful Readers to examine the Chymical</i>
+Hypothesis, <i>as provoke the Spagyrical Philosophers to illustrate it:
+which if they do, and that either the Chymical opinion, or the
+Peripatetick, or any other Theory of the Elements differing from that
+I am most inclin&#8217;d to, shall be intelligibly explicated, and duly
+prov&#8217;d to me; what I have hitherto discours&#8217;d will not hinder it from
+making a Proselyte of a Person that Loves Fluctuation of Judgment
+little enough to be willing to be eas&#8217;d of it by any thing but
+Error.</i></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">(1)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco02.png" width="600" height="69" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="PHYSIOLOGICAL" id="PHYSIOLOGICAL"></a><span class="gesperrt">PHYSIOLOGICAL</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="large"><span class="gesperrt">CONSIDERATIONS</span></span><br />
+<br />
+Touching</h2>
+
+<p class="hangblock"><span class="large"><b><i>The experiments wont to be employed
+to evince either the IV
+Peripatetick Elements, or the
+III Chymical Principles of
+Mixt Bodies.</i></b></span></p>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2>Part of the First Dialogue.</h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<p><br /><img src="images/capi.png" width="117" height="125" alt="I" title="I" class="floatl" /> Perceive
+that divers of my Friends have thought it very strange to
+hear me speak so irresolvedly, as I have been wont to do, concerning
+those things which some take to be the Elements, and others to be the
+Principles of all mixt Bodies. But I blush not to acknowledge that I
+much lesse scruple to confess that I Doubt, when I do so, then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">(2)</a></span> to
+profess that I Know what I do not: And I should have much stronger
+Expectations then I dare yet entertain, to see Philosophy solidly
+establish&#8217;t, if men would more carefully distinguish those things that
+they know, from those that they ignore or do but think, and then
+explicate clearly the things they conceive they understand,
+acknowledge ingenuously what it is they ignore, and profess so
+candidly their Doubts, that the industry of intelligent persons might
+be set on work to make further enquiries, and the easiness of less
+discerning Men might not be impos&#8217;d on. But because a more particular
+accompt will probably be expected of my unsatisfyedness not only with
+the Peripatetick, but with the Chymical Doctrine of the Primitive
+Ingredients of Bodies: It may possibly serve to satisfy others of the
+excusableness of my disatisfaction to peruse the ensuing Relation of
+what passed a while since at a meeting of persons of several opinions,
+in a place that need not here be named; where the subject whereof we
+have been speaking, was amply and variously discours&#8217;d of.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">(3)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was on one of the fairest dayes of this Summer that the inquisitive
+<i>Eleutherius</i> came to invite me to make a visit with him to his friend
+<i>Carneades</i>. I readily consented to this motion, telling him that if
+he would but permit me to go first and make an excuse at a place not
+far off, where I had at that hour appointed to meet, but not about a
+business either of moment, or that could not well admit of a delay, I
+would presently wait on him, because of my knowing <i>Carneades</i> to be
+so conversant with nature and with Furnaces, and so unconfin&#8217;d to
+vulgar Opinions, that he would probably by some ingenious Paradox or
+other, give our mindes at least a pleasing Exercise, and perhaps
+enrich them with some solid instruction. <i>Eleutherius</i> then first
+going with me to the place where my Apology was to be made, I
+accompanied him to the lodging of <i>Carneades</i>, where when we were
+come, we were told by the Servants, that he was retired with a couple
+of Friends (whose names they also told us) to one of the Arbours in
+his Garden, to enjoy under its coole shades a delightful protection
+from the yet troublesome heat of the Sun.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">(4)</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Eleutherius</i> being perfectly acquainted with that Garden immediately
+led me to the Arbour, and relying on the intimate familiarity that had
+been long cherish&#8217;d betwixt him and <i>Carneades</i>; in spight of my
+Reluctancy to what might look like an intrusion upon his privacy,
+drawing me by the hand, he abruptly entered the Arbour, where we found
+<i>Carneades</i>, <i>Philoponus</i>, and <i>Themistius</i>, sitting close about a
+little round Table, on which besides paper, pen, and inke, there lay
+two or three open Books; <i>Carneades</i> appeared not at all troubled at
+this surprise, but rising from the Table, received his Friend with
+open looks and armes, and welcoming me also with his wonted freedom
+and civility, invited us to rest our selves by him, which, as soon as
+we had exchanged with his two Friends (who were ours also) the
+civilities accustomed on such occasions, we did. And he presently
+after we had seated our selves, shutting the Books that lay open, and
+turning to us with a smiling countenance seemed ready to begin some
+such unconcerning discourse as is wont to pass or rather waste the
+time in promiscuous companies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">(5)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But <i>Eleutherius</i> guessing at what he meant to do, prevented him by
+telling him, I perceive <i>Carneades</i> by the books that you have been
+now shutting, and much more by the posture wherein I found Persons
+<a href="#ERRATA">qualifi&#8217;d</a> to discourse of serious matters; and
+so accustom&#8217;d to do it, that you three were before our coming, engag&#8217;d
+in some Philosophical conference, which I hope you will either
+prosecute, and allow us to be partakers of, in recompence of the
+freedome we have us&#8217;d in presuming to surprise you, or else give us
+leave to repair the injury we should otherwise do you, by leaving you
+to the freedom we have interrupted, and punishing our selves for our
+boldness by depriving our selves of the happiness of your company.
+With these last words he and I rose up, as if we meant to be gone, But
+<i>Carneades</i> suddenly laying hold on his arme, and stopping him by it,
+smileingly told him, We are not so forward to lose good company as you
+seem to imagine; especially since you are pleas&#8217;d to desire to be
+present at what we shall say, about such a Subject as that You found
+us considering. For that, being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">(6)</a></span> the number of the Elements,
+Principles, or Materiall Ingredients of Bodies, is an enquiry whose
+truth is of that Importance, and of that Difficulty, that it may as
+well deserve as require to be searched into by such skilfull
+Indagators of Nature as your selves. And therefore we sent to invite
+the bold and acute <i>Leucippus</i> to lend us some light by his Atomical
+Paradox, upon which we expected such pregnant hints, that &#8217;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 likewise begg&#8217;d the Assistance
+of your presence and thoughts, had not the messenger we employ&#8217;d to
+<i>Leucippus</i> inform&#8217;d us, that as he was going, he saw you both pass by
+towards another part of the Town; And this frustrated expectation of
+<i>Leucippus</i> his company, who told me but last night that he would be
+ready to give me a meeting where I pleas&#8217;d to day, having very long
+suspended our conference about the freshly mention&#8217;d Subject, it was
+so newly begun when you came in, that we shall scarce need to repeat
+any thing to acquaint you with what has pass&#8217;d betwixt us before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">(7)</a></span> your
+arrival, so that I cannot but look upon it as a fortunate Accident
+that you should come so seasonably, to be not hearers alone, but we
+hope Interlocutors at our conference. For we shall not only allow of
+your presence at it, but desire your Assistance in it; which I adde
+both for other reasons, and because though these learned Gentlemen
+(sayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to discourse
+before any Auditory, provided it be intelligent enough to understand
+them, yet for my part (continues he with a new smile,) I shall not
+dare to vent my unpremeditated thoughts before two such Criticks,
+unless by promising to take your turnes of speaking, You will allow me
+mine of quarrelling, with what has been said. He and his friends added
+divers things to convince us that they were both desirous that we
+should hear them, and resolved against our doing so, unless we allowed
+them sometimes to hear us. <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Eleutherius"><i>Elutherius</i></span>
+ after having a while fruitlesly endeavoured to obtain
+leave to be silent promis&#8217;d he would not be so alwayes, provided that
+he were permitted according to the freedom of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">(8)</a></span> Genious and
+Principles to side with one of them in the managing of one Argument,
+and, if he saw cause, with his Antagonist, in the Prosecution of
+another, without being confin&#8217;d to stick to any one party or Opinion,
+which was after some debate accorded him. But I conscious to my own
+Disability&#8217;s told them resolutely that <i>I</i> was as much more willing as
+more fit to be a hearer then a speaker, among such knowing Persons,
+and on so abstruse a Subject. And that therefore I beseeched them
+without necessitating me to proclaim my weaknesses, to allow me to
+lessen them by being a silent Auditor of their Discourses: to suffer
+me to be at which I could present them no motive, save that their
+instructions would make them in me a more intelligent Admirer. I
+added, that I desir&#8217;d not to be idle whilst they were imploy&#8217;d, but
+would if they pleas&#8217;d, by writing down in short hand what should be
+delivered, preserve Discourses that I knew would merit to be lasting.
+At first <i>Carneades</i> and his two friends utterly rejected this motion;
+and all that my Resoluteness to make use of my ears, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">(9)</a></span> tongue, at
+their debates, could do, was to make them acquiesce in the Proposition
+of <i>Eleutherius</i>, who thinking himself concern&#8217;d, because he brought
+me thither, to afford me some faint assistance, was content that I
+should register their Arguments, that I might be the better able after
+the conclusion of their conference to give them my sence upon the
+Subject of it, (The number of Elements or Principles:) which he
+promis&#8217;d I should do at the end of the present Debates, if time would
+permit, or else at our next meeting. And this being by him undertaken
+in my name, though without my consent, the company would by no means
+receive my Protestation against it, but casting, all at once, their
+eyes on <i>Carneades</i>, they did by that and their unanimous silence,
+invite him to begin; which (after a short pause, during which he
+turn&#8217;d himself to <i>Eleutherius</i> and me) he did in this manner.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the subtile reasonings I have met with in the books of
+the Peripateticks, and the pretty experiments that have been shew&#8217;d me
+in the Laboratories of Chymists, I am of so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">(10)</a></span> diffident, or dull a
+Nature, as to think that if neither of them can bring more cogent
+arguments to evince the truth of their assertion then are wont to be
+brought; a Man may rationally enough retain some doubts concerning the
+very number of those materiall Ingredients of mixt bodies, which some
+would have us call Elements, and others principles. Indeed when I
+considered that the Tenents concerning the Elements are as
+considerable amongst the Doctrines of natural Philosophy as the
+Elements themselves are among the bodies of the Universe, I expected
+to find those Opinions solidly establish&#8217;d, upon which so many others
+are superstructed. But when I took the pains impartially to examine
+the bodies themselves that are said to result from the blended
+Elements, and to torture them into a confession of their constituent
+Principles, I was quickly induc&#8217;d to think that the number of the
+Elements has been contended about by Philosophers with more
+earnestness then success. This unsatisfiedness of mine has been much
+wonder&#8217;d at, by these two Gentlemen (at which words he pointed at
+<i>Themisti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">(11)</a></span>us</i> and <i>Philoponus</i>) who though they differ almost as much
+betwixt themselves about the question we are to consider, as I do from
+either of them, yet they both agree very well in this, that there is a
+determinate number of such ingredients as I was just now speaking of,
+and that what that number is, I say not, may be, (for what may not
+such as they perswade?) but is wont to be clearly enough demonstrated
+both by Reason and Experience. This has occasion&#8217;d our present
+Conference. For our Discourse this afternoon, having fallen from one
+subject to another, and at length setl&#8217;d on this, they proffer&#8217;d to
+demonstrate to me, each of them the truth of his opinion, out of both
+the Topicks that I have freshly nam&#8217;d. But on the former (that of
+Reason strictly so taken) we declin&#8217;d insisting at the present, lest
+we should not have time enough before supper to go thorough the
+Reasons and Experiments too. The latter of which we unanimously
+thought the most requisite to be seriously examin&#8217;d. I must desire you
+then to take notice Gentlemen (continued <i>Carneades</i>) that my present
+business doth not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">(12)</a></span> oblige me so to declare my own opinion on the
+Subject in question, as to assert or deny the truth either of the
+Peripatetick, or the Chymical Doctrine concerning the number of the
+Elements, but only to shew you that neither of these Doctrines hath
+been satisfactorily proved by the arguments commonly alledged on its
+behalfe. So that if I really discern (as perhaps I think I do) that
+there may be a more rational account then ordinary, given of one of
+these opinions, I am left free to declare my self of it,
+notwithstanding my present engagement, it being obvious to all your
+observation, that a solid truth may be generally maintained by no
+other, then incompetent Arguments. And to this Declaration I hope it
+will be needless to add, that my task obliges me not to answer the
+Arguments that may be drawn either for <i>Themistius</i> or <i>Philoponus&#8217;s</i>
+Opinion from the Topick of reason, as opposed to experiments; since
+&#8217;tis these only that I am to examine and not all these neither, but
+such of them alone as either of them shall think fit to insist on, and
+as have hitherto been wont to be brought either to prove that &#8217;tis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">(13)</a></span>
+the four Peripatetick Elements, or that &#8217;tis the three Chymical
+Principles that all compounded bodies consist of. These things (adds
+<i>Carneades</i>) I thought my self obliged to premise, partly lest you
+should do these Gentlemen (pointing at <i>Themistius</i> and <i>Philoponus</i>,
+and smiling on them) the injury of measuring their parts by the
+arguments they are ready to propose, the lawes of our Conference
+confining them to make use of those that the vulgar of Philosophers
+(for even of them there is a vulgar) has drawn up to their hands; and
+partly, that you should not condemn me of presumption for disputing
+against persons over whom I can hope for no advantage, that <i>I</i> must
+not derive from the nature, or rules of our controversy, wherein I
+have but a negative to defend, and wherein too I am like on several
+occasions to have the Assistance of one of my disagreeing adversaries
+against the other.</p>
+
+<p><i>Philoponus</i> and <i>Themistius</i> soon returned this complement with
+civilities of the like nature, in which <i>Eleutherius</i> perceiving them
+engaged, to prevent the further loss of that time of which they were
+not like to have very much to spare, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">(14)</a></span> minded them that their
+present businesse was not to exchange complements, but Arguments: and
+then addressing his speech to <i>Carneades</i>, I esteem it no small
+happinesse (saies he) that I am come here so luckily this Evening. For
+I have been long disquieted with Doubts concerning this very subject
+which you are now ready to debate. And since a Question of this
+importance is to be now discussed by persons that maintain such
+variety of opinions concerning it, and are both so able to enquire
+after truth, and so ready to embrace it by whomsoever and on what
+occasion soever it is presented them; I cannot but promise my self
+that I shall before we part either lose my Doubts or the hopes of ever
+finding them resolved; <i>Eleutherius</i> paused not here; but to prevent
+their answer, added almost in the same breath; and I am not a little
+pleased to find that you are resolved on this occasion to insist
+rather on Experiments then Syllogismes. For I, and no doubt You, have
+long observed, that those Dialectical subtleties, that the Schoolmen
+too often employ about Physiological Mysteries, are wont much more to
+declare the wit of him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">(15)</a></span> that uses them, then increase the knowledge or
+remove the doubts of sober lovers of truth. And such captious
+subtleties do indeed often puzzle and sometimes silence men, but
+rarely satisfy them. Being like the tricks of Jugglers, whereby men
+doubt not but they are cheated, though oftentimes they cannot declare
+by what slights they are imposed on. And therefore I think you have
+done very wisely to make it your businesse to consider the <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i>
+relating to the present Question, which have been afforded by
+experiments, especially since it might seem injurious to our senses,
+by whose mediation we acquire so much of the knowledge we have of
+things corporal, to have recourse to far-fetched and abstracted
+<a href="#ERRATA">Ratiocination</a>, to know what are the sensible
+ingredients of those sensible things that we daily see and handle, and
+are supposed to have the liberty to untwist (if I may so speak) into
+the primitive bodies they consist of. He annexed that he wished
+therefore they would no longer delay his expected satisfaction, if
+they had not, as he feared they had, forgotten something preparatory
+to their debate; and that was to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">(16)</a></span> lay down what should be all along
+understood by the word Principle or Element. <i>Carneades</i> thank&#8217;d him
+for his admonition, but told him that they had not been unmindful of
+so requisite 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 promiscuously
+to use when they pleased, Elements and Principles as terms equivalent:
+and to understand both by the one and the other, those primitive and
+simple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and into
+which they are ultimately resolved. And upon the same account (he
+added) we agreed to discourse of the opinions to be debated, as we
+have found them maintained by the Generality of the assertors of the
+four Elements of the one party, and of those that receive the three
+Principles on the other, without tying our selves to enquire
+scrupulously what notion either <i>Aristotle</i> or <i>Paracelsus</i>, or this
+or that Interpreter, or follower of either of those great persons,
+framed of Elements or Principles; our design being to examine, not
+what these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">(17)</a></span> or those writers thought or taught, but what we find to be
+the obvious and most general opinion of those, who are willing to be
+accounted Favourers of the Peripatetick or Chymical Doctrine,
+concerning this subject.</p>
+
+<p>I see not (saies <i>Eleutherius</i>) why you might not immediately begin to
+argue, if you were but agreed which of your two friendly Adversaries
+shall be first heard. And it being quickly resolv&#8217;d on that
+<i>Themistius</i> should first propose the Proofs for his Opinion, because
+it was the antienter, and the more general, he made not the company
+expect long before he thus addressed himself to <i>Eleutherius</i>, as to
+the Person least interessed in the dispute.</p>
+
+<p>If you have taken sufficient notice of the late Confession which was
+made by <i>Carneades</i>, and which (though his Civility dressed it up in
+complementall Expressions) was exacted of him by his Justice, I
+suppose You will be easily made sensible, that I engage in this
+Controversie with great and peculiar Disadvantages, besides those
+which his Parts and my Personal Disabilities would bring to any other
+cause to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">(18)</a></span> maintained by me against him. For he justly apprehending
+the force of truth, though speaking by no better a tongue then mine,
+has made it the chief condition of our Duell, that I should lay aside
+the best Weapons I have, and those I can best handle; Whereas if I
+were allowed the freedom, in pleading for the four Elements, to employ
+the Arguments suggested to me by Reason to demonstrate them, I should
+almost as little doubt of making You a Proselyte to those unsever&#8217;d
+Teachers, Truth and <i>Aristotle</i>, as I do of your Candour and your
+Judgment. And I hope you will however consider, that that great
+Favorite and Interpreter of Nature, <i>Aristotle</i>, who was (as his
+<i>Organum</i> witnesses) the greatest Master of Logick that ever liv&#8217;d,
+disclaim&#8217;d the course taken by other petty Philosophers (Antient and
+Modern) who not attending the Coherence and Consequences of their
+Opinions, are more sollicitous to make each particular Opinion
+plausible independently upon the <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: extra 'the' in original">the</span> rest, then to frame them all so,
+as not only to be consistent together, but to support each other. For
+that great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">(19)</a></span> Man in his vast and comprehensive Intellect, so fram&#8217;d
+each of his Notions, that being curiously adapted into one Systeme,
+they need not each of them any other defence then that which their
+mutuall Coherence gives them: As &#8217;tis in an Arch, where each single
+stone, which if sever&#8217;d from the rest would be perhaps defenceless, is
+sufficiently secur&#8217;d by the solidity and entireness of the whole
+Fabrick of which it is a part. How justly this may be apply&#8217;d to the
+present case, I could easily shew You, if I were permitted to declare
+to You, how harmonious <i>Aristotles</i> Doctrine of the Elements is with
+his other Principles of Philosophy; and how rationally he has deduc&#8217;d
+their number from that of the combinations of the four first Qualities
+from the kinds of simple Motion belonging to simple bodies, and from I
+know not how many other Principles and <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of Nature, which so
+conspire with his Doctrine of the Elements, that they mutually
+strengthen and support each other. But since &#8217;tis forbidden me to
+insist on Reflections of this kind, I must proceed to tell You, that
+though the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">(20)</a></span> Assertors of the four Elements value Reason so highly, and
+are furnish&#8217;d with Arguments enough drawn from thence, to be satisfi&#8217;d
+that there must be four Elements, though no Man had ever yet made any
+sensible tryal to discover their Number, yet they are not destitute of
+Experience to satisfie others that are wont to be more sway&#8217;d by their
+senses then their Reason. And I shall proceed to consider the
+testimony of Experience, when I shall have first advertis&#8217;d You, that
+if Men were as perfectly rational as &#8217;tis to be wish&#8217;d they were, this
+sensible way of Probation would be as needless as &#8217;tis wont to be
+imperfect. For it is much more high and Philosophical to discover
+things <i>a priore</i>, then <i>a posteriore</i>. And therefore the
+Peripateticks have not been very sollicitous to gather Experiments to
+prove their Doctrines, contenting themselves with a few only, to
+satisfie those that are not capable of a Nobler Conviction. And indeed
+they employ Experiments rather to illustrate then to demonstrate their
+Doctrines, as Astronomers use Sph&aelig;res of pastboard, to descend to the
+capaci<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">(21)</a></span>ties of such as must be taught by their senses, for want of
+being arriv&#8217;d to a clear apprehension of purely Mathematical Notions
+and Truths. I speak thus <i>Eleutherius</i> (adds <i>Themistius</i>) only to do
+right to Reason, and not out of Diffidence of the Experimental proof I
+am to alledge. For though I shall name but one, yet it is such a one
+as will make all other appear as needless as it self will be found
+Satisfactory. For if You but consider a piece of green-Wood burning in
+a Chimney, You will readily discern in the disbanded parts of it the
+four Elements, of which we teach It and other mixt bodies to be
+compos&#8217;d. The fire discovers it self in the flame by its own light;
+the smoke by ascending to the top of the chimney, and there readily
+vanishing into air, like a River losing it self in the Sea,
+sufficiently manifests to what Element it belongs and gladly returnes.
+The water in its own form boyling and hissing at the ends of the
+burning Wood betrayes it self to more then one of our senses; and the
+ashes by their weight, their firiness, and their dryness, put it past
+doubt that they belong to the Element<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">(22)</a></span> of Earth. If I spoke (continues
+<i>Themistius</i>) to less knowing Persons, I would perhaps make some
+Excuse for building upon such an obvious and easie <i>Analysis</i>, but
+&#8217;twould be, I fear, injurious, not to think such an Apology needless
+to You, who are too judicious either to think it necessary that
+Experiments to prove obvious truths should be farr fetch&#8217;d, or to
+wonder that among so many mixt Bodies that are compounded of the four
+Elements, some of them should upon a slight <i>Analysis</i> manifestly
+exhibite the Ingredients they consist of. Especially since it is very
+agreeable to the Goodness of Nature, to disclose, even in some of the
+most obvious Experiments that Men make, a Truth so important, and so
+requisite to be taken notice of by them. Besides that our <i>Analysis</i>
+by how much the more obvious we make it, by so much the more suittable
+it will be to the Nature of that Doctrine which &#8217;tis alledged to
+prove, which being as clear and intelligible to the Understanding as
+obvious to the sense, tis no marvail the learned part of Mankind
+should so long and so generally imbrace it. For this Doctrine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">(23)</a></span> is very
+different from the whimseys of <i>Chymists</i> and other Modern Innovators,
+of whose <i>Hypotheses</i> we may observe, as Naturalists do of less
+perfect Animals, that as they are hastily form&#8217;d, so they are commonly
+short liv&#8217;d. For so these, as they are often fram&#8217;d in one week, are
+perhaps thought fit to be laughed at the next; and being built
+perchance but upon two or three Experiments are destroyed by a third
+or fourth, whereas the doctrine of the four Elements was fram&#8217;d by
+<i>Aristotle</i> after he had leasurely considered those Theories of former
+Philosophers, which are now with great applause revived, as discovered
+by these latter ages; And had so judiciously detected and supplyed the
+Errors and defects of former <i>Hypotheses</i> concerning the Elements,
+that his Doctrine of them has been ever since deservedly embraced by
+the letter&#8217;d part of Mankind: All the Philosophers that preceded him
+having in their several ages contributed to the compleatness of this
+Doctrine, as those of succeeding times have acquiesc&#8217;d in it. Nor has
+an <i>Hypothesis</i> so deliberately and maturely established been called
+in Questi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">(24)</a></span>on till in the last Century <i>Paracelsus</i> and some few other
+sooty Empiricks, rather then (as they are fain to call themselves)
+Philosophers, having their eyes darken&#8217;d, and their Brains troubl&#8217;d
+with the smoke of their own Furnaces, began to rail at the
+Peripatetick Doctrine, which they were too illiterate to understand,
+and to tell the credulous World, that they could see but three
+Ingredients in mixt Bodies; which to gain themselves the repute of
+Inventors, they endeavoured to disguise by calling them, instead of
+Earth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; to which they
+gave the canting title of Hypostatical Principles: but when they came
+to describe them, they shewed how little they understood what they
+meant by them, by disagreeing as much from one another, as from the
+truth they agreed in opposing: For they deliver their <i>Hypotheses</i> as
+darkly as their Processes; and &#8217;tis almost as impossible for any sober
+Man to find their meaning, as &#8217;tis for them to find their Elixir. And
+indeed nothing has spread their Philosophy, but their great Brags and
+undertakings; notwithstanding all which, (sayes <i>Themisti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">(25)</a></span>us</i> smiling)
+I scarce know any thing they have performed worth wondering at, save
+that they have been able to draw <i>Philoponus</i> to their Party, and to
+engage him to the Defence of an unintelligible <i>Hypothesis</i>, who
+knowes so well as he does, that Principles ought to be like Diamonds,
+as well very clear, as perfectly solid.</p>
+
+<p><i>Themistius</i> having after these last words declared by his silence,
+that he had finished his Discourse, <i>Carneades</i> addressing himself, as
+his Adversary had done, to <i>Eleutherius</i>, returned this Answer to it,
+I hop&#8217;d <a href="#ERRATA">for</a> Demonstration, but I perceive <i>Themistius</i>
+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 Distrust for his
+<i>Hypothesis</i>, since for it even a Man of such Learning can bring no
+better Arguments. The Rhetorical part of his Discourse, though it make
+not the least part of it, I shall say nothing to, designing to examine
+only the Argumentative part, and leaving it to <i>Philoponus</i> to answer
+those passages wherein either <i>Paracelsus</i> or <i>Chymists</i> are
+concern&#8217;d: I shall observe to You, that in what he has said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">(26)</a></span> besides,
+he makes it his Business to do these two things. The one to propose
+and make out an Experiment to demonstrate the common Opinion about the
+four Elements; And the other, to insinuate divers things which he
+thinks may repair the weakness of his Argument, from Experience, and
+upon other Accounts bring some credit to the otherwise defenceless
+Doctrine he maintains.</p>
+
+<p>To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it seems to me
+to be obnoxious to not a few considerable Exceptions.</p>
+
+<p>And first, if I would now deal rigidly with my Adversary, I might here
+make a great Question of the very way of Probation which he and others
+employ, without the least scruple, to evince, that the Bodies commonly
+call&#8217;d mixt, are made up of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, which they
+are pleas&#8217;d also to call Elements; namely that upon the suppos&#8217;d
+<i>Analysis</i> made by the fire, of the former sort of <i>Concretes</i>, there
+are wont to emerge Bodies resembling those which they take for the
+Elements. For not to Anticipate here what I foresee I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">(27)</a></span> shall have
+occasion to insist on, when I come to discourse with <i>Philoponus</i>
+concerning the right that fire has to pass for the proper and
+Universal Instrument of Analysing mixt Bodies, not to Anticipate that,
+I say, if I were dispos&#8217;d to wrangle, I might alledge, that by
+<i>Themistius</i> his Experiment it would appear rather that those he calls
+Elements, are made of those he calls mixt Bodies, then mix&#8217;d Bodies of
+the Elements. For in <i>Themistius&#8217;s</i> Analyz&#8217;d Wood, and in other Bodies
+dissipated and alter&#8217;d by the fire, it appears, and he confesses, that
+which he takes for Elementary 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
+perswasion, yet prov&#8217;d that nothing can be obtained from a Body by the
+fire that was not <i>Pre-existent</i> in it.</p>
+
+<p>At this unexpected objection, not only <i>Themistius</i>, but the rest of
+the company appear&#8217;d not a little surpriz&#8217;d; but after a while
+<i>Philoponus</i> conceiving his opinion, as well as that of <i>Aristotle</i>,
+concern&#8217;d in that Objection, You cannot sure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">(28)</a></span> (sayes he to
+<i>Carneades</i>) propose this Difficulty; not to call it Cavill, otherwise
+then as an Exercise of wit, and not as laying any weight upon it. For
+how can that be separated from a thing that was not existent in it.
+When, for instance, a Refiner mingles Gold and Lead, and exposing this
+Mixture upon a Cuppell to the violence of the fire, thereby separates
+it into pure and refulgent Gold and Lead (which driven off together
+with the Dross of the Gold is thence call&#8217;d <i>Lithargyrium Auri</i>) can
+any man doubt that sees these two so differing substances separated
+from the Mass, that they were existent in it before it was committed
+to the fire.</p>
+
+<p>I should (replies <i>Carneades</i>) allow your Argument to prove something,
+if, as Men see the Refiners commonly take before hand both Lead and
+Gold to make the Mass you speak of, so we did see Nature pull down a
+parcell of the Element of Fire, that is fancy&#8217;d to be plac&#8217;d I know
+not how many thousand Leagues off, contiguous to the Orb of the Moon,
+and to blend it with a quantity of each of the three other Elements,
+to compose every mixt Body, upon whose Resolution the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">(29)</a></span> Fire presents
+us with Fire, and Earth, and the rest. And let me add, <i>Philoponus</i>,
+that to make your Reasoning cogent, it must be first prov&#8217;d, that the
+fire do&#8217;s only take the Elementary Ingredients asunder, without
+otherwise altering them. For else &#8217;tis obvious, that Bodies may afford
+substances which were not pre-existent in them; as Flesh too long kept
+produces Magots, and old Cheese Mites, which I suppose you will not
+affirm to be Ingredients of those Bodies. Now that fire do&#8217;s not
+alwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at least
+alter also the Ingredients of Bodies, if I did not expect ere long a
+better occasion to prove it, I might make probable out of your very
+Instance, wherein there is nothing Elementary separated by the great
+violence of the Refiners fire: the Gold and Lead which are the two
+Ingredients separated upon the <i>Analysis</i> being confessedly yet
+perfectly mixt Bodies, and the Litharge being Lead indeed; but such
+Lead as is differing in consistence and other Qualities from what it
+was before. To which I must add that I have sometimes seen, and so
+questionlesse have you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">(30)</a></span> much oftener, some parcells of Glasse adhering
+to the Test or Cuppel, and this Glass though Emergent as well as the
+Gold or Litharge upon your Analysis, you will not I hope allow to have
+been a third Ingredient of the Mass out of which the fire produc&#8217;d it.</p>
+
+<p>Both <i>Philoponus</i> and <i>Themistius</i> were about to reply, when
+<i>Eleutherius</i> apprehending that the Prosecution of this Dispute would
+take up time, which might be better employ&#8217;d, thought fit to prevent
+them by saying to <i>Carneades</i>: You made at least half a Promise, when
+you first propos&#8217;d this Objection, that you would not (now at least)
+insist on it, nor indeed does it seem to be of absolute necessity to
+your cause, that you should. For though you should grant that there
+are Elements, it would not follow that there must be precisely four.
+And therefore I hope you will proceed to acquaint us with your other
+and more considerable Objections against <i>Themistius&#8217;s</i> Opinion,
+especially since there is so great a Disproportion in Bulke betwixt
+the Earth, Water and Air, on the one part, and those little parcells
+of resembling substances, that the fire sepa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">(31)</a></span>rates from <i>Concretes</i> on
+the other part, that I can scarce think that you are serious, when to
+lose no advantage against your Adversary, you seem to deny it to be
+rational, to conclude these great simple Bodies to be the Elements,
+and not the Products of compounded ones.</p>
+
+<p>What you alledge (replies <i>Carneades</i>) of the Vastness of the Earth
+and Water, has long since made me willing to allow them to be the
+greatest and chief Masses of Matter to be met with here below: But I
+think I could shew 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
+such Ingredients as every mixt Body must consist of. But since You
+challenge me of something of a Promise, though it be not an entire
+one, Yet I shall willingly perform it. And indeed I intended not when
+I first mention&#8217;d this Objection, to insist on it at present against
+<i>Themistius</i>, (as I plainly intimated in my way of proposing it:)
+being only desirous to let you see, that though I discern&#8217;d my
+Advantages, yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">(32)</a></span> I was willing to forego some of them, rather then
+appear a rigid Adversary of a Cause so weak, that it may with safety
+be favourably dealt with. But I must here profess, and desire You to
+take Notice of it, that though I pass on to another Argument, it is
+not because I think this first invalid. For You will find in the
+Progress of our Dispute, that I had some reason to question the very
+way of Probation imploy&#8217;d both by Peripateticks and Chymists, to
+evince the being and number of the Elements. For that there are such,
+and that they are wont to be separated by the Analysis made by Fire,
+is indeed taken for granted by both Parties, but has not (for ought I
+know) been so much as plausibly attempted to be proved by either.
+Hoping then that when we come to that part of our Debate, wherein
+Considerations relating to this Matter are to be treated of, you will
+remember what I have now said, and that I do rather for a while
+suppose, then absolutely grant the truth of what I have question&#8217;d, I
+will proceed to another Objection.</p>
+
+<p>And hereupon <i>Eleutherius</i> having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">(33)</a></span> promis&#8217;d him not to be unmindfull,
+when time should serve, of what he had declar&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>I consider then (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) in the next place, that there are
+divers Bodies out of which <i>Themistius</i> will not prove in haste, that
+there can be so many Elements as four extracted by the Fire. And I
+should perchance trouble him if I should ask him what Peripatetick can
+shew us, (I say not, all the four Elements, for that would be too
+rigid a Question, but) any one of them extracted out of Gold by any
+degree of Fire whatsoever. Nor is Gold the only Bodie in Nature that
+would puzzle an <i>Aristotelian</i>, <a href="#ERRATA">that is no more</a>
+to analyze by the Fire into Elementary Bodies, since, for ought
+I have yet observ&#8217;d, both Silver and calcin&#8217;d <i>Venetian</i> Talck, and
+some other Concretes, not necessary here to be nam&#8217;d, are so fixt,
+that to reduce any of them into four Heterogeneous Substances has
+hitherto prov&#8217;d a Task much too hard, not only for the Disciples of
+<i>Aristotle</i>, but those of <i>Vulcan</i>, at least, whilst the latter have
+employ&#8217;d only Fire to make the <i>Analysis</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The next Argument (continues <i>Car<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">(34)</a></span>neades</i>) that I shall urge against
+<i>Themistius&#8217;s</i> Opinion shall be this, That as there are divers Bodies
+whose <i>Analysis</i> by Fire cannot reduce them into so many Heterogeneous
+Substances or <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Ingredients">Ingregredients</span> as
+four, so there are others which may be reduc&#8217;d into more, as the Blood
+(and divers other parts) of Men and other Animals, which yield when
+analyz&#8217;d five distinct Substances, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt and
+Earth, as Experience has shewn us in distilling Mans Blood,
+Harts-Horns, and divers other Bodies that belonging to the
+Animal-Kingdom abound with not uneasily sequestrable Salt.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><br />
+<img src="images/title02.jpg" width="461" height="700" alt="second title page" />
+<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<h2><span class="gesperrt">THE</span></h2>
+
+<h1><span class="red">SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:</span></h1>
+
+<h2><span class="gesperrt">OR</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="gesperrt">CHYMICO-PHYSICAL</span></h2>
+
+<h1><span class="red">Doubts</span> &amp; <span class="red">Paradoxes,</span></h1>
+
+<h3>Touching the</h3>
+
+<h1><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt">EXPERIMENTS</span></span></h1>
+
+<h3><span class="gesperrt">WHEREBY</span></h3>
+
+<h2><span class="gesperrt">VULGAR SPAGYRISTS</span></h2>
+
+<h3>Are wont to Endeavour to Evince their</h3>
+
+<h1><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt">SALT</span>,<span class="gesperrt"> SULPHUR</span></span></h1>
+
+<h3><span class="gesperrt">AND</span></h3>
+
+<h1><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt">MERCURY</span>,</span></h1>
+
+<h4><span class="gesperrt">TO BE</span></h4>
+
+<h3>The True Principles of Things.</h3>
+
+
+<p class="center"><b><i>Utinam jam tenerentur omnia, &amp; inoperta ac confessa<br />
+Veritas esset! Nihil ex Decretis mutaremus. Nunc<br />
+Veritatem cum eis qui docent, qu&aelig;rimus.</i> Sen.</b></p>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h3><span class="red"><span class="gesperrt"><i>LONDON,</i></span></span><br />
+<br />
+Printed for <i>J. Crooke</i>, and are to be sold at the<br />
+Ship in St. <i>Pauls</i> Church-Yard. 1661.</h3>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">(35)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco03.png" width="600" height="140" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="FIRST" id="FIRST"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE</span><br />
+<br />
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.</h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2><i>The First Part.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">I</span> Am (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) so unwilling to deny <i>Eleutherius</i> any thing,
+that though, before the rest of the Company I am resolv&#8217;d to make good
+the part I have undertaken of a Sceptick; yet I shall readily, since
+you will have it so, lay aside for a while the Person of an Adversary
+to the Peripateticks and Chymists; and before I acquaint you with my
+Objections against their Opinions, acknowledge to you what may be
+(whether 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 <i>Analysis</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">(36)</a></span> of compound Bodies, which I may possibly
+hereafter be able to confute.</p>
+
+<p>And that you may the more easily Examine, and the better Judge of what
+I have to say, I shall cast it into a pretty number of distinct
+Propositions, to which I shall not premise any thing; because I take
+it for granted, that you need not be advertis&#8217;d, that much of what I
+am to deliver, whether for or against a determinate number of
+Ingredients of mix&#8217;d Bodies, may be indifferently apply&#8217;d to the four
+Peripatetick Elements, and the three Chymical Principles, though
+divers of my Objections will more peculiarly belong to these last
+nam&#8217;d, because the Chymical <i>Hypothesis</i> seeming to be much more
+countenanc&#8217;d by Experience then the other, it will be expedient to
+insist chiefly upon the disproving of that; especially since most of
+the Arguments that are imploy&#8217;d against it, may, by a little
+variation, be made to conclude, at least as strongly against the less
+plausible, <i>Aristotelian</i> Doctrine.</p>
+
+<p>To proceed then to my Propositions, I shall begin with this. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">(37)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="sidenote">Propos. I.</span><i>It seems not absurd to conceive that at the first Production of mixt
+Bodies, the Universal Matter whereof they among other Parts of the
+Universe consisted, was actually divided into little Particles of
+several sizes and shapes variously mov&#8217;d.</i></p>
+
+<p>This (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) I suppose you will easily enough allow. For
+besides that which happens in the Generation, Corruption, Nutrition,
+and wasting of Bodies, that which we discover partly by our
+<i>Microscopes</i> of the extream littlenesse of even the scarce sensible
+parts of Concretes; and partly by the Chymical Resolutions of mixt
+Bodies, and by divers other Operations of Spagyrical Fires upon them,
+seems sufficiently to manifest their consisting of parts very minute
+and of differing Figures. And that there does also intervene a various
+local Motion of such small Bodies, will scarce be denied; whether we
+chuse to grant the Origine of Concretions assign&#8217;d by <i>Epicurus</i>, or
+that related by <i>Moses</i>. For the first, as you well know, supposes not
+only all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">(38)</a></span> mixt Bodies, but all others to be produc&#8217;d by the various
+and casual occursions of Atomes, moving themselves to and fro by an
+internal Principle in the Immense or rather Infinite <i>Vacuum</i>. And as
+for the inspir&#8217;d Historian, He, informing us that the great and Wise
+Author of Things did not immediately create Plants, Beasts, Birds, &amp;c.
+but produc&#8217;d them out of those portions of the pre-existent, though
+created, Matter, that he calls Water and Earth, allows us to conceive,
+that the constituent Particles whereof these new Concretes were to
+consist, were variously moved in order to their being connected into
+the Bodies they were, by their various Coalitions and Textures, to
+compose.</p>
+
+<p>But (continues <i>Carneades</i>) presuming that the first Proposition needs
+not be longer insisted on, I will pass on to the second, and tell you
+that</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="sidenote">Propos. II.</span><i>Neither is it impossible that of these minute Particles divers of the
+smallest and neighbouring ones were here and there associated into
+minute Masses or Clusters, and did by their Coalitions constitute
+great store of such little primary Concre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">(39)</a></span>tions or Masses as were not
+easily dissipable into such Particles as compos&#8217;d them.</i></p>
+
+<p>To what may be deduc&#8217;d, in favour of this Assertion, from the Nature
+of the Thing it self, I will add something out of Experience, which
+though I have not known it used to such a purpose, seems to me more
+fairly to make out that there May be Elementary Bodies, then the more
+questionable Experiments of Peripateticks and Chymists prove that
+there Are such. I consider then that Gold will mix and be colliquated
+not only with Silver, Copper, Tin and Lead, but with Antimony,
+<i>Regulus Martis</i> and many other Minerals, with which it will compose
+Bodies very differing both from Gold, and the other Ingredients of the
+resulting Concretes. And the same Gold will also by common <i>Aqua
+Regis</i>, and (I speak it knowingly) by divers other <i>Menstruums</i> be
+reduc&#8217;d into a seeming Liquor, in so much that the Corpuscles of Gold
+will, with those of the <i>Menstruum</i>, pass through Cap-Paper, and with
+them also coagulate into a Crystalline Salt. And I have further try&#8217;d,
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">(40)</a></span> with a small quantity of a certain Saline Substance I prepar&#8217;d,
+I can easily enough sublime Gold into the form of red Crystalls of a
+considerable length; and many other wayes may Gold be disguis&#8217;d, and
+help to constitute Bodies of very differing Natures both from It and
+from one another, and neverthelesse be afterward reduc&#8217;d to the
+self-same Numerical, Yellow, Fixt, Ponderous and Malleable Gold it was
+before its commixture. Nor is it only the fixedst of Metals, but the
+most fugitive, that I may employ in favour of our Proposition: for
+Quicksilver will with divers Metals compose an <i>Amalgam</i>, with divers
+<i>Menstruums</i> it seems to be turn&#8217;d into a Liquor, with <i>Aqua fortis</i>
+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 compose a
+blood-red and volatile Cinaber, with some Saline Bodies it will ascend
+in form of a Salt which will be dissoluble in water; with <i>Regulus</i> of
+Antimony and Silver I have seen it sublim&#8217;d into a kinde of Crystals,
+with another Mixture I reduc&#8217;d it into a malleable Body, into a hard
+and brittle Substance by another: And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">(41)</a></span> some there are who affirm, that
+by proper Additaments they can reduce Quicksilver into Oyl, nay into
+Glass, to mention no more. And yet out of all these exotick Compounds,
+we may recover the very same running Mercury that was the main
+Ingredient of them, and was so disguis&#8217;d in them. Now the Reason
+(proceeds <i>Carneades</i>) that I have represented these things concerning
+Gold and Quicksilver, is, That it may not appear absurd to conceive,
+that such little primary Masses or Clusters, as our Proposition
+mentions, may remain undissipated, notwithstanding their entring into
+the composition of various Concretions, since the Corpuscle of Gold
+and Mercury, though they be not primary Concretions of the most minute
+Particles or matter, but confessedly mixt Bodies, are able to concurre
+plentifully to the composition of several very differing Bodies,
+without losing their own Nature or Texture, or having their coh&aelig;sion
+violated by the divorce of their associated parts or Ingredients.</p>
+
+<p>Give me leave to add (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) on this occasion, to what
+you now observ&#8217;d, that as confidently as some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">(42)</a></span> Chymists, and other
+modern Innovators in Philosophy are wont to object against the
+Peripateticks, That from the mixture of their four Elements there
+could arise but an inconsiderable variety of compound Bodies; yet if
+the <i>Aristotelians</i> were but half as well vers&#8217;d in the works of
+Nature as they are in the Writings of their Master, the propos&#8217;d
+Objection would not so calmly triumph, as for want of Experiments they
+are fain to suffer it to do. For if we assigne to the Corpuscles,
+whereof each Element consists, a peculiar size and shape, it may
+easily enough be manifested, That such differingly figur&#8217;d Corpuscles
+may be mingled in such various Proportions, and may be connected so
+many several wayes, that an almost incredible number of variously
+qualified Concretes may be compos&#8217;d of them. Especially since the
+Corpuscles of one Element may barely, by being associated among
+themselves, make up little Masses of differing size and figure from
+their constituent parts: and since also to the strict union of such
+minute Bodies there seems oftentimes nothing requisite, besides the
+bare Contact of a great part of their Surfaces.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">(43)</a></span> And how great a
+variety of <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> the same matter, without the addition of any
+other, and only several ways dispos&#8217;d or contexed, is able to exhibit,
+may partly appear by the multitude of differing Engins which by the
+contrivances of skilful Mechanitians, and the dexterity of expert
+Workmen, may be made of Iron alone. But in our present case being
+allow&#8217;d to deduce compound Bodies from four very differently qualified
+sorts of matter, he who shall but consider what you freshly took
+notice of concerning the new Concretes resulting from the mixture of
+incorporated Minerals, will scarce doubt but that the four Elements
+mannag&#8217;d by Natures Skill may afford a multitude of differing
+Compounds.</p>
+
+<p>I am thus far of your minde (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) that the
+<i>Aristotelians</i> might with probability deduce a much greater number of
+compound Bodies from the mixture of their four Elements, than
+according to their present <i>Hypothesis</i> they can, if instead 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">(44)</a></span> with the four first Qualities, they had
+endeavoured to do it by the Bulk and Figure of the smallest parts of
+those supposed Elements. For from these more Catholick and Fruitfull
+Accidents of the Elementary matter may spring a great variety of
+Textures, upon whose Account a multitude of compound Bodies may very
+much differ from one another. And what I now observe touching the four
+Peripatetick Elements, may be also applyed, <i>mutatis mutandis</i>, (as
+they speak) to the Chymical Principles. But (to take notice of that by
+the by) both the one and the other, must, I fear, call in to their
+assistance something that is not Elementary, to excite or regulate the
+motion of the parts of the matter, and dispose them after the manner
+requisite to the Constitution of particular Concretes. For that
+otherwise 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 perswade you, if it would not spend time, and were no Digression,
+to examine, what they are wont to alledge of the Origine of the
+Textures and Qualities of mixt Bodies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">(45)</a></span> from a certain substantial
+Form, whose Origination they leave more obscure than what it is
+assum&#8217;d to explicate.</p>
+
+<p>But to proceed to a new Proposition.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="sidenote">Propos. III.</span><i>I shall not peremptorily deny, that from most of such mixt Bodies as
+partake either of Animal or Vegetable Nature, there may by the Help of
+the Fire, be actually obtain&#8217;d a determinate number (whether Three,
+Four or Five, or fewer or more) of Substances, worthy of differing
+Denominations.</i></p>
+
+<p>Of the Experiments that induce me to make this Concession, I am like
+to have occasion enough to mention several in the prosecution of my
+Discourse. And therefore, that I may not hereafter be oblig&#8217;d to
+trouble You and my self with needless Repetitions, I shall now only
+desire you to take notice of such Experiments, when they shall be
+mention&#8217;d, and in your thoughts referre them hither.</p>
+
+<p>To these three Concessions I have but this Fourth to add, That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">(46)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="sidenote">Propos. IV.</span><i>It may likewise be granted, that those distinct Substances, which
+Concretes generally either afford or are made up of, may without very
+much Inconvenience be call&#8217;d the Elements or Principles of them.</i></p>
+
+<p>When I said, <i>without very much Inconvenience</i>, I had in my Thoughts
+that sober Admonition of <i>Galen</i>, <i>Cum de re constat, de verbis non
+est Litigandum</i>. And therefore also I scruple not to say <i>Elements</i> or
+<i>Principles</i>, partly because the Chymists are wont to call the
+Ingredients of mixt Bodies, <i>Principles</i>, as the <i>Aristotelians</i> name
+them <i>Elements</i>; I would here exclude neither. And, partly, because it
+seems doubtfull whether the same Ingredients may not be call&#8217;d
+<i>Principles</i>? as not being compounded of any more primary Bodies: and
+<i>Elements</i>, in regard that all mix&#8217;d Bodies are compounded of them.
+But I thought it requisite to limit my Concession by premising the
+words, <i>very much</i>, to the word <i>Inconvenience</i>, because that though
+the Inconvenience of calling the distinct Substances, mention&#8217;d in the
+Proposition <i>Elements</i> or <i>Principles</i>, be not very great,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">(47)</a></span> yet that
+it is an Impropriety of Speech, and consequently in a matter of this
+moment not to be altogether overlook&#8217;d, You will perhaps think, as
+well as I, by that time you shall have heard the following part of my
+Discourse, by which you will best discern what Construction to put
+upon the former Propositions, and how far they may be look&#8217;d upon, as
+things that I concede as true, and how far as things I only represent
+as specious enough to be fit to be consider&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>And now <i>Eleutherius</i> (continues <i>Carneades</i>) I must resume the person
+of a Sceptick, and as such, propose some part of what may be either
+dislik&#8217;t, or at least doubted of in the common <i>Hypothesis</i> of the
+Chymists: which if I examine with a little the more freedom, I hope I
+need not desire you (a Person to whom I have the Happinesse of being
+so well known) to look upon it as something more suitable to the
+Employment whereto the Company has, for this Meeting, doom&#8217;d me; then
+either to my Humour or my Custom.</p>
+
+<p>Now though I might present you many things against the Vulgar Chymical
+Opinion of the three Principles, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">(48)</a></span> Experiments wont to be
+alledg&#8217;d as Demonstrations of it, yet those I shall at present offer
+you may be conveniently enough comprehended in four Capital
+Considerations; touching all which I shall only premise this in
+general, That since it is not my present Task so much to assert an
+<i>Hypothesis</i> of my own, as to give an Account wherefore I suspect the
+Truth of that of the Chymists, it ought not to be expected that all my
+Objections should be of the most cogent sort, since it is reason
+enough to Doubt of a propos&#8217;d Opinion, that there appears no cogent
+Reason for it.</p>
+
+<p>To come then to the Objections themselves; I consider in the first
+place, That notwithstanding what common Chymists have prov&#8217;d or
+taught, it may reasonably enough be Doubted, how far, and in what
+sence, Fire ought to be esteem&#8217;d the genuine and universal Instrument
+of analyzing mixt Bodies.</p>
+
+<p>This Doubt, you may remember, was formerly mention&#8217;d, but so
+transiently discours&#8217;d of, that it will now be fit to insist upon it;
+And manifest that it was not so inconsiderately propos&#8217;d as our
+Adversaries then imagin&#8217;d.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">(49)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But, before I enter any farther into this Disquisition, I cannot but
+here take notice, that it were to be wish&#8217;d, our Chymists had clearly
+inform&#8217;d us what kinde of Division of Bodies by Fire must determine
+the number of the Elements: For it is nothing near so easy as many
+seem to think, to determine distinctly the Effects of Heat, as I could
+easily manifest, if I had leasure to shew you how much the Operations
+of Fire may be diversify&#8217;d by Circumstances. But not wholly to pass by
+a matter of this Importance, I will first take notice to you, that
+<i>Guajacum</i> (for Instance) burnt with an open Fire in a Chimney, is
+sequestred into Ashes and Soot, whereas the same Wood distill&#8217;d in a
+Retort does yield far other Heterogeneities, (to use the <i>Helmontian</i>
+expression) and is resolv&#8217;d into Oyl, Spirit, Vinager, Water and
+Charcoal; the last of which to be reduc&#8217;d into Ashes, requires the
+being farther calcin&#8217;d then it can be in a close Vessel: Besides
+having kindled Amber, and held a clean Silver Spoon, or some other
+Concave and smooth Vessel over the Smoak of its Flame, I observ&#8217;d the
+Soot into which that Fume condens&#8217;d,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">(50)</a></span> to be very differing from any
+thing that I had observ&#8217;d to proceed from the steam of Amber purposely
+(for that is not usual) distilled <i>per se</i> in close Vessels. Thus
+having, for Tryals sake, kindled Camphire, and catcht the Smoak that
+copiously ascended out of the Flame, it condens&#8217;d into a Black and
+unctuous Soot, which would not have been guess&#8217;d by the Smell or other
+Properties to have proceeded from Camphire: whereas having (as I shall
+otherwhere more fully declare) expos&#8217;d a quantity of that Fugitive
+Concrete to a gentle heat in a close Glass-Vessel, it sublim&#8217;d up
+without seeming to have lost any thing of its whiteness, or its
+Nature, both which it retain&#8217;d, though afterwards I so encreased the
+Fire as to bring it to Fusion. And, besides Camphire, there are divers
+other Bodies (that I elsewhere name) in which the heat in close
+Vessels is not wont to make any separation of Heterogeneities, but
+only a comminution of Parts, those that rise first being Homogeneal
+with the others, though subdivided into smaller Particles: whence
+Sublimations have been stiled, <i>The Pestles of the Chymists</i>. But not
+here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">(51)</a></span> to mention what I elsewhere take notice of, concerning common
+Brimstone once or twice sublim&#8217;d, that expos&#8217;d to a moderate Fire in
+Subliming-Pots, it rises all into dry, and almost tastless, Flowers;
+Whereas being expos&#8217;d to a naked Fire it affords store of a Saline and
+Fretting Liquor: Not to mention this, I say, I will further observe to
+you, that as it is considerable in the <i>Analysis</i> of mixt Bodies,
+whether the Fire act on them when they are expos&#8217;d to the open Air, or
+shut up in close Vessels, so is the degree of Fire by which the
+<i>Analysis</i> is attempted of no small moment. For a milde <i>Balneum</i> will
+sever unfermented Blood (for Instance) but into Phlegme and <i>Caput
+mortuum</i>, the later whereof (which I have sometimes had) hard,
+brittle, and of divers Colours, (transparent almost like
+Tortoise-shell) press&#8217;d by a good Fire in a Retort yields a Spirit, an
+Oyl or two, and a volatile Salt, besides <a href="#ERRATA">a</a> <i>Caput
+mortuum</i>. It may be also pertinent to our present Designe, to take
+notice of what happens in the making and distilling of Sope; for by
+one degree of Fire the Salt, the Water and the Oyl or Grease, whereof
+that factitious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">(52)</a></span> Concrete is made up, being boyl&#8217;d up together are
+easily brought to mingle and incorporate into one Mass; but by another
+and further degree of Heat the same Mass may be again divided into an
+oleagenous, an aqueous, a Saline, and an Earthy part. And so we may
+observe that impure Silver and Lead being expos&#8217;d together to a
+moderate Fire, will thereby be colliquated into one Mass, and mingle
+<i>per minima</i>, as they speak, whereas a much vehementer Fire will drive
+or carry off the baser Metals (I mean the Lead, and the Copper or
+other Alloy) from the Silver, though not, for ought appears, separate
+them from one another. Besides, when a Vegetable abounding in fixt
+Salt is analyz&#8217;d by a naked Fire, as one degree of Heat will reduce it
+into Ashes, (as the Chymists themselves teach us) so, by only a
+further degree of Fire, those Ashes may be vitrified and turn&#8217;d into
+Glass. I will not stay to examine how far a meere Chymist might on
+this occasion demand, If it be lawful for an <i>Aristotelian</i> to make
+Ashes, (which he mistakes for meere Earth) pass for an Element,
+because by one degree of Fire it may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">(53)</a></span> produc&#8217;d, why a Chymist may
+not upon the like Principle argue, that Glass is one of the Elements
+of many Bodies, because that also may be obtain&#8217;d from them, barely by
+the Fire? I will not, I say, lose time to examine this, but observe,
+that by a Method of applying the Fire, such similar Bodies may be
+obtain&#8217;d from a Concrete, as Chymists have not been able to separate;
+either by barely burning it in an open Fire, or by barely distilling
+it in close Vessels. For to me it seems very considerable, and I
+wonder that men have taken so little notice of it, that I have not by
+any of the common wayes of Distillation in close Vessels, seen any
+separation made of such a volatile Salt as is afforded us by Wood,
+when that is first by an open Fire divided into Ashes and Soot, and
+that Soot is afterwards plac&#8217;d in a strong Retort, and compell&#8217;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 <i>Guajacum</i> and other
+Woods distill&#8217;d in Retorts after the common manner, there may be
+Saline parts, which by reason of the Analogy may pretend to the name
+of some kinde of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">(54)</a></span> volatile Salts; yet questionless there is a great
+disparity betwixt such Salts and that which we have sometimes obtain&#8217;d
+upon the first Distillation of Soot (though for the most part it has
+not been separated from the first or second Rectification, and
+sometimes not till the third) For we could never yet see separated
+from Woods analyz&#8217;d only the vulgar way in close vessels any volatile
+Salt in a dry and Saline form, as that of Soot, which we have often
+had very Crystalline and Geometrically figur&#8217;d. And then, whereas the
+Saline parts of the Spirits of <i>Guajacum</i>, &amp;c. appear upon
+distillation sluggish enough, the Salt of Soot seems to be one of the
+most volatile Bodies in all Nature; and if it be well made will
+readily ascend with the milde heat of a Furnace, warm&#8217;d only by the
+single Wieck of a Lamp, to the top of the highest Glass Vessels that
+are commonly made use of for Distillation: and besides all this, the
+taste and smell of the Salt of Soot are exceeding differing from those
+of the Spirits of <i>Guajacum</i>, &amp;c. and the former not only smells and
+tastes much less like a vegetable Salt, than like that of Harts-horn,
+and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">(55)</a></span> Animal Concretes; but in divers other Properties seems more
+of Kinne to the Family of Animals, than to that of vegetable Salts, as
+I may elsewhere (God permitting) have an occasion more particularly to
+declare. I might likewise by some other Examples manifest, That the
+Chymists, to have dealt clearly, ought to have more explicitly and
+particularly declar&#8217;d by what Degree of Fire, and in what manner of
+Application of it, they would have us Judge a Division made by the
+Fire to be a true <i>Analysis</i> into their Principles, and the
+Productions of it to deserve the name of Elementary Bodies. But it is
+time that I proceed to mention the particular Reasons that incline me
+to Doubt, whether the Fire be the true and universal Analyzer of mixt
+Bodies; of which Reasons what has been already objected may pass for
+one.</p>
+
+<p>In the next place I observe, That there are some mixt Bodies from
+which it has not been yet made appear, that any degree of Fire can
+separate either Salt or Sulphur or Mercury, much less all the Three.
+The most obvious Instance of this Truth is Gold, which is a Body so
+fix&#8217;d, and wherein the Elementary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">(56)</a></span> Ingredients (if it have any) are so
+firmly united to each other, that we finde not in the operations
+wherein Gold is expos&#8217;d to the Fire, how violent soever, that it does
+discernably so much as lose of its fixednesse or weight, so far is it
+from being dissipated into those Principles, whereof one at least is
+acknowledged to be Fugitive enough; and so justly did the Spagyricall
+Poet somewhere exclaim,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Cuncta adeo miris illic compagibus harent.</i></p>
+
+<p>And I must not omit on this occasion to mention to you, <i>Eleutherius</i>,
+the memorable Experiment that I remember I met with in <i>Gasto
+Claveus</i><span class="sidenote"><i>Gasto Claveus</i> Apolog. Argur. &amp; Chrysopera.</span>, who, though a Lawyer by Profession, seems to have had no
+small Curiosity and Experience in Chymical affairs: He relates then,
+that having put into one small Earthen Vessel an Ounce of the most
+pure Gold, and into another the like weight of pure Silver, he plac&#8217;d
+them both in that part of a Glass-house Furnace wherein the Workmen
+keep their Metal, (as our English Artificers call their Liquid Glass)
+continually melted, and that having there kept both the Gold and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">(57)</a></span> the
+Silver in constant Fusion for two Moneths together, he afterwards took
+them out of the Furnace and the Vessels, and weighing both of them
+again, found that the Silver had not lost above a 12th part of its
+weight, but the Gold had not of his lost any thing at all. And though
+our Author endeavours to give us of this a Scholastick Reason, which I
+suppose you would be as little satisfied with, as I was when I read
+it; yet for the matter of Fact, which will serve our present turne, he
+assures us, that though it be strange, yet Experience it self taught
+it him to be most true.</p>
+
+<p>And though there be not perhaps any other Body to be found so
+perfectly fix&#8217;d as Gold, yet there are divers others so fix&#8217;d or
+compos&#8217;d, at least of so strictly united parts, that I have not yet
+observ&#8217;d the Fire to separate from them any one of the Chymists
+Principles. I need not tell you what Complaints the more Candid and
+Judicious of the Chymists themselves are wont to make of those
+Boasters that confidently pretend, that they have extracted the Salt
+or Sulphur of Quicksilver, when they have disguis&#8217;d it by Additaments,
+wherewith it re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">(58)</a></span>sembles the Concretes whose Names are given it;
+whereas by a skilful and rigid <i>Examen</i>, it may be easily enough
+stript of its Disguises, and made to appear again in the pristine form
+of running Mercury. The pretended Salts and Sulphurs being so far from
+being Elementary parts extracted out of the Bodie of Mercurie, that
+they are rather (to borrow a terme of the Grammarians) De-compound
+Bodies, made up of the whole Metal and the <i>Menstruum</i> or other
+Additaments imploy&#8217;d to disguise it. And as for Silver, I never could
+see any degree of Fire make it part with any of its three Principles.
+And though the Experiment lately mentioned from <i>Claveus</i> may beget a
+Suspition that Silver may be dissipated by Fire, provided it be
+extreamly violent and very lasting: yet it will not necessarily
+follow, that because the Fire was able at length to make the Silver
+lose a little of its weight, it was therefore able to dissipate it
+into its Principles. For first I might alledge that I have observ&#8217;d
+little Grains of Silver to lie hid in the small Cavities (perhaps
+glas&#8217;d over by a vitrifying heat) in Crucibles, wherein Silver has
+been long kept in Fusion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">(59)</a></span> whence some Goldsmiths of my Acquaintance
+make a Benefit by grinding such Crucibles to powder, to recover out of
+them the latent particles of Silver. And hence I might argue, that
+perhaps <i>Claveus</i> was mistaken, and imagin&#8217;d that Silver to have been
+driven away by the Fire, that indeed lay in minute parts hid in his
+Crucible, in whose pores so small a quantity as he mist of so
+ponderous a Bodie might very well lie conceal&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>But Secondly, admitting that some parts of the Silver were driven away
+by the violence of the Fire, what proof is there that it was either
+the Salt, the Sulphur, or the Mercury of the Metal, and not rather a
+part of it homogeneous to what remain&#8217;d? For besides, that the Silver
+that was left seem&#8217;d not sensibly alter&#8217;d, which probably would have
+appear&#8217;d, had so much of any one of its Principles been separated from
+it: We finde in other Mineral Bodies of a less permanent nature than
+Silver, that the Fire may divide them into such minute parts, as to be
+able to carry them away with its self, without at all destroying their
+Nature. Thus we see that in the re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">(60)</a></span>fining of Silver, the Lead that is
+mix&#8217;d with it (to carry away the Copper or other ignoble Mineral that
+embases the Silver) will, if it be let alone, in time evaporate away
+upon the Test; but if (as is most usual amongst those that refine
+great quantities of Metals together) the Lead be blown off from the
+Silver by Bellowes, that which would else have gone away in the Form
+of unheeded steams, will in great part be collected not far from the
+Silver, in the Form of a darkish Powder or Calx, which, because it is
+blown off from Silver, they call Litharge of Silver. And thus
+<i>Agricola</i><span class="sidenote"><i>Agricola</i> de Natura Fossil. Lib. 9. Cap. 11. &amp; 12.</span> in divers places informs us, when Copper, or the Oare of
+it is colliquated by the violence of the Fire with <i>Cadmia</i>, the
+Sparks that in great multitudes do fly upwards do, some of them, stick
+to the vaulted Roofs of the Furnaces, in the form of little and (for
+the most part) White Bubbles, which therefore the Greeks, and, in
+Imitation of them, our Drugsters call <i>Pompholix</i>: and others more
+heavy partly adhere to the sides of the Furnace, and partly
+(especially if the Covers be not kept upon the Pots) fall to the
+Ground, and by reason of their Ashy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">(61)</a></span> Colour as well as Weight were
+called by the same Greeks <span lang="el" title="Greek: spodos">&#963;&#960;&#959;&#948;&#959;&#962;</span>, which, I need not tell you,
+in their Language signifies Ashes. I might add, that I have not found
+that from Venetian Talck (I say Venetian, because I have found other
+kinds of that Mineral more open) from the <i>Lapis Ossifragus</i>, (which
+the Shops call <i>Ostiocolla</i>) from <i>Muscovia</i> Glass, from pure and
+Fusible Sand, to mention now no other Concretes; those of my
+Acquaintance that have try&#8217;d have been able by the Fire to separate
+any one of the Hypostatical Principles, which you will the less
+scruple to believe, if you consider that Glass may be made by the bare
+Colliquation of the Salt and Earth remaining in the Ashes of a burnt
+Plant, and that yet common Glass, once made, does so far resist the
+violence of the Fire, that most Chymists think it a Body more
+undestroyable then Gold it self. For if the Artificer can so firmly
+unite such comparative gross Particles as those of Earth and Salt that
+make up common Ashes, into a Body indissoluble by Fire; why may not
+Nature associate in divers Bodies the more minute Elementary
+Corpuscles she has at hand too firmly to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">(62)</a></span> let them be separable by the
+Fire? And on this Occasion, <i>Eleutherius</i>, give me leave to mention to
+you two or three sleight Experiments, which will, I hope, be found
+more pertinent to our present Discourse, than at first perhaps they
+will appear. The first is, that, having (for Tryals sake) put a
+quantity of that Fugitive Concrete, Camphire, into a Glass Vessel, and
+plac&#8217;d it in a gentle Heat, I found it (not leaving behinde, according
+to my Estimate, not so much as one Grain) to sublime to the Top of the
+Vessel into Flowers: which in Whiteness, Smell, &amp;c. seem&#8217;d not to
+differ from the Camphire it self. Another Experiment is that of
+<i>Helmont</i>, who in several places affirms, That a Coal kept in a Glass
+exactly clos&#8217;d will never be calcin&#8217;d to Ashes, though kept never so
+long in a strong Fire. To countenance which I shall tell you this
+Tryal of my own, That having sometimes distilled some Woods, as
+particularly Box, whilst our <i>Caput mortuum</i> remain&#8217;d in the Retort,
+it continued black like Charcoal, though the Retort were Earthen, and
+kept red-hot in a vehement Fire; but as soon as ever it was brought
+out of the candent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">(63)</a></span> Vessel into the open Air, the burning Coals did
+hastily degenerate or fall asunder, without the Assistance of any new
+Calcination, into pure white Ashes. And to these two I shall add but
+this obvious and known Observation, that common Sulphur (if it be pure
+and freed from its Vinager) being leasurely sublim&#8217;d in close Vessels,
+rises into dry Flowers, which may be presently melted into a Bodie of
+the same Nature with that which afforded them. Though if Brimstone be
+burnt in the open Air it gives, you know, a penetrating Fume, which
+being caught in a Glass-Bell condenses into that acid Liquor called
+Oyl of Sulphur <i>per Campanam</i>. The use I would make of these
+Experiments collated with what I lately told you out of <i>Agricola</i> is
+this, That even among the Bodies that are not fixt, there are divers
+of such a Texture, that it will be hard to make it appear, how the
+Fire, as Chymists are wont to imploy it, can resolve them into
+Elementary Substances. For some Bodies being of such a Texture that
+the Fire can drive them into the cooler and less hot part of the
+Vessels wherein they are included, and if need be, remove them from
+place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">(64)</a></span> to place to fly the greatest heat, more easily than it can
+divorce their Elements (especially without the Assistance of the Air)
+we see that our Chymists cannot Analyze them in close Vessels, and of
+other compound Bodies the open Fire can as little separate the
+Elements. For what can a naked Fire do to Analyze a mixt Bodie, if its
+component Principles be so minute, and so strictly united, that the
+Corpuscles of it need less heat to carry them up, than is requisite to
+divide them into their Principles. So that of some Bodies the Fire
+cannot in close Vessels make any <i>Analysis</i> 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 similar parts of a Concrete be combin&#8217;d by
+Nature or by Art; For in factitious <i>Sal Armoniack</i> we finde the
+common and the Urinous Salts so well mingled, that both in the open
+Fire, and in subliming Vessels they rise together as one Salt, which
+seems in such Vessels irresoluble by Fire alone. For I can shew you
+<i>Sal Armoniack</i> which after the ninth Sublimation does still retain
+its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">(65)</a></span> compounded Nature. And indeed I scarce know any one Mineral, from
+which by Fire alone Chymists are wont to sever any Substance simple
+enough to deserve the name of an Element or Principle. For though out
+of native Cinnaber they distill Quicksilver, and though from many of
+those Stones that the Ancients called <i>Pyrites</i> they sublime
+Brimstone, yet both that Quicksilver and this Sulphur being very often
+the same with the common Minerals that are sold in the Shops under
+those names, are themselves too much compounded Bodies to pass for the
+Elements of such. And thus much, <i>Eleutherius</i>, for the Second
+Argument that belongs to my First Consideration; the others I shall
+the lesse insist on, because I have dwelt so long upon this.</p>
+
+<p>Proceed we then in the next place to consider, That there are divers
+Separations to be made by other means, which either cannot at all, or
+else cannot so well be made by the Fire alone. When Gold and Silver
+are melted into one Mass, it would lay a great Obligation upon
+Refiners and Goldsmiths to teach them the Art of separating them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">(66)</a></span> by
+the Fire, without the trouble and charge they are fain to be at to
+sever them. Whereas they may be very easily parted by the Affusion of
+Spirit of Nitre or <i>Aqua fortis</i> (which the French therefore call <i>Eau
+de Depart</i>:) so likewise the Metalline part of Vitriol will not be so
+easily and conveniently separated from the Saline part even by a
+violent Fire, as by the Affusion of certain 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
+precipitated to the bottom almost like Mud. And that I may not give
+Instances only in De-compound Bodies, I will add a not useless one of
+another kinde. Not only Chymists have not been able (for ought is
+vulgarly known) by Fire alone to separate true Sulphur from Antimony;
+but though you may finde in their Books many plausible Processes of
+Extracting it, yet he that shall make as many fruitlesse Tryals as I
+have done to obtain it by, most of them will, I suppose, be easily
+perswaded, that the Productions of such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">(67)</a></span> Processes are Antimonial
+Sulphurs rather in Name than Nature. But though Antimony sublim&#8217;d by
+its self is reduc&#8217;d but to a volatile Powder, or Antimonial Flowers,
+of a compounded Nature like the Mineral that affords them: yet I
+remember that some years ago I sublim&#8217;d out of Antimony a Sulphur, and
+that in greater plenty then ever I saw obtain&#8217;d from that Mineral, by
+a Method which I shall therefore acquaint you with, because Chymists
+seem not to have taken notice of what Importance such Experiments may
+be in the Indagation of the Nature, and especially of the Number of
+the Elements. Having then purposely for Tryals sake digested eight
+Ounces of good and well powder&#8217;d Antimony with twelve Ounces of Oyl of
+Vitriol in a well stopt Glas-Vessel for about six or seven Weeks; and
+having caus&#8217;d the Mass (grown hard and brittle) to be distill&#8217;d in a
+Retort plac&#8217;d in Sand, with a strong Fire; we found the Antimony to be
+so opened, or alter&#8217;d by the <i>Menstruum</i> wherewith it had been
+digested, That whereas crude Antimony, forc&#8217;d up by the Fire, arises
+only in Flowers, our Antimony thus handled afforded us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">(68)</a></span> 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 Brimstone, and of
+so Sulphureous a smell, that upon the unluting the Vessels it infected
+the Room with a scarce supportable stink. And this Sulphur, besides
+the Colour and Smell, had the perfect Inflamability of common
+Brimstone, and would immediately kindle (at the Flame of a Candle) and
+burn blew like it. And though it seem&#8217;d that the long digestion
+wherein our Antimony and <i>Menstruum</i> were detain&#8217;d, did conduce to the
+better unlocking of the Mineral, yet if you have not the leasure to
+make so long a Digestion, you may by incorporating with powder&#8217;d
+Antimony a convenient Quantity of Oyl of Vitriol, and committing them
+immediately to Distillation, obtain a little Sulphur like unto the
+common one, and more combustible than perhaps you will at first take
+notice of. For I have observ&#8217;d, that though (after its being first
+kindled) the Flame would sometimes go out too soon of its self, if the
+same Lump of Sulphur were held again to the Flame of a Candle, it
+would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">(69)</a></span> rekindled and burn a pretty while, not only after the
+second, but after the third or fourth accension. You, to whom I think
+I shewed my way of discovering something of Sulphureous in Oyl of
+Vitriol, may perchance suspect, <i>Eleutherius</i>, either that this
+Substance was some Venereal Sulphur that lay hid in that Liquor, and
+was by this operation only reduc&#8217;d into a manifest Body; or else that
+it was a compound of the unctuous parts of the Antimony, and the
+Saline ones of the Vitriol, in regard that (as <i>Gunther</i><span class="sidenote">Lib. 1. Observat. Cap. 6.</span> 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
+combustible Substance. But the Quantity of Sulphur we obtain&#8217;d by
+Digestion was much too great to have been latent in the Oyl of
+Vitriol. And that Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
+Constitution of such a Sulphur as ours, I could easily manifest, if I
+would acquaint you with the several wayes by which I have obtain&#8217;d,
+though not in such plenty, a Sulphur of Antimony, colour&#8217;d and
+combustible like common Brimstone. And though I am not now minded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">(70)</a></span> to
+discover them, yet I shall tell you, that to satisfie some Ingenious
+Men, that distill&#8217;d Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
+obtaining of such a Sulphur as we have been considering, I did by the
+bare distillation of only Spirit of Nitre, from its weight of crude
+Antimony separate, in a short time, a yellow and very inflamable
+Sulphur, which, for ought I know, deserves as much the name of an
+Element, as any thing that Chymists are wont to separate from any
+Mineral by the Fire. I could perhaps tell you of other Operations upon
+Antimony, whereby That may be extracted from it, which cannot be
+forc&#8217;d out of it by the Fire; but I shall reserve them for a fitter
+Opportunity, and only annex at present this sleight, but not
+impertinent Experiment. That whereas I lately observed to you, that
+the Urinous and common Salts whereof <i>Sal Armoniack</i> consists,
+remain&#8217;d unsever&#8217;d by the Fire in many successive Sublimations, they
+may be easily separated, and partly without any Fire at all, by
+pouring upon the Concrete finely powder&#8217;d, a Solution of Salt of
+Tartar, or of the Salt of Wood-Ashes; for upon your diligently mixing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">(71)</a></span>
+of these you will finde your Nose invaded with a very strong smell of
+Urine, and perhaps too your Eyes forc&#8217;d to water by the same subtle
+and piercing Body that produces the stink; both these effects
+proceeding from hence, that by the Alcalizate Salt, the Sea Salt that
+enter&#8217;d the composition of the <i>Sal Armoniack</i> is mortify&#8217;d and made
+more fixt, and thereby a divorce is made between it and the volatile
+Urinous Salt, which being at once set at liberty, and put into motion,
+begins presently to fly away, and to offend the Nostrils and Eyes it
+meets with by the way. And if the operation of these Salts be in
+convenient Glasses promoted by warmth, though but by that of a Bath,
+the ascending Steams may easily be caught and reduc&#8217;d into a penetrant
+Spirit, abounding with a Salt, which I have sometimes found to be
+separable in a Crystalline Form. I might add to these Instances, that
+whereas Sublimate, consisting, as you know, of Salts &amp; Quicksilver
+combin&#8217;d and carried up together by Heat, may be Sublim&#8217;d, I know not
+how often, by a like degree of Fire, without suffering any divorce of
+the component Bodies, the Mercury may be ea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">(72)</a></span>sily sever&#8217;d from the
+adhering Salts, if the Sublimate be distill&#8217;d from Salt of Tartar,
+Quick Lime, or such Alcalizate Bodies. But I will rather observe to
+you, <i>Eleutherius</i>, what divers ingenious men have thought somewhat
+strange; that by such an Additament that seems but only to promote the
+Separation, there may be easily obtain&#8217;d from a Concrete that by the
+Fire alone is easily divisible into all the Elements that Vegetables
+are suppos&#8217;d to consist of, such a similar Substance as differs in
+many respects from them all, and consequently has by many of the most
+Intelligent Chymists been denied to be contain&#8217;d in the mixt Body. For
+I know a way, and have practis&#8217;d it, whereby common Tartar, without
+the addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral except
+Salt-petre, may by one Distillation in an Earthen Retort be made to
+afford good store of real Salt, readily dissoluble in water, which I
+found to be neither acid, nor of the smell of Tartar, and to be almost
+as volatile as Spirit of Wine it self, and to be indeed of so
+differing a Nature from all that is wont to be separated by Fire from
+Tartar, that divers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">(73)</a></span> Learned Men, with whom I discours&#8217;d of it, could
+hardly be brought to beleeve, that so fugitive a Salt could be
+afforded by Tartar, till I assur&#8217;d it them upon my own Knowledge. And
+if I did not think you apt to suspect 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 shall alledge to countenance my first
+Consideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body into
+Substances of divers Consistences, does not most commonly analyze it
+into Hypostatical Principles, but only disposes its parts into new
+Textures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of a
+compound Nature. This Argument it will be requisite for me to
+prosecute so fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confess that
+&#8217;tis not for want of good Proofs that I desire leave to suspend my
+Proofs till the <i>Series</i> of my Discourse shall make it more proper and
+seasonable to propose them.</p>
+
+<p>It may be further alledg&#8217;d on the behalf of my First Consideration,
+That some such distinct Substances may be ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">(74)</a></span>tain&#8217;d from some
+Concretes without Fire, as deserve no less the name of Elementary,
+than many that Chymists extort by the Violence of the Fire.</p>
+
+<p>We see that the Inflamable Spirit, or as the Chymists esteem it, the
+Sulphur of Wine, may not only be separated from it by the gentle heat
+of a Bath, but may be distill&#8217;d either by the help of the Sun-Beams,
+or even of a Dunghill, being indeed of so Fugitive a Nature, that it
+is not easy to keep it from flying away, even without the Application
+of external heat. I have likewise observ&#8217;d that a Vessel full of Urine
+being plac&#8217;d in a Dunghill, the Putrefaction is wont after some weeks
+so to open the Body, that the parts disbanding the Saline Spirit, will
+within no very long time, if the Vessel be not stopt, fly away of it
+self; Insomuch that from such Urine I have been able to distill little
+or nothing else than a nauseous Phlegme, instead of the active and
+piercing Salt and Spirit that it would have afforded, when first
+expos&#8217;d to the Fire, if the Vessel had been carefully stopt.</p>
+
+<p>And this leads me to consider in the Fifth place, That it will be very
+hard to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">(75)</a></span> prove, that there can no other Body or way be given which
+will as well as the Fire divide Concretes into several homogeneous
+Substances, which may consequently be call&#8217;d their Elements or
+Principles, as well as those separated or produc&#8217;d by the Fire. For
+since we have lately seen, that Nature can successefully employ other
+Instruments than the Fire to separate distinct Substances from mixt
+Bodies, how know we, but that Nature has made, or Art may make, some
+such Substance as may be a fit Instrument to Analyze mixt Bodies, or
+that some such Method may be found by Humane Industry or Luck, by
+whose means compound Bodies may be resolv&#8217;d into other Substances,
+than such as they are wont to be divided into by the Fire. And why the
+Products of such an <i>Analysis</i> may not as justly be call&#8217;d the
+component Principles of the Bodies that afford them, it will not be
+easy to shew, especially since I shall hereafter make it evident, that
+the Substances which Chymists are wont to call the Salts, and
+Sulphurs, and Mercuries of Bodies, are not so pure and Elementary as
+they presume, and as their <i>Hypothesis</i> requires. And this may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">(76)</a></span>
+therefore be the more freely press&#8217;d upon the Chymists, because
+neither the <i>Paracelsians</i>, nor the <i>Helmontians</i> can reject it
+without apparent Injury to their respective Masters. For <i>Helmont</i>
+do&#8217;s more than once Inform his Readers, that both <i>Paracelsus</i> and
+Himself were Possessors of the famous Liquor, <i>Alkahest</i>, which for
+its great power in resolving Bodies irresoluble by Vulgar Fires, he
+somewhere seems to call <i>Ignis Gehenn&aelig;</i>. To this Liquor he ascribes,
+(and that in great part upon his own Experience) such wonders, that if
+we suppose them all true, I am so much the more a Friend to Knowledge
+than to Wealth, that I should think the <i>Alkahest</i> a nobler and more
+desireable Secret than the Philosophers Stone it self. Of this
+Universal Dissolvent he relates, That having digested with it for a
+competent time a piece of Oaken Charcoal, it was thereby reduc&#8217;d into
+a couple of new and distinct Liquors, discriminated from each other by
+their Colour and Situation, and that the whole body of the Coal was
+reduc&#8217;d into those Liquors, both of them separable from his Immortal
+<i>Menstruum</i>, which remain&#8217;d as fit for such Operati<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">(77)</a></span>ons as before. And
+he moreover tells us in divers places of his Writings, that by this
+powerful, and unwearied Agent, he could dissolve Metals, Marchasites,
+Stones, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of what kinde soever, and even
+Glass it self (first reduc&#8217;d to powder,) and in a word, all kinds of
+mixt Bodies in the World into their several similar Substances,
+without any Residence or <i>Caput mortuum</i>. And lastly, we may gather
+this further from his Informations, That the homogeneous Substances
+obtainable from compound Bodies by his piercing Liquor, were
+oftentimes different enough both as to Number and as to Nature, from
+those into which the same Bodies are wont to be divided by common
+Fire. Of which I shall need in this place to mention no other proof,
+then that whereas we know that in our common <i>Analysis</i> of a mixt
+Body, there remains a terrestrial and very fixt Substance, oftentimes
+associated with a Salt as fixt; Our Author tells us, that by his way
+he could Distill over all Concretes without any <i>Caput mortuum</i>, and
+consequently could make those parts of the Concrete volatile, which in
+the Vulgar <i>Analysis</i> would have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">(78)</a></span> been fixt. So that if our Chymists
+will not reject the solemn and repeated Testimony of a Person, who
+cannot but be acknowledg&#8217;d for one of the greatest Spagyrists that
+they can boast of, they must not deny that there is to be found in
+Nature another Agent able to Analyze compound Bodies less violently,
+and both more genuinely and more universally than the Fire. And for my
+own part, though I cannot but say on this Occasion what (you know) our
+Friend Mr. <i>Boyle</i> is wont to say, when he is askt his Opinion of any
+strange Experiment; <i>That He that hath seen it hath more Reason to
+beleeve it, than He that hath not</i>; yet I have found <i>Helmont</i> so
+faithful a Writer, even in divers of his improbable Experiments (I
+alwayes except that Extravagant Treatise <i>De Magnetica Vulnerum
+Curatione</i>, which some of his Friends affirm to have been first
+publish&#8217;d by his Enemies) that I think it somewhat harsh to give him
+the Lye, especially to what he delivers upon his own proper Tryal. And
+I have heard from very credible Eye-witnesses some things, and seen
+some others my self, which argue so strongly, that a circulated Salt,
+or a <i>Menstruum</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">(79)</a></span> (such as it may be) may by being abstracted from
+compound Bodies, whether Mineral, Animal, or Vegetable, leave them
+more unlockt than a wary Naturalist would easily beleeve, that I dare
+not confidently measure the Power of Nature and Art by that of the
+<i>Menstruums</i>, and other Instruments that eminent Chymists themselves
+are as yet wont to <a href="#ERRATA">Empoly</a> about the Analyzing of
+Bodies; nor Deny that a <i>Menstruum</i> may at least from this or that
+particular Concrete obtain some apparently similar Substance,
+differing from any obtainable from the same Body by any degree or
+manner of Application of the Fire. And I am the more backward to deny
+peremptorily, that there may be such Openers of compound Bodies,
+because among the Experiments that make me speak thus warily, there
+wanted not some in which it appear&#8217;d not, that one of the Substances
+not separable by common Fires and <i>Menstruums</i> could retain any thing
+of the Salt by which the separation was made.</p>
+
+<p>And here, <i>Eleutherius</i>, (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) I should conclude as much
+of my Discourse as belongs to the first Con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">(80)</a></span>sideration I propos&#8217;d, but
+that I foresee, that what I have delivered will appear liable to two
+such specious Objections, that I cannot safely proceed any further
+till I have examin&#8217;d them.</p>
+
+<p>And first, one sort of Opposers will be forward to tell me, That they
+do not pretend by Fire alone to separate out of all compound Bodies
+their <i>Hypostatical</i> Principles; it being sufficient that the Fire
+divides them into such, though afterwards they employ other Bodies to
+collect the similar parts of the Compound; as &#8217;tis known, that though
+they make use of water to collect the Saline parts of Ashes from the
+Terrestrial wherewith they are blended, yet it is the Fire only that
+Incinerates Bodies, and reduces the fix&#8217;d part of them into the Salt
+and Earth, whereof Ashes are made up. This Objection is not, I
+confess, inconsiderable, and I might in great part allow of it,
+without granting it to make against me, if I would content my self to
+answer, that it is not against those that make it that I have been
+disputing, but against those Vulgar Chymists, who themselves believe,
+and would fain make others do so, That the Fire is not only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">(81)</a></span> an
+universal, but an <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: adequate">ad&aelig;quate</span> and
+sufficient Instrument to analyze mixt Bodies with. For as to their
+Practice of Extracting the fix&#8217;d Salt out of Ashes by the Affusion of
+Water, &#8217;tis obvious to alleadge, that the Water does only assemble
+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 distinct heaps the Flour and the Bran, whose Corpuscles before lay
+promiscuously blended together in the Meal. This I say I might
+alleadge, and thereby exempt my self from the need of taking any
+farther notice of the propos&#8217;d Objection. But not to lose the Rise it
+may afford me of Illustrating the matter under Consideration, I am
+content briefly to consider it, as far forth as my present
+Disquisition may be concern&#8217;d in it.</p>
+
+<p>Not to repeat then what has been already answer&#8217;d, I say farther, that
+though I am so civil an Adversary, that I will allow the Chymists,
+after the Fire has done all its work, the use of fair Water to make
+their Extractions with, in such cases wherein the Water does not
+cooperate with the Fire to make the <i>Ana<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">(82)</a></span>lysis</i>; yet since I Grant
+this but upon Supposition that the Water does only wash off the Saline
+Particles, which the Fire Alone has Before Extricated in the Analyz&#8217;d
+Body, it will not be Reasonable, that this Concession should Extend to
+other Liquors that may Add to what they Dissolve, nor so much as to
+other Cases than those Newly Mentioned: Which Limitation I Desire You
+would be Pleas&#8217;d to Bear in Mind till I shall Anon have Occasion to
+make Use of it. And This being thus Premis&#8217;d, I shall Proceed to
+Observe,</p>
+
+<p>First, That Many of the Instances I Propos&#8217;d in the Preceding
+Discourse are Such, that the Objection we are Considering will not at
+all Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the Assistance of Water than
+without it Separate any of the Three Principles, either from Gold,
+Silver, Mercury, or some Others of the Concretes named Above.</p>
+
+<p>Hence We may Inferre, That Fire is not an Universal Analyzer of all
+Mixt Bodies, since of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymists have most
+Exercis&#8217;d Themselves, there Appear scarce Any which they are able to
+Analyze by Fire,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">(83)</a></span> Nay, from which they can Unquestionably Separate so
+much as any One of their Hypostatical Principles; Which may well
+Appear no small Disparagement as well to their <i>Hypothesis</i> as to
+their Pretensions.</p>
+
+<p>It will also remain True, notwithstanding the Objection, That there
+may be Other Wayes than the wonted <i>Analysis</i> by Fire, to Separate
+from a Compound Body Substances as <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Homogeneous">Homogeneneous</span>
+as those that Chymists Scruple not to Reckon among their
+<i>Tria Prima</i> (as some of them, for Brevity Sake, call their Three
+Principles.)</p>
+
+<p>And it Appears, That by Convenient Additaments such Substances may be
+Separated by the Help of the Fire, as could not be so by the Fire
+alone: Witness the Sulphur of Antimony.</p>
+
+<p>And Lastly, I must Represent, That since it appears too that the Fire
+is but One of the Instruments that must be Employ&#8217;d in the Resolution
+of Bodies, We may Reasonably Challenge the Liberty of doing Two
+Things. For when ever any <i>Menstruum</i> or other Additament is Employ&#8217;d,
+together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">(84)</a></span> a Body, We
+may well take the Freedom to Examine, whether or no That <i>Menstruum</i>
+do barely Help to Separate the Principle Obtain&#8217;d by It, or whether
+there Intervene not a Coalition of the Parts of the Body Wrought upon
+with Those of the <i>Menstruum</i>, whereby the Produc&#8217;d Concrete may be
+Judg&#8217;d to Result from the Union of Both. And it will be farther
+Allowable for Us to Consider, how far any Substance, Separated by the
+Help of such Additaments, Ought to pass for one of the <i>Tria Prima</i>;
+since by One Way of Handling the same Mixt Body it may according to
+the Nature of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, be
+made to Afford differing Substances from those Obtainable from it by
+other Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may appear by what
+I Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Substances
+into which a Concrete is Divisible by the Fire without Additaments,
+though perhaps those Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter the
+Composition of the Obtained Body, but only Diversify the Operation of
+the Fire upon the Concrete; and though that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">(85)</a></span> Concrete by the Fire
+alone may be Divided into a Number of Differing Substances, as Great
+as any of the Chymists that I have met with teach us that of the
+Elements to be. And having said thus much (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) to the
+Objection likely to be Propos&#8217;d by some Chymists, I am now to Examine
+that which I Foresee will be Confidently press&#8217;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
+<i>Aristotle</i>, and Generally Received, <i>Congregare Homogenea, &amp;
+Heterogenea Segregare</i>, to Assemble Things of a Resembling, and
+Disjoyn those of a Differing Nature. To this I answer, That this
+Effect is far from being so Essential to Heat, as &#8217;tis Generally
+Imagin&#8217;d; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property of
+Heat is, to set a Moving, and thereby to Dissociate the parts of
+Bodies, and Subdivide them into Minute Particles, without regard to
+their being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in the
+Boyling of Water, the Distillation of Quicksilver, or the Exposing of
+Bodies to the action of the Fire, whose Parts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">(86)</a></span> either Are not (at
+least in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Dissimilar, where all that
+the Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts which
+are of the same Nature with one another, and with their <i>Totum</i>, as
+their Reduction by Condensation Evinces. And even when the Fire seems
+most so <i>Congregare Homogenea, &amp; Segregare Heterogenea</i>, it Produces
+that Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Dissolve the
+Cement, or rather Shatter the Frame, or <a href="#ERRATA">[tructure</a>
+that kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one Common
+Form; upon which Dissolution the Component Particles of the Mixt,
+being Freed and set at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes without
+any Operation of the Fire, Associate themselves each with its Like, or
+rather do take those places which their Several Degrees of Gravity and
+Levity, Fixedness or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious from
+the Impression of the Fire) Assigne them. Thus in the Distillation
+(for Instance) of Man&#8217;s Blood, the Fire do&#8217;s First begin to Dissolve
+the <i>Nexus</i> or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">(87)</a></span>
+Volatile, and Easy to be Extracted, is either by the Igneous Atomes,
+or the Agitation they are put into by the Fire, first carried up, till
+Forsaken by what carried it up, its Weight sinks it down into the
+Receiver: but all this while the other Principles of the Concrete
+Remain Unsever&#8217;d, and Require a stronger Degree of Heat to make a
+Separation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire must be
+Increas&#8217;d which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, they
+being, though Beleev&#8217;d to be Differing Principles, and though Really
+of Different Consistency, yet of an almost Equal Volatility. After
+them, as less Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde the
+Earth and the <i>Alcali</i>, which being of an Equal Fixednesse, the Fire
+Severs them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into a
+Red-hot Earthen or Iron Retort you cast the Matter to be Distill&#8217;d,
+You may Observe, as I have often done, that the Predominant Fire will
+Carry up all the Volatile Elements Confusedly in one Fume, which will
+afterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to the
+Degree of their Gravity, or ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">(88)</a></span>cording to the Exigency of their
+respective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the most part, to the
+Sides and Top, and the Phlegme Fastening it self there too in great
+Drops, the Oyle and Spirit placing themselves Under, or Above one
+another, according as their Ponderousness makes them Swim or Sink. For
+&#8217;tis Observable, that though Oyl or Liquid Sulphur be one of the
+Elements Separated by this Fiery <i>Analysis</i>, yet the Heat which
+Accidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Principles,
+has not alwayes the same Operation on this, there being divers Bodies
+which Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One sinks to the Bottom of that
+Spirit on which the other Swims; as I can shew You in some Oyls of the
+same Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can shew you Two Oyls
+carefully made of the same 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 themselves Divorce again.</p>
+
+<p>And that the Fire doth oftentimes divide Bodies, upon the account that
+some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">(89)</a></span> of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how far
+soever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature is
+Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which
+the Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter of
+these is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth and
+Salt; but the Former being condens&#8217;d into that Soot which adheres to
+our Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, and
+Spirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all
+almost, 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&#8217;d in
+Dulcify&#8217;d <i>Colcothar</i>, Sublim&#8217;d by <i>Sal Armoniack</i> Blended with it)
+are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other
+Degrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity of
+their Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing Bodies
+United into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no
+Parts Volatile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">(90)</a></span> enough to be Expell&#8217;d or carried up, makes no
+Separation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver
+and Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever&#8217;d by <i>Aqua
+Fortis</i>, or <i>Aqua Regis</i> (according to the Predominancy of the Silver
+or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain
+unsever&#8217;d, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles
+(whose Littlenesse may be argu&#8217;d from their Fluidity) in which either
+the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokes
+upon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without any
+Sequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimes
+does not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature;
+provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in the
+Figure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the making
+of many Plaisters, Oyntments, &amp;c. And in such Metalline Mixtures as
+that made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one of
+pure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curious
+Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">(91)</a></span> as I have sometimes taken great
+Pleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire are
+Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are so
+combin&#8217;d by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarce
+afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instance
+is afforded us by the Common Preparation of <i>Mercurius Dulcis</i>, where
+the Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre,
+Employ&#8217;d to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with the
+Mercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then to
+Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together in
+many successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And
+sometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements
+of a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does very
+seldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meeting
+with some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead of
+making a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, is
+unable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alca<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">(92)</a></span>lizate Salt and the
+Terrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and
+by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course or
+greenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire,
+which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to
+Divorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flow
+down from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos&#8217;d for a good while, with
+Silver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in the
+Fusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a
+Crucible into Glass is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember,
+I have Observ&#8217;d too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of
+the Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm that
+Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigious
+Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by great
+Wheels turn&#8217;d about by Water) part of the Materials Expos&#8217;d to it was,
+instead of being Analyz&#8217;d, Colliquated, and turn&#8217;d into a Dark, Solid
+and very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">(93)</a></span>tity, that in some
+places I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mended
+with Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. And
+I have also Observ&#8217;d, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, having
+been employ&#8217;d in Furnaces wherein it was expos&#8217;d to very strong and
+lasting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts so Wrought on by the Fire,
+as to be Perfectly Vitrifi&#8217;d, which I have try&#8217;d by Forcing from it
+Pretty large Pieces of Perfect and Transparent Glass. And lest You
+might think, <i>Eleutherius</i>, that the Question&#8217;d Definition of Heat may
+be Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given and
+Acquiesc&#8217;d in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taught
+to be <i>tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare</i>; Give me leave to
+represent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; for
+not to Mention the Exceptions, which a <i>Logician</i>, as such, may Take
+at it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is
+Suppos&#8217;d to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform&#8217;d by
+every Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">(94)</a></span>
+Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer&#8217;d a while to stand, the
+Cold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, which
+Subsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if the
+Urinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole
+Liquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood,
+Straw, Dust, Water, &amp;c. are Suppos&#8217;d to be United into one Lump of
+Ice, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may so
+Speak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the
+Liquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in that
+Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if
+we Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes,
+or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute of
+Aqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold,
+we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much as
+Compacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselves
+we find <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">(95)</a></span> which Induce us to Question the Definition which
+we are examining. If <i>Paracelsus</i> his Authority were to be look&#8217;t upon
+as a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insist
+on that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Wine
+may be Sever&#8217;d from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance of
+Congelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process,
+not only by <i>Paracelsians</i>, but other Writers, some of whom seem not
+to have perus&#8217;d it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage in
+the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of his
+<i>Archidoxis</i>, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it sounds
+thus. <i>De Vino sciendum est, f&aelig;cem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, &amp;
+Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auri
+in auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam
+ponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum
+vetustissimum &amp; optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque ad
+placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat,
+&amp; sigillo Hermetis occlusum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">(96)</a></span> in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, &amp; in
+continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum
+frigus &amp; gelu maxime s&aelig;viunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur.
+Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protrudit
+in vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero
+congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc in
+Pelicanum positum in aren&aelig; digestione non adeo calida per aliquod
+tempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quo
+locuti sumus.</i></p>
+
+<p>But I dare not <i>Eleu.</i> lay much Weight upon this Process, because I
+have found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable in
+this Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hath
+been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied with
+lasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure 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 suppose <i>Eleu.</i> that tis not every
+Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to
+make such an <i>Analysis</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">(97)</a></span> (if I may so call it) of them by Separating
+their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though not
+often, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not
+Observe the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc&#8217;d to
+Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call&#8217;d <i>Nova
+Zembla</i>, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was a
+Separation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle of
+<i>November</i>, yet of the Freezing of their <a href="#ERRATA">Back</a> in
+<i>December</i> following they give but this Account: <i>Yea and our Sack,
+which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Man
+to have his part, we were forc&#8217;d to melt it in the Fire; which we
+shar&#8217;d every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we
+were forc&#8217;d to sustain our selves.</i> In which words they imply not,
+that their <a href="#ERRATA">Back</a> was divided by the Frost into differing
+Substances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All which
+notwithstanding, <i>Eleu.</i> suppose that it may be made to appear, that
+even Cold sometimes may <i>Congregare Homogenea, &amp; Heterogenea
+Segregare</i>: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once,
+pur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">(98)</a></span>posely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with
+Sulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos&#8217;d the Decoction to
+a keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ&#8217;d, that the more
+Aqueous Parts of it were turn&#8217;d by the next Morning into Ice, towards
+the innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I
+then conjectur&#8217;d, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be their
+Environing Enemy, they had there preserv&#8217;d themselves unfrozen in the
+Form of a high colour&#8217;d Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts
+having been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in the
+Decoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold as
+would not have been able to have Divorc&#8217;d the Parts of Urine or Wine,
+which by Fermentation or Digestion are wont, as Tryal has inform&#8217;d me,
+to be more intimately associated each with other. But I have already
+intimated, <i>Eleutherius</i>, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment,
+not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have been
+mistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that much
+more full and eminent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">(99)</a></span> Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream
+Cold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention&#8217;d Dutch
+men that Winter&#8217;d in <i>Nova Zembla</i>; the Relation of whose Voyage being
+a very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorable
+part of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus&#8217;d the Passage
+to be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;<i>Gerard de Veer</i>, <i>John Cornelyson</i> and Others, sent out of
+<i>Amsterdam</i>, <i>Anno Dom.</i> 1596. being forc&#8217;d by unseasonable Weather to
+Winter in <i>Nova Zembla</i>, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of
+<i>October</i>, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and
+laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to
+our House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great a
+Storm and Cold, that we were forc&#8217;d to go into the Ship again, because
+we were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer into
+the Ship again, but were forc&#8217;d to let it stand without upon the Sled:
+the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of
+Beer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">(100)</a></span> standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yet
+by reason of the great Cold, the Beer that purg&#8217;d out froze as hard
+upon the Side of the Barrel, as if it had been glu&#8217;d thereon: and in
+that sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, and
+drank it up; but first we were forc&#8217;d to melt the Beer, for there was
+scarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest that
+was unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strong
+to drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and being
+melted we Mix&#8217;d one with the other, and so drank it; but it had
+neither Strength nor Taste.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very Sharp
+Winter purposely try&#8217;d to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beer
+moderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ&#8217;d,
+that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, it
+seems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I found
+turn&#8217;d into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour and
+consistence seem&#8217;d <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: manifestly">ma<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">(101)</a></span>festly</span> enough
+to be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail&#8217;d, because I did
+not either discerne by the Taste, 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&#8217;d a while since to a neere Friend
+of mine, who complained to me, that having Brew&#8217;d some Beer or Ale for
+his own drinking in <i>Holland</i> (where he then dwelt) the Keenness of
+the late bitter Winter froze the Drink so as to reduce it into Ice,
+and a small Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I
+must not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely because
+you may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does not
+directly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have already
+enlarg&#8217;d my self too much upon the first Consideration I propos&#8217;d,
+though it appears so much a Paradox, that it seem&#8217;d to Require that I
+should say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance;
+yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">(102)</a></span> of our
+Chymists and <i>Aristotelians</i> appear Questionable, I hope I have so
+Perform&#8217;d that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following
+Considerations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on the
+First.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">(103)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco04.png" width="600" height="138" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="SECOND" id="SECOND"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE</span><br />
+<br />
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.</h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2><i>The Second Part.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">T</span>He Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This,
+That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and <i>Aristotelians</i> are wont
+to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that
+is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in
+it as a Principle or Element of it.</p>
+
+<p>That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I will
+First Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed to
+Argue for it.</p>
+
+<p>And I suppose You will easily Believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">(104)</a></span> That I do not mean that any
+thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially
+pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall
+Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one
+Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create;
+which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers
+have Deny&#8217;d the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the
+<i>Epicureans</i> and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their
+Gods themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things
+Obtain&#8217;d by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely
+Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before
+they be Expos&#8217;d to the Fire afford us several Documents of their
+abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve
+the present Turn, if it appear that diverse things Obtain&#8217;d from a
+Mixt Body expos&#8217;d to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for if
+this be made to <a href="#ERRATA">appear it, will</a> be Rationall
+e<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">(105)</a></span>nough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others,
+in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the
+Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of
+which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till
+some other Argument then that drawn from the <i>Analysis</i> be Brought to
+resolve the Doubt.</p>
+
+<p>That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That it
+may without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing
+Substances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were so
+Exsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts)
+wherein we find them when the <i>Analysis</i> is over, that the Fire did
+only Dis-joyne and Extricate the Corpuscles of one Principle from
+those of the other wherewith before they were Blended.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus Explain&#8217;d my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do two
+things, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that such
+Substances as Chymists call Principles May be produc&#8217;d <i>De novo</i> (as
+they speak.) And the other is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">(106)</a></span> make it probable that by the Fire we
+may Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were not
+in the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.</p>
+
+<p>To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be as
+true as &#8217;tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another
+but in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion,
+and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall to
+conceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may by
+Various Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name,
+somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous
+Body. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr.
+<i>Boyle</i> has promis&#8217;d us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme I
+now willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquired
+into. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I have
+lately Deliver&#8217;d shall be Deduc&#8217;d from Experiments made Divers Years
+since. The first of which would have been much more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">(107)</a></span> considerable, but
+that by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the best
+time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design&#8217;d; it
+being about <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: the">he</span> middle of <i>May</i> before I was
+able to begin an Experiment which should have then been two moneths
+old; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to Give
+You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention&#8217;d, I caus&#8217;d My
+Gardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder&#8217;d from being present
+myself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry it
+well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost level
+with the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed he
+had before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is an
+Indian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him to
+Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasions
+permitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew,
+though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder&#8217;d it from
+attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">(108)</a></span>
+the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, as
+big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up;
+Which about the Middle of <i>October</i> was carefully Done by the same
+Gardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it; <i>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 First, which made me think I had
+not dry&#8217;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.</i></p>
+
+<p>But to deal Candidly with You, <i>Eleutherius</i>, I must not conceal from
+You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this present
+Summer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as may
+appear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner,
+in these Words. <i>To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have
+Gain&#8217;d two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and
+a Halfe, the Branches with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">(109)</a></span> Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two
+Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak&#8217;d it in
+several small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, I
+found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was formerly;
+yet I was not satisfi&#8217;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
+Suppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I think
+that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by the
+Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and the
+like) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You should
+send for them.)</i> But yet in this Tryal, <i>Eleutherius</i>, it appears that
+though some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour&#8217;d in
+it, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of Transmuted
+Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus&#8217;d the formerly
+mentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with
+so good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it did
+not only much surpass any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">(110)</a></span> that I made before, but seem&#8217;d strangely to
+conclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappily
+lost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the
+Circumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may be
+as conveniently try&#8217;d with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth is
+hasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Grow
+well in Earth undung&#8217;d, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it;
+for &#8217;tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes 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
+shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of
+Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because
+every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment
+neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Expeditious">Expeditions</span>
+Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint,
+about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water,
+so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">(111)</a></span>
+the lower part Immers&#8217;d in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint
+began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,
+and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and
+Leaves, and these very strong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint:
+but the Heat of my Chamber, as I suppose, kill&#8217;d the Plant when it was
+grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and
+ramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth,
+presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant to
+behold. The like I try&#8217;d with sweet Marjoram, and I found the
+Experiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme and
+Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of these Vegetables,
+cherish&#8217;d only by Water, having obtain&#8217;d a competent Growth, I did,
+for Tryals sake, cause to be Distill&#8217;d in a small Retort, and thereby
+obtain&#8217;d some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a small
+Quantity of adust Oyl, and a <i>Caput mortuum</i>; which appearing to be a
+Coal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">(112)</a></span> the Quantity of
+it was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us&#8217;d to
+nourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I chose
+Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more
+discernably a kinde of <span lang="el" title="Greek: panspermia">&#960;&#945;&#957;&#963;&#960;&#949;&#961;&#956;&#953;&#945;</span>, which, though it be
+granted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it,
+besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which may
+be suppos&#8217;d to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, which
+may be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit of
+the World Corporify&#8217;d, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I
+may elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps I might have sav&#8217;d a great part of my Labour. For I finde
+that <i>Helmont</i> (an Author more considerable for his Experiments than
+many Learned men are pleas&#8217;d to think him) having had an Opportunity
+to prosecute an Experiment much of the same nature with those I have
+been now speaking of, for five Years together, obtain&#8217;d at the end of
+that time so notable a Quantity of Transmuted Water,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">(113)</a></span> that I should
+scarce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention&#8217;d
+together, were it not that the Length of Time Requisite to this may
+deterr the Curiosity of some, and exceed the leasure of Others; and
+partly, that so Paradoxical a Truth as that which these Experiments
+seem to hold forth, needs to be Confirm&#8217;d by more Witnesses then one,
+especially since the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with in
+<i>Helmonts</i> Treatise of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made his
+Testimonies suspected in his other Writings, though as to some of the
+Unlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might safely undertake
+to be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I was
+mentioning to You, he sayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earth
+dry&#8217;d in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Vessel and
+moisten&#8217;d it with Raine water he planted in it the Trunk of a Willow
+tree of five pound Weight; this he Water&#8217;d, as need required, with
+Rain or with Distill&#8217;d Water; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth from
+getting into the Vessell, he employ&#8217;d a plate of Iron tinn&#8217;d over and
+per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">(114)</a></span>forated with many holes. Five years being efflux&#8217;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 again Dry&#8217;d the Earth it grew in, he found it want
+of its Former Weight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; so
+that 164 pound of the Roots, Wood, and Bark, which Constituted the
+Tree, seem to have Sprung from the Water. And though it appears not
+that <i>Helmont</i> had the Curiosity to make any <i>Analysis</i> of this Plant,
+yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nourish&#8217;d
+with Water only, will I suppose keep You from Doubting that if he had
+Distill&#8217;d this Tree, it would have afforded him the like Distinct
+Substances as another Vegetable of the same kind. I need not Subjoyne
+that I had it also in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the same
+purpose with those I related to You would succeed in other Bodies then
+Vegetables, because importunate Avocations having hitherto hinder&#8217;d me
+from putting my Design in Practise, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">(115)</a></span>
+can yet speak but <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Conjecturally">Confecturally</span>
+of the Success: but the best is,
+that the Experiments already made and mention&#8217;d to you need not the
+Assistance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my present task makes it
+concern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.</p>
+
+<p>One would suspect (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i> after his long silence) by what
+You have been discoursing, that You are not far from <i>Helmonts</i>
+Opinion about the Origination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps too
+dislike not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.</p>
+
+<p>What <i>Helmontian</i> Opinion, and what Arguments do you mean (askes
+<i>Carneades</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>What You have been Newly Discoursing (replies <i>Eleutherius</i>) tells us,
+that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyrist scruples
+not to Assert that all mixt Bodies spring from one Element; and that
+Vegetables, Animals, Marchasites, Stones, Metalls, &amp;c. are Materially
+but simple Water disguis&#8217;d into these Various Formes, by the plastick
+or Formative Virtue of their seeds. And as for his Reasons you may
+find divers of them scatter&#8217;d up and<span class="pagenumerr" title="116"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">(216)</a></span> down his writings; the
+considerabl&#8217;st of which seem to be these three; The Ultimate Reduction
+of mixt Bodies into Insipid Water, the Vicissitude of the supposed
+Elements, and the production of perfectly mixt Bodies out of simple
+Water. And first he affirmes that the <i>Sal circulatus Paracelsi</i>, or
+his Liquor <i>Alkahest</i>, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, and
+Mineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their several
+internall Disparities of Parts (without <i>Caput Mortuum</i>, or the
+Destruction of their seminal Virtues;) and that the <i>Alkahest</i> being
+abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and Virtue wherewith
+it Dissolv&#8217;d them, the Liquors may by frequent Cohobations from chalke
+or some other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv&#8217;d of their seminal
+Endowments, and return at last to their first matter, Insipid Water;
+some other wayes he proposes here and there, to divest some particular
+Bodies of their borrow&#8217;d shapes, and make them remigrate to their
+first Simplicity. The second Topick whence <i>Helmont</i> drawes his
+Arguments, to prove Water to be the Material cause of Mixt Bodies, I
+told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">(117)</a></span> You was this, that the other suppos&#8217;d Elements may be transmuted
+into one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc&#8217;d
+on this Occasion, are so uneasie to be made and to be judg&#8217;d of, that
+I shall not insist on them; not to mention, that if they were granted
+to be true, his Inference from them is somewhat disputable; and
+therefore I shall pass on to tell You, That as, in his First Argument,
+our Paradoxical Author endeavours to prove Water the Sole Element of
+Mixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Resolution, when by his <i>Alkahest</i>, or
+some other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been Destroy&#8217;d, which
+Disguis&#8217;d them, or when by time those seeds are Weari&#8217;d or Exantlated
+or unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Universe any
+Longer: So in His Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the same
+Conclusion, by the constitution of Bodies which he asserts to be
+nothing but Water Subdu&#8217;d by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives here
+and there in his Writings several Instances, as to Plants and Animals;
+but divers of them being Difficult either to be try&#8217;d or to be
+Understood, and others of them being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">(118)</a></span> not altogether Unobnoxious to
+Exceptions, I think you have singl&#8217;d out the Principal and less
+Questionable Experiment when you lately mention&#8217;d that of the Willow
+Tree. And having thus, Continues <i>Eleutherius</i>, to Answer your
+Question, given you a Summary Account of what I am Confident You know
+better then I do, I shall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, if
+the giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Prosecution of
+your Discourse.</p>
+
+<p>That <i>If</i> (replies <i>Carneades</i>) was not needlessly annex&#8217;d: for
+thorowly to examine such an Hypothesis and such Arguments would
+require so many Considerations, and Consequently so much time, that I
+should not now have the <a href="#ERRATA">Liesure</a> to perfect such a
+Digression, and much less to finish my <a href="#ERRATA">Principle</a>
+Discourse. Yet thus much I shall tell You at present, that you need
+not fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; since, however the
+<i>Helmontians</i> may in complement to their Master pretend it to be a new
+Discovery, Yet though the Arguments be for the most part his, the
+Opinion it self is very Antient: For <i>Di<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">(119)</a></span>ogenes Laertius</i> and divers
+other Authors speak of <i>Thales</i>, as the first among the <i>Gr&aelig;cians</i>
+that made disquisitions upon nature. And of this <i>Thales</i>, I Remember,
+<i>Tully</i><span class="sidenote">De Natura Deorum.</span> informes us, that he taught all things were at first made
+of Water. And it seems by <i>Plutarch</i> and <i>Justin Martyr</i>, that the
+Opinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us&#8217;d to defend
+his Tenet by the Testimony of <i>Homer</i>. And a Greek Author, (the
+<i>Scholiast</i> of <i>Apollonius</i>) upon these Words</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span lang="el" title="Greek: Ex iliou [iluos] eblast&#234;se chth&#244;n aut&#234;">&#917;&#958; <span class="err">&#953;&#955;&#953;&#959;&#965;</span> &#949;&#946;&#955;&#945;&#987;&#951;&#963;&#949; &#967;&#952;&#969;&#957; &#945;&#965;&#964;&#951;</span>,<span class="sidenote">Argonaut. 4.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>The Earth of Slime was made,</i></p>
+
+<p>Affirms (out of <i>Zeno</i>) that the <i>Chaos</i>, whereof all things were
+made, was, according to <i>Hesiod</i>, Water; which, settling first, became
+Slime, and then condens&#8217;d into solid Earth. And the same Opinion about
+the Generation of Slime seems to have been entertain&#8217;d by <i>Orpheus</i>,
+out of whom one of the Antients<span class="sidenote">Athenagoras.</span> cites this Testimony,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span lang="el" title="Greek: Ek tou hydatos ilui katist&#234;">&#917;&#954; &#964;&#959;&#965; &#8017;&#948;&#945;&#964;&#959;&#962; &#953;&#955;&#965;&#953; &#954;&#945;&#964;&#953;&#987;&#951;</span>.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Of Water Slime was made.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">(120)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It seems also by what is delivered in <i>Strabo</i><span class="sidenote">Universarum rerum primordia diverta esse, faciendi autem
+mundi initium aquam. Strabo. Geograp. lib. 15. circa medium.</span> out of another
+Author, concerning the <i>Indians</i>, That they likewise held that all
+things had differing Beginnings, but that of which the World was made,
+was Water. And the like Opinion has been by some of the Antients
+ascrib&#8217;d to the <i>Ph&#339;nicians</i>, from whom <i>Thales</i> himself is
+conceiv&#8217;d to have borrow&#8217;d it; as probably the Greeks did much of
+their Theologie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philosophy too;
+since the Devising of the Atomical <i>Hypothesis</i> commonly ascrib&#8217;d to
+<i>Lucippus</i> and his Disciple <i>Democritus</i>, is by Learned Men attributed
+to one <i>Moschus</i> a <i>Ph&#339;nician</i>. And possibly the Opinion is yet
+antienter than so; For &#8217;tis known that the <i>Ph&#339;nicians</i> borrow&#8217;d
+most of their Learning from the <i>Hebrews</i>. And among those that
+acknowledge the Books of <i>Moses</i>, many have been inclin&#8217;d to think
+Water to have been the Primitive and Universal Matter, by perusing the
+Beginning of <i>Genesis</i>, where the Waters seem to be mention&#8217;d as the
+Material Cause, not only of Sublunary Compounded Bodies, but of all
+those that make up the Universe; whose Component Parts did orderly,
+as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">(121)</a></span> it were, emerge out of that vast Abysse, by the Operation of the
+Spirit of God, who is said to have been moving Himself as hatching
+Females do (as the Original <span lang="he" title="Hebrew: merachephet">&#1501;&#1512;&#1495;&#1508;&#1514;</span>, <i>Meracephet</i><span class="sidenote">Deuter. 32. 11.</span> is
+said to Import, and as it seems to signifie in one of the two other
+places, wherein alone I have met with it in the Hebrew Bible)<span class="sidenote">Jerem. 23. 9.</span> upon
+the Face of the Waters; which being, as may be suppos&#8217;d, Divinely
+Impregnated with the seeds of all things, were by that productive
+Incubation qualify&#8217;d to produce them. But you, I presume, Expect that
+I should Discourse of this Matter like a Naturalist, not a Philologer.
+Wherefore I shall add, to Countenance <i>Helmont&#8217;s</i> Opinion, That
+whereas he gives not, that I remember, any Instance of any Mineral
+Body, nor scarce of any Animal, generated of Water, a French Chymist,
+<i>Monsieur de Rochas</i>, has presented his Readers an Experiment, which
+if it were punctually such as he has deliver&#8217;d it, is very Notable. He
+then, Discoursing of the Generation of things according to certain
+Chymical and Metaphorical Notions (which I confess are not to me
+Intelligible) sets down, among divers Speculations not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">(122)</a></span> pertinent to
+our Subject, the following Narrative, which I shall repeat to you the
+sence of in English, with as little variation from the Literal sence
+of the French words, as my memory will enable me. <i>Having</i> (sayes he)
+<i>discern&#8217;d such great Wonders by the Natural Operation 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&#8217;d
+with any other thing than that Spirit of Life</i> (whereof he had spoken
+before;) <i>and with a Heat Artificial, Continual and Proportionate, I
+prepar&#8217;d and dispos&#8217;d it by the above mention&#8217;d Graduations of
+Coagulation, Congelation, and Fixation, untill it was turn&#8217;d into
+Earth, which Earth produc&#8217;d Animals, Vegetables and Minerals. I tell
+not what Animals, Vegetables and Minerals, for that is reserv&#8217;d for
+another Occasion: but the Animals did Move of themselves, Eat,
+&amp;c.&#8212;and by the true Anatomie I made of them, I found that they were
+compos&#8217;d of much Sulphur, little Mercury, and less Salt.&#8212;The Minerals
+began to grow and encrease by converting into their own Nature one
+part of the Earth thereunto dispos&#8217;d; they were solid and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">(123)</a></span> heavy. And
+by this truly Demonstrative Science, namely Chymistry, I found that
+they were compos&#8217;d of much Salt, little Sulphur, and less Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<p>But (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) I have some Suspitions concerning this strange
+Relation, which make me unwilling to Declare an Opinion of it, unless
+I were satisfied concerning divers Material Circumstances that our
+Author has left unmentioned; though as for the Generation of Living
+Creatures, both Vegetable and Sensitive, it needs not seem Incredible,
+since we finde that our common water (which indeed is often
+Impregnated with Variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) being
+long kept in a quiet place will putrifie and stink, and then perhaps
+too produce Moss and little Worms, or other Insects, according to the
+nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. I must likewise desire
+you to take Notice, that as <i>Helmont</i> gives us no Instance of the
+Production of Minerals out of Water, so the main Argument that he
+employ&#8217;s to prove that they and other Bodies may be resolv&#8217;d into
+water, is drawn from the Operations of his <i>Alkahest</i>, and
+consequently cannot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">(124)</a></span> be satisfactorily Examin&#8217;d by You and Me.</p>
+
+<p>Yet certainly (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) You cannot but have somewhat
+wonder&#8217;d as well as I, to observe how great a share of Water goes to
+the making up of Divers Bodies, whose Disguises promise nothing neere
+so much. The Distillation of Eeles, though it yielded me some Oyle,
+and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, besides the <i>Caput mortuum</i>, yet were
+all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (and
+in which at first they boyl&#8217;d as in a Pot of Water) that they seem&#8217;d
+to have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewise
+strangely abound in Vipers, though they are esteem&#8217;d very hot in
+Operation, and will in a Convenient Aire survive some dayes the loss
+of their Heads and Hearts, so vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloud
+it self as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as &#8217;tis reputed, does
+so abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Distilling some of it on
+purpose to try the Experiment (as I had formerly done in Deers Bloud)
+out of about seven Ounces and a half of pure Bloud we drew neere six
+Ounces of Phlegm, before any of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">(125)</a></span> more operative Principles began
+to arise, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to satisfie my
+self that some of these Animall Phlegms were void enough of Spirit to
+deserve that Name, I would not content my self to taste them only, but
+fruitlesly pour&#8217;d on them acid Liquors, to try if they contain&#8217;d any
+Volatile Salt or Spirit, which (had there been any there) would
+probably have discover&#8217;d it self by making an Ebullition with the
+affused Liquor. And now I mention Corrosive Spirits, I am minded to
+Informe you, That though they seem to be nothing else but Fluid Salts,
+yet they abound in Water, as you may Observe, if either you Entangle,
+and so Fix their Saline Part, by making them Corrode some idoneous
+Body, or else if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have very
+manifestly Observ&#8217;d in the making a Medecine somewhat like <i>Helmont&#8217;s
+Balsamus Samech</i>, with Distill&#8217;d Vinager instead of Spirit of Wine,
+wherewith he prepares it: For you would scarce Beleeve (what I have
+lately Observ&#8217;d) that of that acid Spirit, the Salt of Tartar, from
+which it is Distill&#8217;d, will by mortifying and re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">(126)</a></span>taining the acid Salt
+turn into worthless Phlegm neere twenty times its weight, before it be
+so fully Impregnated as to rob no more Distill&#8217;d Vinager of its Salt.
+And though Spirit of Wine Exquisitely rectify&#8217;d seem of all Liquors to
+be the most free from Water, it being so Igneous that it will Flame
+all away without leaving the least Drop behinde it, yet even this
+Fiery Liquor is by <i>Helmont</i> not improbably affirm&#8217;d, in case what he
+relates be True, to be Materially Water, under a Sulphureous Disguise:
+For, according to him, in the making that excellent Medecine,
+<i>Paracelsus</i> his <i>Balsamus Samech</i>, (which is nothing but <i>Sal
+Tartari</i> dulcify&#8217;d by Distilling from it Spirit of Wine till the Salt
+be sufficiently glutted with its Sulphur, <a href="#ERRATA">and suffer</a>
+the Liquor to be drawn off, as strong as it was pour&#8217;d on)
+when the Salt of Tartar from which it is Distill&#8217;d hath retain&#8217;d, or
+depriv&#8217;d it of the Sulphureous parts of the Spirit of Wine, the rest,
+which is incomparably the greater part of the Liquor, will remigrate
+into Phlegm. I added that Clause [<i>In case what he Relates be True</i>]
+because I have not as yet sufficiently try&#8217;d it my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">(127)</a></span> self. But not only
+something of Experiment keeps me from thinking it, as many Chymists
+do, absurd, (though I have, as well as they, in vain try&#8217;d it with
+ordinary Salt of Tartar;) but besides that <i>Helmont</i> often Relates it,
+and draws Consequences from it; A Person noted for his Sobernesse and
+Skill in Spagyrical Preparations, having been askt by me, Whether the
+Experiment might not be made to succeed, if the Salt and Spirit were
+prepar&#8217;d according to a way suitable to my Principles, he affirm&#8217;d to
+me, that he had that way I propos&#8217;d made <i>Helmont&#8217;s</i> Experiment
+succeed very well, without adding any thing to the Salt and Spirit.
+But our way is neither short nor Easie.</p>
+
+<p>I have indeed (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) sometimes wonder&#8217;d to see how much
+Phlegme may be obtain&#8217;d from Bodies by the Fire. But concerning that
+Phlegme I may anon have Occasion to note something, which I therefore
+shall not now anticipate. But to return to the Opinion of <i>Thales</i>,
+and of <i>Helmont</i>, I consider, that supposing the <i>Alkahest</i> could
+reduce all Bodies into water, yet whether that water, because insipid,
+must be Ele<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">(128)</a></span>mentary, may not groundlesly be doubted; For I remember
+the Candid and Eloquent <i>Petrus Laurembergius</i> in his Notes upon
+<i>Sala&#8217;s</i> Aphorismes affirmes, that he saw an insipid <i>Menstruum</i> that
+was a powerfull Dissolvent, and (if my Memory do not much mis-informe
+me) could dissolve Gold. And the water which may be Drawn from
+Quicksilver without Addition, though it be almost Tastless, You will I
+believe think of a differing Nature from simple Water, especially if
+you Digest in it Appropriated Mineralls. To which I shall add but
+this, that this Consideration may be further extended. For I see no
+Necessity to conceive that the Water mention&#8217;d in the Beginning of
+<i>Genesis</i>, as the Universal Matter, was simple and Elementary Water;
+since though we should Suppose it to have been an Agitated Congeries
+or Heap consisting of a great Variety of Seminal Principles and
+Rudiments, and of other Corpuscles fit to be subdu&#8217;d and Fashion&#8217;d by
+them, it might yet be a Body Fluid like Water, in case the Corpuscles
+it was made up of, were by their Creator made small enough, and put
+into such an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">(129)</a></span> actuall Motion as might make them Glide along one
+another. And as we now say, the Sea consists of Water, <a href="#ERRATA">notwithstanding</a>
+the Saline, Terrestrial, and other Bodies
+mingl&#8217;d with it,) such a Liquor may well enough be called Water,
+because that was the greatest of the known Bodies whereunto it was
+like; Though, that a Body may be Fluid enough to appear a Liquor, and
+yet contain Corpuscles of a very differing Nature, You will easily
+believe, if You but expose a good Quantity of Vitriol in a strong
+Vessel to a Competent Fire. For although it contains both Aqueous,
+Earthy, Saline, Sulphureous, and Metalline Corpuscles, yet the whole
+Mass will at first be Fluid like water, and boyle like a seething pot.</p>
+
+<p>I might easily (Continues <i>Carneades</i>) enlarge my self on such
+Considerations, if I were Now Oblig&#8217;d to give You my Judgment of the
+<i>Thalesian</i>, and <i>Helmontian</i>, <i>Hypothesis</i>. But Whether or no we
+conclude that all things were at first Generated of Water, I may
+Deduce from what I have try&#8217;d Concerning the Growth of Vegetables,
+nourish&#8217;d with water, all that I now propos&#8217;d to my Self<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">(130)</a></span> or need at
+present to prove, namely that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and ev&#8217;n Oyl
+(though that be thought of all Bodies the most opposite to Water) may
+be produc&#8217;d out of Water; and consequently that a Chymical Principle
+as well as a Peripatetick Element, may (in some cases) be Generated
+anew, or obtain&#8217;d from such a parcel of Matter as was not endow&#8217;d with
+the form of such a principle or Element before.</p>
+
+<p>And having thus, <i>Eleutherius</i>, Evinc&#8217;d that &#8217;tis possible that such
+Substances as those that Chymists are wont to call their <i>Tria Prima</i>,
+may be Generated, anew: I must next Endeavour to make it Probable,
+that the Operation of the Fire does Actually (sometimes) not only
+divide Compounded Bodies into smal Parts, but Compound those Parts
+after a new Manner; whence Consequently, for ought we Know, there may
+Emerge as well Saline and Sulphureous Substances, as Bodies of other
+Textures. And perhaps it will assist us in our Enquiry after the
+Effects of the Operations of the Fire upon other Bodies, to Consider a
+little, what it does to those Mixtures which being Productions of the
+Art of Man, We best know the Com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">(131)</a></span>position of. You may then be pleas&#8217;d
+to take Notice that though Sope is made up by the Sope-Boylers of Oyle
+or Grease, and Salt, and Water Diligently Incorporated together, yet
+if You expose the Mass they Constitute to a Graduall Fire in a Retort,
+You shall then indeed make a Separation, but not of the same
+Substances that were United into Sope, but of others of a Distant and
+yet not an Elementary Nature, and especially of an Oyle very sharp and
+F&aelig;tid, and of a very Differing Quality from that which was Employ&#8217;d to
+make the Sope: <a href="#ERRATA">fo</a> if you Mingle in a due Proportion, <i>Sal
+Armoniack</i> with Quick-Lime, and Distill them by Degrees of Fire, You
+shall not Divide the <i>Sal Armoniack</i> from the Quick-Lime, though the
+one be a Volatile, and the other a Fix&#8217;d Substance, but that which
+will ascend will be a Spirit much more Fugitive, Penetrant, and
+stinking, then <i>Sal Armoniack</i>; and there will remain with the
+Quick-Lime all or very near all the Sea Salt that concurr&#8217;d to make up
+the <i>Sal Armoniack</i>; concerning which Sea Salt I shall, to satisfie
+You how well it was United to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">(132)</a></span> Lime, informe You, that I have by
+making the Fire at length very Vehement, caus&#8217;d both the Ingredients
+to melt in the Retort it self into one Mass and such Masses are apt to
+Relent in the Moist Air. If it be here Objected, that these Instances
+are taken from factitious Concretes which are more Compounded then
+those which Nature produces; I shall reply, that besides that I have
+Mention&#8217;d them as much to Illustrate what I propos&#8217;d, as to prove it,
+it will be Difficult to Evince that Nature her self does not make
+Decompound Bodies, I mean mingle together such mixt Bodies as are
+already Compounded of Elementary, or rather of more simple ones. For
+Vitriol (for Instance) though I have sometimes taken it out of
+Minerall Earths, where Nature had without any assistance of Art
+prepar&#8217;d it to my Hand, is really, though Chymists are pleas&#8217;d to
+reckon it among Salts, a De-compounded Body Consisting (as I shall
+have occasion to declare anon) of a Terrestriall Substance, of a
+Metal, and also of at least one Saline Body, of a peculiar and not
+Elementary Nature. And we see also in Animals, that their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">(133)</a></span> blood may
+be compos&#8217;d of Divers very Differing Mixt Bodies, since we find it
+observ&#8217;d that divers Sea-Fowle tast rank of the Fish on which they
+ordinarily feed; and <i>Hipocrates</i> himself Observes, that a Child may
+be purg&#8217;d by the Milke of the Nurse, if she have taken <i>Elaterium</i>;
+which argues that the purging Corpuscles of the Medicament Concurr to
+make up the Milke of the Nurse; and that white Liquor is generally by
+Physitians suppos&#8217;d to be but blanch&#8217;d and alter&#8217;d Blood. And I
+remember I have observ&#8217;d, not farr from the <i>Alps</i>, that at a certain
+time of the Year the Butter of that Country was very Offensive to
+strangers, by reason of the rank tast of a certain Herb, whereon the
+Cows were then wont plentifully to feed. But (proceeds <i>Carneades</i>) to
+give you Instances of another kind, to shew that things may be
+obtain&#8217;d by the Fire from a Mixt Body that were not Pre-existent in
+it, let Me Remind You, that from many Vegetables there may without any
+Addition be Obtain&#8217;d Glass, a Body, which I presume You will not say
+was Pre-existent in it, but produc&#8217;d by the Fire. To which I shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">(134)</a></span>
+add but this one Example more, namely that by a certain Artificial way
+of handling Quicksilver, You may without Addition separate from it at
+least a 5th. or 4th. part of a clear Liquor, which with an Ordinary
+Peripatetick would pass for Water, and which a Vulgar Chymist would
+not scruple to call Phlegme, and which, for ought I have yet seen or
+heard, is not reducible into Mercury again, and Consequently is more
+then a Disguise of it. Now besides that divers Chymists will not allow
+Mercury to have any or at least any Considerable Quantity of either of
+the Ignoble Ingredients, Earth and Water; Besides this, I say, the
+great Ponderousness of Quicksilver makes it very unlikely that it can
+have so much Water in it as may be thus obtain&#8217;d from it, since
+Mercury weighs 12 or 14 times as much as water of the same Bulk. Nay
+for a further Confirmation of this Argument, I will add this Strange
+Relation, that two Friends of mine, the one a Physitian, and the other
+a Mathematician, and both of them Persons of unsuspected Credit, have
+Solemnly assured me, that after many Tryals they made, to reduce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">(135)</a></span>
+Mercury into Water, in Order to a Philosophicall Work, upon Gold
+(which yet, by the way, I know prov&#8217;d Unsuccesfull) they did once by
+divers Cohobations reduce a pound of Quicksilver into almost a pound
+of Water, and this without the Addition of any other Substance, but
+only by pressing the Mercury by a Skillfully Manag&#8217;d Fire in purposely
+contriv&#8217;d Vessels. But of these Experiments our Friend (sayes
+<i>Carneades</i>, pointing at the Register of this Dialogue) will perhaps
+give You a more Particular Account then it is necessary for me to do:
+Since what I have now said may sufficiently evince, that the Fire may
+sometimes as well alter Bodies as divide them, and by it we may obtain
+from a Mixt Body what was not Pre-existent in it. And how are we sure
+that in no other Body what we call Phlegme is barely separated, not
+Produc&#8217;d by the Action of the Fire: Since so many other Mixt Bodies
+are of a much less Constant, and more alterable Nature, then Mercury,
+by many Tricks it is wont to put upon Chymists, and by the Experiments
+I told You of, about an hour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">(136)</a></span> since, Appears to be. But because I
+shall ere long have Occasion to resume into Consideration the Power of
+the Fire to produce new Concretes, I shall no longer insist on this
+Argument at present; only I must mind You, that if You will not
+dis-believe <i>Helmonts</i> Relations, You must confess that the <i>Tria
+Prima</i> are neither ingenerable nor incorruptible Substances; since by
+his <i>Alkahest</i> some of them may be produc&#8217;d of Bodies that were before
+of another Denomination; and by the same powerfull <i>Menstruum</i> all of
+them may be reduc&#8217;d into insipid Water.</p>
+
+<p>Here <i>Carneades</i> was about to pass on to his Third Consideration, when
+<i>Eleutherius</i> being desirous to hear what he could say to clear his
+second General Consideration from being repugnant to what he seem&#8217;d to
+think the true Theory of Mistion, prevented him by telling him, I
+somewhat wonder, <i>Carneades</i>, that You, who are in so many Points
+unsatisfied with the Peripatetick Opinion touching the Elements and
+Mixt Bodies, should also seem averse to that Notion touching the
+manner of Mistion, wherein the Chymists (though perhaps with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">(137)</a></span>out
+knowing that they do so) agree with most of the Antient Philosophers
+that preceded <i>Aristotle</i>, and that for Reasons so considerable, that
+divers Modern Naturalists and Physitians, in other things unfavourable
+enough to the Spagyrists, do in this case side with them against the
+common Opinion of the Schools. If you should ask me (continues
+<i>Eleutherius</i>) what Reasons I mean? I should partly by the Writings of
+<i>Sennertus</i> and other learned Men, and partly by my own Thoughts, be
+supply&#8217;d with more, then &#8217;twere at present proper for me to Insist
+largely on. And therefore I shall mention only, and that briefly,
+three or four. Of these, I shall take the First from the state of the
+Controversie itself, and the genuine Notion of Mistion, which though
+much intricated by the Schoolmen, I take in short to be this,
+<i>Aristotle</i>, at least as many of his Interpreters expound him, and as
+indeed he Teaches in some places, where he professedly Dissents from
+the Antients, declares Mistion to be such a mutual Penetration, and
+perfect Union of the mingl&#8217;d Elements, that there is no Portion of the
+mixt Body, how Minute soever, which does not<span class="pagenumerr" title="138"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">(140)</a></span> contain All, and Every
+of the Four Elements, or in which, if you please, all the Elements are
+not. And I remember, that he reprehends the Mistion taught by the
+Ancients, as too sleight or gross, for this Reason, that Bodies mixt
+according to their <i>Hypothesis</i>, though they appear so to humane Eyes,
+would not appear such to the acute Eyes of a <i>Lynx</i>, whose perfecter
+Sight would discerne the Elements, if they were no otherwise mingled,
+than as his Predecessors 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 almost unanimously hold, that in a
+compounded Bodie, though the <i>Miscibilia</i>, whether Elements,
+Principles, or whatever they pleas&#8217;d to call them, were associated in
+such small Parts, and with so much Exactness, that there was no
+sensible Part of the Mass but seem&#8217;d to be of the same Nature with the
+rest, and with the whole; Yet as to the Atomes, or other Insensible
+Parcels of Matter, whereof each of the <i>Miscibilia</i> consisted, they
+retain&#8217;d each of them its own Nature, being but by Apposition or
+<i>Juxta</i>-Position uni<span class="pagenumerr" title="139"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">(141)</a></span>ted with the rest into one Bodie. So that
+although by virtue of this composition the mixt Body did perhaps
+obtain Divers new Qualities, yet still the Ingredients that Compounded
+it, retaining their own Nature, were by the Destruction of the
+<i>Compositum</i> separable from each other, the minute Parts disingag&#8217;d
+from those of a differing Nature, and associated with those of their
+own sort returning to be again, Fire, Earth, or Water, as they were
+before they chanc&#8217;d to be Ingredients of that <i>Compositum</i>. This may
+be explain&#8217;d (Continues <i>Eleutherius</i>,) 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 resulting Colour, that is
+gray, yet each of the white and black threds that compose it, remains
+what it was before, as would appear if the threds were pull&#8217;d asunder,
+and sorted each Colour by it self. This (pursues <i>Eleutherius</i>) being,
+as I understand it, the State of the Controversie, and the
+<i>Aristotelians</i> after their Master Commonly Defining, that Mistion is
+<i>Miscibilium alteratorum Unio</i>, that seems to comport much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">(140)</a></span> better
+with the Opinion of the Chymists, then with that of their Adversaries,
+since according to that as the newly mention&#8217;d Example declares, there
+is but a <i>Juxta</i>-position of separable Corpuscles, retaining each its
+own Nature, whereas according to the <i>Aristotelians</i>, when what they
+are pleas&#8217;d to call a mixt Body results from the Concourse of the
+Elements, the <i>Miscibilia</i> cannot so properly be said to be Alter&#8217;d,
+as Destroy&#8217;d, since there is no Part in the mixt Body, how small
+soever, that can be call&#8217;d either <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Fire">Fir</span>, or
+Air, or Water, or Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Nor indeed can I well understand, how Bodies can be mingl&#8217;d other
+wayes then as I have declar&#8217;d, or at least how they can be mingl&#8217;d, as
+our Peripateticks would have it. For whereas <i>Aristotle</i> tells us,
+that if a Drop of Wine be put into ten thousand Measures of Water, the
+Wine being Overpower&#8217;d by so Vast a Quantity of Water will be turn&#8217;d
+into it, he speaks to my Apprehension, very improbably; For though One
+should add to that Quantity of Water as many Drops of Wine as would a
+Thousand times exceed it all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">(141)</a></span> yet by his Rule the whole Liquor should
+not be a <i>Crama</i>, a Mixture of Wine and Water, wherein the Wine would
+be Predominant, but Water only; Since the Wine being added but by a
+Drop at a time would still Fall into nothing but Water, and
+Consequently would be turn&#8217;d into it. And if this would hold in Metals
+too, &#8217;twere a rare secret for Goldsmiths, and Refiners; For by melting
+a Mass of Gold, or Silver, and by but casting into it Lead or
+Antimony, Grain after Grain, they might at pleasure, within a
+reasonable Compass of time, turn what Quantity they desire, of the
+Ignoble into the Noble Metalls. And indeed since a Pint of wine, and a
+pint of water, amount to about a Quart of Liquor, it seems manifest to
+sense, that these Bodies doe not Totally Penetrate one another, as one
+would have it; but that each retains its own Dimensions; and
+Consequently, that they are by being Mingl&#8217;d only divided into minute
+Bodies, that do but touch one another with their Surfaces, as do the
+Grains, of Wheat, Rye, Barley, &amp;c. in a heap of severall sorts of
+Corn: And unless we say, that as<span class="pagenumerr" title="142"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">(144)</a></span> when one measure of wheat, for
+Instance, is Blended with a hundred measures of Barley, there happens
+only a <i>Juxta</i>-position 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&#8217;d with a great deal of water, there is but an
+Apposition of so many Vinous Corpuscles to a Correspondent Number of
+Aqueous ones; Unless I say this be said, I see not how that Absurdity
+will be avoyded, whereunto the Stoical Notion of mistion (namely by
+<a href="#ERRATA"><span lang="el" title="Greek: synchysis">&#963;&#965;&#957;&#967;&#965;&#963;&#953;&#962;</span></a>, or Confusion) was
+Liable, according to which the least Body may be co-extended with the
+greatest: Since in a mixt Body wherein before the Elements were
+Mingl&#8217;d there was, for Instance, but one pound of water to ten
+thousand of Earth, yet according to them there must not be the least
+part of that Compound, that Consisted not as well of Earth, as water.
+But I insist, Perhaps, too long (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) upon the proofs
+afforded me by the Nature of Mistion: Wherefore I will but name Two or
+Three other Arguments; whereof the first shall be,<span class="pagenumerr" title="143"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">(145)</a></span> that according to
+<i>Aristotle</i> himself, the motion of a mixt Body followes the Nature of
+the Predominant Element, as those wherein the Earth prevails, tend
+towards the Centre of heavy Bodies. And since many things make it
+Evident, that in divers Mixt Bodies the Elementary Qualities are as
+well Active, though not altogether so much so as in the Elements
+themselves, it seems not reasonable to deny the actual Existence of
+the Elements in those Bodies wherein they Operate.</p>
+
+<p>To which I shall add this Convincing Argument, that Experience
+manifests, and <i>Aristotle</i> Confesses it, that the <i>Miscibilia</i> may be
+again separated from a mixt Body, as is Obvious in the Chymical
+Resolutions of Plants and Animalls, which could not be unless they did
+actually retain their formes in it: For since, according to
+<i>Aristotle</i>, and I think according to truth, there is but one common
+Mass of all things, which he has been pleas&#8217;d to call <i>Materia Prima</i>;
+And since tis not therefore the Matter but the Forme that Constitutes
+and Discriminates Things, to say that the Elements remain not in a
+Mixt Bo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">(144)</a></span>dy, according to their Formes, but according to their Matter,
+is not to say that they remain there at all; Since although those
+Portions of Matter were Earth and water, &amp;c. before they concurr&#8217;d,
+yet the resulting Body being once Constituted, may as well be said to
+be simple as any of the Elements, the Matter being confessedly of the
+same Nature in all Bodies, and the Elementary Formes being according
+to this <i>Hypothesis</i> perish&#8217;d and abolish&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>And lastly, and if we will Consult Chymical Experiments, we shall find
+the Advantages of the Chymical Doctrine above the Peripatetick Title
+little less then Palpable. For in that Operation that Refiners call
+Quartation, which they employ to purifie Gold, although three parts of
+Silver be so exquisitely mingl&#8217;d by Fusion with a fourth Part of Gold
+(whence the Operation is Denominated) that the resulting Mass acquires
+severall new Qualities, by virtue of the Composition, and that there
+is scarce any sensible part of it that is not Compos&#8217;d of both the
+metalls; Yet if You cast this mixture into <i>Aqua Fortis</i>, the Silver
+will be dissolv&#8217;d in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">(145)</a></span> <i>Menstruum</i>, and the Gold like a dark or
+black Powder will fall to the Bottom of it, and either Body may be
+again reduc&#8217;d into such a Metal as it was before, which shews: that it
+retain&#8217;d its Nature, notwithstanding its being mixt <i>per Minima</i> with
+the other: We likewise see, 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 easily and perfectly separate them again. And that
+which I would have you peculiarly Consider on this Occasion is, that
+not only in Chymicall Anatomies there is a Separation made of the
+Elementary Ingredients, but that some Mixt Bodies afford a very much
+greater Quantity of this or that Element or Principle than of another;
+as we see, that Turpentine and Amber yield much more Oyl and Sulphur
+than they do Water, whereas Wine, which is confess&#8217;d to be a perfectly
+mixt Bodie, yields but a little Inflamable Spirit, or Sulphur, and not
+much more Earth; but affords a vast proportion of Phlegm or water:
+which could not be, if as the Peripateticks suppose, every, even of
+the minutest Particles, were of the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">(146)</a></span> nature with the whole, and
+consequently did contain both Earth and Water, and Aire, and Fire;
+Wherefore as to what <i>Aristotle</i> principally, and almost only Objects,
+that unless his Opinion be admitted, there would be no true and
+perfect Mistion, but onely Aggregates or Heaps of contiguous
+Corpuscles, which, though the Eye of Man cannot discerne, yet the Eye
+of a <i>Lynx</i> might perceive not to be of the same Nature with one
+another and with their <i>Totum</i>, as the Nature of Mistion requires, if
+he do not beg the Question, and make Mistion to consist in what other
+Naturalists deny to be requisite to it, yet He at least objects That
+as a great Inconvenience which I cannot take for such, till he have
+brought as Considerable Arguments as I have propos&#8217;d to prove the
+contrary, to evince that Nature makes other Mistions than such as I
+have allowed, wherein the <i>Miscibilia</i> are reduc&#8217;d into minute Parts,
+and United as farr as sense can discerne: which if You will not grant
+to be sufficient for a true Mistion, he must have the same Quarrel
+with Nature her self, as with his Adversaries.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">(147)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Wherefore (Continues <i>Eleutherius</i>) I cannot but somewhat marvail that
+<i>Carneades</i> should oppose the Doctrine of the Chymist in a Particular,
+wherein they do as well agree with his old Mistress, Nature, as
+dissent from his old Adversary, <i>Aristotle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I must not (replies <i>Carneades</i>) engage my self at present to examine
+thorowly the Controversies concerning Mistion: And if there were no
+third thing, but that I were reduc&#8217;d to embrace absolutely and
+unreservedly either the Opinion of <i>Aristotle</i>, or that of the
+Philosophers that went before him, I should look upon the latter,
+which the Chymists have adopted, as the more defensible Opinion: But
+because differing in the Opinions about the Elements from both
+Parties, I think I can take a middle Course, and Discourse to you of
+Mistion after a way that does neither perfectly agree, nor perfectly
+disagree with either, as I will not peremptorily define, whether there
+be not Cases wherein some <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of Mistion seem to favour the
+Opinion that the Chymists Patrons borrow&#8217;d of the Antients, I shall
+only endeavour to shew You that there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">(148)</a></span> are some cases which may keep
+the Doubt, which makes up my second General Consideration from being
+unreasonable.</p>
+
+<p>I shall then freely acknowledge to You (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) that I am
+not over well satisfi&#8217;d with the Doctrine that is ascribed to
+<i>Aristotle</i>, concerning Mistion, especially since it teaches that the
+four Elements may again be separated from the mixt Body; whereas if
+they continu&#8217;d not in it, it would not be so much a Separation as a
+Production. And I think the Ancient Philosophers that Preceded
+<i>Aristotle</i>, and Chymists who have since receiv&#8217;d the same Opinion, do
+speak of this matter more intelligibly, if not more probably, then the
+Peripateticks: but though they speak Congruously enough, to their
+believing, that there are a certain Number of Primogeneal Bodies, by
+whose Concourse all those we call Mixts are Generated, and which in
+the Destruction of mixt Bodies do barely part company, and recede from
+one another, just such as they were when they came together; yet I,
+who meet with very few Opinions that I can entirely Acquiesce in,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">(149)</a></span>
+must confess to You that I am inclin&#8217;d to differ not only from the
+<i>Aristotelians</i>, but from the old Philosophers and the Chymists, about
+the Nature of Mistion: And if You will give me leave, I shall Briefly
+propose to you my present Notion of it, provided you will look upon
+it, not so much as an Assertion as an <i>Hypothesis</i>; in talking of
+which I do not now pretend to propose and debate the whole Doctrine of
+Mistion, but to shew that &#8217;tis not Improbable, that sometimes mingl&#8217;d
+substances may be so strictly united, that it doth not by the usuall
+Operations of the Fire, by which Chymists are wont to suppose
+themselves to have made the <i>Analyses</i> of mixt Bodies, sufficiently
+appear, that in such Bodies the <i>Miscibilia</i> that concurr&#8217;d to make
+them up do each of them retain its own peculiar Nature: and by the
+<i>Spagyrists</i> Fires may be more easily extricated and Recover&#8217;d, than
+Alter&#8217;d, either by a Change of Texture in the Parts of the same
+Ingredient, or by an Association with some parts of another Ingredient
+more strict than was that of the parts of this or that <i>Miscibile</i>
+among themselves. At these words <i>Eleu.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">(150)</a></span> having press&#8217;d him to do
+what he propos&#8217;d, and promis&#8217;d to do what he desir&#8217;d;</p>
+
+<p>I consider then (resumes <i>Carneades</i>) that, not to mention those
+improper Kinds of mistion, wherein <i>Homogeneous</i> Bodies are Joyn&#8217;d, as
+when Water is mingl&#8217;d with water, or two Vessels full of the same kind
+of Wine with one another, the mistion I am now to Discourse of seems,
+Generally speaking, to be but an Union <i>per Minima</i> of any two or more
+Bodies of differing Denominations; as when Ashes and Sand are
+Colliquated into Glass or Antimony, and Iron into <i>Regulus Martis</i>, or
+Wine and Water are mingl&#8217;d, and Sugar is dissolv&#8217;d in the Mixture. Now
+in this general notion of Mistion it does not appear clearly
+comprehended, that the <i>Miscibilia</i> or Ingredients do in their small
+Parts so retain their Nature and remain distinct in the Compound, that
+they may thence by the Fire be again taken asunder: For though I deny
+not that in some Mistions of certain permanent Bodies this Recovery of
+the same Ingredients may be made, yet I am not convinc&#8217;d that it will
+hold in all or even in most, or that it is necessarily deducible from
+Chy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">(151)</a></span>micall Experiments, and the true Notion of Mistion. To explain
+this a little, I assume, that Bodies may be mingl&#8217;d, and that very
+durably, that are not Elementary<a href="#ERRATA"> or resolv&#8217;d</a>
+into Elements or Principles that they may be mingl&#8217;d; as is
+evident in the <i>Regulus</i> of Colliquated Antimony, and Iron newly
+mention&#8217;d; and in Gold Coyne, which lasts so many ages; wherein
+generally the Gold is alloy&#8217;d by the mixture of a quantity, greater or
+lesser, (in our Mints they use about a 12th. part) of either silver,
+or Copper, or both. Next, I consider, that there being but one
+Universal matter of things, as &#8217;tis known that the <i>Aristotelians</i>
+themselves acknowledge, who call it <i>Materia Prima</i> (about which
+nevertheless I like not all their Opinions,) the Portions of this
+matter seem to differ from One Another, but in certain Qualities or
+Accidents, fewer or more; upon whose Account the Corporeal Substance
+they belong to receives its Denomination, and is referr&#8217;d to this or
+that particular sort of Bodies; so that if it come to lose, or be
+depriv&#8217;d of those Qualities, though it ceases not to be a body, yet it
+ceases<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">(152)</a></span> from being that kind of Body as a Plant, or Animal; or Red,
+Green, Sweet, Sowre, or the like. I consider that it very often
+happens that the small parts of Bodies cohere together but by
+immediate Contact and Rest; and that however, there are few Bodies
+whose minute Parts stick so close together, to what cause soever their
+Combination be ascrib&#8217;d, but that it is possible to meet with some
+other Body, whose small Parts may get between them, and so dis-joyn
+them; or may be fitted to cohere more strongly with some of them, then
+those some do with the rest; or at least may be combin&#8217;d so closely
+with them, as that neither the Fire, nor the other usual Instruments
+of Chymical Anatomies will separate them. These things being promis&#8217;d,
+I will not peremptorily deny, but that there may be some Clusters of
+Particles, wherein the Particles are so minute, and the Coherence so
+strict, or both, that when Bodies of Differing Denominations, and
+consisting of such durable Clusters, happen to be mingl&#8217;d, though the
+Compound Body made up of them may be very Differing from either of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">(153)</a></span>
+the Ingredients, yet each of the little Masses or Clusters may so
+retain its own Nature, as to be again separable, such 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 Experiment will not succeed) <i>Aqua Fortis</i> will dissolve the
+Silver, and leave the Gold untoucht; by which means, as you lately
+noted, both the Metalls may be recover&#8217;d from the mixed Mass. But
+(Continues <i>Carneades</i>) there are other Clusters wherein the Particles
+stick not so close together, but that they may meet with Corpuscles of
+another Denomination, which are dispos&#8217;d to be more closely United
+with some of them, then they were among themselves. And in such case,
+two thus combining Corpuscles losing that Shape, or Size, or Motion,
+or other Accident, upon whose Account they were endow&#8217;d with such a
+Determinate Quality or Nature, each of them really ceases to be a
+Corpuscle of the same Denomination it was before; and from the
+Coalition of these there may emerge a new Body, as really one, as
+either of the Corpuscles was before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">(154)</a></span> they were mingl&#8217;d, or, if you
+please, Confounded: Since this Concretion is really endow&#8217;d with its
+own Distinct qualities, and can no more by the Fire, or any other
+known way of <i>Analysis</i>, be divided again into the Corpuscles that at
+first concurr&#8217;d to make it, than either of them could by the same
+means be subdivided into other Particles. But (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) to
+make this more intelligible by particular examples; If you dissolve
+Copper in <i>Aqua Fortis</i>, or Spirit of Nitre, (for I remember not which
+I us&#8217;d, nor do I think it much Material) You may by Crystalizing the
+Solution Obtain a goodly Vitriol; which though by Virtue of the
+Composition it have manifestly diverse Qualities, not to be met with
+in either of the Ingredients, yet it seems that the Nitrous Spirits,
+or at least many of them, may in this Compounded Mass retain their
+former Nature; for having for tryal sake Distill&#8217;d this Vitrioll
+Spirit, there came over store of Red Fumes, which by that Colour, by
+their peculiar stinke, and by their Sourness, manifested themselves to
+be, Nitrous Spirits; and that the remaining Calx continu&#8217;d Copper,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">(155)</a></span> I
+suppose you&#8217;l easily beleeve. But if you dissolve <i>Minium</i>, which is
+but Lead Powder&#8217;d by the Fire, in good Spirit of Vinager, and
+Crystalize the Solution, you shall not only have a Saccharine Salt
+exceedingly differing from both its Ingredients; but the Union of some
+Parts of the <i>Menstruum</i> with some of those of the Metal is so strict,
+that the Spirit of Vinager seems to be, as such, destroy&#8217;d, since the
+Saline Corpuscles have quite lost that acidity, upon whose Account the
+Liquor was call&#8217;d Spirit of Vinager; nor can any such Acid Parts as
+were put to the <i>Minium</i> be Separated by any known way from the
+<i>Saccharum Saturni</i> resulting from them both; for not only there is no
+Sowrness at all, but an admirable Sweetness to be tasted in the
+Concretion; and not only I found not that Spirit of Wine, which
+otherwise will immediately hiss when mingl&#8217;d with strong Spirit of
+Vinager, would hiss being pour&#8217;d upon <i>Saccharum Saturni</i>, wherein yet
+the Acid Salt of Vinager, did it Survive, may seem to be concentrated;
+but upon the Distillation of <i>Saccharum Saturni</i> by its Self I found
+indeed a Liquor very Pe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">(156)</a></span>netrant, but not at all Acid, and differing as
+well in smell and other Qualities, as in tast, from the Spirit of
+Vinager; which likewise seem&#8217;d to have left some of its Parts very
+firmly united to the <i>Caput Mortuum</i>, which though of a Leaden Nature
+was in smell, Colour, &amp;c. differing from <i>Minium</i>; which brings into
+my mind, that though two Powders, the one Blew, and the other Yellow,
+may appear a Green mixture, without either of them losing its own
+Colour, as a good Microscope has sometimes inform&#8217;d me; yet having
+mingl&#8217;d <i>Minium</i> and <i>Sal Armoniack</i> in a requisite Proportion, and
+expos&#8217;d them in a Glass Vessel to the Fire, the whole Mass became
+White, and the Red Corpuscles were destroy&#8217;d; for though the Calcin&#8217;d
+Lead was separable from the Salt, yet you&#8217;l easily beleeve it did not
+part from it in the Forme of a Red Powder, such as was the <i>Minium</i>,
+when it was put to the <i>Sal Armoniack</i>. I leave it also to be
+consider&#8217;d, whether in Blood, and divers other Bodies, it be probable,
+that each of the Corpuscles that concurr to make a Compound Body doth,
+though some of them in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">(157)</a></span> some Cases may, retain its own Nature in it,
+so that <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Chymists">Chymsts</span> may Extricate each sort
+of them from all the others, wherewith it concurr&#8217;d to make a Body of
+one Denomination.</p>
+
+<p>I know there may be a Distinction betwixt Matter <i>Immanent</i>, when the
+material Parts remain and retain their own Nature in the things
+materiated, as some of the Schoolmen speak, (in which sence Wood,
+Stones and Lime are the matter of a House,) and <i>Transient</i>, which in
+the materiated thing is so alter&#8217;d, as to receive a new Forme, without
+being capable of re-admitting again the Old. In which sence the
+Friends of this Distinction say, that <i>Chyle</i> is the matter of Blood,
+and Blood that of a Humane Body, of all whose Parts &#8217;tis presum&#8217;d to
+be the Aliment. I know also that it may be said, that of material
+Principles, some are <i>common</i> to all mixt Bodies, as <i>Aristotles</i> four
+Elements, or the Chymists <i>Tria Prima</i>; others <i>Peculiar</i>, which
+belong to this or that sort of Bodies; as Butter and a kind of whey
+may be said to be the Proper Principles of Cream: and I deny not, but
+that these Distinctions may in some Cases<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">(158)</a></span> be of Use; but partly by
+what I have said already, and partly by what I am to say, You may
+easily enough guess in what sence I admit them, and discerne that in
+such a sence they will either illustrate some of my Opinions, or at
+least will not overthrow any of them.</p>
+
+<p>To prosecute then what I was saying before, I will add to this
+purpose, That since the Major part of Chymists Credit, what those they
+call Philosophers affirme of their Stone, I may represent to them,
+that though when Common Gold and Lead are mingled Together, the Lead
+may be sever&#8217;d almost un-alter&#8217;d from the Gold; yet if instead of Gold
+a <i>Tantillum</i> of the Red <i>Elixir</i> be mingled with the Saturn, their
+Union will be so indissoluble in the perfect Gold that will be
+produc&#8217;d by it, that there is no known, nor perhaps no possible way of
+separating the diffus&#8217;d <i>Elixir</i> from the fixed Lead, but they both
+Constitute a most permanent Body, wherein the Saturne seems to have
+quite lost its Properties that made it be call&#8217;d Lead, and to have
+been rather transmuted by the <i>Elixir</i>, then barely associated to it.
+So that it seems not al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">(159)</a></span>wayes necessary, that the Bodies that are put
+together <i>per minima</i>, should each retain its own Nature; So as when
+the Mass it Self is dissipated by the Fire, to be more dispos&#8217;d to
+re-appear in its Pristine Forme, then in any new one, which by a
+stricter association of its Parts with those of some of the other
+Ingredients of the <i>Compositum</i>, then with one another, it may have
+acquired.</p>
+
+<p>And if it be objected, that unless the <i>Hypothesis</i> I oppose be
+admitted, in such Cases as I have proposed there would not be an Union
+but a Destruction of mingled Bodies, which seems all one as to say,
+that of such Bodies there is no mistion at all; I answer, that
+<i>though</i> the Substances that are mingl&#8217;d remain, only their Accidents
+are Destroy&#8217;d, and <i>though</i> we may with tollerable Congruity call them
+<i>Miscibilia</i>, because they are Distinct Bodies before they are put
+together, however afterwards they are so Confounded that I should
+rather call them Concretions, or Resulting Bodies, than mixt ones; and
+<i>though</i>, perhaps, some other and better Account may be propos&#8217;d, upon
+which the name<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">(160)</a></span> of mistion may remain; yet if what I have said be
+thought Reason, I shall not wrangle about Words, though I think it
+fitter to alter a Terme of Art, then reject a new Truth, because it
+suits not with it. If it be also Objected that this Notion of mine,
+concerning mixtion, though it may be allow&#8217;d, when Bodies already
+Compounded are put to be mingl&#8217;d, yet it is not applicable to those
+mixtions that are immediately made of the Elements, or Principles
+themselves; I Answer in the first place, that I here Consider the
+Nature of mixtion somewhat more Generally, then the Chymists, who yet
+cannot deny that there are oftentimes Mixtures, and those very durable
+ones, made of Bodies that are not Elementary. And in the next place,
+that though it may be probably pretended that in those Mixtures that
+are made immediately of the Bodies that are call&#8217;d Principles or
+Elements, the mingl&#8217;d Ingredients may better retain their own Nature
+in the Compounded Mass, and be more easily separated from thence; yet,
+besides that it may be doubted, whether there be any such Primary
+Bodies, I see not why the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">(161)</a></span> reason I alleadg&#8217;d, of the destructibility
+of the Ingredients of Bodies in General, may not sometimes be
+Applicable to Salt Sulphur or Mercury; &#8217;till it be shewn upon what
+account we are to believe them Priviledged. And however, (if you
+please but to recall to mind, to what purpose I told you at First, I
+meant to speak of Mistion at this Time) you will perhaps allow that
+what I have hitherto Discoursed about it may not only give some Light
+to the Nature of it in general (especially when I shall have an
+Opportunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that subject more fully)
+but may on some Occasions also be Serviceable to me in the Insuing
+Part of this Discourse.</p>
+
+<p>But, to look back Now to that part of our Discourse, whence this
+Excursion concerning Mistion has so long diverted us, though we there
+Deduc&#8217;d, from the differing Substances obtained from a Plant nourished
+only with Water, and from some other things, that it was not necessary
+that nature should alwaies compound a Body at first of all such
+differing bodies as the fire could afterwards make it afford; yet this
+is not all that may be collected from those Experi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">(162)</a></span>ments. For from
+them there seems also Deducible something that Subverts an other
+Foundation of the Chymical Doctrine. For since that (as we have seen)
+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
+Primogeneal Bodies, and principles, since 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 perhaps seem so strange, if
+through pride, or negligence, We were not Wont to Overlook the Obvious
+and Familiar Workings of Nature; For if We consider what slight
+Qualities they are that serve to denominate one of the <i>Tria Prima</i>,
+We shall find that Nature do&#8217;s frequently enough work as great
+Alterations in divers parcells of matter: For to be readily dissoluble
+in water, is enough to make the body that is so, passe for a Salt. And
+yet I see not why from a new shufling and Disposition of the Component
+Particles of a body, it should be much harder for Nature to compose a
+body dissoluble in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">(163)</a></span> Water, of a portion of Water that was not so
+before, then of the Liquid substance of an Egg, which will easily mix
+with Water, to produce by the bare warmth of a hatching Hen, Membrans,
+Feathers, Tendons, and other parts, that are not dissoluble in Water
+as that Liquid Substance was: Nor is the Hardness and Brittleness of
+Salt more difficult for Nature to introduce into such a yielding body
+as Water, then it is for her to make the Bones of a Chick out of the
+tender Substance of the Liquors of an Egg. But instead of prosecuting
+this consideration, as I easily might, I will proceed, as soon as I
+have taken notice of an objection that lies in my Way. For I easily
+foresee it will be alledged, that the above mentioned Examples are all
+taken from Plants, and Animals, in whom the Matter is Fashioned by the
+Plastick power of the seed, or something analogous thereunto. Whereas
+the Fire do&#8217;s not act like any of the Seminal Principles, but
+destroyes them all, when they come within its Reach. But to this I
+shall need at present to make but this easy Answer, That whether it be
+a Seminal Principle, or any other which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">(164)</a></span> fashions that Matter after
+those various manners I have mentioned to You, yet &#8217;tis Evident, that
+either by the Plastick principle Alone, or that and Heat Together, or
+by some Other cause capable to contex the matter, it is yet possible
+that the matter may be Anew contriv&#8217;d into such Bodies. And &#8217;tis only
+for the Possibility of this that I am now contending.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">(165)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco05.png" width="600" height="135" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="THIRD" id="THIRD"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE</span><br />
+<br />
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.</h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2><i>The Third Part.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">W</span>Hat I have hitherto Discours&#8217;d, <i>Eleutherius</i>, (sayes his Friend to
+Him) has, I presume, shew&#8217;n You, that a Considering Man may very well
+question the Truth of those very Suppositions which Chymists as well
+as Peripateticks, without proving, take for granted; and upon which
+Depends the Validity of the Inferences they draw from their
+Experiments. Wherefore having dispach&#8217;t that, which though a Chymist
+Perhaps will not, yet I do, look upon as the most Important, as well
+as Difficult, part of my Task, it will now be Seasonable for me to
+pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">(166)</a></span>ceed to the Consideration of the Experiments themselves, wherein
+they are wont so much to Triumph and Glory. And these will the rather
+deserve a serious Examination, because those that Alledge them are
+wont to do it with so much Confidence and Ostentation, that they have
+hitherto impos&#8217;d upon almost all Persons, without excepting
+Philosophers and Physitians themselves, who have read their Books, or
+heard them talk. For some learned Men have been content rather to
+beleeve what they so boldly Affirm, then be at the trouble and charge,
+to try whether or no it be True. Others again, who have Curiosity
+enough to Examine the Truth of what is Averr&#8217;d, want Skill and
+Opportunity to do what they Desire. And the Generality even of Learned
+Men, seeing the Chymists (not contenting themselves with the Schools
+to amuse the World with empty words) Actually Perform&#8217;d divers strange
+things, and, among those Resolve Compound Bodies into several
+Substances not known by former Philosophers to be contain&#8217;d in them:
+Men I say, seeing these Things, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">(167)</a></span> Hearing with what Confidence
+Chymists Averr the Substances Obtain&#8217;d from Compound Bodies by the
+Fire to be the True Elements, or, (as they speak) Hypostaticall
+Principles of them, are forward to think it but Just as well as
+Modest, that according to the <i>Logicians</i> Rule, the Skilfull <i>Artists</i>
+should be Credited in their own Art; Especially when those things
+whose Nature they so Confidently take upon them to teach others are
+not only Productions of their own Skill, but such as others Know not
+else what to make of.</p>
+
+<p>But though (Continues <i>Carneades</i>) the Chymists have been able upon
+some or other of the mention&#8217;d Acounts, not only to Delight but Amaze,
+and almost to bewitch even Learned Men; yet such as You and I, who are
+not unpractis&#8217;d in the Trade, must not suffer our Selves to be impos&#8217;d
+upon by hard Names, or bold Assertions; nor to be dazl&#8217;d by that Light
+which should but assist us to discern things the more clearly. It is
+one thing to be able to help Nature to produce things, and another
+thing to Understand well the Nature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">(168)</a></span> of the things produc&#8217;d. As we
+see, that many Persons that can beget Children, are for all that as
+Ignorant of the Number and Nature of the parts, especially the
+internal ones, that Constitute a Childs Body, as they that never were
+Parents. Nor do I Doubt, but you&#8217;l excuse me, if as I thank the
+Chymists for the things their <i>Analysis</i> shews me, so I take the
+Liberty to consider how many, and what they are, without being
+astonish&#8217;d at them; as if, whosoever hath Skill enough to shew men
+some new thing of his own making, had the Right to make them believe
+whatsoever he pleases to tell them concerning it.</p>
+
+<p>Wherefore I will now proceed to my Third General Consideration, which
+is, That it does not appear, that <i>Three</i> is precisely and Universally
+the Number of the Distinct Substances or Elements, whereinto mixt
+Bodies are resoluble by the Fire; I mean that &#8217;tis not prov&#8217;d by
+Chymists, that all the Compound Bodies, which are granted to be
+perfectly mixt, are upon their Chymical <i>Analysis</i> divisible each of
+them into just Three Distinct Substances, nei<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">(169)</a></span>ther more nor less,
+which are wont to be lookt upon as Elementary, or may as well be
+reputed so as those that are so reputed. Which last Clause I subjoyne,
+to prevent your Objecting, that some of the Substances I may have
+occasion to mention by and by, are not perfectly Homogeneous, nor
+Consequently worthy of the name of Principles. For that which I am now
+to consider, is, into how many Differing Substances, that may
+plausibly pass for the Elementary Ingredients of a mix&#8217;d Body, it may
+be Analyz&#8217;d by the Fire; but whether each of these be un-compounded, I
+reserve to examine, when I shall come to the next General
+Consideration; where I hope to evince, that the Substances which the
+Chymists not only allow, but assert to be the Component Principles of
+the Body resolv&#8217;d into them, are not wont to be uncompounded.</p>
+
+<p>Now there are two Kind of Arguments (pursues <i>Carneades</i>) which may be
+brought to make my Third Proposition seem probable; one sort of them
+being of a more Speculative Nature, and the other drawn from
+Expe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">(170)</a></span>rience. To begin then with the first of these.</p>
+
+<p>But as <i>Carneades</i> was going to do as he had said, <i>Eleutherius</i>
+interrupted him, by saying with a somewhat smiling countenance;</p>
+
+<p>If you have no mind I should think, that the Proverb, <i>That Good Wits
+have bad Memories</i>, is Rational and Applicable to You, You must not
+Forget now you are upon the Speculative Considerations, that may
+relate to the Number of the Elements; that your Self did not long
+since Deliver and Concede some Propositions in Favour of the Chymical
+Doctrine, which I may without disparagement to you think it uneasie,
+even for <i>Carneades</i> to answer.</p>
+
+<p>I have not, replies he, Forgot the Concessions you mean; but I hope
+too, that you have not forgot neither with what Cautions they were
+made, when I had not yet assumed the Person I am now sustaining. But
+however, I shall to content You, so discourse of my Third general
+consideration, as to let You see, That I am not Unmindful of the
+things you would have me remember.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">(171)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To talk then again according to such principles as I then made use of,
+I shall represent, that if it be granted rational to suppose, as I
+then did, that the Elements consisted at first of certain small and
+primary Coalitions of the minute Particles of matter into Corpuscles
+very numerous, and very like each other, It will not be absurd to
+conceive, that such primary Clusters may be of far more sorts then
+three or five; and consequently, that we need not suppose, that in
+each of the compound Bodies we are treating of there should be found
+just three sorts of such primitive Coalitions, as we are speaking of.</p>
+
+<p>And if according to this Notion we allow a considerable number of
+differing Elements, I may add, that it seems very possible, that to
+the constitution of one sort of mixt Bodies two kinds of Elementary
+ones may suffice (as I lately Exemplify&#8217;d to you, in that most durable
+Concrete, Glass,) another sort of Mixts may be compos&#8217;d of three
+Elements, another of four, another of five, and another perhaps of
+many more. So that according to this Notion, there can be no
+determinate number assign&#8217;d, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">(172)</a></span> that of the Elements; of all sorts of
+compound Bodies whatsoever, it being very probable that some Concretes
+consist of fewer, some of more Elements. Nay, it does not seem
+Impossible, according to these Principles, but that there may be two
+sorts of Mixts, whereof the one may not have any of all the same
+Elements as the other consists of; as we oftentimes see 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 diverse Electuaries, in which no
+Ingredient (except Sugar) is common to any two of them. I will not
+here debate whether there may not be a multitude of these Corpuscles,
+which by reason of their being primary and simple, might be called
+Elementary, if several sorts of them should convene to compose any
+Body, which are as yet free, and neither as yet contex&#8217;d and entangl&#8217;d
+with primary Corpuscles of other kinds, but remains liable to be
+subdu&#8217;d and fashion&#8217;d by Seminal Principles, or the like powerful and
+Transmuting Agent, by whom they may be so connected among themselves,
+or with the parts of one of the bodies, as to make the com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">(173)</a></span>pound
+Bodies, whose Ingredients they are, resoluble into more, or other
+Elements then those that Chymists have hitherto taken notice of.</p>
+
+<p>To all which I may add, that since it appears, by what I observ&#8217;d to
+you of the permanency of Gold and Silver, that even Corpuscles that
+are not of an Elementary but compounded Nature, may be of so durable a
+Texture, as to remain indissoluble in the ordinary <i>Analysis</i> that
+Chymists make of Bodies by the Fire; &#8217;Tis not impossible but that,
+though there were but three Elements, yet there may be a greater
+number of Bodies, which the wonted wayes of Anatomy will not discover
+to be no Elementary Bodies.</p>
+
+<p>But, sayes <i>Carneades</i>, having thus far, in compliance to you, talk&#8217;t
+conjecturally of the number of the Elements, &#8217;tis now time to
+consider, not of how many Elements it is possible that Nature may
+compound mix&#8217;d Bodies, but (at least as farr as the ordinary
+Experiments of Chymists will informe us) of how many she doth make
+them up.</p>
+
+<p>I say then, that it does not by these sufficiently appear to me, that
+there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">(174)</a></span> any one determinate number of Elements to be uniformly met
+with in all the several sorts of Bodies allow&#8217;d to be perfectly mixt.</p>
+
+<p>And for the more distinct proof of this Proposition, I shall in the
+first place Represent, That there are divers Bodies, which I could
+never see by fire divided into so many as three Elementary substances.
+I would fain (as I said lately to <i>Philoponus</i>) see that fixt and
+noble Metal we call Gold separated into Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: and
+if any man will submit to a competent forfeiture in case of failing, I
+shall willingly in case of prosperous successe pay both for the
+Materials and the charges of such an Experiment. &#8217;Tis not, that after
+what I have try&#8217;d my self I dare peremptorily deny, that there may out
+of Gold be extracted a certain substance, which I cannot hinder
+Chymists from calling its Tincture or Sulphur; and which leaves the
+remaining Body depriv&#8217;d of its wonted colour. Nor am I sure, that
+there cannot be drawn out of the same Metal a real quick and running
+Mercury. But for the Salt of Gold, I never could either see it, or be
+satisfied that there was ever such a thing separa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">(175)</a></span>ted, <i>in rerum
+natura</i>, by the relation of any credible eye witnesse. And for the
+several Processes that Promise that effect, the materials that must be
+wrought upon are somewhat too pretious and costly to be wasted upon so
+groundlesse adventures, of which not only the successe is doubtful,
+but the very possibility is not yet demonstrated. Yet that which most
+deterres me from such tryalls, is not their chargeablenesse, but their
+unsatisfactorinesse, though they should succeed. For the Extraction of
+this golden Salt being in Chymists Processes prescribed to be effected
+by corrosive <i>Menstruums</i>, or the Intervention of other Saline Bodies,
+it will remain doubtful to a wary person, whether the Emergent Salt be
+that of the Gold it self; or of the Saline Bodies or Spirits employ&#8217;d
+to prepare it; For that such disguises of Metals do often impose upon
+Artists, I am sure <i>Eleutherius</i> is not so much a stranger to
+Chymistry as to ignore. I would likewise willingly see the three
+principles separated from the pure sort of Virgin-Sand, from
+<i>Osteocolla</i>, from refined Silver, from Quicksilver, freed from its
+adventitious Sulphur, from <i>Venetian</i> <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Talck">Talk</span>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">(176)</a></span> which by long detention in an extreme <i>Reverberium</i>, I could
+but divide into smaller Particles, (not the constituent principles,)
+Nay, which, when I caused it to be kept, I know not how long, in a
+Glasse-house fire, came out in the Figure it&#8217;s Lumps had when put in,
+though alter&#8217;d to an almost <i>Amethystine</i> colour; and from divers
+other Bodies, which it were now unnecessary to enumerate. For though I
+dare not absolutely affirme it to be impossible to Analyze these
+Bodies into their <i>Tria Prima</i>; yet because, neither my own
+Experiments, nor any competent Testimony hath hitherto either taught
+me how such an <i>Analysis</i> may be made, or satisfy&#8217;d me, that it hath
+been so, I must take the Liberty to refrain from believing it, till
+the Chymists prove it, or give us intelligible and practicable
+Processes to performe what they pretend. For whilst they affect that
+<i>&AElig;nigmatical</i> obscurity with which they are wont to puzzle the Readers
+of their divulg&#8217;d Processes concerning the Analyticall Preparation of
+Gold or Mercury, they leave wary persons much unsatisfyed whether or
+no the differing Substances, they promise to produce, be truly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">(177)</a></span> the
+Hypostatical Principles, or only some intermixtures of the divided
+Bodies with those employ&#8217;d to work upon them, as is Evident in the
+seeming Crystalls of Silver, and those of Mercury; which though by
+some inconsiderately supposed to be the Salts of those Metalls, are
+plainly but mixtures of the Metalline Bodies, with the Saline parts of
+<i>Aqua fortis</i> or other corrosive Liquors; as is evident by their being
+reducible into Silver or Quicksilver, as they were before.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot but Confesse (saith <i>Eleutherius</i>) that though Chymists may
+upon probable grounds affirm themselves Able to obtain their <i>Tria
+Prima</i>, from Animals and Vegetables, yet I have often wondred that
+they should so confidently pretend also to resolve all Metalline and
+other Mineral bodies into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. For &#8217;tis a
+saying almost Proverbial, among those Chymists themselves that are
+accounted Philosophers; and our famous Countryman <i>Roger Bacon</i> has
+particularly adopted it; that <i>Facilius est aurum facere quam
+destruere</i>. And I fear, with You, that Gold is not the only Mineral
+from which Chymists are wont fruitlessly to attempt the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">(178)</a></span> separating of
+their three Principles. I know indeed (continues <i>Eleutherius</i>) that
+the Learned <i>Sennertus</i>,<span class="sidenote">Sennert. lib. de cons. &amp; dissens. pag. 147.</span> even in that book where he takes not upon him
+to play the Advocate for the Chymists, but the Umpier betwixt them and
+the Peripateticks, expresses himself roundly, thus; <i>Salem omnibus
+inesse (mixtis scilicet) &amp; ex iis fieri posse omnibus in
+resolutionibus Chymicis versatis notissimum est.</i> And in the next
+Page, <i>Quod de sale dixi</i>, saies he, <i>Idem de Sulphure dici potest</i>:
+but by his favour I must see very good proofs, before I believe such
+general Assertions, how boldly soever made; and he that would convince
+me of their truth, must first teach me some true and practicable way
+of separating Salt and Sulphur from Gold, Silver, and those many
+different sort of Stones, that a violent Fire does not bring to Lime,
+but to Fusion; and not only I, for my own part, never saw any of those
+newly nam&#8217;d Bodies so resolved; but <i>Helmont</i>,<span class="sidenote">Helmon. pag. 409.</span> who was much better
+vers&#8217;d in the Chymical Anatomizing of Bodies then either <i>Sennertus</i>
+or <i>I</i>, has somewhere this resolute passage; <i>Scio</i> (saies he) <i>ex
+arena, silicibus &amp; saxis, non Calcariis, nunquam Sulphur aut
+Mercu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">(179)</a></span>rium trahi posse</i>; Nay <i>Quercetanus</i><span class="sidenote">Quercet. apud Billich. in Thessalo redivivo. pag. 99.</span> himself, though the grand
+stickler for the <i>Tria Prima</i>, has this Confession of the
+Irresolubleness of Diamonds; <i>Adamas</i> (saith he) <i>omnium factus
+Lapidum solidissimus ac durissimus ex arctissima videlicet trium
+principiorum unione ac Coh&aelig;rentia, qu&aelig; nulla arte separationis in
+solutionem principiorum suorum spiritualium disjungi potest.</i> And
+indeed, pursues <i>Eleutherius</i>, I was not only glad, but somewhat
+surprized to find you inclined to Admit that there may be a Sulphur
+and a running Mercury drawn from Gold; for unlesse you do (as your
+expression seem&#8217;d to intimate) take the word Sulphur in a very loose
+sence, I must doubt whether our Chymists can separate a Sulphur from
+Gold: For when I saw you make the experiment that I suppose invited
+you to speak 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
+some such highly colour&#8217;d parts of the Gold, as a Chymist would have
+called a <i>Sulphur incombustible</i>, which in plain English seems to be
+little better than to call it a Sulphur and no Sulphur. And as for
+Metalline Mercuries, I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">(180)</a></span> not <i>wondred</i> at it, though you had
+expressed much more severity in speaking of them: For I remember that
+having once met an old and famous Artist, who had long been (and still
+is) Chymist to a great Monarch, the repute he had of a very honest man
+invited me to desire him to tell me ingenuously whether or no, among
+his many labours, he had ever really extracted a true and running
+Mercury out of Metalls; to which question he freely replyed, that he
+had never separated a true Mercury from any Metal; nor had ever seen
+it really done by any man else. And though Gold is, of all Metalls,
+That, whose Mercury Chymists have most endeavoured to extract, and
+which they do the most brag they have extracted; yet the Experienced
+<i>Angelus Sala</i>, in his <i>Spagyrical</i> account of the seven <i>Terrestrial</i>
+Planets (that is the seven metalls) affords us this memorable
+Testimony, to, our present purpose; <i>Quanquam</i> (saies he) <i>&amp;c.
+experientia tamen (quam stultorum <a href="#ERRATA">Magistrum</a>
+vocamus) certe Comprobavit, Mercurium auri adeo fixum, maturum, &amp;
+arcte cum reliquis ejusdem corporis substantiis conjungi, ut nullo
+modo retrogredi possit.</i> To which he sub-joynes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">(181)</a></span> that he himself had
+seen much Labour spent upon that Design, but could never see any such
+Mercury produc&#8217;d thereby. And I easily beleeve what he annexes; <i>that
+he had often seen Detected many tricks and Impostures of Cheating</i>
+Alchymists. For, the most part of those that are fond of such
+<i>Charlatans</i>, being unskilfull or Credulous, or both, &#8217;tis very easie
+for such as have some Skill, much craft, more boldness, and no
+Conscience, to impose upon them; and therefore, though many profess&#8217;d
+<i>Alchymists</i>, and divers Persons of Quality have told me that they
+have made or seen the Mercury of Gold, or of this or that other Metal;
+yet I have been still apt to fear that either these persons have had a
+Design to deceive others; or have not had Skill and circumspection
+enough to keep themselves from being deceived.</p>
+
+<p>You recall to my mind (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) a certain Experiment I once
+devis&#8217;d, innocently to deceive some persons, and let them and others
+see how little is to be built upon the affirmation of those that are
+either unskillfull or unwary, when they tell us they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">(182)</a></span> seen
+<i>Alchymists</i> make the Mercury of this or that Metal; and to make this
+the more evident, I made my Experiment much more Slight, Short and
+Simple, than the Chymists usuall processes to Extract Metalline
+Mercuries; which Operations being commonly more Elaborate and
+Intricate, and requiring a much more longer time, give the
+<i>Alchymists</i> a greater opportunity to Cozen, and Consequently are more
+Obnoxious to the Spectators suspicion. And that wherein I endeavour&#8217;d
+to make my Experiment look the more like a True <i>Analysis</i>, was, that
+I not only pretended as well as others to extract a Mercury from the
+Metal I wrought upon, but likewise to separate a large proportion of
+manifest and inflamable Sulphur. I take then, of the filings of
+Copper, about a Drachme or two, of common sublimate, powder&#8217;d, the
+like Weight, and <i>Sal Armoniack</i> near about as much as of Sublimate;
+these three being well mingl&#8217;d together I put into a small Vial with a
+long neck, or, which I find better, into a Glass Urinall, which
+(having first stopped it with Cotton) to avoid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">(183)</a></span> the Noxious Fumes, I
+approach by degrees to a competent Fire of well kindled coals, or
+(which looks better, but more endangers the Glass) to the Flame of a
+candle; and after a while the bottom of the Glass being held Just 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
+Glass some running Mercury; and if then You take away the Glass and
+break it, You shall find a Parcel of Quicksilver, Perhaps altogether,
+and perhaps part of it in the pores of the Solid Mass; You shall find
+too, that the remaining Lump being held to the Flame of the Candle
+will readily burn with a greenish Flame, and after a little while
+(perchance presently) will in the Air Acquire a Greenish Blew, which
+being the Colour that is ascrib&#8217;d to Copper, when its Body is
+unlocked, &#8217;Tis easie to perswade Men that this is the True Sulphur of
+<i>Venus</i>, especially since not only the Salts may be Suppos&#8217;d partly to
+be Flown away, and partly to be Sublim&#8217;d to the upper part of the
+Glass, whose inside (will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">(184)</a></span> Commonly appear Whitened by them) but the
+Metal seems to be quite Destroy&#8217;d, the Copper no longer appearing in a
+Metalline Forme, but almost in that of a Resinous Lump; whereas indeed
+the Case is only this, That the Saline parts of the Sublimate,
+together with the <i>Sal Armoniack</i>, being excited and actuated by the
+Vehement heat, fall upon the Copper, (which is a Metal they can more
+easily corrode, than silver) whereby the small parts of the Mercury
+being freed from the Salts that kept them asunder, and being by the
+heat tumbled up and down after many Occursions, they Convene into a
+Conspicuous Mass of Liquor; and as for the Salts, some of the more
+Volatile of them Subliming to the upper part of the Glass, the others
+Corrode the Copper, and uniting themselves with it do strangely alter
+and Disguise its Metallick Form, and compose with it a new kind of
+Concrete inflamable like Sulphur; concerning which I shall not now say
+any thing, since I can Referr You to the Diligent Observations which I
+remember Mr. <i>Boyle</i> has made concerning this Odde kind of
+Verdigrease. But Continues<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">(185)</a></span> <i>Carneades</i> smiling, you know I was not
+cut out for a Mountebank, and therefore I will hasten to resume the
+person of a Sceptick, and take up my discourse where You diverted me
+from prosecuting it.</p>
+
+<p>In the next place, then, I consider, that, as there are some Bodies
+which yield not so many as the three Principles; so there are many
+others, that in their Resolution Exhibite more principles than three;
+and that therefore the Ternary Number is not that of the Universal and
+Adequate Principles of Bodies. If you allow of the Discourse I <a href="#ERRATA">ately</a>
+made You, touching the primary Associations of the
+small Particles of matter, You will scarce think it improbable, that
+of such Elementary Corpuscles there may be more sorts then either
+three, or four, or five. And if you will grant, what will scarce be
+deny&#8217;d, that Corpuscles of a compounded Nature may in all the wonted
+Examples of Chymists pass for Elementary, I see not, why you should
+think it impossible, that as <i>Aqua Fortis</i>, or <i>Aqua Regis</i> will make
+a Separation of colliquated Silver and Gold, though the Fire cannot;
+so there may be some A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">(186)</a></span>gent found out so subtile and so powerfull, at
+least in respect of those particular compounded Corpuscles, as to be
+able to resolve them into those more simple ones, whereof they
+consist, and consequently encrease the number of the Distinct
+Substances, whereinto the mixt Body has been hitherto thought
+resoluble. And if that be true, which I recited to you a while ago out
+of <i>Helmont</i> concerning the Operations of the <i>Alkahest</i>, which
+divides Bodies into other Distinct Substances, both as to number and
+Nature, then the Fire does; it will not a little countenance my
+Conjecture. But confining our selves to such wayes of Analyzing mix&#8217;d
+Bodies, as are already not unknown to Chymists, it may without
+Absurdity be Question&#8217;d, whether besides those grosser 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 themselves Visible, may escape unheeded at the
+Junctures of the Destillatory Vessels, though never so carefully
+Luted. For let me observe to you one thing, which though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">(187)</a></span> not taken
+notice of by Chymists, may be a notion of good Use in divers Cases to
+a Naturalist, that we may well suspect, that there may be severall
+Sorts of Bodies, which are not Immediate Objects of any one of our
+senses; since we See, that not only those little Corpuscles that issue
+out of the Loadstone, and perform the Wonders for which it is justly
+admired; But the <i>Effluviums</i> of Amber, Jet, and other Electricall
+Concretes, though by their effects upon the particular Bodies dispos&#8217;d
+to receive their Action, they seem to fall under the Cognizance of our
+Sight, yet do they not as Electrical immediately Affect any of our
+senses, as do the bodies, whether minute or greater, that we See,
+Feel, Taste, &amp;c. But, continues <i>Carneades</i>, because you may expect I
+should, as the Chymists do, consider only the sensible Ingredients of
+Mixt Bodies, let us now see, what Experience will, even as to these,
+suggest to us.</p>
+
+<p>It seems then questionable enough, whether from Grapes variously
+order&#8217;d there may not be drawn more distinct Substances by the help of
+the Fire, then from most other mixt Bodies. For the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">(188)</a></span> Grapes themselves
+being dryed into Raysins and distill&#8217;d, will (besides <i>Alcali</i>,
+Phlegm, and Earth) yield a considerable quantity of an Empyreumatical
+Oyle, and a Spirit of a very different nature from that of Wine. Also
+the unfermented Juice of Grapes affords other distil&#8217;d Liquors then
+Wine doth. The Juice of Grapes after fermentation will yield a
+<i>Spiritus Ardens</i>; which if competently rectifyed will all burn away
+without leaving any thing remaining. The same fermented Juice
+degenerating into Vinager, yields an acid and corroding Spirit. The
+same Juice <a href="#ERRATA">turn&#8217;d</a> up, armes it self with Tartar; out
+of which may be separated, as out of other Bodies, Phlegme, Spirit,
+Oyle, Salt and Earth: not to mention what Substances may be drawn from
+the Vine it self, probably differing from those which are separated
+from Tartar, which is a body by it self, that has few resemblers in
+the World. And I will further consider that what force soever you will
+allow this instance, to evince that there are some Bodies that yield
+more Elements then others, it can scarce be deny&#8217;d but that the Major
+part of bodies that are divisible into Ele<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">(189)</a></span>ments, yield more then
+three. For, besides those which the Chymists are pleased to name
+Hypostatical, most bodies contain two others, Phlegme and Earth, which
+concurring as well as the rest to the constitution of Mixts, and being
+as generally, if not more, found in their <i>Analysis</i>, I see no
+sufficient cause why they should be excluded from the number of
+Elements. Nor will it suffice to object, as the <i>Paracelsians</i> are
+wont to do, that the <i>Tria prima</i> are the most useful Elements, and
+the Earth and Water but worthlesse and unactive; for Elements being
+call&#8217;d so in relation to the constituting of mixt Bodies, it should be
+upon the account of its Ingrediency, not of its use, that any thing
+should be affirmed or denyed to be an Element: and as for the
+pretended uselessness of Earth and Water, it would be consider&#8217;d that
+usefulnesse, or the want of it, denotes only a Respect or Relation to
+us; and therefore the presence, or absence of it, alters not the
+Intrinsick nature of the thing. The hurtful Teeth of Vipers are for
+ought I know useless to us, and yet are not to be deny&#8217;d to be parts
+of their Bodies; and it were hard to shew of<span class="pagenumerr" title="190"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">(186)</a></span> what greater Use to Us,
+then Phlegme and Earth, are those Undiscern&#8217;d Stars, which our New
+<i>Telescopes</i> discover to Us, in many Blanched places of the Sky; and
+yet we cannot but acknowledge them Constituent and Considerably great
+parts of the Universe. Besides that whether or no the Phlegme and
+Earth be immediately Useful, but necessary to constitute the Body
+whence they are separated; and consequently, if the mixt Body be not
+Useless to us, those constituent parts, without which it could not
+have been That mixt Body, may be said not to be Unuseful to Us: and
+though the Earth and Water be not so conspicuously Operative (after
+separation) as the other three more active Principles, yet in this
+case it will not be amiss to remember the lucky Fable of <i>Menemius
+Aggrippa</i>, of the dangerous Sedition of the Hands and Legs, and other
+more busie parts of the Body, against the seemingly unactive Stomack.
+And to this case also we may not unfitly apply that Reasoning of an
+Apostle, to another purpose; <i>If the Ear shall say, because I Am not
+the Eye, I am not of the Body; Is it therefore not of the Body? If the
+whole<span class="pagenumerr" title="191"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">(187)</a></span>
+Body were Eye, where were the Hearing? If the whole were for
+hearing, where the smelling?</i> In a word, since Earth and water appear,
+as clearly and as generally as the other Principles upon the
+resolution of Bodies, to be the Ingredients whereof they are made up;
+and since they are useful, if not immediately to us, or rather to
+Physitians, to the Bodies they constitute, and so though in somewhat a
+remoter way, are serviceable to us; to exclude them out of the number
+of Elements, is not to imitate Nature.</p>
+
+<p class="notes"><i>Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</i> See the
+<a href="#PRINTER">printer&#8217;s note</a> for material that the
+printer inadvertently omitted from this page.</p>
+
+<p>But, pursues <i>Carneades</i>, though I think it Evident, that Earth and
+Phlegme are to be reckon&#8217;d among the Elements of most Animal and
+Vegetable Bodies, yet &#8217;tis not upon that Account alone, that I think
+divers Bodies resoluble into more Substances then three. For there are
+two Experiments, that I have sometimes made to shew, that at least
+some Mixts are divisible into more Distinct Substances then five. The
+one of these Experiments, though &#8217;twill be more seasonable for me to
+mention it fully anon, yet in the mean time, I shall tell you thus
+much of it, That out of two Distill&#8217;d Liquors,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">(192)</a></span> which pass for
+Elements of the Bodies whence they are drawn, I can without Addition
+make a true Yellow and Inflamable Sulphur, notwithstanding that the
+two Liquors remain afterwards Distinct. Of the other Experiment, which
+perhaps will not be altogether unworthy your Notice, I must now give
+you this particular Account. I had long observ&#8217;d, that by the
+Destillation of divers Woods, both in Ordinary, and some unusuall
+sorts of Vessels, the Copious Spirit that came over, had besides a
+strong tast, to be met with in the Empyreumaticall Spirits of many
+other Bodies, an Acidity almost like that of Vinager: Wherefore I
+suspected, that though the sowrish Liquor Distill&#8217;d, for Instance,
+from Box-Wood, be lookt upon by Chymists as barely the Spirit of it,
+and therefore as one single Element or Principle; yet it does really
+consist of two Differing Substances, and may be divisible into them;
+and consequently, that such Woods and other Mixts as abound with such
+a Vinager, may be said to consist of one Element or Principle, more
+then the Chymists as yet are Aware of; Wherefore bethinking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">(193)</a></span> my self,
+how the separation of these two Spirits might be made, I Quickly
+found, that there were several wayes of Compassing it. But that of
+them which I shall at present mention, was this, Having Destill&#8217;d a
+Quantity of Box-Wood <i>per se</i>, and slowly rectify&#8217;d the sowrish
+Spirit, the better to free it both from Oyle and Phlegme, I cast into
+this Rectify&#8217;d Liquor a convenient Quantity of Powder&#8217;d Coral,
+expecting that the Acid part of the Liquor would Corrode the Coral,
+and being associated with it would be so retain&#8217;d by it, that the
+other part of the Liquor, which was not of an acid Nature, nor fit to
+fasten upon the Corals, would be permitted to ascend alone. Nor was I
+deceiv&#8217;d in my Expectation; For having gently abstracted the Liquor
+from the Coralls, there came over a Spirit of a Strong smell, and of a
+tast very piercing, but without any sourness; and which was in diverse
+qualities manifestly different, not only from a Spirit of Vinager, but
+from some Spirit of the same Wood, that I purposely kept by me without
+depriving it of its acid Ingredient. And to satisfy you, that these
+two Substances were of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">(194)</a></span> a very differing Nature, I might informe you
+of several Tryals that I made, but must not name some of them, because
+I cannot do so without making some unseasonable discoveries. Yet this
+I shall tell you at present, that the sowre Spirit of <i>Box</i>, not only
+would, as I just now related, dissolve Corals, which the other would
+not fasten on, but being pour&#8217;d upon Salt of Tartar would immediately
+boile and hiss, whereas the other would lye quietly upon it. The acid
+Spirit pour&#8217;d upon <i>Minium</i> made a Sugar of Lead, which I did not find
+the other to do; some drops of this penetrant spirit being mingl&#8217;d
+with some drops of the blew Syrup of Violets seem&#8217;d rather to dilute
+then otherwise alter the colour; whereas the Acid Spirit turn&#8217;d the
+syrup of a reddish colour, and would probably have made it of as pure
+a red as Acid Salts are wont to do, had not its operation been
+hindered by the mixture of the other Spirit. A few drops of the
+compound Spirit being Shaken into a pretty quantity of the infusion of
+<i>Lignum Nephriticum</i>, presently destroyed all the blewish colour,
+whereas the other Spirit would not take it away. To all which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">(195)</a></span> it
+might be added, that having for tryals sake pour&#8217;d fair water upon the
+Corals that remained in the bottom of the glass wherein I had
+rectifyed the double spirit (if I may so call it) that was first drawn
+from the Box, I found according to my expectation that the Acid Spirit
+had really dissolved the Corals, and had coagulated with them. For by
+the affusion of fair Water, I Obtain&#8217;d a Solution, which (to note that
+singularity upon the bye) was red, whence the Water being evaporated,
+there remained a soluble Substance much like the Ordinary Salt of
+Coral, as Chymists are pleas&#8217;d to call that Magistery of Corals, which
+they make by dissolving them in common spirit of Vinager, and
+abstracting the <i>Menstruum ad Siccitatem</i>. I know not whether I should
+subjoine, on this occasion, that the simple spirit of Box, if Chymists
+will have it therefore Saline because it has a strong tast, will
+furnish us with a new kind of Saline Bodies, differing from those
+hitherto taken notice of. For whereas of the three chief sorts of
+Salts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous, there is none
+that seems to be friends with both the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">(196)</a></span> two, as I may, e&#8217;re it
+be long, have occasion to shew; I did not find but that the simple
+spirit of Box did agree very well (at least as farr as I had occasion
+to try it) both with the Acid and the other Salts. For though it would
+lye very quiet with salt of Tartar, Spirit of Urine, or other bodies,
+whose Salts were either of an Alcalizate or fugitive Nature; yet did
+not the mingling of Oyle of Vitriol it self produce any hissing or
+Effervescence, which you know is wont to ensue upon the Affusion of
+that highly Acid Liquor upon either of the Bodies newly mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>I think my self, sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>, beholden to you, for this
+Experiment; not only because I forsee you will make it helpful to you
+in the Enquiry you are now upon, but because it teaches us a Method,
+whereby we may prepare a numerous sort of new spirits, which though
+more simple then any that are thought Elementary, are manifestly
+endow&#8217;d with peculiar and powerfull qualities, some of which may
+probably be of considerable use in Physick, as well alone, as
+associated with other things; as one may hopefully guess by the
+redness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">(197)</a></span> that Solution your sour Spirit made of Corals, and by some
+other circumstances of your Narrative. And suppose (pursues
+<i>Eleutherius</i>) that you are not so confin&#8217;d, for the separation of the
+Acid parts of these compound Spirits from the other, to employ Corals;
+but that you may as well make use of any Alcalizate Salt, or of
+Pearls, or Crabs eyes, or any other Body, upon which common Spirit of
+Vinager will easily work, and, to speak in an <i>Helmontian</i> Phrase,
+Exantlate it self.</p>
+
+<p>I have not yet tryed, sayes <i>Carneades</i>, of what use the mention&#8217;d
+liquors may be in Physick, either as Medicines or as <i>Menstruums</i>: But
+I could mention now (and may another time) divers of the tryals that I
+made to satisfy my self of the difference of these two Liquors. But
+that, as I allow your thinking what you newly told me about Corals, I
+presume you will allow me, from what I have said already, to deduce
+this Corollary; That there are divers compound bodies, which may be
+resolv&#8217;d into four such differing Substances, as may as well merit the
+name of Principles, as those to which the Chymists freely give it. For
+since they scruple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">(198)</a></span> not to reckon that which I call the compound
+Spirit of Box, for the spirit, or as others would have it, the Mercury
+of that Wood, I see not, why the Acid liquor, and the other, should
+not each of them, especially that last named, be lookt upon as more
+worthy to be called an Elementary Principle; since it must needs be of
+a more simple nature then the Liquor, which was found to be divisible
+into that, and the Acid Spirit. And this further use (continues
+<i>Carneades</i>) may be made of our experiment to my present purpose, that
+it may give us a rise to suspect, that since a Liquor reputed by the
+Chymists to be, without dispute, Homogeneous, is by so slight a way
+divisible into two distinct and more simple Ingredients, some more
+skilful or happier Experimenter then I may find a way either further
+to divide one of these Spirits, or to resolve some or other, if not
+all, of those other Ingredients of mixt Bodies, that have hitherto
+pass&#8217;d among Chymists for their Elements or Principles.</p>
+
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">(199)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco05.png" width="600" height="135" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="FOURTH" id="FOURTH"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE</span><br />
+<br />
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.</h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2><i>The Fourth Part.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">A</span>Nd thus much (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) may suffice to be said of the
+<i>Number</i> of the Distinct substances separable from mixt Bodies by the
+Fire: Wherefore I now proceed to consider the <i>nature</i> of them, and
+shew you, That though they seem <i>Homogeneous</i> Bodies, yet have they
+not the purity and simplicity that is requisite to Elements. And I
+should immediately proceed to the proof of my Assertion, but that the
+Confidence wherewith Chymists are wont to call each of the Substances
+we speak of by the name of Sulphur or Mercury, or the other of the
+Hyposta<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">(200)</a></span>ticall Principles, and the <a href="#ERRATA">intollerabln</a>
+Ambiguity they allow themselves <a href="#ERRATA">ie</a> their Writings and
+Expressions, makes it necessary for me in Order to the Keeping you
+either from mistaking me, or thinking I mistake the Controversie, to
+take Notice to you and complain of the unreasonable Liberty they give
+themselves of playing with Names at pleasure. And indeed if I were
+oblig&#8217;d in this Dispute, to have such regard to the Phraseology of
+each particular Chymist, as not to Write any thing which this or that
+Author may not pretend, not to contradict this or that sence, which he
+may give as Occasion serves to his Ambiguous Expressions, I should
+scarce know how to dispute, nor which way to turn myself. For I find
+that even Eminent Writers, (such as <i>Raymund Lully</i>, <i>Paracelsus</i> and
+others) do so abuse the termes they employ, that as they will now and
+then give divers things, one name; so they will oftentimes give one
+thing, many Names; and some of them (perhaps) such, as do much more
+properly signifie some Distinct Body of another kind; nay even in
+Technical Words or Termes of Art,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">(201)</a></span> they refrain not from this
+Confounding Liberty; but will, as I have Observ&#8217;d, call the same
+Substance, sometimes the Sulphur, and Sometimes the Mercury of a Body.
+And now I speak of Mercury, I cannot but take Notice, that the
+Descriptions they give us of that Principle or Ingredient of mixt
+Bodies, are so intricate, that even those that have Endeavour&#8217;d to
+Pollish and Illustrate the Notions of the Chymists, are fain to
+confess that they know not what to make of it, either by Ingenuous
+Acknowledgments, or Descriptions that are not Intelligible.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) I have, in the reading of
+<i>Paracelsus</i> and other Chymical Authors, been troubled to find, that
+such hard Words and Equivocal Expressions, as You justly complain of,
+do even when they treat of Principles, seem to be studiously affected
+by those Writers; whether to make themselves to be admir&#8217;d by their
+Readers, and their Art appear more Venerable and Mysterious, or, (as
+they would have us think) to conceal from them a Knowledge themselves
+judge inestimable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">(202)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But whatever (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) these Men may promise themselves from
+a Canting way of delivering the Principles of Nature, they will find
+the Major part of Knowing Men so vain, as when they understand not
+what they read, to conclude, that it is rather the Writers fault then
+their own. And those that are so ambitious to be admir&#8217;d by the
+Vulgar, that rather then go without the Admiration of the Ignorant
+they will expose themselves to the contempt of the Learned, those
+shall, by my consent, freely enjoy their Option. As for the Mystical
+Writers scrupling to Communicate their Knowledge, they might less to
+their own Disparagement, and to the trouble of their Readers, have
+conceal&#8217;d it by writing no Books, then by Writing bad ones. If
+<i>Themistius</i> were here, he would not stick to say, that Chymists write
+thus darkly, not because they think their Notions too precious to be
+explain&#8217;d, but because they fear that if they were explain&#8217;d, men
+would discern, that they are farr from being precious. And indeed, I
+fear that the chief Reason why Chymists have written so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">(203)</a></span> obscurely of
+their three Principles, may be, That not having Clear and Distinct
+Notions of them themselves, they cannot write otherwise then
+Confusedly of what they but Confusedly Apprehend: Not to say that
+divers of them, being Conscious to the Invalidity of their Doctrine,
+might well enough discerne that they could scarce keep themselves from
+being confuted, but by keeping themselves from being clearly
+understood. But though much may be said to Excuse the Chymists when
+they write Darkly, and &AElig;nigmatically, about the Preparation of their
+<i>Elixir</i>, and Some few other grand <i>Arcana</i>, the divulging of which
+they may upon Grounds Plausible enough esteem unfit; yet when they
+pretend to teach the General Principles of Natural Philosophers, this
+Equivocall Way of Writing is not to be endur&#8217;d. For in such
+Speculative Enquiries, where the naked Knowledge of the Truth is the
+thing Principally aim&#8217;d at, what does he teach me worth thanks that
+does not, if he can, make his Notion intelligible to me, but by
+Mystical Termes, and Ambiguous Phrases darkens what he should clear
+up; and makes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">(204)</a></span> me add the Trouble of guessing at the sence of what he
+Equivocally expresses, to that of examining the Truth of what he seems
+to deliver. And if the matter of the Philosophers Stone, and the
+manner of preparing it, be such Mysteries as they would have the World
+believe them, they may Write Intelligibly and Clearly of the
+Principles of mixt Bodies in General, without Discovering what they
+call the Great Work. But for my part (Continues <i>Carneades</i>) what my
+Indignation at this Un-philosophical way of teaching Principles has
+now extorted from me, is meant chiefly to excuse my self, if I shall
+hereafter oppose any Particular Opinion or assertion, that some
+Follower of <i>Paracelsus</i> or any Eminent Artist may pretend not to be
+his Masters. For, as I told you long since, I am not Oblig&#8217;d to
+examine private mens writings, (which were a Labour as endless as
+unprofitable) being only engag&#8217;d to examine those Opinions about the
+<i>Tria Prima</i>, which I find those Chymists I have met with to agree in
+most: And I Doubt not but my Arguments against their Doctrine will be
+in great part ea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">(205)</a></span>sily enough applicable ev&#8217;n to those private
+Opinions, which they do not so directly and expresly oppose. And
+indeed, that which I am now entering upon being the Consideration of
+the things themselves whereinto <i>Spagyrists</i> resolve mixt Bodies by
+the Fire, If I can shew that these are not of an Elementary Nature, it
+will be no great matter what names these or those Chymists have been
+pleased to give them. And I question not that to a Wise man, and
+consequently to <i>Eleutherius</i>, it will be lesse considerable to know,
+what Men Have thought of Things, then what they Should have thought.</p>
+
+<p>In the fourth and last place, then, I consider, that as generally as
+Chymists are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as they
+use to instance the several substances separated by the Fire from a
+Mixt Body, as a sufficient proof of their being its component
+Elements: Yet those differing Substances are many of them farr enough
+from Elementary simplicity, and may be yet look&#8217;d upon as mixt Bodies,
+most of them also retaining, somewhat at least, if not very much, of
+the Nature of those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">(206)</a></span> Concretes whence they were forc&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>I am glad (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) to see the Vanity or Envy of the
+canting Chymists thus discover&#8217;d and chastis&#8217;d; and I could wish, that
+Learned Men would conspire together to make these deluding Writers
+sensible, that they must no <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: longer">longe</span> hope
+with Impunity to abuse the World. For whilst such Men are quietly
+permitted to publish Books with promising Titles, and therein to
+Assert what they please, and contradict others, and ev&#8217;n themselves as
+they please, with as little danger of being confuted as of being
+understood, they are encourag&#8217;d to get themselves a name, at the cost
+of the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for the
+reason newly mention&#8217;d, to let their Books and Them alone: And the
+ignorant and credulous (of which the number is still much greater then
+that of the other) are forward to admire most what they least
+understand. But if Judicious men skill&#8217;d in Chymical affaires shall
+once agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep men
+from being stunn&#8217;d, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words;
+&#8217;tis to be hop&#8217;d that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">(207)</a></span> these men finding that they can no longer write
+impertinently and absurdly, without being laugh&#8217;d at for doing so,
+will be reduc&#8217;d either to write nothing, or Books that may teach us
+something, and not rob men, as formerly, of invaluable Time; and so
+ceasing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we shall
+either by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their silence escape
+an Inconvenience.</p>
+
+<p>But after all this is said (continues <i>Eleutherius</i>) it may be
+represented in favour of the Chymists, that, in one regard the Liberty
+they take in using names, if it be excusable at any time, may be more
+so when they speak of the substances whereinto their <i>Analysis</i>
+resolves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name their
+own Children, it has ever been allow&#8217;d to the Authors of new
+Inventions, to Impose Names upon them. And therefore the subjects we
+speak of being so the Productions of the Chymist&#8217;s Art, as not to be
+otherwise, but by it, obtainable; it seems but equitable to give the
+Artists leave to name them as they please: considering also that none
+are so fit and likely to teach us what those Bo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">(208)</a></span>dies are, as they to
+whom we ow&#8217;d them.</p>
+
+<p>I told You already (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) that there is great Difference
+betwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to give
+a Philosophical Account of them. And I will not now add, that many a
+Mine-digger may meet, whilst he follows his work, with a Gemm or a
+Mineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he shews it a
+Jeweller or a Mineralist to be inform&#8217;d what it is. But that which I
+would rather have here observ&#8217;d, is, That the Chymists I am now in
+debate with have given up the Liberty You challeng&#8217;d for them, of
+using Names at Pleasure, and confin&#8217;d Themselves by their
+Descriptions, though but such as they are, of their Principles; so
+that although they might freely have call&#8217;d any thing their <i>Analysis</i>
+presents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, or
+what they pleas&#8217;d; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (for
+instance) is a Primogeneal and simple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &amp;c.
+they must give me leave to dis-believe them, if they tell me that a
+Body that is either compounded or uninflamable is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">(209)</a></span> such a Sulphur; and
+to think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and some
+other Minerals abound with an Incombustible Sulphur, which is as
+proper an Expression, as a Sun-shine Night, or Fluid Ice.</p>
+
+<p>But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my
+Fourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals;
+some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because I
+have Touched on them already.</p>
+
+<p>And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage in
+<i>Helmont</i>;<span class="sidenote"><i>Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitiorem
+ulterioris &amp; nobilioris qualitatis participem qu&#257; qui immediat&egrave; per
+distillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vit&aelig; dephlegmata, quod
+facilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippe
+distillatum oleum absque laterum aut <a href="#ERRATA">tigularum</a>
+additamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert ab
+ejus oleitate; qu&aelig; elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partes
+dissimilares sola digestione &amp; Salis circulati Paracelsici
+appositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere &amp; quantitatibus
+pristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in sui
+heterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum ex
+oleo, prout &amp; suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur,
+long&eacute;que ab aqu&aelig; vit&aelig; acrimoni&acirc; distinctus.</i>&#8212;Helmont. Aura vitalis,
+pag. 725.</span> which though I have not Found much heeded by his
+Readers, He Himself <i>mentions</i> as a notable thing, and I take to be a
+very considerable one; for whereas the Distill&#8217;d oyle of <i>oyle-olive</i>,
+though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">(210)</a></span> drawn <i>per se</i> is (as I have try&#8217;d) of a very sharp and
+fretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oyle
+being only digested with <i>Paracelsus&#8217;s sal circulatum</i>, is reduc&#8217;d
+into dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing from
+the oyle <a href="#ERRATA">distill&#8217;d, from</a> sallet oyle; as also
+that by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet and
+gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that
+which is immediately drawn by distillation and call&#8217;d <i>Dephlegm&#8217;d Aqua
+vit&aelig;</i>, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote,
+although the <i>sal circulatum</i> that makes these <i>Anatomies</i> be
+separated from the Analyz&#8217;d Bodies, in the same weight and with the
+same qualities it had before; which Affirmation of <i>Helmont</i> if we
+admit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very great
+disparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles,
+or several spirits) separable from compound Bodies: For, besides the
+differences I shall anon take notice of, betwixt those distill&#8217;d Oyles
+that are commonly known to Chymists, it appears by this, that by means
+of the <i>Sal Circulatum</i>, There may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">(211)</a></span> be quite another sort of Oyles
+obtain&#8217;d from the same Body; and who knowes but that there may be yet
+other Agents found in Nature, by whose help there may, whether by
+Transmutation or otherwise, be obtain&#8217;d from the Bodies Vulgarly
+call&#8217;d Mixt, Oyles or other substances, Differing from those of the
+same Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymists, or even to
+<i>Helmont</i> Himself: but for fear You should tell me, that this is but a
+conjecture grounded upon another Man&#8217;s Relation, whose Truth we have
+not the means to Experiment, I will not Insist upon it; but leaving
+You to Consider of it at leasure, I shall proceed to what is next.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion of <i>Lucippus</i>,
+<i>Democritus</i>, and other prime <i>Anatomists</i> of old, and is in our dayes
+reviv&#8217;d by no mean Philosophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, such
+as Chymists use, consists of swarmes of little Bodies swiftly moving,
+which by their smallness and motion are able to permeate the sollidest
+and Compactest Bodies, and even Glass it Self; If this (I say) be
+True, since we see that In flints and other Concretes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">(212)</a></span> the Fiery part
+is Incorporated with the Grosser, it will not be Irrationall to
+conjecture, that multitudes of these Fiery Corpuscles, getting in at
+the Pores of the Glass, may associate themselves with the parts of the
+mixt Body whereon they work, and with them Constitute new Kinds of
+Compound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections of
+the Parts of the Dissipated Body happen to dispose them, in Reference
+to such Combinations; of which also there may be the greater Number;
+if it be likewise granted that the Corpuscles of the Fire, though all
+exceeding minute, and very swiftly moved, are not all of the same
+bigness, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Considerations to
+Discourse to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I have
+newly said, some particular Experiments by which I have been Deduc&#8217;d
+to think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon some Bodies
+may really Associate themselves therewith, and add to the Quantity.
+But because I am not so sure, that when the Fire works upon Bodies
+included in Glasses, it does it by a reall Trajection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">(213)</a></span> of the Fiery
+Corpuscles themselves, through the Substance of the Glass, I will
+proceed to what is next to be mention&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>I could (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) help you to some Proofes, whereby I
+think it may be made very probable, that when the Fire acts
+immediately upon a Body, some of its Corpuscles may stick to those of
+the burnt Body, as they seem to do in Quicklime, but in greater
+numbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding Your
+Progress, I shall desire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time,
+and proceed as you intended.</p>
+
+<p>You may then in the next place (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) observe with me,
+that not only there are some Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do not
+by the usual Examens, made by Fire, Discover themselves to be mixt;
+but if (as You may Remember I formerly told You) it be a De-compound
+Body that is Dissipable into several Substances, by being expos&#8217;d to
+the Fire it may be resolv&#8217;d into such as are neither Elementary, nor
+such as it was upon its last mixture Compounded of; but into new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">(214)</a></span>
+Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You some Examples in
+Sope, Sugar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we shall Consider that there
+are some Bodies, as well Natural, (as that I last nam&#8217;d) as
+Factitious, manifestly De-compounded; That in the Bowells of the Earth
+Nature may, as we see she sometimes does, make strange Mixtures; That
+Animals are nourish&#8217;d with other Animals and Plants; And, that these
+themselves have almost all of them their Nutriment and Growth,
+<i>either</i> from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour&#8217;d in the Pores of the
+Earth, <i>or</i> from the Excrements of Animalls, <i>or</i> from the putrify&#8217;d
+Bodies, either of living Creatures or Vegetables, <i>or</i> from other
+Substances of a Compounded Nature; If, I say, we consider this, it may
+seem probable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not to
+mention those of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then men
+take Notice of; And indeed, as I have formerly also observ&#8217;d, it does
+not at all appear, that all Mixtures must be of Elementary Bodies; but
+it seems farr more probable, that there are divers sorts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">(215)</a></span> compound
+Bodies, even in regard of all or some of their Ingredients, consider&#8217;d
+Antecedently to their Mixture. For though some seem to be made up by
+the immediate Coalitions of the Elements, or Principles themselves,
+and therefore may be call&#8217;d <i>Prima Mista</i>, or <i>Mista Primaria</i>; yet it
+seems that many other Bodies are mingl&#8217;d (if I may so speak) at the
+second hand, their immediate Ingredients being not Elementary, but
+these primary Mixts newly spoken of; And from divers of these
+Secondary sort of Mixts may result, by a further Composition, a Third
+sort, and so onwards. Nor is it improbable, that some Bodies are made
+up of Mixt Bodies, not all of the same Order, but of several; as (for
+Instance) a Concrete may consist 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 Resolving it, found both that Courser
+<a href="#ERRATA">the</a> part that seems more properly to be Oar,
+and a Combustible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps without
+any Ingredient of this latter sort, it may be compos&#8217;d of Mixt Bodies,
+some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">(216)</a></span> them of the first, and some of the third Kind; And this may
+perhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens in
+some Chymical Preparations of those Medicines which they call their
+<i>Bezoardicum&#8217;s</i>. For first, they take Antimony and Iron, which may be
+look&#8217;d upon as <i>Prima Mista</i>; of these they compound a Starry
+<i>Regulus</i>, and to this they add according to their Intention, either
+Gold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Composition. To
+this they add Sublimate, which is it self a De-compound body,
+(consisting of common Quicksilver, and divers Salts United by
+Sublimation into a Crystalline Substance) and from this Sublimate, and
+the other Metalline Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow&#8217;d
+to be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymists
+affirm it, that by this Art some of the Gold or Silver mingl&#8217;d with
+the <i>Regulus</i> may be carry&#8217;d over the Helme with it by the Sublimate;
+as indeed a Skilfull and Candid person complain&#8217;d to me a while since,
+That an experienc&#8217;d Friend of His and mine, having by such a way
+brought over a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">(217)</a></span> great Deal of Gold, in hope to do something further
+with it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only miss&#8217;d of his
+Aim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz&#8217;d Gold out of the
+Antimonial butter, wherewith it is strictly united.</p>
+
+<p>Now (Continues <i>Carneades</i>) if a Compound body consist of Ingredients
+that are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that the
+Substances into which the Fire Dissolves it, though seemingly
+Homogeneous enough, may be of a Compounded Nature, those parts of each
+body that are most of Kin associating themselves into a Compound of a
+new Kind. As when (for example sake) I have caus&#8217;d Vitrioll and <i>Sal
+Armoniack</i>, and Salt Petre to be mingl&#8217;d and Destill&#8217;d together, the
+Liquor that came over manifested it self not to be either Spirit of
+Nitre, or of <i>Sal Armoniack</i>, or of Vitrioll. For none of these would
+dissolve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; and
+thereby manifested it self to be a new Compound, consisting at least
+of Spirit of Nitre, and <i>Sal Armoniack</i>, (for the latter dissolv&#8217;d in
+the former,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">(218)</a></span> will Work on Gold) which nevertheless are not by any
+known way separable, and consequently would not pass for a Mixt Body,
+if we our selves did not, to obtain it, put and Distill together
+divers Concretes, whose Distinct Operations were known before hand.
+And, to add on this Occasion the Experiment I lately promis&#8217;d You,
+because it is Applicable to our present purpose, I shall Acquaint You,
+that suspecting the Common Oyle of Vitrioll not to be altogether such
+a simple Liquor as Chymists presume it, I mingl&#8217;d it with an equal or
+a Double Quantity (for I try&#8217;d the Experiment more then once) of
+common Oyle of Turpentine, such as together with the other Liquor I
+bought at the Drugsters. And having carefully (for the Experiment is
+Nice, and somewhat dangerous) Distill&#8217;d the Mixture in a small Glass
+Retort, I obtain&#8217;d according to my Desire, (besides the two Liquors I
+had put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain substance, which sticking
+all about the Neck of the Retort Discover&#8217;d it self to be Sulphur, not
+only by a very strong Sulphureous smell, and by the colour of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">(219)</a></span>
+Brimstone; but also by this, That being put upon a coal, it was
+immediately kindl&#8217;d, and burn&#8217;d like common Sulphur. And of this
+Substance I have yet by me some little Parcells, which You may command
+and examine when you please. So that from this Experiment I may deduce
+either one, or both of these Propositions, That a real Sulphur may be
+made by the Conjunction of two such Substances as Chymists take for
+Elementary, And which did not either of them apart appear to have any
+such body in it; or that Oyle of Vitrioll though a Distill&#8217;d Liquor,
+and taken for part of the Saline Principle of the Concrete that yields
+it, may yet be so Compounded a body as to contain, besides its Saline
+part, a Sulphur like common brimstone, which would hardly be it self a
+simple or un-compounded body.</p>
+
+<p>I might (pursues <i>Carneades</i>) remind You, that I formerly represented
+it, as possible, That as there may be more Elements then five, or six;
+so the Elements of one body may be Different from those of another;
+whence it would follow, that from the Resolution of
+De-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">(220)</a></span>compound <a href="#ERRATA">body</a>,
+there may result Mixts of an altogether new kind, by
+the Coalition of Elements that never perhaps conven&#8217;d before. I might,
+I say, mind You of this, and add divers things to this second
+Consideration; but for fear of wanting time I willingly pretermit
+them, to pass on to the third, which is this, That the Fire does not
+alwayes barely resolve or take asunder, but may also after a new
+manner mingle and compound together the parts (whether Elementary or
+not) of the Body Dissipated by it.</p>
+
+<p>This is so evident, sayes <i>Carneades</i>, in some obvious Examples, that
+I cannot but wonder at their Supiness that have not taken notice of
+it. For when Wood being burnt in a Chimney is dissipated by the Fire
+into Smoke and Ashes, that smoke composes soot, which is so far from
+being any one of the principles of the Wood, that (as I noted above)
+you may by a further <i>Analysis</i> separate five or six distinct
+substances from it. And as for the remaining Ashes, the Chymists
+themselves teach us, that by a further degree of fire they may be
+indissolubly united into glass. &#8217;Tis true, that the <i>A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">(221)</a></span>nalysis</i> which
+the Chymists principally build upon is made, not in the open air, but
+in close Vessels; but however, the Examples lately produc&#8217;d may invite
+you shrewdly to suspect, That heat may as well compound as dissipate
+the Parts of mixt Bodies: and not to tell you, that I have known a
+Vitrification made even in close vessels, I must remind you that the
+Flowers of Antimony, and those of Sulphur, are very mix&#8217;d Bodies,
+though they ascend in close vessells: And that &#8217;twas in stopt glasses
+that I brought up the whole Body of Camphire. And whereas it may be
+objected, that all these Examples are of Bodies forc&#8217;d up in a dry,
+not a Fluid forme, as are the Liquors wont to be obtain&#8217;d by
+distillation; I answer, That besides that &#8217;tis possible, that a Body
+may be chang&#8217;d from Consistent to Fluid, or from Fluid to Consistent,
+without being otherwise much altered, as may appear by the Easiness
+wherewith in Winter, without any Addition or Separation of Visible
+Ingredients, the same substance may be quickly harden&#8217;d into brittle
+Ice, and thaw&#8217;d again into Fluid Water; Besides this, I say it would
+be consider&#8217;d, that common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">(222)</a></span> Quick-silver it self, which the Eminentest
+Chymists confess to be a mixt Body, may be Driven over the Helme in
+its Pristine forme of Quicksilver, and consequently, in that of a
+Liquor. And certainly &#8217;tis possible that very compounded Bodies may
+concur to Constitute Liquors; Since, not to mention that I have found
+it possible, by the help of a certain <i>Menstruum</i>, to distill Gold it
+self through a Retort, even with a Moderate Fire: Let us but consider
+what happens in Butter of Antimony. For if that be carefully
+rectify&#8217;d, it may be reduc&#8217;d into a very clear Liquor; and yet if You
+cast a quantity of fair water upon it, there will quickly precipitate
+a Ponderous and Vomitive Calx, which made before a considerable part
+of the Liquor, and yet is indeed (though some eminent Chymists would
+have it Mercurial) an Antimonial Body carryed over and kept dissolv&#8217;d
+by the Salts of the Sublimate, and consequently a compounded one; as
+You may find if You will have the Curiosity to Examine this White
+powder by a skilful Reduction. And that You may not think that Bodies
+as compounded as flowers of Brimstone cannot be brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">(223)</a></span> to Concurr to
+Constitute Distill&#8217;d Liquors; And also That You may not imagine with
+Divers Learned Men that pretend no small skill in Chymistry, that at
+least no mixt Body can be brought over the Helme, but by corrosive
+Salts, I am ready to shew You, when You please, among other wayes of
+bringing over Flowers of Brimstone (perhaps I might add even Mineral
+Sulphurs) some, wherein I employ none but Oleaginous bodies to make
+Volatile Liquors, in which not only the colour, but (which is a much
+surer mark) the smell and some Operations manifest that there is
+brought over a Sulphur that makes part of the Liquor.</p>
+
+<p>One thing more there is, <i>Eleutherius</i>, sayes <i>Carneades</i>, which is so
+pertinent to my present purpose, that though I have touch&#8217;d upon it
+before, I cannot but on this occasion take notice of it. And it is
+this, That the Qualities or Accidents, upon whose account Chymists are
+wont to call a portion of Matter by the name of Mercury or some other
+of their Principles, are not such but that &#8217;tis possible as Great (and
+therefore why not the like?) may be produc&#8217;d by such changes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">(224)</a></span> of
+Texture, and other Alterations, as the Fire may make in the small
+Parts of a Body. I have already prov&#8217;d, when I discours&#8217;d of the
+second General Consideration, by what happens to plants nourish&#8217;d only
+with fair water, and Eggs hatch&#8217;d into Chickens, that by changing the
+disposition of the component parts of a Body, Nature is able to effect
+as great Changes in a parcell of Matter reputed similar, as those
+requisite to Denominate one of the <i>Tria Prima</i>. And though <i>Helmont</i>
+do somewhere wittily call the Fire the Destructor and the Artificial
+Death of Things; And although another Eminent Chymist and Physitian be
+pleas&#8217;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 consider
+how many new sorts of mixt Bodies Chymists themselves have produc&#8217;d by
+means of the Fire: And particularly, if You consider how that Noble
+and Permanent Body, Glass, is not only manifestly produc&#8217;d by the
+violent action of the Fire, but has never, for ought we know, been
+produc&#8217;d any other way. And indeed it seems but an inconsiderate
+Assertion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">(225)</a></span> some <i>Helmontians</i>, that every sort of Body of a
+Peculiar Denomination must be produc&#8217;d by some Seminal power; as I
+think I could evince, if I thought it so necessary, as it is for me to
+hasten to what I have further to discourse. Nor need it much move us,
+that there are some who look upon whatsoever the Fire is employ&#8217;d to
+produce, not as upon Natural but Artificial Bodies. For there is not
+alwaies such a difference as many imagine betwixt the one and the
+other: Nor is it so easy as they think, clearly to assigne that which
+Properly, Constantly, and Sufficiently, Discriminates them. But not to
+engage my self in so nice a Disquisition, it may now suffice to
+observe, that a thing is commonly termed Artificial, when a parcel of
+matter is by the Artificers hand, or Tools, or both, brought to such a
+shape or Form, as he Design&#8217;d before-hand in his Mind: Whereas in many
+of the Chymical Productions the effect would be produc&#8217;d whether the
+Artificer intended it or no; and is oftentimes very much other then he
+Intended or Look&#8217;t for; and the Instruments employ&#8217;d, are not Tools
+Artificially fashion&#8217;d and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">(226)</a></span> shaped, like those of Tradesmen, for this
+or that particular Work; but, for the most part, Agents of Nature&#8217;s
+own providing, and whose 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 Chymist that imployes it,
+does but apply Natural Agents and Patients, who being thus brought
+together, and acting according to their respective Natures, performe
+the worke themselves; as Apples, Plums, or other fruit, are natural
+Productions, though the Gardiner bring and fasten 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 say, You may observe with me, <i>Eleutherius</i>, that, as I told You
+once before, Qualities sleight enough may serve to Denominate a
+Chymical Principle. For, when they anatomize a compound Body by the
+Fire, if they get a Substance inflamable, and that will not mingle
+with Water, that they presently call Sulphur; what is sapid and
+Dissoluble in Water, that must pass for Salt; Whatsoever is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">(227)</a></span> fix&#8217;d and
+indissoluble in Water, that they name Earth. And I was going to add,
+that, whatsoever Volatile substance they know not what to make of, not
+to say, whatsoever they please, that they call Mercury. But that these
+Qualities may either be produc&#8217;d, otherwise then by such as they call
+Seminal Agents, or may belong to bodies of a compounded Nature, may be
+shewn, among other Instances, in Glass made of ashes, where the
+exceeding strongly-tasted <i>Alcalizate</i> Salt joyning with the Earth
+becomes insipid, and with it constitutes a Body, which though also
+dry, fixt, and indissoluble in Water, is yet manifestly a mixt Body;
+and made so by the Fire itself.</p>
+
+<p>And I remmember to our present purpose, that <i>Helmont</i>,<span class="sidenote">Helmont pag. 412.</span> amongst
+other Medicines that he commends, has a short processe, wherein,
+though the Directions for Practice are but obscurely intimated; yet I
+have some reason not to Dis-believe the Process, without affirming or
+denying any thing about the vertues of the remedy to be made by it.
+<i>Quando</i> (sayes he) <i>oleum cinnamomi &amp;c. suo sali alkali miscetur
+absque omni aqua, trium mensium artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
+totum in salem vola<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">(228)</a></span>tilem commutatum est, vere essentiam sui simplicis
+in nobis exprimit, &amp; usque in prima nostri constitutivasese ingerit.</i>
+A not unlike Processe he delivers in another place; from whence, if we
+suppose him to say true, I may argue, that since by the Fire there may
+be produc&#8217;d a substance that is as well Saline and volatile as the
+Salt of Harts-horn, blood, &amp;c. which pass for Elementary; and since
+that this Volatile Salt is really compounded of a Chymical Oyle and a
+fixt Salt, the one made Volatile by the other, and both associated by
+the fire, it may well be suspected that other Substances, emerging
+upon the Dissipation of Bodies by the Fire, may be new sorts of Mixts,
+and consist of Substances of differing natures; and particularly, I
+have sometimes suspected, that since the Volatile Salts of Blood,
+Harts-horn, &amp;c. are <a href="#ERRATA">figitive</a> and endow&#8217;d with an
+exceeding strong smell, either that Chymists do Erroneously ascribe
+all odours to sulphurs, or that such Salts consist of some oyly parts
+well incorporated with the Saline ones. And the like conjecture I have
+also made concerning Spirit of Vinager, which, though the Chymists
+think one of the Principles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">(229)</a></span> of that Body, and though being an Acid
+Spirit it seems to be much less of kin then Volatile Salts to
+sulphurs; yet, not to mention its piercing smell; which I know not
+with what congruity the Chymist will deduce from Salt, I wonder they
+have not taken notice of what their own <i>Tyrocinium Chymicum</i><span class="sidenote">Tyroc. Chym.<br />L. 1. C. 4.</span> teach us
+concerning the Destillation of <i>Saccharum Saturni</i>; out of which
+<i>Beguinus</i> assures Us, that he distill&#8217;d, besides a very fine
+spirit, no lesse then two Oyles, the one blood-red and ponderous, but
+the other swimming upon the top of the Spirit, and of a yellow colour;
+of which he sayes that he kept then some by him, to verify what he
+delivers. And though I remember not that I have had two distinct Oyles
+from Sugar of Lead, yet that it will though distill&#8217;d without addition
+yield some Oyle, disagrees not with my Experience. I know the Chymists
+will be apt to pretend, that these Oyls are but the volatiliz&#8217;d
+sulphur of the lead; and will perhaps argue it from what <i>Beguinus</i>
+relates, that when the Distillation is ended, you&#8217;l find a <i>Caput
+Mortuum</i> extreamly black, and (as he speaks) <i>nullius momenti</i>, as if
+the Body, or at least the chief part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">(230)</a></span> the Metal it self were by the
+distillation carried over the Helme. But since you know as well as I
+that <i>Saccharum Saturni</i> is a kind of Magistery, made only by
+calcining of Lead <i>per se</i>, dissolving it in distill&#8217;d Vinager, and
+crystalizing the solution; if I had leasure to tell You how Differing
+a thing I did upon examination find the <i>Caput Mortuum</i>, so sleighted
+by <i>Beguinus</i>, to be from what he represents it, I believe you would
+think the conjecture propos&#8217;d less probable then one or other of these
+three; either that this Oyle did formerly concur to constitute the
+Spirit of Vinager, and so that what passes for a Chymical Principle
+may yet be further resoluble into distinct substances; or that some
+parts of the Spirit together with some parts of the Lead may
+constitute a Chymical Oyle, which therefore though it pass for
+Homogeneous, may be a very compounded Body: or at least that by the
+action of the Distill&#8217;d Vinager and the Saturnine Calx one upon
+another, part of the Liquor may be so alter&#8217;d as to be transmuted from
+an Acid Spirit into an Oyle. And though the truth of either of the two
+former conjectures would make the example I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">(231)</a></span> have reflected on more
+pertinent to my present argument; yet you&#8217;l easily discern, the Third
+and last Conjecture cannot be unserviceable to confirm some other
+passages of my discourse.</p>
+
+<p>To return then to what I was saying just before I mention&#8217;d
+<i>Helmont&#8217;s</i> Experiment, I shall subjoyne, That Chymists must confess
+also that in the perfectly Dephlegm&#8217;d spirit of Wine, or other
+Fermented Liquors, that which they call the Sulphur of the Concrete
+loses, by the Fermentation, the Property of Oyle, (which the Chymists
+likewise take to be the true Sulphur of the Mixt) of being unminglable
+with the Water. And if You will credit <i>Helmont</i>,<span class="sidenote"><i>Ostendi alias, quomodo lib. una aqu&aelig; vit&aelig; combibita in
+sale Tartari siccato, vix fiat semuncia salis, c&aelig;terum totum corpus
+fiat aqua Elementalis. Helmont. in Aura vitali.</i></span> <a href="#ERRATA">all</a>
+of the purest Spirit of Wine may barely by the help of pure
+Salt of Tartar (which is but the fixed Salt of Wine) be resolv&#8217;d or
+Transmuted into scarce half an ounce of Salt, and as much Elementary
+Water as amounts to the remaining part of the mention&#8217;d weight. And it
+may (as I think I formerly also noted) be doubted, whether that Fixt
+and Alcalizate Salt, which is so unanimously agreed on to be the
+Saline Principle of incinerated Bodies, be not,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">(232)</a></span> as &#8217;tis Alcalizate, a
+Production of the Fire? For though the tast of Tartar, for Example,
+seem to argue that it contains a Salt before it be burn&#8217;d, yet that
+Salt being very Acid is of a quite Differing Tast from the Lixiviate
+Salt of Calcin&#8217;d Tartar. And though it be not truly Objected against
+the Chymists, that they obtain all Salts they make, by reducing the
+Body they work on into Ashes with Violent Fires, (since Hartshorn,
+Amber, Blood, and divers other Mixts yield a copious Salt before they
+be burn&#8217;d to Ashes) yet this Volatile Salt Differs much, as we shall
+see anon, from the Fixt Alcalizate Salt I speak of; which for ought I
+remember is not producible by any known Way, without Incineration.
+&#8217;Tis not unknown to Chymists, that Quicksilver may be Precipitated,
+without Addition, into a dry Powder, that remains so in Water. And
+some eminent <i>Spagyrists</i>, and even <i>Raimund Lully</i> himself, teach,
+that meerly by the Fire Quicksilver may in convenient Vessels be
+reduc&#8217;d (at least in great part) into a thin Liquor like Water, and
+minglable with it. So that by the bare Action<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">(233)</a></span> of the Fire, &#8217;tis
+possible, that the parts of a mixt Body should be so dispos&#8217;d after
+new and differing manners, that it may be sometimes of one
+consistence, sometimes of another; And may in one State be dispos&#8217;d to
+be mingl&#8217;d with Water, and in another not. I could also shew you, that
+Bodies from which apart Chymists cannot obtain any thing that is
+Combustible, may by being associated together, and by the help of the
+Fire, afford an inflamable Substance. And that on the other side, &#8217;tis
+possible for a Body to be inflamable, from which it would very much
+puzzle any ordinary Chymist; and perhaps any other, to separate an
+inflamable Principle or Ingredient. Wherefore, since the Principles of
+Chymists may receive their Denominations from Qualities, which it
+often exceeds not the power of Art, nor alwayes that of the Fire to
+produce; And since such Qualities may be found in Bodies that differ
+so much in other Qualities from one another, that they need not be
+allow&#8217;d to agree in that pure and simple Nature, which Principles, to
+be so indeed, must have; it may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">(234)</a></span> justly be suspected, that many
+Productions of the Fire that are shew&#8217;d us by Chymists, as the
+Principles of the Concrete that afforded them, may be but a new kind
+of Mixts. And to annex, on this Occasion, to these arguments taken
+from the Nature of the thing, one of those which <i>Logicians</i> call <i>ad
+Hominem</i>, I shall desire You to take Notice, that though <i>Paracelsus</i>
+Himself, and some that are so mistaken as to think he could not be so,
+have ventur&#8217;d to teach, that not only the bodies here below, but the
+Elements themselves, and all the other Parts of the Universe, are
+compos&#8217;d of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; yet the learned <i>Sennertus</i>,
+and all the more wary Chymists, have rejected that conceit, and do
+many of them confess, that the <i>Tria Prima</i> 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 Constitution of Mixt bodies. So
+that one sort of these <i>Spagyrists</i>, notwithstanding the specious
+Titles they give to the productions of the Fire, do in effect grant
+what I contend for. And, of the o<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">(235)</a></span>ther sort I may well demand, to what
+Kind of Bodies the Phlegme and dead Earth, to be met with in Chymical
+Resolutions, are to be referr&#8217;d? For either they must say, with
+<i>Paracelsus</i>, but against their own Concessions as well as against
+Experience, that these are also compos&#8217;d of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, whereof
+they cannot separate any one from either of them; or else they must
+confess that two of the vastest Bodies here below, Earth, and Water,
+are neither of them compos&#8217;d of the <i>Tria Prima</i>; and that
+consequently those three are not the Universal, and Adequate
+Ingredients, neither of all Sublunary Bodies, nor even of all mixt
+Bodies.</p>
+
+<p>I know that the chief of these Chymists represent, that though the
+Distinct Substances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire,
+are not pure and Homogeneous; yet since the four Elements into which
+the <i>Aristotelians</i> pretend to resolve the like bodies by the same
+Agent, are not simple neither, as themselves acknowledge, &#8217;tis as
+allowable for the Chymists to call the one Principles, as for the
+Peripateticks to call the other Elements; since in both cases the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">(236)</a></span>
+Imposition of the name is grounded only upon the Predominancy of that
+Element whose name is ascrib&#8217;d to it. Nor shall I deny, that this
+Argument of the Chymists is no ill one against the <i>Aristotelians</i>.
+But what Answer can it prove to me, who you know am disputing against
+the <i>Aristotelian</i> Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and must not
+look upon any body as a true Principle or Element, but as yet
+compounded, which is not perfectly Homogeneous, but is further
+Resoluble into any number of Distinct Substances how small soever. And
+as for the Chymists calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, upon
+pretence that the Principle of the same name is predominant in it,
+That it self is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely that
+these productions of the Fire, are yet compounded bodies. And yet
+whilst this is granted, it is affirm&#8217;d, but not prov&#8217;d, that the
+reputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, consists mainly of one body that
+deserves the name of a principle of the same Denomination. For how do
+Chymists make it appear that there are any such primitive and simple
+bo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">(237)</a></span>dies in those we are speaking of; since &#8217;tis upon the matter
+confess&#8217;d by the answer lately made, that these are not such? And if
+they pretend by Reason to evince what they affirm, what becomes of
+their confident boasts, that the <a href="#ERRATA">Chymists</a> (whom they
+therefore, after <i>Beguinus</i>, call a <i>Philosophus</i> or <i>Opifex
+Sensatus</i>) can convince our Eyes, by manifestly shewing in any mixt
+body those simple substances he teaches them to be compos&#8217;d of? And
+indeed, for the Chymists to have recourse in this case to other proofs
+then Experiments, as it is to wave the grand Argument that has all
+this while been given out for a Demonstrative One; so it releases me
+from the obligation to prosecute a Dispute wherein I am not engag&#8217;d to
+Examine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plausibly Enough
+be Represented, in favour of the Chymists, that it being evident that
+much the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, or
+Mercury, is really such; it would be very rigid to deny those
+Substances the names ascribed them, only because of some sleight
+mixture of another Body; since not only the Peripateticks call
+particular parcels of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">(238)</a></span> matter Elementary, though they acknowledge that
+Elements are not to be anywhere found pure, at least here below; And
+since especially there is a manifest Analogie and Resemblance betwixt
+the bodies obtainable by Chymical Anatomies and the principles whose
+names are given them; I have, I say, consider&#8217;d that these things may
+be represented: But as for what is drawn from the Custome of the
+Peripateticks, I have already told You, that though it may be employ&#8217;d
+against Them, Yet it is not available against me who allow nothing to
+be an Element that is not perfectly Homogeneous. And whereas it is
+alledg&#8217;d, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to the
+substance wherein it abounds; I answer, that that might much more
+reasonably be said, if either we or the Chymists had seen Nature take
+pure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mercury, and compound of them every
+sort of Mixt Bodies. But, since &#8217;tis to experience that they appeal,
+we must not take it for granted, that the Distill&#8217;d Oyle (for
+instance) of a plant is mainly compos&#8217;d of the pure principle call&#8217;d
+Sulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">(239)</a></span> that there is in
+that sort of Plants such an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for the
+specious argument, which is drawn from the Resemblance betwixt the
+Productions of the Fire, and the Respective, either <i>Aristotelian</i>
+Elements, or <i>Chymical</i> Principles, by whose names they are call&#8217;d; it
+will appear more plausible then cogent, if You will but recall to mind
+the state of the controversie; which is not, whether or no there be
+obtain&#8217;d from mixt Bodies certain substances that agree in outward
+appearance, or in some Qualities with Quicksilver or Brimstone, or
+some such obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodies
+confess&#8217;d to be perfectly mixt were compos&#8217;d of, and are resoluble
+into a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keep
+the state of the question in your Eye, you&#8217;l easily discerne that
+there is much of what should be Demonstrated, left unprov&#8217;d by those
+Chymical Experiments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I have
+already discover&#8217;d more at large) I shall now take notice, that it
+will not presently follow, that because a Production of the Fire has
+some affinity with some of the greater Masses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">(240)</a></span> of matter here below,
+that therefore they are both of the same Nature, and deserve the same
+Name; for the Chymists are not content, that flame should be look&#8217;t
+upon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, and
+active, because it wants some other Qualities belonging to the nature
+of Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call Ashes, or
+Quicklime, Earth, notwithstanding the many likenesses between them;
+because they are not tastlesse, as Elementary Earth ought to be: But
+if you should ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomies
+of Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they consist of the three
+Principles into which the fire resolves them? I answer, that their
+Dissections may be granted to prove, that some mixt bodies (for in
+many it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included in
+close Vessels, (for that Condition also is often requisite) <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: dissoluble">dissolube</span>
+into several Substances differing in
+some Qualities, but principally in Consistence. So that out of most of
+them may be obtain&#8217;d a fixt substance partly saline, and partly
+insipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">(241)</a></span> more that without
+being unctuous have a manifest taste. Now if Chymists will agree to
+call the dry and sapid substance salt, the Unctous liquor Sulphur, and
+the other Mercury, I shall not much quarrel with them for so doing:
+But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are simple
+and primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, and
+which was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, they
+must give me leave to doubt whether (whatever their other arguments
+may do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will also tell
+me that the Substances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, are
+pure and similar, as Principles ought to be, they must give me leave
+to believe my own senses; and their own confessions, before their bare
+Assertions. And that you may not (<i>Eleutherius</i>) think I deal so
+rigidly with them, because I scruple to Take these Productions of the
+Fire for such as the Chymists would have them pass for, upon the
+account of their having some affinity with them; consider a little
+with me, that in regard an Element or Principle ought to be perfectly
+Similar and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">(242)</a></span> Homogeneous, there is no just cause why I should rather
+give the body propos&#8217;d the Name of this or that Element or Principle,
+because it has a resemblance to it in some obvious Quality, rather
+then deny it that name upon the account of divers other Qualities,
+wherein the propos&#8217;d Bodies are unlike; and if you do but consider
+what sleight and easily producible qualities they are that suffice, as
+I have already more then once observ&#8217;d, to Denominate a Chymical
+Principle or an Element, you&#8217;l not, I hope, think my wariness to be
+destitute either of Example, or else of Reason. For we see that the
+Chymists will not allow the <i>Aristotelians</i> that the Salt in Ashes
+ought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Terrestrial part
+symbolize in weight, in dryness, in fixness and fusibility, only
+because the one is sapid and dissoluble in Water, and the other not:
+Besides, we see that sapidness and volatility are wont to denominate
+the Chymists Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you,
+may agree in those Qualities which may yet be of very differing
+natures, and disagree in qualities either more numerous, or more
+considerable, or both. For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">(243)</a></span> not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua Fortis,
+Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit of
+Vinager, and all Saline Liquors Distill&#8217;d from Animal Bodies, but all
+the Acetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All these, I
+say, and many others must belong to the Chymists Mercury, though it
+appear not why some of them should more be comprehended under one
+denomination then the Chymists Sulphur, or Oyle should likewise be;
+for their Distill&#8217;d Oyles are also Fluid, Volatile, and Tastable, as
+well as their Mercury; Nor is it Necessary, that their Sulphur should
+be Unctuous or Dissoluble in Water, since they generally referr Spirit
+of Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and will
+freely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability must constitute
+the Essence of the Chymists Sulphur; as uninflamablenesse joyned with
+any taste is enough to intitle a Distill&#8217;d Liquor to be their Mercury.
+Now since I can further observe to You, that Spirit of Nitre and
+Spirit of Harts-horne being pour&#8217;d together will boile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">(244)</a></span> and hisse and
+tosse up one another into the air, which the Chymists make signes of
+great Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed these Spirits
+differ much both in Taste, Smell, and Operations;) Since I elsewhere
+tell you of my having made two sorts of Oyle out of the same mans
+blood, that would not mingle with one another; And since I might tell
+You Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodies
+which according to the Chymists must be huddl&#8217;d up together under one
+Denomination; I leave you to Judge whether such a multitude of
+Substances as may agree in these sleight Qualities, and yet Disagree
+in Others more Considerable, are more worthy to be call&#8217;d by the Name
+of a Principle (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to have
+appellations given them that may make them differ, in name too, from
+the bodies from which they so wildly differ in Nature. And hence also,
+by the bye, you may perceive that &#8217;tis not unreasonable to distrust
+the Chymists way of Argumentation, when being unable to shew us that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">(245)</a></span>
+such a Liquor is (for Example) purely saline, they prove, that at
+least salt is much the predominant principle, because that the
+propos&#8217;d substance is strongly tasted, and all Tast proceeds from
+salt; whereas those Spirits, such as spirit of Tartar, spirit of
+Harts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries of
+the Bodies that afford them, have manifestly a strong and piercing
+tast, and so has (according to what I formerly noted) the spirit of
+Box &amp;c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr&#8217;d to compose it has
+been separated from it. And indeed, if sapidness belong not to the
+spirit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I scarce know
+how it will be discriminated from their phlegm, since by the absence
+of Inflamability it must be distinguish&#8217;d from their sulphur, which
+affords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the Chymical
+Doctrine is in our present Case; since not only the spirits of
+Vegitables and Animals, but their Oyles are very strongly tasted, as
+he that shall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or of
+Cloves, or even of Turpentine, may quickly find, to his smart. And not
+only I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">(246)</a></span> never try&#8217;d any Chymical Oyles whose tast was not very
+manifest and strong; but a skilful and inquisitive person who made it
+his business by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, and
+reduce them to an Elementary simplicity, Informes us, that he never
+was able to make them at all Tastless; whence I might inferr, that the
+proof Chymists confidently give us of a bodies being saline, is so far
+from demonstrating the Predominancy, that it does not clearly Evince
+so much as the presence of the saline Principle in it. But I will not
+(pursues <i>Carneades</i>) remind you, that the Volatile salt of
+Harts-horn, Amber, Blood, &amp;c. are exceeding strongly scented,
+notwithstanding that most Chymists deduce Odours from Sulphur, and
+from them argue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorous
+body, because I must not so much as add any new Examples of the
+incompetency of this sort of Chymical arguments; since having already
+detain&#8217;d You but too long in those generals that appertain to my
+fourth consideration, &#8217;tis time that I proceed to the particulars
+themselves, to which I thought fit they should be previous:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">(247)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These Generals (continues <i>Carneades</i>) being thus premis&#8217;d, we might
+the better survey the Unlikeness that an attentive and unprepossess&#8217;d
+observer may take notice of in each sort of Bodies which the Chymists
+are wont to call the salts or sulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretes
+that yield Them, as if they had all a simplicity, and Identity of
+Nature: whereas salts if they were all Elementary would as little
+differ as do the Drops of pure and simple Water. &#8217;Tis known that both
+Chymists and Physitians ascribe to the fixt salts of calcin&#8217;d Bodies
+the vertues of their concretes; and consequently very differing
+Operations. So we find the <i>Alkali</i> of Wormwood much commended in
+distempers of the stomach; that of Eyebright for those that have a
+weak sight; and that of <i>Guaiacum</i> (of which a great Quantity yields
+but a very little salt) is not only much commended in Venereal
+Diseases, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, which
+yet I have not had occasion to try. And though, I confess, I have long
+thought, that these <i>Alkalizate</i> salts are, for the most part, very
+neer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">(248)</a></span> the
+Concretes whence they were separated; Yet being minded to Observe
+watchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this General
+Observation, I observ&#8217;d at the Glasse-house, that sometimes the Metal
+(as the Workmen call it) or Masse of colliquated Ingredients, which by
+Blowing they fashion into Vessels of divers shapes, did sometimes
+prove of a very differing colour, and a somewhat differing Texture,
+from what was usuall. And having enquired whether the cause of such
+Accidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixt
+salt employ&#8217;d to bring the sand to fusion, I found that the knowingst
+Workmen imputed these Mis-adventures to the <a href="#ERRATA">Ashes, of</a>
+some certain kind of Wood, as having observ&#8217;d the ignobler kind
+of Glass I lately mention&#8217;d to be frequently produc&#8217;d when they had
+employ&#8217;d such sorts of Ashes which therefore they scruple to make use
+of, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember also, that an
+Industrious Man of my acquaintance having bought a vast quantity of
+Tobacco stalks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curiosity to go see
+whether that Exotick Plant, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">(249)</a></span> so much abounds in volatile salt,
+would afford a peculiar kind of <i>Alcali</i>; and I was pleas&#8217;d to find
+that in the <i>Lixivium</i> of it, it was not necessary, as is usual, to
+evaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain&#8217;d a Saline Calx,
+consisting like lime quench&#8217;d in the Air of a heap of little
+Corpuscles of unregarded shapes; but the fixt salt shot into figur&#8217;d
+Crystal, almost as Nitre or <i>Sal-armoniack</i> and other uncalcin&#8217;d salts
+are wont to do; And I further remember that I have observ&#8217;d in the
+fixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a tast not
+so unlike to that of common salt, and very differing from the wonted
+caustick Lixiviate tast of other salts made by Incineration. But
+because the Instances I have alledg&#8217;d of the Difference of
+<i>Alcalizate</i> salt are but few, and therefore I am still inclin&#8217;d to
+think, that most Chymists and many Physitians do, inconsideratly
+enough and without Warrant from Experience, ascribe the Vertues of the
+Concretes expos&#8217;d to Calcination, to the salts obtain&#8217;d by it; I shall
+rather, to shew the Disparity of salts, mention in the first Place the
+apparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt salts and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">(250)</a></span> Animal
+Volatile ones: As (for Example) betwixt salt of Tartar, and salt of
+Harts-horn; whereof the former is so fixt that &#8217;twill indure the brunt
+of a violent Fire, and stand in fusion like a Metal; whereas the other
+(besides that it has a differing tast and a very differing smell) is
+so far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat as
+easily as Spirit of Wine it self. And to this I shall add, in the next
+place, That even among the Volatile salts themselves, there is a
+considerable Difference, as appears by the distinct Properties of (for
+Instance) salt of Amber, salt of Urine, salt of Mans Skull, (so much
+extoll&#8217;d against the falling Sicknesse) and divers others which cannot
+escape an ordinary Observer. And this Diversity of Volatile salts I
+have observ&#8217;d to be somtimes Discernable even to the Eye, in their
+Figures. For the salt of Harts-horn I have observ&#8217;d to adhere to the
+Receiver in the forme almost of a <i>Parallelipipedon</i>; and of the
+Volatile salt of humane blood (long digested before distillation, with
+spirit of Wine) I can shew you store of graines of that Figure which
+<i>Geometricians</i> call a <i>Rhombus</i>; though I dare not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">(251)</a></span> undertake that
+the Figures of these or other Saline Crystals (if I may so call Them)
+will be alwaies the same, whatever degree of Fire have been employ&#8217;d
+to force them up, or how hastily soever they have been made to convene
+in the spirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have usually
+observ&#8217;d them after a while to shoot. And although, as I lately told
+You, I seldom found any Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixt
+Salts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have suspected that most
+of these volatile Salts, having so great a Resemblance in smell, in
+tast, and fugitiveness, 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 somewhat Diaphoretick and very
+<a href="#ERRATA">Deopilative;</a> Yet I remember <i>Helmont</i><span class="sidenote"><i>Error vero per distillationem nobis monstrat etiam
+Spiritum salinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gustu
+distinguibilem a spiritu Urin&aelig;; In eo tamen essentialiter diversum,
+quod spiritus talis cruoris curat Epilepsiam, non autem Spiritus salis
+lotii.</i> Helmont. Aura Vitalis.</span>
+somewhere informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt the
+saline spirit of Urine and that of Mans blood, that the former will
+not cure the Epilepsy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">(252)</a></span> but the Latter will. Of the Efficacy also of
+the Salt of Common Amber against the same Disease in Children, (for in
+Grown Persons it is not a specifick) I may elsewhere have an Occasion
+to Entertain You. And when I consider that to the obtaining of these
+Volatile Salts (especially that of Urine) there is not requisite such
+a Destructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get those Salts
+that must be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude,
+that they may differ from one another, and consequently recede from an
+Elementary Simplicity. And, if I could here shew You what Mr. <i>Boyle</i>
+has Observ&#8217;d, touching the Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts;
+You would quickly discern, not only that Chymists do give themselves a
+strange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to their
+own Rules to be look&#8217;d upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that among
+those very Salts that seem Elementary, because produc&#8217;d upon the
+Anatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a visible
+Disparity, but, to speak in the common Lan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">(253)</a></span>guage, a manifest Antipathy
+or Contrariety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hissing that is
+wont to ensue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for Instance, is
+pour&#8217;d upon pot ashes, or Salt of Tartar. And I shall beg leave of
+this Gentleman, sayes <i>Carneades</i>, casting his Eyes on me, to let me
+observe to You out of some of his papers, particularly those wherein
+he treats of some Preparations of Urine, that not only one and the
+same body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he exemplifies
+in the Spirit and <i>Alkali</i> of Nitre; but that from the same body there
+may without addition be obtain&#8217;d three differing and Visible Salts.
+For He Relates, that he observ&#8217;d in Urine, not only a Volatile and
+Crystalline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewise a kind of <i>Sal
+Armoniack</i>, or such a Salt as would sublime in the form of a salt, and
+therefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being so fugitive as the
+Volatile salt; from which it seem&#8217;d also otherwise to differ. I have
+indeed suspected that this may be a <i>Sal Armoniack</i> properly enough so
+call&#8217;d, as Compounded of the Volatile salt of Urine, and the fixt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">(254)</a></span> of
+the same Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike sea-salt; but that
+it self argues a manifest Difference betwixt the salts, since such a
+Volatile salt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordinary <i>Alcali</i>, but
+to fly away from it in the Heat. And on this occasion I remember that,
+to give some of my Friends an Ocular proof of the difference betwixt
+the fixt and Volatile salt (of the same Concrete) Wood, I devis&#8217;d the
+following Experiment. I took common Venetian sublimate, and dissolv&#8217;d
+as much of it as I well could in fair Water: then I took Wood Ashes,
+and pouring on them Warme Water, Dissolv&#8217;d their salt; and filtrating
+the Water, as soon as I found the <i>Lixivium</i> sufficiently sharp upon
+the tongue, I reserv&#8217;d it for use: Then on part of the former solution
+of sublimate dropping a little of this Dissolv&#8217;d Fixt salt of Wood,
+the Liquors presently turn&#8217;d of an Orange Colour; but upon the other
+part of the clear solution of sublimate putting some of the Volatile
+salt of Wood (which abounds in the spirit of soot) the Liquor
+immediately turn&#8217;d white, almost like Milke, and af<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">(255)</a></span>ter a while let
+fall a white sediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To all
+this that I have said concerning the Difference of salts, I might add
+what I Formerly told you, concerning the simple spirit of Box, and
+such like Woods, which differ much from the other salts hitherto
+mention&#8217;d, and yet would belong to the saline Principle, if Chymists
+did truly teach that all Tasts proceed from it. And I might also
+annex, what I noted to you out of <i>Helmont</i><span class="sidenote"><i>Aliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &amp;c. suo sali Alcali miscetur
+absque omni aqua, trium mensium Artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
+totum in salem volatilem commutatum est. Helmont. Tria Prima
+Chymicorum, &amp;c. pag. 412.</i></span> concerning Bodies,
+which, though they consist in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yet
+appear but Volatile salts; But to insist on these things, were to
+repeat; and therefore I shall proceed.</p>
+
+<p>This Disparity is also highly eminent in the separated sulphurs or
+Chymical Oyles of things. For they contain so much of the scent, and
+tast, and vertues, of the Bodies whence they were drawn, that they
+seem to be but the Material <i>Crasis</i> (if I may so speak) of their
+Concretes. Thus the Oyles of Cinna<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">(256)</a></span>mon, Cloves, Nutmegs and other
+spices, seem to be but the United Aromatick parts that did ennoble
+those Bodies. And &#8217;tis a known thing, that Oyl of Cinnamon, and oyle
+of Cloves, (which I have likewise observ&#8217;d in the Oyles of several
+Woods) will sink to the Bottom of Water: whereas those of Nutmegs and
+divers other Vegetables will swim upon it. The Oyle (abusively call&#8217;d
+spirit) of Roses swims at the Top of the Water in the forme of a white
+butter, which I remember not to have observ&#8217;d in any other Oyle drawn
+in any Limbeck; yet there is a way (not here to be declar&#8217;d) by which
+I have seen it come over in the forme of other Aromatick Oyles, to the
+Delight and Wonder of those that beheld it. In Oyle of Anniseeds,
+which I drew both with, and without Fermentation, I observ&#8217;d the whole
+Body of the Oyle in a coole place to thicken into the Consistence and
+Appearance of white Butter, which with the least heat resum&#8217;d its
+Former Liquidness. In the Oyl of Olive drawn over in a Retort, I have
+likewise more then once seen a spontaneous Coagulation in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">(257)</a></span>
+Receiver: And I have of it by me thus Congeal&#8217;d; which is of such a
+strangely Penetrating scent, as if &#8217;twould Perforate the Noses that
+approach it. The like pungent Odour I also observ&#8217;d in the Distill&#8217;d
+Liquor of common sope, which forc&#8217;d over from <i>Minium</i>, lately
+afforded an oyle of a most admirable Penetrancy; And he must be a
+great stranger, both to the Writings and preparations of Chymists,
+that sees not in the Oyles they distill from Vegetables and Animals, a
+considerable and obvious Difference. Nay I shall venture to add,
+<i>Eleutherius</i>, (what perhaps you will think of kin to a Paradox) that
+divers times out of the same Animal or Vegetable, there may be
+extracted Oyles of Natures obviously differing. To which purpose I
+shall not insist on the swimming and sinking Oyles, which I have
+sometimes observ&#8217;d to float on, and subside under the spirit of
+<i>Guajacum</i>, and that of divers other Vegetables Distill&#8217;d with a
+strong and lasting Fire; Nor shall I insist on the observation
+elsewhere mention&#8217;d, of the divers and unminglable oyles afforded us
+by Humane Blood long fermented and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">(258)</a></span> Digested with spirit of Wine,
+because these kind of oyles may seem chiefly to differ in Consistence
+and Weight, being all of them high colour&#8217;d and adust. But the
+Experiment which I devis&#8217;d to make out this Difference of the oyles of
+the same Vegetable, <i>ad Oculum</i>, (as they speak) was this that
+followes. I took a pound of Annisseeds, and having grosly beaten them,
+caused them to be put into a very large glass Retort almost filled
+with fair Water; and placing this Retort in a sand Furnace, I caus&#8217;d a
+very Gentle heat to be administer&#8217;d during the first day, and a great
+part of the second, till the Water was for the most part drawn off,
+and had brought over with it at least most of the Volatile and
+Aromatick Oyle of the seeds. And then encreasing the Fire, and
+changing the Receiver, I obtain&#8217;d besides an Empyreumatical Spirit, a
+quantity of adust oyle; whereof a little floated upon the Spirit, and
+the rest was more heavy, and not easily separable from it. And whereas
+these oyles were very dark, and smell&#8217;d (as Chymists speak) so
+strongly of the Fire, that their Odour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">(259)</a></span> did not betray from what
+Vegetables they had been forc&#8217;d; the other <i>Aromatick</i> Oyle was
+enrich&#8217;d with the genuine smell and tast of the Concrete; and
+spontaneously coagulating it self into white butter did manifest <a href="#ERRATA">self</a>
+to be the true Oyle of Annisseeds; which Concrete I
+therefore chose to employ about this Experiment, that the Difference
+of these Oyles might be more conspicuous then it would have been, had
+I instead of it destill&#8217;d another Vegetable.</p>
+
+<p>I had almost forgot to take notice, that there is another sort of
+Bodies, which though not obtain&#8217;d from Concretes by Distillation, many
+Chymists are wont to call their Sulphur; not only because such
+substances are, for the most part, high colour&#8217;d (whence they are
+also, and that more properly, called Tinctures) as dissolv&#8217;d Sulphurs
+are wont to be; but especially because they are, for the most part,
+abstracted and separated from the rest of the Masse by Spirit of Wine:
+which Liquor those men supposing to be Sulphureous, they conclude,
+that what it works upon, and abstracts, must be a Sulphur also. And
+upon this account they presume, that they can sequester the sul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">(260)</a></span>phur
+even of Minerals and Metalls; from which &#8217;tis known that they cannot
+by Fire alone separate it. To all This I shall answer; That if these
+sequestred substances where indeed the sulphurs of the Bodies whence
+they are drawn, there would as well be a great Disparity betwixt
+Chymical Sulphurs obtain&#8217;d by Spirit of Wine, as I have already shewn
+there is betwixt those obtain&#8217;d by Distillation in the forme of Oyles:
+which will be evident from hence, that not to urge that themselves
+ascribe distinct vertues to Mineral Tinctures, extolling the Tincture
+of Gold against such and such Diseases; the Tincture of Antimony, or
+of its Glass, against others; and the Tincture of Emerauld against
+others; &#8217;tis plain, that in Tinctures drawn from Vegetables, if the
+superfluous spirit of Wine be distill&#8217;d off, it leaves at the bottom
+that thicker substance which Chymists use to call the Extract of the
+Vegetable. And that these Extracts are endow&#8217;d with very differing
+Qualities according to the Nature of the Particular Bodies that
+afforded them (though I fear seldom with so much of the specifick
+vertues as is wont to be imagin&#8217;d) is freely confess&#8217;d<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">(261)</a></span> both by
+Physitians and Chymists. But, <i>Eleutherius</i>, (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) we
+may here take Notice that the Chymists do as well in this case, as in
+many others, allow themselves a License to abuse Words: For not again
+to argue from the differing properties of Tinctures, that they are not
+exactly pure and Elementary Sulphurs; they would easily appear not to
+be so much as Sulphur&#8217;s, although we should allow Chymical Oyles to
+deserve that Name. For however in some Mineral Tinctures the Natural
+fixtness of the extracted Body does not alwayes suffer it to be easily
+further resoluble into differing substances; Yet in very many extracts
+drawn from Vegetables, it may very easily be manifested that the
+spirit of Wine has not sequestred the sulphureous Ingredient from the
+saline and Mercurial ones; but has dissolv&#8217;d (for I take it to be a
+Solution) the finer Parts of the Concrete (without making any nice
+distinction of their being perfectly Sulphureous or not) and united it
+self with them into a kind of Magistery; which consequently must
+contain Ingredients or Parts of several sorts. For we see that the
+stones that are rich in vitriol,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">(262)</a></span> being often drench&#8217;d with
+rain-Water, the Liquor will then extract a fine and transparent
+substance coagulable into Vitriol; and yet though this Vitriol be
+readily dissoluble in Water, it is not a true Elementary Salt, but, as
+You know, a body resoluble into very differing Parts, whereof one (as
+I shall have occasion to tell You anon) is yet of a Metalline, and
+consequently not of an Elementary Nature. You may consider also, that
+common Sulphur is readily dissoluble in Oyle of Turpentine, though
+notwithstanding its Name it abounds as well, if not as much, in Salt
+as in true Sulphur; witness the great quantity of saline Liquor it
+affords being set to flame away under a glasse Bell. Nay I have, which
+perhaps You will think strange, with the same Oyle of Turpentine alone
+easily enough dissolv&#8217;d crude Antimony finely powder&#8217;d into a
+Blood-red Balsam, wherewith perhaps considerable things may be
+perform&#8217;d in Surgery. And if it were now Requisite, I could tell You
+of some other Bodies (such as Perhaps You would not suspect) that I
+have been able to work upon with certain Chymical Oyles. But instead
+of digressing further<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">(263)</a></span> I shall make this use of the Example I have
+nam&#8217;d. That &#8217;tis not unlikely, but that Spirit of Wine which by its
+pungent tast, and by some other Qualities that argue it better
+(especially its Reduciblenesse, according to <i>Helmont</i>, into <i>Alcali</i>,
+and Water,) seems to be as well of a Saline as of a Sulphureous
+Nature, may well be suppos&#8217;d Capable of Dissolving Substances That are
+not meerly Elementary sulphurs, though perhaps they may abound with
+Parts that are of kin thereunto. For I find that Spirit of Wine will
+dissolve <i>Gumm Lacca</i>, <i>Benzoine</i>, and the <i>Resinous</i> Parts of
+<i>Jallap</i>, and even of <i>Guaiacum</i>; whence we may well suspect that it
+may from Spices, Herbs, and other lesse compacted Vegetables, extract
+substances that are not perfect Sulphurs but mixt Bodies. And to put
+it past Dispute, there is many a Vulgar Extract drawn with Spirit of
+Wine, which committed to Distillation will afford such differing
+substances as will Loudly proclaim it to have been a very compounded
+Body. So that we may justly suspect, that even in Mineral Tinctures it
+will not alwaies follow, that because a red substance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">(264)</a></span> is drawn from
+the Concrete by spirit of Wine, that Substance is its true and
+Elementary Sulphur. And though some of these Extracts may perhaps be
+inflamable; Yet besides that others are not, and besides that their
+being reduc&#8217;d to such Minuteness of Parts may much facilitate their
+taking Fire; besides this, I say, We see that common Sulphur, common
+Oyle, Gumm Lac, and many Unctuous and Resinous Bodies, will flame well
+enough, though they be of very compounded natures: Nay Travellers of
+Unsuspected Credit assure Us, as a known thing, that in some Northern
+Countries where Firr trees and Pines abound, the poorer sort of
+Inhabitants use Long splinters of those Resinous Woods to burne
+instead of Candles. And as for the rednesse wont to be met with in
+such solutions, I could easily shew, that &#8217;tis not necessary it should
+proceed from the Sulphur of the Concrete, Dissolv&#8217;d by the Spirit of
+Wine; if I had leasure to manifest how much Chymists are wont to
+delude themselves and others by the Ignorance of those other causes
+upon whose account spirit of Wine and other <i>Menstruums</i> may acquire<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">(265)</a></span>
+a red or some other high colour. But to returne to our Chymical Oyles,
+supposing that they were exactly pure; Yet I hope they would be, as
+the best spirit of Wine is, but the more inflamable and deflagrable.
+And therefore since an Oyle can be by the Fire alone immediately
+turn&#8217;d into flame, which is something of a very differing Nature from
+it: I shall Demand how this Oyle can be a Primogeneal and
+Incorruptible Body, as most Chymists would have their Principles;
+Since it is further resoluble into flame, which whether or no it be a
+portion of the Element of Fire, as an <i>Aristotelian</i> would conclude,
+is certainly something of a very differing Nature from a Chymical
+Oyle, since it burnes, and shines, and mounts swiftly upwards; none of
+which a Chymical Oyle does, whilst it continues such. And if it should
+be Objected, that the Dissipated Parts of this flaming Oyle may be
+caught and collected again into Oyl or Sulphur; I shall demand, what
+Chymist appears to have ever done it; and without Examining whether it
+may not hence be as well said that sulphur is but compacted Fire, as
+that Fire is but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">(266)</a></span> diffus&#8217;d Sulphur, I shall leave you to consider
+whether it may not hence be argu&#8217;d, that neither Fire nor Sulphur are
+primitive and indestructible Bodies; and I shall further observe that,
+at least it will hence appear that a portion of matter may without
+being Compounded with new Ingredients, by having the Texture and
+Motion of its small parts chang&#8217;d, be easily, by the means of the
+Fire, endow&#8217;d with new Qualities, more differing from them it had
+before, then are those which suffice to discriminate the Chymists
+Principles from one another.</p>
+
+<p>We are next to Consider, whether in the Anatomy of mixt Bodies, that
+which Chymists call the Mercurial part of them be un-compounded, or
+no. But to tell You True, though Chymists do Unanimously affirm that
+their Resolutions discover a Principle, which they call Mercury, yet I
+find them to give of it Descriptions so Differing, and so
+&AElig;nigmaticall, that I, who am not asham&#8217;d to confess that I cannot
+understand what is not sence, must acknowledge to you that I know not
+what to make of them. <i>Paracelsus</i> himself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">(267)</a></span> therefore, as you
+will easily believe, many of his Followers, does somewhere call that
+Mercury which ascends upon the burning of Wood, as the Peripateticks
+are wont to take the same smoke for Air; and so seems to define
+Mercury by Volatility, or (if I may coyne such a Word) Effumability.
+But since, in this Example, both Volatile Salt and Sulphur make part
+of the smoke, which does indeed consist also both of Phlegmatick and
+Terrene Corpuscles, this Notion is not to be admitted; And I find that
+the more sober Chymists themselves disavow it. Yet to shew you how
+little of clearness we are to expect in the accounts even of latter
+<i>Spagyrists</i>, be pleas&#8217;d to take notice, that <i>Beguinus</i>, even in his
+<i>Tyrocinium Chymicum</i>,<span class="sidenote"><i>Chm. Tyrocin. lib. 1. Cap. 2.</i></span> written for the Instruction of Novices,
+when he comes to tell us what are meant by the <i>Tria Prima</i>, which for
+their being Principles ought to be defin&#8217;d the more accurately and
+plainly, gives us this Description of Mercury; <i>Mercurius</i> (sayes he)
+<i>est liquor ille acidus, permeabilis, penetrabilis, &aelig;thereus, ac
+purissimus, a quo omnis Nutricatio, Sensus, Motus, Vires, Colores,
+Senectutisque Pr&aelig;proper&aelig; retarda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">(268)</a></span>tio.</i> Which words are not so much a
+Definition of it, as an <i>Encomium</i>: and yet <i>Quercetanus</i> in his
+Description of the same Principle adds to these, divers other
+<i>Epithets</i>. But both of them, to skip very many other faults that may
+be found with their Metaphoricall Descriptions, speak incongruously to
+the Chymists own Principles. For if Mercury be an Acid Liquor, either
+Hermetical Philosophy must err in ascribing all Tasts to Salt, or else
+Mercury must not be a Principle, but Compounded of a Saline Ingredient
+and somewhat else. <i>Libavius</i>, though he find great fault with the
+obscurity of what the Chymists write concerning their Mercurial
+Principle, does yet but give us such a Negative Description of it, as
+<i>Sennertus</i>, how favourable soever to the <i>Tria Prima</i>, is not
+satisfi&#8217;d with. And this <i>Sennertus</i> Himself, though the Learnedst
+Champion for the Hypostatical Principles, does almost as frequently as
+justly complain of the unsatisfactoriness of what the Chymists teach
+concerning their Mercury; and yet he himself (but with his wonted
+modesty) Substitutes instead of the Description<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">(269)</a></span> of <i>Libavius</i>,
+another, which many Readers, especially if they be not Peripateticks,
+will not know what to make of. For scarce telling us any more, then
+that in all bodies that which is found besides Salt and Sulphur, and
+the Elements, or, as they call them, Phlegm and Dead Earth, is that
+Spirit which in <i>Aristotles</i> Language may be call&#8217;d
+<span lang="el" title="Greek: ousian analogon t&#244; t&#244;n astr&#244;n stoichai&#244;"><a href="#ERRATA">&#959;&#965;&#963;&#953;&#945;&#957; &#945;&#957;&#945;&#955;&#959;&#947;&#959;&#957;</a> &#964;&#969; &#964;&#969;&#957; <a href="#ERRATA">&#945;&#987;&#961;&#969;&#957; &#987;&#959;&#953;&#967;&#945;&#953;&#969;</a></span>.
+He sayes that which I confess is not at all
+satisfactory to me, who do not love to seem to acquiesce in any mans
+Mystical Doctrines, that I may be thought to understand them.</p>
+
+<p>If (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) I durst presume that the same thing would be
+thought clear by me, and those that are fond of such cloudy
+Expressions as You justly Tax the Chymists for, I should venture to
+offer to Consideration, whether or no, since the Mercurial Principle
+that arises from Distillation is unanimously asserted to be distinct
+from the salt and Sulphur of the same Concrete, that may not be call&#8217;d
+the Mercury of a Body, which though it ascend in Distillation, as do
+the Phlegme and Sulphur, is neither insipid like the former, nor
+infla<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">(270)</a></span>mable like the latter. And therefore I would substitute to the
+too much abused Name of Mercury, the more clear and Familiar
+Appellation of Spirit, which is also now very much made use of even by
+the Chymists themselves, of our times, though they have not given us
+so Distinct an Explication, as were fit, of what may be call&#8217;d the
+Spirit of a mixt Body.</p>
+
+<p>I should not perhaps (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) much quarrel with your Notion
+of Mercury. But as for the Chymists, what they can mean, with
+congruity to their own Principles, by the Mercury of Animals and
+Vegetables, &#8217;twill not be so easie to find out; for they ascribe Tasts
+only to the Saline Principle, and consequently would be much put to it
+to shew what Liquor it is, in the Resolution of Bodies, that not being
+insipid, for that they call Phlegme, neither is inflamable as Oyle or
+Sulphur, nor has any Tast; which according to them must proceed from a
+Mixture, at least, of Salt. And if we should take Spirit in the sence
+of the Word receiv&#8217;d among Modern Chymists and Physitians, for any
+Distill&#8217;d Liquor that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">(271)</a></span> is neither Phlegme nor oyle, the Appellation
+would yet appear Ambiguous enough. For, plainly, that which first
+ascends in the Distillation of Wine and Fermented Liquors, is
+generally as well by Chymists as others reputed a Spirit. And yet pure
+Spirit of Wine being wholly inflamable ought according to them to be
+reckon&#8217;d to the Sulphureous, not the Mercurial Principle. And among
+the other Liquors that go under the name of Spirits, there are divers
+which seem to belong to the family of Salts, such as are the Spirits
+of Nitre, Vitriol, Sea-Salt and others, and even the Spirit of
+Harts-horn, being, as I have try&#8217;d, in great part, if not totally
+reducible into Salt and Phlegme, may be suspected to be but a Volatile
+Salt disguis&#8217;d by the Phlegme mingl&#8217;d with it into the forme of a
+Liquor. However if this be a Spirit, it manifestly differs very much
+from that of Vinager, the Tast of the one being Acid, and the other
+Salt, and their Mixture in case they be very pure, sometimes
+occasioning an Effervescence like that of those Liquors the Chymists
+count most contrary to one another. And even among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">(272)</a></span> those Liquors that
+seem to have a better title then those hitherto mention&#8217;d, to the name
+of Spirits, there appears a sensible Diversity; For spirit of Oak, for
+instance, differs from that of Tartar, and this from that of Box, or
+of <i>Guaiacum</i>. And in short, even these spirits as well as other
+Distill&#8217;d Liquors manifest a great Disparity betwixt themselves,
+either in their Actions on our senses, or in their other operations.</p>
+
+<p>And (continues <i>Carneades</i>) besides this Disparity that is to be met
+with among those Liquors that the Modernes call spirits, &amp; take for
+similar bodies, what I have formerly told you concerning the Spirit of
+Box-wood may let you see that some of those Liquors not only have
+qualities very differing from others, but may be further resolved into
+substances differing from one another.</p>
+
+<p>And since many moderne Chymists and other Naturalists are pleased to
+take the Mercurial spirit of Bodies for the same Principle, under
+differing names, I must invite you to observe, with me, the great
+difference that is conspicuous betwixt all the Vegetable and Animal
+spirits I have mention&#8217;d and running<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">(273)</a></span> Mercury. I speak not of that
+which is commonly sold in shops that many of themselves will confesse
+to be a mixt Body; but of that which is separated from Metals, which
+by some Chymists that seem more Philosophers then the rest, and
+especially by the above mentioned <i>Claveus</i>, is (for distinction sake)
+called <i>Mercurius Corporum</i>. Now this Metalline Liquor being one of
+those three Principles of which Mineral Bodies are by <i>Spagyrists</i>
+affirmed to be compos&#8217;d and to be resoluble into them, the many
+notorious Differences betwixt them and the Mercuries, as They call
+Them, of Vegetables and Animals will allow me to inferr, either that
+Minerals and the other two sorts of Mixt Bodies consist not of the
+same Elements, or that those Principles whereinto Minerals are
+immediately resolved, which Chymists with great ostentation shew us as
+the true principles, of them, are but Secundary Principles, or Mixts
+of a peculiar sort, which must be themselves reduc&#8217;d to a very
+differing forme, to be of the same kind with Vegetable and Animal
+Liquors.</p>
+
+<p>But this is not all; for although I for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">(274)</a></span>merly told You how Little
+Credit there is to be given to the Chymical Processes commonly to be
+met with, of Extracting the Mercuries of Metals, Yet I will now add,
+that supposing that the more Judicious of Them do not untruly affirme
+that they have really drawn true and running Mercury from several
+Metals (which I wish they had cleerly taught Us how to do also,) yet
+it may be still doubted whether such extracted Mercuries do not as
+well differ from common Quicksilver, and from one another, as from the
+Mercuries of Vegetables and Animalls. <i>Claveus</i>,<span class="sidenote"><i>Dixi autem de argento vivo a metallis prolicito, quod
+vulgare ob nimiam frigiditatem &amp; humiditatem nimium concoctioni est
+contumax, nec ab auro solum alterato coerceri potest.</i> Gast. Clave. in
+Apoll.</span> in his Apology,
+speaking of some <i>experiments</i> whereby Metalline Mercuries may be fixt
+into the nobler metals, adds, that he spake of the Mercuries drawn
+from metals; because common Quicksilver by reason of its excessive
+coldnesse and moisture is unfit for that particular kind of operation;
+for which though a few lines before he prescribes in general the
+Mercuries of Metalline Bodies, yet he chiefly commends that drawn by
+art from silver.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">(275)</a></span> And elsewhere, in the same Book, he tells us, that
+he himself tryed, that by bare coction the quicksilver of Tin or
+Pewter (<i>argentum vivum ex stanno prolicitum</i>) may by an efficient
+cause, as he speaks, be turn&#8217;d into pure Gold. And the Experienc&#8217;d
+<i>Alexander van Suchten</i>, somewhere 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 shall add, that an eminent
+person, whose name his travells and learned writings have made famous,
+lately assur&#8217;d me that he had more then once seen the Mercury of Lead
+(which whatever Authors promise, you will find it very difficult to
+make, at least in any considerable quantity) fixt into perfect Gold.
+And being by me demanded whether or no any other Mercury would not as
+well have been changed by the same Operations, he assured me of the
+Negative.</p>
+
+<p>And since I am fallen upon the mention of the Mercuries of metals, you
+will perhaps expect (<i>Eleutherius</i>!) that I should say something of
+their two other principles; but must freely confess to you, that what
+Disparity there may be be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">(276)</a></span>tween the salts and sulphurs of Metals and
+other <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Minerals">Menerals</span>, I am not my self
+experienced enough in the separations and examens of them, to venture
+to determine: (for as for the salts of Metals, I formerly represented
+it as a thing much to be question&#8217;d, whether they have any at all:)
+And for the processes of separation I find in Authors, if they were
+(what many of them are not) successfully practicable, as I noted
+above, yet they are to be performed by the assistance of other bodies,
+so hardly, if upon any termes at all, separable from them, that it is
+very difficult to give the separated principles all their due, and no
+more. But the Sulphur of Antimony which is vehemently vomitive, and
+the strongly scented Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol inclines me to think
+that not only Mineral Sulphurs differ from Vegetable ones, but also
+from one another, retaining much of the nature of their Concretes. The
+salts of metals, and of some sort of minerals, You will easily guesse
+<a href="#ERRATA">by</a> the Doubts I formerly express&#8217;d, whether metals have
+any salt at <a href="#ERRATA">all</a>, that I have not been so happy as yet
+to see, perhaps not for want of curiosity. But if <i>Paracelsus</i> did
+alwaies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">(277)</a></span> write so consentaneously to himself that his opinion were
+<i>confidently</i> to be collected from every place of his writings where
+he seems to expresse it, I might safely take upon me to tell you, that
+he both countenances in general what I have delivered in my Fourth
+main consideration, and in particular warrants me to suspect that
+there may be a difference in metalline and mineral Salts, as well as
+we find it in those of other bodies. For, <i>Sulphur</i> (sayes he)<span class="sidenote">Paracel. de Mineral. Tract. 1. pag. 141.</span>
+<i>aliud in auro, aliud in argento, aliud in ferro, aliud in plumbo,
+stanno, &amp;c. sic aliud in Saphiro, aliud in Smaragdo, aliud in rubino,
+chrysolito, amethisto, magnete, &amp;c. Item aliud in lapidibus, silice,
+salibus, fontibus, &amp;c. nec vero tot sulphura tantum, sed &amp; totidem
+salia; sal aliud in metallis, aliud in gemmis, aliud in lapidibus,
+aliud in salibus, aliud in vitriolo, aliud in alumine: similis etiam
+Mercurii est ratio. Alius in Metallis, alius in Gemmis, &amp;c. Ita ut
+unicuique speciei suus peculiaris Mercurius sit. Et tamen res saltem
+tres sunt; una essentia est sulphur; una est sal; una est Mercurius.
+Addo quod &amp; specialius adhuc singula dividantur; aurum enim non unum,
+sed multiplex, ut et non unum pyrum, pomum, sed idem multiplex;
+totidem e<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">(278)</a></span>tiam sulphura auri, salia auri, mercurii auri; idem competit
+etiam metallis &amp; gemmis; ut quot saphyri pr&aelig;stantiores, l&aelig;vioris, &amp;c.
+tot etiam saphyrica sulphura, saphyrica salia, saphyrici Mercurii, &amp;c.
+Idem verum etiam est de turconibus &amp; gemmis aliis universis.</i> From
+which passage (<i>Eleutherius</i>) I suppose you will think I might without
+rashness conclude, either that my opinion is favoured by that of
+<i>Paracelsus</i>, or that <i>Paracelsus</i> his opinion was not alwaies the
+same. But because in divers other places of his writings he seems to
+talk at a differing rate of the three Principles and the four
+Elements, I shall content my self to inferr from the alledg&#8217;d passage,
+that if his doctrine be not consistent with that Part of mine which it
+is brought to countenance, it is very difficult to know what his
+opinion concerning salt, sulphur and mercury, was; and that
+consequently we had reason about the beginning of our conferences, to
+decline taking upon us, either to examine or oppose it.</p>
+
+<p>I know not whether I should on this occasion add, that those very
+bodies the Chymists call Phlegme and Earth do yet recede from an
+Elementary simplicity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">(279)</a></span> That common Earth and Water frequently do so,
+notwithstanding the received contrary opinion, is not deny&#8217;d by the
+more wary of the moderne Peripateticks themselves: and certainly, most
+Earths are much lesse simple bodies then is commonly imagined even by
+Chymists, who do not so consideratly to prescribe and employ Earths
+Promiscuously in those distillations that require the mixture of some
+<i>caput mortuum</i>, to hinder the flowing together of the matter, and to
+retain its grosser parts. For I have found some Earths to yield by
+distillation a Liquor very far from being inodorous or insipid; and
+&#8217;tis a known observation, that most kinds of fat Earth kept cover&#8217;d
+from the rain, and hindred from spending themselves in the production
+of vegetables, will in time become impregnated with Salt-Petre.</p>
+
+<p>But I must remember that the Water and Earths I ought here to speak
+of, are such as are separated from mixt Bodies by the fire; and
+therefore to restrain my Discourse to such, I shall tell you, That we
+see the Phlegme of Vitriol (for instance) is a very effectual remedie
+against burnes; and I know a very Fa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">(280)</a></span>mous and experienc&#8217;d <i>Physitian</i>,
+whose unsuspected secret (himself confess&#8217;d to me) it is, for the
+discussing of hard and Obstinate Tumours. The Phlegme of Vinager,
+though drawn exceeding leasurly in a digesting Furnace, I have
+purposely made tryall of; and sometimes found it able to draw, though
+slowly, a saccharine sweetness out of Lead; and as I remember by long
+Digestion, I dissolv&#8217;d <a href="#ERRATA">Corpals</a> in it. The Phlegme of
+the sugar of Saturne is said to have very peculiar properties. Divers
+Eminent Chymists teach, that it will dissolve Pearls, which being
+precipitated by the spirit of the same concrete are thereby (as they
+say) rendred volatile; which has been confirmed to me, upon his own
+observation, by a person of great veracity. The Phlegme of Wine, and
+indeed divers other Liquors that are indiscriminately condemnd to be
+cast away as phlegm, are endow&#8217;d with qualities that make them differ
+both from meer water, and from each other; and whereas the Chymists
+are pleas&#8217;d to call the <i>caput mortuum</i> of what they have distill&#8217;d
+(after they have by affusion of water drawn away its salt) <i>terra
+damnata</i>, or Earth, it may be doubted whether or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">(281)</a></span> no those earths are
+all of them perfectly alike: and it is scarce to be doubted, but that
+there are some of them which remain yet unreduc&#8217;d to an Elementary
+nature. The ashes of wood depriv&#8217;d of all the salt, and bone-Ashes, or
+calcin&#8217;d Harts-horn, which Refiners choose to make Tests of, as freest
+from Salt, seem unlike: and he that shall compare either of these
+insipid ashes to Lime, and much more to the <i>calx</i> of <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Talck">Talk</span>
+(though by the affusion of water they be
+exquisitely dulcify&#8217;d) will perhaps see cause to think them things of
+a somewhat differing nature. And it is evident in Colcothar that the
+exactest calcination, follow&#8217;d by an exquisite dulcification, does not
+alwaies reduce the remaining body into elementary earth; for after the
+salt or Vitriol (if the Calcination have been too faint) is drawn out
+of the Colcothar, the residue is not earth, but a mixt body, rich in
+Medical vertues (as experience has inform&#8217;d me) and which <i>Angelus
+Sala</i> affirmes to be partly reducible into malleable Copper; which I
+judge very probable: for though when I was making Experiments upon
+Colcothar, I was destitute of a Furnace capable of giving a heat
+intense Enough to bring such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">(282)</a></span> Calx to Fusion; yet having conjectur&#8217;d
+that if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find it
+out there, I put some dulcifi&#8217;d Colcothar into that <i>Menstruum</i>, and
+found the Liquor, according to my Expectation, presently Colour&#8217;d as
+Highly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Copper.</p>
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">(283)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco05.png" width="600" height="135" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="FIFTH" id="FIFTH"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE</span><br />
+<br />
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.</h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2><i>The Fifth Part.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">H</span>Ere <i>Carneades</i> making a pause, I must not deny (sayes his Friend to
+him) that I think You have sufficiently prov&#8217;d that these distinct
+Substances which Chymists are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, by
+their Vulgar Destillation, are not pure and simple enough to deserve,
+in Rigour of speaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But I
+suppose You have heard, that there are some Modern <i>Spagyrists</i>, who
+give out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, so
+reduce the separated Ingredients of Mixt Bodies to an Elementary
+simplicity, That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">(284)</a></span> the Oyles (for Instance) extracted from all Mixts
+shall as perfectly resemble one another, as the Drops of Water do.</p>
+
+<p>If you remember (replies <i>Carneades</i>) that at the Beginning of our
+Conference with <i>Philoponus</i>, I declar&#8217;d to him before the rest of the
+Company, that I would not <i>engage</i> my self at present to do any more
+then examine the usual proofs alledg&#8217;d by Chymists, for the Vulgar
+doctrine of their three Hypostatical Principles; You will easily
+perceive that I am not oblig&#8217;d to make answer to what you newly
+propos&#8217;d; and that it rather grants, then disproves what I have been
+contending for: Since by pretending to make so great a change in the
+reputed Principles that Destillation affords the common <i>Spagyrists</i>,
+&#8217;tis plainly enough presuppos&#8217;d, that before such Artificial
+Depurations be made, the Substances to be made more simple were not
+yet simple enough to be look&#8217;d upon as Elementary; Wherefore in case
+the <i>Artists</i> you speak of could perform what they give out they can,
+yet I should not need to be asham&#8217;d of having question&#8217;d the Vulgar
+Opinion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">(285)</a></span> touching the <i>tria Prima</i>. And as to the thing it self, I
+shall freely acknowledge to you, that I love not to be forward in
+determining things to be impossible, till I know and have consider&#8217;d
+the means by which they are propos&#8217;d to be effected. And therefore I
+shall not peremptorily deny either the possibility of what these
+<i>Artists</i> promise, or my Assent to any just Inference; however
+destructive to my Conjectures, that may be drawn from their
+performances. But give me leave to tell you withall, that because such
+promises are wont (as Experience has more then once inform&#8217;d me) to be
+much more easily made, then made good by Chymists, I must withhold my
+Beliefe from their assertions, till their Experiments exact it; and
+must not be so easie as to expect before hand, an unlikely thing upon
+no stronger Inducements then are yet given me: Besides that I have not
+yet found by what I have heard of these Artists, that though they
+pretend to bring the several Substances into which the Fire has
+divided the Concrete, to an exquisite simplicity, They pretend also to
+be able by the Fire to divide all Concretes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">(286)</a></span> Minerals, and others,
+into the same number of Distinct Substances. And in the mean time I
+must think it improbable, that they can either truly separate as many
+differing Bodies from Gold (for Instance) or <i>Osteocolla</i>, as we can
+do from Wine, or Vitriol; or that the Mercury (for Example) of Gold or
+Saturn would be perfectly of the same Nature with that of Harts-horn;
+and that the sulphur of Antimony would be but Numerically different
+from the Distill&#8217;d butter or oyle of Roses.</p>
+
+<p>But suppose (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) that you should meet with Chymists,
+who would allow you to take in Earth and Water into the number of the
+principles of Mixt Bodies; and being also content to change the
+Ambiguous Name of Mercury for that more intelligible one of spirit,
+should consequently make the principles of Compound Bodies to be Five;
+would you not think it something hard to reject so plausible an
+Opinion, only because the Five substances into which the Fire divides
+mixt Bodies are not exactly pure, and Homogeneous? For my part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">(287)</a></span>
+(Continues <i>Carneades</i>) I cannot but think it somewhat strange, in
+case this Opinion be not true, that it should fall out so luckily,
+that so great a Variety of Bodies should be Analyz&#8217;d by the Fire into
+just five Distinct substances; which so little differing from the
+Bodies that bear those names, may so Plausibly be call&#8217;d Oyle, Spirit,
+Salt, Water, and Earth.</p>
+
+<p>The Opinion You now propose (answers <i>Carneades</i>) being another then
+that I was engag&#8217;d to examine, it is not requisite for me to Debate it
+at present; nor should I have leisure to do it thorowly. Wherefore I
+shall only tell you in General, that though I think this Opinion in
+some respects more defensible then that of the Vulgar Chymists; yet
+you may easily enough learn from the past Discourse what may be
+thought of it: Since many of the Objections made against the Vulgar
+Doctrine of the Chymists seem, without much alteration, employable
+against this <i>Hypothesis</i> also. For, besides that this Doctrine does
+as well as the other take it for granted, (what is not easie to be
+prov&#8217;d) that the Fire is the true and Adequate Ana<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">(288)</a></span>lyzer of Bodies,
+and that all the Distinct substances obtainable from a mixt Body by
+the Fire, were so pre-existent in it, that they were but extricated
+from each other by the <i>Analysis</i>; Besides that this Opinion, too,
+<a href="#ERRATA">ascribe</a> to the Productions of the Fire an
+Elementary simplicity, which I have shewn not to belong to them; and
+besides that this Doctrine is lyable to some of the other
+Difficulties, wherewith That of the <i>Tria Prima</i> is incumber&#8217;d;
+Besides all this, I say, this quinary number of Elements, (if you
+pardon the Expression) ought at least to have been restrain&#8217;d to the
+Generality of Animal and Vegetable Bodies, since not only among these
+there are some Bodies (as I formerly argu&#8217;d) which, for ought has yet
+been made to appear, do consist, either of fewer or more similar
+substances then precisely Five. But in the Mineral Kingdom, there is
+scarce one Concrete that has been evinc&#8217;d to be adequatly divisible
+into such five Principles or Elements, and neither more nor less, as
+this Opinion would have every mixt Body to consist of.</p>
+
+<p>And this very thing (continues <i>Car<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">(289)</a></span>neades</i>) may serve to take away or
+lessen your Wonder, that just so many Bodies as five should be found
+upon the Resolution of Concretes. For since we find not that the fire
+can make any such <i>Analysis</i> (into five Elements) of Metals and other
+Mineral Bodies, whose Texture is more strong and permanent, it remains
+that the Five Substances under consideration be Obtain&#8217;d from
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies, which (probably by reason of their looser
+Contexture) are capable of being Distill&#8217;d. And as to such Bodies,
+&#8217;tis natural enough, that, whether we suppose that there are, or are
+not, precisely five Elements, there should ordinarily occurr in the
+Dissipated parts a five Fold Diversity of Scheme (if I may so speak.)
+For if the Parts do not remain all fix&#8217;d, as in Gold, Calcin&#8217;d Talck,
+&amp;c. nor all ascend, as in the Sublimation of Brimstone, Camphire, &amp;c.
+but after their Dissipation do associate themselves into new Schemes
+of Matter; it is very likely, that they will by the Fire be divided
+into fix&#8217;d and Volatile (I mean, in Reference to that degree of heat
+by which they are destill&#8217;d) and those Volatile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">(290)</a></span> parts will, for the
+most part, ascend either in a dry forme, which Chymists are pleas&#8217;d to
+call, if they be Tastless, Flowers; if Sapid, Volatile Salt; or in a
+Liquid Forme. And this Liquor must be either inflamable, and so pass
+for oyl, or not inflamable, and yet subtile and pungent, which may be
+call&#8217;d Spirit; or else strengthless or insipid, which may be nam&#8217;d
+Phlegme, or Water. And as for the fixt part, or <i>Caput Mortuum</i>, it
+will most commonly consist of Corpuscles, partly Soluble in Water, or
+Sapid, (especially if the Saline parts were not so Volatile, as to fly
+away before) which make up its fixt salt; and partly insoluble and
+insipid, which therefore seems to challenge the name of Earth. But
+although upon this ground one might easily enough have foretold, that
+the differing substances obtain&#8217;d from a perfectly mixt Body by the
+Fire would for the most part be reducible to the five newly mentioned
+States of Matter; yet it will not presently follow, that these five
+Distinct substances were simple and primogeneal bodies, so
+pre-existent in the Concrete that the fire does but take them asunder.
+Besides<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">(291)</a></span> that it does not appear, that all Mixt Bodies, (witness,
+Gold, Silver, Mercury, &amp;c.) Nay nor perhaps all Vegetables, which may
+appear by what we said above of <i>Camphire</i>, <i>Benzoin</i>, &amp;c. are
+resoluble by Fire into just such differing Schemes of Matter. Nor will
+the Experiments formerly alledg&#8217;d permit us to look upon these
+separated Substances as Elementary, or uncompounded. Neither will it
+be a sufficient Argument of their being Bodies that deserve the Names
+which Chymists are pleas&#8217;d to give them, that they have an Analogy in
+point of Consistence, or either Volatility or Fixtness, or else some
+other obvious Quality, with the suppos&#8217;d Principles, whose names are
+ascrib&#8217;d to them. For, as I told you above, notwithstanding this
+Resemblance in some one Quality, there may be such a Disparity in
+others, as may be more fit to give them Differing Appellations, then
+the Resemblance is to give them one and the same. And indeed it seems
+but somewhat a gross Way of judging of the Nature of Bodies, to
+conclude without Scruple, that those must be of the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">(292)</a></span> Nature that
+agree in some such General Quality, as Fluidity, Dryness, Volatility,
+and the like: since each of those Qualities, or States of Matter, may
+Comprehend a great Variety of Bodies, otherwise of a very differing
+Nature; as we may see in the Calxes of Gold, of Vitriol, and of
+Venetian Talck, compar&#8217;d with common Ashes, which yet are very dry,
+and fix&#8217;d by the vehemence of the Fire, as well as they. And as we may
+likewise gather from what I have formerly Observ&#8217;d, touching the
+Spirit of Box-Wood, which though a Volatile, Sapid, and not inflamable
+Liquor, as well as the Spirits of Harts-horn, of Blood and others,
+(and therefore has been hitherto call&#8217;d, the Spirit, and esteem&#8217;d for
+one of the Principles of the Wood that affords it;) may yet, as I told
+You, be subdivided into two Liquors, differing from one another, and
+one of them at least, from the Generality of other Chymical Spirits.</p>
+
+<p>But you may your self, if you please, (pursues <i>Carneades</i>)
+accommodate to the <i>Hypothesis</i> you propos&#8217;d what other particulars
+you shall think applicable to it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">(293)</a></span> in the foregoing Discourse. For I
+think it unseasonable for me to meddle now any further with a
+Controversie, which since it does not now belong to me, Leaves me at
+Liberty to Take my Own time to Declare my Self about it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eleutherius</i> perceiving that <i>Carneades</i> was somewhat unwilling to
+spend any more time upon the debate of this Opinion, and having
+perhaps some thoughts of taking hence a Rise to make him Discourse it
+more fully another time, thought not fit as then to make any further
+mention to him of the propos&#8217;d opinion, but told him;</p>
+
+<p>I presume I need not mind you, <i>Carneades</i>, That both the Patrons of
+the ternary number of Principles, and those that would have five
+Elements, endeavour to back their experiments with a specious Reason
+or two; and especially some of those Embracers of the Opinion last
+nam&#8217;d (whom I have convers&#8217;d with, and found them Learned men) assigne
+this Reason of the necessity of five distinct Elements; that otherwise
+mixt Bodies could not be so compounded and temper&#8217;d as to obtain a due
+consi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">(294)</a></span>stence and competent Duration. For Salt (say they) is the
+<i>Basis</i> of Solidity; and Permanency in Compound Bodies, without which
+the other four Elements might indeed be variously and loosly blended
+together, but would remain incompacted; but that Salt might be
+dissolv&#8217;d into minute Parts, and convey&#8217;d to the other Substances to
+be compacted by it, and with it, there is a Necessity of Water. And
+that the mixture may not be too hard and brittle, a Sulphureous or
+Oyly Principle must intervene to make the mass more tenacious; to this
+a Mercurial spirit must be superadded; which by its activity may for a
+while <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: permeate">premeate</span>, and as it were leaven
+the whole Mass, and thereby promote the more exquisite mixture and
+incorporation of the Ingredients. To all which (lastly) a portion of
+Earth must be added, which by its drinesse and <a href="#ERRATA">poracity</a>
+may soak up part of that water wherein the Salt was
+dissolv&#8217;d, and eminently concurr with the other ingredients to give
+the whole body the requisite consistence.</p>
+
+<p>I perceive (sayes <i>Carneades</i> smiling) that if it be true, as &#8217;twas
+lately <a href="#ERRATA">rooted</a> from the Proverb, <i>That good Wits have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">(295)</a></span>
+bad Memories</i>, 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&#8217;d to you that I would at this Conference Examine only the
+Experiments of my Adversaries, not their Speculative Reasons. Yet &#8217;tis
+not (Subjoynes <i>Carneades</i>) for fear of medling with the Argument you
+have propos&#8217;d, that I decline the examining it at present. For if when
+we are more at leasure, you shall have a mind that we may Solemnly
+consider of it together; I am confident we shall scarce find it
+insoluble. And in the mean time we may observe, that such a way of
+Arguing may, it seems, be speciously accommodated to differing
+<i>Hypotheses</i>. For I find that <i>Beguinus</i>, and other Assertors of the
+<i>Tria Prima</i>, pretend to make out by such a way, the requisiteness of
+their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to constitute mixt Bodies, without
+taking notice of any necessity of an Addition of Water and Earth.</p>
+
+<p>And indeed neither sort of Chymists seem to have duly consider&#8217;d how
+great Variety there is in the Textures and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">(296)</a></span> Consistences of Compound
+<a href="#ERRATA">Bodie; sand</a> how little the consistence and
+Duration of many of them seem to accommodate and be explicable by the
+propos&#8217;d Notion. And not to mention those almost incorruptible
+Substances obtainable by the Fire, which I have prov&#8217;d to be somewhat
+compounded, and which the Chymists will readily grant not to be
+perfectly mixt Bodies: (Not to mention these, I say) If you will but
+recall to mind some of those Experiments, whereby I shew&#8217;d You that
+out of common Water only mixt Bodies (and even living ones) of very
+differing consistences, and resoluble by Fire into as many Principles
+as other bodies acknowledg&#8217;d to be perfectly mixt; if you do this, I
+say, you will not, I suppose, be averse from beleeving, that Nature by
+a convenient disposition of the minute parts of a portion of matter
+may contrive bodies durable enough, and of this, or that, or the other
+Consistence, without being oblig&#8217;d to make use of all, much less of
+any Determinate quantity of each of the five Elements, or of the three
+Principles to compound such bodies of. And I have (pursues
+<i>Carne<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">(297)</a></span>ades</i>) something wonder&#8217;d, Chymists should not consider, that
+there is scarce any body in Nature so permanent and indissoluble as
+Glass; which yet themselves teach us may be made of bare Ashes,
+brought to fusion by the meer Violence of the Fire; so that, since
+Ashes are granted to consist but of pure Salt and simple Earth,
+sequestred from all the other Principles or Elements, they must
+acknowledge, That even Art it self can of two Elements only, or, if
+you please, one Principle and one Element, compound a Body more
+durable then almost any in the World. Which being undeniable, how will
+they prove that Nature cannot compound Mixt Bodies, and even durable
+Ones, under all the five Elements or material Principles.</p>
+
+<p>But to insist any longer on this Occasional Disquisition, Touching
+their Opinion that would Establish five Elements, were to remember as
+little as You did before, that the Debate of this matter is no part of
+my first undertaking; and consequently, that I have already spent time
+enough in what I look back upon but as a digression, or at best an
+Excursion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">(298)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And thus, <i>Eleutherius</i>, (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) having at length gone
+through the four Considerations I propos&#8217;d to Discourse unto you, I
+hold it not unfit, for fear my having insisted so long on each of them
+may have made you forget their <i>Series</i>, briefly to repeat them by
+telling you, that</p>
+
+<p>Since, in the first place, it may justly be doubted whether or no the
+Fire be, as Chymists suppose it, the genuine and Universal Resolver of
+mixt Bodies;</p>
+
+<p>Since we may doubt, in the next place, whether or no all the Distinct
+Substances that may be obtain&#8217;d from a mixt body by the Fire were
+pre-existent there in the formes in which they were separated from it;</p>
+
+<p>Since also, though we should grant the Substances separable from mixt
+Bodies by the fire to have been their component Ingredients, yet the
+Number of such substances does not appear the same in all mixt Bodies;
+some of them being Resoluble into more differing substances than
+three, and Others not being Resoluble into so many as three.</p>
+
+<p>And Since, Lastly, those very substances that are thus separated are
+not for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">(299)</a></span> most part pure and Elementary bodies, but new kinds of
+mixts;</p>
+
+<p>Since, I say, these things are so, I hope you will allow me to inferr,
+that the Vulgar Experiments (I might perchance have Added, the
+Arguments too) wont to be Alledg&#8217;d by Chymists to prove, that their
+three Hypostatical Principles do adequately compose all mixt Bodies,
+are not so demonstrative as to reduce a wary Person to acquiesce in
+their Doctrine, which, till they Explain and prove it better, will by
+its perplexing darkness be more apt to puzzle then satisfy considering
+men, and will to them appear incumbred with no small Difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>And from what has been hitherto deduc&#8217;d (continues <i>Carneades</i>) we may
+Learn, what to Judge of the common Practice of those Chymists, who
+because they have found that Diverse compound Bodies (for it will not
+hold in All) can be resolv&#8217;d into, or rather can be brought to afford
+two or three differing Substances more then the Soot and Ashes,
+whereinto the naked fire commonly divides them in our Chymnies, cry up
+their own Sect for the Invention of a New Philosophy, some of them, as
+<i>Helmont, &amp;c.</i> styling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">(300)</a></span> themselves Philosophers by the Fire; and the
+most part not only ascribing, but as far as in them lies, engrossing
+to those of their Sect the Title of PHILOSOPHERS.</p>
+
+<p>But alas, how narrow is this Philosophy, that reaches but to some of
+those compound Bodies, which we find but upon, or in the crust or
+outside of our terrestrial Globe, which is it self but a point in
+comparison of the vast extended Universe, of whose other and greater
+parts the Doctrine of the <i>Tria Prima</i> does not give us an Account!
+For what does it teach us, either of the Nature of the Sun, which
+Astronomers affirme to be eight-score and odd times bigger then the
+whole Earth? or of that of those numerous fixt Starrs, which, for
+ought we know, would very few, if any of them, appear inferiour in
+bulke and brightness to the Sun, if they were as neer us as He? What
+does the knowing that Salt, sulphur and Mercury, are the Principles of
+Mixt Bodies, informe us of the Nature of that vast, fluid, and
+&AElig;therial Substance, that seemes to make up the interstellar, and
+consequently much the greatest part of the World? for as for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">(301)</a></span> the
+opinion commonly ascrib&#8217;d to <i>Paracelsus</i>, as if he would have not
+only the four Peripatetick Elements, but even the Celestial parts of
+the Universe to consist of his three Principles, since the modern
+Chymists themselves have not thought so groundless a conceit worth
+their owning, I shall not think it Worth my confuting.</p>
+
+<p>But I should perchance forgive the Hypothesis I have been all this
+while examining, if, though it reaches but to a very little part of
+the World, it did at least give us a satisfactory account of those
+things to which &#8217;tis said to reach. But I find not, that it gives us
+any other then a very imperfect information even about mixt Bodies
+themselves: For how will the knowledge of the <i>Tria Prima</i> discover to
+us the Reason, why the Loadstone drawes a Needle and disposes it to
+respect the Poles, and yet seldom precisely points at them? how will
+this Hypothesis teach Us how a Chick is formed in the Egge, or how the
+Seminal Principles of Mint, Pompions, and other Vegitables, that I
+mention&#8217;d to You above, can fashion Water into Various Plants, each of
+them endow&#8217;d with its peculiar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">(302)</a></span> and determinate shape, and with divers
+specifick and discriminating Qualities? How does this Hypothesis shew
+us, how much Salt, how much Sulphur, and how much Mercury must be
+taken to make a Chick or a Pompion? and if We know that, what
+Principle is it, that manages these Ingredients, and contrives (for
+instance) such Liquors as the White and Yelk of an Egge into such a
+variety of Textures as is requisite to fashion the Bones, Veines,
+Arteries, Nerves, Tendons, Feathers, Blood, and other parts of a
+Chick; and not only to fashion each Limbe, but to connect them
+altogether, after that manner that is most congruous to the perfection
+of the Animal which is to Consist of Them? For to say, that some more
+fine and subtile part of either or all the Hypostatical Principles is
+the Director in all this business, and the Architect of all this
+Elaborate structure, is to give one occasion to demand again, what
+proportion and way of mixture of the <i>Tria Prima</i> afforded this
+<i>Architectonick</i> Spirit, and what Agent made so skilful and happy a
+mixture? And the Answer to this Question, if the Chymists will keep
+themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">(303)</a></span> within their three Principles, will be lyable to the same
+Inconvenience, that the Answer to the former was. And if it were not
+to intrench upon the Theame of a Friend of ours here present, I could
+easily prosecute the Imperfections of the Vulgar Chymists Philosophy,
+and shew you, that by going about to explicate by their three
+Principles, I say not, all the abstruse Properties of mixt Bodies, but
+even such Obvious and more familiar <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> as <i>Fluidity</i> and
+<i>Firmness</i>, The Colours and Figures of Stones, Minerals, and other
+compound Bodies, The Nutrition of either Plants or Animals, the
+Gravity of Gold or Quicksilver compar&#8217;d with Wine or Spirit of Wine;
+By attempting, I say, to render a reason of these (to omit a thousand
+others as difficult to account for) from any proportion of the three
+simple Ingredients, Chymists will be much more likely to discredit
+themselves and their <i>Hypothesis</i>, then satisfy an intelligent
+Inquirer after Truth.</p>
+
+<p>But (interposes <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Eleutherius"><i>Eleutherus</i></span>) This
+Objection seems no more then may be made against the four Peripatetick
+Elements. And indeed almost against any other <i>Hy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">(304)</a></span>pothesis</i>, that
+pretends by any Determinate Number of Material Ingredients to render a
+reason of the <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of Nature. And as for the use of the
+Chymical Doctrine of the three Principles, I suppose you need not be
+told by me, that The great Champion of it, The Learned
+<i>Sennertus</i>,<span class="sidenote"><i>Senn. de Cons. &amp; Dissen. p. 165.</i></span> assignes this noble use of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, That
+from Them, as the neerest and most Proper Principles, may be Deduc&#8217;d
+and Demonstrated the Properties which are in Mixt Bodies, and which
+cannot be Proximately (as They speak) deduc&#8217;d from the Elements. And
+This, sayes he, is chiefly Apparent, when we Inquire into the
+Properties and Faculties of Medecines. And I know (continues
+<i>Eleutherius</i>) That the Person You have assum&#8217;d, of an Opponent of the
+<i>Hermetick Doctrine</i>, will not so far prevaile against your Native and
+wonted Equity, as To keep You from acknowledging that Philosophy is
+much beholden to the Notions and Discoveries of Chymists.</p>
+
+<p>If the Chymists You speak of (Replyes <i>Carneades</i>) had been so modest,
+or so Discreet, as to propose their O<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">(305)</a></span>pinion of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, but
+as a Notion useful among Others, to increase Humane knowledge, they
+had deserv&#8217;d more of our thanks; and less of our Opposition; but since
+the Thing that they pretend is not so much to contribute a Notion
+toward the Improvement of Philosophy, as to make this Notion <a href="#ERRATA">attended</a>
+by a few lesse considerable ones) pass for a New
+Philosophy itself. Nay, since they boast so much of this phancie of
+theirs, that the famous <i>Quercetanus</i> scruples not to write, that if
+his most certain Doctrine of the three Principles were sufficiently
+Learned, Examin&#8217;d, and Cultivated, it would easily Dispel all the
+Darkness that benights our minds, and bring in a Clear Light, that
+would remove all Difficulties. This School affording Theorems and
+Axiomes irrefragable, and to be admitted without Dispute by impartial
+Judges; and so useful withal, as to exempt us from the necessity of
+having recourse, for want of the knowledg of causes, to that Sanctuary
+of the <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: ignorant">igorant</span>, Occult Qualities;
+since, I say, this Domestick Notion of the Chymists is so much
+overvalued by them, I cannot think it unfit, they should be made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">(306)</a></span>
+sensible of their mistake; and be admonish&#8217;d to take in more fruitful
+and comprehensive Principles, if they mean to give us an account of
+the <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of Nature; and not confine themselves and (as far as
+they can) others to such narrow Principles, as I fear will scarce
+inable them to give an account (I mean an intelligible one) of the
+tenth part (I say not) of all the <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of Nature; but even of
+all such as by the <i>Leucippian</i> or some of the other sorts of
+Principles may be plausibly enough explicated. And though I be not
+unwilling to grant, that the incompetency I impute to the Chymical
+<i>Hypothesis</i> is but the same which may be Objected against that of the
+four Elements, and divers other Doctrines that have been maintain&#8217;d by
+Learned men; yet since &#8217;tis the Chymical <i>Hypothesis</i> only which I am
+now examining, I see not why, if what I impute to it be a real
+inconvenience, either it should cease to be so, or I should scruple to
+object it, because either Theories are lyable thereunto, as well as
+the Hermetical. For I know not why a Truth should be thought lesse a
+Truth for the being fit to overthrow variety of Errors.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">(307)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I am oblig&#8217;d to You (continues <i>Carneades</i>, a little smiling) for the
+favourable Opinion You are pleas&#8217;d to express of my Equity, if there
+be no design in it. But I need not be tempted by an Artifice, or
+invited by a Complement, to acknowledge the great service that the
+Labours of Chymists have done the Lovers of useful Learning; nor even
+on this occasion shall their Arrogance hinder my Gratitude. But since
+we are as well examining <a href="#ERRATA">to</a> the truth of their
+Doctrine as the merit of their industry, I must in order to the
+investigation of the first, continue a reply, to talk at the rate of
+the part I have assum&#8217;d; And tell you, that when I acknowledg the
+usefulness of the Labours of <i>Spagyrists</i> to Natural Philosophy, I do
+it upon the score of their experiments, not upon that of Their
+Speculations; for it seems to me, that their Writings, as their
+Furnaces, afford as well smoke as light; and do little lesse obscure
+some subjects, then they illustrate others. And though I am unwilling
+to deny, that &#8217;tis difficult for a man to be an Accomplisht
+Naturalist, that is a stranger to Chymistry, yet I look upon the
+common Operations and practices<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">(308)</a></span> of Chymists, almost as I do on the
+Letters of the Alphabet, without whose knowledge &#8217;tis very hard for a
+man to become a Philosopher; and yet that knowledge is very far from
+being sufficient to make him One.</p>
+
+<p>But (sayes <i>Carneades</i>, resuming a more serious Look) to consider a
+little more particularly what you alledg in favour of the Chymical
+Doctrine of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, though I shall readily acknowledge it
+not to be unuseful, and that the <a href="#ERRATA">Divisers</a> and
+Embracers of it have done the Common-Wealth of Learning some service,
+by helping to destroy that excessive esteem, or rather veneration,
+wherewith the Doctrine of the four Elements was almost as generally as
+undeservedly entertain&#8217;d; yet what has been alledg&#8217;d concerning the
+usefulness of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, seems to me liable to no contemptible
+Difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>And first, as for the very way of Probation, which the more Learned
+and more Sober Champions of the Chymical cause employ to evince the
+Chymical Principles in Mixt Bodies, it seems to me to be farr enough
+from being convincing. This grand and leading Argument, your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">(309)</a></span>
+<i>Sennertus</i> Himself, who layes Great weight upon it, and tells us,
+that the most Learned Philosophers employ this way of Reasoning to
+prove the most important things, proposes thus: <i>Ubicunque</i> (sayes he)
+<i>pluribus e&aelig;dem affectiones &amp; qualitates insunt, per commune quoddam
+Principium insint necesse est, sicut omnia sunt Gravia propter terram,
+calida propter Ignem. At Colores, Odores, Sapores, esse</i>
+<span lang="el" title="Greek: phlogiston">&#966;&#955;&#959;&#947;&#953;&#987;&#959;&#957;</span> <i>&amp; similia alia, mineralibus, Metallis, Gemmis, Lapidibus,
+Plantis, Animalibus insunt. Ergo per commune aliquod principium, &amp;
+subiectum, insunt. At tale principium non sunt Elementa. Nullam enim
+habent ad tales qualitates producendas potentiam. Ergo alia principia,
+unde fluant, inquirenda sunt.</i></p>
+
+<p>In the Recital of this Argument, (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) I therefore
+thought fit to retain the Language wherein the Author proposes it,
+that I might also retain the propriety of some Latine Termes, to which
+I do not readily remember any that fully answer in English. But as for
+the Argumentation it self, &#8217;tis built upon a precarious supposition,
+that seems to me neither Demonstrable nor true; for, how does it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">(310)</a></span>
+appear, that where the same Quality is to be met with in many Bodies,
+it must belong to them upon the Account of some one Body whereof they
+all partake? (For that the Major of our Authors Argument is to be
+Understood of the Material Ingredients of bodies, appears by the
+Instances of Earth and Fire he annexes to explain it.) For to begin
+with that very Example which he is pleas&#8217;d to alledge for himself; how
+can he prove, that the Gravity of all Bodies proceeds from what they
+participate of the Element of Earth? Since we see, that not only
+common Water, but the more pure Distill&#8217;d Rain Water is heavy; and
+Quicksilver is much heavier than Earth it self; though none of my
+Adversaries has yet prov&#8217;d, that it contains any of that Element. And
+I the Rather make use of this Example of Quicksilver, because I see
+not how the Assertors of the Elements will give any better Account of
+it then the Chymists. For if it be demanded how it comes to be Fluid,
+they will answer, that it participates much of the Nature of Water.
+And indeed, according to them, Water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">(311)</a></span> may be the Predominant Element
+in it, since we see, that several Bodies which by Distillation afford
+Liquors that weigh more then their <i>Caput Mortuum</i> do not yet consist
+of Liquor enough to be Fluid. Yet if it be demanded how Quicksilver
+comes to be so heavy, then &#8217;tis reply&#8217;d, that &#8217;tis by reason of the
+Earth that abounds in it; but since, according to them, it must
+consist also of air, and partly of Fire, which they affirm to be light
+Elements, how comes it that it should be so much heavier then Earth of
+the same bulk, though to fill up the porosities and other Cavities it
+be made up into a mass or paste with Water, which it self they allow
+to be a heavy Element. But to returne to our <i>Spagyrists</i>, we see that
+Chymical Oyles and fixt Salts, though never so exquisitely purify&#8217;d
+and freed from terrestrial parts, do yet remain ponderous enough. And
+Experience has inform&#8217;d me, that a pound, for instance, of some of the
+heaviest Woods, as <i>Guajacum</i> that will sink in Water, being burnt to
+Ashes will yield a much less weight of them (whereof I found but a
+small part to be Alcalyzate) then much ligh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">(312)</a></span>ter Vegetables: As also
+that the black Charcoal of it will not sink as did the wood, but swim;
+which argues that the Differing Gravity of Bodies proceeds chiefly
+from their particular Texture, as is manifest in Gold, the closest and
+Compactest of Bodies, which is many times heavier then we can possibly
+make any parcell of Earth of the same Bulk. I will not examine, what
+may be argu&#8217;d touching the Gravity or Quality Analagous thereunto, of
+even Celestial bodies, from the motion of the spots about the Sun, <a href="#ERRATA">d</a>
+from the appearing equality of the suppos&#8217;d Seas in the
+Moon; nor consider how little those <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Ph&aelig;nomena"><i>Ph&aelig;monea</i></span>
+would agree with what <i>Sennertus</i> presumes concerning
+Gravity. But further to invalidate his supposition, I shall demand,
+upon what Chymical Principle Fluidity depends? And yet Fluidity is,
+two or three perhaps excepted, the most diffused quality of the
+universe, and far more General then almost any other of those that are
+to be met with in any of the Chymicall Principles, or <i>Aristotelian</i>
+Elements; since not only the Air, but that vast expansion we call
+Heaven, in comparison of which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">(313)</a></span> our Terrestrial Globe (supposing it
+were all Solid) is but a point; and perhaps <a href="#ERRATA">to</a> the Sun
+and the fixt Stars are fluid bodies. I demand also, from which of the
+Chymical Principles Motion flowes; which yet is an affection of matter
+much more General then any that can be deduc&#8217;d from any of the three
+Chymical Principles. I might ask the like Question concerning Light,
+which is not only to be found in the Kindl&#8217;d Sulphur of mixt <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Bodies">Bodis</span>,
+but (not to mention those sorts of
+rotten Woods, and rotten Fish that shine in the Dark) in the tails of
+living Glow-wormes, and in the Vast bodies of the Sun and Stars. I
+would gladly also know, in which of the three Principles the Quality,
+we call Sound, resides as in its proper Subject; since either Oyl
+falling upon Oyle, or Spirit upon Spirit, or Salt upon Salt, in a
+great quantity, and from a considerable height, will make a noise, or
+if you please, create a sound, and (that the objection may reach the
+<i>Aristotelians</i>) so will also water upon water, and Earth upon Earth.
+And I could name other qualities to be met within divers bodies, of
+which I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">(314)</a></span> suppose my Adversaries will not in haste assign any Subject,
+upon whose Account it must needs be, that the quality belongs to all
+the other several bodies.</p>
+
+<p>And, before I proceed any further, I must here invite you to compare
+the supposition we are examining, with some other of the Chymical
+Tenents. For, first they do in effect teach that more then one quality
+may belong to, and be deduc&#8217;d from, one Principle. For, they ascribe
+to Salt Tasts, and the power of Coagulation; to sulphur, as well
+Odours as inflamableness; And some of them ascribe to Mercury,
+Colours; as all of them do effumability, as they speak. And on the
+other side, it is evident that Volatility belongs in common to all the
+three Principles, and to Water too. For &#8217;tis manifest, that Chymical
+Oyles are Volatile; That also divers Salts Emerging, upon the Analysis
+of many Concretes, are very Volatile, is plain from the <a href="#ERRATA">figitiveness</a>
+of Salt, of Harts-horne, flesh, &amp;c. ascending
+in the Distillation of those bodies. How easily water may be made to
+ascend in Vapours, there is scarce any body that has not observ&#8217;d. And
+as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">(315)</a></span> for what they call the Mercuriall Principle of bodies, that is so
+apt to be rais&#8217;d in the form of Steam, that <i>Paracelsus</i> and others
+define it by that aptness to fly up; so that (to draw that inference
+by the way) it seems not that Chymists have been accurate in their
+Doctrine of qualities, and their respective Principles, since they
+both derive several qualities from the same Principle, and must
+ascribe the same quality to almost all their Principles and other
+bodies besides. And thus much for the first thing taken for granted,
+without sufficient proof, by your <i>Sennertus</i>: And to add that upon
+the Bye (continues <i>Carneades</i>) we may hence learn what to judge of
+the way of Argumentation, which that fierce Champion of the
+<i>Aristotelians</i> against the Chymists, <i>Anthonius Guntherus
+Billichius</i><span class="sidenote"><i>In Thessalo redivivo. Cap. 10. pag. 73. &amp; 74.</i></span> employes, where he pretends to prove against
+<i>Beguinus</i>, that not only the four Elements do immediately concur to
+Constitute every mixt body, and are both present in it, and obtainable
+from it upon its Dissolution; but that in the <i>Tria Prima</i> themselves,
+whereinto Chymists are wont to resolve mixt Bodies, each of them
+clearly dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">(316)</a></span>covers it self to consist of four Elements. The
+Ratiocination it self (pursues <i>Carneades</i>) being somewhat unusual, I
+did the other Day Transcribe it, and (sayes He, pulling a Paper out of
+his Pocket) it is this. <i>Ordiamur, cum Beguino, a ligno viridi, quod
+si concremetur, videbis in sudore Aquam, in fumo Aerem, in flamma &amp;
+Prunis Ignem, Terram in cineribus: Quod si Beguino placuerit ex eo
+colligere humidum aquosum, cohibere humidum oleaginosum, extrahere ex
+cineribus salem; Ego ipsi in unoquoque horum seorsim quatuor Elementa
+ad oculum demonstrabo, eodem artificio quo in ligno viridi ea
+demonstravi. Humorem aquosum admovebo Igni. Ipse Aquam Ebullire
+videbit, in Vapore Aerem conspiciet, Ignem sentiet in &aelig;stu, plus minus
+Terr&aelig; in sedimento apparebit. Humor porro Oleaginosus aquam humiditate
+&amp; fluiditate per se, accensus vero Ignem flamma prodit, fumo Aerem,
+fuligine, nidore &amp; amurca terram. Salem denique ipse Beguinus siccum
+vocat &amp; Terrestrem, qui tamen nec fusus Aquam, nec caustica vi ignem
+celare potest; ignis vero Violentia in halitus versus nec ab Aere se
+alienum esse demonstrat; Idem de Lacte, de Ovis, de semine Lini, de
+Garyophyllis, de Nitro,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">(317)</a></span> de sale Marino, denique de Antimonio, quod
+fuit de Ligno viridi Judicium; eadem de illorum partibus, quas</i>
+Beguinus <i>adducit, sententia, qu&aelig; de viridis ligni humore aquoso, qu&aelig;
+de liquore ejusdem oleoso, qu&aelig; de sale fuit.</i></p>
+
+<p>This bold Discourse (resumes <i>Carneades</i>, putting up again his Paper,)
+I think it were not very difficult to confute, if his Arguments were
+as considerable as our time will probably prove short for the
+remaining and more necessary Part of my Discourse; wherefore referring
+You for an Answer to what was said concerning the Dissipated Parts of
+a burnt piece of green Wood, to what I told <i>Themistius</i> on the like
+occasion, I might easily shew You, how sleightly and superficially our
+<i>Guntherus</i> talks of the dividing the flame of Green Wood into his
+four Elements; <i>When</i> he makes that vapour to be air, which being
+caught in Glasses and condens&#8217;d, presently discovers it self to have
+been but an Aggregate of innumerable very minute drops of Liquor; and
+<i>When</i> he would prove the Phlegmes being compos&#8217;d of Fire by that Heat
+which is adventitious to the Liquor, and ceases upon the absence of
+what pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">(318)</a></span>duc&#8217;d it (whether that be an Agitation proceeding from the
+motion of the External Fire, or the presence of a Multitude of igneous
+Atomes pervading the pores of the Vessel, and nimbly permeating the
+whole Body of the Water) I might, I say, urge these and divers other
+Weaknesses of His Discourse. But I will rather take Notice of what is
+more pertinent to the Occasion of this Digression, namely, that Taking
+it for Granted, that Fluidity (with which he unwarily seems to
+confound Humidity) must proceed from the Element of Water, he makes a
+Chymical Oyle to Consist of that Elementary Liquor; and yet in the
+very next Words proves, that it consists also of Fire, by its
+Inflamability; not remembring that exquisitely pure Spirit of Wine is
+both more Fluid then Water it self, and yet will Flame all away
+without leaving the Least Aqueous Moisture behind it; and without such
+an <i>Amurca</i> and Soot as he would Deduce the presence of Earth from. So
+that the same Liquor may according to his Doctrine be concluded by its
+great Fluidity to be almost all Water; and by its burning all away to
+be all disguised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">(319)</a></span> Fire. And by the like way of Probation our Author
+would shew that the fixt salt of Wood is compounded of the four
+Elements. For (sayes he) being turn&#8217;d by the violence of the Fire into
+steames, it shews it self to be of kin to Air; whereas I doubt whether
+he ever saw a true fixt Salt (which to become so, must have already
+endur&#8217;d the violence of an Incinerating Fire) brought by the Fire
+alone to ascend in the Forme of Exhalations; but I do not doubt that
+if he did, and had caught those Exhalations in convenient Vessels, 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 Authour takes it also
+for Granted, that the Fusibility of Salt must be Deduc&#8217;d from Water,
+it is indeed so much the Effect of heat variously agitating the Minute
+Parts of a Body, without regard to Water, that Gold (which by its
+being the heavyest and fixtest of Bodies, should be the most Earthy)
+will be brought to Fusion by a strong Fire; which sure is more likely
+to drive away then increase its Aqueous Ingredient, if it have any;
+and on the other side, for want of a sufficient a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">(320)</a></span>gitation of its
+minute parts, Ice is not Fluid, but Solid; though he presumes also
+that the Mordicant Quality of Bodies must proceed from a fiery
+ingredient; whereas, not to urge that the Light and inflamable parts,
+which are the most likely to belong to the Element of Fire, must
+probably be driven away by that time the violence of the Fire has
+reduc&#8217;d the Body to ashes; Not to urge this, I <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: extra 'I' in original">I</span>
+say, nor that Oyle of Vitriol which quenches
+Fire, burnes the Tongue and flesh of those that Unwarily tast or apply
+it, as a caustick doth, it is precarious to prove the Presence of Fire
+in fixt salts from their Caustick power, unlesse it were first shewn,
+that all the Qualities ascribed to salts must be deduc&#8217;d from those of
+the Elements; which, had I Time, I could easily manifest to be no easy
+talk. And not to mention that our Authour makes a Body as Homogeneous
+as any he can produce for Elementary, belong both to Water and Fire,
+Though it be neither Fluid nor Insipid, like Water; nor light and
+Volatile, like Fire; he seems to omit in this Anatomy the Element of
+Earth, save That he intimates, That the salt may pass for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">(321)</a></span> that; But
+since a few lines before, he takes Ashes for Earth, I see not how he
+will avoid an Inconsistency either betwixt the Parts of his Discourse
+or betwixt some of them and his Doctrine. For since There is a
+manifest Difference betwixt the Saline and the insipid Parts of Ashes,
+I see not how substances That Disagree in such Notable Qualities can
+be both said to be Portions of an Element, whose Nature requires that
+it be Homogeneous, especially in this case where an <i>Analysis</i> by the
+Fire is suppos&#8217;d to have separated it from the admixture of other
+Elements, which are confess&#8217;d by most <i>Aristotelians</i> to be Generally
+found in common Earth, and to render it impure. And sure if when we
+have consider&#8217;d for how little a Disparities sake the Peripateticks
+make these Symbolizing Bodies Aire and Fire to be two Distinct
+Elements, we shall also consider that the Saline part of Ashes is very
+strongly Tasted, and easily soluble in Water; whereas the other part
+of the same Ashes is insipid and indissoluble in the same Liquor: Not
+to add, that the one substance is Opacous, and the other some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">(322)</a></span>what
+Diaphanous, nor that they differ in Divers other Particulars; If we
+consider those things, I say, we shall hardly think that both these
+Substances are Elementary Earth; And as to what is sometimes objected,
+that their Saline Tast is only an Effect of Incineration and Adustion,
+it has been elsewhere fully reply&#8217;d to, when propos&#8217;d by <i>Themistius</i>,
+and where it has been prov&#8217;d against him, that however insipid Earth
+may perhaps by Additaments be turn&#8217;d into Salt, yet &#8217;tis not like it
+should be so by the Fire alone: For we see that when we refine Gold
+and Silver, the violentest Fires We can Employ on them give them not
+the least Rellish of Saltness. And I think <i>Philoponus</i> has rightly
+observ&#8217;d, that the Ashes of some Concretes contain very little salt if
+any at all; For Refiners suppose that bone-ashes are free from it, and
+therefore make use of them for Tests and Cuppels, which ought to be
+Destitute of Salt, lest the Violence of the Fire should bring them to
+Vitrification; And having purposely and heedfully tasted a Cuppel made
+of only bone-ashes and fair water, which I had caus&#8217;d to be ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">(323)</a></span>pos&#8217;d
+to a Very Violent Fire, acuated by the Blast of a large pair of Double
+Bellows, I could not perceive that the force of the Fire had imparted
+to it the least Saltness, or so much as made it less Insipid.</p>
+
+<p>But (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) since neither You nor I love Repetitions, I
+shall not now make any of what else was urg&#8217;d against <i>Themistius</i> but
+rather invite You to take notice with me that when our Authour, though
+a Learned Man, and one that pretends skill enough in Chymistry to
+reforme the whole Art, comes to make good his confident Undertaking,
+to give us an occular Demonstration of the immediate Presence of the
+four Elements in the resolution of Green Wood, He is fain to say
+things that agree very little with one another. For about the
+beginning of that passage of His lately recited to you, he makes the
+sweat as he calls it of the green Wood to be Water, the smoke Aire,
+the shining Matter Fire, and the Ashes Earth; whereas a few lines
+after, he will in each of these, nay (as I just now noted) in one
+Distinct Part of the Ashes, shew the four Elements. So that either the
+former <i>Ana<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">(324)</a></span>lysis</i> must be incompetent to prove that Number of
+Elements, since by it the burnt Concrete is not reduc&#8217;d into
+Elementary Bodies, but into such as are yet each of them compounded of
+the four Elements; or else these Qualities from which he endeavours to
+deduce the presence of all the Elements, in the fixt salt, and each of
+the other separated substances, will be but a precarious way of
+probation: especially if you consider, that the extracted <i>Alcali</i> of
+Wood, being for ought appears at least as similar a Body as any that
+the Peripateticks can shew us, if its differing Qualities must argue
+the presence of Distinct Elements, it will scarce be possible for them
+by any way they know of employing the fire upon a Body, to shew that
+any Body is a Portion of a true Element: And this recals to my mind,
+that I am now but in an occasional excussion, which aiming only to
+shew that the Peripateticks as well as the Chymists take in our
+present Controversie something for granted which they ought to prove,
+I shall returne to my exceptions, where I ended the first of them, and
+further tell you, that neither is that the only precarious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">(325)</a></span> thing that
+I take notice of in <i>Sennertus</i> his Argumentation; for when he
+inferrs, that because the Qualities he Mentions as Colours, Smels, and
+the like, belong not to the Elements; they therefore must to the
+Chymical Principles, he takes that for granted, which will not in
+haste be prov&#8217;d; as I might here manifest, but that I may by and by
+have a fitter opportunity to take notice of it. And thus much at
+present may suffice to have Discours&#8217;d against the Supposition, that
+almost every Quality must have some <span lang="el" title="Greek: dektikon pr&#244;ton">&#948;&#949;&#954;&#964;&#953;&#954;&#959;&#957; &#960;&#961;&#969;&#964;&#959;&#957;</span>, as they
+speak, some Native receptacle, wherein as in its proper Subject of
+inhesion it peculiarly resides, and on whose account that quality
+belongs to the other Bodies, Wherein it is to be met with. Now this
+Fundamental supposition being once Destroy&#8217;d, whatsoever is built upon
+it, must fall to ruine of it self.</p>
+
+<p>But I consider further, that Chymists are (for ought I have found) far
+from being able to explicate by any of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, those
+qualities which they pretend to belong primarily unto it, and in mixt
+Bodies to Deduce from it. Tis true indeed, that such qua<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">(326)</a></span>lities are
+not explicable by the four Elements; but it will not therefore follow,
+that they are so by the three hermetical Principles; and this is it
+that seems to have deceiv&#8217;d the Chymists, and is indeed a very common
+mistake amongst most Disputants, who argue as if there could be but
+two Opinions concerning the Difficulty about which they contend; and
+consequently they inferr, that if their Adversaries Opinion be
+Erroneous, Their&#8217;s must needs be the Truth; whereas many questions,
+and especially in matters Physiological, may admit of so many
+Differing <i>Hypotheses</i>, that &#8217;twill be very inconsiderate and
+fallacious to conclude (except where the Opinions are precisely
+Contradictory) the Truth of one from the falsity of another. And in
+our particular case &#8217;tis no way necessary, that the Properties of mixt
+Bodies must be explicable either by the Hermetical, or the
+<i>Aristotelian Hypothesis</i>, there being divers other and more plausible
+wayes of explaining them, and especially that, which deduces qualities
+from the motion, figure, and contrivance of the small parts of Bodies;
+as I think might be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">(327)</a></span> shewn, if the attempt were as seasonable, as I
+fear it would be Tedious.</p>
+
+<p>I will allow then, that the Chymists do not causelessly accuse the
+Doctrine of the four elements of incompetency to explain the
+Properties of Compound bodies. And for this Rejection of a Vulgar
+Error, they ought not to be deny&#8217;d what praise men may deserve for
+exploding a Doctrine whose Imperfections are so conspicuous, that men
+needed but not to shut their Eyes, to discover them. But I am
+mistaken, if our Hermetical Philosophers Themselves need not, as well
+as the Peripateticks, have Recourse to more Fruitfull and
+Comprehensive Principles then the <i>tria Prima</i>, to make out the
+Properties of the Bodies they converse with. Not to accumulate
+Examples to this purpose, (because I hope for a fitter opportunity to
+prosecute this Subject) let us at present only point at Colour, that
+you may guess by what they say of so obvious and familiar a Quality,
+how little Instruction we are to expect from the <i>Tria Prima</i> in those
+more abstruse ones, which they with the <i>Aristotelians</i> stile Occult.
+For about Colours, nei<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">(328)</a></span>ther do they at all agree among themselves, nor
+have I met with any one, of which of the three Perswasions soever,
+that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymists are wont to
+ascribe Colours to Mercury; <i>Paracelsus</i> in divers places attributes
+them to Salt; and <i>Sennertus</i>,<span class="sidenote"><i>De Cons. &amp; dissen. cap. 11. pag. 186.</i></span> having recited their differing
+Opinions, Dissents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sulphur.
+But how Colours do, nay, how they may, arise from either of these
+Principles, I think you will scarce say that any has yet intelligibly
+explicated. And if Mr. <i>Boyle</i> will allow me to shew you the
+Experiments which he has collected about Colours, you will, I doubt
+not, confess that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of the
+Predominancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of their
+Texture, and especially the Disposition of their superficial parts,
+whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is so modifi&#8217;d, as by
+differing Impressions variously to affect the Organs of Sight. I might
+here take notice of the pleasing variety of Colours exhibited by the
+Triangular glass, (as &#8217;tis wont to be call&#8217;d) and demand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">(329)</a></span> what
+addition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls the
+Body of the Glass by being Prismatically figur&#8217;d; and yet &#8217;tis known,
+that without that shape it would not affor&#8217;d those colours as it does.
+But because it may be objected, that these are not real, but apparent
+Colours; that I may not lose time in examing the Distinction, I will
+alledge against the Chymists, a couple of examples of Real and
+Permanent Colours Drawn from Metalline Bodies, and represent, that
+without the addition of any extraneous body, Quicksilver may by the
+Fire alone, and that in glass Vessels, be depriv&#8217;d of its silver-like
+Colour, and be turn&#8217;d into a Red Body; and from this Red Body without
+Addition likewise may be obtain&#8217;d a Mercury Bright and Specular as it
+was before; So that I have here a lasting Colour Generated and
+Destroy&#8217;d (as I have seen) at pleasure, without adding or taking away
+either Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and slender
+piece of harden&#8217;d steel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at some
+little distance short of the point, You shall not have held<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">(330)</a></span> the Steel
+long in the flame, but You shall perceive divers Colours, as Yellow,
+Red and Blew, to appear upon the Surface of the metal, and as it were
+run along in chase of one another towards the point; So that the same
+body, and that in one and the same part, may not only have a new
+colour produc&#8217;d in it, but exhibite successively divers Colours within
+a minute of an hour, or thereabouts, and any of these Colours may by
+Removing the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and last many
+years. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot reasonably be
+suppos&#8217;d to proceed from the Accession of any of the three Principles,
+to which of them soever Chymists will be pleas&#8217;d to ascribe Colours;
+especially considering, that if you but suddenly Refrigerate that
+Iron, First made Red hot, it will be harden&#8217;d and Colourless again;
+and not only by the Flame of a Candle, but by any other equivalent
+heat Conveniently appli&#8217;d, the like Colours will again be made to
+appear and succeed one another, as at the First. But I must not any
+further prosecute an Occasional Discourse, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">(331)</a></span> that were not so
+Difficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chymists to give
+a better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, then
+they have done of Colours. And your <i>Sennertus</i><span class="sidenote"><i>Sennert. de <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Consens.">Con. seus.</span> &amp;
+Dissens. pag. 165. 166.</i></span> Himself (though an
+Author I much value) would I fear have been exceedingly puzl&#8217;d to
+resolve, by the <i>Tria Prima</i>, halfe that Catalogue of Problems, which
+he challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their four
+Elements. And supposing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur were
+the Principle to which this or that Quality may be peculiarly
+referr&#8217;d, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us something
+concerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but something. For indeed
+he does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable measure satisfie
+an inquisitive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know,
+that such a quality resides in such a Principle or Element, whilst I
+remain altogether ignorant of the Cause 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 Heaviness of mixt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">(332)</a></span>
+bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos&#8217;d of, if I know
+not the reason why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymist
+teach the Philosopher of the Nature of Purgatition, if he only tells
+him that the Purgative Vertue of Medicines resides in their Salt? For,
+besides that this must not be conceded without Limitation, since the
+purging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein they
+are infus&#8217;d, are at most but such compounded Salts, (I mean mingl&#8217;d
+with Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjects
+of the Vegetable Kingdom afford;) And since too that Quicksilver
+precipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a powder, is
+wont to be strongly enough Cathartical, though the Chymists have not
+yet prov&#8217;d, that either Gold or Mercury have any Salt at all, much
+less any that is Purgative; Besides this, I say, how little is it to
+me, to know That &#8217;tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for Instance) that
+purges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; since scarce any
+Elementary Salt is in small quantity cathartical. And if I know not
+how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">(333)</a></span> Purgation in general is effected in a Humane Body? In a word, as
+&#8217;tis one thing to know a mans Lodging, and another, to be acquainted
+with him; so it may be one thing to know the subject wherein a Quality
+principally resides, and another thing to have a right notion and
+knowledg of the quality its self. Now that which I take to be the
+reason of this Chymical Deficiency, is the same upon whose account I
+think the <i>Aristotelian</i> and divers other Theories incompetent to
+explicate the <a href="#ERRATA">Origen</a> of Qualities. For I am apt to
+think, that men will never be able to explain the <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of
+Nature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Presence and
+Proportion of such or such material Ingredients, and consider such
+ingredients or Elements as Bodies in a state of rest; whereas indeed
+the greatest part of the affections of matter, and consequently of the
+<i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i> of nature, seems to depend upon the motion and the
+<a href="#ERRATA">continuance</a> of the small parts of Bodies. For
+&#8217;tis by motion that one part of matter acts upon another; and &#8217;tis,
+for the most part, the texture of the Body upon which the moving parts
+strike, that modifies to moti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">(334)</a></span>on or Impression, and concurrs with it
+to the production of those Effects which make up the chief part of the
+Naturalists Theme.</p>
+
+<p>But (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) me thinks for all this, you have left some
+part of what I alledg&#8217;d in behalf of the three principles, unanswer&#8217;d.
+For all that you have said will not keep this from being a useful
+Discovery, that since in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur of
+another and the Mercury of a third, the Medicinal vertue of it
+resides, that Principle ought to be separated from the rest, and there
+the desired faculty must be sought for.</p>
+
+<p>I never denyed (Replyes <i>Carneades</i>) that the Notion of the <i>Tria
+Prima</i> may be of some use, but (continues he laughing) by what you now
+alledg for it, it will but appear That it is useful to Apothecaries,
+rather than to Philosophers, The being able to make things Operative
+being sufficient to those, whereas the Knowledge of Causes is the
+Thing looked after by These. And let me Tell You, <i>Eleutherius</i>, even
+this it self will need to be entertained with some caution.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">(335)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For first, it will not presently follow, That if the Purgative or
+other vertue of a simple may be easily extracted by Water or Spirit of
+Wine, it Resides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unlesse
+the Body have before been resolved by the Fire, or some Other Powerful
+Agent, it will, for the most part, afford in the Liquors I have named,
+rather the finer compounded parts of it self, Than the Elementary
+ones. As I noted before, That Water will dissolve not only pure Salts,
+but Crystals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr&#8217;h, and Other Compound
+Bodies. As also Spirit of Wine will Dissolve not only the pure Sulphur
+of Concretes, but likewise the whole Substance of divers Resinous
+Bodies, as Benzoin, the Gummous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, and
+Other bodies that are counted perfectly Mixt. And we see that the
+Extracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a simple
+and Elementary Nature, but Masses consisting of the looser Corpuscles,
+and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; since by
+Distillation they may be Divided into more Elementary substances.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">(336)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Next, we may consider That even when there intervenes a Chymical
+resolution by <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: the">he</span> Fire, &#8217;tis seldom in the
+Saline or Sulphureous principle, as such, that the desir&#8217;d Faculty of
+the Concrete Resides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet a
+mixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predominant in
+it. For, if in Chymical Resolutions the separated Substances were pure
+and simple Bodies, and of a perfect Elementary Nature; no one would be
+indued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualities
+would Differ as Little as do those of Water. And let me add this upon
+the bye, That even Eminent Chymists have suffer&#8217;d themselves to be
+reprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying some of
+the things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though such
+compleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bodies might perhaps be more
+satisfactory to our Understanding; yet others are often more useful to
+our Lives, the efficacy of such Chymical Productions depending most
+upon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are separated, or gain
+by the new associations of the Dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">(337)</a></span>sipated among themselves; whereas
+if they were meerly Elementary, their uses would be comparatively very
+small; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other such Substances of
+one denomination, would be the very same.</p>
+
+<p>And by the Way (<i>Eleutherius</i>) I am inclin&#8217;d upon this ground to
+Think, That the artificial resolution of compound bodies by Fire does
+not so much enrich mankind, as it divides them into their supposed
+Principles; as upon the score of its making new compounds by <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: new">now</span>
+combinations of the dissipated parts of the
+resolv&#8217;d Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies is
+considerably increased. And many of those new productions are indow&#8217;d
+with useful qualities, divers of which they owe not to the body from
+which they were obtein&#8217;d, but to Their newly Acquired Texture.</p>
+
+<p>But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that as
+there are divers Concretes whose Faculties reside in some one or other
+of those differing Substances that Chymists call their Sulphurs,
+Salts, and Mercuries, and consequently may be best obtain&#8217;d, by
+ana<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">(338)</a></span>lyzing the Concrete whereby the desired Principles may be had
+sever&#8217;d or freed from the rest; So there are other wherein the noblest
+properties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but depend
+immediately upon the form (or if you will) result from the determinate
+structure of the Whole Concrete; and consequently they that go about
+to extract the Vertues of such bodies, by exposing them to the
+Violence of the Fire, do exceedingly mistake, and take the way to
+Destroy what they would obtain.</p>
+
+<p>I remmember that <i>Helmont</i><span class="sidenote">Helmont Pharm. &amp; Dispens. Nov. p. 458.</span> himself somewhere confesses, That as the
+Fire betters some things and improves their Vertues, so it spoyles
+others and makes them degenerate. And elsewhere he judiciously
+affirmes, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a simple, such
+as Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire be
+separated from it. And lest you should doubt whether he means by the
+vertues of things those that are Medical; he has in one place this
+ingenuous confession; <i>Credo</i> (sayes he) <i>simplicia in sua
+simplicitate esse sufficientia pro sanatione omnium morborum.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">(339)</a></span> <a href="#ERRATA">Nag.</a>
+Barthias,<span class="sidenote">Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17.</span> even in a Comment upon <i>Beguinus</i>,
+scruples not to make this acknowledgment; <i>Valde absurdum est</i> (sayes
+he) <i>ex omnibus rebus extracta facere, salia, quintas essentias;
+pr&aelig;sertim ex substantiis per se plane vel subtilibus vel homogeneis,
+quales sunt uniones, Corallia, Moscus, Ambra, &amp;c.</i> Consonantly
+whereunto he also tells Us (and Vouches the famous <i>Platerus</i>, for
+having candidly given the same Advertisement to his Auditors,) that
+some things have greater vertues, and better suited to our humane
+nature, when unprepar&#8217;d, than when they have past the Chymists Fire;
+as we see, sayes my Author, in Pepper; of which some grains swallowed
+perform more towards the relief of a Distempered stomack, than a great
+quantity of the Oyle of the same spice.</p>
+
+<p>It has been (pursues <i>Carneades</i>) by our Friend here present observ&#8217;d
+concerning Salt-petre, that none of the substances into which the Fire
+is wont to divide it, retaines either the Tast, the cooling vertue, or
+some other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of those
+Substances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petre
+it self. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">(340)</a></span> shining property of the tayls of gloworms does survive
+but so short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, that
+inquisitive men have not scrupled publickly to deride <i>Baptista Porta</i>
+and others; who deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises have
+ventur&#8217;d to prescribe the distillation of a Water from the tayles of
+Glowormes, as a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. To
+which I shall now add no other example than that afforded us by Amber;
+which, whilst it remains an intire body, is endow&#8217;d with an Electrical
+faculty of drawing to it self fethers, strawes, and such like Bodies;
+which I never could observe 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 these having such a Texture as the intire Concrete.
+And however Chymists boldly deduce such and such properties from this
+or that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretes
+that abound with this or that Ingredient, &#8217;tis not alwayes so much by
+vertue of its presence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify&#8217;d
+to perform such and such Effects; as upon the account<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">(341)</a></span> of the
+particular texture of that and the other Ingredients, associated after
+a determinate Manner into one Concrete (though possibly such a
+proportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other for
+the constituting of such a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov&#8217;d
+upon the dyal, the bell is struck, and the other actions belonging to
+the engine are perform&#8217;d, not because the Wheeles are of brass or
+iron, or part of one metal and part of another, or because the weights
+are of Lead, but by Vertue of the size, shape, bigness, and
+co-aptation of the several parts; which would performe the same things
+though the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights of
+Stone or Clay; provided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine were
+the same: though it be not to be deny&#8217;d, that Brasse and Steel are
+more convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood.
+And to let you see, <i>Eleutherius</i>, that &#8217;tis sometimes at least, upon
+the Texture of the small parts of a body, and not alwaies upon the
+presence, or recesse, or increase, or Decrement of any one of its
+Principle, that it may lose some<span class="pagenumerr" title="342"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">(142)</a></span> such Qualities, and acquire some
+such others as are thought very strongly inherent to the bodies they
+Reside <a href="#ERRATA">in.</a> I will add to what may from my past discourse
+be refer&#8217;d to this purpose, this Notable Example, from my Own
+experience; That Lead may without any additament, and only by various
+applications of the Fire, lose its colour, and acquire sometimes a
+gray, sometimes a yellowish, sometimes a red, sometimes an
+<span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: amethistine"><i>amethihstine</i></span> colour; and after
+having past through these, and perhaps divers others, again recover
+its leaden colour, and be made a bright body. That also this Lead,
+which is so flexible a metal, may be made as brittle as Glasse, and
+presently be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. And
+besides, that the same lead, which I find by <i>Microscopes</i> to be one
+of the most opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a fine
+transparent glasse; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Nature
+again; and all this, as I said, without the addition of any extraneous
+body, and meerly by the manner and Method of exposing it to the Fire.</p>
+
+<p>But (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) after having al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">(343)</a></span>ready put you to so prolix a
+trouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a promise of putting
+speedily a period to it; And to make good that promise, I shall from
+all that I have hitherto discoursed with you, deduce but this one
+proposition by way of Corollary. [<i>That it may as yet be doubted,
+whether or no there be any determinate Number of Elements; Or, if you
+please, whether or no all compound bodies, do consist of the same
+number of Elementary ingredients or material Principles.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>This being but an inference from the foregoing Discourse, it will not
+be requisite to insist 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 First place then, from what has been so largely discours&#8217;d, it
+may appear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by the
+common Peripateticks, or by the vulgar Chymists, to demonstrate that
+all mixt bodies are made up precisely either of the four Elements, or
+the three Hypostatical Principles, do not evince what they are
+alledg&#8217;d to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended to
+be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">(344)</a></span> drawn from Reason in favour of <i>Aristotelian Hypothesis</i> (for the
+Chymists are wont to rely almost altogether upon Experiments) they are
+Commonly grounded upon such unreasonable or precarious Suppositions,
+that &#8217;tis altogether as easie and as just for any man to reject them,
+as for those that take them for granted to assert them, being indeed
+all of them as indemonstrable as the conclusion to be inferr&#8217;d from
+them; and some of them so manifestly weak and prooflesse; that he must
+be a very courteous adversary, that can be willing to grant them; and
+as unskilful a one, that can be compelled to do so.</p>
+
+<p>In the next place, it may be considered, if what those Patriarchs of
+the <i>Spagyrists</i>, <i>Paracelsus</i> and <i>Helmont</i>, do on divers occasions
+positively deliver, be true; namely that the <i>Alkahest</i> does Resolve
+all mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it must be
+decided which of the two resolutions (that made by the <i>Alkahest</i>, or
+that made by the fire) shall 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">(345)</a></span> notice in the last place, that as
+the distinct substances whereinto the <i>Alkahest</i> divides bodies, are
+affirm&#8217;d to be differing in nature from those whereunto they are wont
+to be reduc&#8217;d by fire, and to be obtain&#8217;d from some bodies more in
+Number than from some others; since he tells us,<span class="sidenote"><i>Novi saxum &amp; lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo aut
+lapidi &amp; &aelig;quiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure aut
+Mercurio.</i> Helmont. pag. 409.</span> he could totally
+reduce all sorts of Stones into Salt only, whereas of a coal he had
+two distinct Liquors. So, although we should acquiesce in that
+resolution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies are
+thereby divided into the same number of Elements and Principles; some
+Concretes affordding more of them than others do; Nay and sometimes
+this or that Body affording a greater number of Differing substances
+by one way of management, than the same yields by another. And they
+that out of Gold, or Mercury, or Muscovy-glasse, will draw me as many
+distinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juice
+of Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall very
+Thankfully learn. Nor does it ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">(346)</a></span>pear more congruous to that variety
+that so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that all
+elemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then it
+would be for a language, that all its words should consist of the same
+number of Letters.</p>
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">(347)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco05.png" width="600" height="135" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="SIXTH" id="SIXTH"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE</span><br />
+<br />
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST<br />
+<br />
+<span class="gesperrt">OR</span>,<br />
+<br />
+<i>A Paradoxical Appendix to the<br />
+Foregoing Treatise.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<h2><i>The Sixth Part.</i></h2>
+
+<hr class="head" />
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">H</span>Ere <i>Carneades</i> Having Dispach&#8217;t what he Thought Requisite to oppose
+against what the Chymists are wont to alledge for Proof of their three
+Principles, Paus&#8217;d awhile, and look&#8217;d about him, to discover whether
+it were Time for him and his Friend to Rejoyne the Rest of the
+Company. But <i>Eleutherius</i> perceiving nothing yet to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">(348)</a></span> forbid Them to
+Prosecute their Discourse a little further, said to his Friend, (who
+had likewise taken Notice of the same thing) I halfe expected,
+<i>Carneades</i>, that after you had so freely declar&#8217;d Your doubting,
+whether there be any Determinate Number of Elements, You would have
+proceeded to question whether there be any Elements at all. And I
+confess it will be a Trouble to me if You defeat me of my Expectation;
+especially since you see the leasure we have allow&#8217;d us may probably
+suffice to examine that Paradox; because you have so largly Deduc&#8217;d
+already many Things pertinent to it, that you need but intimate how
+you would have them Apply&#8217;d, and what you would inferr from them.</p>
+
+<p><i>Carneades</i> having in Vain represented that their leasure could be but
+very short, that he had already prated very long, that he was
+unprepared to maintain so great and so invidious a Paradox, was at
+length prevail&#8217;d with to tell his Friend; Since, <i>Eleutherius</i>, you
+will have me Discourse <i>Ex Tempore</i> of the Paradox you mention, I am
+content, (though more perhaps to express my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">(349)</a></span> Obedience, then my
+Opinion) to tell you that (supposing the Truth of <i>Helmonts</i> and
+<i>Paracelsus&#8217;s</i> Alkahestical Experiments, if I may so call them) though
+it may seem extravagant, yet it is not absurd to doubt, whether, for
+ought has been prov&#8217;d, there be a necessity to admit any Elements, or
+Hypostatical Principles, at all.</p>
+
+<p>And, as formerly, so now, to avoid the needless trouble of Disputing
+severally with the <i>Aristotelians</i> and the Chymists, I will address my
+self to oppose them I have last nam&#8217;d, Because their Doctrine about
+the Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretending highly to
+be grounded upon Experience. 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 consent to, the rather that my
+Discourse may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; who
+cannot plead for any so probably as for those two Elements; that of
+fire above the Air being Generally by Judicious Men exploded as an
+Imaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compose Mixt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">(350)</a></span> Bodies as
+one of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Rather
+replenishing, by reason of its Weight and Fluidity, all those Cavities
+of bodies here below, whether compounded or not, that are big enough
+to admit it, and are not fill&#8217;d up with any grosser substance.</p>
+
+<p>And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize You, that I now mean by
+Elements, as those Chymists that speak plainest do by their
+Principles, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly unmingled
+bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another,
+are the Ingredients of which all those call&#8217;d perfectly mixt Bodies
+are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately
+resolved: now whether there be any one such body to be constantly met
+with in all, and each, of those that are said to be Elemented bodies,
+is the thing I now question.</p>
+
+<p>By this State of the controversie you will, I suppose, Guess, that I
+need not be so <a href="#ERRATA">absur&#8217;d</a> as to deny that there are such
+bodies as Earth, and Water, and Quicksilver, and Sulphur: But I look
+upon Earth and Water, as component parts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">(351)</a></span> of the Universe, or rather
+of the Terrestrial Globe, not of all mixt bodies. And though I will
+not peremptorily deny that there may sometimes either a running
+Mercury, or a Combustible Substance be obtain&#8217;d from a Mineral, or
+even a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Element
+in the sence above declar&#8217;d; as I shall have occasion to shew you by
+and by.</p>
+
+<p>To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceed
+upon, I must tell you, that in matters of Philosophy, this seems to me
+a sufficient reason to doubt of a known and important proposition,
+that the Truth of it is not yet by any competent proof made to appear.
+And congruously herunto, if I shew that the grounds upon which men are
+perswaded that there are Elements are unable to satisfie a considering
+man, I suppose my doubts will appear rational.</p>
+
+<p>Now the Considerations that induce men to think that there are
+Elements, may be conveniently enough referr&#8217;d to two heads. Namely,
+the one, that it is necessary that Nature make use of Elements to
+constitute the bodies that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">(352)</a></span> are reputed Mixt. And the other, That the
+Resolution of such bodies manifests that nature had compounded them of
+Elementary ones.</p>
+
+<p>In reference to the former of these Considerations, there are two or
+three things that I have to Represent.</p>
+
+<p>And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not long
+since related to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, and
+other vegetables, out of fair water. For by those experiments its
+seems evident, that Water may be Transmuted into all the other
+Elements; from whence it may be inferr&#8217;d, both, That &#8217;tis not every
+Thing Chymists will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayes
+be a Primordiate and Ingenerable body. And that Nature may contex a
+Plant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having all
+the Elements previously presented to her to compound it of. And, if
+you will allow the relation I mention&#8217;d out of <i>Mounsieur De Rochas</i>
+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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">(353)</a></span> as they were like in so
+many other respects to the rest of the plants of the same
+Denomination; so they would, in case I had reduc&#8217;d them to
+putrefaction, have likewise produc&#8217;d Wormes or other insects, as well
+as the resembling Vegetables are wont to do; so that Water may, by
+Various Seminal Principles, be successively Transmuted into both
+plants and Animals. And if we consider that not only Men, but even
+sucking Children are, but too often, Tormented with Solid Stones, but
+that divers sorts of Beasts themselves, (whatever <i>Helmont</i> against
+Experience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavy
+stones in their Kidneys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Grass
+and other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Disguised Water, it will
+not seem improbable that even some Concretes of a mineral Nature, may
+Likewise be form&#8217;d of Water.</p>
+
+<p>We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nourisht, and
+consequently may Consist of Common water; so may both plants and
+Animals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Rudiments) consist of
+compound Bodies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">(354)</a></span> without having any thing meerly Elementary brought
+them by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in divers
+men, who whilst they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwards
+Live altogether upon Flesh, Fish, wine, and other perfectly mixt
+Bodies. It may be seen also in sheep, who on some of our English Downs
+or Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the grasse, without scarce
+drinking at all. And yet more manifestly in the magots that breed and
+grow up to their full bignesse within the pulps of Apples, Pears, or
+the like Fruit. We see also, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Salt
+give a much more speedy increment to corn and other Vegetables than
+Water alone would do: And it hath been assur&#8217;d me, by a man
+experienc&#8217;d in such matters, that sometimes when to bring up roots
+very early, the Mould they were planted in was made over-rich, the
+very substance of the Plant has tasted of the Dung. And let us also
+consider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Tree
+of another kind. As for instance, the Ciens of a Pear upon a
+White-thorne; for there the ascending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">(355)</a></span> Liquor is already alter&#8217;d,
+either by the root, or in its ascent 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 saps of several trees; as particularly, the
+medicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have sometimes drunk upon
+<i>Helmonts</i> great and not undeserved commendation) Now the graft, being
+fasten&#8217;d to the stock must necessarily nourish its self, 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 consider,
+how much of the Vegetable he feeds upon may (as we noted above) remain
+in an Animal; we may easily suppose, That the blood of that Animal who
+Feeds upon this, though it be a Well constituted Liquor, and have all
+the differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by one
+pr&aelig;siding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of its
+parts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary that
+even in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal and
+Vegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make her
+compositions of.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">(356)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Having said thus much touching the constitution of Plants and Animals,
+I might perhaps be able to say as much touching that of Minerals, and
+even Metalls, if it were as easy for us to make experiment in Order to
+the production of these, as of those. But the growth or increment of
+Minerals being usually a work of excessively long time, and for the
+most part perform&#8217;d in the bowels of the Earth, where we cannot see
+it, I must instead of Experiments make use, on this occasion, of
+Observations.</p>
+
+<p>That stones were not all made at once, but that are some of them now
+adayes generated, may (though it be deny&#8217;d by some) be fully prov&#8217;d by
+several examples, of which I shall now scarce alledg any other, then
+that famous place in <i>France</i> known by the name of <i>Les Caves
+<a href="#ERRATA">Gentieres</a></i>, where the Water falling from the upper
+Parts of the cave to the ground does presently there condense into
+little stones, of such figures as the drops, falling either severally
+or upon one another, and coagulating presently into stone, chance to
+exhibit. Of these stones some Ingenuous Friends of ours, that went a
+while since to visit that place, did me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">(357)</a></span> the favour to present me with
+some that they brought thence. And I remember that both that sober
+Relator of his Voyages, <i>Van Linschoten</i>, and another good Author,
+inform us that in the Diamond Mines (as they call them) in the
+<i>East-Indies</i>, when having dig&#8217;d the Earth, though to no great depth,
+they find Diamonds and take them quite away; Yet in a very few years
+they find in the same place new Diamonds produc&#8217;d there since. From
+both which Relations, especially the first, it seems probable that
+Nature does not alwayes stay for divers Elementary Bodies, when she is
+to produce stones. And as for Metals themselves, Authors of good note
+assure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc&#8217;d at once
+altogether, but have been observ&#8217;d to grow; so that what was not a
+Mineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were easie
+to alledg many testimonies of professed Chymists. But that they may
+have the greater authority, I shall rather present you with a few
+borrowed from more unsuspected writers. <i>Sulphuris Mineram</i> (as the
+inquisitive <i>P. Fallopius</i> notes) <i>qu&aelig; nutrix est caloris subterranei<span class="pagenumerr" title="358"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">(158)</a></span>
+fabri seu Arch&aelig;i fontium &amp; mineralium, Infra terram citissime renasci
+testantur Histori&aelig; Metallic&aelig;. Sunt enim loca e quibus si hoc anno
+sulphur effossum fuerit; intermissa fossione per quadriennium redeunt
+fossores &amp; omnia sulphure, ut <a href="#ERRATA">autea</a>, rursus inveniunt
+plena.</i> <i>Pliny</i> Relates, <i>In Itali&aelig; Insula Ilva, gigni ferri
+metallum.</i> Strabo <i>multo expressius; effossum ibi metallum semper
+regenerari. Nam si effossio spatio centum annorum intermittebatur, &amp;
+iterum illuc revertebantur, fossores reperisse maximam copiam ferri
+regeneratam.</i> Which history not only is countenanced by <i>Fallopius</i>,
+from the Incom which the Iron of that Island yielded the Duke of
+<i>Florence</i> in his time; but is mention&#8217;d more expressely to our
+purpose, by the Learned <i>Cesalpinus</i>. <i>Vena</i> (sayes he) <i>ferri
+copiosissima est in Italia; ob eam nobilitata Ilva Tirrheni maris
+Insula incredibili copia, etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens: Nam
+terra qu&aelig; eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venam
+convertitur.</i> Which last clause is therefore very notable, because
+from thence we may deduce, that earth, by a Metalline plastick
+principle latent in it, may be in processe of time chang&#8217;d into a
+metal. And even <i>Agricola</i><span class="sidenote"><i>In Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum,
+fossis ad altitudinem bipedaneam actis. Id decennio renatum denuo
+foditur non aliter ac Ilv&aelig; ferrum.</i></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">(359)</a></span> himself, though the Chymists complain of
+him as their adversary, acknowledges thus much and more; by telling us
+that at a Town called <i>Saga</i> in <i>Germany</i>, they dig up Iron in the
+Fields, by sinking ditches two foot deep; And adding, that within the
+space of ten years the Ditches are digged again for Iron since
+produced, As the same Metal is wont to be obtain&#8217;d in <i>Elva</i>. Also
+concerning Lead, not to mention what even <i>Galen</i> notes, that it will
+increase both in bulk and Weight if it be long kept in Vaults or
+Sellars, where the Air is gross and thick, as he collects from the
+smelling of those pieces of Lead that were imploy&#8217;d to fasten together
+the parts of old Statues. Not to mention this, I say, <i>Boccacius
+Certaldus</i>, as I find him Quoted by a Diligent Writer, has this
+Passage touching the Growth of Lead. <i>Fessularum mons</i> (sayes he) <i>in
+Hetruria, Florenti&aelig; civitati imminens, lapides plumbarios habet; qui
+si excidantur, brevi temporis spatio, novis incrementis instaurantur;
+ut</i> (annexes my Author) <i>tradit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">(360)</a></span> Boccacius Certaldus, qui id
+<a href="#ERRATA">compotissimum</a> esse scribit. Nihil hoc novi
+est; sed de eadem Plinius, lib. 34. Hist. Natur. cap. 17. dudum
+prodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his solis plumbi metallis, quod derelicta
+fertilius reviviscunt. In plumbariis secundo Lapide ab Amberga dictis
+ad Asylum recrementa congesta in cumulos, exposita solibus pluviisque
+paucis annis, redunt suum metallum cum fenore.</i> I might Add to these,
+continues <i>Carneades</i>, many things that I have met with concerning the
+Generation of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I shall
+mention but two or three Narratives. The First you may find Recorded
+by <i>Gerhardus</i> the Physick Professor, in these Words. <i>In valle</i>
+(sayes he) <i><a href="#ERRATA">Joachimaca</a> argentum <a href="#ERRATA">gramini</a>
+modo &amp; more e Lapidibus miner&aelig; velut e radice excrevisse
+digiti Longitudine, testis est Dr. Schreterus, qui ejusmodi venas
+aspectu jucundas &amp; admirabiles Domi sua aliis s&aelig;pe monstravit &amp;
+Donavit. Item Aqua c&aelig;rulea Inventa est Anneberg&aelig;, ubi argentum erat
+adhuc in primo ente, qu&aelig; coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi &amp; boni
+argenti.</i></p>
+
+<p>The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, and
+yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">(361)</a></span> they are both very memorable in themselves, and as pertinent to
+our present purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The first I meet with in the Commentary of <i>Johannes Valehius</i> upon
+the <i>Kleine Baur</i>, In which that Industrious Chymist Relates, with
+many circumstances, that at a Mine-Town (If I may so English the
+German <i>Bergstat</i>) eight miles or Leagues distant from <i>Strasburg</i>
+call&#8217;d <i>Mariakirch</i>, a Workman came to the Overseer, and desired
+employment; but he telling him that there was not any of the best sort
+at present for him, added that till he could be preferr&#8217;d to some
+such, he might in the mean time, to avoid idleness, work in a Grove or
+Mine-pit thereabouts, which at that time was little esteem&#8217;d. This
+Workman after some weeks Labour, had by a Crack appearing in the Stone
+upon a Stroak given near the wall, an Invitation Given him to Work his
+Way through, which as soon as he had done, his Eyes were saluted by a
+mighty stone or Lump which stood in the middle of the Cleft (that had
+a hollow place behind it) upright, and in shew like an armed-man; but
+consisted of pure fine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">(362)</a></span> Silver having no Vein or Ore by it, or any
+other Additament, but stood there free, having only underfoot
+something like a burnt matter; and yet this one Lump held in Weight
+above a 1000 marks, which, according to the <a href="#ERRATA">Dutch, Account</a>
+makes 500 pound weight of fine silver. From which and
+other Circumstances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of the
+place, the Noble Metalline Spirits, (Sulphureous and Mercurial) were
+carri&#8217;d from the neighbouring Galleries or Vaults, through other
+smaller Cracks and Clefts, into that Cavity, and there collected as in
+a close Chamber or Cellar; whereinto when they were gotten, they did
+in process of time settle into the forementioned precious mass of
+Metal.</p>
+
+<p>The other Germane Relation is of That great Traveller and Laborious
+Chymist <i>Johannes</i> (not <i>Georgus</i>) <i>Agricola</i>; who in his notes upon
+what <i>Poppius</i> has written of Antimony, Relates, that when he was
+among the <i>Hungarian</i> Mines in the deep Groves, he observ&#8217;d that there
+would often arise in them a warm Steam (not of that malignant sort
+which the Germains call <i>Shwadt</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">(363)</a></span> which (sayes he) is a meer poyson,
+and often suffocates the <a href="#ERRATA">Diggers</a>, which fasten&#8217;d it
+self to the Walls; and that coming again to review it after a couple
+of dayes, he discern&#8217;d that it was all very fast, and glistering;
+whereupon having collected it and Distill&#8217;d it <i>per Retortam</i>, he
+obtain&#8217;d from it a fine Spirit, adding, that the Mine-Men inform&#8217;d
+him, that this Steam or <a href="#ERRATA">Damp of the English Mine</a>
+(retaining the dutch Term) would at last have
+become a Metal, as Gold or Silver.</p>
+
+<p>I referr (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) to another Occasion, the Use that may be
+made of these Narratives towards the explicating the Nature of
+Metalls; and that of Fixtness, Malleableness, and some other Qualities
+conspicuous in them. And in the mean time, this I may at present
+deduce from these Observations, That &#8217;tis not very probable, that,
+whensoever 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
+last Relations seem less to favour the Chymists than <i>Aristotle</i>, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">(364)</a></span>
+would have Metals Generated of certain <i>Halitus</i> or steams, the
+foremention&#8217;d Observations together, make it seem more Likely that the
+mineral Earths or those Metalline steams (wherewith probably such
+Earths are plentifully imbu&#8217;d) do contain in them some seminal
+Rudiment, or some thing Equivalent thereunto; by whose plastick power
+the rest of the matter, though perhaps Terrestrial and heavy, is in
+Tract of time fashion&#8217;d into this or That metalline Ore; almost as I
+formerly noted, that fair water was by the seminal Principle of Mint,
+Pompions, and other Vegetables, contriv&#8217;d into Bodies answerable to
+such Seeds. And that such Alterations of Terrestrial matter are not
+impossible, seems evident from that notable Practice of the Boylers of
+Salt-Petre, who unanimously observe, as well here in <i>England</i> as in
+other Countries; That if an Earth pregnant with Nitre be depriv&#8217;d, by
+the affusion of water, of all its true and dissoluble Salt, yet the
+Earth will after some years yield them Salt-Petre again; For which
+reason some of the eminent and skillfullest of them keep it in heaps
+as a perpetual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">(365)</a></span> Mine of Salt Petre; whence it may appear, that the
+Seminal Principle of Nitre latent in the Earth does by degrees
+Transforme the neighbouring matter into a Nitrous Body; for though I
+deny that some Volatile Nitre may by such Earths be attracted (as they
+speak) out of the Air, yet that the innermost parts of such great
+heaps that lye so remote from the Air should borrow from it all the
+Nitre they abound with, is not probable, for other reasons besides the
+remoteness of the Air, though I have not the Leasure to mention them.</p>
+
+<p>And I remember, that a person of Great Credit, and well acquainted
+with the wayes of making Vitriol, affirm&#8217;d to me, that he had
+observ&#8217;d, that a kind of mineral which abounds in that Salt, being
+kept within Doors and not expos&#8217;d (as is usual) to the free Air and
+Rains, did of it self in no very long time turn into Vitriol, not only
+in the outward or superficial, but even in the internal and most
+Central parts.</p>
+
+<p>And I also remember, that I met with a certain kind of Merkasite that
+lay together in great Quantities under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">(366)</a></span> ground, which did, even in my
+chamber, in so few hours begin of it self to turne into Vitriol, that
+we need not distrust the newly recited narrative. But to return to
+what I was saying of Nitre; as Nature made this Salt-Petre out of the
+once almost and inodorous Earth it was bred in, and did not find a
+very stinking and corrosive Acid Liquor, and a sharp Alcalyzate Salt
+to compound it of, though these be the Bodies into which the Fire
+dissolves it; so it were not necessary that Nature should make up all
+Metals and other Minerals of Pre-existent Salt, and Sulphur, and
+Mercury, though such Bodies might by Fire be obtained from it. Which
+one consideration duly weigh&#8217;d is very considerable in the present
+controversy: And to this agree well the Relations of our two German
+Chymists; for besides that it cannot be convincingly prov&#8217;d, it is not
+so much as likely that so languid and moderate a heat as that within
+the Mines, should carry up to so great a <a href="#ERRATA">heat</a>, though
+in the forme of fumes, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; since we find in our
+Distillations, that it requires a considerable Degree of Fire to raise
+so much as to the height of one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">(367)</a></span> foot not only Salt, but even Mercury
+it self, in close Vessels. And if it be objected, that it seems by the
+stink that is sometimes observ&#8217;d when Lightening falls down here
+below, that sulphureous steams may ascend very high without any
+extraordinary Degree of heat; It may be answer&#8217;d, among other things,
+that the Sulphur of Silver is by Chymists said to be a fixt Sulphur,
+though not altogether so well Digested as that of Gold.</p>
+
+<p>But, proceeds <i>Carneades</i>, If it had not been to afford You some hints
+concerning the Origine of Metals, I need not have deduc&#8217;d any thing
+from these Observations; It not being necessary to the Validity of my
+Argument that my Deductions from them should be irrefragable, because
+my Adversaries the <i>Aristotelians</i> and Vulgar Chymists do not, I
+presume, know any better then I, <i>a priori</i>, of what ingredients
+Nature compounds Metals and Minerals. For their Argument to prove that
+those Bodies are made up of such Principles, is drawn <i>a posteriori</i>;
+I mean from this, that upon the <i>Analysis</i> of Mineral bodies they are
+resolv&#8217;d into those differing substances.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">(368)</a></span> That we may therefore
+examine this Argument, Let us proceed to consider what can be alledg&#8217;d
+in behalf of the Elements from the Resolutions of Bodies by the fire;
+which you remember was the second <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Topick">Tophick</span>
+whence I told you the Arguments of my Adversaries were desum&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>And that I may first dispatch what I have to say concerning Minerals,
+I will begin the remaining part of my discourse with considering how
+the fire divides them.</p>
+
+<p>And first, I have partly noted above, that though Chymists pretend
+from some to draw salt, from others running Mercury, and from others a
+Sulphur; Yet they have not hitherto taught us by any way in <a href="#ERRATA">us</a>
+among them to separate any one principle, whether Salt,
+Sulphur, or Mercury, from all sorts of Minerals without exception. And
+thence I may be allow&#8217;d to conclude that there is not any of the
+Elements that is an Ingredient of all Bodies, since there are some of
+which it is not so.</p>
+
+<p>In the next place, supposing that either Sulphur or Mercury were
+obtainable from all sorts of Minerals. Yet still this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">(369)</a></span> Sulphur or
+Mercury would be but a compounded, not an Elementary body, as I told
+you already on another occasion. And certainly he that takes notice of
+the wonderful Operations of Quicksilver, whether it be common, or
+drawn from Mineral Bodies, can scarce be so inconsiderate as to think
+it of the very same nature with that immature and fugitive substance
+which in Vegetables and Animals Chymists have been pleas&#8217;d to call
+their Mercury. So that when Mercury is got by the help of the fire out
+of a metal or other Mineral Body, if we will not suppose that it was
+not pre-existent in it, but produc&#8217;d by the action of the fire upon
+the Concrete, we may at least suppose this Quicksilver to have been a
+perfect Body of its own kind (though perhaps lesse heterogeneous then
+more secundary mixts) which happen&#8217;d to be mingl&#8217;d <i>per minima</i>, and
+coagulated with the other substances, whereof the Metal or Mineral
+consisted. As may be exemplyfied partly by Native Vermillion wherein
+the Quicksilver and Sulphur being exquisitely blended both with one
+another, and that other course Mineral stuff (what ever it be) that
+harbours<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">(370)</a></span> them, make up a red body differing enough from both; and yet
+from which part of the Quicksilver, and of the Sulphur, may be easily
+enough obtain&#8217;d; Partly by those Mines wherein nature has so curiously
+incorporated Silver with Lead, that &#8217;tis extreamly difficult, and yet
+possible, to separate the former out of the <a href="#ERRATA">Latter.</a>
+And partly too by native Vitriol, wherein the Metalline Corpuscles are
+by skill and industry separable from the saline ones, though they be
+so con-coagulated with them, that the whole Concrete is reckon&#8217;d among
+Salts.</p>
+
+<p>And here I further observe, that I never could see any Earth or Water,
+properly so call&#8217;d, separated from either Gold or Silver (to name now
+no other Metalline Bodies) and therefore to retort the argument upon
+my Adversaries, I may conclude, that since there are some bodies in
+which, for ought appears, there is neither Earth nor <a href="#ERRATA">Water.</a>
+I may be allow&#8217;d to conclude that neither of those two is an
+Universal Ingredient of all those Bodies that are counted perfectly
+mixt, which I desire you would remember against Anon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">(371)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It may indeed be objected, that the reason why from Gold or Silver we
+cannot separate any moisture, is, because that when it is melted out
+of the Oare, the vehement Fire requisite to its Fusion forc&#8217;d away all
+the aqueous and fugitive moisture; and the like fire may do from the
+materials of Glass. To which I shall Answer, that I Remember I read
+not long since in the Learned <i>Josephus Acosta</i>,<span class="sidenote"><i>Acosta</i> Natural and Moral history of the Indies, L. 3.
+c. 5, p. 212.</span> who relates it
+upon his own observation; that in <i>America</i>, (where he long lived)
+there is a kind of Silver which the <i>Indians</i> call <i>Papas</i>, and
+sometimes (sayes he) they find pieces very fine and pure like to small
+round roots, the which is rare in that metal, but usuall in Gold;
+Concerning which metal he tells us, that besides this they find some
+which they call Gold in grains, which he tells us are small morsels of
+Gold that they find whole without mixture 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 person affirmed to me,
+that being in the <i>Hungarian</i> mines he had the good fortune to see a
+mineral that was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">(372)</a></span> there digg&#8217;d up, wherein pieces of Gold of the
+length, and also almost of the bigness of a humane Finger, grew in the
+Oar, as if they had been parts and Branches of Trees.</p>
+
+<p>And I have my self seen a Lump of whitish 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 sparr, divers little
+Lumps of fine Gold, (for such I was assured that Tryal had manifested
+it to be) some of them Seeming to be about the Bigness of pease.</p>
+
+<p>But that is nothing to what our <i>Acosta</i><span class="sidenote">See <i>Acosta</i> in the fore-cited Place, and the passage of
+<i>Pliny</i> quoted by him.</span> subjoynes, which is indeed
+very memorable, namely, that of the morsels of Native and pure Gold,
+which we lately heard him mentioning he had now and then seen some
+that weighed many pounds; to which I shall add, that I my self
+have seen a Lump of Oar not long since digged up, in whose stony part
+there grew, almost like Trees, divers parcels though not of Gold, yet
+of (what perhaps Mineralists will more wonder at) another Metal which
+seemed to be very pure or un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">(373)</a></span>mixt with any Heterogeneous Substances,
+and were some of them as big as my Finger, if not bigger. But upon
+Observations of this kind, though perhaps I could, yet I must not at
+present dwell any longer.</p>
+
+<p>To proceed Therefore now (sayes <i>Carneades</i>) to the Consideration of
+the <i>Analysis</i> of Vegetables, although my Tryals give me no cause to
+doubt but that out of most of them five differing Substances may be
+obtain&#8217;d by the fire, yet I think it will not be so easily
+Demonstrated that these deserve to be call&#8217;d Elements in the Notion
+above explain&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>And before I descend to particulars, I shall repeat and premise this
+General Consideration, that these differing substances that are call&#8217;d
+Elements or Principles, differ not from each other as Metals, Plants
+and Animals, or as such Creatures as are immediately produc&#8217;d each by
+its peculiar Seed, and Constitutes a distinct propagable sort of
+Creatures in the Universe; but these are only Various Schemes of
+matter or Substances that differ from each other, but in consistence
+(as Running Mercury and<span class="pagenumerr" title="374"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">(174)</a></span> the same Metal congeal&#8217;d by the Vapor of
+Lead) and some very few other accidents, as Tast, or Smel, or
+Inflamability, or the want of them. So that by a change of Texture not
+impossible to be wrought by the Fire and other Agents that have the
+Faculty not only to dissociate the smal parts of Bodies, but
+afterwards to connect them after a new manner, the same parcell of
+matter may acquire or lose such accidents as may suffice to Denominate
+it Salt, or Sulphur, or Earth. If I were fully to clear to you my
+apprehensions concerning this matter, I should perhaps be obliged to
+acquaint you with divers of the Conjectures (for I must yet call them
+no more) I have had Concerning the Principles of things purely
+Corporeal: For though because I seem not satisfi&#8217;d with the Vulgar
+Doctrines, either of the Peripatetick or Paracelsian Schools, many of
+those that know me, (and perhaps, among Them, <i>Eleutherius</i> himself)
+have thought me wedded to the Epicurean <i>Hypotheses</i>, (as others have
+mistaken me for an <i>Helmontian</i>;) yet if you knew how little
+Conversant I have been with <i>Epicurean</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">(375)</a></span> Authors, and how great a part
+of <i>Lucretius</i> himself I never yet had the Curiosity to read, you
+would perchance be of another mind; especially if I were to entertain
+you at large, I say not, of my present Notions; but of my former
+thoughts concerning the Principles of things. But, as I said above,
+fully to clear my Apprehensions would require a Longer Discourse than
+we can now have.</p>
+
+<p>For, I should tell you that I have sometimes thought it not unfit,
+that to the Principles which may be assign&#8217;d to things, as the World
+is now Constituted, we should, if we consider the Great Mass of matter
+as it was whilst the Universe was in making, add another, which may
+Conveniently enough be call&#8217;d an Architectonick Principle or power; by
+which I mean those Various Determinations, and that Skilfull Guidance
+of the motions of the small parts of the Universal matter by the most
+wise Author of things, which were necessary at the beginning to turn
+that confus&#8217;d <i>Chaos</i> into this Orderly and beautifull World; and
+Especially, to contrive the Bodies of A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">(376)</a></span>nimals and Plants, and the
+Seeds of those things whose kinds were to be propagated. For I confess
+I cannot well Conceive, how from matter, Barely put into Motion, and
+then left to it self, there could Emerge such Curious Fabricks as the
+Bodies of men and perfect Animals, and such yet more admirably
+Contriv&#8217;d parcels of matter, as the seeds of living Creatures.</p>
+
+<p>I should likewise tell you upon what grounds, and in what sence, I
+suspected the Principles of the World, as it now is, to be Three,
+<i>Matter</i>, <i>Motion</i> and <i>Rest</i>. I say, <i>as the World now is</i>, because
+the present Fabrick of the Universe, and especially the seeds of
+things, together with the establisht Course of Nature, is a Requisite
+or Condition, upon whose account divers things may be made out by our
+three Principles, which otherwise would be very hard, if possible, to
+explicate.</p>
+
+<p>I should moreover declare in general (for I pretend not to be able to
+do it otherwise) not only why I Conceive that Colours, Odors, Tasts,
+Fluidness and Solidity, and those other qualities that Diversifie and
+Denominate Bodies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">(377)</a></span> may Intelligibly be Deduced from these three; <i>but
+how two of the Three</i> Epicurean Principles (which, I need not <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: tell you,">tell, you</span>
+are Magnitude, Figure and Weight)
+are Themselves Deducible from Matter and Motion; since the Latter of
+these Variously Agitating, and, as it were, Distracting the Former,
+must needs disjoyne its parts; which being Actually separated must
+Each of them necessarily both be of some Size, and obtain some shape
+or other. Nor did I add to our Principles the <i>Aristotelean
+Privation</i>, partly for other Reasons, which I must not now stay to
+insist on; and partly because it seems to be rather an Antecedent, or
+a <i>Terminus a quo</i>, then a True Principle, as the starting-Post is
+none of the Horses Legs or Limbs.</p>
+
+<p>I should also explain why and how I made <a href="#ERRATA">rest</a> to be,
+though not so considerable a Principle of things, as Motion, yet a
+Principle of them; partly because it is (for ought we <a href="#ERRATA">know</a>
+as Ancient at least as it, and depends not upon Motion, nor any
+other quality of matter; and partly, because it may enable the Body in
+which it happens to be,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">(378)</a></span> both to continue in a State of Rest till some
+external force put it out of that state, and to concur to the
+production of divers Changes in the bodies that hit against it, by
+either quite stopping or lessning their Motion (whilst the body
+formerly at Rest Receives all or part of it into it self) or else by
+giving a new Byass, or some other Modification, to Motion, that is, To
+the Grand and Primary instrument whereby Nature produces all the
+Changes and other Qualities that are to be met with in the World.</p>
+
+<p>I should likewise, after all this, explain to you how, although
+Matter, Motion and Rest, seem&#8217;d to me to be the Catholick Principles
+of the Universe, I thought the Principles of Particular bodies might
+be Commodiously enough reduc&#8217;d to two, namely <i>Matter</i>, and (what
+Comprehends the two other, and their effects) the result or <a href="#ERRATA">Aggregate</a>
+of those Accidents, which are the
+Motion or Rest, (for in some Bodies both are not to be found) the
+Bigness, Figure, <a href="#ERRATA">Texture)</a> and the thence resulting
+Qualities of the small <a href="#ERRATA">parts)</a> which are necessary
+to intitle the Body whereto they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">(379)</a></span> belong to this or that Peculiar
+Denomination; and discriminating it from others to appropriate it to a
+Determinate Kind of Things, <a href="#ERRATA">as</a> Yellowness, Fixtness,
+such a Degree of Weight, and of Ductility, do make the Portion of
+matter wherein they Concur, to be reckon&#8217;d among perfect metals, and
+obtain the name of Gold.) <a href="#ERRATA">Which</a> Aggregate or result of
+Accidents you may, if You please, call either <i>Structure</i> or Texture.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ERRATA">Though</a> indeed, that do
+not so properly Comprehend the motion of the constituent parts
+especially in case some of them be <a href="#ERRATA">Fluid</a>, or what
+other appellation shall appear most Expressive. Or if, retaining the
+Vulgar Terme, You will call it the <i>Forme</i> of the thing it
+denominates, I shall not much oppose it; Provided the word be
+interpreted to mean but what I have express&#8217;d, and not a Scholastick
+<i>Substantial Forme</i>, which so many intelligent men profess to be to
+them altogether Un-intelligible.</p>
+
+<p>But, sayes <i>Carneades</i>, if you remember that &#8217;tis a Sceptick speaks to
+you, and that &#8217;tis not so much my present Talk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">(380)</a></span> to make assertions as
+to suggest doubts, I hope you will look upon what I have propos&#8217;d,
+rather as a Narrative of my former conjectures touching the principles
+of things, then as a Resolute Declaration of my present opinions of
+them; especially since although they cannot but appear Very much to
+their Disadvantage, If you Consider Them as they are propos&#8217;d without
+those Reasons and Explanations by which I could perhaps make them
+appear much lesse extravagant; yet I want time to offer you what may
+be alledg&#8217;d to clear and countenance these notions; my design in
+mentioning them unto you at present being, <i>partly</i>, to bring some
+Light and Confirmation to divers passages of my discourse to you;
+<i>partly</i> to shew you, that I do not (as you seem to have suspected)
+embrace all <i>Epicurus</i> his principles; but Dissent from him in some
+main things, as well as from <i>Aristotle</i> and the Chymists, in others;
+&amp; <i>partly</i> also, or rather chiefly, to intimate to you the grounds
+upon which I likewise differ from <i>Helmont</i> in this, that whereas he
+ascribes almost all things, and even diseases themselves, to their
+determinate Seeds; I am of opinion, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">(381)</a></span> besides the peculiar
+Fabricks of the Bodies of Plants and Animals (and perhaps also of some
+Metals and Minerals) which I take to be the Effects of seminal
+principles, there are many other bodies in nature which have and
+deserve distinct and Proper names, but yet do but result from such
+contextures of the matter they are made of, as may without determinate
+seeds be effected by heat, cold, artificial mixtures and compositions,
+and divers other causes which sometimes nature imployes of her own
+accord; and oftentimes man by his power and skill makes use of to
+fashion the matter according to his Intentions. This may be
+exemplified both in the productions of Nature, and in those of Art; of
+the first sort I might name multitudes; but to shew how sleight 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 shall invite you to observe with me, That Clouds, Rain, Hail, Snow,
+Froth, and Ice, may be but water, having its parts varyed as to their
+size and distance in respect of each other, and as to motion<span class="pagenumerr" title="382"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">(383)</a></span> and
+rest. And among Artificial Productions we may take notice (to skip the
+Crystals of Tartar) of Glass, <a href="#ERRATA">Regulus, Martis-Stellatus</a>,
+and particularly of the Sugar of Lead,
+which though made of that insipid Metal and sour salt of Vinager, has
+in it a sweetnesse surpassing that of common Sugar, and divers other
+qualities, which being not to be found in either of its two
+ingredients, must be confess&#8217;d to belong to the Concrete it self, upon
+the account of its Texture.</p>
+
+<p>This Consideration premis&#8217;d, it will be, I hope, the more easie to
+perswade you that the Fire may as well produce some new textures in a
+parcel of matter, as destroy the old.</p>
+
+<p>Wherefore hoping that you have not forgot the Arguments formerly
+imploy&#8217;d against the Doctrine of the <i>Tria prima</i>; namely that the
+Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, into which the Fire seems to resolve
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies, are yet compounded, not simple and
+Elementary Substances; And that (as appeared by the Experiment of
+Pompions) the <i>Tria prima</i> may be made out of Water; hoping I say,
+that you remember These and the other Things that I formerly
+represented<span class="pagenumerr" title="383"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">(382)</a></span> to the same purpose, I shall now add only, that if we
+doubt not the Truth of some of <i>Helmonts</i> <a href="#ERRATA">Relation</a>,
+We may well doubt whether any of these Heterogeneities be
+(I say not pre-existent, so as to convene together, when a plant or
+Animal is to be constituted but) so much as in-existent in the
+Concrete whence they are obtain&#8217;d, when the <a href="#ERRATA">Chymists</a>
+first goes about to resolve it; For not to insist upon the
+un-inflamable Spirit of such Concretes, because that may be pretended
+to be but a mixture of Phlegme and Salt; the Oyle or Sulphur of
+Vegetables or Animals is, according to him, reducible by the help of
+Lixiviate Salts into Sope; as that Sope is by the help of repeated
+Distillations from a <i>Caput Mortuum</i> of Chalk into insipid Water. And
+as for the saline substance that seems separable from mixt bodies; the
+same <i>Helmonts</i> tryals<span class="sidenote"><i>Omne autem Alcali addita pinguedine in aqueum liquorem,
+qui tandem mera &amp; simplex aqua fit, reducitur, (ut videre est in
+Sapone, Lazurio lapide, &amp;c.) quoties per adjuncta fixa semen
+Pinguedinis deponit.</i> Helmont.</span> give us cause to think, That it may be a
+production of the Fire, which by transporting and otherwise altering
+the particles of the matter, does bring it to a Saline nature.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">(384)</a></span></p>
+<p>For I know (sayes he, in the place formerly alledg&#8217;d to another
+purpose) a way to reduce all stones into a meer Salt of equal weight
+with the stone whence it was produc&#8217;d, and that without any of the
+least either Sulphur or Mercury; which asseveration of my Author would
+perhaps seem less incredible to You, if I durst acquaint You with all
+I could say upon that subject. And hence by the way you may also
+conclude that the Sulphur and Mercury, as they call them, that
+Chymists are wont to obtain from compound Bodies by the Fire, may
+possibly in many Cases be the productions of it; since if the same
+bodies had been wrought upon by the Agents employ&#8217;d by <i>Helmont</i>, they
+would have yielded neither Sulphur nor Mercury; and those portions of
+them which the Fire would have presented Us in the forme of
+Sulphureous and Mercurial Bodies would have, by <i>Helmonts</i> method,
+been exhibited to us in the form of Salt.</p>
+
+<p>But though (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) You have alledg&#8217;d very plausible
+Arguments against the <i>tria Prima</i>, yet I see not how it will be
+possible for you to avoid acknowledging that Earth and Water are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">(385)</a></span>
+Elementary Ingredients, though not of Mineral Concretes, yet of all
+Animal and Vegetable Bodies; Since if any of these of what sort soever
+be committed to Distillation, there is regularly and constantly
+separated from it a phlegme or aqueous part and a <i>Caput Mortuum</i> or
+Earth.</p>
+
+<p>I readily acknowledged (answers <i>Carneades</i>) it is not so easy to
+reject Water and Earth (and especially the former) as &#8217;tis to reject
+the <i>Tria Prima</i>, from being the Elements of mixt Bodies; but &#8217;tis not
+every difficult thing that is impossible.</p>
+
+<p>I consider then, as to Water, that the chief Qualities which make men
+give that name to any visible Substance, are, that it is Fluid or
+Liquid, and that it is insipid and inodorous. Now as for the tast of
+these qualities, I think you have never seen any of those separated
+substances that the Chymists call Phlegme which was perfectly devoyd
+both of Tast and Smell: and if you object, that yet it may be
+reasonably suppos&#8217;d, that since the whole Body is Liquid, the mass is
+nothing but Elementary Water faintly imbu&#8217;d with some of the Saline or
+Sul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">(386)</a></span>phureous parts of the same Concrete, which it retain&#8217;d with it
+upon its Separation from the Other Ingredients. To this I answer, That
+this Objection would not appear so <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: strong">stong</span>
+as it is plausible, if Chymists understood the Nature of Fluidity and
+Compactnesse; and that, as I formerly observ&#8217;d, to a Bodies being
+Fluid there is nothing necessary, but that it be divided into parts
+small enough; and that these parts be put into such a motion among
+themselves as to glide some this way and some that way, along each
+others Surfaces. So that, although a Concrete were never so dry, and
+had not any Water or other Liquor in-existent in it, yet such a
+Comminution of its parts may be made, by the fire or other Agents, as
+to turn a great portion of them into Liquor. Of this Truth I will give
+an instance, employ&#8217;d by our friend here present as one of the most
+conducive of his experiments to Illustrate the nature of Salts. If you
+Take, then, sea salt and melt it in the Fire to free it from the
+aqueous parts, and afterward distill it with a vehement Fire from
+burnt Clay, or any other, as dry a <i>Caput mortuum</i> as you please, you
+will, as Chymists <a href="#ERRATA">confess,</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">(387)</a></span> by
+teaching it drive over a good part of the Salt in the form of a
+Liquor. And to satisfy some ingenious men, That a great part of this
+Liquor was still true sea salt brought by the Operation of the Fire
+into Corpuscles so small, and perhaps so advantageously shap&#8217;d, as to
+be capable of the forme of a Fluid Body, He did in my presence poure
+to such spiritual salts a due proportion of the spirit (or salt and
+Phlegme) of Urine, whereby having evaporated the superfluous moisture,
+he soon obtain&#8217;d such another Concrete, both as to tast and smell, and
+easie sublimableness as common Salt <i>Armoniack</i>, which you know is
+made up of grosse and undistill&#8217;d sea salt united with the salts of
+Urine and of Soot, which two are very neer of kin to each other. And
+further, to manifest that the Corpuscles of sea salt and the Saline
+ones of Urine retain their several Natures in this Concrete, He mixt
+it with a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar, and committing it to
+Distillation soon regain&#8217;d his spirit of Urine in a liquid form by its
+self, the Sea salt staying behind with the Salt of Tartar. Wherefore
+it is very possible that dry Bodies may by the Fire be re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">(388)</a></span>duc&#8217;d to
+Liquors without any separation of Elements, but barely by a certain
+kind of Dissipation and Comminution of the matter, whereby its parts
+are brought into a new state. And if it be still objected, that the
+Phlegme of mixt Bodies must be reputed water, because so weak a tast
+needs but a very small proportion of Salt to impart it; It may be
+reply&#8217;d, that for ought appears, common Salt and divers other bodies,
+though they be distill&#8217;d never so dry, and in never so close Vessels,
+will yield each of them pretty store of a Liquor, wherein though (as I
+lately noted) Saline Corpuscles abound, Yet there is besides a large
+proportion of Phlegme, as may easily be discovered by coagulating the
+Saline Corpuscles 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 separated a salt from Oyle of Vitriol it self
+(though a very ponderous Liquor and drawn from a saline body) by
+boyling it with a just quantity of Mercury, and then washing the newly
+coagulated salt from the Precipitate with fair Water. Now to what can
+we more probably ascribe this plenty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">(389)</a></span> of aqueous Substance afforded us
+by the Distillation of such bodies, than unto this, That among the
+various operations of the Fire upon the matter of a Concrete, divers
+particles of that matter are reduc&#8217;d to such a shape and bignesse as
+is requisite to compose such a Liquor as Chymists are wont to call
+Phlegme or Water. How I conjecture this change may be effected, &#8217;tis
+neither necessary for me to tell you, nor possible to do so without a
+much longer discourse then were now seasonable. But I desire you would
+with me reflect upon what I formerly told you concerning the change of
+Quicksilver into Water; For that Water having but a very faint tast,
+if any whit more than divers of those liquors that Chymists referr to
+Phlegme; By that experiment it seems evident, that even a metalline
+body, and therefore much more such as are but Vegetable or Animal, may
+by a simple operation of the Fire be turn&#8217;d in great part into Water.
+And since those I dispute with are not yet able out of Gold, or
+Silver, or divers other Concretes to separate any thing like Water; I
+hope I may be allow&#8217;d to conclude against Them, that water it self is
+not an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">(390)</a></span> Universal and pre-existent Ingredient of Mixt Bodies.</p>
+
+<p>But as for those Chymists that, Supposing with me the Truth of what
+<i>Helmont</i> relates of the <i>Alkahest&#8217;s</i> wonderful Effects, have a right
+to press me with his Authority concerning them, and to alledge that he
+could Transmute all reputedly mixt Bodies into insipid and meer Water;
+To those I shall represent, That though his Affirmations conclude
+strongly against the Vulgar Chymists (against whom I have not
+therefore scrupl&#8217;d to Employ Them) since they Evince that the Commonly
+reputed Principles or Ingredients of Things are not Permanent and
+indestructible, since they may be further reduc&#8217;d into Insipid Phlegme
+differing from them all; Yet till we can be allow&#8217;d to examine this
+Liquor, I think it not unreasonable to doubt whether it be not
+something else then meer Water. For I find not any other reason given
+by <i>Helmont</i> of his Pronouncing it so, then that it is insipid. Now
+Sapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to our
+Tongue, Palate, and other Organs of Tast, it may very possibly be,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">(391)</a></span>
+that the small Parts of a Body may be of such a Size and Shape, as
+either by their extream Littleness, or by their slenderness, or by
+their Figure, to be unable to pierce into and make a perceptible
+Impression upon the Nerves or Membranous parts of the Organs of Tast,
+and <a href="#ERRATA">what</a> may be fit to work otherwise upon divers other
+Bodies than meer Water can, and consequently to Disclose it self to be
+of a Nature farr enough from Elementary. In Silke dyed Red or of any
+other Colour, whilst many Contiguous Threads makes up a skein, the
+Colour of the Silke is conspicuous; 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 simple Thread, you shall not easily be able to
+discern any Colour at all; So subtile an Object having not the Force
+to make upon the Optick Nerve an Impression great enough to be taken
+Notice of. It is also observ&#8217;d, that the best sort of Oyl-Olive is
+almost tastless, and yet I need not tell you how exceedingly distant
+in Nature Oyle is from Water. The Liquor into which I told you, upon
+the Relation of <i>Lully</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">(392)</a></span> <a href="#ERRATA">and</a> Eye-witness that Mercury
+might be Transmuted, has sometimes but a very Languid, if any Tast,
+and yet its Operations even upon some Mineral Bodies are very
+peculiar. Quicksilver it self also, though the Corpuscles it consists
+of be so very small as to get into the Pores of that Closest and
+compactest of Bodies, Gold, is yet (you know) altogether Tastless. And
+our <i>Helmont</i> several times tells us, that fair Water wherein a little
+Quantity <a href="#ERRATA">f</a> Quicksilver has lain for some time, though it
+acquire no certain Tast or other sensible Quality from the
+Quicksilver; Yet it has a power to destroy wormes in humane Bodies;
+which he does much, but not causelessly extoll. And I remember, a
+great Lady, that had been Eminent for her Beauty in Divers Courts,
+confess&#8217;d to me, that this insipid Liquor was of all innocent washes
+for the Face the best that she ever met with.</p>
+
+<p>And here let me conclude my Discourse, concerning such waters or
+Liquors as I have hitherto been examining, with these two
+Considerations. Whereof the first is, That by reason of our being wont
+to drink nothing but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">(393)</a></span> Wine, Bear, Cyder, or other strongly tasted
+Liquors, there may be in several of these Liquors, that are wont to
+pass for insipid Phlegme, very peculiar and <a href="#ERRATA">Distinct, Tasts</a>
+though unheeded (and perhaps not to be perceiv&#8217;d) by
+Us. For to omit what Naturalists affirm of Apes, (and which probably
+may be true of divers other Animals) that they have a more exquisite
+palate than Men: among Men themselves, those that are wont to drink
+nothing but water may (as I have try&#8217;d in my self) Discern very
+sensibly a great Difference of Tasts in several waters, which one
+un-accustomed to drink water would take to be all alike insipid. And
+this is the <i>first</i> of my two Considerations; the <i>Other</i> is, That it
+is not impossible that the Corpuscles into which a body is dissipated
+by the Fire may by the Operation of the same fire have their figures
+so altered, or may be by associations with one another brought into
+little Masses of such a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to make
+sensible Impressions on the Tongue. And that you may not think such
+alterations impossible, be pleased to consider with me, that not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">(394)</a></span> only
+the sharpest Spirit of Vinager having dissolved as much Corall as it
+can, will Coagulate with it into a Substance, which though soluble in
+water, like salt, is incomparably less strongly Tasted then the
+Vinager was before; but (what is more considerable) though the Acid
+salts that are carried up with Quicksilver in the preparation of
+common sublimate are so sharp, that being moistened with water it will
+Corrode some of the Metals themselves; yet this Corrosive Sublimate
+being twice or thrice re-sublim&#8217;d with a full proportion of insipid
+Quicksilver, Constitutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, which
+the Chymists call <i>Mercurius dulcis</i>; not because it is sweet, but
+because the sharpness of the Corrosive Salts is so taken away by their
+Combination with the Mercurial Corpuscles, that the whole mixture when
+it is prepar&#8217;d is judg&#8217;d to be insipid.</p>
+
+<p>And thus (continues <i>Carneades</i>) having given you some Reasons why I
+refuse to admit Elementary water for a constant Ingredient of Mixt
+Bodies, It will be easie for me to give you an Account why I also
+reject Earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">(395)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For first, it may well be suspected that many Substances pass among
+Chymists under the name of Earth, because, like it, they are Dry, and
+Heavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Elementary Nature.
+This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what I
+formerly told you concerning what Chymists call the Dead Earth of
+things, and especially touching the copper to be drawn from the <i>Caput
+Mortuum</i> of Vitriol; And if also you allow me to subjoyn a casual but
+memorable Experiment made by <i>Johannes Agricola</i> upon the <i>Terra
+Damnata</i> of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon
+<span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Poppius"><i>Popius</i></span>,) that in the year 1621 he made
+an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining <i>F&aelig;ces</i> he reverberated in a
+moderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up in
+a Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing to
+calcine the <i>F&aelig;ces</i> to a perfect Whiteness, that he might make
+<span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: something">someting</span> else out of them. But coming
+to break the pot, he found above but very little <i>F&aelig;ces</i>, and those
+Grey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine Red <i>Regulus</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">(396)</a></span> which
+he first marvell&#8217;d at and knew not what to make of, being well assured
+that not the least thing, besides the <i>F&aelig;ces</i> of the Sulphur, came
+into the pot; and that the Sulphur it self had only been dissolv&#8217;d in
+Linseed Oyle; this <i>Regulus</i> he found heavy and malleable almost as
+Lead; having caus&#8217;d a Goldsmith to draw him a Wire of it, he found it
+to be of the Fairest copper, and so rightly colour&#8217;d, that a Jew of
+<i>Prague</i> offer&#8217;d him a great price for it. And of this Metal he sayes
+he had 12 <i>loth</i> (or six ounces) out of one pound of Ashes or <i>F&aelig;ces</i>.
+And this Story may well incline us to suspect that since the <i>Caput
+Mortuum</i> of the Sulphur was kept so long in the fire before it was
+found to be any thing else then a <i>Terra damnata</i>, there may be divers
+other Residences of Bodies which are wont to pass only for the
+Terrestrial <i>F&aelig;ces</i> of things, and therefore to be thrown away as soon
+as the Distillation or Calcination of the Body that yielded them is
+ended; which yet if they were long and Skilfully examin&#8217;d by the fire
+would appear to be differing from Elementary Earth. And I have taken
+notice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">(397)</a></span> unwarrantable forwardness of common Chymists to
+pronounce things useless <i>F&aelig;ces</i>, by observing how often they reject
+the <i>Caput Mortuum</i> of Verdegrease; which is yet so farr from
+deserving that Name, that not only by strong fires and convenient
+Additaments it may in some hours be reduc&#8217;d into copper, but with a
+certain Flux Powder I sometimes make for Recreation, I have in two or
+three minutes obtain&#8217;d that Metal from it. To which I may add, that
+having for tryall sake kept Venetian <a href="#ERRATA">Taclk</a> in no less
+a heat than that of a glass Furnace, I found after all the Brunt of
+the fire it had indur&#8217;d, the remaining Body though brittle and
+discolour&#8217;d, had not lost very much of its former Bulke, and seem&#8217;d
+still to be nearer of kin to Talck than to meer Earth. And I remember
+too, that a candid Mineralist, famous for his Skill in trying of Oars,
+requesting me one day to procure him a certain <i>American</i> Mineral
+Earth of a <i>Virtuoso</i>, who he thought would not refuse me; I enquir&#8217;d
+of him why he seem&#8217;d so greedy of it: he confess&#8217;d to me that this
+Gentleman having brought that Earth to the publick Say-Masters;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">(398)</a></span> and
+they upon their being unable by any means to bring it to fusion or
+make it fly away, he (the Relator) had procur&#8217;d a little of it; and
+having try&#8217;d it with a peculiar Flux separated from it neer a third
+part of pure Gold; so great mistakes may be committed in hastily
+concluding things to be Uselesse Earth.</p>
+
+<p>Next, it may be suppos&#8217;d, That as in the Resolution of Bodies by the
+Fire some of the dissipated Parts may, by their various occursion
+occasion&#8217;d by the heat, be brought to stick together so closely as to
+constitute Corpuscles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; the
+aggregate of which Corpuscles is wont to be call&#8217;d Ashes or <a href="#ERRATA">Earrh</a>;
+So other Agents may resolve the Concrete into Minute
+Parts, after so differing a manner as not to produce any <i>Caput
+mortuum</i>, or dry and heavy Body. As you may remember <i>Helmont</i> above
+inform&#8217;d us, that with his great Dissolvent he divided a Coal into two
+liquid and volatile Bodies, &aelig;quiponderant to the Coal, without any dry
+or fixt Residence at all.</p>
+
+<p>And indeed, I see not why it should be necessary that all Agents that
+resolve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">(399)</a></span> Bodies into portions of differingly qualifi&#8217;d matter must
+work on them the same way, and divide them into just such parts, both
+for nature and Number, as the Fire dissipates them into. For since, as
+I noted before, the Bulk and shape of the small Parts of bodies,
+together with their Fitness and Unfitness to be easily put into
+Motion, may make the liquors or other substances such Corpuscles
+compose, as much to differ from each other as do some of the Chymical
+principles: Why may not something happen in this case, not unlike what
+is usuall in the grosser divisions of bodies by Mechanical
+Instruments? Where we see that some Tools reduce Wood, for Instance,
+into <a href="#ERRATA">darts</a> of several shapes, bignesse, and other
+qualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into grosser parts; some
+more long and slender, as splinters; and some more thick and
+irregular, as chips; but all of considerable bulk; but Files and Saws
+makes a Comminution of it into Dust; which, as all the others, is of
+the more solid sort of parts; whereas others divide it into long and
+broad, but thin and flexible parts, as do <i>Planes</i>: And of this kind
+of parts it self there is also a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">(400)</a></span> variety according to the Difference
+of the Tools employ&#8217;d to work on the Wood; the shavings made by the
+<i>plane</i> being in some things differing from those shives or thin and
+flexible pieces of wood that are obtain&#8217;d by <i>Borers</i>, and these from
+some others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examples
+applicable to this purpose I have elsewhere given you. To which I may
+add, that whereas in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar well
+melted and incorporated together, the action of pure spirit of wine
+digested on it is to separate the sulphureous from the Alcalizate
+Parts, by dissolving the former and leaving the latter, the action of
+Wine (probably upon the score of its copious Phlegme) upon the same
+mixture is to divide it into Corpuscles consisting of both Alcalizate
+and Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is but
+a Factitious Concrete; I answer, that however the instance may serve
+to illustrate what I propos&#8217;d, if not to prove it; and that Nature her
+self doth in the bowels of the Earth make Decompounded Bodies, as we
+see in Vitriol, Cinnaber, and even in Sulphur it self; I will not urge
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">(401)</a></span> the Fire divides new Milk into five differing Substances; but
+Runnet and Acid Liquors divide it into a Coagulated matter and a thin
+Whey: And on the other side churning divides it into Butter and
+Butter-milk, which may either of them be yet reduc&#8217;d to other
+substances differing from the former. I will not presse this, I say,
+nor other instances of this Nature, because I cannot in few words
+answer what may be objected, that these Concretes sequestred without
+the help of the Fire may by it be further divided into Hypostatical
+Principles. But I will rather represent, That whereas the same spirit
+of Wine will <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: dissociate">dissociare</span> the Parts of
+Camphire, and make them one Liquor with it self; <i>Aqua Fortis</i> will
+also disjoyn them, and put them into motion; but so as to keep them
+together, and yet alter their Texture into the form of an Oyle. I know
+also an uncompounded Liquor, that an extraordinary Chymist would not
+allow to be so much as Saline, which doth (as I have try&#8217;d) from Coral
+it self (as fixt as divers judicious writers assert that Concrete to
+be) not only obtain a noble Tincture, Without the Intervention of
+Nitre or other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">(402)</a></span> Salts; but will carry over the Tincture in
+Distillation. And if some reasons did not forbid me, I could now tell
+you of a <i>Menstruum</i> I make my self, that doth more odly dissociate
+the parts of Minerals very fixt in the fire. So that it seems not
+incredible, that there may be some Agent or way of Operation found,
+whereby this or that Concrete, if not all Firme Bodies, may be
+resolv&#8217;d into parts so very minute and so unapt to stick close to one
+another, that none of them may be fixt enough to stay behind in a
+strong Fire, and to be incapable of Distillation; nor consequently to
+be look&#8217;d upon as Earth. But to return to <i>Helmont</i>, the same Authour
+somewhere supply&#8217;s me with another Argument against the Earth&#8217;s being
+such an Element as my Adversaries would have it. For he somewhere
+affirms, that he can reduce all the Terrestrial parts of mixt bodies
+into insipid water; whence we may argue against the Earths being one
+of their Elements, even from that Notion of Elements which you may
+remember <i>Philoponus</i> recited out of <i>Aristotle</i> himself, when he
+lately disputed for his Chymists against <i>Themistius</i>. And here we
+may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">(403)</a></span> on this occasion consider, that since a Body from which the Fire
+hath driven away its looser parts is wont to be look&#8217;d upon as Earth,
+upon the Account of its being endow&#8217;d with both these qualities,
+Tastlessenesse and Fixtnesse, (for Salt of Tartar though Fixt passes
+not among the Chymists for Earth, because &#8217;tis strongly Tasted) if it
+be in the power of Natural Agents to deprive the <i>Caput Mortuum</i> of a
+body of either of those two Qualities, or to give them both to a
+portion of matter that had them not both before, the Chymists will not
+easily define what part of a resolv&#8217;d Concrete is earth, and make out,
+that that Earth is a primary, simple, and indestructible Body. Now
+there are some cases wherein the more skilful of the Vulgar Chymists
+themselves pretend to be able, by repeated Cohobations and other fit
+Operations, to make the Distilled parts of a Concrete bring its own
+<i>Caput Mortuum</i> over the Helme, in the forme of a Liquor; in which
+state being both Fluid and Volatile, you will easily believe it would
+not be taken for Earth. And indeed by a skilful, but not Vulgar, way
+of managing some Concretes, there may be more effected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">(404)</a></span> in this kind,
+then you perhaps would easily think. And on the other side, that
+either Earth may be Generated, or at least Bodies that did not before
+appear to be neer Totally Earth, may be so alter&#8217;d as to pass for it,
+seems very possible, if <i>Helmont</i><span class="sidenote"><i>Novi item modos quibus totum <a href="#ERRATA">Salpeti&aelig;</a>
+in terram convertitur, totumque Sulphur semel dissolutum
+fixetur in Pulvearem terreum. Helmont in Compl. atque Mist. Elementor.
+Sect. 24.</i></span> have done that by Art which he
+mentions in several places; especially where He sayes that he knowes
+wayes whereby Sulphur once dissolv&#8217;d is all of it fix&#8217;d into a
+Terrestrial Powder; and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn&#8217;d
+into Earth: Which last he elsewhere sayes is Done by the Odour only of
+a certain Sulphureous Fire. And in another place He mentions one way
+of doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; because the
+Materialls I had prepar&#8217;d for Trying it, were by a Servants mistake
+unhappily thrown away.</p>
+
+<p>And these Last Arguments may be confirm&#8217;d by the Experiment I have
+often had occasion to mention concerning the Mint I produc&#8217;d out of
+Water. And partly by an Observation of <i>Rondeletius</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">(405)</a></span> concerning the
+Growth of Animals also, Nourish&#8217;d but by Water, which I remember&#8217;d not
+to mention, when I discours&#8217;d to you about the Production of things
+out of Water. This Diligent Writer then in his instructive book of
+fishes,<span class="sidenote"><i>Lib. 1. cap. 2.</i></span> affirmes That his Wife kept a fish in a Glass of water
+without any other Food for three years; in which space it was
+constantly augmented, till at last it could not come out of the Place
+at which it was put in, and at length was too big for the glass it
+self though that were of a large capacity. And because there is no
+just reason to doubt, that this Fish, if Distill&#8217;d, would have yielded
+the like differing substances with other Animals: And However, because
+the Mint which I had out of water afforded me upon Distillation a good
+quantity of Charcoal, I think I may from thence inferr, that Earth it
+self may be produc&#8217;d out of Water; or if you please, that water may be
+transmuted into Earth; and consequently, that though it could be
+prov&#8217;d that Earth is an Ingredient actually in-existent in the
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies whence it may be obtain&#8217;d by Fire: yet it
+would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">(406)</a></span> not necessarily follow, that Earth as a pre-existent Element
+Does with other Principles convene to make up those Bodies whence it
+seems to have been separated.</p>
+
+<p>After all is said (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>) I have yet something to
+Object, that I cannot but think considerable, since <i>Carneades</i>
+Himself alledg&#8217;d it as such; for, (continues <i>Eleutherius</i> smiling) I
+must make bold to try whether you can as luckily answer your own
+Arguments, as those of your Antagonists, I mean (pursues he) that part
+of your Concessions, wherein you cannot but remember that you supply&#8217;d
+your Adversaries with an Example to prove that there may be Elementary
+Bodies, by taking Notice that Gold may be an Ingredient in a multitude
+of differing Mixtures, and yet retain its Nature, notwithstanding all
+that the Chymists by their Fires and Corrosive Waters are able to do
+to Destroy it.</p>
+
+<p>I sufficiently intimated to you at that time (replies <i>Carneades</i>)
+that I propos&#8217;d this Example, chiefly to shew you how Nature may be
+Conceived to have made Elements, not to prove that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">(407)</a></span> actually has
+made any; And you know, that <i>a posse ad esse</i> the Inference will not
+hold. But (continues <i>Carneades</i>) to answer more directly to the
+Objection drawn from Gold, I must tell You, that though I know very
+well that divers of the more sober Chymists have complain&#8217;d of the
+Vulgar Chymists, as of Mountebanks or Cheats, for pretending so
+vainly, as hitherto they have done, to Destroy Gold; Yet I know a
+certain <i>Menstruum</i> (which our Friend has made, and intends shortly to
+communicate to the Ingenious) of so piercing and powerfull a Quality,
+That if notwithstanding much care, and some skill, I did not much
+deceive myself, I have with it really destroy&#8217;d even refin&#8217;d Gold, and
+brought it into a Metalline Body of another colour and Nature, as I
+found by Tryals purposely made. And if some just Considerations did
+not for the present Forbid it, I could Perchance here shew you by
+another Experiment or Two of my own Trying, that such <i>Menstruums</i> may
+be made as to entice away and retain divers parts, from Bodies, which
+even the more Judicious and Experienc&#8217;d <i>Spagyrists</i> have pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">(408)</a></span>nounc&#8217;d
+irresoluble by the Fire. Though (which I Desire you would mark) in
+neither of these Instances, the Gold or Precious Stones be Analys&#8217;d
+into any of the <i>Tria Prima</i>, but only Reduc&#8217;d to new Concretes. And
+indeed there is a great Disparity betwixt the Operations of the
+several Agents whereby the Parts of a Body come to be Dissipated. As
+if (for Instance) you dissolve the purer sort of Vitriol in common
+Water, the Liquor will swallow up the Mineral, and so Dissociate its
+Corpuscles, that they will seem to make up but one Liquor with those
+of the water; and yet each of these Corpuscles retains its Nature and
+Texture, and remains a Vitriolate and Compounded Body. But if the same
+Vitriol be exposed to a strong Fire, it will then be divided not only,
+as before, into smaller parts, but into Heterogeneous Substances, each
+of the Vitriolate Corpuscles that remain&#8217;d entire in the water, being
+it self upon the Destruction of its former Texture dissipated or
+divided into new Particles of differing Qualities. But Instances more
+fitly applicable to this purpose, I have already given you. Wherefore
+to re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">(409)</a></span>turn to what I told you about the Destruction of Gold, that
+Experiment Invites me to Represent to you, that Though there were
+either Saline, or Sulphureous, or Terrestrial Portions of Matter,
+whose parts were so small, so firmly united together, or of a figure
+so fit to make them cohere to one another, (as we see that in
+quicksilver broken into little Globes, the Parts brought to touch one
+another do immediately re-imbody) that neither the Fire, nor the usual
+Agents employ&#8217;d by Chymists, are pierceing enough to divide their
+Parts, so as to destroy the Texture of the single Corpuscles; yet it
+would not necessarily follow, That such Permanent Bodies were
+Elementary, since tis possible there may be Agents found in Nature,
+some of whose parts may be of such a Size and Figure as to take better
+Hold of some parts of these seemingly Elementary Corpuscles than these
+parts do of the rest, and Consequently may carry away such parts with
+them, and so dissolve the Texture of the Corpuscle by pulling its
+parts asunder. And if it be said, that at least we may this way
+discover the Elementary Ingredients of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">(410)</a></span> Things, by observing into what
+Substances these Corpuscles that were reputed pure are divided; I
+answer, that it is not necessary that such a Discovery should be
+practicable. For if the Particles of the Dissolvent do take such firme
+hold of those of the Dissolved Body, they must constitute together new
+Bodies, as well as Destroy the Old; and the strickt Union, which
+according to this <i>Hypothesis</i> may well be suppos&#8217;d betwixt the Parts
+of the Emergent Body, will make it as Little to be Expected that they
+should be pull&#8217;d asunder, but by little Parts of matter, that to
+Divide them Associate Themselves and stick extreamly close to those of
+them which they sever from their Former Adherents. Besides that it is
+not impossible, that a Corpuscle suppos&#8217;d to be Elementary may have
+its Nature changed, without suffering a Divorce of its parts, barely
+by a new Texture Effected by some powerfull Agent; as I formerly told
+you, the same portion of matter may easily by the Operation of the
+Fire be turn&#8217;d at pleasure into the form of a Brittle and Transparent,
+or an Opacous and Malleable Body.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">(411)</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And indeed, if you consider how farr the bare Change of Texture,
+whether made by Art or Nature (or rather by Nature with or without the
+assistance of man) can go in producing such New Qualities in the same
+parcel of matter, and how many inanimate Bodies (such as are all the
+Chymical productions of the Fire) we know are Denominated and
+Distinguish&#8217;d not so much by any Imaginary Substantial Form, as by the
+aggregate of these Qualities. If you consider these Things, I say, and
+that the varying of either the figure, or the Size, or the Motion, or
+the Situation, or Connexion of the Corpuscles whereof any of these
+Bodies is compos&#8217;d, may alter the Fabrick of it, you will possibly be
+invited to suspect, with me, that there is no great need that Nature
+should alwayes have Elements before hand, whereof to make such Bodies
+as we call mixts. And that it is not so easie as Chymists and others
+have hitherto Imagin&#8217;d, to discern, among the many differing
+Substances that may without any extraordinary skill be obtain&#8217;d from
+the same portion of matter, Which ought to be esteemed exclusively to
+all the rest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">(412)</a></span> its in-existent Elementary Ingredients; much lesse to
+determine what Primogeneal and Simple Bodies convened together to
+compose it. To exemplify this, I shall add to what I have already on
+several occasions Represented, but this single instance.</p>
+
+<p>You may remember (<i>Eleutherius</i>) that I formerly intimated to you,
+that besides Mint and Pompions, I produced divers other Vegetables of
+very differing Natures out of Water. Wherefore you will not, I
+presume, think it incongruous to suppose, that when a slender
+Vine-slip is set into the ground, and takes root, there it may
+likewise receive its Nutriment from the water attracted out of the
+earth by his roots, or impell&#8217;d by the warm&#8217;th of the sun, or pressure
+of the ambient air into the pores of them. And this you will the more
+easily believe, if you ever observ&#8217;d what a strange quantity of Water
+will Drop out of a wound given to the Vine, in a convenient place, at
+a seasonable time in the Spring; and how little of Tast or Smell this
+<i>Aqua Vitis</i>, as Physitians call it, is endow&#8217;d with, notwithstanding
+what concoction or alteration it may receive in its passage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">(413)</a></span> through
+the Vine, to discriminate it from common Water. Supposing then this
+Liquor, at its first entrance into the roots of the Vine, to be common
+Water; Let Us a little consider how many various Substances may be
+obtain&#8217;d from it; though to do so, I must repeat somewhat that I had a
+former occasion to touch upon. And first, this Liquor being Digested
+in the plant, and assimilated by the several parts of it, is turn&#8217;d
+into the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &amp;c. of the Vine; The same Liquor
+may be further dry&#8217;d, and fashon&#8217;d into Vine-buds, and these a while
+after are advanced unto sour Grapes, which express&#8217;d yield Verjuice, a
+Liquor very differing in several qualities both from Wine and other
+Liquors obtainable from the Vine: These soure Grapes being by the heat
+of the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well tasted Grapes; These
+if dry&#8217;d in the Sun and Distill&#8217;d, afford a f&aelig;tid Oyle and a piercing
+<i>Empyreumatical</i> Spirit, but not a Vinous Spirit; These dry&#8217;d Grapes
+or Raisins boyl&#8217;d in a convenient proportion of Water make a sweet
+Liquor, which being betimes distill&#8217;d afford an Oyle and Spirit much
+like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">(414)</a></span> those of the Raisins themselves; If the juice of the Grapes be
+squeez&#8217;d out and put to Ferment, it first becomes a sweet and turbid
+Liquor, then grows lesse sweet and more clear, and then affords in
+common Distillations 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 likewise without
+Addition obtain&#8217;d in processe of time (and by an easie way which I am
+ready to teach you) from one of the noblest sorts of Wine, pretty
+store of pure and curiously figured Crystals of Salt, together with a
+great proportion of a Liquor as sweet almost as Hony; and these I
+obtained not from Must, but True and sprightly Wine; besides the
+Vinous Liquor, the fermented Juice of Grapes is partly turned into
+liquid Dregs or Leeze, and partly into that crust or dry feculancy
+that is commonly called Tartar; and this Tartar may by the Fire be
+easily divided into five differing substances; four of which are not
+Acid, and the other not so manifestly Acid as the Tartar it self; The
+same Vinous Juice after some time, especially if it be not carefully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">(415)</a></span>
+kept, Degenerates into that very sour Liquor called Vinegar; from
+which you may obtain by the Fire a Spirit and a Crystalline Salt
+differing enough from the Spirit and Lixiviate Salt of Tartar. And if
+you pour the Dephlegm&#8217;d Spirit of the Vinegar upon the Salt of Tartar,
+there will be produc&#8217;d such a Conflict or Ebullition as if there were
+scarce two more contrary Bodies in Nature; and oftentimes in this
+Vinager you may observe part of the matter to be turned into an
+innumerable company of swimming Animals, which our Friend having
+divers years ago observed, hath in one of his Papers taught us how to
+discover clearly without the help of a <i>Microscope</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Into all these various Schemes of matter, or differingly Qualifyed
+Bodies, besides divers others that I purposely forbear to mention, may
+the Water that is imbib&#8217;d by the roots of the Vine be brought, partly
+by the formative power of the plant, and partly by supervenient Agents
+or Causes, without the visible concurrence of any extraneous
+Ingredient; but if we be allowed to add to the Productions of this
+transmuted Water a few other substances, we may much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">(416)</a></span> encrease the
+Variety of such Bodies; although in this second sort of Productions,
+the Vinous parts seem scarce to retain any thing of the much more
+fix&#8217;d Bodies wherewith they were mingl&#8217;d; but only to have by their
+Mixture with them acquir&#8217;d such a Disposition, that in their recess
+occasion&#8217;d by the Fire they came to be alter&#8217;d as to shape, or
+Bigness, or both, and associated after a New manner. Thus, as I
+formerly told you, I did by the Addition of a <i>Caput Mortuum</i> of
+Antimony, and some other Bodies unfit for Distillation, obtain from
+crude Tartar, store of a very Volatile and Crystalline Salt, differing
+very much in smell and other Qualities from the usuall salts of
+Tartar.</p>
+
+<p>But (sayes <i>Eleutherius</i>, interrupting him at these Words) if you have
+no restraint upon you, I would very gladly before you go any further,
+be more particularly inform&#8217;d, how you make this Volatile Salt,
+because (you know) that such Multitudes of Chymists have by a scarce
+imaginable Variety of wayes, attempted in Vain the Volatilization of
+the Salt of Tartar, that divers learned <i>Spagyrists</i> speak as if it
+were impossible,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">(417)</a></span> to make any thing out of Tartar, that shall be
+Volatile in a Saline Forme, or as some of them express it, <i>in forma
+sicca</i>. I am very farr from thinking (answers <i>Carneades</i>) that the
+Salt I have mention&#8217;d is that which <i>Paracelsus</i> and <i>Helmont</i> mean
+when they speak of <i>Sal Tartari Volatile</i>, and ascribe such great
+things to it. For the Salt I speak of falls extreamly short of those
+Virtues, not seeming in its Tast, Smel, and other Obvious Qualities,
+to differ very much (though something it do differ) from Salt of
+Harts-horn, and other Volatile Salts drawn from the Distill&#8217;d Parts of
+Animals. Nor have I yet made Tryals enough to be sure, that it is a
+pure Salt of Tartar without participating any thing at all of the
+Nitre, or Antimony. But because it seems more likely to proceed from
+the Tartar, than from any of the other Ingredients, and because the
+Experiment is in it self not Ignoble, and Luciferous enough (as
+shewing a new way to produce a Volatile Salt contrary to Acid Salts
+from Bodies that otherwise are Observ&#8217;d to yield no such Liquor, but
+either only, or chiefly, Acid ones,) I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">(418)</a></span> shall, to satisfie you,
+acquaint you before any of my other Friends with the way I now use
+(for I have formerly us&#8217;d some 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
+these be powder&#8217;d and well mingl&#8217;d; this done, you must have in
+readiness a long neck or Retort of Earth, which must be plac&#8217;d in a
+Furnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of a
+convenient Bigness, at which you may cast in the Mixture, and
+presently stop it up again; this Vessel being fitted with a large
+Receiver must have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the sides be
+red hot, and then you must cast in the above prepar&#8217;d Mixture, by
+about halfe a spoonfull (more or less) at a time, at the hole made for
+that purpose; which being nimbly stopt, the Fumes will pass into the
+Receiver and condense there into a Liquor, that being rectifi&#8217;d will
+be of a pure golden Colour, and carry up that colour to a great
+height; this Spirit abounds in the Salt I told you of, part of which
+may easily enough be separated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">(419)</a></span> by the way I use in such cases, which
+is, to put the Liquor into a glass Egg, or bolthead with a long and
+narrow Neck. For if this be plac&#8217;d a little inclining in hot sand,
+there will sublime 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
+Saltish, not an Acid Salt; it hisses upon the Affusion of Spirit of
+Nitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Dissolv&#8217;d in Spirit
+of Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; it
+presently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whiteness;
+and in summ, has divers Operations like those that I have observ&#8217;d in
+that sort of Salts to which I have resembled it: and is so Volatile,
+that for Distinction sake, I call it <a href="#ERRATA"><i>Tartari Fugitivus</i></a>.
+What virtues it may have in Physick I have not yet
+had the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not be
+despicable. And besides that a very Ingenious Friend of mine tells me
+he hath done great matters against the stone, with a Preparation not
+very much Differing from ours, a very Experienc&#8217;d Germane Chymist
+finding that I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">(420)</a></span> unacquainted with the wayes of making this salt,
+told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymist prizes it
+so highly, that he had a while since procur&#8217;d a Priviledge from the
+Magistrates, that none but He, or by his Licence, should vent a Spirit
+made almost after the same Way with mine, save that he leaves out one
+of the Ingredients, namely the Quick-lime. But, continues <i>Carneades</i>,
+to resume my Former Discourse where your Curiosity interrupted it;</p>
+
+<p>Tis also a common practice in <i>France</i> to bury thin Plates of Copper
+in the Marc (as the French call it) or Husks of Grapes, whence the
+Juice has been squeez&#8217;d out in the Wine-press, and by this means the
+more saline parts of those Husks working by little and little upon the
+Copper, Coagulate Themselves with it into that Blewish Green Substance
+we in English call Verdigrease. Of which I therefore take Notice,
+because having Distill&#8217;d it in a Naked Fire, I found as I expected,
+that by the Association of the Saline with the Metalline parts, the
+former were so alter&#8217;d, that the Distill&#8217;d Liquor, even without
+Rectification, seem&#8217;d by smell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">(421)</a></span> and Tast, strong almost like <i>Aqua
+Fortis</i>, and very much surpassed the purest and most Rectifi&#8217;d Spirit
+of Vinager that ever I made. And this Spirit I therefore ascribe to
+the salt of the Husks alter&#8217;d by their Co-Mixture with the copper
+(though the Fire afterwards Divorce and Transmute them) because I
+found this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of a
+<i>Crocus</i> or redish powder: And because Copper is of too sluggish a
+Nature to be forc&#8217;d over in close Vessels by no stronger a heat. And
+that which is also somewhat Remarkable in the Destillation of good
+Verdigrease, (or at least of that sort that I us&#8217;d) is this, that I
+Never could observe that it yielded me any oyl, (unless a little black
+slime which was separated in Rectification may pass for Oyle) though
+both Tartar and Vinager, (especially the former) will by Destillation
+yield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewise you pour Spirit of
+Vinager upon Calcin&#8217;d Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by its
+Commixture with the Metalline parts, though Insipid, acquire in a few
+hours a more than Saccharine sweetness; and these Saline<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">(422)</a></span> parts being
+by a strong Fire Destill&#8217;d from the Lead wherewith they were imbody&#8217;d,
+will, as I formerly also noted to a Different purpose, leave the Metal
+behind them alter&#8217;d in some qualities from what it was, and will
+themselves ascend, partly in the Forme of an unctuous Body or Oyle,
+partly in that of Phlegme; but for the greatest part in the Forme of a
+subtile Spirit, indow&#8217;d, besides divers new Qualities which I am not
+now willing to take notice of, with a strong smell very much other
+than that of Vinager, and a piercing tast quite differing both from
+the Sowerness of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetness of the Sugar
+of Lead.</p>
+
+<p>To be short, As the difference of Bodies may depend meerly upon that
+of the schemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the seeds of
+Things, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minute
+parts of a Body (either by breaking them into smaller ones of
+differing shapes, or by Uniting together these Fragments with the
+unbroken Corpuscles, or such Corpuscles among Themselves) and the same
+Agents partly by Altering the shape or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">(423)</a></span> bigness of the Constituent
+Corpuscles of a Body, partly by driving away some of them, partly by
+blending others with them, and partly by some new manner of connecting
+them, may give the whole portion of matter a new Texture of its minute
+parts; and thereby make it deserve a new and Distinct name. So that
+according as the small parts of matter recede from each other, or work
+upon each other, or are connected together after this or that
+determinate manner, a Body of this or that denomination is produced,
+as some other Body happens thereby to be alter&#8217;d or destroy&#8217;d.</p>
+
+<p>Since then those things which Chymists produce by the help of the Fire
+are but inanimate Bodies; since such fruits of the Chymists skill
+differ from one another but in so few qualities that we see plainly
+that by fire and other Agents we can employ, we can easily enough work
+as great alterations upon matter, as those that are requisite to
+change one of these Chymical Productions into another; Since the same
+portion of matter may without being Compounded with any extraneous
+Body, or at least Element, be made to put on such a va<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">(424)</a></span>riety of
+formes, and consequently to be (successively) turn&#8217;d into so many
+differing Bodies. And since the matter cloath&#8217;d with so many differing
+formes was originally but water, and that in its passage thorow so
+many transformations, it was never reduc&#8217;d into any of those
+substances which are reputed to be the Principles or Elements of mixt
+Bodies, except by the violence of the fire, which it self divides not
+Bodies into perfectly simple or Elementary substances, but into new
+Compounds; Since, I say, these things are so, I see not why we must
+needs believe that there are any Primogeneal and simple Bodies, of
+which as of Pre-exsistent Elements Nature is obliged to compound all
+others. Nor do I see why we may not conceive that she may produce the
+Bodies accounted mixt out of one another by Variously altering and
+contriving their minute parts, without resolving the matter into any
+such simple or Homogeneous substances as are pretended. Neither, to
+dispatch, do I see why it should be counted <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: absurd">absur&#8217;d</span> to think, that
+when a Body is resolv&#8217;d by the Fire into its suppos&#8217;d simple
+Ingredients, those substances are not true and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">(425)</a></span> proper Elements, but
+rather were, as it were, Accidentally produc&#8217;d by the fire, which by
+Dissipating a Body into minute Parts does, if those parts be shut up
+in Close Vessels, for the most part necessarily bring them to
+Associate Themselves after another manner than before, and so bring
+Them into Bodies of such Different Consistences as the Former Texture
+of the Body, and Concurrent Circumstances make such disbanded
+particles apt to Constitute; as experience shews us (and I have both
+noted it, and prov&#8217;d it already) that as there are some Concretes
+whose parts when dissipated by fire are fitted to be put into such
+Schemes of matter as we call Oyle, and Salt, and Spirit; So there are
+others, such as are especially the greatest part of Minerals, whose
+Corpuscles being of another Size or figure, or perhaps contriv&#8217;d
+another Way, will not in the Fire yield Bodies of the like
+Consistences, but rather others of differing Textures; Not to mention,
+that from Gold and some other Bodies, we see not that the Fire
+separates any Distinct Substances at all; nor That even those Similar
+Parts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">(426)</a></span> Bodies which the Chymists Obtain by the Fire, are the
+Elements whose names they bear, but Compound Bodies, upon which, for
+their resemblance to them in consistence, or some other obvious
+Quality, Chymists have been pleas&#8217;d to bestow such Appellations.</p>
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="pagenumerr" title="427"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">(473)</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/deco06.png" width="600" height="159" alt="" />
+</p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONCLUSION" id="CONCLUSION"></a><span class="gesperrt">THE CONCLUSION</span>.</h2>
+
+
+<p><br /><span class="dropcap">T</span>Hese last Words of <i>Carneades</i> being soon after follow&#8217;d by a noise
+which seem&#8217;d to come from the place where the rest of the Company was,
+he took it for a warning, that it was time for him to conclude or
+break off his Discourse; and told his Friend; By this time I hope you
+see, <i>Eleutherius</i>, that if <i>Helmonts</i> Experiments be true, it is no
+absurdity to question whether that Doctrine be one, that doth not
+assert Any Elements in the sence before explain&#8217;d. But because that,
+as divers of my Arguments suppose the marvellous power of the
+<i>Alkahest</i> in the Analyzing of Bodies, so the Effects ascrib&#8217;d to that
+power are so unparallell&#8217;d and stupendious,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">(428)</a></span> that though I am not sure
+but that there <i>may be</i> such an Agent, yet little less than
+<span lang="el" title="Greek: autopsia">&#945;&#965;&#964;&#959;&#968;&#953;&#945;</span> seems requisite to make a man sure there <i>is</i>. And
+consequently I leave it to you to judge, how farre those of my
+Arguments that are built upon <i>Alkahestical</i> Operations are weakned by
+that Liquors being Matchless; and shall therefore desire you not to
+think that I propose this Paradox that rejects all Elements, as an
+Opinion equally probable with the former part of my discourse. For by
+that, I hope, you are satisfied, that the Arguments wont to be brought
+by Chymists, to prove That all Bodies consist of either Three
+Principles, or Five, are far from being so strong as those that I have
+employ&#8217;d to prove, that there is not any certain and Determinate
+number of such Principles or Elements to be met with Universally in
+all mixt Bodies. And I suppose I need not tell you, that these
+<i>Anti-Chymical</i> Paradoxes might have been manag&#8217;d more to their
+Advantage; but that having not confin&#8217;d my Curiosity to Chymical
+Experiments, I who am but a young Man, and younger Chymist, can yet be
+but slenderly furnished with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">(429)</a></span> them, in reference to so great and
+difficult a Task as you impos&#8217;d upon me; Besides that, to tell you the
+Truth, I durst not employ some even of the best Experiments I am
+acquainted with, because I must not yet disclose them; but however, I
+think I may presume that what I have hitherto Discoursed will induce
+you to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in finding
+Experiments than the Causes of them; or in assigning the Principles by
+which they may best be explain&#8217;d. And indeed, when in the writings of
+<i>Paracelsus</i> I meet with such Phantastick and Un-intelligible
+Discourses as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with,
+father&#8217;d upon such excellent Experiments, as though he seldom clearly
+teaches, I often find he knew; me thinks the Chymists, in their
+searches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators of <i>Solomons
+Tarshish</i> Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages,
+not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too; For
+so the Writings of several (for I say not, all) of your Hermetick
+Philosophers present us, together with divers Substantial and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">(430)</a></span> noble
+Experiments, Theories, which either like Peacocks feathers make a
+great shew, but are neither solid nor useful; or else like Apes, if
+they have some appearance of being rational, are blemish&#8217;d with some
+absurdity or other, that when they are <i>Attentively</i> consider&#8217;d, makes
+them appear Ridiculous.</p>
+
+<p><i>Carneades</i> having thus finish&#8217;d his Discourse against the received
+Doctrines of the <i>Elements</i>; <i>Eleutherius</i> judging he should not have
+time to say much to him before their separation, made some haste to
+tell him; I confess, <i>Carneades</i>, that you have said more in favour of
+your Paradoxes then I expected. For though divers of the Experiments
+you have mention&#8217;d are no secrets, and were not unknown to me, yet
+besides that you have added many of your own unto them, you have laid
+them together in such a way, and apply&#8217;d them to such purposes, and
+made such Deductions From them, as I have not Hitherto met with.</p>
+
+<p>But though I be therefore inclin&#8217;d to think, that <i>Philoponus</i>, had he
+heard you, would scarce have been able in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">(431)</a></span> points to defend the
+Chymical <i>Hypothesis</i> against the arguments wherewith you have oppos&#8217;d
+it; yet me thinks that however your Objections seem to evince a great
+part of what they pretend to, yet they evince it not all; and the
+numerous tryals of those you call the vulgar Chymists, may be allow&#8217;d
+to prove something too.</p>
+
+<p>Wherefore, if it be granted you that you have made it probable,</p>
+
+<p>First, that the differing substances into which mixt Bodies are wont
+to be resolved by the Fire are not of a pure and an Elementary nature,
+especially for this Reason, that they yet retain so much of the nature
+of the Concrete that afforded them, as to appear to be yet somewhat
+compounded, and oftentimes to differ in one Concrete from Principles
+of the same denomination in another:</p>
+
+<p>Next, that as to the number of these differing substances, neither is
+it precisely three, because in most Vegetable and Animal bodies Earth
+and Phlegme are also to be found among their Ingredients; nor is there
+any one determinate number into which the Fire (as it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">(432)</a></span> wont to be
+employ&#8217;d) does precisely and universally resolve all compound Bodies
+whatsoever, as well Minerals as others that are reputed perfectly
+mixt.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, that there are divers Qualities which cannot well be refer&#8217;d
+to any of these Substances, as if they primarily resided in it and
+belong&#8217;d to it; and some other qualities, which though they seem to
+have their chief and most ordinary residence in some one of these
+Principles or Elements of mixt Bodies, are not yet so deducible from
+it, but that also some more general Principles must be taken in to
+explicate them.</p>
+
+<p>If, I say, the Chymists (continues <i>Eleutherius</i>) be so Liberall as to
+make you these three Concessions, I hope you will, on your part, be so
+civil and Equitable as to grant them these three other propositions,
+namely;</p>
+
+<p>First, that divers Mineral Bodies, and therefore probably all the
+rest, may be resolv&#8217;d into a Saline, a Sulphureous, and a Mercurial
+part; And that almost all Vegetable and Animal Concretes may, if not
+by the Fire alone, yet, by a skilfull Artist Employing the Fire as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">(433)</a></span>
+his chief Instrument, be divided into five differing Substances, Salt,
+Spirit, Oyle, Phlegme and Earth; of which the three former by reason
+of their being so much more Operative than the Two Later, deserve to
+be Lookt upon as the Three active Principles, and by way of Eminence
+to be call&#8217;d the three principles of mixt bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Next, that these Principles, Though they be not perfectly Devoid of
+all Mixture, yet may without inconvenience be stil&#8217;d the Elements of
+Compounded bodies, and bear the Names of those Substances which they
+most Resemble, and which are manifestly predominant in them; and that
+especially for this reason, that none of these Elements is Divisible
+by the Fire into Four or Five differing substances, like the Concrete
+whence it was separated.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, That Divers of the Qualities of a mixt Body, and especially
+the Medical Virtues, do for the most part lodge in some One or Other
+of its principles, and may Therefore usefully be sought for in That
+Principle sever&#8217;d from the others.</p>
+
+<p>And in this also (pursues <i>Eleutherius</i>)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">(434)</a></span> methinks both you and the
+Chymists may easily agree, that the surest way is to Learn by
+particular Experiments, what differing parts particular Bodies do
+consist of, and by what wayes (either Actual or potential fire) they
+may best and most Conveniently be Separated, as without relying too
+much upon the Fire alone, for the resolving of Bodies, so without
+fruitlessly contending to force them into more Elements than Nature
+made Them up of, or strip the sever&#8217;d Principles so naked, as by
+making Them Exquisitely Elementary to make them almost useless,</p>
+
+<p>These things (subjoynes <i>Eleu.</i>) I propose, without despairing to see
+them granted by you; not only because I know that you so much preferr
+the Reputation of <i>Candor</i> before that of subtility, that your having
+once suppos&#8217;d a truth would not hinder you from imbracing it when
+clearly made out to you; but because, upon the present occasion, it
+will be no disparagement to you to recede from some of your Paradoxes,
+since the nature and occasion of your past Discourse did not oblige
+you to declare your own opinions, but only to personate an Antagonist
+of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">(435)</a></span> the Chymists. So that (concludes he, with a smile) you may now by
+granting what I propose, add the Reputation of Loving the truth
+sincerely to that of having been able to oppose it subtilly.</p>
+
+<p><i>Carneades&#8217;s</i> haste forbidding him to answer this crafty piece of
+flattery; Till I shal (sayes he) have an opportunity to acquaint you
+with my own Opinions about the controversies I have been discoursing
+of, you will not, I hope, expect I should declare my own sence of the
+Arguments I have employ&#8217;d. Wherefore I shall only tell you thus much
+at present; that though not only an acute Naturalist, but even I my
+self could take plausible Exceptions at some of them; yet divers of
+them too are such as will not perhaps be readily answer&#8217;d, and will
+Reduce my Adversaries, at least, to alter and Reform their
+<i>Hypothesis</i>. I perceive I need not minde you that the Objections I
+made against the Quaternary of Elements and Ternary of Principles
+needed not to be oppos&#8217;d so much against the Doctrines Themselves
+(either of which, especially the latter, may be much more probably
+maintain&#8217;d than hitherto it seems to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">(436)</a></span> have been, by those Writers for
+it I have met with) as against the unaccurateness and the
+unconcludingness of the <i>Analytical</i> Experiments vulgarly Relyed On to
+Demonstrate them.</p>
+
+<p>And therefore, if either of the two examin&#8217;d Opinions, or any other
+Theory of Elements, shall upon rational and Experimental grounds be
+clearly made out to me; &#8217;Tis Obliging, but not irrational, in you to
+Expect, that I shall not be so farr in Love with my Disquieting
+Doubts, as not to be content to change them for undoubted truths. And
+(concludes <i>Carneades</i> smiling) it were no great disparagement for a
+Sceptick to confesse to you, that as unsatisfy&#8217;d as the past discourse
+may have made you think me with the Doctrines of the Peripateticks,
+and the Chymists, about the Elements and Principles, I can yet so
+little discover what to acquiesce in, that perchance the Enquiries of
+others have scarce been more unsatisfactory to me, than my own have
+been to my self.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b><i><span class="gesperrt">FINIS</span>.</i></b></p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">(437)</a></span></p>
+
+<p><a name="PRINTER" id="PRINTER"></a><span class="dropcap">T</span>He Authors constant Absence from the Presse, whilst the former
+Treatise was Printing, and the Nature of the Subject it self,
+wherewith ordinary Composers are not wont to be at all acquainted,
+will, &#8217;tis hop&#8217;d, procure the Readers Excuse, till the next Edition,
+if the <i>Errata</i> be somewhat numerous, and if among them there want not
+some grosser mistakes, which yet are not the only Blemishes these
+lines must take notice of and acknowledg; For the Author now perceives
+that through the fault of those to whom he had committed the former
+Treatise in loose Sheets, some Papers that belonged to it, have
+altogether miscarryed. And though it have luckily enough happen&#8217;d, for
+the most part, that the Omission of them does not marr the Coh&aelig;rence
+of the rest; yet till the next design&#8217;d Edition afford an
+<i>opportunity</i> of inserting them, it is thought fit that the Printer
+give notice of one Omission at the End of the first Dialogue; and that
+to these <i>Errata</i> there be annex&#8217;d the ensuing sheet of Paper, that
+was casually lost, or forgotten by him that should have put it into
+the Presse;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">(438)</a></span> where it ought to have been inserted, in the <a href="#Page_191">187.</a> printed
+Page, at the break, betwixt the words, [<i>Nature</i>] in the 13th. line,
+and [<i>But</i>] in the next line after. Though it is to be noted here,
+that by the mistake of the Printer, in some Books, the number of 187
+is placed at the top of two somewhat distant pages; and in such copies
+the following addition ought to be inserted in the latter of the two,
+as followeth.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>And on this occasion I cannot but take notice, that whereas
+the great Argument which the Chymists are wont to employ to
+vilify Earth and Water, and make them be look&#8217;d upon as
+useless and unworthy to be reckon&#8217;d among the Principles of
+Mixt Bodies, is, that they are not endow&#8217;d with Specifick
+Properties, but only with Elementary qualities; of which
+they use to speak very sleightingly, as of qualities
+contemptible and unactive: I see no sufficient Reason for
+this Practice of the Chymists: For &#8217;tis confess&#8217;d that Heat
+is an Elementary Quality, and yet that an almost innumerable
+company of considerable Things are perform&#8217;d by Heat, is
+manifest to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">(439)</a></span> them that duly consider the various <i>Ph&aelig;nomena</i>
+wherein it intervenes as a principall Actor; and none ought
+less to ignore or distrust this Truth then a Chymist. Since
+almost all the operations and Productions of his Art are
+performed chiefly by the means of Heat. And as for Cold it
+self, upon whose account they so despise the Earth and
+Water, if they please to read in the Voyages of our English
+and Dutch Navigators in <i>Nova Zembla</i> and other Northern
+Regions what stupendious Things may be effected by Cold,
+they would not perhaps think it so despicable. And not to
+repeat what I lately recited to You out of <i>Paracelsus</i>
+himself, who by the help of an intense Cold teaches to
+separate the Quintessence of Wine; I will only now observe
+to You, that the Conservation of the Texture of many Bodies
+both animate and inanimate do&#8217;s so much depend upon the
+convenient motion both of their own Fluid and Looser Parts,
+and of the ambient Bodies, whether Air, Water, &amp;c. that not
+only in humane Bodies we see that the immoderate or
+unseasonable coldness of the Air (especially when it finds
+such Bodies overhea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">(440)</a></span>ted) do&#8217;s very frequently discompose the
+<i>Oeconomie</i> of them, and occasion variety of Diseases; but
+in the solid and durable Body of Iron it self, in which one
+would not expect that suddain Cold should produce any
+notable change, it may have so great an operation, that if
+you take a Wire, or other slender piece of steel, and having
+brought it in the fire to a white heat, You suffer it
+afterwards to cool leasurely in the Air, it will when it is
+cold be much of the same hardnesse it was of before: Whereas
+if as soon as You remove it from the fire, you plunge it
+into cold water, it will upon the sudden Refrigeration
+acquire a very much greater hardness then it had before;
+Nay, and will become manifestly brittle. And that you may
+not impute this to any peculiar Quality in the Water, or
+other Liquor, or Unctuous matter, wherein such heated steel
+is wont to be quenched that it may be temper&#8217;d; I know a
+very skillful Tradesman, that divers times hardens steel by
+suddenly cooling it in a Body that is neither a liquor, nor
+so much as moist. A tryal of that Nature I remember I have
+seen made. And however by the operation that Water has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">(441)</a></span> upon
+steel quenched in it, whether upon the Account of its
+coldness and moisture, or upon that of any other of its
+qualities, it appears, that water is not alwaies so
+inefficacious and contemptible a Body, as our Chymists would
+have it passe for. And what I have said of the Efficacy of
+Cold and Heat, might perhaps be easily enough carried
+further by other considerations and experiments; were it not
+that having been mention&#8217;d only upon the Bye, I must not
+insist on it, but proceed to another Subject.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="ERRATA" id="ERRATA"></a><i><span class="gesperrt">ERRATA</span>.</i></h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">P</span>Ag. <a href="#Page_5">5.</a> line. 6. read <i>so qualify&#8217;d</i>, <a href="#Page_15">15.</a> 19. <i>Ratiocinations</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25.</a>
+15. <i>for a</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33.</a> 17. in a parenth. (<i>that is no more</i>), <a href="#Page_51">51.</a> 24.
+<i>besides another Caput</i>, <a href="#Page_79">79.</a> 10. <i>employ</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86.</a> 13. <i>structure</i>, <a href="#Page_97">97.</a>
+13. <i>Sack</i>, ibid. 22. <i>Sack</i>, <a href="#Page_104">104.</a> 29. instead of <i>appear it, will</i>,
+leg. <i>appear, it will</i>, <a href="#Page_118">118.</a> 20. <i>leasure</i>, ibid. <i>principal</i>, <a href="#Page_126">126.</a>
+20. <i>and till it suffer</i>, <a href="#Page_129">129.</a> 3. leg. in parenth. (<i>notwithstanding,
+&amp;c.</i> <a href="#Page_131">131.</a> 15. <i>so</i>,
+<a href="#Page_142"><span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: 142">144.</span></a> 15. <span lang="el" title="Greek: Synchysis">&#931;&#965;&#947;&#967;&#965;&#963;&#953;&#962;</span>, <a href="#Page_151">151.</a> 5. <i>nor have
+been resolved</i>, <a href="#Page_180">180.</a> 25. <i>Magistram</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185.</a> 15. <i>lately</i>, <a href="#Page_188">188.</a> 15.
+<i>tunned</i>, <a href="#Page_200">200.</a> 1. <i>intolerable</i>, ibid. 2. <i>in</i>, <a href="#Page_209">209.</a> 21. <i>tegularum</i>,
+<a href="#Page_210">210.</a> 7. <i>distill&#8217;d from</i>, <a href="#Page_215">215.</a> 25. dele <i>the</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220.</a> 1. <i>bodies</i>, <a href="#Page_228">228.</a>
+<span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: 21.">11.</span> <i>fugitive</i>, <a href="#Page_231">231.</a> 17. instead of <i>all</i>
+lege <i>a pound</i>, <a href="#Page_237">237.</a> 6. <i>Chymist</i>, <a href="#Page_248">248.</a> 18. <i>Ashes off</i>, <a href="#Page_251">251.</a> 23.
+<i>Deopilative)</i>, <a href="#Page_259">259.</a> 6. <i>it self</i>, <a href="#Page_269">269.</a> 10. <span lang="el" title="Greek: ousia analogos">&#959;&#965;&#963;&#953;&#945; &#945;&#957;&#945;&#955;&#959;&#947;&#959;&#962;</span>,
+<i>ibid.</i> <span lang="el" title="Greek: astr&#244;n stoichei&#244;">&#945;&#987;&#961;&#969;&#957; &#987;&#959;&#953;&#967;&#949;&#953;&#969;</span>, <a href="#Page_276">276.</a> 25. make a parenth. at the
+words, <i>by the</i>, and shut it after the words in the 27. line <i>at all</i>,
+<a href="#Page_280">280.</a> 11. <i>Corals</i>, <a href="#Page_288">288.</a> 6. <i>ascribes</i>, <a href="#Page_294">294.</a> 22. <i>porosity</i>, ibid. 28.
+<i>noted</i>, <a href="#Page_296">296.</a> 1. <i>Bodies</i>, <a href="#Page_305">305.</a> 8. <i>(attended</i>, <a href="#Page_307">307.</a> 12. dele <i>to</i>,
+<a href="#Page_308">308.</a> 12. <i>devisers</i>, <a href="#Page_312">312.</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">(442)</a></span> 14. <i>and</i>, <a href="#Page_313">313.</a> 3. <i>too</i>, <a href="#Page_314">314.</a> 24.
+<i>fugitivenesse</i>, <a href="#Page_333">333.</a> 13. <i>origine</i>, ibid. 24. <i>contrivance of</i>, <a href="#Page_339">339.</a>
+1. <i>Nay, Barthias</i>, <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: 342."><a href="#Page_342">142.</a></span> 3. <i>in; I will</i>,
+<a href="#Page_350">350.</a> 26. <i>absurd</i>, <a href="#Page_356">356.</a> <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: 21.">11.</span> <i>Goutieres</i>,
+<a href="#Page_358">358.</a> 6. <i>antea</i>, <a href="#Page_360">360.</a> 1. <i>compertissimum</i>, ibid. 18. <i>Joachimica</i>,
+ibid. 19 <i>graminis</i>, ibid. 23. <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: this appears to be correct on the original page 360"><i>sua</i></span>, <a href="#Page_362">362.</a> 6. <i>Dutch account</i>, <a href="#Page_363">363.</a>
+2. <i>diggers)</i>, ibid. 11. and 12. lin. read <i>damp as the Englishmen
+also call it</i>, <a href="#Page_366">366.</a> 25. <i>a height</i>, <a href="#Page_368">368.</a> 19. <i>in use</i>, <a href="#Page_370">370.</a> 9.
+<i>latter; And</i>, ibid. 24. <i>Water; I</i>, <a href="#Page_377">377.</a> 22. <i>Rest</i>, ibid. 25.
+<i>know)</i>, <a href="#Page_378">378.</a> 23. after <i>Aggregate</i> insert <i>or complex</i>, ibid. 27.
+dele ), ibid. 28. dele ), <a href="#Page_379">379.</a> 4. before <i>as</i> begin a parenth. which
+ends lin. 9. at <i>Gold</i>, ibid. instead of <i>Which</i>, put <i>This</i>, ibid.
+12. with the word <i>Texture</i> should be connected the next line,
+<i>Though</i>, and this word <i>Though</i> is to have put before it a
+parenthesis, which is to end at the word <i>Fluid</i> in the 16th. line,
+<a href="#Page_382"><span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: 382">383.</span></a> 3. <i>Regulus Martis Stellatus</i>, <a href="#Page_383"><span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: 383">382.</span></a> 3. <i>Relations</i>, ibid. 9.
+<i>Chymist</i>, <a href="#Page_386">386.</a> 29. <i>confesse by teaching it</i>, <a href="#Page_391">391.</a> 8. <i>and yet may</i>,
+<a href="#Page_392">392.</a> 1. <i>an</i>, ibid. 12. <i>of</i>, <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: line 5"><a href="#Page_393">393.</a></span>
+<i>distinct Tasts</i>, <a href="#Page_397">397.</a> 13. <i>Talck</i>, <a href="#Page_398">398.</a> 18. <i>Earth</i>, <a href="#Page_399">399.</a> 18.
+<i>parts</i>, <a href="#Page_404">404.</a> 8. <i>sal-petr&aelig;</i>, <a href="#Page_419">419.</a> 20. after <i>it</i> put in <i>Sal</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><i>The Publisher doth advertise the <span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: Reader">Redaer</span>,
+that seeing there are divers Experiments related in this Treatise,
+which the Author is not unwilling to submit to the consideration also
+of Forraign Philosophers, he believes this piece will be very soon
+translated into Latin.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><b><span class="large"><span class="gesperrt">END</span>.</span></b></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Sceptical Chymist, by Robert Boyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Sceptical Chymist
+       or Chymico-Physical Doubts & 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 præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
+
+
+Author: Robert Boyle
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 8, 2007  [eBook #22914]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Robert Shimmin, Linda Cantoni, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net).
+Color title-page images were generously provided by the University of
+Pennsylvania Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Image
+(http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti).
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   This e-book was prepared from a facsimile of the 1661 first
+   edition and contains spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
+   inconsistencies typical of the era. These have been preserved
+   as they appear in the original.
+
+   Printer errors have also been preserved. Those mentioned in
+   the Errata at the end of the book are noted with [Errata:
+   corrected text]. Other obvious printer errors are noted with
+   [Transcriber's Note: corrected text] where the meaning might
+   be unclear without the correction. See also the printer's note
+   preceding the Errata, which contains material omitted from the
+   text (the place where it should be inserted is marked in the
+   text with a Transcriber's Note).
+
+   There are a number of sidenotes in this book, most of which
+   function as footnotes (e.g., citations to other works) and some
+   of which function as true sidenotes. For the sake of clarity,
+   sidenotes functioning as footnotes have been converted to
+   numbered footnotes, with number markers at appropriate places
+   in the text.
+
+   A character with a macron is represented by an equal sign.
+   E.g., [=a] indicates "a" with macron.
+
+   A table of contents has been provided for the reader's
+   convenience.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:
+
+OR
+
+CHYMICO-PHYSICAL
+
+Doubts & 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 Discourse relating to the same
+Subject.
+
+
+BY
+
+The Honourable _ROBERT BOYLE_, Esq;
+
+
+_LONDON,_
+
+Printed by _J. Cadwell_ for _J. Crooke_, and are to be Sold at the
+_Ship_ in St. _Paul's_ Church-Yard.
+
+_MDCLXI._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+A Praeface Introductory
+Physiological Considerations
+The First Part
+The Second Part
+The Third Part
+The Fourth Part
+The Fifth Part
+The Sixth Part
+The Conclusion
+Printer's Note
+Errata
+
+
+
+
+A
+
+PRAEFACE
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+_To the following Treatise._
+
+
+_To give the Reader an account, Why the following Treatise is suffer'd
+to pass abroad so maim'd and imperfect, I must inform him that 'tis
+now long since, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I set down
+some of the Reasons that kept me from fully acquiescing either in the
+Peripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principles
+of mixt Bodies. This Discourse some years after falling into the hands
+of some Learned men, had the good luck to be so favourably receiv'd,
+and advantageously spoken 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 some things that seem'd not so fit to
+be shewn to every Reader, And substitute some of those other things
+that occurr'd to me of the trials and observations I had since made.
+What became of my papers, I elsewhere mention in a Preface where I
+complain of it: But since I writ That, I found many sheets that
+belong'd to the subjects I am now about to discourse of. Wherefore
+seeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue as
+was requisite to state the Case, and serve for an Introduction as well
+to the conference betwixt_ Carneades _and_ Eleutherius, _as to some
+other Dialogues, which for certain reasons are not now herewith
+publish'd, I resolv'd to supply, as well as I could, the Contents of a
+Paper belonging to the second of the following Discourses, which I
+could not possibly retrive, though it were the chief of them all. And
+having once more try'd the Opinion of Friends, but not of the same,
+about this imperfect work, I found it such, that I was content in
+complyance with their Desires; that not only it should be publish'd,
+but that it should be publish'd as soon as conveniently might be. I
+had indeed all along the Dialogues spoken of my self, as of a third
+Person; For, they containing Discourses which were among the first
+Treatises that I ventur'd long ago to write of matters Philosophical,
+I had reason to desire, with the Painter, to_ latere pone tabulam,
+_and hear what men would say of them, before I own'd my self to be
+their Author. But besides that now I find, 'tis not unknown to many
+who it is that writ them, I am made to believe that 'tis not
+inexpedient, they should be known to come from a Person not altogether
+a stranger to Chymical Affairs. And I made the lesse scruple to let
+them come abroad uncompleated, partly, because my affairs and
+Prae-ingagements to publish divers other Treatises allow'd me small
+hopes of being able in a great while to compleat these Dialogues. And
+partly, because I am not unapt to think, that they may come abroad
+seasonably enough, though not for the Authors reputation, yet for
+other purposes. For I observe, that of late Chymistry begins, as
+indeed it deserves, to be cultivated by Learned Men who before
+despis'd it; and to be pretended to by many who never cultivated it,
+that they may be thought not to ignore it: Whence it is come to passe,
+that divers Chymical Notions about Matters Philosophical are taken for
+granted and employ'd, and so adopted by very eminent Writers both
+Naturalists and Physitians. Now this I fear may prove somewhat
+prejudicial to the Advancement of solid Philosophy: For though I am a
+great Lover of Chymical Experiments, and though I have no mean esteem
+of divers Chymical Remedies, yet I distinguish these from their
+Notions about the causes of things, and their manner of Generation.
+And for ought I can hitherto discern, there are a thousand_ Phaenomena
+_in Nature, besides a Multitude of Accidents relating to the humane
+Body, which will scarcely be clearly & satisfactorily made out by them
+that confine themselves 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 small Parts of Matter, and the other more Catholick
+and Fruitful affections of Bodies. Wherefore it will not perhaps be
+now unseasonable to let our_ Carneades _warne Men, not to subscribe to
+the grand Doctrine of the Chymists touching their three Hypostatical
+Principles, till they have a little examin'd it, and consider'd, how
+they can clear it from his Objections, divers of which 'tis like they
+may never have thought on; since a Chymist scarce would, and none but
+a Chymist could propose them. I hope also it will not be unacceptable
+to several Ingenious Persons, who are unwilling to determine of any
+important Controversie, without a previous consideration of what may
+be said on both sides, and yet have greater desires to understand
+Chymical Matters, than Opportunities of learning them, to find here
+together, besides several Experiments of my own purposely made to
+Illustrate the Doctrine of the Elements, divers others scarce to be
+met with, otherwise then Scatter'd among many Chymical Books. And to
+Find these Associated Experiments so Deliver'd as that an Ordinary
+Reader, if he be but Acquainted with the usuall Chymical Termes, may
+easily enough Understand Them; and even a wary One may safely rely on
+Them. These Things I add, because a Person any Thing vers'd in the
+Writings of Chymists cannot but Discern by their obscure, Ambiguous,
+and almost AEnigmatical Way of expressing what they pretend to Teach,
+that they have no Mind, to be understood at all, but by_ the Sons of
+Art _(as they call them) nor to be Understood even by these without
+Difficulty And Hazardous Tryalls. Insomuch that some of Them Scarce
+ever speak so candidly, as when they make use of that known Chymical
+Sentence;_ Ubi palam locuti fumus, ibi nihil diximus. _And as the
+obscurity of what some Writers deliver makes it very difficult to be
+understood; so the Unfaithfulness of too many others makes it unfit to
+be reli'd on. For though unwillingly, Yet I must for the truths sake,
+and the Readers, warne him not to be forward to believe Chymical
+Experiments when they are set down only by way of Prescriptions, and
+not of Relations; that is, unless he that delivers them mentions his
+doing it upon his own particular knowledge, or upon the Relation of
+some credible person, avowing it upon his own experience. For I am
+troubled, I must complain, that even Eminent Writers, both Physitians
+and Philosophers, whom I can easily name, if it be requir'd, have of
+late suffer'd themselves to be so far impos'd upon, as to Publish and
+Build upon Chymical Experiments, which questionless 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 wish'd, that now that those begin to
+quote Chymical Experiments that are not themselves Acquainted with
+Chymical Operations, men would Leave off that Indefinite Way of
+Vouching the Chymists say this, or the Chymists affirme that, and
+would rather for each Experiment they alledge name the Author or
+Authors, upon whose credit they relate it; For, by this means they
+would secure themselves from the suspition of falshood (to which the
+other Practice Exposes them) and they would Leave the Reader to Judge
+of what is fit for him to Believe of what is Deliver'd, whilst they
+employ not their own great names to Countenance doubtfull Relations;
+and they will also do Justice to the Inventors or Publishers of true
+Experiments, as well as upon the Obtruders of false ones. Whereas by
+that general Way of quoting the Chymists, the candid Writer is
+Defrauded of the particular Praise, and the Impostor escapes the
+Personal Disgrace that is due to him._
+
+_The remaining Part of this Praeface must be imploy'd in saying
+something for_ Carneades, _and something for my Self._
+
+_And first_, Carneades _hopes that he will be thought to have disputed
+civilly and Modestly enough for one that was to play the Antagonist
+and the Sceptick. And if he any where seem to sleight his Adversaries
+Tenents and Arguments, he is willing to have it look'd upon as what he
+was induc'd to, not so much by his Opinion of them, as the Examples
+of_ Themistius _and_ Philoponus, _and the custom of such kind of
+Disputes._
+
+_Next, In case that some of his Arguments shall not be thought of the
+most Cogent sort that may be, he hopes it will be consider'd that it
+ought not to be Expected, that they should be So. For, his Part being
+chiefly but to propose Doubts and Scruples, he does enough, if he
+shews that his Adversaries Arguments are not strongly Concluding,
+though his own be not so neither. And if there should appear any
+disagreement betwixt the things he delivers in divers passages, he
+hopes it will be consider'd, that it is not necessary that all the
+things a Sceptick Proposes, should be consonant; since it being his
+work to Suggest doubts against the Opinion he questions, it is
+allowable for him to propose two or more severall_ Hypotheses _about
+the same thing: And to say that it may be accounted for this way, or
+that way, or the other Way, though these wayes be perhaps inconsistent
+among Themselves. Because it is enough for him, if either of the
+proposed_ Hypotheses _be but as probable as that he calls a question.
+And if he proposes many that are Each of them probable, he does the
+more satisfie his doubts, by making it appear the more difficult to be
+sure, that that which they alwayes differ from is the true. And our_
+Carneades _by holding the Negative, he has this Advantage, that if
+among all the Instances he brings to invalidate all the Vulgar
+Doctrine of those he Disputes with, any one be Irrefragable, that
+alone is sufficient to overthrow a Doctrine which Universally asserts
+what he opposes. For, it cannot be true, that all Bodies whatsoever
+that are reckon'd among the Perfectly mixt Ones, are Compounded of
+such a Determinate Number of such or such Ingredients, in case any one
+such Body can be produc'd, that is not so compounded; and he hopes
+too, that Accurateness will be the less expected from him, because his
+undertaking obliges him to maintain such Opinions in Chymistry, and
+that chiefly by Chymical Arguments, as are Contrary to the very
+Principles of the Chymists; From whose writings it is not Therefore
+like he should receive any intentionall Assistance, except from some
+Passages of the Bold and Ingenious_ Helmont, _with whom he yet
+disagrees in many things (which reduce him to explicate Divers
+Chymical_ Phaenomena, _according to other Notions;) And of whose
+Ratiocinations, not only some seem very Extravagant, but even the Rest
+are not wont to be as considerable as his Experiments. And though it
+be True indeed, that some_ Aristotelians _have occasionally written
+against the Chymical Doctrine he Oppugnes, yet since they have done it
+according to their Principles, And since our_ Carneades _must as well
+oppose their_ Hypothesis _as that of the Spagyrist, he was fain to
+fight his Adversaries with their own Weapons, Those of the
+Peripatetick being Improper, if not hurtfull for a Person of his
+Tenents; besides that those_ Aristotelians, _(at Least, those he met
+with,) that have written against the Chymists, seem to have had so
+little Experimental Knowledge in Chymical Matters, that by their
+frequent Mistakes and unskilfull Way of Oppugning, they have too often
+expos'd Themselves to the Derision of their Adversaries, for writing
+so Confidently against what they appear so little to understand._
+
+_And Lastly_, Carneades _hopes, he shall doe the Ingenious this Piece
+of service, that by having Thus drawn the Chymists Doctrine out of
+their Dark and Smoakie Laboratories, and both brought it into the open
+light, and shewn the weakness of their Proofs, that have hitherto
+been wont to be brought for it, either Judicious Men shall henceforth
+be allowed calmly and after due information to disbelieve it, or those
+abler Chymists, that are zealous for the reputation of it, will be
+oblig'd to speak plainer then hitherto has been done, and maintain it
+by better Experiments and Arguments then Those_ Carneades _hath
+examin'd: so That he hopes, the Curious will one Way or other Derive
+either satisfaction or instruction from his endeavours. And as he is
+ready to make good the profession he makes in the close of his
+Discourse, he being ready to be better inform'd, so he expects either
+to be indeed inform'd, or to be let alone. For Though if any Truly
+knowing Chymists shall Think fit in a civil and rational way to shew
+him any truth touching the matter in Dispute That he yet discernes
+not,_ Carneades _will not refuse either to admit, or to own a
+Conviction: yet if any impertinent Person shall, either to get Himself
+a Name, or for what other end soever, wilfully or carelesly mistake
+the State of the Controversie, or the sence of his Arguments, or shall
+rail instead of arguing, as hath been done of Late in Print by divers
+Chymists;_[1] _or lastly, shall write against them in a canting way; I
+mean, shall express himself in ambiguous or obscure termes, or argue
+from experiments not intelligibly enough Deliver'd_, Carneades
+_professes, That he values his time so much, as not to think the
+answering such Trifles worth the loss of it._
+
+[Footnote 1: G. and F. and H. and others, in their books against one
+another.]
+
+_And now having said thus much for_ Carneades, _I hope the Reader will
+give me leave to say something too for my self._
+
+_And first, if some morose Readers shall find fault with my having
+made the Interlocutors upon occasion complement with one another, and
+that I have almost all along written these Dialogues in a stile more
+Fashionable then That of meer scholars is wont to be, I hope I shall
+be excus'd by them that shall consider, that to keep a due_ decorum
+_in the Discourses, it was fit that in a book written by a Gentleman,
+and wherein only Gentlemen are introduc'd as speakers, the Language
+should be more smooth, and the Expressions more civil than is usual in
+the more Scholastick way of writing. And indeed, I am not sorry to
+have this Opportunity of giving an example how to manage even Disputes
+with Civility; whence perhaps some Readers will be assisted to discern
+a Difference betwixt Bluntness of speech and Strength of reason, and
+find that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without being an Enemy to
+Civility; and may confute an Opinion without railing at Them that hold
+it; To whom he that desires to convince and not to provoke them, must
+make some amends by his Civility to their Persons, for his severity
+to their mistakes; and must say as little else as he can, to displease
+them, when he says that they are in an error._
+
+_But perhaps other Readers will be less apt to find fault with the
+Civility of my Disputants, than the Chymists will be, upon the reading
+of some Passages of the following Dialogue, to accuse_ Carneades _of
+Asperity. But if I have made my Sceptick sometimes speak sleightingly
+of the Opinions he opposes, I hope it will not be found that I have
+done any more, than became the Part he was to act of an Opponent:
+Especially, if what I have made him say be compar'd with what the
+Prince of the Romane Orators himself makes both great Persons and
+Friends say of one anothers Opinions, in his excellent Dialogues,_ De
+Natura Deorum: _And I shall scarce be suspected of Partiality, in the
+case, by them that take Notice that there is full as much (if not far
+more) liberty of sleighting their Adversaries Tenents to be met with
+in the Discourses of those with whom_ Carneades _disputes. Nor needed
+I make the Interlocutors speak otherwise then freely in a Dialogue,
+wherein it was sufficiently intimated, that I meant not to declare my
+own Opinion of the Arguments propos'd, much lesse of the whole
+Controversy it self otherwise than as it may by an attentive Reader be
+guess'd at by some Passages of_ Carneades: _(I say, some Passages,
+because I make not all that he says, especially in the heat of
+Disputation, mine,) partly in this Discourse, and partly in some other
+Dialogues betwixt the same speakers (though they treat not immediately
+of the Elements) which have long layn by me, and expect the
+Entertainment that these present Discourses will meet with. And indeed
+they will much mistake me, that shall conclude from what I now
+publish, that I am at Defyance with Chymistry, or would make my
+Readers so. I hope the_ Specimina _I have lately publish'd of an
+attempt to shew the usefulness of Chymical Experiments to
+Contemplative Philosophers, will give those that shall read them other
+thoughts of me: & I had a design (but wanted opportunity) to publish
+with these Papers an Essay I have lying by me, the greater part of
+which is Apologetical for one sort of Chymists. And at least, as for
+those 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 Chymists Art,
+(though I am no friend to many that disgrace it by professing it,) and
+perswade them to believe me when I declare that I distinguish betwixt
+those Chymists that are either Cheats, or but Laborants, and the true_
+Adepti; _By whom, could I enjoy their Conversation, I would both
+willingly and thankfully be instructed; especially concerning the
+Nature and Generation of Metals: And possibly, those that know how
+little I have remitted of my former addictedness to make Chymical
+Experiments, will easily believe, that one of the chief Designes of
+this Sceptical Discourse was, not so much to discredit Chymistry, as
+to give an occasion and a kind of necessity to the more knowing
+Artists to lay aside a little of their over-great Reservedness, &
+either explicate or prove the Chymical Theory better than ordinary
+Chymists have done, or by enriching us with some of their nobler
+secrets to evince that Their art is able to make amends even for the
+deficiencies of their Theory: And thus much I shall here make bold to
+add, that we shall much undervalue Chymistry, if we imagine, that it
+cannot teach us things farr more useful, not only to Physick but to
+Philosophy, than those that are hitherto known to vulgar Chymists. And
+yet as for inferiour Spagyrists themselves, they have by their labours
+deserv'd so well of the Common-wealth of Learning, that methinks 'tis
+Pity they should ever misse the Truth which they have so industriously
+sought. And though I be no Admirer of the Theorical Part of their Art,
+yet my conjectures will much deceive me, if the Practical Part be not
+much more cultivated than hitherto it has been, and do not both employ
+Philosophy and Philosophers, and help to make men such. Nor would I
+that have been diverted by other Studies as well as affairs, be
+thought to pretend being a profound Spagyrist, by finding so many
+faults in the Doctrine wherein the Generality of Chymists scruples not
+to Acquiesce: For besides that 'tis most commonly far easier to frame
+Objections against any propos'd_ Hypothesis, _than to propose an_
+Hypothesis _not lyable to Objections (besides this I say) 'tis no such
+great matter, if whereas Beginners in Chymistry are commonly at once
+imbu'd with the Theory and Operations of their profession, I who had
+the good Fortune to Learn the Operations from illiterate Persons,
+upon whose credit I was not Tempted to take up any opinion about them,
+should consider things with lesse prejudice, and consequently with
+other Eyes than the Generality of Learners; And should be more
+dispos'd to accommodate the_ Phaenomena _that occur'd to me to other
+Notions than to those of the Spagyrists. And having at first
+entertain'd a suspition That the Vulgar Principles were lesse General
+and comprehensive, or lesse considerately Deduc'd from Chymical
+Operations, than was believ'd; it was not uneasie for me both to Take
+notice of divers_ Phaenomena, _overlook'd by prepossest Persons, that
+seem'd not to suite so well with the_ Hermetical _Doctrine; and, to
+devise some Experiments likely to furnish me with Objections against
+it, not known to many, that having practis'd Chymistry longer
+perchance then I have yet liv'd, may have far more Experience, Than I,
+of particular processes._
+
+_To conclude, whether the Notions I have propos'd, and the Experiments
+I have communicated, be considerable, or not, I willingly leave others
+to Judge; and This only I shall say for my Self, That I have
+endeavour'd to deliver matters of Fact, so faithfully, that I may as
+well assist the lesse skilful Readers to examine the Chymical_
+Hypothesis, _as provoke the Spagyrical Philosophers to illustrate it:
+which if they do, and that either the Chymical opinion, or the
+Peripatetick, or any other Theory of the Elements differing from that
+I am most inclin'd to, shall be intelligibly explicated, and duly
+prov'd to me; what I have hitherto discours'd will not hinder it from
+making a Proselyte of a Person that Loves Fluctuation of Judgment
+little enough to be willing to be eas'd of it by any thing but
+Error._
+
+
+
+
+PHYSIOLOGICAL
+
+CONSIDERATIONS
+
+Touching
+
+_The experiments wont to be employed to evince either the IV
+Peripatetick Elements, or the III Chymical Principles of Mixt Bodies._
+
+Part of the First Dialogue.
+
+
+I Perceive that divers of my Friends have thought it very strange to
+hear me speak so irresolvedly, as I have been wont to do, concerning
+those things which some take to be the Elements, and others to be the
+Principles of all mixt Bodies. But I blush not to acknowledge that I
+much lesse scruple to confess that I Doubt, when I do so, then to
+profess that I Know what I do not: And I should have much stronger
+Expectations then I dare yet entertain, to see Philosophy solidly
+establish't, if men would more carefully distinguish those things that
+they know, from those that they ignore or do but think, and then
+explicate clearly the things they conceive they understand,
+acknowledge ingenuously what it is they ignore, and profess so
+candidly their Doubts, that the industry of intelligent persons might
+be set on work to make further enquiries, and the easiness of less
+discerning Men might not be impos'd on. But because a more particular
+accompt will probably be expected of my unsatisfyedness not only with
+the Peripatetick, but with the Chymical Doctrine of the Primitive
+Ingredients of Bodies: It may possibly serve to satisfy others of the
+excusableness of my disatisfaction to peruse the ensuing Relation of
+what passed a while since at a meeting of persons of several opinions,
+in a place that need not here be named; where the subject whereof we
+have been speaking, was amply and variously discours'd of.
+
+It was on one of the fairest dayes of this Summer that the inquisitive
+_Eleutherius_ came to invite me to make a visit with him to his friend
+_Carneades_. I readily consented to this motion, telling him that if
+he would but permit me to go first and make an excuse at a place not
+far off, where I had at that hour appointed to meet, but not about a
+business either of moment, or that could not well admit of a delay, I
+would presently wait on him, because of my knowing _Carneades_ to be
+so conversant with nature and with Furnaces, and so unconfin'd to
+vulgar Opinions, that he would probably by some ingenious Paradox or
+other, give our mindes at least a pleasing Exercise, and perhaps
+enrich them with some solid instruction. _Eleutherius_ then first
+going with me to the place where my Apology was to be made, I
+accompanied him to the lodging of _Carneades_, where when we were
+come, we were told by the Servants, that he was retired with a couple
+of Friends (whose names they also told us) to one of the Arbours in
+his Garden, to enjoy under its coole shades a delightful protection
+from the yet troublesome heat of the Sun.
+
+_Eleutherius_ being perfectly acquainted with that Garden immediately
+led me to the Arbour, and relying on the intimate familiarity that had
+been long cherish'd betwixt him and _Carneades_; in spight of my
+Reluctancy to what might look like an intrusion upon his privacy,
+drawing me by the hand, he abruptly entered the Arbour, where we found
+_Carneades_, _Philoponus_, and _Themistius_, sitting close about a
+little round Table, on which besides paper, pen, and inke, there lay
+two or three open Books; _Carneades_ appeared not at all troubled at
+this surprise, but rising from the Table, received his Friend with
+open looks and armes, and welcoming me also with his wonted freedom
+and civility, invited us to rest our selves by him, which, as soon as
+we had exchanged with his two Friends (who were ours also) the
+civilities accustomed on such occasions, we did. And he presently
+after we had seated our selves, shutting the Books that lay open, and
+turning to us with a smiling countenance seemed ready to begin some
+such unconcerning discourse as is wont to pass or rather waste the
+time in promiscuous companies.
+
+But _Eleutherius_ guessing at what he meant to do, prevented him by
+telling him, I perceive _Carneades_ by the books that you have been
+now shutting, and much more by the posture wherein I found Persons
+qualifi'd [Errata: so qualify'd] to discourse of serious matters; and
+so accustom'd to do it, that you three were before our coming, engag'd
+in some Philosophical conference, which I hope you will either
+prosecute, and allow us to be partakers of, in recompence of the
+freedome we have us'd in presuming to surprise you, or else give us
+leave to repair the injury we should otherwise do you, by leaving you
+to the freedom we have interrupted, and punishing our selves for our
+boldness by depriving our selves of the happiness of your company.
+With these last words he and I rose up, as if we meant to be gone, But
+_Carneades_ suddenly laying hold on his arme, and stopping him by it,
+smileingly told him, We are not so forward to lose good company as you
+seem to imagine; especially since you are pleas'd to desire to be
+present at what we shall say, about such a Subject as that You found
+us considering. For that, being the number of the Elements,
+Principles, or Materiall Ingredients of Bodies, is an enquiry whose
+truth is of that Importance, and of that Difficulty, that it may as
+well deserve as require to be searched into by such skilfull
+Indagators of Nature as your selves. And therefore we sent to invite
+the bold and acute _Leucippus_ to lend us some light by his Atomical
+Paradox, upon which we expected such 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 likewise begg'd the Assistance
+of your presence and thoughts, had not the messenger we employ'd to
+_Leucippus_ inform'd us, that as he was going, he saw you both pass by
+towards another part of the Town; And this frustrated expectation of
+_Leucippus_ his company, who told me but last night that he would be
+ready to give me a meeting where I pleas'd to day, having very long
+suspended our conference about the freshly mention'd Subject, it was
+so newly begun when you came in, that we shall scarce need to repeat
+any thing to acquaint you with what has pass'd betwixt us before your
+arrival, so that I cannot but look upon it as a fortunate Accident
+that you should come so seasonably, to be not hearers alone, but we
+hope Interlocutors at our conference. For we shall not only allow of
+your presence at it, but desire your Assistance in it; which I adde
+both for other reasons, and because though these learned Gentlemen
+(sayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to discourse
+before any Auditory, provided it be intelligent enough to understand
+them, yet for my part (continues he with a new smile,) I shall not
+dare to vent my unpremeditated thoughts before two such Criticks,
+unless by promising to take your turnes of speaking, You will allow me
+mine of quarrelling, with what has been said. He and his friends added
+divers things to convince us that they were both desirous that we
+should hear them, and resolved against our doing so, unless we allowed
+them sometimes to hear us. _Elutherius_ [Transcriber's Note:
+Eleutherius] after having a while fruitlesly endeavoured to obtain
+leave to be silent promis'd he would not be so alwayes, provided that
+he were permitted according to the freedom of his Genious and
+Principles to side with one of them in the managing of one Argument,
+and, if he saw cause, with his Antagonist, in the Prosecution of
+another, without being confin'd to stick to any one party or Opinion,
+which was after some debate accorded him. But I conscious to my own
+Disability's told them resolutely that _I_ was as much more willing as
+more fit to be a hearer then a speaker, among such knowing Persons,
+and on so abstruse a Subject. And that therefore I beseeched them
+without necessitating me to proclaim my weaknesses, to allow me to
+lessen them by being a silent Auditor of their Discourses: to suffer
+me to be at which I could present them no motive, save that their
+instructions would make them in me a more intelligent Admirer. I
+added, that I desir'd not to be idle whilst they were imploy'd, but
+would if they pleas'd, by writing down in short hand what should be
+delivered, preserve Discourses that I knew would merit to be lasting.
+At first _Carneades_ and his two friends utterly rejected this motion;
+and all that my Resoluteness to make use of my ears, not tongue, at
+their debates, could do, was to make them acquiesce in the Proposition
+of _Eleutherius_, who thinking himself concern'd, because he brought
+me thither, to afford me some faint assistance, was content that I
+should register their Arguments, that I might be the better able after
+the conclusion of their conference to give them my sence upon the
+Subject of it, (The number of Elements or Principles:) which he
+promis'd I should do at the end of the present Debates, if time would
+permit, or else at our next meeting. And this being by him undertaken
+in my name, though without my consent, the company would by no means
+receive my Protestation against it, but casting, all at once, their
+eyes on _Carneades_, they did by that and their unanimous silence,
+invite him to begin; which (after a short pause, during which he
+turn'd himself to _Eleutherius_ and me) he did in this manner.
+
+Notwithstanding the subtile reasonings I have met with in the books of
+the Peripateticks, and the pretty experiments that have been shew'd me
+in the Laboratories of Chymists, I am of so diffident, or dull a
+Nature, as to think that if neither of them can bring more cogent
+arguments to evince the truth of their assertion then are wont to be
+brought; a Man may rationally enough retain some doubts concerning the
+very number of those materiall Ingredients of mixt bodies, which some
+would have us call Elements, and others principles. Indeed when I
+considered that the Tenents concerning the Elements are as
+considerable amongst the Doctrines of natural Philosophy as the
+Elements themselves are among the bodies of the Universe, I expected
+to find those Opinions solidly establish'd, upon which so many others
+are superstructed. But when I took the pains impartially to examine
+the bodies themselves that are said to result from the blended
+Elements, and to torture them into a confession of their constituent
+Principles, I was quickly induc'd to think that the number of the
+Elements has been contended about by Philosophers with more
+earnestness then success. This unsatisfiedness of mine has been much
+wonder'd at, by these two Gentlemen (at which words he pointed at
+_Themistius_ and _Philoponus_) who though they differ almost as much
+betwixt themselves about the question we are to consider, as I do from
+either of them, yet they both agree very well in this, that there is a
+determinate number of such ingredients as I was just now speaking of,
+and that what that number is, I say not, may be, (for what may not
+such as they perswade?) but is wont to be clearly enough demonstrated
+both by Reason and Experience. This has occasion'd our present
+Conference. For our Discourse this afternoon, having fallen from one
+subject to another, and at length setl'd on this, they proffer'd to
+demonstrate to me, each of them the truth of his opinion, out of both
+the Topicks that I have freshly nam'd. But on the former (that of
+Reason strictly so taken) we declin'd insisting at the present, lest
+we should not have time enough before supper to go thorough the
+Reasons and Experiments too. The latter of which we unanimously
+thought the most requisite to be seriously examin'd. I must desire you
+then to take notice Gentlemen (continued _Carneades_) that my present
+business doth not oblige me so to declare my own opinion on the
+Subject in question, as to assert or deny the truth either of the
+Peripatetick, or the Chymical Doctrine concerning the number of the
+Elements, but only to shew you that neither of these Doctrines hath
+been satisfactorily proved by the arguments commonly alledged on its
+behalfe. So that if I really discern (as perhaps I think I do) that
+there may be a more rational account then ordinary, given of one of
+these opinions, I am left free to declare my self of it,
+notwithstanding my present engagement, it being obvious to all your
+observation, that a solid truth may be generally maintained by no
+other, then incompetent Arguments. And to this Declaration I hope it
+will be needless to add, that my task obliges me not to answer the
+Arguments that may be drawn either for _Themistius_ or _Philoponus's_
+Opinion from the Topick of reason, as opposed to experiments; since
+'tis these only that I am to examine and not all these neither, but
+such of them alone as either of them shall think fit to insist on, and
+as have hitherto been wont to be brought either to prove that 'tis
+the four Peripatetick Elements, or that 'tis the three Chymical
+Principles that all compounded bodies consist of. These things (adds
+_Carneades_) I thought my self obliged to premise, partly lest you
+should do these Gentlemen (pointing at _Themistius_ and _Philoponus_,
+and smiling on them) the injury of measuring their parts by the
+arguments they are ready to propose, the lawes of our Conference
+confining them to make use of those that the vulgar of Philosophers
+(for even of them there is a vulgar) has drawn up to their hands; and
+partly, that you should not condemn me of presumption for disputing
+against persons over whom I can hope for no advantage, that _I_ must
+not derive from the nature, or rules of our controversy, wherein I
+have but a negative to defend, and wherein too I am like on several
+occasions to have the Assistance of one of my disagreeing adversaries
+against the other.
+
+_Philoponus_ and _Themistius_ soon returned this complement with
+civilities of the like nature, in which _Eleutherius_ perceiving them
+engaged, to prevent the further loss of that time of which they were
+not like to have very much to spare, he minded them that their
+present businesse was not to exchange complements, but Arguments: and
+then addressing his speech to _Carneades_, I esteem it no small
+happinesse (saies he) that I am come here so luckily this Evening. For
+I have been long disquieted with Doubts concerning this very subject
+which you are now ready to debate. And since a Question of this
+importance is to be now discussed by persons that maintain such
+variety of opinions concerning it, and are both so able to enquire
+after truth, and so ready to embrace it by whomsoever and on what
+occasion soever it is presented them; I cannot but promise my self
+that I shall before we part either lose my Doubts or the hopes of ever
+finding them resolved; _Eleutherius_ paused not here; but to prevent
+their answer, added almost in the same breath; and I am not a little
+pleased to find that you are resolved on this occasion to insist
+rather on Experiments then Syllogismes. For I, and no doubt You, have
+long observed, that those Dialectical subtleties, that the Schoolmen
+too often employ about Physiological Mysteries, are wont much more to
+declare the wit of him that uses them, then increase the knowledge or
+remove the doubts of sober lovers of truth. And such captious
+subtleties do indeed often puzzle and sometimes silence men, but
+rarely satisfy them. Being like the tricks of Jugglers, whereby men
+doubt not but they are cheated, though oftentimes they cannot declare
+by what slights they are imposed on. And therefore I think you have
+done very wisely to make it your businesse to consider the _Phaenomena_
+relating to the present Question, which have been afforded by
+experiments, especially since it might seem injurious to our senses,
+by whose mediation we acquire so much of the knowledge we have of
+things corporal, to have recourse to far-fetched and abstracted
+Ratiocination [Errata: Ratiocinations], to know what are the sensible
+ingredients of those sensible things that we daily see and handle, and
+are supposed to have the liberty to untwist (if I may so speak) into
+the primitive bodies they consist of. He annexed that he wished
+therefore they would no longer delay his expected satisfaction, if
+they had not, as he feared they had, forgotten something preparatory
+to their debate; and that was to lay down what should be all along
+understood by the word Principle or Element. _Carneades_ thank'd him
+for his admonition, but told him that they had not been unmindful of
+so requisite 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 promiscuously
+to use when they pleased, Elements and Principles as terms equivalent:
+and to understand both by the one and the other, those primitive and
+simple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and into
+which they are ultimately resolved. And upon the same account (he
+added) we agreed to discourse of the opinions to be debated, as we
+have found them maintained by the Generality of the assertors of the
+four Elements of the one party, and of those that receive the three
+Principles on the other, without tying our selves to enquire
+scrupulously what notion either _Aristotle_ or _Paracelsus_, or this
+or that Interpreter, or follower of either of those great persons,
+framed of Elements or Principles; our design being to examine, not
+what these or those writers thought or taught, but what we find to be
+the obvious and most general opinion of those, who are willing to be
+accounted Favourers of the Peripatetick or Chymical Doctrine,
+concerning this subject.
+
+I see not (saies _Eleutherius_) why you might not immediately begin to
+argue, if you were but agreed which of your two friendly Adversaries
+shall be first heard. And it being quickly resolv'd on that
+_Themistius_ should first propose the Proofs for his Opinion, because
+it was the antienter, and the more general, he made not the company
+expect long before he thus addressed himself to _Eleutherius_, as to
+the Person least interessed in the dispute.
+
+If you have taken sufficient notice of the late Confession which was
+made by _Carneades_, and which (though his Civility dressed it up in
+complementall Expressions) was exacted of him by his Justice, I
+suppose You will be easily made sensible, that I engage in this
+Controversie with great and peculiar Disadvantages, besides those
+which his Parts and my Personal Disabilities would bring to any other
+cause to be maintained by me against him. For he justly apprehending
+the force of truth, though speaking by no better a tongue then mine,
+has made it the chief condition of our Duell, that I should lay aside
+the best Weapons I have, and those I can best handle; Whereas if I
+were allowed the freedom, in pleading for the four Elements, to employ
+the Arguments suggested to me by Reason to demonstrate them, I should
+almost as little doubt of making You a Proselyte to those unsever'd
+Teachers, Truth and _Aristotle_, as I do of your Candour and your
+Judgment. And I hope you will however consider, that that great
+Favorite and Interpreter of Nature, _Aristotle_, who was (as his
+_Organum_ witnesses) the greatest Master of Logick that ever liv'd,
+disclaim'd the course taken by other petty Philosophers (Antient and
+Modern) who not attending the Coherence and Consequences of their
+Opinions, are more sollicitous to make each particular Opinion
+plausible independently upon the the [Transcriber's Note: extra "the"
+in original] rest, then to frame them all so, as not only to be
+consistent together, but to support each other. For that great Man in
+his vast and comprehensive Intellect, so fram'd each of his Notions,
+that being curiously adapted into one Systeme, they need not each of
+them any other defence then that which their mutuall Coherence gives
+them: As 'tis in an Arch, where each single stone, which if sever'd
+from the rest would be perhaps defenceless, is sufficiently secur'd by
+the solidity and entireness of the whole Fabrick of which it is a
+part. How justly this may be apply'd to the present case, I could
+easily shew You, if I were permitted to declare to You, how harmonious
+_Aristotles_ Doctrine of the Elements is with his other Principles of
+Philosophy; and how rationally he has deduc'd their number from that
+of the combinations of the four first Qualities from the kinds of
+simple Motion belonging to simple bodies, and from I know not how many
+other Principles and _Phaenomena_ of Nature, which so conspire with his
+Doctrine of the Elements, that they mutually strengthen and support
+each other. But since 'tis forbidden me to insist on Reflections of
+this kind, I must proceed to tell You, that though the Assertors of
+the four Elements value Reason so highly, and are furnish'd with
+Arguments enough drawn from thence, to be satisfi'd that there must be
+four Elements, though no Man had ever yet made any sensible tryal to
+discover their Number, yet they are not destitute of Experience to
+satisfie others that are wont to be more sway'd by their senses then
+their Reason. And I shall proceed to consider the testimony of
+Experience, when I shall have first advertis'd You, that if Men were
+as perfectly rational as 'tis to be wish'd they were, this sensible
+way of Probation would be as needless as 'tis wont to be imperfect.
+For it is much more high and Philosophical to discover things _a
+priore_, then _a posteriore_. And therefore the Peripateticks have not
+been very sollicitous to gather Experiments to prove their Doctrines,
+contenting themselves with a few only, to satisfie those that are not
+capable of a Nobler Conviction. And indeed they employ Experiments
+rather to illustrate then to demonstrate their Doctrines, as
+Astronomers use Sphaeres of pastboard, to descend to the capacities of
+such as must be taught by their senses, for want of being arriv'd to a
+clear apprehension of purely Mathematical Notions and Truths. I speak
+thus _Eleutherius_ (adds _Themistius_) only to do right to Reason, and
+not out of Diffidence of the Experimental proof I am to alledge. For
+though I shall name but one, yet it is such a one as will make all
+other appear as needless as it self will be found Satisfactory. For if
+You but consider a piece of green-Wood burning in a Chimney, You will
+readily discern in the disbanded parts of it the four Elements, of
+which we teach It and other mixt bodies to be compos'd. The fire
+discovers it self in the flame by its own light; the smoke by
+ascending to the top of the chimney, and there readily vanishing into
+air, like a River losing it self in the Sea, sufficiently manifests to
+what Element it belongs and gladly returnes. The water in its own form
+boyling and hissing at the ends of the burning Wood betrayes it self
+to more then one of our senses; and the ashes by their weight, their
+firiness, and their dryness, put it past doubt that they belong to the
+Element of Earth. If I spoke (continues _Themistius_) to less knowing
+Persons, I would perhaps make some Excuse for building upon such an
+obvious and easie _Analysis_, but 'twould be, I fear, injurious, not
+to think such an Apology needless to You, who are too judicious either
+to think it necessary that Experiments to prove obvious truths should
+be farr fetch'd, or to wonder that among so many mixt Bodies that are
+compounded of the four Elements, some of them should upon a slight
+_Analysis_ manifestly exhibite the Ingredients they consist of.
+Especially since it is very agreeable to the Goodness of Nature, to
+disclose, even in some of the most obvious Experiments that Men make,
+a Truth so important, and so requisite to be taken notice of by them.
+Besides that our _Analysis_ by how much the more obvious we make it,
+by so much the more suittable it will be to the Nature of that
+Doctrine which 'tis alledged to prove, which being as clear and
+intelligible to the Understanding as obvious to the sense, tis no
+marvail the learned part of Mankind should so long and so generally
+imbrace it. For this Doctrine is very different from the whimseys of
+_Chymists_ and other Modern Innovators, of whose _Hypotheses_ we may
+observe, as Naturalists do of less perfect Animals, that as they are
+hastily form'd, so they are commonly short liv'd. For so these, 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
+Experiments are destroyed by a third or fourth, whereas the doctrine
+of the four Elements was fram'd by _Aristotle_ after he had leasurely
+considered those Theories of former Philosophers, which are now with
+great applause revived, as discovered by these latter ages; And had so
+judiciously detected and supplyed the Errors and defects of former
+_Hypotheses_ concerning the Elements, that his Doctrine of them has
+been ever since deservedly embraced by the letter'd part of Mankind:
+All the Philosophers that preceded him having in their several ages
+contributed to the compleatness of this Doctrine, as those of
+succeeding times have acquiesc'd in it. Nor has an _Hypothesis_ so
+deliberately and maturely established been called in Question till in
+the last Century _Paracelsus_ and some few other sooty Empiricks,
+rather then (as they are fain to call themselves) Philosophers, having
+their eyes darken'd, and their Brains troubl'd with the smoke of their
+own Furnaces, began to rail at the Peripatetick Doctrine, which they
+were too illiterate to understand, and to tell the credulous World,
+that they could see but three Ingredients in mixt Bodies; which to
+gain themselves the repute of Inventors, they endeavoured to disguise
+by calling them, instead of Earth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt,
+Sulphur, and Mercury; to which they gave the canting title of
+Hypostatical Principles: but when they came to describe them, they
+shewed how little they understood what they meant by them, by
+disagreeing as much from one another, as from the truth they agreed in
+opposing: For they deliver their _Hypotheses_ as darkly as their
+Processes; and 'tis almost as impossible for any sober Man to find
+their meaning, as 'tis for them to find their Elixir. And indeed
+nothing has spread their Philosophy, but their great Brags and
+undertakings; notwithstanding all which, (sayes _Themistius_ smiling)
+I scarce know any thing they have performed worth wondering at, save
+that they have been able to draw _Philoponus_ to their Party, and to
+engage him to the Defence of an unintelligible _Hypothesis_, who
+knowes so well as he does, that Principles ought to be like Diamonds,
+as well very clear, as perfectly solid.
+
+_Themistius_ having after these last words declared by his silence,
+that he had finished his Discourse, _Carneades_ addressing himself, as
+his Adversary had done, to _Eleutherius_, returned this Answer to it,
+I hop'd for [Errata: for a] Demonstration, but I perceive _Themistius_
+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 Distrust for his
+_Hypothesis_, since for it even a Man of such Learning can bring no
+better Arguments. The Rhetorical part of his Discourse, though it make
+not the least part of it, I shall say nothing to, designing to examine
+only the Argumentative part, and leaving it to _Philoponus_ to answer
+those passages wherein either _Paracelsus_ or _Chymists_ are
+concern'd: I shall observe to You, that in what he has said besides,
+he makes it his Business to do these two things. The one to propose
+and make out an Experiment to demonstrate the common Opinion about the
+four Elements; And the other, to insinuate divers things which he
+thinks may repair the weakness of his Argument, from Experience, and
+upon other Accounts bring some credit to the otherwise defenceless
+Doctrine he maintains.
+
+To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it seems to me
+to be obnoxious to not a few considerable Exceptions.
+
+And first, if I would now deal rigidly with my Adversary, I might here
+make a great Question of the very way of Probation which he and others
+employ, without the least scruple, to evince, that the Bodies commonly
+call'd mixt, are made up of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, which they
+are pleas'd also to call Elements; namely that upon the suppos'd
+_Analysis_ made by the fire, of the former sort of _Concretes_, there
+are wont to emerge Bodies resembling those which they take for the
+Elements. For not to Anticipate here what I foresee I shall have
+occasion to insist on, when I come to discourse with _Philoponus_
+concerning the right that fire has to pass for the proper and
+Universal Instrument of Analysing mixt Bodies, not to Anticipate that,
+I say, if I were dispos'd to wrangle, I might alledge, that by
+_Themistius_ his Experiment it would appear rather that those he calls
+Elements, are made of those he calls mixt Bodies, then mix'd Bodies of
+the Elements. For in _Themistius's_ Analyz'd Wood, and in other Bodies
+dissipated and alter'd by the fire, it appears, and he confesses, that
+which he takes for Elementary 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
+perswasion, yet prov'd that nothing can be obtained from a Body by the
+fire that was not _Pre-existent_ in it.
+
+At this unexpected objection, not only _Themistius_, but the rest of
+the company appear'd not a little surpriz'd; but after a while
+_Philoponus_ conceiving his opinion, as well as that of _Aristotle_,
+concern'd in that Objection, You cannot sure (sayes he to
+_Carneades_) propose this Difficulty; not to call it Cavill, otherwise
+then as an Exercise of wit, and not as laying any weight upon it. For
+how can that be separated from a thing that was not existent in it.
+When, for instance, a Refiner mingles Gold and Lead, and exposing this
+Mixture upon a Cuppell to the violence of the fire, thereby separates
+it into pure and refulgent Gold and Lead (which driven off together
+with the Dross of the Gold is thence call'd _Lithargyrium Auri_) can
+any man doubt that sees these two so differing substances separated
+from the Mass, that they were existent in it before it was committed
+to the fire.
+
+I should (replies _Carneades_) allow your Argument to prove something,
+if, as Men see the Refiners commonly take before hand both Lead and
+Gold to make the Mass you speak of, so we did see Nature pull down a
+parcell of the Element of Fire, that is fancy'd to be plac'd I know
+not how many thousand Leagues off, contiguous to the Orb of the Moon,
+and to blend it with a quantity of each of the three other Elements,
+to compose every mixt Body, upon whose Resolution the Fire presents
+us with Fire, and Earth, and the rest. And let me add, _Philoponus_,
+that to make your Reasoning cogent, it must be first prov'd, that the
+fire do's only take the Elementary Ingredients asunder, without
+otherwise altering them. For else 'tis obvious, that Bodies may afford
+substances which were not pre-existent in them; as Flesh too long kept
+produces Magots, and old Cheese Mites, which I suppose you will not
+affirm to be Ingredients of those Bodies. Now that fire do's not
+alwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at least
+alter also the Ingredients of Bodies, if I did not expect ere long a
+better occasion to prove it, I might make probable out of your very
+Instance, wherein there is nothing Elementary separated by the great
+violence of the Refiners fire: the Gold and Lead which are the two
+Ingredients separated upon the _Analysis_ being confessedly yet
+perfectly mixt Bodies, and the Litharge being Lead indeed; but such
+Lead as is differing in consistence and other Qualities from what it
+was before. To which I must add that I have sometimes seen, and so
+questionlesse have you much oftener, some parcells of Glasse adhering
+to the Test or Cuppel, and this Glass though Emergent as well as the
+Gold or Litharge upon your Analysis, you will not I hope allow to have
+been a third Ingredient of the Mass out of which the fire produc'd it.
+
+Both _Philoponus_ and _Themistius_ were about to reply, when
+_Eleutherius_ apprehending that the Prosecution of this Dispute would
+take up time, which might be better employ'd, thought fit to prevent
+them by saying to _Carneades_: You made at least half a Promise, when
+you first propos'd this Objection, that you would not (now at least)
+insist on it, nor indeed does it seem to be of absolute necessity to
+your cause, that you should. For though you should grant that there
+are Elements, it would not follow that there must be precisely four.
+And therefore I hope you will proceed to acquaint us with your other
+and more considerable Objections against _Themistius's_ Opinion,
+especially since there is so great a Disproportion in Bulke betwixt
+the Earth, Water and Air, on the one part, and those little parcells
+of resembling substances, that the fire separates from _Concretes_ on
+the other part, that I can scarce think that you are serious, when to
+lose no advantage against your Adversary, you seem to deny it to be
+rational, to conclude these great simple Bodies to be the Elements,
+and not the Products of compounded ones.
+
+What you alledge (replies _Carneades_) of the Vastness of the Earth
+and Water, has long since made me willing to allow them to be the
+greatest and chief Masses of Matter to be met with here below: But I
+think I could shew 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
+such Ingredients as every mixt Body must consist of. But since You
+challenge me of something of a Promise, though it be not an entire
+one, Yet I shall willingly perform it. And indeed I intended not when
+I first mention'd this Objection, to insist on it at present against
+_Themistius_, (as I plainly intimated in my way of proposing it:)
+being only desirous to let you see, that though I discern'd my
+Advantages, yet I was willing to forego some of them, rather then
+appear a rigid Adversary of a Cause so weak, that it may with safety
+be favourably dealt with. But I must here profess, and desire You to
+take Notice of it, that though I pass on to another Argument, it is
+not because I think this first invalid. For You will find in the
+Progress of our Dispute, that I had some reason to question the very
+way of Probation imploy'd both by Peripateticks and Chymists, to
+evince the being and number of the Elements. For that there are such,
+and that they are wont to be separated by the Analysis made by Fire,
+is indeed taken for granted by both Parties, but has not (for ought I
+know) been so much as plausibly attempted to be proved by either.
+Hoping then that when we come to that part of our Debate, wherein
+Considerations relating to this Matter are to be treated of, you will
+remember what I have now said, and that I do rather for a while
+suppose, then absolutely grant the truth of what I have question'd, I
+will proceed to another Objection.
+
+And hereupon _Eleutherius_ having promis'd him not to be unmindfull,
+when time should serve, of what he had declar'd.
+
+I consider then (sayes _Carneades_) in the next place, that there are
+divers Bodies out of which _Themistius_ will not prove in haste, that
+there can be so many Elements as four extracted by the Fire. And I
+should perchance trouble him if I should ask him what Peripatetick can
+shew us, (I say not, all the four Elements, for that would be too
+rigid a Question, but) any one of them extracted out of Gold by any
+degree of Fire whatsoever. Nor is Gold the only Bodie in Nature that
+would puzzle an _Aristotelian_, that is no more [Errata: (that is no
+more)] to analyze by the Fire into Elementary Bodies, since, for ought
+I have yet observ'd, both Silver and calcin'd _Venetian_ Talck, and
+some other Concretes, not necessary here to be nam'd, are so fixt,
+that to reduce any of them into four Heterogeneous Substances has
+hitherto prov'd a Task much too hard, not only for the Disciples of
+_Aristotle_, but those of _Vulcan_, at least, whilst the latter have
+employ'd only Fire to make the _Analysis_.
+
+The next Argument (continues _Carneades_) that I shall urge against
+_Themistius's_ Opinion shall be this, That as there are divers Bodies
+whose _Analysis_ by Fire cannot reduce them into so many Heterogeneous
+Substances or Ingregredients [Transcriber's Note: Ingredients] as
+four, so 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 distinct Substances, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt and
+Earth, as Experience has shewn us in distilling Mans Blood,
+Harts-Horns, and divers other Bodies that belonging to the
+Animal-Kingdom abound with not uneasily sequestrable Salt.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:
+
+OR
+
+CHYMICO-PHYSICAL
+
+Doubts & 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.
+
+
+_Utinam jam tenerentur omnia, & inoperta ac confessa Veritas esset!
+Nihil ex Decretis mutaremus. Nunc Veritatem cum eis qui docent,
+quaerimus._ Sen.
+
+
+_LONDON,_
+
+Printed for _J. Crooke_, and are to be sold at the Ship in St. _Pauls_
+Church-Yard. 1661.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The First Part._
+
+
+I am (sayes _Carneades_) so unwilling to deny _Eleutherius_ any thing,
+that though, before the rest of the Company I am resolv'd to make good
+the part I have undertaken of a Sceptick; yet I shall readily, since
+you will have it so, lay aside for a while the Person of an Adversary
+to the Peripateticks and Chymists; and before I acquaint you with my
+Objections against their Opinions, acknowledge to you what may be
+(whether 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 _Analysis_ of compound Bodies, which I may possibly
+hereafter be able to confute.
+
+And that you may the more easily Examine, and the better Judge of what
+I have to say, I shall cast it into a pretty number of distinct
+Propositions, to which I shall not premise any thing; because I take
+it for granted, that you need not be advertis'd, that much of what I
+am to deliver, whether for or against a determinate number of
+Ingredients of mix'd Bodies, may be indifferently apply'd to the four
+Peripatetick Elements, and the three Chymical Principles, though
+divers of my Objections will more peculiarly belong to these last
+nam'd, because the Chymical _Hypothesis_ seeming to be much more
+countenanc'd by Experience then the other, it will be expedient to
+insist chiefly upon the disproving of that; especially since most of
+the Arguments that are imploy'd against it, may, by a little
+variation, be made to conclude, at least as strongly against the less
+plausible, _Aristotelian_ Doctrine.
+
+To proceed then to my Propositions, I shall begin with this. That
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. I.]
+
+_It seems not absurd to conceive that at the first Production of mixt
+Bodies, the Universal Matter whereof they among other Parts of the
+Universe consisted, was actually divided into little Particles of
+several sizes and shapes variously mov'd._
+
+This (sayes _Carneades_) I suppose you will easily enough allow. For
+besides that which happens in the Generation, Corruption, Nutrition,
+and wasting of Bodies, that which we discover partly by our
+_Microscopes_ of the extream littlenesse of even the scarce sensible
+parts of Concretes; and partly by the Chymical Resolutions of mixt
+Bodies, and by divers other Operations of Spagyrical Fires upon them,
+seems sufficiently to manifest their consisting of parts very minute
+and of differing Figures. And that there does also intervene a various
+local Motion of such small Bodies, will scarce be denied; whether we
+chuse to grant the Origine of Concretions assign'd by _Epicurus_, or
+that related by _Moses_. For the first, as you well know, supposes not
+only all mixt Bodies, but all others to be produc'd by the various
+and casual occursions of Atomes, moving themselves to and fro by an
+internal Principle in the Immense or rather Infinite _Vacuum_. And as
+for the inspir'd Historian, He, informing us that the great and Wise
+Author of Things did not immediately create Plants, Beasts, Birds, &c.
+but produc'd them out of those portions of the pre-existent, though
+created, Matter, that he calls Water and Earth, allows us to conceive,
+that the constituent Particles whereof these new Concretes were to
+consist, were variously moved in order to their being connected into
+the Bodies they were, by their various Coalitions and Textures, to
+compose.
+
+But (continues _Carneades_) presuming that the first Proposition needs
+not be longer insisted on, I will pass on to the second, and tell you
+that
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. II.]
+
+_Neither is it impossible that of these minute Particles divers of the
+smallest and neighbouring ones were here and there associated into
+minute Masses or Clusters, and did by their Coalitions constitute
+great store of such little primary Concretions or Masses as were not
+easily dissipable into such Particles as compos'd them._
+
+To what may be deduc'd, in favour of this Assertion, from the Nature
+of the Thing it self, I will add something out of Experience, which
+though I have not known it used to such a purpose, seems to me more
+fairly to make out that there May be Elementary Bodies, then the more
+questionable Experiments of Peripateticks and Chymists prove that
+there Are such. I consider then that Gold will mix and be colliquated
+not only with Silver, Copper, Tin and Lead, but with Antimony,
+_Regulus Martis_ and many other Minerals, with which it will compose
+Bodies very differing both from Gold, and the other Ingredients of the
+resulting Concretes. And the same Gold will also by common _Aqua
+Regis_, and (I speak it knowingly) by divers other _Menstruums_ be
+reduc'd into a seeming Liquor, in so much that the Corpuscles of Gold
+will, with those of the _Menstruum_, pass through Cap-Paper, and with
+them also coagulate into a Crystalline Salt. And I have further try'd,
+that with a small quantity of a certain Saline Substance I prepar'd,
+I can easily enough sublime Gold into the form of red Crystalls of a
+considerable length; and many other wayes may Gold be disguis'd, and
+help to constitute Bodies of very differing Natures both from It and
+from one another, and neverthelesse be afterward reduc'd to the
+self-same Numerical, Yellow, Fixt, Ponderous and Malleable Gold it was
+before its commixture. Nor is it only the fixedst of Metals, but the
+most fugitive, that I may employ in favour of our Proposition: for
+Quicksilver will with divers Metals compose an _Amalgam_, with divers
+_Menstruums_ it seems to be turn'd into a Liquor, with _Aqua fortis_
+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 compose a
+blood-red and volatile Cinaber, with some Saline Bodies it will ascend
+in form of a Salt which will be dissoluble in water; with _Regulus_ of
+Antimony and Silver I have seen it sublim'd into a kinde of Crystals,
+with another Mixture I reduc'd it into a malleable Body, into a hard
+and brittle Substance by another: And some there are who affirm, that
+by proper Additaments they can reduce Quicksilver into Oyl, nay into
+Glass, to mention no more. And yet out of all these exotick Compounds,
+we may recover the very same running Mercury that was the main
+Ingredient of them, and was so disguis'd in them. Now the Reason
+(proceeds _Carneades_) that I have represented these things concerning
+Gold and Quicksilver, is, That it may not appear absurd to conceive,
+that such little primary Masses or Clusters, as our Proposition
+mentions, may remain undissipated, notwithstanding their entring into
+the composition of various Concretions, since the Corpuscle of Gold
+and Mercury, though they be not primary Concretions of the most minute
+Particles or matter, but confessedly mixt Bodies, are able to concurre
+plentifully to the composition of several very differing Bodies,
+without losing their own Nature or Texture, or having their cohaesion
+violated by the divorce of their associated parts or Ingredients.
+
+Give me leave to add (sayes _Eleutherius_) on this occasion, to what
+you now observ'd, that as confidently as some Chymists, and other
+modern Innovators in Philosophy are wont to object against the
+Peripateticks, That from the mixture of their four Elements there
+could arise but an inconsiderable variety of compound Bodies; yet if
+the _Aristotelians_ were but half as well vers'd in the works of
+Nature as they are in the Writings of their Master, the propos'd
+Objection would not so calmly triumph, as for want of Experiments they
+are fain to suffer it to do. For if we assigne to the Corpuscles,
+whereof each Element consists, a peculiar size and shape, it may
+easily enough be manifested, That such differingly figur'd Corpuscles
+may be mingled in such various Proportions, and may be connected so
+many several wayes, that an almost incredible number of variously
+qualified Concretes may be compos'd of them. Especially since the
+Corpuscles of one Element may barely, by being associated among
+themselves, make up little Masses of differing size and figure from
+their constituent parts: and since also to the strict union of such
+minute Bodies there seems oftentimes nothing requisite, besides the
+bare Contact of a great part of their Surfaces. And how great a
+variety of _Phaenomena_ the same matter, without the addition of any
+other, and only several ways dispos'd or contexed, is able to exhibit,
+may partly appear by the multitude of differing Engins which by the
+contrivances of skilful Mechanitians, and the dexterity of expert
+Workmen, may be made of Iron alone. But in our present case being
+allow'd to deduce compound Bodies from four very differently qualified
+sorts of matter, he who shall but consider what you freshly took
+notice of concerning the new Concretes resulting from the mixture of
+incorporated Minerals, will scarce doubt but that the four Elements
+mannag'd by Natures Skill may afford a multitude of differing
+Compounds.
+
+I am thus far of your minde (sayes _Carneades_) that the
+_Aristotelians_ might with probability deduce a much greater number of
+compound Bodies from the mixture of their four Elements, than
+according to their present _Hypothesis_ they can, if instead 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 with the four first Qualities, they had
+endeavoured to do it by the Bulk and Figure of the smallest parts of
+those supposed Elements. For from these more Catholick and Fruitfull
+Accidents of the Elementary matter may spring a great variety of
+Textures, upon whose Account a multitude of compound Bodies may very
+much differ from one another. And what I now observe touching the four
+Peripatetick Elements, may be also applyed, _mutatis mutandis_, (as
+they speak) to the Chymical Principles. But (to take notice of that by
+the by) both the one and the other, must, I fear, call in to their
+assistance something that is not Elementary, to excite or regulate the
+motion of the parts of the matter, and dispose them after the manner
+requisite to the Constitution of particular Concretes. For that
+otherwise 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 perswade you, if it would not spend time, and were no Digression,
+to examine, what they are wont to alledge of the Origine of the
+Textures and Qualities of mixt Bodies, from a certain substantial
+Form, whose Origination they leave more obscure than what it is
+assum'd to explicate.
+
+But to proceed to a new Proposition.
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. III.]
+
+_I shall not peremptorily deny, that from most of such mixt Bodies as
+partake either of Animal or Vegetable Nature, there may by the Help of
+the Fire, be actually obtain'd a determinate number (whether Three,
+Four or Five, or fewer or more) of Substances, worthy of differing
+Denominations._
+
+Of the Experiments that induce me to make this Concession, I am like
+to have occasion enough to mention several in the prosecution of my
+Discourse. And therefore, that I may not hereafter be oblig'd to
+trouble You and my self with needless Repetitions, I shall now only
+desire you to take notice of such Experiments, when they shall be
+mention'd, and in your thoughts referre them hither.
+
+To these three Concessions I have but this Fourth to add, That
+
+[Sidenote: Propos. IV.]
+
+_It may likewise be granted, that those distinct Substances, which
+Concretes generally either afford or are made up of, may without very
+much Inconvenience be call'd the Elements or Principles of them._
+
+When I said, _without very much Inconvenience_, I had in my Thoughts
+that sober Admonition of _Galen_, _Cum de re constat, de verbis non
+est Litigandum_. And therefore also I scruple not to say _Elements_ or
+_Principles_, partly because the Chymists are wont to call the
+Ingredients of mixt Bodies, _Principles_, as the _Aristotelians_ name
+them _Elements_; I would here exclude neither. And, partly, because it
+seems doubtfull whether the same Ingredients may not be call'd
+_Principles_? as not being compounded of any more primary Bodies: and
+_Elements_, in regard that all mix'd Bodies are compounded of them.
+But I thought it requisite to limit my Concession by premising the
+words, _very much_, to the word _Inconvenience_, because that though
+the Inconvenience of calling the distinct Substances, mention'd in the
+Proposition _Elements_ or _Principles_, be not very great, yet that
+it is an Impropriety of Speech, and consequently in a matter of this
+moment not to be altogether overlook'd, You will perhaps think, as
+well as I, by that time you shall have heard the following part of my
+Discourse, by which you will best discern what Construction to put
+upon the former Propositions, and how far they may be look'd upon, as
+things that I concede as true, and how far as things I only represent
+as specious enough to be fit to be consider'd.
+
+And now _Eleutherius_ (continues _Carneades_) I must resume the person
+of a Sceptick, and as such, propose some part of what may be either
+dislik't, or at least doubted of in the common _Hypothesis_ of the
+Chymists: which if I examine with a little the more freedom, I hope I
+need not desire you (a Person to whom I have the Happinesse of being
+so well known) to look upon it as something more suitable to the
+Employment whereto the Company has, for this Meeting, doom'd me; then
+either to my Humour or my Custom.
+
+Now though I might present you many things against the Vulgar Chymical
+Opinion of the three Principles, and the Experiments wont to be
+alledg'd as Demonstrations of it, yet those I shall at present offer
+you may be conveniently enough comprehended in four Capital
+Considerations; touching all which I shall only premise this in
+general, That since it is not my present Task so much to assert an
+_Hypothesis_ of my own, as to give an Account wherefore I suspect the
+Truth of that of the Chymists, it ought not to be expected that all my
+Objections should be of the most cogent sort, since it is reason
+enough to Doubt of a propos'd Opinion, that there appears no cogent
+Reason for it.
+
+To come then to the Objections themselves; I consider in the first
+place, That notwithstanding what common Chymists have prov'd or
+taught, it may reasonably enough be Doubted, how far, and in what
+sence, Fire ought to be esteem'd the genuine and universal Instrument
+of analyzing mixt Bodies.
+
+This Doubt, you may remember, was formerly mention'd, but so
+transiently discours'd of, that it will now be fit to insist upon it;
+And manifest that it was not so inconsiderately propos'd as our
+Adversaries then imagin'd.
+
+But, before I enter any farther into this Disquisition, I cannot but
+here take notice, that it were to be wish'd, our Chymists had clearly
+inform'd us what kinde of Division of Bodies by Fire must determine
+the number of the Elements: For it is nothing near so easy as many
+seem to think, to determine distinctly the Effects of Heat, as I could
+easily manifest, if I had leasure to shew you how much the Operations
+of Fire may be diversify'd by Circumstances. But not wholly to pass by
+a matter of this Importance, I will first take notice to you, that
+_Guajacum_ (for Instance) burnt with an open Fire in a Chimney, is
+sequestred into Ashes and Soot, whereas the same Wood distill'd in a
+Retort does yield far other Heterogeneities, (to use the _Helmontian_
+expression) and is resolv'd into Oyl, Spirit, Vinager, Water and
+Charcoal; the last of which to be reduc'd into Ashes, requires the
+being farther calcin'd then it can be in a close Vessel: Besides
+having kindled Amber, and held a clean Silver Spoon, or some other
+Concave and smooth Vessel over the Smoak of its Flame, I observ'd the
+Soot into which that Fume condens'd, to be very differing from any
+thing that I had observ'd to proceed from the steam of Amber purposely
+(for that is not usual) distilled _per se_ in close Vessels. Thus
+having, for Tryals sake, kindled Camphire, and catcht the Smoak that
+copiously ascended out of the Flame, it condens'd into a Black and
+unctuous Soot, which would not have been guess'd by the Smell or other
+Properties to have proceeded from Camphire: whereas having (as I shall
+otherwhere more fully declare) expos'd a quantity of that Fugitive
+Concrete to a gentle heat in a close Glass-Vessel, it sublim'd up
+without seeming to have lost any thing of its whiteness, or its
+Nature, both which it retain'd, though afterwards I so encreased the
+Fire as to bring it to Fusion. And, besides Camphire, there are divers
+other Bodies (that I elsewhere name) in which the heat in close
+Vessels is not wont to make any separation of Heterogeneities, but
+only a comminution of Parts, those that rise first being Homogeneal
+with the others, though subdivided into smaller Particles: whence
+Sublimations have been stiled, _The Pestles of the Chymists_. But not
+here to mention what I elsewhere take notice of, concerning common
+Brimstone once or twice sublim'd, that expos'd to a moderate Fire in
+Subliming-Pots, it rises all into dry, and almost tastless, Flowers;
+Whereas being expos'd to a naked Fire it affords store of a Saline and
+Fretting Liquor: Not to mention this, I say, I will further observe to
+you, that as it is considerable in the _Analysis_ of mixt Bodies,
+whether the Fire act on them when they are expos'd to the open Air, or
+shut up in close Vessels, so is the degree of Fire by which the
+_Analysis_ is attempted of no small moment. For a milde _Balneum_ will
+sever unfermented Blood (for Instance) but into Phlegme and _Caput
+mortuum_, the later whereof (which I have sometimes had) hard,
+brittle, and of divers Colours, (transparent almost like
+Tortoise-shell) press'd by a good Fire in a Retort yields a Spirit, an
+Oyl or two, and a volatile Salt, besides a [Errata: another] _Caput
+mortuum_. It may be also pertinent to our present Designe, to take
+notice of what happens in the making and distilling of Sope; for by
+one degree of Fire the Salt, the Water and the Oyl or Grease, whereof
+that factitious Concrete is made up, being boyl'd up together are
+easily brought to mingle and incorporate into one Mass; but by another
+and further degree of Heat the same Mass may be again divided into an
+oleagenous, an aqueous, a Saline, and an Earthy part. And so we may
+observe that impure Silver and Lead being expos'd together to a
+moderate Fire, will thereby be colliquated into one Mass, and mingle
+_per minima_, as they speak, whereas a much vehementer Fire will drive
+or carry off the baser Metals (I mean the Lead, and the Copper or
+other Alloy) from the Silver, though not, for ought appears, separate
+them from one another. Besides, when a Vegetable abounding in fixt
+Salt is analyz'd by a naked Fire, as one degree of Heat will reduce it
+into Ashes, (as the Chymists themselves teach us) so, by only a
+further degree of Fire, those Ashes may be vitrified and turn'd into
+Glass. I will not stay to examine how far a meere Chymist might on
+this occasion demand, If it be lawful for an _Aristotelian_ to make
+Ashes, (which he mistakes for meere Earth) pass for an Element,
+because by one degree of Fire it may be produc'd, why a Chymist may
+not upon the like Principle argue, that Glass is one of the Elements
+of many Bodies, because that also may be obtain'd from them, barely by
+the Fire? I will not, I say, lose time to examine this, but observe,
+that by a Method of applying the Fire, such similar Bodies may be
+obtain'd from a Concrete, as Chymists have not been able to separate;
+either by barely burning it in an open Fire, or by barely distilling
+it in close Vessels. For to me it seems very considerable, and I
+wonder that men have taken so little notice of it, that I have not by
+any of the common wayes of Distillation in close Vessels, seen any
+separation made of such a volatile Salt as is afforded us by Wood,
+when that is first by an open Fire divided into Ashes and Soot, and
+that Soot is afterwards plac'd in a strong 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 _Guajacum_ and other
+Woods distill'd in Retorts after the common manner, there may be
+Saline parts, which by reason of the Analogy may pretend to the name
+of some kinde of volatile Salts; yet questionless there is a great
+disparity betwixt such Salts and that which we have sometimes obtain'd
+upon the first Distillation of Soot (though for the most part it has
+not been separated from the first or second Rectification, and
+sometimes not till the third) For we could never yet see separated
+from Woods analyz'd only the vulgar way in close vessels any volatile
+Salt in a dry and Saline form, as that of Soot, which we have often
+had very Crystalline and Geometrically figur'd. And then, whereas the
+Saline parts of the Spirits of _Guajacum_, &c. appear upon
+distillation sluggish enough, the Salt of Soot seems to be one of the
+most volatile Bodies in all Nature; and if it be well made will
+readily ascend with the milde heat of a Furnace, warm'd only by the
+single Wieck of a Lamp, to the top of the highest Glass Vessels that
+are commonly made use of for Distillation: and besides all this, the
+taste and smell of the Salt of Soot are exceeding differing from those
+of the Spirits of _Guajacum_, &c. and the former not only smells and
+tastes much less like a vegetable Salt, than like that of Harts-horn,
+and other Animal Concretes; but in divers other Properties seems more
+of Kinne to the Family of Animals, than to that of vegetable Salts, as
+I may elsewhere (God permitting) have an occasion more particularly to
+declare. I might likewise by some other Examples manifest, That the
+Chymists, 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 Division made by the
+Fire to be a true _Analysis_ into their Principles, and the
+Productions of it to deserve the name of Elementary Bodies. But it is
+time that I proceed to mention the particular Reasons that incline me
+to Doubt, whether the Fire be the true and universal Analyzer of mixt
+Bodies; of which Reasons what has been already objected may pass for
+one.
+
+In the next place I observe, That there are some mixt Bodies from
+which it has not been yet made appear, that any degree of Fire can
+separate either Salt or Sulphur or Mercury, much less all the Three.
+The most obvious Instance of this Truth is Gold, which is a Body so
+fix'd, and wherein the Elementary Ingredients (if it have any) are so
+firmly united to each other, that we finde not in the operations
+wherein Gold is expos'd to the Fire, how violent soever, that it does
+discernably so much as lose of its fixednesse or weight, so far is it
+from being dissipated into those Principles, whereof one at least is
+acknowledged to be Fugitive enough; and so justly did the Spagyricall
+Poet somewhere exclaim,
+
+     _Cuncta adeo miris illic compagibus harent._
+
+And I must not omit on this occasion to mention to you, _Eleutherius_,
+the memorable Experiment that I remember I met with in _Gasto
+Claveus_,[2] who, though a Lawyer by Profession, seems to have had no
+small Curiosity and Experience in Chymical affairs: He relates then,
+that having put into one small Earthen Vessel an Ounce of the most
+pure Gold, and into another the like weight of pure Silver, he plac'd
+them both in that part of a Glass-house Furnace wherein the Workmen
+keep their Metal, (as our English Artificers call their Liquid Glass)
+continually melted, and that having there kept both the Gold and the
+Silver in constant Fusion for two Moneths together, he afterwards took
+them out of the Furnace and the Vessels, and weighing both of them
+again, found that the Silver had not lost above a 12th part of its
+weight, but the Gold had not of his lost any thing at all. And though
+our Author endeavours to give us of this a Scholastick Reason, which I
+suppose you would be as little satisfied with, as I was when I read
+it; yet for the matter of Fact, which will serve our present turne, he
+assures us, that though it be strange, yet Experience it self taught
+it him to be most true.
+
+[Footnote 2: _Gasto Claveus_ Apolog. Argur. & Chrysopera.]
+
+And though there be not perhaps any other Body to be found so
+perfectly fix'd as Gold, yet there are divers others so fix'd or
+compos'd, at least of so strictly united parts, that I have not yet
+observ'd the Fire to separate from them any one of the Chymists
+Principles. I need not tell you what Complaints the more Candid and
+Judicious of the Chymists themselves are wont to make of those
+Boasters that confidently pretend, that they have extracted the Salt
+or Sulphur of Quicksilver, when they have disguis'd it by Additaments,
+wherewith it resembles the Concretes whose Names are given it;
+whereas by a skilful and rigid _Examen_, it may be easily enough
+stript of its Disguises, and made to appear again in the pristine form
+of running Mercury. The pretended Salts and Sulphurs being so far from
+being Elementary parts extracted out of the Bodie of Mercurie, that
+they are rather (to borrow a terme of the Grammarians) De-compound
+Bodies, made up of the whole Metal and the _Menstruum_ or other
+Additaments imploy'd to disguise it. And as for Silver, I never could
+see any degree of Fire make it part with any of its three Principles.
+And though the Experiment lately mentioned from _Claveus_ may beget a
+Suspition that Silver may be dissipated by Fire, provided it be
+extreamly violent and very lasting: yet it will not necessarily
+follow, that because the Fire was able at length to make the Silver
+lose a little of its weight, it was therefore able to dissipate it
+into its Principles. For first I might alledge that I have observ'd
+little Grains of Silver to lie hid in the small Cavities (perhaps
+glas'd over by a vitrifying heat) in Crucibles, wherein Silver has
+been long kept in Fusion, whence some Goldsmiths of my Acquaintance
+make a Benefit by grinding such Crucibles to powder, to recover out of
+them the latent particles of Silver. And hence I might argue, that
+perhaps _Claveus_ was mistaken, and imagin'd that Silver to have been
+driven away by the Fire, that indeed lay in minute parts hid in his
+Crucible, in whose pores so small a quantity as he mist of so
+ponderous a Bodie might very well lie conceal'd.
+
+But Secondly, admitting that some parts of the Silver were driven away
+by the violence of the Fire, what proof is there that it was either
+the Salt, the Sulphur, or the Mercury of the Metal, and not rather a
+part of it homogeneous to what remain'd? For besides, that the Silver
+that was left seem'd not sensibly alter'd, which probably would have
+appear'd, had so much of any one of its Principles been separated from
+it: We finde in other Mineral Bodies of a less permanent nature than
+Silver, that the Fire may divide them into such minute parts, as to be
+able to carry them away with its self, without at all destroying their
+Nature. Thus we see that in the refining of Silver, the Lead that is
+mix'd with it (to carry away the Copper or other ignoble Mineral that
+embases the Silver) will, if it be let alone, in time evaporate away
+upon the Test; but if (as is most usual amongst those that refine
+great quantities of Metals together) the Lead be blown off from the
+Silver by Bellowes, that which would else have gone away in the Form
+of unheeded steams, will in great part be collected not far from the
+Silver, in the Form of a darkish Powder or Calx, which, because it is
+blown off from Silver, they call Litharge of Silver. And thus
+_Agricola_[3] in divers places informs us, when Copper, or the Oare of
+it is colliquated by the violence of the Fire with _Cadmia_, the
+Sparks that in great multitudes do fly upwards do, some of them, stick
+to the vaulted Roofs of the Furnaces, in the form of little and (for
+the most part) White Bubbles, which therefore the Greeks, and, in
+Imitation of them, our Drugsters call _Pompholix_: and others more
+heavy partly adhere to the sides of the Furnace, and partly
+(especially if the Covers be not kept upon the Pots) fall to the
+Ground, and by reason of their Ashy Colour as well as Weight were
+called by the same Greeks [Greek: spodos], which, I need not tell you,
+in their Language signifies Ashes. I might add, that I have not found
+that from Venetian Talck (I say Venetian, because I have found other
+kinds of that Mineral more open) from the _Lapis Ossifragus_, (which
+the Shops call _Ostiocolla_) from _Muscovia_ Glass, from pure and
+Fusible Sand, to mention now no other Concretes; those of my
+Acquaintance that have try'd have been able by the Fire to separate
+any one of the Hypostatical Principles, which you will the less
+scruple to believe, if you consider that Glass may be made by the bare
+Colliquation of the Salt and Earth remaining in the Ashes of a burnt
+Plant, and that yet common Glass, once made, does so far resist the
+violence of the Fire, that most Chymists think it a Body more
+undestroyable then Gold it self. For if the Artificer can so firmly
+unite such comparative gross Particles as those of Earth and Salt that
+make up common Ashes, into a Body indissoluble by Fire; why may not
+Nature associate in divers Bodies the more minute Elementary
+Corpuscles she has at hand too firmly to let them be separable by the
+Fire? And on this Occasion, _Eleutherius_, give me leave to mention to
+you two or three sleight Experiments, which will, I hope, be found
+more pertinent to our present Discourse, than at first perhaps they
+will appear. The first is, that, having (for Tryals sake) put a
+quantity of that Fugitive Concrete, Camphire, into a Glass Vessel, and
+plac'd it in a gentle Heat, I found it (not leaving behinde, according
+to my Estimate, not so much as one Grain) to sublime to the Top of the
+Vessel into Flowers: which in Whiteness, Smell, &c. seem'd not to
+differ from the Camphire it self. Another Experiment is that of
+_Helmont_, who in several places affirms, That a Coal kept in a Glass
+exactly clos'd will never be calcin'd to Ashes, though kept never so
+long in a strong Fire. To countenance which I shall tell you this
+Tryal of my own, That having sometimes distilled some Woods, as
+particularly Box, whilst our _Caput mortuum_ 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 soon as ever it was brought
+out of the candent Vessel into the open Air, the burning Coals did
+hastily degenerate or fall asunder, without the Assistance of any new
+Calcination, into pure white Ashes. And to these two I shall add but
+this obvious and known Observation, that common Sulphur (if it be pure
+and freed from its Vinager) being leasurely sublim'd in close Vessels,
+rises into dry Flowers, which may be presently melted into a Bodie of
+the same Nature with that which afforded them. Though if Brimstone be
+burnt in the open Air it gives, you know, a penetrating Fume, which
+being caught in a Glass-Bell condenses into that acid Liquor called
+Oyl of Sulphur _per Campanam_. The use I would make of these
+Experiments collated with what I lately told you out of _Agricola_ is
+this, That even among the Bodies that are not fixt, there are divers
+of such a Texture, that it will be hard to make it appear, how the
+Fire, as Chymists are wont to imploy it, can resolve them into
+Elementary Substances. For some Bodies being of such a Texture that
+the Fire can drive them into the cooler and less hot part of the
+Vessels wherein they are included, and if need be, remove them from
+place to place to fly the greatest heat, more easily than it can
+divorce their Elements (especially without the Assistance of the Air)
+we see that our Chymists cannot Analyze them in close Vessels, and of
+other compound Bodies the open Fire can as little separate the
+Elements. For what can a naked Fire do to Analyze a mixt Bodie, if its
+component Principles be so minute, and so strictly united, that the
+Corpuscles of it need less heat to carry them up, than is requisite to
+divide them into their Principles. So that of some Bodies the Fire
+cannot in close Vessels make any _Analysis_ 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 similar parts of a Concrete be combin'd by
+Nature or by Art; For in factitious _Sal Armoniack_ we finde the
+common and the Urinous Salts so well mingled, that both in the open
+Fire, and in subliming Vessels they rise together as one Salt, which
+seems in such Vessels irresoluble by Fire alone. For I can shew you
+_Sal Armoniack_ which after the ninth Sublimation does still retain
+its compounded Nature. And indeed I scarce know any one Mineral, from
+which by Fire alone Chymists are wont to sever any Substance simple
+enough to deserve the name of an Element or Principle. For though out
+of native Cinnaber they distill Quicksilver, and though from many of
+those Stones that the Ancients called _Pyrites_ they sublime
+Brimstone, yet both that Quicksilver and this Sulphur being very often
+the same with the common Minerals that are sold in the Shops under
+those names, are themselves too much compounded Bodies to pass for the
+Elements of such. And thus much, _Eleutherius_, for the Second
+Argument that belongs to my First Consideration; the others I shall
+the lesse insist on, because I have dwelt so long upon this.
+
+[Footnote 3: _Agricola_ de Natura Fossil. Lib. 9. Cap. 11. & 12.]
+
+Proceed we then in the next place to consider, That there are divers
+Separations to be made by other means, which either cannot at all, or
+else cannot so well be made by the Fire alone. When Gold and Silver
+are melted into one Mass, it would lay a great Obligation upon
+Refiners and Goldsmiths to teach them the Art of separating them by
+the Fire, without the trouble and charge they are fain to be at to
+sever them. Whereas they may be very easily parted by the Affusion of
+Spirit of Nitre or _Aqua fortis_ (which the French therefore call _Eau
+de Depart_:) so likewise the Metalline part of Vitriol will not be so
+easily and conveniently separated from the Saline part even by a
+violent Fire, as by the Affusion of certain 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
+precipitated to the bottom almost like Mud. And that I may not give
+Instances only in De-compound Bodies, I will add a not useless one of
+another kinde. Not only Chymists have not been able (for ought is
+vulgarly known) by Fire alone to separate true Sulphur from Antimony;
+but though you may finde in their Books many plausible Processes of
+Extracting it, yet he that shall make as many fruitlesse Tryals as I
+have done to obtain it by, most of them will, I suppose, be easily
+perswaded, that the Productions of such Processes are Antimonial
+Sulphurs rather in Name than Nature. But though Antimony sublim'd by
+its self is reduc'd but to a volatile Powder, or Antimonial Flowers,
+of a compounded Nature like the Mineral that affords them: yet I
+remember that some years ago I sublim'd out of Antimony a Sulphur, and
+that in greater plenty then ever I saw obtain'd from that Mineral, by
+a Method which I shall therefore acquaint you with, because Chymists
+seem not to have taken notice of what Importance such Experiments may
+be in the Indagation of the Nature, and especially of the Number of
+the Elements. Having then purposely for Tryals sake digested eight
+Ounces of good and well powder'd Antimony with twelve Ounces of Oyl of
+Vitriol in a well stopt Glas-Vessel for about six or seven Weeks; and
+having caus'd the Mass (grown hard and brittle) to be distill'd in a
+Retort plac'd in Sand, with a strong Fire; we found the Antimony to be
+so opened, or alter'd by the _Menstruum_ wherewith it had been
+digested, That whereas crude Antimony, forc'd up by the Fire, arises
+only in Flowers, our Antimony thus handled afforded us 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 Brimstone, and of
+so Sulphureous a smell, that upon the unluting the Vessels it infected
+the Room with a scarce supportable stink. And this Sulphur, besides
+the Colour and Smell, had the perfect Inflamability of common
+Brimstone, and would immediately kindle (at the Flame of a Candle) and
+burn blew like it. And though it seem'd that the long digestion
+wherein our Antimony and _Menstruum_ were detain'd, did conduce to the
+better unlocking of the Mineral, yet if you have not the leasure to
+make so long a Digestion, you may by incorporating with powder'd
+Antimony a convenient Quantity of Oyl of Vitriol, and committing them
+immediately to Distillation, obtain a little Sulphur like unto the
+common one, and more combustible than perhaps you will at first take
+notice of. For I have observ'd, that though (after its being first
+kindled) the Flame would sometimes go out too soon of its self, if the
+same Lump of Sulphur were held again to the Flame of a Candle, it
+would be rekindled and burn a pretty while, not only after the
+second, but after the third or fourth accension. You, to whom I think
+I shewed my way of discovering something of Sulphureous in Oyl of
+Vitriol, may perchance suspect, _Eleutherius_, either that this
+Substance was some Venereal Sulphur that lay hid in that Liquor, and
+was by this operation only reduc'd into a manifest Body; or else that
+it was a compound of the unctuous parts of the Antimony, and the
+Saline ones of the Vitriol, in regard that (as _Gunther_[4] 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
+combustible Substance. But the Quantity of Sulphur we obtain'd by
+Digestion was much too great to have been latent in the Oyl of
+Vitriol. And that Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
+Constitution of such a Sulphur as ours, I could easily manifest, if I
+would acquaint you with the several wayes by which I have obtain'd,
+though not in such plenty, a Sulphur of Antimony, colour'd and
+combustible like common Brimstone. And though I am not now minded to
+discover them, yet I shall tell you, that to satisfie some Ingenious
+Men, that distill'd Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
+obtaining of such a Sulphur as we have been considering, I did by the
+bare distillation of only Spirit of Nitre, from its weight of crude
+Antimony separate, in a short time, a yellow and very inflamable
+Sulphur, which, for ought I know, deserves as much the name of an
+Element, as any thing that Chymists are wont to separate from any
+Mineral by the Fire. I could perhaps tell you of other Operations upon
+Antimony, whereby That may be extracted from it, which cannot be
+forc'd out of it by the Fire; but I shall reserve them for a fitter
+Opportunity, and only annex at present this sleight, but not
+impertinent Experiment. That whereas I lately observed to you, that
+the Urinous and common Salts whereof _Sal Armoniack_ consists,
+remain'd unsever'd by the Fire in many successive Sublimations, they
+may be easily separated, and partly without any Fire at all, by
+pouring upon the Concrete finely powder'd, a Solution of Salt of
+Tartar, or of the Salt of Wood-Ashes; for upon your diligently mixing
+of these you will finde your Nose invaded with a very strong smell of
+Urine, and perhaps too your Eyes forc'd to water by the same subtle
+and piercing Body that produces the stink; both these effects
+proceeding from hence, that by the Alcalizate Salt, the Sea Salt that
+enter'd the composition of the _Sal Armoniack_ is mortify'd and made
+more fixt, and thereby a divorce is made between it and the volatile
+Urinous Salt, which being at once set at liberty, and put into motion,
+begins presently to fly away, and to offend the Nostrils and Eyes it
+meets with by the way. And if the operation of these Salts be in
+convenient Glasses promoted by warmth, though but by that of a Bath,
+the ascending Steams may easily be caught and reduc'd into a penetrant
+Spirit, abounding with a Salt, which I have sometimes found to be
+separable in a Crystalline Form. I might add to these Instances, that
+whereas Sublimate, consisting, as you know, of Salts & Quicksilver
+combin'd and carried up together by Heat, may be Sublim'd, I know not
+how often, by a like degree of Fire, without suffering any divorce of
+the component Bodies, the Mercury may be easily sever'd from the
+adhering Salts, if the Sublimate be distill'd from Salt of Tartar,
+Quick Lime, or such Alcalizate Bodies. But I will rather observe to
+you, _Eleutherius_, what divers ingenious men have thought somewhat
+strange; that by such an Additament that seems but only to promote the
+Separation, there may be easily obtain'd from a Concrete that by the
+Fire alone is easily divisible into all the Elements that Vegetables
+are suppos'd to consist of, such a similar Substance as differs in
+many respects from them all, and consequently has by many of the most
+Intelligent Chymists been denied to be contain'd in the mixt Body. For
+I know a way, and have practis'd it, whereby common Tartar, without
+the addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral except
+Salt-petre, may by one Distillation in an Earthen Retort be made to
+afford good store of real Salt, readily dissoluble in water, which I
+found to be neither acid, nor of the smell of Tartar, and to be almost
+as volatile as Spirit of Wine it self, and to be indeed of so
+differing a Nature from all that is wont to be separated by Fire from
+Tartar, that divers Learned Men, with whom I discours'd of it, could
+hardly be brought to beleeve, that so fugitive a Salt could be
+afforded by Tartar, till I assur'd it them upon my own Knowledge. And
+if I did not think you apt to suspect 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.
+
+[Footnote 4: Lib. 1. Observat. Cap. 6.]
+
+The Fourth thing that I shall alledge to countenance my first
+Consideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body into
+Substances of divers Consistences, does not most commonly analyze it
+into Hypostatical Principles, but only disposes its parts into new
+Textures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of a
+compound Nature. This Argument it will be requisite for me to
+prosecute so fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confess that
+'tis not for want of good Proofs that I desire leave to suspend my
+Proofs till the _Series_ of my Discourse shall make it more proper and
+seasonable to propose them.
+
+It may be further alledg'd on the behalf of my First Consideration,
+That some such distinct Substances may be obtain'd from some
+Concretes without Fire, as deserve no less the name of Elementary,
+than many that Chymists extort by the Violence of the Fire.
+
+We see that the Inflamable Spirit, or as the Chymists esteem it, the
+Sulphur of Wine, may not only be separated from it by the gentle heat
+of a Bath, but may be distill'd either by the help of the Sun-Beams,
+or even of a Dunghill, being indeed of so Fugitive a Nature, that it
+is not easy to keep it from flying away, even without the Application
+of external heat. I have likewise observ'd that a Vessel full of Urine
+being plac'd in a Dunghill, the Putrefaction is wont after some weeks
+so to open the Body, that the parts disbanding the Saline Spirit, will
+within no very long time, if the Vessel be not stopt, fly away of it
+self; Insomuch that from such Urine I have been able to distill little
+or nothing else than a nauseous Phlegme, instead of the active and
+piercing Salt and Spirit that it would have afforded, when first
+expos'd to the Fire, if the Vessel had been carefully stopt.
+
+And this leads me to consider in the Fifth place, That it will be very
+hard to prove, that there can no other Body or way be given which
+will as well as the Fire divide Concretes into several homogeneous
+Substances, which may consequently be call'd their Elements or
+Principles, as well as those separated or produc'd by the Fire. For
+since we have lately seen, that Nature can successefully employ other
+Instruments than the Fire to separate distinct Substances from mixt
+Bodies, how know we, but that Nature has made, or Art may make, some
+such Substance as may be a fit Instrument to Analyze mixt Bodies, or
+that some such Method may be found by Humane Industry or Luck, by
+whose means compound Bodies may be resolv'd into other Substances,
+than such as they are wont to be divided into by the Fire. And why the
+Products of such an _Analysis_ may not as justly be call'd the
+component Principles of the Bodies that afford them, it will not be
+easy to shew, especially since I shall hereafter make it evident, that
+the Substances which Chymists are wont to call the Salts, and
+Sulphurs, and Mercuries of Bodies, are not so pure and Elementary as
+they presume, and as their _Hypothesis_ requires. And this may
+therefore be the more freely press'd upon the Chymists, because
+neither the _Paracelsians_, nor the _Helmontians_ can reject it
+without apparent Injury to their respective Masters. For _Helmont_
+do's more than once Inform his Readers, that both _Paracelsus_ and
+Himself were Possessors of the famous Liquor, _Alkahest_, which for
+its great power in resolving Bodies irresoluble by Vulgar Fires, he
+somewhere seems to call _Ignis Gehennae_. To this Liquor he ascribes,
+(and that in great part upon his own Experience) such wonders, that if
+we suppose them all true, I am so much the more a Friend to Knowledge
+than to Wealth, that I should think the _Alkahest_ a nobler and more
+desireable Secret than the Philosophers Stone it self. Of this
+Universal Dissolvent he relates, That having digested with it for a
+competent time a piece of Oaken Charcoal, it was thereby reduc'd into
+a couple of new and distinct Liquors, discriminated from each other by
+their Colour and Situation, and that the whole body of the Coal was
+reduc'd into those Liquors, both of them separable from his Immortal
+_Menstruum_, which remain'd as fit for such Operations as before. And
+he moreover tells us in divers places of his Writings, that by this
+powerful, and unwearied Agent, he could dissolve Metals, Marchasites,
+Stones, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of what kinde soever, and even
+Glass it self (first reduc'd to powder,) and in a word, all kinds of
+mixt Bodies in the World into their several similar Substances,
+without any Residence or _Caput mortuum_. And lastly, we may gather
+this further from his Informations, That the homogeneous Substances
+obtainable from compound Bodies by his piercing Liquor, were
+oftentimes different enough both as to Number and as to Nature, from
+those into which the same Bodies are wont to be divided by common
+Fire. Of which I shall need in this place to mention no other proof,
+then that whereas we know that in our common _Analysis_ of a mixt
+Body, there remains a terrestrial and very fixt Substance, oftentimes
+associated with a Salt as fixt; Our Author tells us, that by his way
+he could Distill over all Concretes without any _Caput mortuum_, and
+consequently could make those parts of the Concrete volatile, which in
+the Vulgar _Analysis_ would have been fixt. So that if our Chymists
+will not reject the solemn and repeated Testimony of a Person, who
+cannot but be acknowledg'd for one of the greatest Spagyrists that
+they can boast of, they must not deny that there is to be found in
+Nature another Agent able to Analyze compound Bodies less violently,
+and both more genuinely and more universally than the Fire. And for my
+own part, though I cannot but say on this Occasion what (you know) our
+Friend Mr. _Boyle_ is wont to say, when he is askt his Opinion of any
+strange Experiment; _That He that hath seen it hath more Reason to
+beleeve it, than He that hath not_; yet I have found _Helmont_ so
+faithful a Writer, even in divers of his improbable Experiments (I
+alwayes except that Extravagant Treatise _De Magnetica Vulnerum
+Curatione_, which some of his Friends affirm to have been first
+publish'd by his Enemies) that I think it somewhat harsh to give him
+the Lye, especially to what he delivers upon his own proper Tryal. And
+I have heard from very credible Eye-witnesses some things, and seen
+some others my self, which argue so strongly, that a circulated Salt,
+or a _Menstruum_ (such as it may be) may by being abstracted from
+compound Bodies, whether Mineral, Animal, or Vegetable, leave them
+more unlockt than a wary Naturalist would easily beleeve, that I dare
+not confidently measure the Power of Nature and Art by that of the
+_Menstruums_, and other Instruments that eminent Chymists themselves
+are as yet wont to Empoly [Errata: employ] about the Analyzing of
+Bodies; nor Deny that a _Menstruum_ may at least from this or that
+particular Concrete obtain some apparently similar Substance,
+differing from any obtainable from the same Body by any degree or
+manner of Application of the Fire. And I am the more backward to deny
+peremptorily, that there may be such Openers of compound Bodies,
+because among the Experiments that make me speak thus warily, there
+wanted not some in which it appear'd not, that one of the Substances
+not separable by common Fires and _Menstruums_ could retain any thing
+of the Salt by which the separation was made.
+
+And here, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) I should conclude as much
+of my Discourse as belongs to the first Consideration I propos'd, but
+that I foresee, that what I have delivered will appear liable to two
+such specious Objections, that I cannot safely proceed any further
+till I have examin'd them.
+
+And first, one sort of Opposers will be forward to tell me, That they
+do not pretend by Fire alone to separate out of all compound Bodies
+their _Hypostatical_ Principles; it being sufficient that the Fire
+divides them into such, though afterwards they employ other Bodies to
+collect the similar parts of the Compound; as 'tis known, that though
+they make use of water to collect the Saline parts of Ashes from the
+Terrestrial 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, whereof Ashes are made up. This Objection is not, I
+confess, inconsiderable, and I might in great part allow of it,
+without granting it to make against me, if I would content my self to
+answer, that it is not against those that make it that I have been
+disputing, but against those Vulgar Chymists, who themselves believe,
+and would fain make others do so, That the Fire is not only an
+universal, but an adaequate [Transcriber's Note: adequate] and
+sufficient Instrument to analyze mixt Bodies with. For as to their
+Practice of Extracting the fix'd Salt out of Ashes by the Affusion of
+Water, 'tis obvious to alleadge, that the Water does only assemble
+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 distinct heaps the Flour and the Bran, whose Corpuscles before lay
+promiscuously blended together in the Meal. This I say I might
+alleadge, and thereby exempt my self from the need of taking any
+farther notice of the propos'd Objection. But not to lose the Rise it
+may afford me of Illustrating the matter under Consideration, I am
+content briefly to consider it, as far forth as my present
+Disquisition may be concern'd in it.
+
+Not to repeat then what has been already answer'd, I say farther, that
+though I am so civil an Adversary, that I will allow the Chymists,
+after the Fire has done all its work, the use of fair Water to make
+their Extractions with, in such cases wherein the Water does not
+cooperate with the Fire to make the _Analysis_; yet since I Grant
+this but upon Supposition that the Water does only wash off the Saline
+Particles, which the Fire Alone has Before Extricated in the Analyz'd
+Body, it will not be Reasonable, that this Concession should Extend to
+other Liquors that may Add to what they Dissolve, nor so much as to
+other Cases than those Newly Mentioned: Which Limitation I Desire You
+would be Pleas'd to Bear in Mind till I shall Anon have Occasion to
+make Use of it. And This being thus Premis'd, I shall Proceed to
+Observe,
+
+First, That Many of the Instances I Propos'd in the Preceding
+Discourse are Such, that the Objection we are Considering will not at
+all Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the Assistance of Water than
+without it Separate any of the Three Principles, either from Gold,
+Silver, Mercury, or some Others of the Concretes named Above.
+
+Hence We may Inferre, That Fire is not an Universal Analyzer of all
+Mixt Bodies, since of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymists have most
+Exercis'd Themselves, there Appear scarce Any which they are able to
+Analyze by Fire, Nay, from which they can Unquestionably Separate so
+much as any One of their Hypostatical Principles; Which may well
+Appear no small Disparagement as well to their _Hypothesis_ as to
+their Pretensions.
+
+It will also remain True, notwithstanding the Objection, That there
+may be Other Wayes than the wonted _Analysis_ by Fire, to Separate
+from a Compound Body Substances as Homogeneneous [Transcriber's Note:
+Homogeneous] as those that Chymists Scruple not to Reckon among their
+_Tria Prima_ (as some of them, for Brevity Sake, call their Three
+Principles.)
+
+And it Appears, That by Convenient Additaments such Substances may be
+Separated by the Help of the Fire, as could not be so by the Fire
+alone: Witness the Sulphur of Antimony.
+
+And Lastly, I must Represent, That since it appears too that the Fire
+is but One of the Instruments that must be Employ'd in the Resolution
+of Bodies, We may Reasonably Challenge the Liberty of doing Two
+Things. For when ever any _Menstruum_ or other Additament is Employ'd,
+together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from a Body, We
+may well take the Freedom to Examine, whether or no That _Menstruum_
+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 Those of the _Menstruum_, whereby the Produc'd Concrete may be
+Judg'd to Result from the Union of Both. And it will be farther
+Allowable for Us to Consider, how far any Substance, Separated by the
+Help of such Additaments, Ought to pass for one of the _Tria Prima_;
+since by One Way of Handling the same Mixt Body it may according to
+the Nature of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, be
+made to Afford differing Substances from those Obtainable from it by
+other Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may appear by what
+I Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Substances
+into which a Concrete is Divisible by the Fire without Additaments,
+though perhaps those Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter the
+Composition of the Obtained Body, but only Diversify the Operation of
+the Fire upon the Concrete; and though that Concrete by the Fire
+alone may be Divided into a Number of Differing Substances, as Great
+as any of the Chymists that I have met with teach us that of the
+Elements to be. And having said thus much (sayes _Carneades_) to the
+Objection likely to be Propos'd by some Chymists, I am now to Examine
+that which I Foresee will be Confidently press'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
+_Aristotle_, and Generally Received, _Congregare Homogenea, &
+Heterogenea Segregare_, to Assemble Things of a Resembling, and
+Disjoyn those of a Differing Nature. To this I answer, That this
+Effect is far from being so Essential to Heat, as 'tis Generally
+Imagin'd; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property of
+Heat is, to set a Moving, and thereby to Dissociate the parts of
+Bodies, and Subdivide them into Minute Particles, without regard to
+their being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in the
+Boyling of Water, the Distillation of Quicksilver, or the Exposing of
+Bodies to the action of the Fire, whose Parts either Are not (at
+least in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Dissimilar, where all that
+the Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts which
+are of the same Nature with one another, and with their _Totum_, as
+their Reduction by Condensation Evinces. And even when the Fire seems
+most so _Congregare Homogenea, & Segregare Heterogenea_, it Produces
+that Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Dissolve the
+Cement, or rather Shatter the Frame, or [tructure [Errata: structure]
+that kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one Common
+Form; upon which Dissolution the Component Particles of the Mixt,
+being Freed and set at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes without
+any Operation of the Fire, Associate themselves each with its Like, or
+rather do take those places which their Several Degrees of Gravity and
+Levity, Fixedness or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious from
+the Impression of the Fire) Assigne them. Thus in the Distillation
+(for Instance) of Man's Blood, the Fire do's First begin to Dissolve
+the _Nexus_ or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the most
+Volatile, and Easy to be Extracted, is either by the Igneous Atomes,
+or the Agitation they are put into by the Fire, first carried up, till
+Forsaken by what carried it up, its Weight sinks it down into the
+Receiver: but all this while the other Principles of the Concrete
+Remain Unsever'd, and Require a stronger Degree of Heat to make a
+Separation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire must be
+Increas'd which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, they
+being, though Beleev'd to be Differing Principles, and though Really
+of Different Consistency, yet of an almost Equal Volatility. After
+them, as less Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde the
+Earth and the _Alcali_, which being of an Equal Fixednesse, the Fire
+Severs them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into a
+Red-hot Earthen or Iron Retort you cast the Matter to be Distill'd,
+You may Observe, as I have often done, that the Predominant Fire will
+Carry up all the Volatile Elements Confusedly in one Fume, which will
+afterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to the
+Degree of their Gravity, or according to the Exigency of their
+respective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the most part, to the
+Sides and Top, and the Phlegme Fastening it self there too in great
+Drops, the Oyle and Spirit placing themselves Under, or Above one
+another, according as their Ponderousness makes them Swim or Sink. For
+'tis Observable, that though Oyl or Liquid Sulphur be one of the
+Elements Separated by this Fiery _Analysis_, yet the Heat which
+Accidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Principles,
+has not alwayes the same Operation on this, there being divers Bodies
+which Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One sinks to the Bottom of that
+Spirit on which the other Swims; as I can shew You in some Oyls of the
+same Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can shew you Two Oyls
+carefully made of the same 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 themselves Divorce again.
+
+And that the Fire doth oftentimes divide Bodies, upon the account that
+some of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how far
+soever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature is
+Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which
+the Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter of
+these is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth and
+Salt; but the Former being condens'd into that Soot which adheres to
+our Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, and
+Spirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all
+almost, 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 _Colcothar_, Sublim'd by _Sal Armoniack_ Blended with it)
+are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other
+Degrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity of
+their Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing Bodies
+United into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no
+Parts Volatile enough to be Expell'd or carried up, makes no
+Separation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver
+and Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever'd by _Aqua
+Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ (according to the Predominancy of the Silver
+or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain
+unsever'd, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles
+(whose Littlenesse may be argu'd from their Fluidity) in which either
+the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokes
+upon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without any
+Sequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimes
+does not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature;
+provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in the
+Figure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the making
+of many Plaisters, Oyntments, &c. And in such Metalline Mixtures as
+that made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one of
+pure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curious
+Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works) as I have sometimes taken great
+Pleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire are
+Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are so
+combin'd by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarce
+afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instance
+is afforded us by the Common Preparation of _Mercurius Dulcis_, where
+the Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre,
+Employ'd to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with the
+Mercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then to
+Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together in
+many successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And
+sometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements
+of a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does very
+seldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meeting
+with some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead of
+making a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, is
+unable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alcalizate Salt and the
+Terrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and
+by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course or
+greenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire,
+which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to
+Divorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flow
+down from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos'd for a good while, with
+Silver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in the
+Fusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a
+Crucible into Glass is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember,
+I have Observ'd too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of
+the Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm that
+Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigious
+Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by great
+Wheels turn'd about by Water) part of the Materials Expos'd to it was,
+instead of being Analyz'd, Colliquated, and turn'd into a Dark, Solid
+and very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quantity, that in some
+places I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mended
+with Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. And
+I have also Observ'd, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, having
+been employ'd in Furnaces wherein it was expos'd to very strong and
+lasting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts so 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 Transparent Glass. And lest You
+might think, _Eleutherius_, that the Question'd Definition of Heat may
+be Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given and
+Acquiesc'd in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taught
+to be _tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare_; Give me leave to
+represent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; for
+not to Mention the Exceptions, which a _Logician_, as such, may Take
+at it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is
+Suppos'd to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform'd by
+every Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of
+Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer'd a while to stand, the
+Cold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, which
+Subsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if the
+Urinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole
+Liquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood,
+Straw, Dust, Water, &c. are Suppos'd to be United into one Lump of
+Ice, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may so
+Speak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the
+Liquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in that
+Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if
+we Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes,
+or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute of
+Aqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold,
+we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much as
+Compacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselves
+we find _Phaenomena_ which Induce us to Question the Definition which
+we are examining. If _Paracelsus_ his Authority were to be look't upon
+as a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insist
+on that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Wine
+may be Sever'd from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance of
+Congelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process,
+not only by _Paracelsians_, but other Writers, some of whom seem not
+to have perus'd it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage in
+the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of his
+_Archidoxis_, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it sounds
+thus. _De Vino sciendum est, faecem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, &
+Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auri
+in auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam
+ponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum
+vetustissimum & optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque ad
+placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat,
+& sigillo Hermetis occlusum in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, & in
+continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum
+frigus & gelu maxime saeviunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur.
+Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protrudit
+in vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero
+congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc in
+Pelicanum positum in arenae digestione non adeo calida per aliquod
+tempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quo
+locuti sumus._
+
+But I dare not _Eleu._ lay much Weight upon this Process, because I
+have found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable in
+this Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hath
+been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied with
+lasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure 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 suppose _Eleu._ that tis not every
+Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to
+make such an _Analysis_ (if I may so call it) of them by Separating
+their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though not
+often, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not
+Observe the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc'd to
+Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call'd _Nova
+Zembla_, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was a
+Separation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle of
+_November_, yet of the Freezing of their Back [Errata: Sack] in
+_December_ following they give but this Account: _Yea and our Sack,
+which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Man
+to have his part, we were forc'd to melt it in the Fire; which we
+shar'd every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we
+were forc'd to sustain our selves._ In which words they imply not,
+that their Back [Errata: Sack] was divided by the Frost into differing
+Substances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All which
+notwithstanding, _Eleu._ suppose that it may be made to appear, that
+even Cold sometimes may _Congregare Homogenea, & Heterogenea
+Segregare_: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once,
+purposely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with
+Sulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos'd the Decoction to
+a keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ'd, that the more
+Aqueous Parts of it were turn'd by the next Morning into Ice, towards
+the innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I
+then conjectur'd, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be their
+Environing Enemy, they had there preserv'd themselves unfrozen in the
+Form of a high colour'd Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts
+having been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in the
+Decoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold as
+would not have been able to have Divorc'd the Parts of Urine or Wine,
+which by Fermentation or Digestion are wont, as Tryal has inform'd me,
+to be more intimately associated each with other. But I have already
+intimated, _Eleutherius_, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment,
+not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have been
+mistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that much
+more full and eminent Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream
+Cold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention'd Dutch
+men that Winter'd in _Nova Zembla_; the Relation of whose Voyage being
+a very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorable
+part of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus'd the Passage
+to be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.
+
+"_Gerard de Veer_, _John Cornelyson_ and Others, sent out of
+_Amsterdam_, _Anno Dom._ 1596. being forc'd by unseasonable Weather to
+Winter in _Nova Zembla_, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of
+_October_, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and
+laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to
+our House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great a
+Storm and Cold, that we were forc'd to go into the Ship again, because
+we were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer into
+the Ship again, but were forc'd to let it stand without upon the Sled:
+the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of
+Beer standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yet
+by reason 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 sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, and
+drank it up; but first we were forc'd to melt the Beer, for there was
+scarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest that
+was unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strong
+to drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and being
+melted we Mix'd one with the other, and so drank it; but it had
+neither Strength nor Taste."
+
+And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very Sharp
+Winter purposely try'd to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beer
+moderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ'd,
+that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, it
+seems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I found
+turn'd into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour and
+consistence seem'd mafestly [Transcriber's Note: manifestly] enough
+to be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail'd, because I did
+not either discerne by the Taste, 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 since to a neere Friend
+of mine, who complained to me, that having Brew'd some Beer or Ale for
+his own drinking in _Holland_ (where he then dwelt) the Keenness of
+the late bitter Winter froze the Drink so as to reduce it into Ice,
+and a small Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I
+must not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely because
+you may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does not
+directly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have already
+enlarg'd my self too much upon the first Consideration I propos'd,
+though it appears so much a Paradox, that it seem'd to Require that I
+should say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance;
+yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption of our
+Chymists and _Aristotelians_ appear Questionable, I hope I have so
+Perform'd that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following
+Considerations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on the
+First.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Second Part._
+
+
+The Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This,
+That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and _Aristotelians_ are wont
+to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that
+is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in
+it as a Principle or Element of it.
+
+That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I will
+First Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed to
+Argue for it.
+
+And I suppose You will easily Believe That I do not mean that any
+thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially
+pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall
+Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one
+Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create;
+which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers
+have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the
+_Epicureans_ and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their
+Gods themselves.
+
+Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things
+Obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely
+Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before
+they be Expos'd to the Fire afford us several Documents of their
+abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve
+the present Turn, if it appear that diverse 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 [Errata: appear, it will] be Rationall
+enough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others,
+in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the
+Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of
+which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till
+some other Argument then that drawn from the _Analysis_ be Brought to
+resolve the Doubt.
+
+That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That it
+may without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing
+Substances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were so
+Exsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts)
+wherein we find them when the _Analysis_ is over, that the Fire did
+only Dis-joyne and Extricate the Corpuscles of one Principle from
+those of the other wherewith before they were Blended.
+
+Having thus Explain'd my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do two
+things, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that such
+Substances as Chymists call Principles May be produc'd _De novo_ (as
+they speak.) And the other is to make it probable that by the Fire we
+may Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were not
+in the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.
+
+To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be as
+true as 'tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another
+but in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion,
+and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall to
+conceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may by
+Various Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name,
+somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous
+Body. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr.
+_Boyle_ has promis'd us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme I
+now willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquired
+into. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I have
+lately Deliver'd shall be Deduc'd from Experiments made Divers Years
+since. The first of which would have been much more considerable, but
+that by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the best
+time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design'd; it
+being about he [Transcriber's Note: the] middle of _May_ before I was
+able to begin an Experiment which should have then been two moneths
+old; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to Give
+You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention'd, I caus'd My
+Gardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder'd from being present
+myself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry it
+well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost level
+with the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed he
+had before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is an
+Indian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him to
+Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasions
+permitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew,
+though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder'd it from
+attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found
+the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, as
+big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up;
+Which about the Middle of _October_ was carefully Done by the same
+Gardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it; _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 First, 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._
+
+But to deal Candidly with You, _Eleutherius_, I must not conceal from
+You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this present
+Summer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as may
+appear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner,
+in these Words. _To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have
+Gain'd two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and
+a Halfe, the Branches with the Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two
+Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak'd it in
+several small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, I
+found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was formerly;
+yet I was not satisfi'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
+Suppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I think
+that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by the
+Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and the
+like) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You should
+send for them.)_ But yet in this Tryal, _Eleutherius_, it appears that
+though some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour'd in
+it, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of Transmuted
+Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus'd the formerly
+mentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with
+so good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it did
+not only much surpass any that I made before, but seem'd strangely to
+conclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappily
+lost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the
+Circumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may be
+as conveniently try'd with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth is
+hasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Grow
+well in Earth undung'd, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it;
+for 'tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes 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
+shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of
+Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because
+every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment
+neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more Expeditions
+[Transcriber's Note: Expeditious] Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint,
+about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water,
+so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and
+the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint
+began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,
+and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and
+Leaves, and these very strong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint:
+but the Heat of my Chamber, as I suppose, kill'd the Plant when it was
+grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and
+ramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth,
+presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant to
+behold. The like I try'd with sweet Marjoram, and I found the
+Experiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme and
+Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of these Vegetables,
+cherish'd only by Water, having obtain'd a competent Growth, I did,
+for Tryals sake, cause to be Distill'd in a small Retort, and thereby
+obtain'd some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a small
+Quantity of adust Oyl, and a _Caput mortuum_; which appearing to be a
+Coal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but the Quantity of
+it was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us'd to
+nourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I chose
+Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more
+discernably a kinde of [Greek: panspermia], which, though it be
+granted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it,
+besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which may
+be suppos'd to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, which
+may be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit of
+the World Corporify'd, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I
+may elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.
+
+But perhaps I might have sav'd a great part of my Labour. For I finde
+that _Helmont_ (an Author more considerable for his Experiments than
+many Learned men are pleas'd to think him) having had an Opportunity
+to prosecute an Experiment much of the same nature with those I have
+been now speaking of, for five Years together, obtain'd at the end of
+that time so notable a Quantity of Transmuted Water, that I should
+scarce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention'd
+together, were it not that the Length of Time Requisite to this may
+deterr the Curiosity of some, and exceed the leasure of Others; and
+partly, that so Paradoxical a Truth as that which these Experiments
+seem to hold forth, needs to be Confirm'd by more Witnesses then one,
+especially since the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with in
+_Helmonts_ Treatise of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made his
+Testimonies suspected in his other Writings, though as to some of the
+Unlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might safely undertake
+to be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I was
+mentioning to You, he sayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earth
+dry'd in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Vessel and
+moisten'd it with Raine water he planted in it the Trunk of a Willow
+tree of five pound Weight; this he Water'd, as need required, with
+Rain or with Distill'd Water; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth from
+getting into the Vessell, he employ'd a plate of Iron tinn'd over and
+perforated with many holes. Five years being 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 again Dry'd the Earth it grew in, he found it want
+of its Former Weight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; so
+that 164 pound of the Roots, Wood, and Bark, which Constituted the
+Tree, seem to have Sprung from the Water. And though it appears not
+that _Helmont_ had the Curiosity to make any _Analysis_ of this Plant,
+yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nourish'd
+with Water only, will I suppose keep You from Doubting that if he had
+Distill'd this Tree, it would have afforded him the like Distinct
+Substances as another Vegetable of the same kind. I need not Subjoyne
+that I had it also in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the same
+purpose with those I related to You would succeed in other Bodies then
+Vegetables, because importunate Avocations having hitherto hinder'd me
+from putting my Design in Practise, I can yet speak but Confecturally
+[Transcriber's Note: Conjecturally] of the Success: but the best is,
+that the Experiments already made and mention'd to you need not the
+Assistance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my present task makes it
+concern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.
+
+One would suspect (sayes _Eleutherius_ after his long silence) by what
+You have been discoursing, that You are not far from _Helmonts_
+Opinion about the Origination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps too
+dislike not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.
+
+What _Helmontian_ Opinion, and what Arguments do you mean (askes
+_Carneades_.)
+
+What You have been Newly Discoursing (replies _Eleutherius_) tells us,
+that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyrist scruples
+not to Assert that all mixt Bodies spring from one Element; and that
+Vegetables, Animals, Marchasites, Stones, Metalls, &c. are Materially
+but simple Water disguis'd into these Various Formes, by the plastick
+or Formative Virtue of their seeds. And as for his Reasons you may
+find divers of them scatter'd up and down his writings; the
+considerabl'st of which seem to be these three; The Ultimate Reduction
+of mixt Bodies into Insipid Water, the Vicissitude of the supposed
+Elements, and the production of perfectly mixt Bodies out of simple
+Water. And first he affirmes that the _Sal circulatus Paracelsi_, or
+his Liquor _Alkahest_, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, and
+Mineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their several
+internall Disparities of Parts (without _Caput Mortuum_, or the
+Destruction of their seminal Virtues;) and that the _Alkahest_ being
+abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and Virtue wherewith
+it Dissolv'd them, the Liquors may by frequent Cohobations from chalke
+or some other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv'd of their seminal
+Endowments, and return at last to their first matter, Insipid Water;
+some other wayes he proposes here and there, to divest some particular
+Bodies of their borrow'd shapes, and make them remigrate to their
+first Simplicity. The second Topick whence _Helmont_ drawes his
+Arguments, to prove Water to be the Material cause of Mixt Bodies, I
+told You was this, that the other suppos'd Elements may be transmuted
+into one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc'd
+on this Occasion, are so uneasie to be made and to be judg'd of, that
+I shall not insist on them; not to mention, that if they were granted
+to be true, his Inference from them is somewhat disputable; and
+therefore I shall pass on to tell You, That as, in his First Argument,
+our Paradoxical Author endeavours to prove Water the Sole Element of
+Mixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Resolution, when by his _Alkahest_, or
+some other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been Destroy'd, which
+Disguis'd them, or when by time those seeds are Weari'd or Exantlated
+or unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Universe any
+Longer: So in His Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the same
+Conclusion, by the constitution of Bodies which he asserts to be
+nothing but Water Subdu'd by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives here
+and there in his Writings several Instances, as to Plants and Animals;
+but divers of them being Difficult either to be try'd or to be
+Understood, and others of them being not altogether Unobnoxious to
+Exceptions, I think you have singl'd out the Principal and less
+Questionable Experiment when you lately mention'd that of the Willow
+Tree. And having thus, Continues _Eleutherius_, to Answer your
+Question, given you a Summary Account of what I am Confident You know
+better then I do, I shall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, if
+the giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Prosecution of
+your Discourse.
+
+That _If_ (replies _Carneades_) was not needlessly annex'd: for
+thorowly to examine such an Hypothesis and such Arguments would
+require so many Considerations, and Consequently so much time, that I
+should not now have the Liesure [Errata: leasure] to perfect such a
+Digression, and much less to finish my Principle [Errata: principal]
+Discourse. Yet thus much I shall tell You at present, that you need
+not fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; since, however the
+_Helmontians_ may in complement to their Master pretend it to be a new
+Discovery, Yet though the Arguments be for the most part his, the
+Opinion it self is very Antient: For _Diogenes Laertius_ and divers
+other Authors speak of _Thales_, as the first among the _Graecians_
+that made disquisitions upon nature. And of this _Thales_, I Remember,
+_Tully_[5] informes us, that he taught all things were at first made
+of Water. And it seems by _Plutarch_ and _Justin Martyr_, that the
+Opinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us'd to defend
+his Tenet by the Testimony of _Homer_. And a Greek Author, (the
+_Scholiast_ of _Apollonius_) upon these Words
+
+     [Greek: Ex iliou [Transcriber's Note: iluos] eblastese chthon
+     aute],[6]
+
+     _The Earth of Slime was made,_
+
+Affirms (out of _Zeno_) that the _Chaos_, whereof all things were
+made, was, according to _Hesiod_, Water; which, settling first, became
+Slime, and then condens'd into solid Earth. And the same Opinion about
+the Generation of Slime seems to have been entertain'd by _Orpheus_,
+out of whom one of the Antients[7] cites this Testimony,
+
+     [Greek: Ek tou hydatos ilui katiste.]
+
+     _Of Water Slime was made._
+
+[Footnote 5: De Natura Deorum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Argonaut. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Athenagoras.]
+
+It seems also by what is delivered in _Strabo_[8] out of another
+Author, concerning the _Indians_, That they likewise held that all
+things had differing Beginnings, but that of which the World was made,
+was Water. And the like Opinion has been by some of the Antients
+ascrib'd to the _Phoenicians_, from whom _Thales_ himself is
+conceiv'd to have borrow'd it; as probably the Greeks did much of
+their Theologie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philosophy too;
+since the Devising of the Atomical _Hypothesis_ commonly ascrib'd to
+_Lucippus_ and his Disciple _Democritus_, is by Learned Men attributed
+to one _Moschus_ a _Phoenician_. And possibly the Opinion is yet
+antienter than so; For 'tis known that the _Phoenicians_ borrow'd
+most of their Learning from the _Hebrews_. And among those that
+acknowledge the Books of _Moses_, many have been inclin'd to think
+Water to have been the Primitive and Universal Matter, by perusing the
+Beginning of _Genesis_, where the Waters seem to be mention'd as the
+Material Cause, not only of Sublunary Compounded Bodies, but of all
+those that make up the Universe; whose Component Parts did orderly,
+as it were, emerge out of that vast Abysse, by the Operation of the
+Spirit of God, who is said to have been moving Himself as hatching
+Females do (as the Original [Hebrew: merachephet], _Meracephet_[9] is
+said to Import, and as it seems to signifie in one of the two other
+places, wherein alone I have met with it in the Hebrew Bible)[10] upon
+the Face of the Waters; which being, as may be suppos'd, Divinely
+Impregnated with the seeds of all things, were by that productive
+Incubation qualify'd to produce them. But you, I presume, Expect that
+I should Discourse of this Matter like a Naturalist, not a Philologer.
+Wherefore I shall add, to Countenance _Helmont's_ Opinion, That
+whereas he gives not, that I remember, any Instance of any Mineral
+Body, nor scarce of any Animal, generated of Water, a French Chymist,
+_Monsieur de Rochas_, has presented his Readers an Experiment, which
+if it were punctually such as he has deliver'd it, is very Notable. He
+then, Discoursing of the Generation of things according to certain
+Chymical and Metaphorical Notions (which I confess are not to me
+Intelligible) sets down, among divers Speculations not pertinent to
+our Subject, the following Narrative, which I shall repeat to you the
+sence of in English, with as little variation from the Literal sence
+of the French words, as my memory will enable me. _Having_ (sayes he)
+_discern'd such great Wonders by the Natural Operation 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_ (whereof he had spoken
+before;) _and with a Heat Artificial, Continual and Proportionate, I
+prepar'd and dispos'd it by the above mention'd Graduations of
+Coagulation, 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 Minerals, for that is reserv'd for
+another Occasion: but the Animals did Move of themselves, Eat,
+&c.--and by the true Anatomie I made of them, I found that they were
+compos'd of much Sulphur, little Mercury, and less Salt.--The Minerals
+began to grow and encrease by converting into their own Nature one
+part of the Earth thereunto dispos'd; they were solid and heavy. And
+by this truly Demonstrative Science, namely Chymistry, I found that
+they were compos'd of much Salt, little Sulphur, and less Mercury._
+
+[Footnote 8: Universarum rerum primordia diverta esse, faciendi autem
+mundi initium aquam. Strabo. Geograp. lib. 15. circa medium.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Deuter. 32. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Jerem. 23. 9.]
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_) I have some Suspitions concerning this strange
+Relation, which make me unwilling to Declare an Opinion of it, unless
+I were satisfied concerning divers Material Circumstances that our
+Author has left unmentioned; though as for the Generation of Living
+Creatures, both Vegetable and Sensitive, it needs not seem Incredible,
+since we finde that our common water (which indeed is often
+Impregnated with Variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) being
+long kept in a quiet place will putrifie and stink, and then perhaps
+too produce Moss and little Worms, or other Insects, according to the
+nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. I must likewise desire
+you to take Notice, that as _Helmont_ gives us no Instance of the
+Production of Minerals out of Water, so the main Argument that he
+employ's to prove that they and other Bodies may be resolv'd into
+water, is drawn from the Operations of his _Alkahest_, and
+consequently cannot be satisfactorily Examin'd by You and Me.
+
+Yet certainly (sayes _Eleutherius_) You cannot but have somewhat
+wonder'd as well as I, to observe how great a share of Water goes to
+the making up of Divers Bodies, whose Disguises promise nothing neere
+so much. The Distillation of Eeles, though it yielded me some Oyle,
+and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, besides the _Caput mortuum_, yet were
+all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (and
+in which at first they boyl'd as in a Pot of Water) that they seem'd
+to have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewise
+strangely abound in Vipers, though they are esteem'd very hot in
+Operation, and will in a Convenient Aire survive some dayes the loss
+of their Heads and Hearts, so vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloud
+it self as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as 'tis reputed, does
+so abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Distilling some of it on
+purpose to try the Experiment (as I had formerly done in Deers Bloud)
+out of about seven Ounces and a half of pure Bloud we drew neere six
+Ounces of Phlegm, before any of the more operative Principles began
+to arise, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to satisfie my
+self that some of these Animall Phlegms were void enough of Spirit to
+deserve that Name, I would not content my self to taste them only, but
+fruitlesly 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 discover'd it self by making an Ebullition with the
+affused Liquor. And now I mention Corrosive Spirits, I am minded to
+Informe you, That though they seem to be nothing else but Fluid Salts,
+yet they abound in Water, as you may Observe, if either you Entangle,
+and so Fix their Saline Part, by making them Corrode some idoneous
+Body, or else if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have very
+manifestly Observ'd in the making a Medecine somewhat like _Helmont's
+Balsamus Samech_, with Distill'd Vinager instead of Spirit of Wine,
+wherewith he prepares it: For you would scarce Beleeve (what I have
+lately Observ'd) that of that acid Spirit, the Salt of Tartar, from
+which it is Distill'd, will by mortifying and retaining the acid Salt
+turn into worthless Phlegm neere twenty times its weight, before it be
+so fully Impregnated as to rob no more Distill'd Vinager of its Salt.
+And though Spirit of Wine Exquisitely rectify'd seem of all Liquors to
+be the most free from Water, it being so Igneous that it will Flame
+all away without leaving the least Drop behinde it, yet even this
+Fiery Liquor is by _Helmont_ not improbably affirm'd, in case what he
+relates be True, to be Materially Water, under a Sulphureous Disguise:
+For, according to him, in the making that excellent Medecine,
+_Paracelsus_ his _Balsamus Samech_, (which is nothing but _Sal
+Tartari_ dulcify'd by Distilling from it Spirit of Wine till the Salt
+be sufficiently glutted with its Sulphur, and suffer [Errata: and till
+it suffer] the Liquor to be drawn off, as strong as it was pour'd on)
+when the Salt of Tartar from which it is Distill'd hath retain'd, or
+depriv'd it of the Sulphureous parts of the Spirit of Wine, the rest,
+which is incomparably the greater part of the Liquor, will remigrate
+into Phlegm. I added that Clause [_In case what he Relates be True_]
+because I have not as yet sufficiently try'd it my self. But not only
+something of Experiment keeps me from thinking it, as many Chymists
+do, absurd, (though I have, as well as they, in vain try'd it with
+ordinary Salt of Tartar;) but besides that _Helmont_ often Relates it,
+and draws Consequences from it; A Person noted for his Sobernesse and
+Skill in Spagyrical Preparations, having been askt by me, Whether the
+Experiment might not be made to succeed, if the Salt and Spirit were
+prepar'd according to a way suitable to my Principles, he affirm'd to
+me, that he had that way I propos'd made _Helmont's_ Experiment
+succeed very well, without adding any thing to the Salt and Spirit.
+But our way is neither short nor Easie.
+
+I have indeed (sayes _Carneades_) sometimes wonder'd to see how much
+Phlegme may be obtain'd from Bodies by the Fire. But concerning that
+Phlegme I may anon have Occasion to note something, which I therefore
+shall not now anticipate. But to return to the Opinion of _Thales_,
+and of _Helmont_, I consider, that supposing the _Alkahest_ could
+reduce all Bodies into water, yet whether that water, because insipid,
+must be Elementary, may not groundlesly be doubted; For I remember
+the Candid and Eloquent _Petrus Laurembergius_ in his Notes upon
+_Sala's_ Aphorismes affirmes, that he saw an insipid _Menstruum_ that
+was a powerfull Dissolvent, and (if my Memory do not much mis-informe
+me) could dissolve Gold. And the water which may be Drawn from
+Quicksilver without Addition, though it be almost Tastless, You will I
+believe think of a differing Nature from simple Water, especially if
+you Digest in it Appropriated Mineralls. To which I shall add but
+this, that this Consideration may be further extended. For I see no
+Necessity to conceive that the Water mention'd in the Beginning of
+_Genesis_, as the Universal Matter, was simple and Elementary Water;
+since though we should Suppose it to have been an Agitated Congeries
+or Heap consisting of a great Variety of Seminal Principles and
+Rudiments, and of other Corpuscles fit to be subdu'd and Fashion'd by
+them, it might yet be a Body Fluid like Water, in case the Corpuscles
+it was made up of, were by their Creator made small enough, and put
+into such an actuall Motion as might make them Glide along one
+another. And as we now say, the Sea consists of Water, notwithstanding
+[Errata: (notwithstanding] the Saline, Terrestrial, and other Bodies
+mingl'd with it,) such a Liquor may well enough be called Water,
+because that was the greatest of the known Bodies whereunto it was
+like; Though, that a Body may be Fluid enough to appear a Liquor, and
+yet contain Corpuscles of a very differing Nature, You will easily
+believe, if You but expose a good Quantity of Vitriol in a strong
+Vessel to a Competent Fire. For although it contains both Aqueous,
+Earthy, Saline, Sulphureous, and Metalline Corpuscles, yet the whole
+Mass will at first be Fluid like water, and boyle like a seething pot.
+
+I might easily (Continues _Carneades_) enlarge my self on such
+Considerations, if I were Now Oblig'd to give You my Judgment of the
+_Thalesian_, and _Helmontian_, _Hypothesis_. But Whether or no we
+conclude that all things were at first Generated of Water, I may
+Deduce from what I have try'd Concerning the Growth of Vegetables,
+nourish'd with water, all that I now propos'd to my Self or need at
+present to prove, namely that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and ev'n Oyl
+(though that be thought of all Bodies the most opposite to Water) may
+be produc'd out of Water; and consequently that a Chymical Principle
+as well as a Peripatetick Element, may (in some cases) be Generated
+anew, or obtain'd from such a parcel of Matter as was not endow'd with
+the form of such a principle or Element before.
+
+And having thus, _Eleutherius_, Evinc'd that 'tis possible that such
+Substances as those that Chymists are wont to call their _Tria Prima_,
+may be Generated, anew: I must next Endeavour to make it Probable,
+that the Operation of the Fire does Actually (sometimes) not only
+divide Compounded Bodies into smal Parts, but Compound those Parts
+after a new Manner; whence Consequently, for ought we Know, there may
+Emerge as well Saline and Sulphureous Substances, as Bodies of other
+Textures. And perhaps it will assist us in our Enquiry after the
+Effects of the Operations of the Fire upon other Bodies, to Consider a
+little, what it does to those Mixtures which being Productions of the
+Art of Man, We best know the Composition of. You may then be pleas'd
+to take Notice that though Sope is made up by the Sope-Boylers of Oyle
+or Grease, and Salt, and Water Diligently Incorporated together, yet
+if You expose the Mass they Constitute to a Graduall Fire in a Retort,
+You shall then indeed make a Separation, but not of the same
+Substances that were United into Sope, but of others of a Distant and
+yet not an Elementary Nature, and especially of an Oyle very sharp and
+Faetid, and of a very Differing Quality from that which was Employ'd to
+make the Sope: fo [Errata: so] if you Mingle in a due Proportion, _Sal
+Armoniack_ with Quick-Lime, and Distill them by Degrees of Fire, You
+shall not Divide the _Sal Armoniack_ from the Quick-Lime, though the
+one be a Volatile, and the other a Fix'd Substance, but that which
+will ascend will be a Spirit much more Fugitive, Penetrant, and
+stinking, then _Sal Armoniack_; and there will remain with the
+Quick-Lime all or very near all the Sea Salt that concurr'd to make up
+the _Sal Armoniack_; concerning which Sea Salt I shall, to satisfie
+You how well it was United to the Lime, informe You, that I have by
+making the Fire at length very Vehement, caus'd both the Ingredients
+to melt in the Retort it self into one Mass and such Masses are apt to
+Relent in the Moist Air. If it be here Objected, that these Instances
+are taken from factitious Concretes which are more Compounded then
+those which Nature produces; I shall reply, that besides that I have
+Mention'd them as much to Illustrate what I propos'd, as to prove it,
+it will be Difficult to Evince that Nature her self does not make
+Decompound Bodies, I mean mingle together such mixt Bodies as are
+already Compounded of Elementary, or rather of more simple ones. For
+Vitriol (for Instance) though I have sometimes taken it out of
+Minerall Earths, where Nature had without any assistance of Art
+prepar'd it to my Hand, is really, though Chymists are pleas'd to
+reckon it among Salts, a De-compounded Body Consisting (as I shall
+have occasion to declare anon) of a Terrestriall Substance, of a
+Metal, and also of at least one Saline Body, of a peculiar and not
+Elementary Nature. And we see also in Animals, that their blood may
+be compos'd of Divers very Differing Mixt Bodies, since we find it
+observ'd that divers Sea-Fowle tast rank of the Fish on which they
+ordinarily feed; and _Hipocrates_ himself Observes, that a Child may
+be purg'd by the Milke of the Nurse, if she have taken _Elaterium_;
+which argues that the purging Corpuscles of the Medicament Concurr to
+make up the Milke of the Nurse; and that white Liquor is generally by
+Physitians suppos'd to be but blanch'd and alter'd Blood. And I
+remember I have observ'd, not farr from the _Alps_, that at a certain
+time of the Year the Butter of that Country was very Offensive to
+strangers, by reason of the rank tast of a certain Herb, whereon the
+Cows were then wont plentifully to feed. But (proceeds _Carneades_) to
+give you Instances of another kind, to shew that things may be
+obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body that were not Pre-existent in
+it, let Me Remind You, that from many Vegetables there may without any
+Addition be Obtain'd Glass, a Body, which I presume You will not say
+was Pre-existent in it, but produc'd by the Fire. To which I shall
+add but this one Example more, namely that by a certain Artificial way
+of handling Quicksilver, You may without Addition separate from it at
+least a 5th. or 4th. part of a clear Liquor, which with an Ordinary
+Peripatetick would pass for Water, and which a Vulgar Chymist would
+not scruple to call Phlegme, and which, for ought I have yet seen or
+heard, is not reducible into Mercury again, and Consequently is more
+then a Disguise of it. Now besides that divers Chymists will not allow
+Mercury to have any or at least any Considerable Quantity of either of
+the Ignoble Ingredients, Earth and Water; Besides this, I say, the
+great Ponderousness of Quicksilver makes it very unlikely that it can
+have so much Water in it as may be thus obtain'd from it, since
+Mercury weighs 12 or 14 times as much as water of the same Bulk. Nay
+for a further Confirmation of this Argument, I will add this Strange
+Relation, that two Friends of mine, the one a Physitian, and the other
+a Mathematician, and both of them Persons of unsuspected Credit, have
+Solemnly assured me, that after many Tryals they made, to reduce
+Mercury into Water, in Order to a Philosophicall Work, upon Gold
+(which yet, by the way, I know prov'd Unsuccesfull) they did once by
+divers Cohobations reduce a pound of Quicksilver into almost a pound
+of Water, and this without the Addition of any other Substance, but
+only by pressing the Mercury by a Skillfully Manag'd Fire in purposely
+contriv'd Vessels. But of these Experiments our Friend (sayes
+_Carneades_, pointing at the Register of this Dialogue) will perhaps
+give You a more Particular Account then it is necessary for me to do:
+Since what I have now said may sufficiently evince, that the Fire may
+sometimes as well alter Bodies as divide them, and by it we may obtain
+from a Mixt Body what was not Pre-existent in it. And how are we sure
+that in no other Body what we call Phlegme is barely separated, not
+Produc'd by the Action of the Fire: Since so many other Mixt Bodies
+are of a much less Constant, and more alterable Nature, then Mercury,
+by many Tricks it is wont to put upon Chymists, and by the Experiments
+I told You of, about an hour since, Appears to be. But because I
+shall ere long have Occasion to resume into Consideration the Power of
+the Fire to produce new Concretes, I shall no longer insist on this
+Argument at present; only I must mind You, that if You will not
+dis-believe _Helmonts_ Relations, You must confess that the _Tria
+Prima_ are neither ingenerable nor incorruptible Substances; since by
+his _Alkahest_ some of them may be produc'd of Bodies that were before
+of another Denomination; and by the same powerfull _Menstruum_ all of
+them may be reduc'd into insipid Water.
+
+Here _Carneades_ was about to pass on to his Third Consideration, when
+_Eleutherius_ being desirous to hear what he could say to clear his
+second General Consideration from being repugnant to what he seem'd to
+think the true Theory of Mistion, prevented him by telling him, I
+somewhat wonder, _Carneades_, that You, who are in so many Points
+unsatisfied with the Peripatetick Opinion touching the Elements and
+Mixt Bodies, should also seem averse to that Notion touching the
+manner of Mistion, wherein the Chymists (though perhaps without
+knowing that they do so) agree with most of the Antient Philosophers
+that preceded _Aristotle_, and that for Reasons so considerable, that
+divers Modern Naturalists and Physitians, in other things unfavourable
+enough to the Spagyrists, do in this case side with them against the
+common Opinion of the Schools. If you should ask me (continues
+_Eleutherius_) what Reasons I mean? I should partly by the Writings of
+_Sennertus_ and other learned Men, and partly by my own Thoughts, be
+supply'd with more, then 'twere at present proper for me to Insist
+largely on. And therefore I shall mention only, and that briefly,
+three or four. Of these, I shall take the First from the state of the
+Controversie itself, and the genuine Notion of Mistion, which though
+much intricated by the Schoolmen, I take in short to be this,
+_Aristotle_, at least as many of his Interpreters expound him, and as
+indeed he Teaches in some places, where he professedly Dissents from
+the Antients, declares Mistion to be such a mutual Penetration, and
+perfect Union of the mingl'd Elements, that there is no Portion of the
+mixt Body, how Minute soever, which does not contain All, and Every
+of the Four Elements, or in which, if you please, all the Elements are
+not. And I remember, that he reprehends the Mistion taught by the
+Ancients, as too sleight or gross, for this Reason, that Bodies mixt
+according to their _Hypothesis_, though they appear so to humane Eyes,
+would not appear such to the acute Eyes of a _Lynx_, whose perfecter
+Sight would discerne the Elements, if they were no otherwise mingled,
+than as his Predecessors 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 almost unanimously hold, that in a
+compounded Bodie, though the _Miscibilia_, whether Elements,
+Principles, or whatever they pleas'd to call them, were associated in
+such small Parts, and with so much Exactness, that there was no
+sensible Part of the Mass but seem'd to be of the same Nature with the
+rest, and with the whole; Yet as to the Atomes, or other Insensible
+Parcels of Matter, whereof each of the _Miscibilia_ consisted, they
+retain'd each of them its own Nature, being but by Apposition or
+_Juxta_-Position united with the rest into one Bodie. So that
+although by virtue of this composition the mixt Body did perhaps
+obtain Divers new Qualities, yet still the Ingredients that Compounded
+it, retaining their own Nature, were by the Destruction of the
+_Compositum_ separable from each other, the minute Parts disingag'd
+from those of a differing Nature, and associated with those of their
+own sort returning to be again, Fire, Earth, or Water, as they were
+before they chanc'd to be Ingredients of that _Compositum_. This may
+be explain'd (Continues _Eleutherius_,) 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 resulting Colour, that is
+gray, yet each of the white and black threds that compose it, remains
+what it was before, as would appear if the threds were pull'd asunder,
+and sorted each Colour by it self. This (pursues _Eleutherius_) being,
+as I understand it, the State of the Controversie, and the
+_Aristotelians_ after their Master Commonly Defining, that Mistion is
+_Miscibilium alteratorum Unio_, that seems to comport much better
+with the Opinion of the Chymists, then with that of their Adversaries,
+since according to that as the newly mention'd Example declares, there
+is but a _Juxta_-position of separable Corpuscles, retaining each its
+own Nature, whereas according to the _Aristotelians_, when what they
+are pleas'd to call a mixt Body results from the Concourse of the
+Elements, the _Miscibilia_ cannot so properly be said to be Alter'd,
+as Destroy'd, since there is no Part in the mixt Body, how small
+soever, that can be call'd either Fir [Transcriber's Note: Fire], or
+Air, or Water, or Earth.
+
+Nor indeed can I well understand, how Bodies can be mingl'd other
+wayes then as I have declar'd, or at least how they can be mingl'd, as
+our Peripateticks would have it. For whereas _Aristotle_ tells us,
+that if a Drop of Wine be put into ten thousand Measures of Water, the
+Wine being Overpower'd by so Vast a Quantity of Water will be turn'd
+into it, he speaks to my Apprehension, very improbably; For though One
+should add to that Quantity of Water as many Drops of Wine as would a
+Thousand times exceed it all, yet by his Rule the whole Liquor should
+not be a _Crama_, a Mixture of Wine and Water, wherein the Wine would
+be Predominant, but Water only; Since the Wine being added but by a
+Drop at a time would still Fall into nothing but Water, and
+Consequently would be turn'd into it. And if this would hold in Metals
+too, 'twere a rare secret for Goldsmiths, and Refiners; For by melting
+a Mass of Gold, or Silver, and by but casting into it Lead or
+Antimony, Grain after Grain, they might at pleasure, within a
+reasonable Compass of time, turn what Quantity they desire, of the
+Ignoble into the Noble Metalls. And indeed since a Pint of wine, and a
+pint of water, amount to about a Quart of Liquor, it seems manifest to
+sense, that these Bodies doe not Totally Penetrate one another, as one
+would have it; but that each retains its own Dimensions; and
+Consequently, that they are by being Mingl'd only divided into minute
+Bodies, that do but touch one another with their Surfaces, as do the
+Grains, of Wheat, Rye, Barley, &c. in a heap of severall sorts of
+Corn: And unless we say, that as when one measure of wheat, for
+Instance, is Blended with a hundred measures of Barley, there happens
+only a _Juxta_-position 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
+Apposition of so many Vinous Corpuscles to a Correspondent Number of
+Aqueous ones; Unless I say this be said, I see not how that Absurdity
+will be avoyded, whereunto the Stoical Notion of mistion (namely by
+[Greek: synchysis] [Errata: [Greek: Synchysis]], or Confusion) was
+Liable, according to which the least Body may be co-extended with the
+greatest: Since in a mixt Body wherein before the Elements were
+Mingl'd there was, for Instance, but one pound of water to ten
+thousand of Earth, yet according to them there must not be the least
+part of that Compound, that Consisted not as well of Earth, as water.
+But I insist, Perhaps, too long (sayes _Eleutherius_) upon the proofs
+afforded me by the Nature of Mistion: Wherefore I will but name Two or
+Three other Arguments; whereof the first shall be, that according to
+_Aristotle_ himself, the motion of a mixt Body followes the Nature of
+the Predominant Element, as those wherein the Earth prevails, tend
+towards the Centre of heavy Bodies. And since many things make it
+Evident, that in divers Mixt Bodies the Elementary Qualities are as
+well Active, though not altogether so much so as in the Elements
+themselves, it seems not reasonable to deny the actual Existence of
+the Elements in those Bodies wherein they Operate.
+
+To which I shall add this Convincing Argument, that Experience
+manifests, and _Aristotle_ Confesses it, that the _Miscibilia_ may be
+again separated from a mixt Body, as is Obvious in the Chymical
+Resolutions of Plants and Animalls, which could not be unless they did
+actually retain their formes in it: For since, according to
+_Aristotle_, and I think according to truth, there is but one common
+Mass of all things, which he has been pleas'd to call _Materia Prima_;
+And since tis not therefore the Matter but the Forme that Constitutes
+and Discriminates Things, to say that the Elements remain not in a
+Mixt Body, according to their Formes, but according to their Matter,
+is not to say that they remain there at all; Since although those
+Portions of Matter were Earth and water, &c. before they concurr'd,
+yet the resulting Body being once Constituted, may as well be said to
+be simple as any of the Elements, the Matter being confessedly of the
+same Nature in all Bodies, and the Elementary Formes being according
+to this _Hypothesis_ perish'd and abolish'd.
+
+And lastly, and if we will Consult Chymical Experiments, we shall find
+the Advantages of the Chymical Doctrine above the Peripatetick Title
+little less then Palpable. For in that Operation that Refiners call
+Quartation, which they employ to purifie Gold, although three parts of
+Silver be so exquisitely mingl'd by Fusion with a fourth Part of Gold
+(whence the Operation is Denominated) that the resulting Mass acquires
+severall new Qualities, by virtue of the Composition, and that there
+is scarce any sensible part of it that is not Compos'd of both the
+metalls; Yet if You cast this mixture into _Aqua Fortis_, the Silver
+will be dissolv'd in the _Menstruum_, 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 such a Metal as it was before, which shews: that it
+retain'd its Nature, notwithstanding its being mixt _per Minima_ with
+the other: We likewise see, 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 easily and perfectly separate them again. And that
+which I would have you peculiarly Consider on this Occasion is, that
+not only in Chymicall Anatomies there is a Separation made of the
+Elementary Ingredients, but that some Mixt Bodies afford a very much
+greater Quantity of this or that Element or Principle than of another;
+as we see, that Turpentine and Amber yield much more Oyl and Sulphur
+than they do Water, whereas Wine, which is confess'd to be a perfectly
+mixt Bodie, yields but a little Inflamable Spirit, or Sulphur, and not
+much more Earth; but affords a vast proportion of Phlegm or water:
+which could not be, if as the Peripateticks suppose, every, even of
+the minutest Particles, were of the same nature with the whole, and
+consequently did contain both Earth and Water, and Aire, and Fire;
+Wherefore as to what _Aristotle_ principally, and almost only Objects,
+that unless his Opinion be admitted, there would be no true and
+perfect Mistion, but onely Aggregates or Heaps of contiguous
+Corpuscles, which, though the Eye of Man cannot discerne, yet the Eye
+of a _Lynx_ might perceive not to be of the same Nature with one
+another and with their _Totum_, as the Nature of Mistion requires, if
+he do not beg the Question, and make Mistion to consist in what other
+Naturalists deny to be requisite to it, yet He at least objects That
+as a great Inconvenience which I cannot take for such, till he have
+brought as Considerable Arguments as I have propos'd to prove the
+contrary, to evince that Nature makes other Mistions than such as I
+have allowed, wherein the _Miscibilia_ are reduc'd into minute Parts,
+and United as farr as sense can discerne: which if You will not grant
+to be sufficient for a true Mistion, he must have the same Quarrel
+with Nature her self, as with his Adversaries.
+
+Wherefore (Continues _Eleutherius_) I cannot but somewhat marvail that
+_Carneades_ should oppose the Doctrine of the Chymist in a Particular,
+wherein they do as well agree with his old Mistress, Nature, as
+dissent from his old Adversary, _Aristotle_.
+
+I must not (replies _Carneades_) engage my self at present to examine
+thorowly the Controversies concerning Mistion: And if there were no
+third thing, but that I were reduc'd to embrace absolutely and
+unreservedly either the Opinion of _Aristotle_, or that of the
+Philosophers that went before him, I should look upon the latter,
+which the Chymists have adopted, as the more defensible Opinion: But
+because differing in the Opinions about the Elements from both
+Parties, I think I can take a middle Course, and Discourse to you of
+Mistion after a way that does neither perfectly agree, nor perfectly
+disagree with either, as I will not peremptorily define, whether there
+be not Cases wherein some _Phaenomena_ of Mistion seem to favour the
+Opinion that the Chymists Patrons borrow'd of the Antients, I shall
+only endeavour to shew You that there are some cases which may keep
+the Doubt, which makes up my second General Consideration from being
+unreasonable.
+
+I shall then freely acknowledge to You (sayes _Carneades_) that I am
+not over well satisfi'd with the Doctrine that is ascribed to
+_Aristotle_, concerning Mistion, especially since it teaches that the
+four Elements may again be separated from the mixt Body; whereas if
+they continu'd not in it, it would not be so much a Separation as a
+Production. And I think the Ancient Philosophers that Preceded
+_Aristotle_, and Chymists who have since receiv'd the same Opinion, do
+speak of this matter more intelligibly, if not more probably, then the
+Peripateticks: but though they speak Congruously enough, to their
+believing, that there are a certain Number of Primogeneal Bodies, by
+whose Concourse all those we call Mixts are Generated, and which in
+the Destruction of mixt Bodies do barely part company, and recede from
+one another, just such as they were when they came together; yet I,
+who meet with very few Opinions that I can entirely Acquiesce in,
+must confess to You that I am inclin'd to differ not only from the
+_Aristotelians_, but from the old Philosophers and the Chymists, about
+the Nature of Mistion: And if You will give me leave, I shall Briefly
+propose to you my present Notion of it, provided you will look upon
+it, not so much as an Assertion as an _Hypothesis_; in talking of
+which I do not now pretend to propose and debate the whole Doctrine of
+Mistion, but to shew that 'tis not Improbable, that sometimes mingl'd
+substances may be so strictly united, that it doth not by the usuall
+Operations of the Fire, by which Chymists are wont to suppose
+themselves to have made the _Analyses_ of mixt Bodies, sufficiently
+appear, that in such Bodies the _Miscibilia_ that concurr'd to make
+them up do each of them retain its own peculiar Nature: and by the
+_Spagyrists_ Fires may be more easily extricated and Recover'd, than
+Alter'd, either by a Change of Texture in the Parts of the same
+Ingredient, or by an Association with some parts of another Ingredient
+more strict than was that of the parts of this or that _Miscibile_
+among themselves. At these words _Eleu._ having press'd him to do
+what he propos'd, and promis'd to do what he desir'd;
+
+I consider then (resumes _Carneades_) that, not to mention those
+improper Kinds of mistion, wherein _Homogeneous_ Bodies are Joyn'd, as
+when Water is mingl'd with water, or two Vessels full of the same kind
+of Wine with one another, the mistion I am now to Discourse of seems,
+Generally speaking, to be but an Union _per Minima_ of any two or more
+Bodies of differing Denominations; as when Ashes and Sand are
+Colliquated into Glass or Antimony, and Iron into _Regulus Martis_, or
+Wine and Water are mingl'd, and Sugar is dissolv'd in the Mixture. Now
+in this general notion of Mistion it does not appear clearly
+comprehended, that the _Miscibilia_ or Ingredients do in their small
+Parts so retain their Nature and remain distinct in the Compound, that
+they may thence by the Fire be again taken asunder: For though I deny
+not that in some Mistions of certain permanent Bodies this Recovery of
+the same Ingredients may be made, yet I am not convinc'd that it will
+hold in all or even in most, or that it is necessarily deducible from
+Chymicall Experiments, and the true Notion of Mistion. To explain
+this a little, I assume, that Bodies may be mingl'd, and that very
+durably, that are not Elementary or resolv'd [Errata: nor have been
+resolved] into Elements or Principles that they may be mingl'd; as is
+evident in the _Regulus_ of Colliquated Antimony, and Iron newly
+mention'd; and in Gold Coyne, which lasts so many ages; wherein
+generally the Gold is alloy'd by the mixture of a quantity, greater or
+lesser, (in our Mints they use about a 12th. part) of either silver,
+or Copper, or both. Next, I consider, that there being but one
+Universal matter of things, as 'tis known that the _Aristotelians_
+themselves acknowledge, who call it _Materia Prima_ (about which
+nevertheless I like not all their Opinions,) the Portions of this
+matter seem to differ from One Another, but in certain Qualities or
+Accidents, fewer or more; upon whose Account the Corporeal Substance
+they belong to receives its Denomination, and is referr'd to this or
+that particular sort of Bodies; so that if it come to lose, or be
+depriv'd of those Qualities, though it ceases not to be a body, yet it
+ceases from being that kind of Body as a Plant, or Animal; or Red,
+Green, Sweet, Sowre, or the like. I consider that it very often
+happens that the small parts of Bodies cohere together but by
+immediate Contact and Rest; and that however, there are few Bodies
+whose minute Parts stick so close together, to what cause soever their
+Combination be ascrib'd, but that it is possible to meet with some
+other Body, whose small Parts may get between them, and so dis-joyn
+them; or may be fitted to cohere more strongly with some of them, then
+those some do with the rest; or at least may be combin'd so closely
+with them, as that neither the Fire, nor the other usual Instruments
+of Chymical Anatomies will separate them. These things being promis'd,
+I will not peremptorily deny, but that there may be some Clusters of
+Particles, wherein the Particles are so minute, and the Coherence so
+strict, or both, that when Bodies of Differing Denominations, and
+consisting of such durable Clusters, happen to be mingl'd, though the
+Compound Body made up of them may be very Differing from either of
+the Ingredients, yet each of the little Masses or Clusters may so
+retain its own Nature, as to be again separable, such 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 Experiment will not succeed) _Aqua Fortis_ will dissolve the
+Silver, and leave the Gold untoucht; by which means, as you lately
+noted, both the Metalls may be recover'd from the mixed Mass. But
+(Continues _Carneades_) there are other Clusters wherein the Particles
+stick not so close together, but that they may meet with Corpuscles of
+another Denomination, which are dispos'd to be more closely United
+with some of them, then they were among themselves. And in such case,
+two thus combining Corpuscles losing that Shape, or Size, or Motion,
+or other Accident, upon whose Account they were endow'd with such a
+Determinate Quality or Nature, each of them really ceases to be a
+Corpuscle of the same Denomination it was before; and from the
+Coalition of these there may emerge a new Body, as really one, as
+either of the Corpuscles was before they were mingl'd, or, if you
+please, Confounded: Since this Concretion is really endow'd with its
+own Distinct qualities, and can no more by the Fire, or any other
+known way of _Analysis_, be divided again into the Corpuscles that at
+first concurr'd to make it, than either of them could by the same
+means be subdivided into other Particles. But (sayes _Eleutherius_) to
+make this more intelligible by particular examples; If you dissolve
+Copper in _Aqua Fortis_, or Spirit of Nitre, (for I remember not which
+I us'd, nor do I think it much Material) You may by Crystalizing the
+Solution Obtain a goodly Vitriol; which though by Virtue of the
+Composition it have manifestly diverse Qualities, not to be met with
+in either of the Ingredients, yet it seems that the Nitrous Spirits,
+or at least many of them, may in this Compounded Mass retain their
+former Nature; for having for tryal sake Distill'd this Vitrioll
+Spirit, there came over store of Red Fumes, which by that Colour, by
+their peculiar stinke, and by their Sourness, manifested themselves to
+be, Nitrous Spirits; and that the remaining Calx continu'd Copper, I
+suppose you'l easily beleeve. But if you dissolve _Minium_, which is
+but Lead Powder'd by the Fire, in good Spirit of Vinager, and
+Crystalize the Solution, you shall not only have a Saccharine Salt
+exceedingly differing from both its Ingredients; but the Union of some
+Parts of the _Menstruum_ with some of those of the Metal is so strict,
+that the Spirit of Vinager seems to be, as such, destroy'd, since the
+Saline Corpuscles have quite lost that acidity, upon whose Account the
+Liquor was call'd Spirit of Vinager; nor can any such Acid Parts as
+were put to the _Minium_ be Separated by any known way from the
+_Saccharum Saturni_ resulting from them both; for not only there is no
+Sowrness at all, but an admirable Sweetness to be tasted in the
+Concretion; and not only I found not that Spirit of Wine, which
+otherwise will immediately hiss when mingl'd with strong Spirit of
+Vinager, would hiss being pour'd upon _Saccharum Saturni_, wherein yet
+the Acid Salt of Vinager, did it Survive, may seem to be concentrated;
+but upon the Distillation of _Saccharum Saturni_ by its Self I found
+indeed a Liquor very Penetrant, but not at all Acid, and differing as
+well in smell and other Qualities, as in tast, from the Spirit of
+Vinager; which likewise seem'd to have left some of its Parts very
+firmly united to the _Caput Mortuum_, which though of a Leaden Nature
+was in smell, Colour, &c. differing from _Minium_; which brings into
+my mind, that though two Powders, the one Blew, and the other Yellow,
+may appear a Green mixture, without either of them losing its own
+Colour, as a good Microscope has sometimes inform'd me; yet having
+mingl'd _Minium_ and _Sal Armoniack_ in a requisite Proportion, and
+expos'd them in a Glass Vessel to the Fire, the whole Mass became
+White, and the Red Corpuscles were destroy'd; for though the Calcin'd
+Lead was separable from the Salt, yet you'l easily beleeve it did not
+part from it in the Forme of a Red Powder, such as was the _Minium_,
+when it was put to the _Sal Armoniack_. I leave it also to be
+consider'd, whether in Blood, and divers other Bodies, it be probable,
+that each of the Corpuscles that concurr to make a Compound Body doth,
+though some of them in some Cases may, retain its own Nature in it,
+so that Chymsts [Transcriber's Note: Chymists] may Extricate each sort
+of them from all the others, wherewith it concurr'd to make a Body of
+one Denomination.
+
+I know there may be a Distinction betwixt Matter _Immanent_, when the
+material Parts remain and retain their own Nature in the things
+materiated, as some of the Schoolmen speak, (in which sence Wood,
+Stones and Lime are the matter of a House,) and _Transient_, which in
+the materiated thing is so alter'd, as to receive a new Forme, without
+being capable of re-admitting again the Old. In which sence the
+Friends of this Distinction say, that _Chyle_ is the matter of Blood,
+and Blood that of a Humane Body, of all whose Parts 'tis presum'd to
+be the Aliment. I know also that it may be said, that of material
+Principles, some are _common_ to all mixt Bodies, as _Aristotles_ four
+Elements, or the Chymists _Tria Prima_; others _Peculiar_, which
+belong to this or that sort of Bodies; as Butter and a kind of whey
+may be said to be the Proper Principles of Cream: and I deny not, but
+that these Distinctions may in some Cases be of Use; but partly by
+what I have said already, and partly by what I am to say, You may
+easily enough guess in what sence I admit them, and discerne that in
+such a sence they will either illustrate some of my Opinions, or at
+least will not overthrow any of them.
+
+To prosecute then what I was saying before, I will add to this
+purpose, That since the Major part of Chymists Credit, what those they
+call Philosophers affirme of their Stone, I may represent to them,
+that though when Common Gold and Lead are mingled Together, the Lead
+may be sever'd almost un-alter'd from the Gold; yet if instead of Gold
+a _Tantillum_ of the Red _Elixir_ be mingled with the Saturn, their
+Union will be so indissoluble in the perfect Gold that will be
+produc'd by it, that there is no known, nor perhaps no possible way of
+separating the diffus'd _Elixir_ from the fixed Lead, but they both
+Constitute a most permanent Body, wherein the Saturne seems to have
+quite lost its Properties that made it be call'd Lead, and to have
+been rather transmuted by the _Elixir_, then barely associated to it.
+So that it seems not alwayes necessary, that the Bodies that are put
+together _per minima_, should each retain its own Nature; So as when
+the Mass it Self is dissipated by the Fire, to be more dispos'd to
+re-appear in its Pristine Forme, then in any new one, which by a
+stricter association of its Parts with those of some of the other
+Ingredients of the _Compositum_, then with one another, it may have
+acquired.
+
+And if it be objected, that unless the _Hypothesis_ I oppose be
+admitted, in such Cases as I have proposed there would not be an Union
+but a Destruction of mingled Bodies, which seems all one as to say,
+that of such Bodies there is no mistion at all; I answer, that
+_though_ the Substances that are mingl'd remain, only their Accidents
+are Destroy'd, and _though_ we may with tollerable Congruity call them
+_Miscibilia_, because they are Distinct Bodies before they are put
+together, however afterwards they are so Confounded that I should
+rather call them Concretions, or Resulting Bodies, than mixt ones; and
+_though_, perhaps, some other and better Account may be propos'd, upon
+which the name of mistion may remain; yet if what I have said be
+thought Reason, I shall not wrangle about Words, though I think it
+fitter to alter a Terme of Art, then reject a new Truth, because it
+suits not with it. If it be also Objected that this Notion of mine,
+concerning mixtion, though it may be allow'd, when Bodies already
+Compounded are put to be mingl'd, yet it is not applicable to those
+mixtions that are immediately made of the Elements, or Principles
+themselves; I Answer in the first place, that I here Consider the
+Nature of mixtion somewhat more Generally, then the Chymists, who yet
+cannot deny that there are oftentimes Mixtures, and those very durable
+ones, made of Bodies that are not Elementary. And in the next place,
+that though it may be probably pretended that in those Mixtures that
+are made immediately of the Bodies that are call'd Principles or
+Elements, the mingl'd Ingredients may better retain their own Nature
+in the Compounded Mass, and be more easily separated from thence; yet,
+besides that it may be doubted, whether there be any such Primary
+Bodies, I see not why the reason I alleadg'd, of the destructibility
+of the Ingredients of Bodies in General, may not sometimes be
+Applicable to Salt Sulphur or Mercury; 'till it be shewn upon what
+account we are to believe them Priviledged. And however, (if you
+please but to recall to mind, to what purpose I told you at First, I
+meant to speak of Mistion at this Time) you will perhaps allow that
+what I have hitherto Discoursed about it may not only give some Light
+to the Nature of it in general (especially when I shall have an
+Opportunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that subject more fully)
+but may on some Occasions also be Serviceable to me in the Insuing
+Part of this Discourse.
+
+But, to look back Now to that part of our Discourse, whence this
+Excursion concerning Mistion has so long diverted us, though we there
+Deduc'd, from the differing Substances obtained from a Plant nourished
+only with Water, and from some other things, that it was not necessary
+that nature should alwaies compound a Body at first of all such
+differing bodies as the fire could afterwards make it afford; yet this
+is not all that may be collected from those Experiments. For from
+them there seems also Deducible something that Subverts an other
+Foundation of the Chymical Doctrine. For since that (as we have seen)
+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
+Primogeneal Bodies, and principles, since 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 perhaps seem so strange, if
+through pride, or negligence, We were not Wont to Overlook the Obvious
+and Familiar Workings of Nature; For if We consider what slight
+Qualities they are that serve to denominate one of the _Tria Prima_,
+We shall find that Nature do's frequently enough work as great
+Alterations in divers parcells of matter: For to be readily dissoluble
+in water, is enough to make the body that is so, passe for a Salt. And
+yet I see not why from a new shufling and Disposition of the Component
+Particles of a body, it should be much harder for Nature to compose a
+body dissoluble in Water, of a portion of Water that was not so
+before, then of the Liquid substance of an Egg, which will easily mix
+with Water, to produce by the bare warmth of a hatching Hen, Membrans,
+Feathers, Tendons, and other parts, that are not dissoluble in Water
+as that Liquid Substance was: Nor is the Hardness and Brittleness of
+Salt more difficult for Nature to introduce into such a yielding body
+as Water, then it is for her to make the Bones of a Chick out of the
+tender Substance of the Liquors of an Egg. But instead of prosecuting
+this consideration, as I easily might, I will proceed, as soon as I
+have taken notice of an objection that lies in my Way. For I easily
+foresee it will be alledged, that the above mentioned Examples are all
+taken from Plants, and Animals, in whom the Matter is Fashioned by the
+Plastick power of the seed, or something analogous thereunto. Whereas
+the Fire do's not act like any of the Seminal Principles, but
+destroyes them all, when they come within its Reach. But to this I
+shall need at present to make but this easy Answer, That whether it be
+a Seminal Principle, or any other which fashions that Matter after
+those various manners I have mentioned to You, yet 'tis Evident, that
+either by the Plastick principle Alone, or that and Heat Together, or
+by some Other cause capable to contex the matter, it is yet possible
+that the matter may be Anew contriv'd into such Bodies. And 'tis only
+for the Possibility of this that I am now contending.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Third Part._
+
+
+What I have hitherto Discours'd, _Eleutherius_, (sayes his Friend to
+Him) has, I presume, shew'n You, that a Considering Man may very well
+question the Truth of those very Suppositions which Chymists as well
+as Peripateticks, without proving, take for granted; and upon which
+Depends the Validity of the Inferences they draw from their
+Experiments. Wherefore having dispach't that, which though a Chymist
+Perhaps will not, yet I do, look upon as the most Important, as well
+as Difficult, part of my Task, it will now be Seasonable for me to
+proceed to the Consideration of the Experiments themselves, wherein
+they are wont so much to Triumph and Glory. And these will the rather
+deserve a serious Examination, because those that Alledge them are
+wont to do it with so much Confidence and Ostentation, that they have
+hitherto impos'd upon almost all Persons, without excepting
+Philosophers and Physitians themselves, who have read their Books, or
+heard them talk. For some learned Men have been content rather to
+beleeve what they so boldly Affirm, then be at the trouble and charge,
+to try whether or no it be True. Others again, who have Curiosity
+enough to Examine the Truth of what is Averr'd, want Skill and
+Opportunity to do what they Desire. And the Generality even of Learned
+Men, seeing the Chymists (not contenting themselves with the Schools
+to amuse the World with empty words) Actually Perform'd divers strange
+things, and, among those Resolve Compound Bodies into several
+Substances not known by former Philosophers to be contain'd in them:
+Men I say, seeing these Things, and Hearing with what Confidence
+Chymists Averr the Substances Obtain'd from Compound Bodies by the
+Fire to be the True Elements, or, (as they speak) Hypostaticall
+Principles of them, are forward to think it but Just as well as
+Modest, that according to the _Logicians_ Rule, the Skilfull _Artists_
+should be Credited in their own Art; Especially when those things
+whose Nature they so Confidently take upon them to teach others are
+not only Productions of their own Skill, but such as others Know not
+else what to make of.
+
+But though (Continues _Carneades_) the Chymists have been able upon
+some or other of the mention'd Acounts, not only to Delight but Amaze,
+and almost to bewitch even Learned Men; yet such as You and I, who are
+not unpractis'd in the Trade, must not suffer our Selves to be impos'd
+upon by hard Names, or bold Assertions; nor to be dazl'd by that Light
+which should but assist us to discern things the more clearly. It is
+one thing to be able to help Nature to produce things, and another
+thing to Understand well the Nature of the things produc'd. As we
+see, that many Persons that can beget Children, are for all that as
+Ignorant of the Number and Nature of the parts, especially the
+internal ones, that Constitute a Childs Body, as they that never were
+Parents. Nor do I Doubt, but you'l excuse me, if as I thank the
+Chymists for the things their _Analysis_ shews me, so I take the
+Liberty to consider how many, and what they are, without being
+astonish'd at them; as if, whosoever hath Skill enough to shew men
+some new thing of his own making, had the Right to make them believe
+whatsoever he pleases to tell them concerning it.
+
+Wherefore I will now proceed to my Third General Consideration, which
+is, That it does not appear, that _Three_ is precisely and Universally
+the Number of the Distinct Substances or Elements, whereinto mixt
+Bodies are resoluble by the Fire; I mean that 'tis not prov'd by
+Chymists, that all the Compound Bodies, which are granted to be
+perfectly mixt, are upon their Chymical _Analysis_ divisible each of
+them into just Three Distinct Substances, neither more nor less,
+which are wont to be lookt upon as Elementary, or may as well be
+reputed so as those that are so reputed. Which last Clause I subjoyne,
+to prevent your Objecting, that some of the Substances I may have
+occasion to mention by and by, are not perfectly Homogeneous, nor
+Consequently worthy of the name of Principles. For that which I am now
+to consider, is, into how many Differing Substances, that may
+plausibly pass for the Elementary Ingredients of a mix'd Body, it may
+be Analyz'd by the Fire; but whether each of these be un-compounded, I
+reserve to examine, when I shall come to the next General
+Consideration; where I hope to evince, that the Substances which the
+Chymists not only allow, but assert to be the Component Principles of
+the Body resolv'd into them, are not wont to be uncompounded.
+
+Now there are two Kind of Arguments (pursues _Carneades_) which may be
+brought to make my Third Proposition seem probable; one sort of them
+being of a more Speculative Nature, and the other drawn from
+Experience. To begin then with the first of these.
+
+But as _Carneades_ was going to do as he had said, _Eleutherius_
+interrupted him, by saying with a somewhat smiling countenance;
+
+If you have no mind I should think, that the Proverb, _That Good Wits
+have bad Memories_, is Rational and Applicable to You, You must not
+Forget now you are upon the Speculative Considerations, that may
+relate to the Number of the Elements; that your Self did not long
+since Deliver and Concede some Propositions in Favour of the Chymical
+Doctrine, which I may without disparagement to you think it uneasie,
+even for _Carneades_ to answer.
+
+I have not, replies he, Forgot the Concessions you mean; but I hope
+too, that you have not forgot neither with what Cautions they were
+made, when I had not yet assumed the Person I am now sustaining. But
+however, I shall to content You, so discourse of my Third general
+consideration, as to let You see, That I am not Unmindful of the
+things you would have me remember.
+
+To talk then again according to such principles as I then made use of,
+I shall represent, that if it be granted rational to suppose, as I
+then did, that the Elements consisted at first of certain small and
+primary Coalitions of the minute Particles of matter into Corpuscles
+very numerous, and very like each other, It will not be absurd to
+conceive, that such primary Clusters may be of far more sorts then
+three or five; and consequently, that we need not suppose, that in
+each of the compound Bodies we are treating of there should be found
+just three sorts of such primitive Coalitions, as we are speaking of.
+
+And if according to this Notion we allow a considerable number of
+differing Elements, I may add, that it seems very possible, that to
+the constitution of one sort of mixt Bodies two kinds of Elementary
+ones may suffice (as I lately Exemplify'd to you, in that most durable
+Concrete, Glass,) another sort of Mixts may be compos'd of three
+Elements, another of four, another of five, and another perhaps of
+many more. So that according to this Notion, there can be no
+determinate number assign'd, as that of the Elements; of all sorts of
+compound Bodies whatsoever, it being very probable that some Concretes
+consist of fewer, some of more Elements. Nay, it does not seem
+Impossible, according to these Principles, but that there may be two
+sorts of Mixts, whereof the one may not have any of all the same
+Elements as the other consists of; as we oftentimes see 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 diverse Electuaries, in which no
+Ingredient (except Sugar) is common to any two of them. I will not
+here debate whether there may not be a multitude of these Corpuscles,
+which by reason of their being primary and simple, might be called
+Elementary, if several sorts of them should convene to compose any
+Body, which are as yet free, and neither as yet contex'd and entangl'd
+with primary Corpuscles of other kinds, but remains liable to be
+subdu'd and fashion'd by Seminal Principles, or the like powerful and
+Transmuting Agent, by whom they may be so connected among themselves,
+or with the parts of one of the bodies, as to make the compound
+Bodies, whose Ingredients they are, resoluble into more, or other
+Elements then those that Chymists have hitherto taken notice of.
+
+To all which I may add, that since it appears, by what I observ'd to
+you of the permanency of Gold and Silver, that even Corpuscles that
+are not of an Elementary but compounded Nature, may be of so durable a
+Texture, as to remain indissoluble in the ordinary _Analysis_ that
+Chymists make of Bodies by the Fire; 'Tis not impossible but that,
+though there were but three Elements, yet there may be a greater
+number of Bodies, which the wonted wayes of Anatomy will not discover
+to be no Elementary Bodies.
+
+But, sayes _Carneades_, having thus far, in compliance to you, talk't
+conjecturally of the number of the Elements, 'tis now time to
+consider, not of how many Elements it is possible that Nature may
+compound mix'd Bodies, but (at least as farr as the ordinary
+Experiments of Chymists will informe us) of how many she doth make
+them up.
+
+I say then, that it does not by these sufficiently appear to me, that
+there is any one determinate number of Elements to be uniformly met
+with in all the several sorts of Bodies allow'd to be perfectly mixt.
+
+And for the more distinct proof of this Proposition, I shall in the
+first place Represent, That there are divers Bodies, which I could
+never see by fire divided into so many as three Elementary substances.
+I would fain (as I said lately to _Philoponus_) see that fixt and
+noble Metal we call Gold separated into Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: and
+if any man will submit to a competent forfeiture in case of failing, I
+shall willingly in case of prosperous successe pay both for the
+Materials and the charges of such an Experiment. 'Tis not, that after
+what I have try'd my self I dare peremptorily deny, that there may out
+of Gold be extracted a certain substance, which I cannot hinder
+Chymists from calling its Tincture or Sulphur; and which leaves the
+remaining Body depriv'd of its wonted colour. Nor am I sure, that
+there cannot be drawn out of the same Metal a real quick and running
+Mercury. But for the Salt of Gold, I never could either see it, or be
+satisfied that there was ever such a thing separated, _in rerum
+natura_, by the relation of any credible eye witnesse. And for the
+several Processes that Promise that effect, the materials that must be
+wrought upon are somewhat too pretious and costly to be wasted upon so
+groundlesse adventures, of which not only the successe is doubtful,
+but the very possibility is not yet demonstrated. Yet that which most
+deterres me from such tryalls, is not their chargeablenesse, but their
+unsatisfactorinesse, though they should succeed. For the Extraction of
+this golden Salt being in Chymists Processes prescribed to be effected
+by corrosive _Menstruums_, or the Intervention of other Saline Bodies,
+it will remain doubtful to a wary person, whether the Emergent Salt be
+that of the Gold it self; or of the Saline Bodies or Spirits employ'd
+to prepare it; For that such disguises of Metals do often impose upon
+Artists, I am sure _Eleutherius_ is not so much a stranger to
+Chymistry as to ignore. I would likewise willingly see the three
+principles separated from the pure sort of Virgin-Sand, from
+_Osteocolla_, from refined Silver, from Quicksilver, freed from its
+adventitious Sulphur, from _Venetian_ Talk [Transcriber's Note:
+Talck], which by long detention in an extreme _Reverberium_, I could
+but divide into smaller Particles, (not the constituent principles,)
+Nay, which, when I caused it to be kept, I know not how long, in a
+Glasse-house fire, came out in the Figure it's Lumps had when put in,
+though alter'd to an almost _Amethystine_ colour; and from divers
+other Bodies, which it were now unnecessary to enumerate. For though I
+dare not absolutely affirme it to be impossible to Analyze these
+Bodies into their _Tria Prima_; yet because, neither my own
+Experiments, nor any competent Testimony hath hitherto either taught
+me how such an _Analysis_ may be made, or satisfy'd me, that it hath
+been so, I must take the Liberty to refrain from believing it, till
+the Chymists prove it, or give us intelligible and practicable
+Processes to performe what they pretend. For whilst they affect that
+_AEnigmatical_ obscurity with which they are wont to puzzle the Readers
+of their divulg'd Processes concerning the Analyticall Preparation of
+Gold or Mercury, they leave wary persons much unsatisfyed whether or
+no the differing Substances, they promise to produce, be truly the
+Hypostatical Principles, or only some intermixtures of the divided
+Bodies with those employ'd to work upon them, as is Evident in the
+seeming Crystalls of Silver, and those of Mercury; which though by
+some inconsiderately supposed to be the Salts of those Metalls, are
+plainly but mixtures of the Metalline Bodies, with the Saline parts of
+_Aqua fortis_ or other corrosive Liquors; as is evident by their being
+reducible into Silver or Quicksilver, as they were before.
+
+I cannot but Confesse (saith _Eleutherius_) that though Chymists may
+upon probable grounds affirm themselves Able to obtain their _Tria
+Prima_, from Animals and Vegetables, yet I have often wondred that
+they should so confidently pretend also to resolve all Metalline and
+other Mineral bodies into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. For 'tis a
+saying almost Proverbial, among those Chymists themselves that are
+accounted Philosophers; and our famous Countryman _Roger Bacon_ has
+particularly adopted it; that _Facilius est aurum facere quam
+destruere_. And I fear, with You, that Gold is not the only Mineral
+from which Chymists are wont fruitlessly to attempt the separating of
+their three Principles. I know indeed (continues _Eleutherius_) that
+the Learned _Sennertus_, even in that book where he takes not upon him
+to play the Advocate for the Chymists, but the Umpier betwixt them and
+the Peripateticks, expresses himself roundly, thus;[11] _Salem omnibus
+inesse (mixtis scilicet) & ex iis fieri posse omnibus in
+resolutionibus Chymicis versatis notissimum est._ And in the next
+Page, _Quod de sale dixi_, saies he, _Idem de Sulphure dici potest_:
+but by his favour I must see very good proofs, before I believe such
+general Assertions, how boldly soever made; and he that would convince
+me of their truth, must first teach me some true and practicable way
+of separating Salt and Sulphur from Gold, Silver, and those many
+different sort of Stones, that a violent Fire does not bring to Lime,
+but to Fusion; and not only I, for my own part, never saw any of those
+newly nam'd Bodies so resolved; but _Helmont_, who was much better
+vers'd in the Chymical Anatomizing of Bodies then either _Sennertus_
+or _I_, has somewhere this resolute passage;[12] _Scio_ (saies he) _ex
+arena, silicibus & saxis, non Calcariis, nunquam Sulphur aut
+Mercurium trahi posse_; Nay _Quercetanus_ himself, though the grand
+stickler for the _Tria Prima_, has this Confession of the
+Irresolubleness of Diamonds;[13] _Adamas_ (saith he) _omnium factus
+Lapidum solidissimus ac durissimus ex arctissima videlicet trium
+principiorum unione ac Cohaerentia, quae nulla arte separationis in
+solutionem principiorum suorum spiritualium disjungi potest._ And
+indeed, pursues _Eleutherius_, I was not only glad, but somewhat
+surprized to find you inclined to Admit that there may be a Sulphur
+and a running Mercury drawn from Gold; for unlesse you do (as your
+expression seem'd to intimate) take the word Sulphur in a very loose
+sence, I must doubt whether our Chymists can separate a Sulphur from
+Gold: For when I saw you make the experiment that I suppose invited
+you to speak 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
+some such highly colour'd parts of the Gold, as a Chymist would have
+called a _Sulphur incombustible_, which in plain English seems to be
+little better than to call it a Sulphur and no Sulphur. And as for
+Metalline Mercuries, I had not _wondred_ at it, though you had
+expressed much more severity in speaking of them: For I remember that
+having once met an old and famous Artist, who had long been (and still
+is) Chymist to a great Monarch, the repute he had of a very honest man
+invited me to desire him to tell me ingenuously whether or no, among
+his many labours, he had ever really extracted a true and running
+Mercury out of Metalls; to which question he freely replyed, that he
+had never separated a true Mercury from any Metal; nor had ever seen
+it really done by any man else. And though Gold is, of all Metalls,
+That, whose Mercury Chymists have most endeavoured to extract, and
+which they do the most brag they have extracted; yet the Experienced
+_Angelus Sala_, in his _Spagyrical_ account of the seven _Terrestrial_
+Planets (that is the seven metalls) affords us this memorable
+Testimony, to, our present purpose; _Quanquam_ (saies he) _&c.
+experientia tamen (quam stultorum Magistrum [Errata: Magistram]
+vocamus) certe Comprobavit, Mercurium auri adeo fixum, maturum, &
+arcte cum reliquis ejusdem corporis substantiis conjungi, ut nullo
+modo retrogredi possit._ To which he sub-joynes, that he himself had
+seen much Labour spent upon that Design, but could never see any such
+Mercury produc'd thereby. And I easily beleeve what he annexes; _that
+he had often seen Detected many tricks and Impostures of Cheating_
+Alchymists. For, the most part of those that are fond of such
+_Charlatans_, being unskilfull or Credulous, or both, 'tis very easie
+for such as have some Skill, much craft, more boldness, and no
+Conscience, to impose upon them; and therefore, though many profess'd
+_Alchymists_, and divers Persons of Quality have told me that they
+have made or seen the Mercury of Gold, or of this or that other Metal;
+yet I have been still apt to fear that either these persons have had a
+Design to deceive others; or have not had Skill and circumspection
+enough to keep themselves from being deceived.
+
+[Footnote 11: Sennert. lib. de cons. & dissens. pag. 147.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Helmon. pag. 409.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Quercet. apud Billich. in Thessalo redivivo. pag. 99.]
+
+You recall to my mind (sayes _Carneades_) a certain Experiment I once
+devis'd, innocently to deceive some persons, and let them and others
+see how little is to be built upon the affirmation of those that are
+either unskillfull or unwary, when they tell us they have seen
+_Alchymists_ make the Mercury of this or that Metal; and to make this
+the more evident, I made my Experiment much more Slight, Short and
+Simple, than the Chymists usuall processes to Extract Metalline
+Mercuries; which Operations being commonly more Elaborate and
+Intricate, and requiring a much more longer time, give the
+_Alchymists_ a greater opportunity to Cozen, and Consequently are more
+Obnoxious to the Spectators suspicion. And that wherein I endeavour'd
+to make my Experiment look the more like a True _Analysis_, was, that
+I not only pretended as well as others to extract a Mercury from the
+Metal I wrought upon, but likewise to separate a large proportion of
+manifest and inflamable Sulphur. I take then, of the filings of
+Copper, about a Drachme or two, of common sublimate, powder'd, the
+like Weight, and _Sal Armoniack_ near about as much as of Sublimate;
+these three being well mingl'd together I put into a small Vial with a
+long neck, or, which I find better, into a Glass Urinall, which
+(having first stopped it with Cotton) to avoid the Noxious Fumes, I
+approach by degrees to a competent Fire of well kindled coals, or
+(which looks better, but more endangers the Glass) to the Flame of a
+candle; and after a while the bottom of the Glass being held Just 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
+Glass some running Mercury; and if then You take away the Glass and
+break it, You shall find a Parcel of Quicksilver, Perhaps altogether,
+and perhaps part of it in the pores of the Solid Mass; You shall find
+too, that the remaining Lump being held to the Flame of the Candle
+will readily burn with a greenish Flame, and after a little while
+(perchance presently) will in the Air Acquire a Greenish Blew, which
+being the Colour that is ascrib'd to Copper, when its Body is
+unlocked, 'Tis easie to perswade Men that this is the True Sulphur of
+_Venus_, especially since not only the Salts may be Suppos'd partly to
+be Flown away, and partly to be Sublim'd to the upper part of the
+Glass, whose inside (will Commonly appear Whitened by them) but the
+Metal seems to be quite Destroy'd, the Copper no longer appearing in a
+Metalline Forme, but almost in that of a Resinous Lump; whereas indeed
+the Case is only this, That the Saline parts of the Sublimate,
+together with the _Sal Armoniack_, being excited and actuated by the
+Vehement heat, fall upon the Copper, (which is a Metal they can more
+easily corrode, than silver) whereby the small parts of the Mercury
+being freed from the Salts that kept them asunder, and being by the
+heat tumbled up and down after many Occursions, they Convene into a
+Conspicuous Mass of Liquor; and as for the Salts, some of the more
+Volatile of them Subliming to the upper part of the Glass, the others
+Corrode the Copper, and uniting themselves with it do strangely alter
+and Disguise its Metallick Form, and compose with it a new kind of
+Concrete inflamable like Sulphur; concerning which I shall not now say
+any thing, since I can Referr You to the Diligent Observations which I
+remember Mr. _Boyle_ has made concerning this Odde kind of
+Verdigrease. But Continues _Carneades_ smiling, you know I was not
+cut out for a Mountebank, and therefore I will hasten to resume the
+person of a Sceptick, and take up my discourse where You diverted me
+from prosecuting it.
+
+In the next place, then, I consider, that, as there are some Bodies
+which yield not so many as the three Principles; so there are many
+others, that in their Resolution Exhibite more principles than three;
+and that therefore the Ternary Number is not that of the Universal and
+Adequate Principles of Bodies. If you allow of the Discourse I ately
+[Errata: lately] made You, touching the primary Associations of the
+small Particles of matter, You will scarce think it improbable, that
+of such Elementary Corpuscles there may be more sorts then either
+three, or four, or five. And if you will grant, what will scarce be
+deny'd, that Corpuscles of a compounded Nature may in all the wonted
+Examples of Chymists pass for Elementary, I see not, why you should
+think it impossible, that as _Aqua Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ will make
+a Separation of colliquated Silver and Gold, though the Fire cannot;
+so there may be some Agent found out so subtile and so powerfull, at
+least in respect of those particular compounded Corpuscles, as to be
+able to resolve them into those more simple ones, whereof they
+consist, and consequently encrease the number of the Distinct
+Substances, whereinto the mixt Body has been hitherto thought
+resoluble. And if that be true, which I recited to you a while ago out
+of _Helmont_ concerning the Operations of the _Alkahest_, which
+divides Bodies into other Distinct Substances, both as to number and
+Nature, then the Fire does; it will not a little countenance my
+Conjecture. But confining our selves to such wayes of Analyzing mix'd
+Bodies, as are already not unknown to Chymists, it may without
+Absurdity be Question'd, whether besides those grosser 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 themselves Visible, may escape unheeded at the
+Junctures of the Destillatory Vessels, though never so carefully
+Luted. For let me observe to you one thing, which though not taken
+notice of by Chymists, may be a notion of good Use in divers Cases to
+a Naturalist, that we may well suspect, that there may be severall
+Sorts of Bodies, which are not Immediate Objects of any one of our
+senses; since we See, that not only those little Corpuscles that issue
+out of the Loadstone, and perform the Wonders for which it is justly
+admired; But the _Effluviums_ of Amber, Jet, and other Electricall
+Concretes, though by their effects upon the particular Bodies dispos'd
+to receive their Action, they seem to fall under the Cognizance of our
+Sight, yet do they not as Electrical immediately Affect any of our
+senses, as do the bodies, whether minute or greater, that we See,
+Feel, Taste, &c. But, continues _Carneades_, because you may expect I
+should, as the Chymists do, consider only the sensible Ingredients of
+Mixt Bodies, let us now see, what Experience will, even as to these,
+suggest to us.
+
+It seems then questionable enough, whether from Grapes variously
+order'd there may not be drawn more distinct Substances by the help of
+the Fire, then from most other mixt Bodies. For the Grapes themselves
+being dryed into Raysins and distill'd, will (besides _Alcali_,
+Phlegm, and Earth) yield a considerable quantity of an Empyreumatical
+Oyle, and a Spirit of a very different nature from that of Wine. Also
+the unfermented Juice of Grapes affords other distil'd Liquors then
+Wine doth. The Juice of Grapes after fermentation will yield a
+_Spiritus Ardens_; which if competently rectifyed will all burn away
+without leaving any thing remaining. The same fermented Juice
+degenerating into Vinager, yields an acid and corroding Spirit. The
+same Juice turn'd [Errata: tunned] up, armes it self with Tartar; out
+of which may be separated, as out of other Bodies, Phlegme, Spirit,
+Oyle, Salt and Earth: not to mention what Substances may be drawn from
+the Vine it self, probably differing from those which are separated
+from Tartar, which is a body by it self, that has few resemblers in
+the World. And I will further consider that what force soever you will
+allow this instance, to evince that there are some Bodies that yield
+more Elements then others, it can scarce be deny'd but that the Major
+part of bodies that are divisible into Elements, yield more then
+three. For, besides those which the Chymists are pleased to name
+Hypostatical, most bodies contain two others, Phlegme and Earth, which
+concurring as well as the rest to the constitution of Mixts, and being
+as generally, if not more, found in their _Analysis_, I see no
+sufficient cause why they should be excluded from the number of
+Elements. Nor will it suffice to object, as the _Paracelsians_ are
+wont to do, that the _Tria prima_ are the most useful Elements, and
+the Earth and Water but worthlesse and unactive; for Elements being
+call'd so in relation to the constituting of mixt Bodies, it should be
+upon the account of its Ingrediency, not of its use, that any thing
+should be affirmed or denyed to be an Element: and as for the
+pretended uselessness of Earth and Water, it would be consider'd that
+usefulnesse, or the want of it, denotes only a Respect or Relation to
+us; and therefore the presence, or absence of it, alters not the
+Intrinsick nature of the thing. The hurtful Teeth of Vipers are for
+ought I know useless to us, and yet are not to be deny'd to be parts
+of their Bodies; and it were hard to shew of what greater Use to Us,
+then Phlegme and Earth, are those Undiscern'd Stars, which our New
+_Telescopes_ discover to Us, in many Blanched places of the Sky; and
+yet we cannot but acknowledge them Constituent and Considerably great
+parts of the Universe. Besides that whether or no the Phlegme and
+Earth be immediately Useful, but necessary to constitute the Body
+whence they are separated; and consequently, if the mixt Body be not
+Useless to us, those constituent parts, without which it could not
+have been That mixt Body, may be said not to be Unuseful to Us: and
+though the Earth and Water be not so conspicuously Operative (after
+separation) as the other three more active Principles, yet in this
+case it will not be amiss to remember the lucky Fable of _Menemius
+Aggrippa_, of the dangerous Sedition of the Hands and Legs, and other
+more busie parts of the Body, against the seemingly unactive Stomack.
+And to this case also we may not unfitly apply that Reasoning of an
+Apostle, to another purpose; _If the Ear shall say, because I Am not
+the Eye, I am not of the Body; Is it therefore not of the Body? If the
+whole Body were Eye, where were the Hearing? If the whole were for
+hearing, where the smelling?_ In a word, since Earth and water appear,
+as clearly and as generally as the other Principles upon the
+resolution of Bodies, to be the Ingredients whereof they are made up;
+and since they are useful, if not immediately to us, or rather to
+Physitians, to the Bodies they constitute, and so though in somewhat a
+remoter way, are serviceable to us; to exclude them out of the number
+of Elements, is not to imitate Nature.
+
+[Transcriber's Note: See the printer's note (beginning "The Authors
+constant Absence") at the end of the book for material that the
+printer inadvertently omitted from this page.]
+
+But, pursues _Carneades_, though I think it Evident, that Earth and
+Phlegme are to be reckon'd among the Elements of most Animal and
+Vegetable Bodies, yet 'tis not upon that Account alone, that I think
+divers Bodies resoluble into more Substances then three. For there are
+two Experiments, that I have sometimes made to shew, that at least
+some Mixts are divisible into more Distinct Substances then five. The
+one of these Experiments, though 'twill be more seasonable for me to
+mention it fully anon, yet in the mean time, I shall tell you thus
+much of it, That out of two Distill'd Liquors, which pass for
+Elements of the Bodies whence they are drawn, I can without Addition
+make a true Yellow and Inflamable Sulphur, notwithstanding that the
+two Liquors remain afterwards Distinct. Of the other Experiment, which
+perhaps will not be altogether unworthy your Notice, I must now give
+you this particular Account. I had long observ'd, that by the
+Destillation of divers Woods, both in Ordinary, and some unusuall
+sorts of Vessels, the Copious Spirit that came over, had besides a
+strong tast, to be met with in the Empyreumaticall Spirits of many
+other Bodies, an Acidity almost like that of Vinager: Wherefore I
+suspected, that though the sowrish Liquor Distill'd, for Instance,
+from Box-Wood, be lookt upon by Chymists as barely the Spirit of it,
+and therefore as one single Element or Principle; yet it does really
+consist of two Differing Substances, and may be divisible into them;
+and consequently, that such Woods and other Mixts as abound with such
+a Vinager, may be said to consist of one Element or Principle, more
+then the Chymists as yet are Aware of; Wherefore bethinking my self,
+how the separation of these two Spirits might be made, I Quickly
+found, that there were several wayes of Compassing it. But that of
+them which I shall at present mention, was this, Having Destill'd a
+Quantity of Box-Wood _per se_, and slowly rectify'd the sowrish
+Spirit, the better to free it both from Oyle and Phlegme, I cast into
+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 associated with it would be so retain'd by it, that the
+other part of the Liquor, which was not of an acid Nature, nor fit to
+fasten upon the Corals, would be permitted to ascend alone. Nor was I
+deceiv'd in my Expectation; For having gently abstracted the Liquor
+from the Coralls, there came over a Spirit of a Strong smell, and of a
+tast very piercing, but without any sourness; and which was in diverse
+qualities manifestly different, not only from a Spirit of Vinager, but
+from some Spirit of the same Wood, that I purposely kept by me without
+depriving it of its acid Ingredient. And to satisfy you, that these
+two Substances were of a very differing Nature, I might informe you
+of several Tryals that I made, but must not name some of them, because
+I cannot do so without making some unseasonable discoveries. Yet this
+I shall tell you at present, that the sowre Spirit of _Box_, not only
+would, as I just now related, dissolve Corals, which the other would
+not fasten on, but being pour'd upon Salt of Tartar would immediately
+boile and hiss, whereas the other would lye quietly upon it. The acid
+Spirit pour'd upon _Minium_ made a Sugar of Lead, which I did not find
+the other to do; some drops of this penetrant spirit being mingl'd
+with some drops of the blew Syrup of Violets seem'd rather to dilute
+then otherwise alter the colour; whereas the Acid Spirit turn'd the
+syrup of a reddish colour, and would probably have made it of as pure
+a red as Acid Salts are wont to do, had not its operation been
+hindered by the mixture of the other Spirit. A few drops of the
+compound Spirit being Shaken into a pretty quantity of the infusion of
+_Lignum Nephriticum_, presently destroyed all the blewish colour,
+whereas the other Spirit would not take it away. To all which it
+might be added, that having for tryals sake pour'd fair water upon the
+Corals that remained in the bottom of the glass wherein I had
+rectifyed the double spirit (if I may so call it) that was first drawn
+from the Box, I found according to my expectation that the Acid Spirit
+had really dissolved the Corals, and had coagulated with them. For by
+the affusion of fair Water, I Obtain'd a Solution, which (to note that
+singularity upon the bye) was red, whence the Water being evaporated,
+there remained a soluble Substance much like the Ordinary Salt of
+Coral, as Chymists are pleas'd to call that Magistery of Corals, which
+they make by dissolving them in common spirit of Vinager, and
+abstracting the _Menstruum ad Siccitatem_. I know not whether I should
+subjoine, on this occasion, that the simple spirit of Box, if Chymists
+will have it therefore Saline because it has a strong tast, will
+furnish us with a new kind of Saline Bodies, differing from those
+hitherto taken notice of. For whereas of the three chief sorts of
+Salts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous, there is none
+that seems to be friends with both the other two, as I may, e're it
+be long, have occasion to shew; I did not find but that the simple
+spirit of Box did agree very well (at least as farr as I had occasion
+to try it) both with the Acid and the other Salts. For though it would
+lye very quiet with salt of Tartar, Spirit of Urine, or other bodies,
+whose Salts were either of an Alcalizate or fugitive Nature; yet did
+not the mingling of Oyle of Vitriol it self produce any hissing or
+Effervescence, which you know is wont to ensue upon the Affusion of
+that highly Acid Liquor upon either of the Bodies newly mentioned.
+
+I think my self, sayes _Eleutherius_, beholden to you, for this
+Experiment; not only because I forsee you will make it helpful to you
+in the Enquiry you are now upon, but because it teaches us a Method,
+whereby we may prepare a numerous sort of new spirits, which though
+more simple then any that are thought Elementary, are manifestly
+endow'd with peculiar and powerfull qualities, some of which may
+probably be of considerable use in Physick, as well alone, as
+associated with other things; as one may hopefully guess by the
+redness of that Solution your sour Spirit made of Corals, and by some
+other circumstances of your Narrative. And suppose (pursues
+_Eleutherius_) that you are not so confin'd, for the separation of the
+Acid parts of these compound Spirits from the other, to employ Corals;
+but that you may as well make use of any Alcalizate Salt, or of
+Pearls, or Crabs eyes, or any other Body, upon which common Spirit of
+Vinager will easily work, and, to speak in an _Helmontian_ Phrase,
+Exantlate it self.
+
+I have not yet tryed, sayes _Carneades_, of what use the mention'd
+liquors may be in Physick, either as Medicines or as _Menstruums_: But
+I could mention now (and may another time) divers of the tryals that I
+made to satisfy my self of the difference of these two Liquors. But
+that, as I allow your thinking what you newly told me about Corals, I
+presume you will allow me, from what I have said already, to deduce
+this Corollary; That there are divers compound bodies, which may be
+resolv'd into four such differing Substances, as may as well merit the
+name of Principles, as those to which the Chymists freely give it. For
+since they scruple not to reckon that which I call the compound
+Spirit of Box, for the spirit, or as others would have it, the Mercury
+of that Wood, I see not, why the Acid liquor, and the other, should
+not each of them, especially that last named, be lookt upon as more
+worthy to be called an Elementary Principle; since it must needs be of
+a more simple nature then the Liquor, which was found to be divisible
+into that, and the Acid Spirit. And this further use (continues
+_Carneades_) may be made of our experiment to my present purpose, that
+it may give us a rise to suspect, that since a Liquor reputed by the
+Chymists to be, without dispute, Homogeneous, is by so slight a way
+divisible into two distinct and more simple Ingredients, some more
+skilful or happier Experimenter then I may find a way either further
+to divide one of these Spirits, or to resolve some or other, if not
+all, of those other Ingredients of mixt Bodies, that have hitherto
+pass'd among Chymists for their Elements or Principles.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Fourth Part._
+
+
+And thus much (sayes _Carneades_) may suffice to be said of the
+_Number_ of the Distinct substances separable from mixt Bodies by the
+Fire: Wherefore I now proceed to consider the _nature_ of them, and
+shew you, That though they seem _Homogeneous_ Bodies, yet have they
+not the purity and simplicity that is requisite to Elements. And I
+should immediately proceed to the proof of my Assertion, but that the
+Confidence wherewith Chymists are wont to call each of the Substances
+we speak of by the name of Sulphur or Mercury, or the other of the
+Hypostaticall Principles, and the intollerabln [Errata: intolerable]
+Ambiguity they allow themselves ie [Errata: in] their Writings and
+Expressions, makes it necessary for me in Order to the Keeping you
+either from mistaking me, or thinking I mistake the Controversie, to
+take Notice to you and complain of the unreasonable Liberty they give
+themselves of playing with Names at pleasure. And indeed if I were
+oblig'd in this Dispute, to have such regard to the Phraseology of
+each particular Chymist, as not to Write any thing which this or that
+Author may not pretend, not to contradict this or that sence, which he
+may give as Occasion serves to his Ambiguous Expressions, I should
+scarce know how to dispute, nor which way to turn myself. For I find
+that even Eminent Writers, (such as _Raymund Lully_, _Paracelsus_ and
+others) do so abuse the termes they employ, that as they will now and
+then give divers things, one name; so they will oftentimes give one
+thing, many Names; and some of them (perhaps) such, as do much more
+properly signifie some Distinct Body of another kind; nay even in
+Technical Words or Termes of Art, they refrain not from this
+Confounding Liberty; but will, as I have Observ'd, call the same
+Substance, sometimes the Sulphur, and Sometimes the Mercury of a Body.
+And now I speak of Mercury, I cannot but take Notice, that the
+Descriptions they give us of that Principle or Ingredient of mixt
+Bodies, are so intricate, that even those that have Endeavour'd to
+Pollish and Illustrate the Notions of the Chymists, are fain to
+confess that they know not what to make of it, either by Ingenuous
+Acknowledgments, or Descriptions that are not Intelligible.
+
+I must confess (sayes _Eleutherius_) I have, in the reading of
+_Paracelsus_ and other Chymical Authors, been troubled to find, that
+such hard Words and Equivocal Expressions, as You justly complain of,
+do even when they treat of Principles, seem to be studiously affected
+by those Writers; whether to make themselves to be admir'd by their
+Readers, and their Art appear more Venerable and Mysterious, or, (as
+they would have us think) to conceal from them a Knowledge themselves
+judge inestimable.
+
+But whatever (sayes _Carneades_) these Men may promise themselves from
+a Canting way of delivering the Principles of Nature, they will find
+the Major part of Knowing Men so vain, as when they understand not
+what they read, to conclude, that it is rather the Writers fault then
+their own. And those that are so ambitious to be admir'd by the
+Vulgar, that rather then go without the Admiration of the Ignorant
+they will expose themselves to the contempt of the Learned, those
+shall, by my consent, freely enjoy their Option. As for the Mystical
+Writers scrupling to Communicate their Knowledge, they might less to
+their own Disparagement, and to the trouble of their Readers, have
+conceal'd it by writing no Books, then by Writing bad ones. If
+_Themistius_ were here, he would not stick to say, that Chymists write
+thus darkly, not because they think their Notions too precious to be
+explain'd, but because they fear that if they were explain'd, men
+would discern, that they are farr from being precious. And indeed, I
+fear that the chief Reason why Chymists have written so obscurely of
+their three Principles, may be, That not having Clear and Distinct
+Notions of them themselves, they cannot write otherwise then
+Confusedly of what they but Confusedly Apprehend: Not to say that
+divers of them, being Conscious to the Invalidity of their Doctrine,
+might well enough discerne that they could scarce keep themselves from
+being confuted, but by keeping themselves from being clearly
+understood. But though much may be said to Excuse the Chymists when
+they write Darkly, and AEnigmatically, about the Preparation of their
+_Elixir_, and Some few other grand _Arcana_, the divulging of which
+they may upon Grounds Plausible enough esteem unfit; yet when they
+pretend to teach the General Principles of Natural Philosophers, this
+Equivocall Way of Writing is not to be endur'd. For in such
+Speculative Enquiries, 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 Notion intelligible to me, but by
+Mystical Termes, and Ambiguous Phrases darkens what he should clear
+up; and makes me add the Trouble of guessing at the sence of what he
+Equivocally expresses, to that of examining the Truth of what he seems
+to deliver. And if the matter of the Philosophers Stone, and the
+manner of preparing it, be such Mysteries as they would have the World
+believe them, they may Write Intelligibly and Clearly of the
+Principles of mixt Bodies in General, without Discovering what they
+call the Great Work. But for my part (Continues _Carneades_) what my
+Indignation at this Un-philosophical way of teaching Principles has
+now extorted from me, is meant chiefly to excuse my self, if I shall
+hereafter oppose any Particular Opinion or assertion, that some
+Follower of _Paracelsus_ or any Eminent Artist may pretend not to be
+his Masters. For, as I told you long since, I am not Oblig'd to
+examine private mens writings, (which were a Labour as endless as
+unprofitable) being only engag'd to examine those Opinions about the
+_Tria Prima_, which I find those Chymists I have met with to agree in
+most: And I Doubt not but my Arguments against their Doctrine will be
+in great part easily enough applicable ev'n to those private
+Opinions, which they do not so directly and expresly oppose. And
+indeed, that which I am now entering upon being the Consideration of
+the things themselves whereinto _Spagyrists_ resolve mixt Bodies by
+the Fire, If I can shew that these are not of an Elementary Nature, it
+will be no great matter what names these or those Chymists have been
+pleased to give them. And I question not that to a Wise man, and
+consequently to _Eleutherius_, it will be lesse considerable to know,
+what Men Have thought of Things, then what they Should have thought.
+
+In the fourth and last place, then, I consider, that as generally as
+Chymists are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as they
+use to instance the several substances separated by the Fire from a
+Mixt Body, as a sufficient proof of their being its component
+Elements: Yet those differing Substances are many of them farr enough
+from Elementary simplicity, and may be yet look'd upon as mixt Bodies,
+most of them also retaining, somewhat at least, if not very much, of
+the Nature of those Concretes whence they were forc'd.
+
+I am glad (sayes _Eleutherius_) to see the Vanity or Envy of the
+canting Chymists thus discover'd and chastis'd; and I could wish, that
+Learned Men would conspire together to make these deluding Writers
+sensible, that they must no longe [Transcriber's Note: longer] hope
+with Impunity to abuse the World. For whilst such Men are quietly
+permitted to publish Books with promising Titles, and therein to
+Assert what they please, and contradict others, and ev'n themselves as
+they please, with as little danger of being confuted as of being
+understood, they are encourag'd to get themselves a name, at the cost
+of the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for the
+reason newly mention'd, to let their Books and Them alone: And the
+ignorant and credulous (of which the number is still much greater then
+that of the other) are forward to admire most what they least
+understand. But if Judicious men skill'd in Chymical affaires shall
+once agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep men
+from being stunn'd, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words;
+'tis to be hop'd that these men finding that they can no longer write
+impertinently and absurdly, without being laugh'd at for doing so,
+will be reduc'd either to write nothing, or Books that may teach us
+something, and not rob men, as formerly, of invaluable Time; and so
+ceasing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we shall
+either by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their silence escape
+an Inconvenience.
+
+But after all this is said (continues _Eleutherius_) it may be
+represented in favour of the Chymists, that, in one regard the Liberty
+they take in using names, if it be excusable at any time, may be more
+so when they speak of the substances whereinto their _Analysis_
+resolves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name their
+own Children, it has ever been allow'd to the Authors of new
+Inventions, to Impose Names upon them. And therefore the subjects we
+speak of being so the Productions of the Chymist's Art, as not to be
+otherwise, but by it, obtainable; it seems but equitable to give the
+Artists leave to name them as they please: considering also that none
+are so fit and likely to teach us what those Bodies are, as they to
+whom we ow'd them.
+
+I told You already (sayes _Carneades_) that there is great Difference
+betwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to give
+a Philosophical Account of them. And I will not now add, that many a
+Mine-digger may meet, whilst he follows his work, with a Gemm or a
+Mineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he shews it a
+Jeweller or a Mineralist to be inform'd what it is. But that which I
+would rather have here observ'd, is, That the Chymists I am now in
+debate with have given up the Liberty You challeng'd for them, of
+using Names at Pleasure, and confin'd Themselves by their
+Descriptions, though but such as they are, of their Principles; so
+that although they might freely have call'd any thing their _Analysis_
+presents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, or
+what they pleas'd; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (for
+instance) is a Primogeneal and simple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &c.
+they must give me leave to dis-believe them, if they tell me that a
+Body that is either compounded or uninflamable is such a Sulphur; and
+to think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and some
+other Minerals abound with an Incombustible Sulphur, which is as
+proper an Expression, as a Sun-shine Night, or Fluid Ice.
+
+But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my
+Fourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals;
+some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because I
+have Touched on them already.
+
+And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage in
+_Helmont_;[14] which though I have not Found much heeded by his
+Readers, He Himself _mentions_ as a notable thing, and I take to be a
+very considerable one; for whereas the Distill'd oyle of _oyle-olive_,
+though drawn _per se_ is (as I have try'd) of a very sharp and
+fretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oyle
+being only digested with _Paracelsus's sal circulatum_, is reduc'd
+into dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing from
+the oyle distill'd, from [Errata: distill'd from] sallet oyle; as also
+that by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet and
+gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that
+which is immediately drawn by distillation and call'd _Dephlegm'd Aqua
+vitae_, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote,
+although the _sal circulatum_ that makes these _Anatomies_ be
+separated from the Analyz'd Bodies, in the same weight and with the
+same qualities it had before; which Affirmation of _Helmont_ if we
+admit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very great
+disparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles,
+or several spirits) separable from compound Bodies: For, besides the
+differences I shall anon take notice of, betwixt those distill'd Oyles
+that are commonly known to Chymists, it appears by this, that by means
+of the _Sal Circulatum_, There may be quite another sort of Oyles
+obtain'd from the same Body; and who knowes but that there may be yet
+other Agents found in Nature, by whose help there may, whether by
+Transmutation or otherwise, be obtain'd from the Bodies Vulgarly
+call'd Mixt, Oyles or other substances, Differing from those of the
+same Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymists, or even to
+_Helmont_ Himself: but for fear You should tell me, that this is but a
+conjecture grounded upon another Man's Relation, whose Truth we have
+not the means to Experiment, I will not Insist upon it; but leaving
+You to Consider of it at leasure, I shall proceed to what is next.
+
+[Footnote 14: _Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitiorem
+ulterioris & nobilioris qualitatis participem qu[=a] qui immediate per
+distillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vitae dephlegmata, quod
+facilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippe
+distillatum oleum absque laterum aut tigularum [Errata: tegularum]
+additamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert ab
+ejus oleitate; quae elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partes
+dissimilares sola digestione & Salis circulati Paracelsici
+appositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere & quantitatibus
+pristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in sui
+heterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum ex
+oleo, prout & suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur,
+longeque ab aquae vitae acrimonia distinctus._--Helmont. Aura vitalis,
+pag. 725.]
+
+Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion of _Lucippus_,
+_Democritus_, and other prime _Anatomists_ of old, and is in our dayes
+reviv'd by no mean Philosophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, such
+as Chymists use, consists of swarmes of little Bodies swiftly moving,
+which by their smallness and motion are able to permeate the sollidest
+and Compactest Bodies, and even Glass it Self; If this (I say) be
+True, since we see that In flints and other Concretes, the Fiery part
+is Incorporated with the Grosser, it will not be Irrationall to
+conjecture, that multitudes of these Fiery Corpuscles, getting in at
+the Pores of the Glass, may associate themselves with the parts of the
+mixt Body whereon they work, and with them Constitute new Kinds of
+Compound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections of
+the Parts of the Dissipated Body happen to dispose them, in Reference
+to such Combinations; of which also there may be the greater Number;
+if it be likewise granted that the Corpuscles of the Fire, though all
+exceeding minute, and very swiftly moved, are not all of the same
+bigness, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Considerations to
+Discourse to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I have
+newly said, some particular Experiments by which I have been Deduc'd
+to think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon some Bodies
+may really Associate themselves therewith, and add to the Quantity.
+But because I am not so sure, that when the Fire works upon Bodies
+included in Glasses, it does it by a reall Trajection of the Fiery
+Corpuscles themselves, through the Substance of the Glass, I will
+proceed to what is next to be mention'd.
+
+I could (sayes _Eleutherius_) help you to some Proofes, whereby I
+think it may be made very probable, that when the Fire acts
+immediately upon a Body, some of its Corpuscles may stick to those of
+the burnt Body, as they seem to do in Quicklime, but in greater
+numbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding Your
+Progress, I shall desire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time,
+and proceed as you intended.
+
+You may then in the next place (sayes _Carneades_) observe with me,
+that not only there are some Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do not
+by the usual Examens, made by Fire, Discover themselves to be mixt;
+but if (as You may Remember I formerly told You) it be a De-compound
+Body that is Dissipable into several Substances, by being expos'd to
+the Fire it may be resolv'd into such as are neither Elementary, nor
+such as it was upon its last mixture Compounded of; but into new
+Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You some Examples in
+Sope, Sugar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we shall Consider that there
+are some Bodies, as well Natural, (as that I last nam'd) as
+Factitious, manifestly De-compounded; That in the Bowells of the Earth
+Nature may, as we see she sometimes does, make strange Mixtures; That
+Animals are nourish'd with other Animals and Plants; And, that these
+themselves have almost all of them their Nutriment and Growth,
+_either_ from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour'd in the Pores of the
+Earth, _or_ from the Excrements of Animalls, _or_ from the putrify'd
+Bodies, either of living Creatures or Vegetables, _or_ from other
+Substances of a Compounded Nature; If, I say, we consider this, it may
+seem probable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not to
+mention those of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then men
+take Notice of; And indeed, as I have formerly also observ'd, it does
+not at all appear, that all Mixtures must be of Elementary Bodies; but
+it seems farr more probable, that there are divers sorts of compound
+Bodies, even in regard of all or some of their Ingredients, consider'd
+Antecedently to their Mixture. For though some seem to be made up by
+the immediate Coalitions of the Elements, or Principles themselves,
+and therefore may be call'd _Prima Mista_, or _Mista Primaria_; yet it
+seems that many other Bodies are mingl'd (if I may so speak) at the
+second hand, their immediate Ingredients being not Elementary, but
+these primary Mixts newly spoken of; And from divers of these
+Secondary sort of Mixts may result, by a further Composition, a Third
+sort, and so onwards. Nor is it improbable, that some Bodies are made
+up of Mixt Bodies, not all of the same Order, but of several; as (for
+Instance) a Concrete may consist 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 Resolving it, found both that Courser
+the [Errata: delete "the"] part that seems more properly to be Oar,
+and a Combustible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps without
+any Ingredient of this latter sort, it may be compos'd of Mixt Bodies,
+some of them of the first, and some of the third Kind; And this may
+perhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens in
+some Chymical Preparations of those Medicines which they call their
+_Bezoardicum's_. For first, they take Antimony and Iron, which may be
+look'd upon as _Prima Mista_; of these they compound a Starry
+_Regulus_, and to this they add according to their Intention, either
+Gold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Composition. To
+this they add Sublimate, which is it self a De-compound body,
+(consisting of common Quicksilver, and divers Salts United by
+Sublimation into a Crystalline Substance) and from this Sublimate, and
+the other Metalline Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow'd
+to be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymists
+affirm it, that by this Art some of the Gold or Silver mingl'd with
+the _Regulus_ may be carry'd over the Helme with it by the Sublimate;
+as indeed a Skilfull and Candid person complain'd to me a while since,
+That an experienc'd Friend of His and mine, having by such a way
+brought over a great Deal of Gold, in hope to do something further
+with it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only miss'd of his
+Aim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz'd Gold out of the
+Antimonial butter, wherewith it is strictly united.
+
+Now (Continues _Carneades_) if a Compound body consist of Ingredients
+that are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that the
+Substances into which the Fire Dissolves it, though seemingly
+Homogeneous enough, may be of a Compounded Nature, those parts of each
+body that are most of Kin associating themselves into a Compound of a
+new Kind. As when (for example sake) I have caus'd Vitrioll and _Sal
+Armoniack_, and Salt Petre to be mingl'd and Destill'd together, the
+Liquor that came over manifested it self not to be either Spirit of
+Nitre, or of _Sal Armoniack_, or of Vitrioll. For none of these would
+dissolve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; and
+thereby manifested it self to be a new Compound, consisting at least
+of Spirit of Nitre, and _Sal Armoniack_, (for the latter dissolv'd in
+the former, will Work on Gold) which nevertheless are not by any
+known way separable, and consequently would not pass for a Mixt Body,
+if we our selves did not, to obtain it, put and Distill together
+divers Concretes, whose Distinct Operations were known before hand.
+And, to add on this Occasion the Experiment I lately promis'd You,
+because it is Applicable to our present purpose, I shall Acquaint You,
+that suspecting the Common Oyle of Vitrioll not to be altogether such
+a simple Liquor as Chymists presume 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, such as together with the other Liquor I
+bought at the Drugsters. And having carefully (for the Experiment is
+Nice, and somewhat dangerous) Distill'd the Mixture in a small Glass
+Retort, I obtain'd according to my Desire, (besides the two Liquors I
+had put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain substance, which sticking
+all about the Neck of the Retort Discover'd it self to be Sulphur, not
+only by a very strong Sulphureous smell, and by the colour of
+Brimstone; but also by this, That being put upon a coal, it was
+immediately kindl'd, and burn'd like common Sulphur. And of this
+Substance I have yet by me some little Parcells, which You may command
+and examine when you please. So that from this Experiment I may deduce
+either one, or both of these Propositions, That a real Sulphur may be
+made by the Conjunction of two such Substances as Chymists take for
+Elementary, And which did not either of them apart appear to have any
+such body in it; or that Oyle of Vitrioll though a Distill'd Liquor,
+and taken for part of the Saline Principle of the Concrete that yields
+it, may yet be so Compounded a body as to contain, besides its Saline
+part, a Sulphur like common brimstone, which would hardly be it self a
+simple or un-compounded body.
+
+I might (pursues _Carneades_) remind You, that I formerly represented
+it, as possible, That as there may be more Elements then five, or six;
+so the Elements of one body may be Different from those of another;
+whence it would follow, that from the Resolution of De-compound body
+[Errata: bodies], there may result Mixts of an altogether new kind, by
+the Coalition of Elements that never perhaps conven'd before. I might,
+I say, mind You of this, and add divers things to this second
+Consideration; but for fear of wanting time I willingly pretermit
+them, to pass on to the third, which is this, That the Fire does not
+alwayes barely resolve or take asunder, but may also after a new
+manner mingle and compound together the parts (whether Elementary or
+not) of the Body Dissipated by it.
+
+This is so evident, sayes _Carneades_, in some obvious Examples, that
+I cannot but wonder at their Supiness that have not taken notice of
+it. For when Wood being burnt in a Chimney is dissipated by the Fire
+into Smoke and Ashes, that smoke composes soot, which is so far from
+being any one of the principles of the Wood, that (as I noted above)
+you may by a further _Analysis_ separate five or six distinct
+substances from it. And as for the remaining Ashes, the Chymists
+themselves teach us, that by a further degree of fire they may be
+indissolubly united into glass. 'Tis true, that the _Analysis_ which
+the Chymists principally build upon is made, not in the open air, but
+in close Vessels; but however, the Examples lately produc'd may invite
+you shrewdly to suspect, That heat may as well compound as dissipate
+the Parts of mixt Bodies: and not to tell you, that I have known a
+Vitrification made even in close vessels, I must remind you that the
+Flowers of Antimony, and those of Sulphur, are very mix'd Bodies,
+though they ascend in close vessells: And that 'twas in stopt glasses
+that I brought up the whole Body of Camphire. And whereas it may be
+objected, that all these Examples are of Bodies forc'd up in a dry,
+not a Fluid forme, as are the Liquors wont to be obtain'd by
+distillation; I answer, That besides that 'tis possible, that a Body
+may be chang'd from Consistent to Fluid, or from Fluid to Consistent,
+without being otherwise much altered, as may appear by the Easiness
+wherewith in Winter, without any Addition or Separation of Visible
+Ingredients, the same substance may be quickly harden'd into brittle
+Ice, and thaw'd again into Fluid Water; Besides this, I say it would
+be consider'd, that common Quick-silver it self, which the Eminentest
+Chymists confess to be a mixt Body, may be Driven over the Helme in
+its Pristine forme of Quicksilver, and consequently, in that of a
+Liquor. And certainly 'tis possible that very compounded Bodies may
+concur to Constitute Liquors; Since, not to mention that I have found
+it possible, by the help of a certain _Menstruum_, to distill Gold it
+self through a Retort, even with a Moderate Fire: Let us but consider
+what happens in Butter of Antimony. For if that be carefully
+rectify'd, it may be reduc'd into a very clear Liquor; and yet if You
+cast a quantity of fair water upon it, there will quickly precipitate
+a Ponderous and Vomitive Calx, which made before a considerable part
+of the Liquor, and yet is indeed (though some eminent Chymists would
+have it Mercurial) an Antimonial Body carryed over and kept dissolv'd
+by the Salts of the Sublimate, and consequently a compounded one; as
+You may find if You will have the Curiosity to Examine this White
+powder by a skilful Reduction. And that You may not think that Bodies
+as compounded as flowers of Brimstone cannot be brought to Concurr to
+Constitute Distill'd Liquors; And also That You may not imagine with
+Divers Learned Men that pretend no small skill in Chymistry, that at
+least no mixt Body can be brought over the Helme, but by corrosive
+Salts, I am ready to shew You, when You please, among other wayes of
+bringing over Flowers of Brimstone (perhaps I might add even Mineral
+Sulphurs) some, wherein I employ none but Oleaginous bodies to make
+Volatile Liquors, in which not only the colour, but (which is a much
+surer mark) the smell and some Operations manifest that there is
+brought over a Sulphur that makes part of the Liquor.
+
+One thing more there is, _Eleutherius_, sayes _Carneades_, which is so
+pertinent to my present purpose, that though I have touch'd upon it
+before, I cannot but on this occasion take notice of it. And it is
+this, That the Qualities or Accidents, upon whose account Chymists are
+wont to call a portion of Matter by the name of Mercury or some other
+of their Principles, are not such but that 'tis possible as Great (and
+therefore why not the like?) may be produc'd by such changes of
+Texture, and other Alterations, as the Fire may make in the small
+Parts of a Body. I have already prov'd, when I discours'd of the
+second General Consideration, by what happens to plants nourish'd only
+with fair water, and Eggs hatch'd into Chickens, that by changing the
+disposition of the component parts of a Body, Nature is able to effect
+as great Changes in a parcell of Matter reputed similar, as those
+requisite to Denominate one of the _Tria Prima_. And though _Helmont_
+do somewhere wittily call the Fire the Destructor and the Artificial
+Death of Things; And although another Eminent Chymist and Physitian 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 consider
+how many new sorts of mixt Bodies Chymists themselves have produc'd by
+means of the Fire: And particularly, if You consider how that Noble
+and Permanent Body, Glass, is not only manifestly produc'd by the
+violent action of the Fire, but has never, for ought we know, been
+produc'd any other way. And indeed it seems but an inconsiderate
+Assertion of some _Helmontians_, that every sort of Body of a
+Peculiar Denomination must be produc'd by some Seminal power; as I
+think I could evince, if I thought it so necessary, as it is for me to
+hasten to what I have further to discourse. Nor need it much move us,
+that there are some who look upon whatsoever the Fire is employ'd to
+produce, not as upon Natural but Artificial Bodies. For there is not
+alwaies such a difference as many imagine betwixt the one and the
+other: Nor is it so easy as they think, clearly to assigne that which
+Properly, Constantly, and Sufficiently, Discriminates them. But not to
+engage my self in so nice a Disquisition, it may now suffice to
+observe, that a thing is commonly termed Artificial, when a parcel of
+matter is by the Artificers hand, or Tools, or both, brought to such a
+shape or Form, as he Design'd before-hand in his Mind: Whereas in many
+of the Chymical Productions the effect would be produc'd whether the
+Artificer intended it or no; and is oftentimes very much other then he
+Intended or Look't for; and the Instruments employ'd, are not Tools
+Artificially fashion'd and shaped, like those of Tradesmen, for this
+or that particular Work; but, for the most part, Agents of Nature's
+own providing, and whose 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 Chymist that imployes it,
+does but apply Natural Agents and Patients, who being thus brought
+together, and acting according to their respective Natures, performe
+the worke themselves; as Apples, Plums, or other fruit, are natural
+Productions, though the Gardiner bring and fasten 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 say, You may observe with me, _Eleutherius_, that, as I told You
+once before, Qualities sleight enough may serve to Denominate a
+Chymical Principle. For, when they anatomize a compound Body by the
+Fire, if they get a Substance inflamable, and that will not mingle
+with Water, that they presently call Sulphur; what is sapid and
+Dissoluble in Water, that must pass for Salt; Whatsoever is fix'd and
+indissoluble in Water, that they name Earth. And I was going to add,
+that, whatsoever Volatile substance they know not what to make of, not
+to say, whatsoever they please, that they call Mercury. But that these
+Qualities may either be produc'd, otherwise then by such as they call
+Seminal Agents, or may belong to bodies of a compounded Nature, may be
+shewn, among other Instances, in Glass made of ashes, where the
+exceeding strongly-tasted _Alcalizate_ Salt joyning with the Earth
+becomes insipid, and with it constitutes a Body, which though also
+dry, fixt, and indissoluble in Water, is yet manifestly a mixt Body;
+and made so by the Fire itself.
+
+And I remmember to our present purpose, that _Helmont_,[15] amongst
+other Medicines that he commends, has a short processe, wherein,
+though the Directions for Practice are but obscurely intimated; yet I
+have some reason not to Dis-believe the Process, without affirming or
+denying any thing about the vertues of the remedy to be made by it.
+_Quando_ (sayes he) _oleum cinnamomi &c. suo sali alkali miscetur
+absque omni aqua, trium mensium artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
+totum in salem volatilem commutatum est, vere essentiam sui simplicis
+in nobis exprimit, & usque in prima nostri constitutivasese ingerit._
+A not unlike Processe he delivers in another place; from whence, if we
+suppose him to say true, I may argue, that since by the Fire there may
+be produc'd a substance that is as well Saline and volatile as the
+Salt of Harts-horn, blood, &c. which pass for Elementary; and since
+that this Volatile Salt is really compounded of a Chymical Oyle and a
+fixt Salt, the one made Volatile by the other, and both associated by
+the fire, it may well be suspected that other Substances, emerging
+upon the Dissipation of Bodies by the Fire, may be new sorts of Mixts,
+and consist of Substances of differing natures; and particularly, I
+have sometimes suspected, that since the Volatile Salts of Blood,
+Harts-horn, &c. are figitive [Errata: fugitive] and endow'd with an
+exceeding strong smell, either that Chymists do Erroneously ascribe
+all odours to sulphurs, or that such Salts consist of some oyly parts
+well incorporated with the Saline ones. And the like conjecture I have
+also made concerning Spirit of Vinager, which, though the Chymists
+think one of the Principles of that Body, and though being an Acid
+Spirit it seems to be much less of kin then Volatile Salts to
+sulphurs; yet, not to mention its piercing smell; which I know not
+with what congruity the Chymist will deduce from Salt, I wonder they
+have not taken notice of what their own _Tyrocinium Chymicum_ teach us
+concerning the Destillation of _Saccharum Saturni_; out of which
+_Beguinus_[16] assures Us, that he distill'd, besides a very fine
+spirit, no lesse then two Oyles, the one blood-red and ponderous, but
+the other swimming upon the top of the Spirit, and of a yellow colour;
+of which he sayes that he kept then some by him, to verify what he
+delivers. And though I remember not that I have had two distinct Oyles
+from Sugar of Lead, yet that it will though distill'd without addition
+yield some Oyle, disagrees not with my Experience. I know the Chymists
+will be apt to pretend, that these Oyls are but the volatiliz'd
+sulphur of the lead; and will perhaps argue it from what _Beguinus_
+relates, that when the Distillation is ended, you'l find a _Caput
+Mortuum_ extreamly black, and (as he speaks) _nullius momenti_, as if
+the Body, or at least the chief part of the Metal it self were by the
+distillation carried over the Helme. But since you know as well as I
+that _Saccharum Saturni_ is a kind of Magistery, made only by
+calcining of Lead _per se_, dissolving it in distill'd Vinager, and
+crystalizing the solution; if I had leasure to tell You how Differing
+a thing I did upon examination find the _Caput Mortuum_, so sleighted
+by _Beguinus_, to be from what he represents it, I believe you would
+think the conjecture propos'd less probable then one or other of these
+three; either that this Oyle did formerly concur to constitute the
+Spirit of Vinager, and so that what passes for a Chymical Principle
+may yet be further resoluble into distinct substances; or that some
+parts of the Spirit together with some parts of the Lead may
+constitute a Chymical Oyle, which therefore though it pass for
+Homogeneous, may be a very compounded Body: or at least that by the
+action of the Distill'd Vinager and the Saturnine Calx one upon
+another, part of the Liquor may be so alter'd as to be transmuted from
+an Acid Spirit into an Oyle. And though the truth of either of the two
+former conjectures would make the example I have reflected on more
+pertinent to my present argument; yet you'l easily discern, the Third
+and last Conjecture cannot be unserviceable to confirm some other
+passages of my discourse.
+
+[Footnote 15: Helmont pag. 412.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Tyroc. Chym. L. 1. C. 4.]
+
+To return then to what I was saying just before I mention'd
+_Helmont's_ Experiment, I shall subjoyne, That Chymists must confess
+also that in the perfectly Dephlegm'd spirit of Wine, or other
+Fermented Liquors, that which they call the Sulphur of the Concrete
+loses, by the Fermentation, the Property of Oyle, (which the Chymists
+likewise take to be the true Sulphur of the Mixt) of being unminglable
+with the Water. And if You will credit _Helmont_,[17] all [Errata: a
+pound] of the purest Spirit of Wine may barely by the help of pure
+Salt of Tartar (which is but the fixed Salt of Wine) be resolv'd or
+Transmuted into scarce half an ounce of Salt, and as much Elementary
+Water as amounts to the remaining part of the mention'd weight. And it
+may (as I think I formerly also noted) be doubted, whether that Fixt
+and Alcalizate Salt, which is so unanimously agreed on to be the
+Saline Principle of incinerated Bodies, be not, as 'tis Alcalizate, a
+Production of the Fire? For though the tast of Tartar, for Example,
+seem to argue that it contains a Salt before it be burn'd, yet that
+Salt being very Acid is of a quite Differing Tast from the Lixiviate
+Salt of Calcin'd Tartar. And though it be not truly Objected against
+the Chymists, that they obtain all Salts they make, by reducing the
+Body they work on into Ashes with Violent Fires, (since Hartshorn,
+Amber, Blood, and divers other Mixts yield a copious Salt before they
+be burn'd to Ashes) yet this Volatile Salt Differs much, as we shall
+see anon, from the Fixt Alcalizate Salt I speak of; which for ought I
+remember is not producible by any known Way, without Incineration.
+'Tis not unknown to Chymists, that Quicksilver may be Precipitated,
+without Addition, into a dry Powder, that remains so in Water. And
+some eminent _Spagyrists_, and even _Raimund Lully_ himself, teach,
+that meerly by the Fire Quicksilver may in convenient Vessels be
+reduc'd (at least in great part) into a thin Liquor like Water, and
+minglable with it. So that by the bare Action of the Fire, 'tis
+possible, that the parts of a mixt Body should be so dispos'd after
+new and differing manners, that it may be sometimes of one
+consistence, sometimes of another; And may in one State be dispos'd to
+be mingl'd with Water, and in another not. I could also shew you, that
+Bodies from which apart Chymists cannot obtain any thing that is
+Combustible, may by being associated together, and by the help of the
+Fire, afford an inflamable Substance. And that on the other side, 'tis
+possible for a Body to be inflamable, from which it would very much
+puzzle any ordinary Chymist; and perhaps any other, to separate an
+inflamable Principle or Ingredient. Wherefore, since the Principles of
+Chymists may receive their Denominations from Qualities, which it
+often exceeds not the power of Art, nor alwayes that of the Fire to
+produce; And since such Qualities may be found in Bodies that differ
+so much in other Qualities from one another, that they need not be
+allow'd to agree in that pure and simple Nature, which Principles, to
+be so indeed, must have; it may justly be suspected, that many
+Productions of the Fire that are shew'd us by Chymists, as the
+Principles of the Concrete that afforded them, may be but a new kind
+of Mixts. And to annex, on this Occasion, to these arguments taken
+from the Nature of the thing, one of those which _Logicians_ call _ad
+Hominem_, I shall desire You to take Notice, that though _Paracelsus_
+Himself, and some that are so mistaken as to think he could not be so,
+have ventur'd to teach, that not only the bodies here below, but the
+Elements themselves, and all the other Parts of the Universe, are
+compos'd of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; yet the learned _Sennertus_,
+and all the more wary Chymists, have rejected that conceit, and do
+many of them confess, that the _Tria Prima_ 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 Constitution of Mixt bodies. So
+that one sort of these _Spagyrists_, notwithstanding the specious
+Titles they give to the productions of the Fire, do in effect grant
+what I contend for. And, of the other sort I may well demand, to what
+Kind of Bodies the Phlegme and dead Earth, to be met with in Chymical
+Resolutions, are to be referr'd? For either they must say, with
+_Paracelsus_, but against their own Concessions as well as against
+Experience, that these are also compos'd of the _Tria Prima_, whereof
+they cannot separate any one from either of them; or else they must
+confess that two of the vastest Bodies here below, Earth, and Water,
+are neither of them compos'd of the _Tria Prima_; and that
+consequently those three are not the Universal, and Adequate
+Ingredients, neither of all Sublunary Bodies, nor even of all mixt
+Bodies.
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ostendi alias, quomodo lib. una aquae vitae combibita in
+sale Tartari siccato, vix fiat semuncia salis, caeterum totum corpus
+fiat aqua Elementalis. Helmont. in Aura vitali._]
+
+I know that the chief of these Chymists represent, that though the
+Distinct Substances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire,
+are not pure and Homogeneous; yet since the four Elements into which
+the _Aristotelians_ pretend to resolve the like bodies by the same
+Agent, are not simple neither, as themselves acknowledge, 'tis as
+allowable for the Chymists to call the one Principles, as for the
+Peripateticks to call the other Elements; since in both cases the
+Imposition of the name is grounded only upon the Predominancy of that
+Element whose name is ascrib'd to it. Nor shall I deny, that this
+Argument of the Chymists is no ill one against the _Aristotelians_.
+But what Answer can it prove to me, who you know am disputing against
+the _Aristotelian_ Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and must not
+look upon any body as a true Principle or Element, but as yet
+compounded, which is not perfectly Homogeneous, but is further
+Resoluble into any number of Distinct Substances how small soever. And
+as for the Chymists calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, upon
+pretence that the Principle of the same name is predominant in it,
+That it self is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely that
+these productions of the Fire, are yet compounded bodies. And yet
+whilst this is granted, it is affirm'd, but not prov'd, that the
+reputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, consists mainly of one body that
+deserves the name of a principle of the same Denomination. For how do
+Chymists make it appear that there are any such primitive and simple
+bodies in those we are speaking of; since 'tis upon the matter
+confess'd by the answer lately made, that these are not such? And if
+they pretend by Reason to evince what they affirm, what becomes of
+their confident boasts, that the Chymists [Errata: Chymist] (whom they
+therefore, after _Beguinus_, call a _Philosophus_ or _Opifex
+Sensatus_) can convince our Eyes, by manifestly shewing in any mixt
+body those simple substances he teaches them to be compos'd of? And
+indeed, for the Chymists to have recourse in this case to other proofs
+then Experiments, as it is to wave the grand Argument that has all
+this while been given out for a Demonstrative One; so it releases me
+from the obligation to prosecute a Dispute wherein I am not engag'd to
+Examine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plausibly Enough
+be Represented, in favour of the Chymists, that it being evident that
+much the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, or
+Mercury, is really such; it would be very rigid to deny those
+Substances the names ascribed them, only because of some sleight
+mixture of another Body; since not only the Peripateticks call
+particular parcels of matter Elementary, though they acknowledge that
+Elements are not to be anywhere found pure, at least here below; And
+since especially there is a manifest Analogie and Resemblance betwixt
+the bodies obtainable by Chymical Anatomies and the principles whose
+names are given them; I have, I say, consider'd that these things may
+be represented: But as for what is drawn from the Custome of the
+Peripateticks, I have already told You, that though it may be employ'd
+against Them, Yet it is not available against me who allow nothing to
+be an Element that is not perfectly Homogeneous. And whereas it is
+alledg'd, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to the
+substance wherein it abounds; I answer, that that might much more
+reasonably be said, if either we or the Chymists had seen Nature take
+pure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mercury, and compound of them every
+sort of Mixt Bodies. But, since 'tis to experience that they appeal,
+we must not take it for granted, that the Distill'd Oyle (for
+instance) of a plant is mainly compos'd of the pure principle call'd
+Sulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof, that there is in
+that sort of Plants such an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for the
+specious argument, which is drawn from the Resemblance betwixt the
+Productions of the Fire, and the Respective, either _Aristotelian_
+Elements, or _Chymical_ Principles, by whose names they are call'd; it
+will appear more plausible then cogent, if You will but recall to mind
+the state of the controversie; which is not, whether or no there be
+obtain'd from mixt Bodies certain substances that agree in outward
+appearance, or in some Qualities with Quicksilver or Brimstone, or
+some such obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodies
+confess'd to be perfectly mixt were compos'd of, and are resoluble
+into a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keep
+the state of the question in your Eye, you'l easily discerne that
+there is much of what should be Demonstrated, left unprov'd by those
+Chymical Experiments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I have
+already discover'd more at large) I shall now take notice, that it
+will not presently follow, that because a Production of the Fire has
+some affinity with some of the greater Masses of matter here below,
+that therefore they are both of the same Nature, and deserve the same
+Name; for the Chymists are not content, that flame should be look't
+upon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, and
+active, because it wants some other Qualities belonging to the nature
+of Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call Ashes, or
+Quicklime, Earth, notwithstanding the many likenesses between them;
+because they are not tastlesse, as Elementary Earth ought to be: But
+if you should ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomies
+of Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they consist of the three
+Principles into which the fire resolves them? I answer, that their
+Dissections may be granted to prove, that some mixt bodies (for in
+many it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included in
+close Vessels, (for that Condition also is often requisite) dissolube
+[Transcriber's Note: dissoluble] into several Substances differing in
+some Qualities, but principally in Consistence. So that out of most of
+them may be obtain'd a fixt substance partly saline, and partly
+insipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or more that without
+being unctuous have a manifest taste. Now if Chymists will agree to
+call the dry and sapid substance salt, the Unctous liquor Sulphur, and
+the other Mercury, I shall not much quarrel with them for so doing:
+But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are simple
+and primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, and
+which was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, they
+must give me leave to doubt whether (whatever their other arguments
+may do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will also tell
+me that the Substances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, are
+pure and similar, as Principles ought to be, they must give me leave
+to believe my own senses; and their own confessions, before their bare
+Assertions. And that you may not (_Eleutherius_) think I deal so
+rigidly with them, because I scruple to Take these Productions of the
+Fire for such as the Chymists would have them pass for, upon the
+account of their having some affinity with them; consider a little
+with me, that in regard an Element or Principle ought to be perfectly
+Similar and Homogeneous, there is no just cause why I should rather
+give the body propos'd the Name of this or that Element or Principle,
+because it has a resemblance to it in some 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 consider
+what sleight and easily producible qualities they are that suffice, as
+I have already more then once observ'd, to Denominate a Chymical
+Principle or an Element, you'l not, I hope, think my wariness to be
+destitute either of Example, or else of Reason. For we see that the
+Chymists will not allow the _Aristotelians_ that the Salt in Ashes
+ought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Terrestrial part
+symbolize in weight, in dryness, in fixness and fusibility, only
+because the one is sapid and dissoluble in Water, and the other not:
+Besides, we see that sapidness and volatility are wont to denominate
+the Chymists Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you,
+may agree in those Qualities which may yet be of very differing
+natures, and disagree in qualities either more numerous, or more
+considerable, or both. For not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua Fortis,
+Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit of
+Vinager, and all Saline Liquors Distill'd from Animal Bodies, but all
+the Acetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All these, I
+say, and many others must belong to the Chymists Mercury, though it
+appear not why some of them should more be comprehended under one
+denomination then the Chymists Sulphur, or Oyle should likewise be;
+for their Distill'd Oyles are also Fluid, Volatile, and Tastable, as
+well as their Mercury; Nor is it Necessary, that their Sulphur should
+be Unctuous or Dissoluble in Water, since they generally referr Spirit
+of Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and will
+freely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability must constitute
+the Essence of the Chymists Sulphur; as uninflamablenesse joyned with
+any taste is enough to intitle a Distill'd Liquor to be their Mercury.
+Now since I can further observe to You, that Spirit of Nitre and
+Spirit of Harts-horne being pour'd together will boile and hisse and
+tosse up one another into the air, which the Chymists make signes of
+great Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed these Spirits
+differ much both in Taste, Smell, and Operations;) Since I elsewhere
+tell you of my having made two sorts of Oyle out of the same mans
+blood, that would not mingle with one another; And since I might tell
+You Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodies
+which according to the Chymists must be huddl'd up together under one
+Denomination; I leave you to Judge whether such a multitude of
+Substances as may agree in these sleight Qualities, and yet Disagree
+in Others more Considerable, are more worthy to be call'd by the Name
+of a Principle (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to have
+appellations given them that may make them differ, in name too, from
+the bodies from which they so wildly differ in Nature. And hence also,
+by the bye, you may perceive that 'tis not unreasonable to distrust
+the Chymists way of Argumentation, when being unable to shew us that
+such a Liquor is (for Example) purely saline, they prove, that at
+least salt is much the predominant principle, because that the
+propos'd substance is strongly tasted, and all Tast proceeds from
+salt; whereas those Spirits, such as spirit of Tartar, spirit of
+Harts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries of
+the Bodies that afford them, have manifestly a strong and piercing
+tast, and so has (according to what I formerly noted) the spirit of
+Box &c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr'd to compose it has
+been separated from it. And indeed, if sapidness belong not to the
+spirit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I scarce know
+how it will be discriminated from their phlegm, since by the absence
+of Inflamability it must be distinguish'd from their sulphur, which
+affords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the Chymical
+Doctrine is in our present Case; since not only the spirits of
+Vegitables and Animals, but their Oyles are very strongly tasted, as
+he that shall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or of
+Cloves, or even of Turpentine, may quickly find, to his smart. And not
+only I never try'd any Chymical Oyles whose tast was not very
+manifest and strong; but a skilful and inquisitive person who made it
+his business by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, and
+reduce them to an Elementary simplicity, Informes us, that he never
+was able to make them at all Tastless; whence I might inferr, that the
+proof Chymists confidently give us of a bodies being saline, is so far
+from demonstrating the Predominancy, that it does not clearly Evince
+so much as the presence of the saline Principle in it. But I will not
+(pursues _Carneades_) remind you, that the Volatile salt of
+Harts-horn, Amber, Blood, &c. are exceeding strongly scented,
+notwithstanding that most Chymists deduce Odours from Sulphur, and
+from them argue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorous
+body, because I must not so much as add any new Examples of the
+incompetency of this sort of Chymical arguments; since having already
+detain'd You but too long in those generals that appertain to my
+fourth consideration, 'tis time that I proceed to the particulars
+themselves, to which I thought fit they should be previous:
+
+These Generals (continues _Carneades_) being thus premis'd, we might
+the better survey the Unlikeness that an attentive and unprepossess'd
+observer may take notice of in each sort of Bodies which the Chymists
+are wont to call the salts or sulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretes
+that yield Them, as if they had all a simplicity, and Identity of
+Nature: whereas salts if they were all Elementary would as little
+differ as do the Drops of pure and simple Water. 'Tis known that both
+Chymists and Physitians ascribe to the fixt salts of calcin'd Bodies
+the vertues of their concretes; and consequently very differing
+Operations. So we find the _Alkali_ of Wormwood much commended in
+distempers of the stomach; that of Eyebright for those that have a
+weak sight; and that of _Guaiacum_ (of which a great Quantity yields
+but a very little salt) is not only much commended in Venereal
+Diseases, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, which
+yet I have not had occasion to try. And though, I confess, I have long
+thought, that these _Alkalizate_ salts are, for the most part, very
+neer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of the
+Concretes whence they were separated; Yet being minded to Observe
+watchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this General
+Observation, I observ'd at the Glasse-house, that sometimes the Metal
+(as the Workmen call it) or Masse of colliquated Ingredients, which by
+Blowing they fashion into Vessels of divers shapes, did sometimes
+prove of a very differing colour, and a somewhat differing Texture,
+from what was usuall. And having enquired whether the cause of such
+Accidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixt
+salt employ'd to bring the sand to fusion, I found that the knowingst
+Workmen imputed these Mis-adventures to the Ashes, of [Errata: Ashes
+off] some certain kind of Wood, as having observ'd the ignobler kind
+of Glass I lately mention'd to be frequently produc'd when they had
+employ'd such sorts of Ashes which therefore they scruple to make use
+of, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember also, that an
+Industrious Man of my acquaintance having bought a vast quantity of
+Tobacco stalks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curiosity to go see
+whether that Exotick Plant, which so much abounds in volatile salt,
+would afford a peculiar kind of _Alcali_; and I was pleas'd to find
+that in the _Lixivium_ of it, it was not necessary, as is usual, to
+evaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain'd a Saline Calx,
+consisting like lime quench'd in the Air of a heap of little
+Corpuscles of unregarded shapes; but the fixt salt shot into figur'd
+Crystal, almost as Nitre or _Sal-armoniack_ and other uncalcin'd salts
+are wont to do; And I further remember that I have observ'd in the
+fixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a tast not
+so unlike to that of common salt, and very differing from the wonted
+caustick Lixiviate tast of other salts made by Incineration. But
+because the Instances I have alledg'd of the Difference of
+_Alcalizate_ salt are but few, and therefore I am still inclin'd to
+think, that most Chymists and many Physitians do, inconsideratly
+enough and without Warrant from Experience, ascribe the Vertues of the
+Concretes expos'd to Calcination, to the salts obtain'd by it; I shall
+rather, to shew the Disparity of salts, mention in the first Place the
+apparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt salts and the Animal
+Volatile ones: As (for Example) betwixt salt of Tartar, and salt of
+Harts-horn; whereof the former is so fixt that 'twill indure the brunt
+of a violent Fire, and stand in fusion like a Metal; whereas the other
+(besides that it has a differing tast and a very differing smell) is
+so far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat as
+easily as Spirit of Wine it self. And to this I shall add, in the next
+place, That even among the Volatile salts themselves, there is a
+considerable Difference, as appears by the distinct Properties of (for
+Instance) salt of Amber, salt of Urine, salt of Mans Skull, (so much
+extoll'd against the falling Sicknesse) and divers others which cannot
+escape an ordinary Observer. And this Diversity of Volatile salts I
+have observ'd to be somtimes Discernable even to the Eye, in their
+Figures. For the salt of Harts-horn I have observ'd to adhere to the
+Receiver in the forme almost of a _Parallelipipedon_; and of the
+Volatile salt of humane blood (long digested before distillation, with
+spirit of Wine) I can shew you store of graines of that Figure which
+_Geometricians_ call a _Rhombus_; though I dare not undertake that
+the Figures of these or other Saline Crystals (if I may so call Them)
+will be alwaies the same, whatever degree of Fire have been employ'd
+to force them up, or how hastily soever they have been made to convene
+in the spirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have usually
+observ'd them after a while to shoot. And although, as I lately told
+You, I seldom found any Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixt
+Salts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have suspected that most
+of these volatile Salts, having so great a Resemblance in smell, in
+tast, and fugitiveness, 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 somewhat Diaphoretick and very
+Deopilative; [Errata: Deopilative)] Yet I remember _Helmont_[18]
+somewhere informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt the
+saline spirit of Urine and that of Mans blood, that the former will
+not cure the Epilepsy, but the Latter will. Of the Efficacy also of
+the Salt of Common Amber against the same Disease in Children, (for in
+Grown Persons it is not a specifick) I may elsewhere have an Occasion
+to Entertain You. And when I consider that to the obtaining of these
+Volatile Salts (especially that of Urine) there is not requisite such
+a Destructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get those Salts
+that must be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude,
+that they may differ from one another, and consequently recede from an
+Elementary Simplicity. And, if I could here shew You what Mr. _Boyle_
+has Observ'd, touching the Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts;
+You would quickly discern, not only that Chymists do give themselves a
+strange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to their
+own Rules to be look'd upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that among
+those very Salts that seem Elementary, because produc'd upon the
+Anatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a visible
+Disparity, but, to speak in the common Language, a manifest Antipathy
+or Contrariety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hissing that is
+wont to ensue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for Instance, is
+pour'd upon pot ashes, or Salt of Tartar. And I shall beg leave of
+this Gentleman, sayes _Carneades_, casting his Eyes on me, to let me
+observe to You out of some of his papers, particularly those wherein
+he treats of some Preparations of Urine, that not only one and the
+same body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he exemplifies
+in the Spirit and _Alkali_ of Nitre; but that from the same body there
+may without addition be obtain'd three differing and Visible Salts.
+For He Relates, that he observ'd in Urine, not only a Volatile and
+Crystalline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewise a kind of _Sal
+Armoniack_, or such a Salt as would sublime in the form of a salt, and
+therefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being so fugitive as the
+Volatile salt; from which it seem'd also otherwise to differ. I have
+indeed suspected that this may be a _Sal Armoniack_ properly enough so
+call'd, as Compounded of the Volatile salt of Urine, and the fixt of
+the same Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike sea-salt; but that
+it self argues a manifest Difference betwixt the salts, since such a
+Volatile salt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordinary _Alcali_, but
+to fly away from it in the Heat. And on this occasion I remember that,
+to give some of my Friends an Ocular proof of the difference betwixt
+the fixt and Volatile salt (of the same Concrete) Wood, I devis'd the
+following Experiment. I took common Venetian sublimate, and dissolv'd
+as much of it as I well could in fair Water: then I took Wood Ashes,
+and pouring on them Warme Water, Dissolv'd their salt; and filtrating
+the Water, as soon as I found the _Lixivium_ sufficiently sharp upon
+the tongue, I reserv'd it for use: Then on part of the former solution
+of sublimate dropping a little of this Dissolv'd Fixt salt of Wood,
+the Liquors presently turn'd of an Orange Colour; but upon the other
+part of the clear solution of sublimate putting some of the Volatile
+salt of Wood (which abounds in the spirit of soot) the Liquor
+immediately turn'd white, almost like Milke, and after a while let
+fall a white sediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To all
+this that I have said concerning the Difference of salts, I might add
+what I Formerly told you, concerning the simple spirit of Box, and
+such like Woods, which differ much from the other salts hitherto
+mention'd, and yet would belong to the saline Principle, if Chymists
+did truly teach that all Tasts proceed from it. And I might also
+annex, what I noted to you out of _Helmont_[19] concerning Bodies,
+which, though they consist in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yet
+appear but Volatile salts; But to insist on these things, were to
+repeat; and therefore I shall proceed.
+
+[Footnote 18: _Error vero per distillationem nobis monstrat etiam
+Spiritum salinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gustu
+distinguibilem a spiritu Urinae; In eo tamen essentialiter diversum,
+quod spiritus talis cruoris curat Epilepsiam, non autem Spiritus salis
+lotii._ Helmont. Aura Vitalis.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Aliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &c. suo sali Alcali miscetur
+absque omni aqua, trium mensium Artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
+totum in salem volatilem commutatum est. Helmont. Tria Prima
+Chymicorum, &c. pag. 412._]
+
+This Disparity is also highly eminent in the separated sulphurs or
+Chymical Oyles of things. For they contain so much of the scent, and
+tast, and vertues, of the Bodies whence they were drawn, that they
+seem to be but the Material _Crasis_ (if I may so speak) of their
+Concretes. Thus the Oyles of Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmegs and other
+spices, seem to be but the United Aromatick parts that did ennoble
+those Bodies. And 'tis a known thing, that Oyl of Cinnamon, and oyle
+of Cloves, (which I have likewise observ'd in the Oyles of several
+Woods) will sink to the Bottom of Water: whereas those of Nutmegs and
+divers other Vegetables will swim upon it. The Oyle (abusively call'd
+spirit) of Roses swims at the Top of the Water in the forme of a white
+butter, which I remember not to have observ'd in any other Oyle drawn
+in any Limbeck; yet there is a way (not here to be declar'd) by which
+I have seen it come over in the forme of other Aromatick Oyles, to the
+Delight and Wonder of those that beheld it. In Oyle of Anniseeds,
+which I drew both with, and without Fermentation, I observ'd the whole
+Body of the Oyle in a coole place to thicken into the Consistence and
+Appearance of white Butter, which with the least heat resum'd its
+Former Liquidness. In the Oyl of Olive drawn over in a Retort, I have
+likewise more then once seen a spontaneous Coagulation in the
+Receiver: And I have of it by me thus Congeal'd; which is of such a
+strangely Penetrating scent, as if 'twould Perforate the Noses that
+approach it. The like pungent Odour I also observ'd in the Distill'd
+Liquor of common sope, which forc'd over from _Minium_, lately
+afforded an oyle of a most admirable Penetrancy; And he must be a
+great stranger, both to the Writings and preparations of Chymists,
+that sees not in the Oyles they distill from Vegetables and Animals, a
+considerable and obvious Difference. Nay I shall venture to add,
+_Eleutherius_, (what perhaps you will think of kin to a Paradox) that
+divers times out of the same Animal or Vegetable, there may be
+extracted Oyles of Natures obviously differing. To which purpose I
+shall not insist on the swimming and sinking Oyles, which I have
+sometimes observ'd to float on, and subside under the spirit of
+_Guajacum_, and that of divers other Vegetables Distill'd with a
+strong and lasting Fire; Nor shall I insist on the observation
+elsewhere mention'd, of the divers and unminglable oyles afforded us
+by Humane Blood long fermented and Digested with spirit of Wine,
+because these kind of oyles may seem chiefly to differ in Consistence
+and Weight, being all of them high colour'd and adust. But the
+Experiment which I devis'd to make out this Difference of the oyles of
+the same Vegetable, _ad Oculum_, (as they speak) was this that
+followes. I took a pound of Annisseeds, and having grosly beaten them,
+caused them to be put into a very large glass Retort almost filled
+with fair Water; and placing this Retort in a sand Furnace, I caus'd a
+very Gentle heat to be administer'd during the first day, and a great
+part of the second, till the Water was for the most part drawn off,
+and had brought over with it at least most of the Volatile and
+Aromatick Oyle of the seeds. And then encreasing the Fire, and
+changing the Receiver, I obtain'd besides an Empyreumatical Spirit, a
+quantity of adust oyle; whereof a little floated upon the Spirit, and
+the rest was more heavy, and not easily separable from it. And whereas
+these oyles were very dark, and smell'd (as Chymists speak) so
+strongly of the Fire, that their Odour did not betray from what
+Vegetables they had been forc'd; the other _Aromatick_ Oyle was
+enrich'd with the genuine smell and tast of the Concrete; and
+spontaneously coagulating it self into white butter did manifest self
+[Errata: it self] to be the true Oyle of Annisseeds; which Concrete I
+therefore chose to employ about this Experiment, that the Difference
+of these Oyles might be more conspicuous then it would have been, had
+I instead of it destill'd another Vegetable.
+
+I had almost forgot to take notice, that there is another sort of
+Bodies, which though not obtain'd from Concretes by Distillation, many
+Chymists are wont to call their Sulphur; not only because such
+substances are, for the most part, high colour'd (whence they are
+also, and that more properly, called Tinctures) as dissolv'd Sulphurs
+are wont to be; but especially because they are, for the most part,
+abstracted and separated from the rest of the Masse by Spirit of Wine:
+which Liquor those men supposing to be Sulphureous, they conclude,
+that what it works upon, and abstracts, must be a Sulphur also. And
+upon this account they presume, that they can sequester the sulphur
+even of Minerals and Metalls; from which 'tis known that they cannot
+by Fire alone separate it. To all This I shall answer; That if these
+sequestred substances where indeed the sulphurs of the Bodies whence
+they are drawn, there would as well be a great Disparity betwixt
+Chymical Sulphurs obtain'd by Spirit of Wine, as I have already shewn
+there is betwixt those obtain'd by Distillation in the forme of Oyles:
+which will be evident from hence, that not to urge that themselves
+ascribe distinct vertues to Mineral Tinctures, extolling the Tincture
+of Gold against such and such Diseases; the Tincture of Antimony, or
+of its Glass, against others; and the Tincture of Emerauld against
+others; 'tis plain, that in Tinctures drawn from Vegetables, if the
+superfluous spirit of Wine be distill'd off, it leaves at the bottom
+that thicker substance which Chymists use to call the Extract of the
+Vegetable. And that these Extracts are endow'd with very differing
+Qualities according to the Nature of the Particular Bodies that
+afforded them (though I fear seldom with so much of the specifick
+vertues as is wont to be imagin'd) is freely confess'd both by
+Physitians and Chymists. But, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) we
+may here take Notice that the Chymists do as well in this case, as in
+many others, allow themselves a License to abuse Words: For not again
+to argue from the differing properties of Tinctures, that they are not
+exactly pure and Elementary Sulphurs; they would easily appear not to
+be so much as Sulphur's, although we should allow Chymical Oyles to
+deserve that Name. For however in some Mineral Tinctures the Natural
+fixtness of the extracted Body does not alwayes suffer it to be easily
+further resoluble into differing substances; Yet in very many extracts
+drawn from Vegetables, it may very easily be manifested that the
+spirit of Wine has not sequestred the sulphureous Ingredient from the
+saline and Mercurial ones; but has dissolv'd (for I take it to be a
+Solution) the finer Parts of the Concrete (without making any nice
+distinction of their being perfectly Sulphureous or not) and united it
+self with them into a kind of Magistery; which consequently must
+contain Ingredients or Parts of several sorts. For we see that the
+stones that are rich in vitriol, being often drench'd with
+rain-Water, the Liquor will then extract a fine and transparent
+substance coagulable into Vitriol; and yet though this Vitriol be
+readily dissoluble in Water, it is not a true Elementary Salt, but, as
+You know, a body resoluble into very differing Parts, whereof one (as
+I shall have occasion to tell You anon) is yet of a Metalline, and
+consequently not of an Elementary Nature. You may consider also, that
+common Sulphur is readily dissoluble in Oyle of Turpentine, though
+notwithstanding its Name it abounds as well, if not as much, in Salt
+as in true Sulphur; witness the great quantity of saline Liquor it
+affords being set to flame away under a glasse Bell. Nay I have, which
+perhaps You will think strange, with the same Oyle of Turpentine alone
+easily enough dissolv'd crude Antimony finely powder'd into a
+Blood-red Balsam, wherewith perhaps considerable things may be
+perform'd in Surgery. And if it were now Requisite, I could tell You
+of some other Bodies (such as Perhaps You would not suspect) that I
+have been able to work upon with certain Chymical Oyles. But instead
+of digressing further I shall make this use of the Example I have
+nam'd. That 'tis not unlikely, but that Spirit of Wine which by its
+pungent tast, and by some other Qualities that argue it better
+(especially its Reduciblenesse, according to _Helmont_, into _Alcali_,
+and Water,) seems to be as well of a Saline as of a Sulphureous
+Nature, may well be suppos'd Capable of Dissolving Substances That are
+not meerly Elementary sulphurs, though perhaps they may abound with
+Parts that are of kin thereunto. For I find that Spirit of Wine will
+dissolve _Gumm Lacca_, _Benzoine_, and the _Resinous_ Parts of
+_Jallap_, and even of _Guaiacum_; whence we may well suspect that it
+may from Spices, Herbs, and other lesse compacted Vegetables, extract
+substances that are not perfect Sulphurs but mixt Bodies. And to put
+it past Dispute, there is many a Vulgar Extract drawn with Spirit of
+Wine, which committed to Distillation will afford such differing
+substances as will Loudly proclaim it to have been a very compounded
+Body. So that we may justly suspect, that even in Mineral Tinctures it
+will not alwaies follow, that because a red substance is drawn from
+the Concrete by spirit of Wine, that Substance is its true and
+Elementary Sulphur. And though some of these Extracts may perhaps be
+inflamable; Yet besides that others are not, and besides that their
+being reduc'd to such Minuteness of Parts may much facilitate their
+taking Fire; besides this, I say, We see that common Sulphur, common
+Oyle, Gumm Lac, and many Unctuous and Resinous Bodies, will flame well
+enough, though they be of very compounded natures: Nay Travellers of
+Unsuspected Credit assure Us, as a known thing, that in some Northern
+Countries where Firr trees and Pines abound, the poorer sort of
+Inhabitants use Long splinters of those Resinous Woods to burne
+instead of Candles. And as for the rednesse wont to be met with in
+such solutions, I could easily shew, that 'tis not necessary it should
+proceed from the Sulphur of the Concrete, Dissolv'd by the Spirit of
+Wine; if I had leasure to manifest how much Chymists are wont to
+delude themselves and others by the Ignorance of those other causes
+upon whose account spirit of Wine and other _Menstruums_ may acquire
+a red or some other high colour. But to returne to our Chymical Oyles,
+supposing that they were exactly pure; Yet I hope they would be, as
+the best spirit of Wine is, but the more inflamable and deflagrable.
+And therefore since an Oyle can be by the Fire alone immediately
+turn'd into flame, which is something of a very differing Nature from
+it: I shall Demand how this Oyle can be a Primogeneal and
+Incorruptible Body, as most Chymists would have their Principles;
+Since it is further resoluble into flame, which whether or no it be a
+portion of the Element of Fire, as an _Aristotelian_ would conclude,
+is certainly something of a very differing Nature from a Chymical
+Oyle, since it burnes, and shines, and mounts swiftly upwards; none of
+which a Chymical Oyle does, whilst it continues such. And if it should
+be Objected, that the Dissipated Parts of this flaming Oyle may be
+caught and collected again into Oyl or Sulphur; I shall demand, what
+Chymist appears to have ever done it; and without Examining whether it
+may not hence be as well said that sulphur is but compacted Fire, as
+that Fire is but diffus'd Sulphur, I shall leave you to consider
+whether it may not hence be argu'd, that neither Fire nor Sulphur are
+primitive and indestructible Bodies; and I shall further observe that,
+at least it will hence appear that a portion of matter may without
+being Compounded with new Ingredients, by having the Texture and
+Motion of its small parts chang'd, be easily, by the means of the
+Fire, endow'd with new Qualities, more differing from them it had
+before, then are those which suffice to discriminate the Chymists
+Principles from one another.
+
+We are next to Consider, whether in the Anatomy of mixt Bodies, that
+which Chymists call the Mercurial part of them be un-compounded, or
+no. But to tell You True, though Chymists do Unanimously affirm that
+their Resolutions discover a Principle, which they call Mercury, yet I
+find them to give of it Descriptions so Differing, and so
+AEnigmaticall, that I, who am not asham'd to confess that I cannot
+understand what is not sence, must acknowledge to you that I know not
+what to make of them. _Paracelsus_ himself, and therefore, as you
+will easily believe, many of his Followers, does somewhere call that
+Mercury which ascends upon the burning of Wood, as the Peripateticks
+are wont to take the same smoke for Air; and so seems to define
+Mercury by Volatility, or (if I may coyne such a Word) Effumability.
+But since, in this Example, both Volatile Salt and Sulphur make part
+of the smoke, which does indeed consist also both of Phlegmatick and
+Terrene Corpuscles, this Notion is not to be admitted; And I find that
+the more sober Chymists themselves disavow it. Yet to shew you how
+little of clearness we are to expect in the accounts even of latter
+_Spagyrists_, be pleas'd to take notice, that _Beguinus_, even in his
+_Tyrocinium Chymicum_,[20] written for the Instruction of Novices,
+when he comes to tell us what are meant by the _Tria Prima_, which for
+their being Principles ought to be defin'd the more accurately and
+plainly, gives us this Description of Mercury; _Mercurius_ (sayes he)
+_est liquor ille acidus, permeabilis, penetrabilis, aethereus, ac
+purissimus, a quo omnis Nutricatio, Sensus, Motus, Vires, Colores,
+Senectutisque Praeproperae retardatio._ Which words are not so much a
+Definition of it, as an _Encomium_: and yet _Quercetanus_ in his
+Description of the same Principle adds to these, divers other
+_Epithets_. But both of them, to skip very many other faults that may
+be found with their Metaphoricall Descriptions, speak incongruously to
+the Chymists own Principles. For if Mercury be an Acid Liquor, either
+Hermetical Philosophy must err in ascribing all Tasts to Salt, or else
+Mercury must not be a Principle, but Compounded of a Saline Ingredient
+and somewhat else. _Libavius_, though he find great fault with the
+obscurity of what the Chymists write concerning their Mercurial
+Principle, does yet but give us such a Negative Description of it, as
+_Sennertus_, how favourable soever to the _Tria Prima_, is not
+satisfi'd with. And this _Sennertus_ Himself, though the Learnedst
+Champion for the Hypostatical Principles, does almost as frequently as
+justly complain of the unsatisfactoriness of what the Chymists teach
+concerning their Mercury; and yet he himself (but with his wonted
+modesty) Substitutes instead of the Description of _Libavius_,
+another, which many Readers, especially if they be not Peripateticks,
+will not know what to make of. For scarce telling us any more, then
+that in all bodies that which is found besides Salt and Sulphur, and
+the Elements, or, as they call them, Phlegm and Dead Earth, is that
+Spirit which in _Aristotles_ Language may be call'd [Greek: ousian
+analogon [Errata: ousia analogos] to ton astron stoichaio [Errata:
+astron stoicheio]]. He sayes that which I confess is not at all
+satisfactory to me, who do not love to seem to acquiesce in any mans
+Mystical Doctrines, that I may be thought to understand them.
+
+[Footnote 20: _Chm. Tyrocin. lib. 1. Cap. 2._]
+
+If (sayes _Eleutherius_) I durst presume that the same thing would be
+thought clear by me, and those that are fond of such cloudy
+Expressions as You justly Tax the Chymists for, I should venture to
+offer to Consideration, whether or no, since the Mercurial Principle
+that arises from Distillation is unanimously asserted to be distinct
+from the salt and Sulphur of the same Concrete, that may not be call'd
+the Mercury of a Body, which though it ascend in Distillation, as do
+the Phlegme and Sulphur, is neither insipid like the former, nor
+inflamable like the latter. And therefore I would substitute to the
+too much abused Name of Mercury, the more clear and Familiar
+Appellation of Spirit, which is also now very much made use of even by
+the Chymists themselves, of our times, though they have not given us
+so Distinct an Explication, as were fit, of what may be call'd the
+Spirit of a mixt Body.
+
+I should not perhaps (sayes _Carneades_) much quarrel with your Notion
+of Mercury. But as for the Chymists, what they can mean, with
+congruity to their own Principles, by the Mercury of Animals and
+Vegetables, 'twill not be so easie to find out; for they ascribe Tasts
+only to the Saline Principle, and consequently would be much put to it
+to shew what Liquor it is, in the Resolution of Bodies, that not being
+insipid, for that they call Phlegme, neither is inflamable as Oyle or
+Sulphur, nor has any Tast; which according to them must proceed from a
+Mixture, at least, of Salt. And if we should take Spirit in the sence
+of the Word receiv'd among Modern Chymists and Physitians, for any
+Distill'd Liquor that is neither Phlegme nor oyle, the Appellation
+would yet appear Ambiguous enough. For, plainly, that which first
+ascends in the Distillation of Wine and Fermented Liquors, is
+generally as well by Chymists as others reputed a Spirit. And yet pure
+Spirit of Wine being wholly inflamable ought according to them to be
+reckon'd to the Sulphureous, not the Mercurial Principle. And among
+the other Liquors that go under the name of Spirits, there are divers
+which seem to belong to the family of Salts, such 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 suspected to be but a Volatile
+Salt disguis'd by the Phlegme mingl'd with it into the forme of a
+Liquor. However if this be a Spirit, it manifestly differs very much
+from that of Vinager, the Tast of the one being Acid, and the other
+Salt, and their Mixture in case they be very pure, sometimes
+occasioning an Effervescence like that of those Liquors the Chymists
+count most contrary to one another. And even among those Liquors that
+seem to have a better title then those hitherto mention'd, to the name
+of Spirits, there appears a sensible Diversity; For spirit of Oak, for
+instance, differs from that of Tartar, and this from that of Box, or
+of _Guaiacum_. And in short, even these spirits as well as other
+Distill'd Liquors manifest a great Disparity betwixt themselves,
+either in their Actions on our senses, or in their other operations.
+
+And (continues _Carneades_) besides this Disparity that is to be met
+with among those Liquors that the Modernes call spirits, & take for
+similar bodies, what I have formerly told you concerning the Spirit of
+Box-wood may let you see that some of those Liquors not only have
+qualities very differing from others, but may be further resolved into
+substances differing from one another.
+
+And since many moderne Chymists and other Naturalists are pleased to
+take the Mercurial spirit of Bodies for the same Principle, under
+differing names, I must invite you to observe, with me, the great
+difference that is conspicuous betwixt all the Vegetable and Animal
+spirits I have mention'd and running Mercury. I speak not of that
+which is commonly sold in shops that many of themselves will confesse
+to be a mixt Body; but of that which is separated from Metals, which
+by some Chymists that seem more Philosophers then the rest, and
+especially by the above mentioned _Claveus_, is (for distinction sake)
+called _Mercurius Corporum_. Now this Metalline Liquor being one of
+those three Principles of which Mineral Bodies are by _Spagyrists_
+affirmed to be compos'd and to be resoluble into them, the many
+notorious Differences betwixt them and the Mercuries, as They call
+Them, of Vegetables and Animals will allow me to inferr, either that
+Minerals and the other two sorts of Mixt Bodies consist not of the
+same Elements, or that those Principles whereinto Minerals are
+immediately resolved, which Chymists with great ostentation shew us as
+the true principles, of them, are but Secundary Principles, or Mixts
+of a peculiar sort, which must be themselves reduc'd to a very
+differing forme, to be of the same kind with Vegetable and Animal
+Liquors.
+
+But this is not all; for although I formerly told You how Little
+Credit there is to be given to the Chymical Processes commonly to be
+met with, of Extracting the Mercuries of Metals, Yet I will now add,
+that supposing that the more Judicious of Them do not untruly affirme
+that they have really drawn true and running Mercury from several
+Metals (which I wish they had cleerly taught Us how to do also,) yet
+it may be still doubted whether such extracted Mercuries do not as
+well differ from common Quicksilver, and from one another, as from the
+Mercuries of Vegetables and Animalls. _Claveus_,[21] in his Apology,
+speaking of some _experiments_ whereby Metalline Mercuries may be fixt
+into the nobler metals, adds, that he spake of the Mercuries drawn
+from metals; because common Quicksilver by reason of its excessive
+coldnesse and moisture is unfit for that particular kind of operation;
+for which though a few lines before he prescribes in general the
+Mercuries of Metalline Bodies, yet he chiefly commends that drawn by
+art from silver. And elsewhere, in the same Book, he tells us, that
+he himself tryed, that by bare coction the quicksilver of Tin or
+Pewter (_argentum vivum ex stanno prolicitum_) may by an efficient
+cause, as he speaks, be turn'd into pure Gold. And the Experienc'd
+_Alexander van Suchten_, somewhere 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 shall add, that an eminent
+person, whose name his travells and learned writings have made famous,
+lately assur'd me that he had more then once seen the Mercury of Lead
+(which whatever Authors promise, you will find it very difficult to
+make, at least in any considerable quantity) fixt into perfect Gold.
+And being by me demanded whether or no any other Mercury would not as
+well have been changed by the same Operations, he assured me of the
+Negative.
+
+[Footnote 21: _Dixi autem de argento vivo a metallis prolicito, quod
+vulgare ob nimiam frigiditatem & humiditatem nimium concoctioni est
+contumax, nec ab auro solum alterato coerceri potest._ Gast. Clave. in
+Apoll.]
+
+And since I am fallen upon the mention of the Mercuries of metals, you
+will perhaps expect (_Eleutherius_!) that I should say something of
+their two other principles; but must freely confess to you, that what
+Disparity there may be between the salts and sulphurs of Metals and
+other Menerals [Transcriber's Note: Minerals], I am not my self
+experienced enough in the separations and examens of them, to venture
+to determine: (for as for the salts of Metals, I formerly represented
+it as a thing much to be question'd, whether they have any at all:)
+And for the processes of separation I find in Authors, if they were
+(what many of them are not) successfully practicable, as I noted
+above, yet they are to be performed by the assistance of other bodies,
+so hardly, if upon any termes at all, separable from them, that it is
+very difficult to give the separated principles all their due, and no
+more. But the Sulphur of Antimony which is vehemently vomitive, and
+the strongly scented Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol inclines me to think
+that not only Mineral Sulphurs differ from Vegetable ones, but also
+from one another, retaining much of the nature of their Concretes. The
+salts of metals, and of some sort of minerals, You will easily guesse
+by [Errata: (by] the Doubts I formerly express'd, whether metals have
+any salt at all [Errata: all)], that I have not been so happy as yet
+to see, perhaps not for want of curiosity. But if _Paracelsus_ did
+alwaies write so consentaneously to himself that his opinion were
+_confidently_ to be collected from every place of his writings where
+he seems to expresse it, I might safely take upon me to tell you, that
+he both countenances in general what I have delivered in my Fourth
+main consideration, and in particular warrants me to suspect that
+there may be a difference in metalline and mineral Salts, as well as
+we find it in those of other bodies. For, _Sulphur_ (sayes he)[22]
+_aliud in auro, aliud in argento, aliud in ferro, aliud in plumbo,
+stanno, &c. sic aliud in Saphiro, aliud in Smaragdo, aliud in rubino,
+chrysolito, amethisto, magnete, &c. Item aliud in lapidibus, silice,
+salibus, fontibus, &c. nec vero tot sulphura tantum, sed & totidem
+salia; sal aliud in metallis, aliud in gemmis, aliud in lapidibus,
+aliud in salibus, aliud in vitriolo, aliud in alumine: similis etiam
+Mercurii est ratio. Alius in Metallis, alius in Gemmis, &c. Ita ut
+unicuique speciei suus peculiaris Mercurius sit. Et tamen res saltem
+tres sunt; una essentia est sulphur; una est sal; una est Mercurius.
+Addo quod & specialius adhuc singula dividantur; aurum enim non unum,
+sed multiplex, ut et non unum pyrum, pomum, sed idem multiplex;
+totidem etiam sulphura auri, salia auri, mercurii auri; idem competit
+etiam metallis & gemmis; ut quot saphyri praestantiores, laevioris, &c.
+tot etiam saphyrica sulphura, saphyrica salia, saphyrici Mercurii, &c.
+Idem verum etiam est de turconibus & gemmis aliis universis._ From
+which passage (_Eleutherius_) I suppose you will think I might without
+rashness conclude, either that my opinion is favoured by that of
+_Paracelsus_, or that _Paracelsus_ his opinion was not alwaies the
+same. But because in divers other places of his writings he seems to
+talk at a differing rate of the three Principles and the four
+Elements, I shall content my self to inferr from the alledg'd passage,
+that if his doctrine be not consistent with that Part of mine which it
+is brought to countenance, it is very difficult to know what his
+opinion concerning salt, sulphur and mercury, was; and that
+consequently we had reason about the beginning of our conferences, to
+decline taking upon us, either to examine or oppose it.
+
+[Footnote 22: Paracel. de Mineral. Tract. 1. pag. 141.]
+
+I know not whether I should on this occasion add, that those very
+bodies the Chymists call Phlegme and Earth do yet recede from an
+Elementary simplicity. That common Earth and Water frequently do so,
+notwithstanding the received contrary opinion, is not deny'd by the
+more wary of the moderne Peripateticks themselves: and certainly, most
+Earths are much lesse simple bodies then is commonly imagined even by
+Chymists, who do not so consideratly to prescribe and employ Earths
+Promiscuously in those distillations that require the mixture of some
+_caput mortuum_, to hinder the flowing together of the matter, and to
+retain its grosser parts. For I have found some Earths to yield by
+distillation a Liquor very far from being inodorous or insipid; and
+'tis a known observation, that most kinds of fat Earth kept cover'd
+from the rain, and hindred from spending themselves in the production
+of vegetables, will in time become impregnated with Salt-Petre.
+
+But I must remember that the Water and Earths I ought here to speak
+of, are such as are separated from mixt Bodies by the fire; and
+therefore to restrain my Discourse to such, I shall tell you, That we
+see the Phlegme of Vitriol (for instance) is a very effectual remedie
+against burnes; and I know a very Famous and experienc'd _Physitian_,
+whose unsuspected secret (himself confess'd to me) it is, for the
+discussing of hard and Obstinate Tumours. The Phlegme of Vinager,
+though drawn exceeding leasurly in a digesting Furnace, I have
+purposely made tryall of; and sometimes found it able to draw, though
+slowly, a saccharine sweetness out of Lead; and as I remember by long
+Digestion, I dissolv'd Corpals [Errata: Corals] in it. The Phlegme of
+the sugar of Saturne is said to have very peculiar properties. Divers
+Eminent Chymists teach, that it will dissolve Pearls, which being
+precipitated by the spirit of the same concrete are thereby (as they
+say) rendred volatile; which has been confirmed to me, upon his own
+observation, by a person of great veracity. The Phlegme of Wine, and
+indeed divers other Liquors that are indiscriminately condemnd to be
+cast away as phlegm, are endow'd with qualities that make them differ
+both from meer water, and from each other; and whereas the Chymists
+are pleas'd to call the _caput mortuum_ of what they have distill'd
+(after they have by affusion of water drawn away its salt) _terra
+damnata_, or Earth, it may be doubted whether or no those earths are
+all of them perfectly alike: and it is scarce to be doubted, but that
+there are some of them which remain yet unreduc'd to an Elementary
+nature. The ashes of wood depriv'd of all the salt, and bone-Ashes, or
+calcin'd Harts-horn, which Refiners choose to make Tests of, as freest
+from Salt, seem unlike: and he that shall compare either of these
+insipid ashes to Lime, and much more to the _calx_ of Talk
+[Transcriber's Note: Talck] (though by the affusion of water they be
+exquisitely dulcify'd) will perhaps see cause to think them things of
+a somewhat differing nature. And it is evident in Colcothar that the
+exactest calcination, follow'd by an exquisite dulcification, does not
+alwaies reduce the remaining body into elementary earth; for after the
+salt or Vitriol (if the Calcination have been too faint) is drawn out
+of the Colcothar, the residue is not earth, but a mixt body, rich in
+Medical vertues (as experience has inform'd me) and which _Angelus
+Sala_ affirmes to be partly reducible into malleable Copper; which I
+judge very probable: for though when I was making Experiments upon
+Colcothar, I was destitute of a Furnace capable of giving a heat
+intense Enough to bring such a Calx to Fusion; yet having conjectur'd
+that if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find it
+out there, I put some dulcifi'd Colcothar into that _Menstruum_, and
+found the Liquor, according to my Expectation, presently Colour'd as
+Highly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Copper.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
+
+_The Fifth Part._
+
+
+Here _Carneades_ making a pause, I must not deny (sayes his Friend to
+him) that I think You have sufficiently prov'd that these distinct
+Substances which Chymists are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, by
+their Vulgar Destillation, are not pure and simple enough to deserve,
+in Rigour of speaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But I
+suppose You have heard, that there are some Modern _Spagyrists_, who
+give out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, so
+reduce the separated Ingredients of Mixt Bodies to an Elementary
+simplicity, That the Oyles (for Instance) extracted from all Mixts
+shall as perfectly resemble one another, as the Drops of Water do.
+
+If you remember (replies _Carneades_) that at the Beginning of our
+Conference with _Philoponus_, I declar'd to him before the rest of the
+Company, that I would not _engage_ my self at present to do any more
+then examine the usual proofs alledg'd by Chymists, for the Vulgar
+doctrine of their three Hypostatical Principles; You will easily
+perceive that I am not oblig'd to make answer to what you newly
+propos'd; and that it rather grants, then disproves what I have been
+contending for: Since by pretending to make so great a change in the
+reputed Principles that Destillation affords the common _Spagyrists_,
+'tis plainly enough presuppos'd, that before such Artificial
+Depurations be made, the Substances to be made more simple were not
+yet simple enough to be look'd upon as Elementary; Wherefore in case
+the _Artists_ you speak of could perform what they give out they can,
+yet I should not need to be asham'd of having question'd the Vulgar
+Opinion touching the _tria Prima_. And as to the thing it self, I
+shall freely acknowledge to you, that I love not to be forward in
+determining things to be impossible, till I know and have consider'd
+the means by which they are propos'd to be effected. And therefore I
+shall not peremptorily deny either the possibility of what these
+_Artists_ promise, or my Assent to any just Inference; however
+destructive to my Conjectures, that may be drawn from their
+performances. But give me leave to tell you withall, that because such
+promises are wont (as Experience has more then once inform'd me) to be
+much more easily made, then made good by Chymists, I must withhold my
+Beliefe from their assertions, till their Experiments exact it; and
+must not be so easie as to expect before hand, an unlikely thing upon
+no stronger Inducements then are yet given me: Besides that I have not
+yet found by what I have heard of these Artists, that though they
+pretend to bring the several Substances into which the Fire has
+divided the Concrete, to an exquisite simplicity, They pretend also to
+be able by the Fire to divide all Concretes, Minerals, and others,
+into the same number of Distinct Substances. And in the mean time I
+must think it improbable, that they can either truly separate as many
+differing Bodies from Gold (for Instance) or _Osteocolla_, as we can
+do from Wine, or Vitriol; or that the Mercury (for Example) of Gold or
+Saturn would be perfectly of the same Nature with that of Harts-horn;
+and that the sulphur of Antimony would be but Numerically different
+from the Distill'd butter or oyle of Roses.
+
+But suppose (sayes _Eleutherius_) that you should meet with Chymists,
+who would allow you to take in Earth and Water into the number of the
+principles of Mixt Bodies; and being also content to change the
+Ambiguous Name of Mercury for that more intelligible one of spirit,
+should consequently make the principles of Compound Bodies to be Five;
+would you not think it something hard to reject so plausible an
+Opinion, only because the Five substances into which the Fire divides
+mixt Bodies are not exactly pure, and Homogeneous? For my part
+(Continues _Carneades_) I cannot but think it somewhat strange, in
+case this Opinion be not true, that it should fall out so luckily,
+that so great a Variety of Bodies should be Analyz'd by the Fire into
+just five Distinct substances; which so little differing from the
+Bodies that bear those names, may so Plausibly be call'd Oyle, Spirit,
+Salt, Water, and Earth.
+
+The Opinion You now propose (answers _Carneades_) being another then
+that I was engag'd to examine, it is not requisite for me to Debate it
+at present; nor should I have leisure to do it thorowly. Wherefore I
+shall only tell you in General, that though I think this Opinion in
+some respects more defensible then that of the Vulgar Chymists; yet
+you may easily enough learn from the past Discourse what may be
+thought of it: Since many of the Objections made against the Vulgar
+Doctrine of the Chymists seem, without much alteration, employable
+against this _Hypothesis_ also. For, besides that this Doctrine does
+as well as the other take it for granted, (what is not easie to be
+prov'd) that the Fire is the true and Adequate Analyzer of Bodies,
+and that all the Distinct substances obtainable from a mixt Body by
+the Fire, were so pre-existent in it, that they were but extricated
+from each other by the _Analysis_; Besides that this Opinion, too,
+ascribe [Errata: ascribes] to the Productions of the Fire an
+Elementary simplicity, which I have shewn not to belong to them; and
+besides that this Doctrine is lyable to some of the other
+Difficulties, wherewith That of the _Tria Prima_ is incumber'd;
+Besides all this, I say, this quinary number of Elements, (if you
+pardon the Expression) ought at least to have been restrain'd to the
+Generality of Animal and Vegetable Bodies, since not only among these
+there are some Bodies (as I formerly argu'd) which, for ought has yet
+been made to appear, do consist, either of fewer or more similar
+substances then precisely Five. But in the Mineral Kingdom, there is
+scarce one Concrete that has been evinc'd to be adequatly divisible
+into such five Principles or Elements, and neither more nor less, as
+this Opinion would have every mixt Body to consist of.
+
+And this very thing (continues _Carneades_) may serve to take away or
+lessen your Wonder, that just so many Bodies as five should be found
+upon the Resolution of Concretes. For since we find not that the fire
+can make any such _Analysis_ (into five Elements) of Metals and other
+Mineral Bodies, whose Texture is more strong and permanent, it remains
+that the Five Substances under consideration be Obtain'd from
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies, which (probably by reason of their looser
+Contexture) are capable of being Distill'd. And as to such Bodies,
+'tis natural enough, that, whether we suppose that there are, or are
+not, precisely five Elements, there should ordinarily occurr in the
+Dissipated parts a five Fold Diversity of Scheme (if I may so speak.)
+For if the Parts do not remain all fix'd, as in Gold, Calcin'd Talck,
+&c. nor all ascend, as in the Sublimation of Brimstone, Camphire, &c.
+but after their Dissipation do associate themselves into new Schemes
+of Matter; it is very likely, that they will by the Fire be divided
+into fix'd and Volatile (I mean, in Reference to that degree of heat
+by which they are destill'd) and those Volatile parts will, for the
+most part, ascend either in a dry forme, which Chymists are pleas'd to
+call, if they be Tastless, Flowers; if Sapid, Volatile Salt; or in a
+Liquid Forme. And this Liquor must be either inflamable, and so pass
+for oyl, or not inflamable, and yet subtile and pungent, which may be
+call'd Spirit; or else strengthless or insipid, which may be nam'd
+Phlegme, or Water. And as for the fixt part, or _Caput Mortuum_, it
+will most commonly consist of Corpuscles, partly Soluble in Water, or
+Sapid, (especially if the Saline parts were not so Volatile, as to fly
+away before) which make up its fixt salt; and partly insoluble and
+insipid, which therefore seems to challenge the name of Earth. But
+although upon this ground one might easily enough have foretold, that
+the differing substances obtain'd from a perfectly mixt Body by the
+Fire would for the most part be reducible to the five newly mentioned
+States of Matter; yet it will not presently follow, that these five
+Distinct substances were simple and primogeneal bodies, so
+pre-existent in the Concrete that the fire does but take them asunder.
+Besides that it does not appear, that all Mixt Bodies, (witness,
+Gold, Silver, Mercury, &c.) Nay nor perhaps all Vegetables, which may
+appear by what we said above of _Camphire_, _Benzoin_, &c. are
+resoluble by Fire into just such differing Schemes of Matter. Nor will
+the Experiments formerly alledg'd permit us to look upon these
+separated Substances as Elementary, or uncompounded. Neither will it
+be a sufficient Argument of their being Bodies that deserve the Names
+which Chymists are pleas'd to give them, that they have an Analogy in
+point of Consistence, or either Volatility or Fixtness, or else some
+other obvious Quality, with the suppos'd Principles, whose names are
+ascrib'd to them. For, as I told you above, notwithstanding this
+Resemblance in some one Quality, there may be such a Disparity in
+others, as may be more fit to give them Differing Appellations, then
+the Resemblance is to give them one and the same. And indeed it seems
+but somewhat a gross Way of judging of the Nature of Bodies, to
+conclude without Scruple, that those must be of the same Nature that
+agree in some such General Quality, as Fluidity, Dryness, Volatility,
+and the like: since each of those Qualities, or States of Matter, may
+Comprehend a great Variety of Bodies, otherwise of a very differing
+Nature; as we may see in the Calxes of Gold, of Vitriol, and of
+Venetian Talck, compar'd with common Ashes, which yet are very dry,
+and fix'd by the vehemence of the Fire, as well as they. And as we may
+likewise gather from what I have formerly Observ'd, touching the
+Spirit of Box-Wood, which though a Volatile, Sapid, and not inflamable
+Liquor, as well as the Spirits of Harts-horn, of Blood and others,
+(and therefore has been hitherto call'd, the Spirit, and esteem'd for
+one of the Principles of the Wood that affords it;) may yet, as I told
+You, be subdivided into two Liquors, differing from one another, and
+one of them at least, from the Generality of other Chymical Spirits.
+
+But you may your self, if you please, (pursues _Carneades_)
+accommodate to the _Hypothesis_ you propos'd what other particulars
+you shall think applicable to it, in the foregoing Discourse. For I
+think it unseasonable for me to meddle now any further with a
+Controversie, which since it does not now belong to me, Leaves me at
+Liberty to Take my Own time to Declare my Self about it.
+
+_Eleutherius_ perceiving that _Carneades_ was somewhat unwilling to
+spend any more time upon the debate of this Opinion, and having
+perhaps some thoughts of taking hence a Rise to make him Discourse it
+more fully another time, thought not fit as then to make any further
+mention to him of the propos'd opinion, but told him;
+
+I presume I need not mind you, _Carneades_, That both the Patrons of
+the ternary number of Principles, and those that would have five
+Elements, endeavour to back their experiments with a specious Reason
+or two; and especially some of those Embracers of the Opinion last
+nam'd (whom I have convers'd with, and found them Learned men) assigne
+this Reason of the necessity of five distinct Elements; that otherwise
+mixt Bodies could not be so compounded and temper'd as to obtain a due
+consistence and competent Duration. For Salt (say they) is the
+_Basis_ of Solidity; and Permanency in Compound Bodies, without which
+the other four Elements might indeed be variously and loosly blended
+together, but would remain incompacted; but that Salt might be
+dissolv'd into minute Parts, and convey'd to the other Substances to
+be compacted by it, and with it, there is a Necessity of Water. And
+that the mixture may not be too hard and brittle, a Sulphureous or
+Oyly Principle must intervene to make the mass more tenacious; to this
+a Mercurial spirit must be superadded; which by its activity may for a
+while premeate [Transcriber's Note: permeate], and as it were leaven
+the whole Mass, and thereby promote the more exquisite mixture and
+incorporation of the Ingredients. To all which (lastly) a portion of
+Earth must be added, which by its drinesse and poracity [Errata:
+porosity] may soak up part of that water wherein the Salt was
+dissolv'd, and eminently concurr with the other ingredients to give
+the whole body the requisite consistence.
+
+I perceive (sayes _Carneades_ smiling) that if it be true, as 'twas
+lately rooted [Errata: noted] from the Proverb, _That good Wits have
+bad Memories_, 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 Conference Examine only the
+Experiments of my Adversaries, not their Speculative Reasons. Yet 'tis
+not (Subjoynes _Carneades_) for fear of medling with the Argument you
+have propos'd, that I decline the examining it at present. For if when
+we are more at leasure, you shall have a mind that we may Solemnly
+consider of it together; I am confident we shall scarce find it
+insoluble. And in the mean time we may observe, that such a way of
+Arguing may, it seems, be speciously accommodated to differing
+_Hypotheses_. For I find that _Beguinus_, and other Assertors of the
+_Tria Prima_, pretend to make out by such a way, the requisiteness of
+their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to constitute mixt Bodies, without
+taking notice of any necessity of an Addition of Water and Earth.
+
+And indeed neither sort of Chymists seem to have duly consider'd how
+great Variety there is in the Textures and Consistences of Compound
+Bodie; sand [Errata: Bodies; and] how little the consistence and
+Duration of many of them seem to accommodate and be explicable by the
+propos'd Notion. And not to mention those almost incorruptible
+Substances obtainable by the Fire, which I have prov'd to be somewhat
+compounded, and which the Chymists will readily grant not to be
+perfectly mixt Bodies: (Not to mention these, I say) If you will but
+recall to mind some of those Experiments, whereby I shew'd You that
+out of common Water only mixt Bodies (and even living ones) of very
+differing consistences, and resoluble by Fire into as many Principles
+as other bodies acknowledg'd to be perfectly mixt; if you do this, I
+say, you will not, I suppose, be averse from beleeving, that Nature by
+a convenient disposition of the minute parts of a portion of matter
+may contrive bodies durable enough, and of this, or that, or the other
+Consistence, without being oblig'd to make use of all, much less of
+any Determinate quantity of each of the five Elements, or of the three
+Principles to compound such bodies of. And I have (pursues
+_Carneades_) something wonder'd, Chymists should not consider, that
+there is scarce any body in Nature so permanent and indissoluble as
+Glass; which yet themselves teach us may be made of bare Ashes,
+brought to fusion by the meer Violence of the Fire; so that, since
+Ashes are granted to consist but of pure Salt and simple Earth,
+sequestred from all the other Principles or Elements, they must
+acknowledge, That even Art it self can of two Elements only, or, if
+you please, one Principle and one Element, compound a Body more
+durable then almost any in the World. Which being undeniable, how will
+they prove that Nature cannot compound Mixt Bodies, and even durable
+Ones, under all the five Elements or material Principles.
+
+But to insist any longer on this Occasional Disquisition, Touching
+their Opinion that would Establish five Elements, were to remember as
+little as You did before, that the Debate of this matter is no part of
+my first undertaking; and consequently, that I have already spent time
+enough in what I look back upon but as a digression, or at best an
+Excursion.
+
+And thus, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) having at length gone
+through the four Considerations I propos'd to Discourse unto you, I
+hold it not unfit, for fear my having insisted so long on each of them
+may have made you forget their _Series_, briefly to repeat them by
+telling you, that
+
+Since, in the first place, it may justly be doubted whether or no the
+Fire be, as Chymists suppose it, the genuine and Universal Resolver of
+mixt Bodies;
+
+Since we may doubt, in the next place, whether or no all the Distinct
+Substances that may be obtain'd from a mixt body by the Fire were
+pre-existent there in the formes in which they were separated from it;
+
+Since also, though we should grant the Substances separable from mixt
+Bodies by the fire to have been their component Ingredients, yet the
+Number of such substances does not appear the same in all mixt Bodies;
+some of them being Resoluble into more differing substances than
+three, and Others not being Resoluble into so many as three.
+
+And Since, Lastly, those very substances that are thus separated are
+not for the most part pure and Elementary bodies, but new kinds of
+mixts;
+
+Since, I say, these things are so, 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 Chymists to prove, that their
+three Hypostatical Principles do adequately compose all mixt Bodies,
+are not so demonstrative as to reduce a wary Person to acquiesce in
+their Doctrine, which, till they Explain and prove it better, will by
+its perplexing darkness be more apt to puzzle then satisfy considering
+men, and will to them appear incumbred with no small Difficulties.
+
+And from what has been hitherto deduc'd (continues _Carneades_) we may
+Learn, what to Judge of the common Practice of those Chymists, who
+because they have found that Diverse compound Bodies (for it will not
+hold in All) can be resolv'd into, or rather can be brought to afford
+two or three differing Substances more then the Soot and Ashes,
+whereinto the naked fire commonly divides them in our Chymnies, cry up
+their own Sect for the Invention of a New Philosophy, some of them, as
+_Helmont, &c._ styling themselves Philosophers by the Fire; and the
+most part not only ascribing, but as far as in them lies, engrossing
+to those of their Sect the Title of PHILOSOPHERS.
+
+But alas, how narrow is this Philosophy, that reaches but to some of
+those compound Bodies, which we find but upon, or in the crust or
+outside of our terrestrial Globe, which is it self but a point in
+comparison of the vast extended Universe, of whose other and greater
+parts the Doctrine of the _Tria Prima_ does not give us an Account!
+For what does it teach us, either of the Nature of the Sun, which
+Astronomers affirme to be eight-score and odd times bigger then the
+whole Earth? or of that of those numerous fixt Starrs, which, for
+ought we know, would very few, if any of them, appear inferiour in
+bulke and brightness to the Sun, if they were as neer us as He? What
+does the knowing that Salt, sulphur and Mercury, are the Principles of
+Mixt Bodies, informe us of the Nature of that vast, fluid, and
+AEtherial Substance, that seemes to make up the interstellar, and
+consequently much the greatest part of the World? for as for the
+opinion commonly ascrib'd to _Paracelsus_, as if he would have not
+only the four Peripatetick Elements, but even the Celestial parts of
+the Universe to consist of his three Principles, since the modern
+Chymists themselves have not thought so groundless a conceit worth
+their owning, I shall not think it Worth my confuting.
+
+But I should perchance forgive the Hypothesis I have been all this
+while examining, if, though it reaches but to a very little part of
+the World, it did at least give us a satisfactory account of those
+things to which 'tis said to reach. But I find not, that it gives us
+any other then a very imperfect information even about mixt Bodies
+themselves: For how will the knowledge of the _Tria Prima_ discover to
+us the Reason, why the Loadstone drawes a Needle and disposes it to
+respect the Poles, and yet seldom precisely points at them? how will
+this Hypothesis teach Us how a Chick is formed in the Egge, or how the
+Seminal Principles of Mint, Pompions, and other Vegitables, that I
+mention'd to You above, can fashion Water into Various Plants, each of
+them endow'd with its peculiar and determinate shape, and with divers
+specifick and discriminating Qualities? How does this Hypothesis shew
+us, how much Salt, how much Sulphur, and how much Mercury must be
+taken to make a Chick or a Pompion? and if We know that, what
+Principle is it, that manages these Ingredients, and contrives (for
+instance) such Liquors as the White and Yelk of an Egge into such a
+variety of Textures as is requisite to fashion the Bones, Veines,
+Arteries, Nerves, Tendons, Feathers, Blood, and other parts of a
+Chick; and not only to fashion each Limbe, but to connect them
+altogether, after that manner that is most congruous to the perfection
+of the Animal which is to Consist of Them? For to say, that some more
+fine and subtile part of either or all the Hypostatical Principles is
+the Director in all this business, and the Architect of all this
+Elaborate structure, is to give one occasion to demand again, what
+proportion and way of mixture of the _Tria Prima_ afforded this
+_Architectonick_ Spirit, and what Agent made so skilful and happy a
+mixture? And the Answer to this Question, if the Chymists will keep
+themselves within their three Principles, will be lyable to the same
+Inconvenience, that the Answer to the former was. And if it were not
+to intrench upon the Theame of a Friend of ours here present, I could
+easily prosecute the Imperfections of the Vulgar Chymists Philosophy,
+and shew you, that by going about to explicate by their three
+Principles, I say not, all the abstruse Properties of mixt Bodies, but
+even such Obvious and more familiar _Phaenomena_ as _Fluidity_ and
+_Firmness_, The Colours and Figures of Stones, Minerals, and other
+compound Bodies, The Nutrition of either Plants or Animals, the
+Gravity of Gold or Quicksilver compar'd with Wine or Spirit of Wine;
+By attempting, I say, to render a reason of these (to omit a thousand
+others as difficult to account for) from any proportion of the three
+simple Ingredients, Chymists will be much more likely to discredit
+themselves and their _Hypothesis_, then satisfy an intelligent
+Inquirer after Truth.
+
+But (interposes _Eleutherus_) [Transcriber's Note: Eleutherius] This
+Objection seems no more then may be made against the four Peripatetick
+Elements. And indeed almost against any other _Hypothesis_, that
+pretends by any Determinate Number of Material Ingredients to render a
+reason of the _Phaenomena_ of Nature. And as for the use of the
+Chymical Doctrine of the three Principles, I suppose you need not be
+told by me, that The great Champion of it, The Learned _Sennertus_,[23]
+assignes this noble use of the _Tria Prima_, That from Them, as the
+neerest and most Proper Principles, may be Deduc'd and Demonstrated
+the Properties which are in Mixt Bodies, and which cannot be
+Proximately (as They speak) deduc'd from the Elements. And This, sayes
+he, is chiefly Apparent, when we Inquire into the Properties and
+Faculties of Medecines. And I know (continues _Eleutherius_) That the
+Person You have assum'd, of an Opponent of the _Hermetick Doctrine_,
+will not so far prevaile against your Native and wonted Equity, as To
+keep You from acknowledging that Philosophy is much beholden to the
+Notions and Discoveries of Chymists.
+
+[Footnote 23: _Senn. de Cons. & Dissen. p. 165._]
+
+If the Chymists You speak of (Replyes _Carneades_) had been so modest,
+or so Discreet, as to propose their Opinion of the _Tria Prima_, but
+as a Notion useful among Others, to increase Humane knowledge, they
+had deserv'd more of our thanks; and less of our Opposition; but since
+the Thing that they pretend is not so much to contribute a Notion
+toward the Improvement of Philosophy, as to make this Notion attended
+[Errata: (attended] by a few lesse considerable ones) pass for a New
+Philosophy itself. Nay, since they boast so much of this phancie of
+theirs, that the famous _Quercetanus_ scruples not to write, that if
+his most certain Doctrine of the three Principles were sufficiently
+Learned, Examin'd, and Cultivated, it would easily Dispel all the
+Darkness that benights our minds, and bring in a Clear Light, that
+would remove all Difficulties. This School affording Theorems and
+Axiomes irrefragable, and to be admitted without Dispute by impartial
+Judges; and so useful withal, as to exempt us from the necessity of
+having recourse, for want of the knowledg of causes, to that Sanctuary
+of the igorant [Transcriber's Note: ignorant], Occult Qualities;
+since, I say, this Domestick Notion of the Chymists is so much
+overvalued by them, I cannot think it unfit, they should be made
+sensible of their mistake; and be admonish'd to take in more fruitful
+and comprehensive Principles, if they mean to give us an account of
+the _Phaenomena_ of Nature; and not confine themselves and (as far as
+they can) others to such narrow Principles, as I fear will scarce
+inable them to give an account (I mean an intelligible one) of the
+tenth part (I say not) of all the _Phaenomena_ of Nature; but even of
+all such as by the _Leucippian_ or some of the other sorts of
+Principles may be plausibly enough explicated. And though I be not
+unwilling to grant, that the incompetency I impute to the Chymical
+_Hypothesis_ is but the same which may be Objected against that of the
+four Elements, and divers other Doctrines that have been maintain'd by
+Learned men; yet since 'tis the Chymical _Hypothesis_ only which I am
+now examining, I see not why, if what I impute to it be a real
+inconvenience, either it should cease to be so, or I should scruple to
+object it, because either Theories are lyable thereunto, as well as
+the Hermetical. For I know not why a Truth should be thought lesse a
+Truth for the being fit to overthrow variety of Errors.
+
+I am oblig'd to You (continues _Carneades_, a little smiling) for the
+favourable Opinion You are pleas'd to express of my Equity, if there
+be no design in it. But I need not be tempted by an Artifice, or
+invited by a Complement, to acknowledge the great service that the
+Labours of Chymists have done the Lovers of useful Learning; nor even
+on this occasion shall their Arrogance hinder my Gratitude. But since
+we are as well examining to [Errata: delete "to"] the truth of their
+Doctrine as the merit of their industry, I must in order to the
+investigation of the first, continue a reply, to talk at the rate of
+the part I have assum'd; And tell you, that when I acknowledg the
+usefulness of the Labours of _Spagyrists_ to Natural Philosophy, I do
+it upon the score of their experiments, not upon that of Their
+Speculations; for it seems to me, that their Writings, as their
+Furnaces, afford as well smoke as light; and do little lesse obscure
+some subjects, then they illustrate others. And though I am unwilling
+to deny, that 'tis difficult for a man to be an Accomplisht
+Naturalist, that is a stranger to Chymistry, yet I look upon the
+common Operations and practices of Chymists, almost as I do on the
+Letters of the Alphabet, without whose knowledge 'tis very hard for a
+man to become a Philosopher; and yet that knowledge is very far from
+being sufficient to make him One.
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_, resuming a more serious Look) to consider a
+little more particularly what you alledg in favour of the Chymical
+Doctrine of the _Tria Prima_, though I shall readily acknowledge it
+not to be unuseful, and that the Divisers [Errata: devisers] and
+Embracers of it have done the Common-Wealth of Learning some service,
+by helping to destroy that excessive esteem, or rather veneration,
+wherewith the Doctrine of the four Elements was almost as generally as
+undeservedly entertain'd; yet what has been alledg'd concerning the
+usefulness of the _Tria Prima_, seems to me liable to no contemptible
+Difficulties.
+
+And first, as for the very way of Probation, which the more Learned
+and more Sober Champions of the Chymical cause employ to evince the
+Chymical Principles in Mixt Bodies, it seems to me to be farr enough
+from being convincing. This grand and leading Argument, your
+_Sennertus_ Himself, who layes Great weight upon it, and tells us,
+that the most Learned Philosophers employ this way of Reasoning to
+prove the most important things, proposes thus: _Ubicunque_ (sayes he)
+_pluribus eaedem affectiones & qualitates insunt, per commune quoddam
+Principium insint necesse est, sicut omnia sunt Gravia propter terram,
+calida propter Ignem. At Colores, Odores, Sapores, esse_ [Greek:
+phlogiston] _& similia alia, mineralibus, Metallis, Gemmis, Lapidibus,
+Plantis, Animalibus insunt. Ergo per commune aliquod principium, &
+subiectum, insunt. At tale principium non sunt Elementa. Nullam enim
+habent ad tales qualitates producendas potentiam. Ergo alia principia,
+unde fluant, inquirenda sunt._
+
+In the Recital of this Argument, (sayes _Carneades_) I therefore
+thought fit to retain the Language wherein the Author proposes it,
+that I might also retain the propriety of some Latine Termes, to which
+I do not readily remember any that fully answer in English. But as for
+the Argumentation it self, 'tis built upon a precarious supposition,
+that seems to me neither Demonstrable nor true; for, how does it
+appear, that where the same Quality is to be met with in many Bodies,
+it must belong to them upon the Account of some one Body whereof they
+all partake? (For that the Major of our Authors Argument is to be
+Understood of the Material Ingredients of bodies, appears by the
+Instances of Earth and Fire he annexes to explain it.) For to begin
+with that very Example which he is pleas'd to alledge for himself; how
+can he prove, that the Gravity of all Bodies proceeds from what they
+participate of the Element of Earth? Since we see, that not only
+common Water, but the more pure Distill'd Rain Water is heavy; and
+Quicksilver is much heavier than Earth it self; though none of my
+Adversaries has yet prov'd, that it contains any of that Element. And
+I the Rather make use of this Example of Quicksilver, because I see
+not how the Assertors of the Elements will give any better Account of
+it then the Chymists. For if it be demanded how it comes to be Fluid,
+they will answer, that it participates much of the Nature of Water.
+And indeed, according to them, Water may be the Predominant Element
+in it, since we see, that several Bodies which by Distillation afford
+Liquors that weigh more then their _Caput Mortuum_ do not yet consist
+of Liquor enough to be Fluid. Yet if it be demanded how Quicksilver
+comes to be so heavy, then 'tis reply'd, that 'tis by reason of the
+Earth that abounds in it; but since, according to them, it must
+consist also of air, and partly of Fire, which they affirm to be light
+Elements, how comes it that it should be so much heavier then Earth of
+the same bulk, though to fill up the porosities and other Cavities it
+be made up into a mass or paste with Water, which it self they allow
+to be a heavy Element. But to returne to our _Spagyrists_, we see that
+Chymical Oyles and fixt Salts, though never so exquisitely purify'd
+and freed from terrestrial parts, do yet remain ponderous enough. And
+Experience has inform'd me, that a pound, for instance, of some of the
+heaviest Woods, as _Guajacum_ that will sink in Water, being burnt to
+Ashes will yield a much less weight of them (whereof I found but a
+small part to be Alcalyzate) then much lighter Vegetables: As also
+that the black Charcoal of it will not sink as did the wood, but swim;
+which argues that the Differing Gravity of Bodies proceeds chiefly
+from their particular Texture, as is manifest in Gold, the closest and
+Compactest of Bodies, which is many times heavier then we can possibly
+make any parcell of Earth of the same Bulk. I will not examine, what
+may be argu'd touching the Gravity or Quality Analagous thereunto, of
+even Celestial bodies, from the motion of the spots about the Sun, d
+[Errata: and] from the appearing equality of the suppos'd Seas in the
+Moon; nor consider how little those _Phaemonea_ [Transcriber's Note:
+Phaenomena] would agree with what _Sennertus_ presumes concerning
+Gravity. But further to invalidate his supposition, I shall demand,
+upon what Chymical Principle Fluidity depends? And yet Fluidity is,
+two or three perhaps excepted, the most diffused quality of the
+universe, and far more General then almost any other of those that are
+to be met with in any of the Chymicall Principles, or _Aristotelian_
+Elements; since not only the Air, but that vast expansion we call
+Heaven, in comparison of which our Terrestrial Globe (supposing it
+were all Solid) is but a point; and perhaps to [Errata: too] the Sun
+and the fixt Stars are fluid bodies. I demand also, 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 Question concerning Light,
+which is not only to be found in the Kindl'd Sulphur of mixt Bodis
+[Transcriber's Note: Bodies], but (not to mention those sorts of
+rotten Woods, and rotten Fish that shine in the Dark) in the tails of
+living Glow-wormes, and in the Vast bodies of the Sun and Stars. I
+would gladly also know, in which of the three Principles the Quality,
+we call Sound, resides as in its proper Subject; since either Oyl
+falling upon Oyle, or Spirit upon Spirit, or Salt upon Salt, in a
+great quantity, and from a considerable height, will make a noise, or
+if you please, create a sound, and (that the objection may reach the
+_Aristotelians_) so will also water upon water, and Earth upon Earth.
+And I could name other qualities to be met within divers bodies, of
+which I suppose my Adversaries will not in haste assign any Subject,
+upon whose Account it must needs be, that the quality belongs to all
+the other several bodies.
+
+And, before I proceed any further, I must here invite you to compare
+the supposition we are examining, with some other of the Chymical
+Tenents. For, first they do in effect teach that more then one quality
+may belong to, and be deduc'd from, one Principle. For, they ascribe
+to Salt Tasts, and the power of Coagulation; to sulphur, as well
+Odours as inflamableness; And some of them ascribe to Mercury,
+Colours; as all of them do effumability, as they speak. And on the
+other side, it is evident that Volatility belongs in common to all the
+three Principles, and to Water too. For 'tis manifest, that Chymical
+Oyles are Volatile; That also divers Salts Emerging, upon the Analysis
+of many Concretes, are very Volatile, is plain from the figitiveness
+[Errata: fugitivenesse] of Salt, of Harts-horne, flesh, &c. ascending
+in the Distillation of those bodies. How easily water may be made to
+ascend in Vapours, there is scarce any body that has not observ'd. And
+as for what they call the Mercuriall Principle of bodies, that is so
+apt to be rais'd in the form of Steam, that _Paracelsus_ and others
+define it by that aptness to fly up; so that (to draw that inference
+by the way) it seems not that Chymists have been accurate in their
+Doctrine of qualities, and their respective Principles, since they
+both derive several qualities from the same Principle, and must
+ascribe the same quality to almost all their Principles and other
+bodies besides. And thus much for the first thing taken for granted,
+without sufficient proof, by your _Sennertus_: And to add that upon
+the Bye (continues _Carneades_) we may hence learn what to judge of
+the way of Argumentation, which that fierce Champion of the
+_Aristotelians_ against the Chymists, _Anthonius Guntherus
+Billichius_[24] employes, where he pretends to prove against
+_Beguinus_, that not only the four Elements do immediately concur to
+Constitute every mixt body, and are both present in it, and obtainable
+from it upon its Dissolution; but that in the _Tria Prima_ themselves,
+whereinto Chymists are wont to resolve mixt Bodies, each of them
+clearly discovers it self to consist of four Elements. The
+Ratiocination it self (pursues _Carneades_) being somewhat unusual, I
+did the other Day Transcribe it, and (sayes He, pulling a Paper out of
+his Pocket) it is this. _Ordiamur, cum Beguino, a ligno viridi, quod
+si concremetur, videbis in sudore Aquam, in fumo Aerem, in flamma &
+Prunis Ignem, Terram in cineribus: Quod si Beguino placuerit ex eo
+colligere humidum aquosum, cohibere humidum oleaginosum, extrahere ex
+cineribus salem; Ego ipsi in unoquoque horum seorsim quatuor Elementa
+ad oculum demonstrabo, eodem artificio quo in ligno viridi ea
+demonstravi. Humorem aquosum admovebo Igni. Ipse Aquam Ebullire
+videbit, in Vapore Aerem conspiciet, Ignem sentiet in aestu, plus minus
+Terrae in sedimento apparebit. Humor porro Oleaginosus aquam humiditate
+& fluiditate per se, accensus vero Ignem flamma prodit, fumo Aerem,
+fuligine, nidore & amurca terram. Salem denique ipse Beguinus siccum
+vocat & Terrestrem, qui tamen nec fusus Aquam, nec caustica vi ignem
+celare potest; ignis vero Violentia in halitus versus nec ab Aere se
+alienum esse demonstrat; Idem de Lacte, de Ovis, de semine Lini, de
+Garyophyllis, de Nitro, de sale Marino, denique de Antimonio, quod
+fuit de Ligno viridi Judicium; eadem de illorum partibus, quas_
+Beguinus _adducit, sententia, quae de viridis ligni humore aquoso, quae
+de liquore ejusdem oleoso, quae de sale fuit._
+
+[Footnote 24: _In Thessalo redivivo. Cap. 10. pag. 73. & 74._]
+
+This bold Discourse (resumes _Carneades_, putting up again his Paper,)
+I think it were not very difficult to confute, if his Arguments were
+as considerable as our time will probably prove short for the
+remaining and more necessary Part of my Discourse; wherefore referring
+You for an Answer to what was said concerning the Dissipated Parts of
+a burnt piece of green Wood, to what I told _Themistius_ on the like
+occasion, I might easily shew You, how sleightly and superficially our
+_Guntherus_ talks of the dividing the flame of Green Wood into his
+four Elements; _When_ he makes that vapour to be air, which being
+caught in Glasses and condens'd, presently discovers it self to have
+been but an Aggregate of innumerable very minute drops of Liquor; and
+_When_ he would prove the Phlegmes being compos'd of Fire by that Heat
+which is adventitious to the Liquor, and ceases upon the absence of
+what produc'd it (whether that be an Agitation proceeding from the
+motion of the External Fire, or the presence of a Multitude of igneous
+Atomes pervading the pores of the Vessel, and nimbly permeating the
+whole Body of the Water) I might, I say, urge these and divers other
+Weaknesses of His Discourse. But I will rather take Notice of what is
+more pertinent to the Occasion of this Digression, namely, that Taking
+it for Granted, that Fluidity (with which he unwarily seems to
+confound Humidity) must proceed from the Element of Water, he makes a
+Chymical Oyle to Consist of that Elementary Liquor; and yet in the
+very next Words proves, that it consists also of Fire, by its
+Inflamability; not remembring that exquisitely pure Spirit of Wine is
+both more Fluid then Water it self, and yet will Flame all away
+without leaving the Least Aqueous Moisture behind it; and without such
+an _Amurca_ and Soot as he would Deduce the presence of Earth from. So
+that the same Liquor may according to his Doctrine be concluded by its
+great Fluidity to be almost all Water; and by its burning all away to
+be all disguised Fire. And by the like way of Probation our Author
+would shew that the fixt salt of Wood is compounded of the four
+Elements. For (sayes he) being turn'd by the violence of the Fire into
+steames, it shews it self to be of kin to Air; whereas I doubt whether
+he ever saw a true fixt Salt (which to become so, must have already
+endur'd the violence of an Incinerating Fire) brought by the Fire
+alone to ascend in the Forme of Exhalations; but I do not doubt that
+if he did, and had caught those Exhalations in convenient Vessels, he
+would have found them as well as the Steames of common Salt, &c. of a
+Saline and not an Aereal Nature. And whereas our Authour takes it also
+for Granted, that the Fusibility of Salt must be Deduc'd from Water,
+it is indeed so much the Effect of heat variously agitating the Minute
+Parts of a Body, without regard to Water, that Gold (which by its
+being the heavyest and fixtest of Bodies, should be the most Earthy)
+will be brought to Fusion by a strong Fire; which sure is more likely
+to drive away then increase its Aqueous Ingredient, if it have any;
+and on the other side, for want of a sufficient agitation of its
+minute parts, Ice is not Fluid, but Solid; though he presumes also
+that the Mordicant Quality of Bodies must proceed from a fiery
+ingredient; whereas, not to urge that the Light and inflamable parts,
+which are the most likely to belong to the Element of Fire, must
+probably be driven away by that time the violence of the Fire has
+reduc'd the Body to ashes; Not to urge this, I I [Transcriber's Note:
+extra "I" in original] say, nor that Oyle of Vitriol which quenches
+Fire, burnes the Tongue and flesh of those that Unwarily tast or apply
+it, as a caustick doth, it is precarious to prove the Presence of Fire
+in fixt salts from their Caustick power, unlesse it were first shewn,
+that all the Qualities ascribed to salts must be deduc'd from those of
+the Elements; which, had I Time, I could easily manifest to be no easy
+talk. And not to mention that our Authour makes a Body as Homogeneous
+as any he can produce for Elementary, belong both to Water and Fire,
+Though it be neither Fluid nor Insipid, like Water; nor light and
+Volatile, like Fire; he seems to omit in this Anatomy the Element of
+Earth, save That he intimates, That the salt may pass for that; But
+since a few lines before, he takes Ashes for Earth, I see not how he
+will avoid an Inconsistency either betwixt the Parts of his Discourse
+or betwixt some of them and his Doctrine. For since There is a
+manifest Difference betwixt the Saline and the insipid Parts of Ashes,
+I see not how substances That Disagree in such Notable Qualities can
+be both said to be Portions of an Element, whose Nature requires that
+it be Homogeneous, especially in this case where an _Analysis_ by the
+Fire is suppos'd to have separated it from the admixture of other
+Elements, which are confess'd by most _Aristotelians_ to be Generally
+found in common Earth, and to render it impure. And sure if when we
+have consider'd for how little a Disparities sake the Peripateticks
+make these Symbolizing Bodies Aire and Fire to be two Distinct
+Elements, we shall also consider that the Saline part of Ashes is very
+strongly Tasted, and easily soluble in Water; whereas the other part
+of the same Ashes is insipid and indissoluble in the same Liquor: Not
+to add, that the one substance is Opacous, and the other somewhat
+Diaphanous, nor that they differ in Divers other Particulars; If we
+consider those things, I say, we shall hardly think that both these
+Substances are Elementary Earth; And as to what is sometimes objected,
+that their Saline Tast is only an Effect of Incineration and Adustion,
+it has been elsewhere fully reply'd to, when propos'd by _Themistius_,
+and where it has been prov'd against him, that however insipid Earth
+may perhaps by Additaments be turn'd into Salt, yet 'tis not like it
+should be so by the Fire alone: For we see that when we refine Gold
+and Silver, the violentest Fires We can Employ on them give them not
+the least Rellish of Saltness. And I think _Philoponus_ has rightly
+observ'd, that the Ashes of some Concretes contain very little salt if
+any at all; For Refiners suppose that bone-ashes are free from it, and
+therefore make use of them for Tests and Cuppels, which ought to be
+Destitute of Salt, lest the Violence of the Fire should bring them to
+Vitrification; And having purposely and heedfully tasted a Cuppel made
+of only bone-ashes and fair water, which I had caus'd to be expos'd
+to a Very Violent Fire, acuated by the Blast of a large pair of Double
+Bellows, I could not perceive that the force of the Fire had imparted
+to it the least Saltness, or so much as made it less Insipid.
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_) since neither You nor I love Repetitions, I
+shall not now make any of what else was urg'd against _Themistius_ but
+rather invite You to take notice with me that when our Authour, though
+a Learned Man, and one that pretends skill enough in Chymistry to
+reforme the whole Art, comes to make good his confident Undertaking,
+to give us an occular Demonstration of the immediate Presence of the
+four Elements in the resolution of Green Wood, He is fain to say
+things that agree very little with one another. For about the
+beginning of that passage of His lately recited to you, he makes the
+sweat as he calls it of the green Wood to be Water, the smoke Aire,
+the shining Matter Fire, and the Ashes Earth; whereas a few lines
+after, he will in each of these, nay (as I just now noted) in one
+Distinct Part of the Ashes, shew the four Elements. So that either the
+former _Analysis_ must be incompetent to prove that Number of
+Elements, since by it the burnt Concrete is not reduc'd into
+Elementary Bodies, but into such as are yet each of them compounded of
+the four Elements; or else these Qualities from which he endeavours to
+deduce the presence of all the Elements, in the fixt salt, and each of
+the other separated substances, will be but a precarious way of
+probation: especially if you consider, that the extracted _Alcali_ of
+Wood, being for ought appears at least as similar a Body as any that
+the Peripateticks can shew us, if its differing Qualities must argue
+the presence of Distinct Elements, it will scarce be possible for them
+by any way they know of employing the fire upon a Body, to shew that
+any Body is a Portion of a true Element: And this recals to my mind,
+that I am now but in an occasional excussion, which aiming only to
+shew that the Peripateticks as well as the Chymists take in our
+present Controversie something for granted which they ought to prove,
+I shall returne to my exceptions, where I ended the first of them, and
+further tell you, that neither is that the only precarious thing that
+I take notice of in _Sennertus_ his Argumentation; for when he
+inferrs, that because the Qualities he Mentions as Colours, Smels, and
+the like, belong not to the Elements; they therefore must to the
+Chymical Principles, he takes that for granted, which will not in
+haste be prov'd; as I might here manifest, but that I may by and by
+have a fitter opportunity to take notice of it. And thus much at
+present may suffice to have Discours'd against the Supposition, that
+almost every Quality must have some [Greek: dektikon proton], as they
+speak, some Native receptacle, wherein as in its proper Subject of
+inhesion it peculiarly resides, and on whose account that quality
+belongs to the other Bodies, Wherein it is to be met with. Now this
+Fundamental supposition being once Destroy'd, whatsoever is built upon
+it, must fall to ruine of it self.
+
+But I consider further, that Chymists are (for ought I have found) far
+from being able to explicate by any of the _Tria Prima_, those
+qualities which they pretend to belong primarily unto it, and in mixt
+Bodies to Deduce from it. Tis true indeed, that such qualities are
+not explicable by the four Elements; but it will not therefore follow,
+that they are so by the three hermetical Principles; and this is it
+that seems to have deceiv'd the Chymists, and is indeed a very common
+mistake amongst most Disputants, who argue as if there could be but
+two Opinions concerning the Difficulty about which they contend; and
+consequently they inferr, that if their Adversaries Opinion be
+Erroneous, Their's must needs be the Truth; whereas many questions,
+and especially in matters Physiological, may admit of so many
+Differing _Hypotheses_, that 'twill be very inconsiderate and
+fallacious to conclude (except where the Opinions are precisely
+Contradictory) the Truth of one from the falsity of another. And in
+our particular case 'tis no way necessary, that the Properties of mixt
+Bodies must be explicable either by the Hermetical, or the
+_Aristotelian Hypothesis_, there being divers other and more plausible
+wayes of explaining them, and especially that, which deduces qualities
+from the motion, figure, and contrivance of the small parts of Bodies;
+as I think might be shewn, if the attempt were as seasonable, as I
+fear it would be Tedious.
+
+I will allow then, that the Chymists do not causelessly accuse the
+Doctrine of the four elements of incompetency to explain the
+Properties of Compound bodies. And for this Rejection of a Vulgar
+Error, they ought not to be deny'd what praise men may deserve for
+exploding a Doctrine whose Imperfections are so conspicuous, that men
+needed but not to shut their Eyes, to discover them. But I am
+mistaken, if our Hermetical Philosophers Themselves need not, as well
+as the Peripateticks, have Recourse to more Fruitfull and
+Comprehensive Principles then the _tria Prima_, to make out the
+Properties of the Bodies they converse with. Not to accumulate
+Examples to this purpose, (because I hope for a fitter opportunity to
+prosecute this Subject) let us at present only point at Colour, that
+you may guess by what they say of so obvious and familiar a Quality,
+how little Instruction we are to expect from the _Tria Prima_ in those
+more abstruse ones, which they with the _Aristotelians_ stile Occult.
+For about Colours, neither do they at all agree among themselves, nor
+have I met with any one, of which of the three Perswasions soever,
+that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymists are wont to
+ascribe Colours to Mercury; _Paracelsus_ in divers places attributes
+them to Salt; and _Sennertus_,[25] having recited their differing
+Opinions, Dissents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sulphur.
+But how Colours do, nay, how they may, arise from either of these
+Principles, I think you will scarce say that any has yet intelligibly
+explicated. And if Mr. _Boyle_ will allow me to shew you the
+Experiments which he has collected about Colours, you will, I doubt
+not, confess that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of the
+Predominancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of their
+Texture, and especially the Disposition of their superficial parts,
+whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is so modifi'd, as by
+differing Impressions variously to affect the Organs of Sight. I might
+here take notice of the pleasing variety of Colours exhibited by the
+Triangular glass, (as 'tis wont to be call'd) and demand, what
+addition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls the
+Body of the Glass by being Prismatically figur'd; and yet 'tis known,
+that without that shape it would not affor'd those colours as it does.
+But because it may be objected, that these are not real, but apparent
+Colours; that I may not lose time in examing the Distinction, I will
+alledge against the Chymists, a couple of examples of Real and
+Permanent Colours Drawn from Metalline Bodies, and represent, that
+without the addition of any extraneous body, Quicksilver may by the
+Fire alone, and that in glass Vessels, be depriv'd of its silver-like
+Colour, and be turn'd into a Red Body; and from this Red Body without
+Addition likewise may be obtain'd a Mercury Bright and Specular as it
+was before; So that I have here a lasting Colour Generated and
+Destroy'd (as I have seen) at pleasure, without adding or taking away
+either Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and slender
+piece of harden'd steel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at some
+little distance short of the point, You shall not have held the Steel
+long in the flame, but You shall perceive divers Colours, as Yellow,
+Red and Blew, to appear upon the Surface of the metal, and as it were
+run along in chase of one another towards the point; So that the same
+body, and that in one and the same part, may not only have a new
+colour produc'd in it, but exhibite successively divers Colours within
+a minute of an hour, or thereabouts, and any of these Colours may by
+Removing the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and last many
+years. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot reasonably be
+suppos'd to proceed from the Accession of any of the three Principles,
+to which of them soever Chymists will be pleas'd to ascribe Colours;
+especially considering, that if you but suddenly Refrigerate that
+Iron, First made Red hot, it will be harden'd and Colourless 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 succeed one another, as at the First. But I must not any
+further prosecute an Occasional Discourse, though that were not so
+Difficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chymists to give
+a better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, then
+they have done of Colours. And your _Sennertus_ Himself (though an
+Author I much value) would I fear have been exceedingly puzl'd to
+resolve, by the _Tria Prima_, halfe that Catalogue of Problems, which
+he challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their four
+Elements.[26] And supposing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur were
+the Principle to which this or that Quality may be peculiarly
+referr'd, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us something
+concerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but something. For indeed
+he does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable measure satisfie
+an inquisitive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know,
+that such a quality resides in such a Principle or Element, whilst I
+remain altogether ignorant of the Cause 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 Heaviness of mixt
+bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos'd of, if I know
+not the reason why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymist
+teach the Philosopher of the Nature of Purgatition, if he only tells
+him that the Purgative Vertue of Medicines resides in their Salt? For,
+besides that this must not be conceded without Limitation, since the
+purging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein they
+are infus'd, are at most but such compounded Salts, (I mean mingl'd
+with Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjects
+of the Vegetable Kingdom afford;) And since too that Quicksilver
+precipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a powder, is
+wont to be strongly enough Cathartical, though the Chymists have not
+yet prov'd, that either Gold or Mercury have any Salt at all, much
+less any that is Purgative; Besides this, I say, how little is it to
+me, to know That 'tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for Instance) that
+purges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; since scarce any
+Elementary Salt is in small quantity cathartical. And if I know not
+how Purgation in general is effected in a Humane Body? In a word, as
+'tis one thing to know a mans Lodging, and another, to be acquainted
+with him; so it may be one thing to know the subject wherein a Quality
+principally resides, and another thing to have a right notion and
+knowledg of the quality its self. Now that which I take to be the
+reason of this Chymical Deficiency, is the same upon whose account I
+think the _Aristotelian_ and divers other Theories incompetent to
+explicate the Origen [Errata: origine] of Qualities. For I am apt to
+think, that men will never be able to explain the _Phaenomena_ of
+Nature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Presence and
+Proportion of such or such material Ingredients, and consider such
+ingredients or Elements as Bodies in a state of rest; whereas indeed
+the greatest part of the affections of matter, and consequently of the
+_Phaenomena_ of nature, seems to depend upon the motion and the
+continuance [Errata: contrivance] of the small parts of Bodies. For
+'tis by motion that one part of matter acts upon another; and 'tis,
+for the most part, the texture of the Body upon which the moving parts
+strike, that modifies to motion or Impression, and concurrs with it
+to the production of those Effects which make up the chief part of the
+Naturalists Theme.
+
+[Footnote 25: _De Cons. & dissen. cap. 11. pag. 186._]
+
+[Footnote 26: _Sennert. de Con. seus. [Transcriber's Note: Consens.] &
+Dissens. pag. 165. 166._]
+
+But (sayes _Eleutherius_) me thinks for all this, you have left some
+part of what I alledg'd in behalf of the three principles, unanswer'd.
+For all that you have said will not keep this from being a useful
+Discovery, that since in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur of
+another and the Mercury of a third, the Medicinal vertue of it
+resides, that Principle ought to be separated from the rest, and there
+the desired faculty must be sought for.
+
+I never denyed (Replyes _Carneades_) that the Notion of the _Tria
+Prima_ may be of some use, but (continues he laughing) by what you now
+alledg for it, it will but appear That it is useful to Apothecaries,
+rather than to Philosophers, The being able to make things Operative
+being sufficient to those, whereas the Knowledge of Causes is the
+Thing looked after by These. And let me Tell You, _Eleutherius_, even
+this it self will need to be entertained with some caution.
+
+For first, it will not presently follow, That if the Purgative or
+other vertue of a simple may be easily extracted by Water or Spirit of
+Wine, it Resides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unlesse
+the Body have before been resolved by the Fire, or some Other Powerful
+Agent, it will, for the most part, afford in the Liquors I have named,
+rather the finer compounded parts of it self, Than the Elementary
+ones. As I noted before, That Water will dissolve not only pure Salts,
+but Crystals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr'h, and Other Compound
+Bodies. As also Spirit of Wine will Dissolve not only the pure Sulphur
+of Concretes, but likewise the whole Substance of divers Resinous
+Bodies, as Benzoin, the Gummous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, and
+Other bodies that are counted perfectly Mixt. And we see that the
+Extracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a simple
+and Elementary Nature, but Masses consisting of the looser Corpuscles,
+and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; since by
+Distillation they may be Divided into more Elementary substances.
+
+Next, we may consider That even when there intervenes a Chymical
+resolution by he [Transcriber's Note: the] Fire, 'tis seldom in the
+Saline or Sulphureous principle, as such, that the desir'd Faculty of
+the Concrete Resides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet a
+mixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predominant in
+it. For, if in Chymical Resolutions the separated Substances were pure
+and simple Bodies, and of a perfect Elementary Nature; no one would be
+indued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualities
+would Differ as Little as do those of Water. And let me add this upon
+the bye, That even Eminent Chymists have suffer'd themselves to be
+reprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying some of
+the things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though such
+compleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bodies might perhaps be more
+satisfactory to our Understanding; yet others are often more useful to
+our Lives, the efficacy of such Chymical Productions depending most
+upon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are separated, or gain
+by the new associations of the Dissipated among themselves; whereas
+if they were meerly Elementary, their uses would be comparatively very
+small; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other such Substances of
+one denomination, would be the very same.
+
+And by the Way (_Eleutherius_) I am inclin'd upon this ground to
+Think, That the artificial resolution of compound bodies by Fire does
+not so much enrich mankind, as it divides them into their supposed
+Principles; as upon the score of its making new compounds by now
+[Transcriber's Note: new] combinations of the dissipated parts of the
+resolv'd Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies is
+considerably increased. And many of those new productions are indow'd
+with useful qualities, divers of which they owe not to the body from
+which they were obtein'd, but to Their newly Acquired Texture.
+
+But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that as
+there are divers Concretes whose Faculties reside in some one or other
+of those differing Substances that Chymists call their Sulphurs,
+Salts, and Mercuries, and consequently may be best obtain'd, by
+analyzing the Concrete whereby the desired Principles may be had
+sever'd or freed from the rest; So there are other wherein the noblest
+properties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but depend
+immediately upon the form (or if you will) result from the determinate
+structure of the Whole Concrete; and consequently they that go about
+to extract the Vertues of such bodies, by exposing them to the
+Violence of the Fire, do exceedingly mistake, and take the way to
+Destroy what they would obtain.
+
+I remmember that _Helmont_ himself somewhere confesses, That as the
+Fire betters some things and improves their Vertues, so it spoyles
+others and makes them degenerate. And elsewhere he judiciously
+affirmes, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a simple, such
+as Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire be
+separated from it. And lest you should doubt whether he means by the
+vertues of things those that are Medical; he has in one place[27] this
+ingenuous confession; _Credo_ (sayes he) _simplicia in sua
+simplicitate esse sufficientia pro sanatione omnium morborum._ Nag.
+[Errata: Nay,] Barthias, even in a Comment upon _Beguinus_,[28]
+scruples not to make this acknowledgment; _Valde absurdum est_ (sayes
+he) _ex omnibus rebus extracta facere, salia, quintas essentias;
+praesertim ex substantiis per se plane vel subtilibus vel homogeneis,
+quales sunt uniones, Corallia, Moscus, Ambra, &c._ Consonantly
+whereunto he also tells Us (and Vouches the famous _Platerus_, for
+having candidly given the same Advertisement to his Auditors,) that
+some things have greater vertues, and better suited to our humane
+nature, when unprepar'd, than when they have past the Chymists Fire;
+as we see, sayes my Author, in Pepper; of which some grains swallowed
+perform more towards the relief of a Distempered stomack, than a great
+quantity of the Oyle of the same spice.
+
+[Footnote 27: Helmont Pharm. & Dispens. Nov. p. 458.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17.]
+
+It has been (pursues _Carneades_) by our Friend here present observ'd
+concerning Salt-petre, that none of the substances into which the Fire
+is wont to divide it, retaines either the Tast, the cooling vertue, or
+some other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of those
+Substances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petre
+it self. The shining property of the tayls of gloworms does survive
+but so short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, that
+inquisitive men have not scrupled publickly to deride _Baptista Porta_
+and others; who deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises have
+ventur'd to prescribe the distillation of a Water from the tayles of
+Glowormes, as a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. To
+which I shall now add no other example than that afforded us by Amber;
+which, whilst it remains an intire body, is endow'd with an Electrical
+faculty of drawing to it self fethers, strawes, and such like Bodies;
+which I never could observe 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 these having such a Texture as the intire Concrete.
+And however Chymists boldly deduce such and such properties from this
+or that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretes
+that abound with this or that Ingredient, 'tis not alwayes so much by
+vertue of its presence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify'd
+to perform such and such Effects; as upon the account of the
+particular texture of that and the other Ingredients, associated after
+a determinate Manner into one Concrete (though possibly such a
+proportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other for
+the constituting of such a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov'd
+upon the dyal, the bell is struck, and the other actions belonging to
+the engine are perform'd, not because the Wheeles are of brass or
+iron, or part of one metal and part of another, or because the weights
+are of Lead, but by Vertue of the size, shape, bigness, and
+co-aptation of the several parts; which would performe the same things
+though the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights of
+Stone or Clay; provided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine were
+the same: though it be not to be deny'd, that Brasse and Steel are
+more convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood.
+And to let you see, _Eleutherius_, that 'tis sometimes at least, upon
+the Texture of the small parts of a body, and not alwaies upon the
+presence, or recesse, or increase, or Decrement of any one of its
+Principle, that it may lose some such Qualities, and acquire some
+such others as are thought very strongly inherent to the bodies they
+Reside in. [Errata: in;] I will add to what may from my past discourse
+be refer'd to this purpose, this Notable Example, from my Own
+experience; That Lead may without any additament, and only by various
+applications of the Fire, lose its colour, and acquire sometimes a
+gray, sometimes a yellowish, sometimes a red, sometimes an
+_amethihstine_ [Transcriber's Note: amethistine] colour; and after
+having past through these, and perhaps divers others, again recover
+its leaden colour, and be made a bright body. That also this Lead,
+which is so flexible a metal, may be made as brittle as Glasse, and
+presently be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. And
+besides, that the same lead, which I find by _Microscopes_ to be one
+of the most opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a fine
+transparent glasse; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Nature
+again; and all this, as I said, without the addition of any extraneous
+body, and meerly by the manner and Method of exposing it to the Fire.
+
+But (sayes _Carneades_) after having already put you to so prolix a
+trouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a promise of putting
+speedily a period to it; And to make good that promise, I shall from
+all that I have hitherto discoursed with you, deduce but this one
+proposition by way of Corollary. [_That it may as yet be doubted,
+whether or no there be any determinate Number of Elements; Or, if you
+please, whether or no all compound bodies, do consist of the same
+number of Elementary ingredients or material Principles._]
+
+This being but an inference from the foregoing Discourse, it will not
+be requisite to insist 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.
+
+In the First place then, from what has been so largely discours'd, it
+may appear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by the
+common Peripateticks, or by the vulgar Chymists, to demonstrate that
+all mixt bodies are made up precisely either of the four Elements, or
+the three Hypostatical Principles, do not evince what they are
+alledg'd to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended to
+be drawn from Reason in favour of _Aristotelian Hypothesis_ (for the
+Chymists are wont to rely almost altogether upon Experiments) they are
+Commonly grounded upon such unreasonable or precarious Suppositions,
+that 'tis altogether as easie and as just for any man to reject them,
+as for those that take them for granted to assert them, being indeed
+all of them as indemonstrable as the conclusion to be inferr'd from
+them; and some of them so manifestly weak and prooflesse; that he must
+be a very courteous adversary, that can be willing to grant them; and
+as unskilful a one, that can be compelled to do so.
+
+In the next place, it may be considered, if what those Patriarchs of
+the _Spagyrists_, _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_, do on divers occasions
+positively deliver, be true; namely that the _Alkahest_ does Resolve
+all mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it must be
+decided which of the two resolutions (that made by the _Alkahest_, or
+that made by the fire) shall determine the number of the Elements,
+before we can be certain how many there are.
+
+And in the mean time, we may take notice in the last place, that as
+the distinct substances whereinto the _Alkahest_ divides bodies, are
+affirm'd to be differing in nature from those whereunto they are wont
+to be reduc'd by fire, and to be obtain'd from some bodies more in
+Number than from some others; since he tells us, he could totally
+reduce all sorts of Stones into Salt only, whereas of a coal he had
+two distinct Liquors.[29] So, although we should acquiesce in that
+resolution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies are
+thereby divided into the same number of Elements and Principles; some
+Concretes affordding more of them than others do; Nay and sometimes
+this or that Body affording a greater number of Differing substances
+by one way of management, than the same yields by another. And they
+that out of Gold, or Mercury, or Muscovy-glasse, will draw me as many
+distinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juice
+of Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall very
+Thankfully learn. Nor does it appear more congruous to that variety
+that so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that all
+elemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then it
+would be for a language, that all its words should consist of the same
+number of Letters.
+
+[Footnote 29: _Novi saxum & lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo aut
+lapidi & aequiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure aut
+Mercurio._ Helmont. pag. 409.]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+SCEPTICAL CHYMIST
+
+OR,
+
+_A Paradoxical Appendix to the Foregoing Treatise._
+
+_The Sixth Part._
+
+
+Here _Carneades_ Having Dispach't what he Thought Requisite to oppose
+against what the Chymists are wont to alledge for Proof of their three
+Principles, Paus'd awhile, and look'd about him, to discover whether
+it were Time for him and his Friend to Rejoyne the Rest of the
+Company. But _Eleutherius_ perceiving nothing yet to forbid Them to
+Prosecute their Discourse a little further, said to his Friend, (who
+had likewise taken Notice of the same thing) I halfe expected,
+_Carneades_, that after you had so freely declar'd Your doubting,
+whether there be any Determinate Number of Elements, You would have
+proceeded to question whether there be any Elements at all. And I
+confess it will be a Trouble to me if You defeat me of my Expectation;
+especially since you see the leasure we have allow'd us may probably
+suffice to examine that Paradox; because you have so 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.
+
+_Carneades_ having in Vain represented that their leasure could be but
+very short, that he had already prated very long, that he was
+unprepared to maintain so great and so invidious a Paradox, was at
+length prevail'd with to tell his Friend; Since, _Eleutherius_, you
+will have me Discourse _Ex Tempore_ of the Paradox you mention, I am
+content, (though more perhaps to express my Obedience, then my
+Opinion) to tell you that (supposing the Truth of _Helmonts_ and
+_Paracelsus's_ Alkahestical Experiments, if I may so call them) though
+it may seem extravagant, yet it is not absurd to doubt, whether, for
+ought has been prov'd, there be a necessity to admit any Elements, or
+Hypostatical Principles, at all.
+
+And, as formerly, so now, to avoid the needless trouble of Disputing
+severally with the _Aristotelians_ and the Chymists, I will address my
+self to oppose them I have last nam'd, Because their Doctrine about
+the Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretending highly to
+be grounded upon Experience. 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 consent to, the rather that my
+Discourse may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; who
+cannot plead for any so probably as for those two Elements; that of
+fire above the Air being Generally by Judicious Men exploded as an
+Imaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compose Mixt Bodies as
+one of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Rather
+replenishing, by reason of its Weight and Fluidity, all those Cavities
+of bodies here below, whether compounded or not, that are big enough
+to admit it, and are not fill'd up with any grosser substance.
+
+And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize You, that I now mean by
+Elements, as those Chymists that speak plainest do by their
+Principles, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly unmingled
+bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another,
+are the Ingredients of which all those call'd perfectly mixt Bodies
+are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately
+resolved: now whether there be any one such body to be constantly met
+with in all, and each, of those that are said to be Elemented bodies,
+is the thing I now question.
+
+By this State of the controversie you will, I suppose, Guess, that I
+need not be so absur'd [Errata: absurd] as to deny that there are such
+bodies as Earth, and Water, and Quicksilver, and Sulphur: But I look
+upon Earth and Water, as component parts of the Universe, or rather
+of the Terrestrial Globe, not of all mixt bodies. And though I will
+not peremptorily deny that there may sometimes either a running
+Mercury, or a Combustible Substance be obtain'd from a Mineral, or
+even a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Element
+in the sence above declar'd; as I shall have occasion to shew you by
+and by.
+
+To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceed
+upon, I must tell you, that in matters of Philosophy, this seems to me
+a sufficient reason to doubt of a known and important proposition,
+that the Truth of it is not yet by any competent proof made to appear.
+And congruously herunto, if I shew that the grounds upon which men are
+perswaded that there are Elements are unable to satisfie a considering
+man, I suppose my doubts will appear rational.
+
+Now the Considerations that induce men to think that there are
+Elements, may be conveniently enough referr'd to two heads. Namely,
+the one, that it is necessary that Nature make use of Elements to
+constitute the bodies that are reputed Mixt. And the other, That the
+Resolution of such bodies manifests that nature had compounded them of
+Elementary ones.
+
+In reference to the former of these Considerations, there are two or
+three things that I have to Represent.
+
+And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not long
+since related to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, and
+other vegetables, out of fair water. For by those experiments its
+seems evident, that Water may be Transmuted into all the other
+Elements; from whence it may be inferr'd, both, That 'tis not every
+Thing Chymists will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayes
+be a Primordiate and Ingenerable body. And that Nature may contex a
+Plant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having all
+the Elements previously presented to her to compound it of. And, if
+you will allow the relation I mention'd out of _Mounsieur De Rochas_
+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 as they were like in so
+many other respects to the rest of the plants of the same
+Denomination; so they would, in case I had reduc'd them to
+putrefaction, have likewise produc'd Wormes or other insects, as well
+as the resembling Vegetables are wont to do; so that Water may, by
+Various Seminal Principles, be successively Transmuted into both
+plants and Animals. And if we consider that not only Men, but even
+sucking Children are, but too often, Tormented with Solid Stones, but
+that divers sorts of Beasts themselves, (whatever _Helmont_ against
+Experience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavy
+stones in their Kidneys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Grass
+and other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Disguised Water, it will
+not seem improbable that even some Concretes of a mineral Nature, may
+Likewise be form'd of Water.
+
+We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nourisht, and
+consequently may Consist of Common water; so may both plants and
+Animals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Rudiments) consist of
+compound Bodies, without having any thing meerly Elementary brought
+them by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in divers
+men, who whilst they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwards
+Live altogether upon Flesh, Fish, wine, and other perfectly mixt
+Bodies. It may be seen also in sheep, who on some of our English Downs
+or Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the grasse, without scarce
+drinking at all. And yet more manifestly in the magots that breed and
+grow up to their full bignesse within the pulps of Apples, Pears, or
+the like Fruit. We see also, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Salt
+give a much more speedy increment to corn and other Vegetables than
+Water alone would do: And it hath been assur'd me, by a man
+experienc'd in such matters, that sometimes when to bring up roots
+very early, the Mould they were planted in was made over-rich, the
+very substance of the Plant has tasted of the Dung. And let us also
+consider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Tree
+of another kind. As for instance, the Ciens of a Pear upon a
+White-thorne; for there the ascending Liquor is already alter'd,
+either by the root, or in its ascent 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 saps of several trees; as particularly, the
+medicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have sometimes drunk upon
+_Helmonts_ great and not undeserved commendation) Now the graft, being
+fasten'd to the stock must necessarily nourish its self, 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 consider,
+how much of the Vegetable he feeds upon may (as we noted above) remain
+in an Animal; we may easily suppose, That the blood of that Animal who
+Feeds upon this, though it be a Well constituted Liquor, and have all
+the differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by one
+praesiding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of its
+parts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary that
+even in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal and
+Vegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make her
+compositions of.
+
+Having said thus much touching the constitution of Plants and Animals,
+I might perhaps be able to say as much touching that of Minerals, and
+even Metalls, if it were as easy for us to make experiment in Order to
+the production of these, as of those. But the growth or increment of
+Minerals being usually a work of excessively long time, and for the
+most part perform'd in the bowels of the Earth, where we cannot see
+it, I must instead of Experiments make use, on this occasion, of
+Observations.
+
+That stones were not all made at once, but that are some of them now
+adayes generated, may (though it be deny'd by some) be fully prov'd by
+several examples, of which I shall now scarce alledg any other, then
+that famous place in _France_ known by the name of _Les Caves
+Gentieres_ [Errata: Goutieres], where the Water falling from the upper
+Parts of the cave to the ground does presently there condense into
+little stones, of such figures as the drops, falling either severally
+or upon one another, and coagulating presently into stone, chance to
+exhibit. Of these stones some Ingenuous Friends of ours, that went a
+while since to visit that place, did me the favour to present me with
+some that they brought thence. And I remember that both that sober
+Relator of his Voyages, _Van Linschoten_, and another good Author,
+inform us that in the Diamond Mines (as they call them) in the
+_East-Indies_, when having dig'd the Earth, though to no great depth,
+they find Diamonds and take them quite away; Yet in a very few years
+they find in the same place new Diamonds produc'd there since. From
+both which Relations, especially the first, it seems probable that
+Nature does not alwayes stay for divers Elementary Bodies, when she is
+to produce stones. And as for Metals themselves, Authors of good note
+assure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc'd at once
+altogether, but have been observ'd to grow; so that what was not a
+Mineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were easie
+to alledg many testimonies of professed Chymists. But that they may
+have the greater authority, I shall rather present you with a few
+borrowed from more unsuspected writers. _Sulphuris Mineram_ (as the
+inquisitive _P. Fallopius_ notes) _quae nutrix est caloris subterranei
+fabri seu Archaei fontium & mineralium, Infra terram citissime renasci
+testantur Historiae Metallicae. Sunt enim loca e quibus si hoc anno
+sulphur effossum fuerit; intermissa fossione per quadriennium redeunt
+fossores & omnia sulphure, ut autea [Errata: antea], rursus inveniunt
+plena._ _Pliny_ Relates, _In Italiae Insula Ilva, gigni ferri
+metallum._ Strabo _multo expressius; effossum ibi metallum semper
+regenerari. Nam si effossio spatio centum annorum intermittebatur, &
+iterum illuc revertebantur, fossores reperisse maximam copiam ferri
+regeneratam._ Which history not only is countenanced by _Fallopius_,
+from the Incom which the Iron of that Island yielded the Duke of
+_Florence_ in his time; but is mention'd more expressely to our
+purpose, by the Learned _Cesalpinus_. _Vena_ (sayes he) _ferri
+copiosissima est in Italia; ob eam nobilitata Ilva Tirrheni maris
+Insula incredibili copia, etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens: Nam
+terra quae eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venam
+convertitur._ Which last clause is therefore very notable, because
+from thence we may deduce, that earth, by a Metalline plastick
+principle latent in it, may be in processe of time chang'd into a
+metal. And even _Agricola_ himself, though the Chymists complain of
+him as their adversary, acknowledges thus much and more; by telling us
+that at a Town called _Saga_ in _Germany_,[30] they dig up Iron in the
+Fields, by sinking ditches two foot deep; And adding, that within the
+space of ten years the Ditches are digged again for Iron since
+produced, As the same Metal is wont to be obtain'd in _Elva_. Also
+concerning Lead, not to mention what even _Galen_ notes, that it will
+increase both in bulk and Weight if it be long kept in Vaults or
+Sellars, where the Air is gross and thick, as he collects from the
+smelling of those pieces of Lead that were imploy'd to fasten together
+the parts of old Statues. Not to mention this, I say, _Boccacius
+Certaldus_, as I find him Quoted by a Diligent Writer, has this
+Passage touching the Growth of Lead. _Fessularum mons_ (sayes he) _in
+Hetruria, Florentiae civitati imminens, lapides plumbarios habet; qui
+si excidantur, brevi temporis spatio, novis incrementis instaurantur;
+ut_ (annexes my Author) _tradit Boccacius Certaldus, qui id
+compotissimum [Errata: compertissimum] esse scribit. Nihil hoc novi
+est; sed de eadem Plinius, lib. 34. Hist. Natur. cap. 17. dudum
+prodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his solis plumbi metallis, quod derelicta
+fertilius reviviscunt. In plumbariis secundo Lapide ab Amberga dictis
+ad Asylum recrementa congesta in cumulos, exposita solibus pluviisque
+paucis annis, redunt suum metallum cum fenore._ I might Add to these,
+continues _Carneades_, many things that I have met with concerning the
+Generation of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I shall
+mention but two or three Narratives. The First you may find Recorded
+by _Gerhardus_ the Physick Professor, in these Words. _In valle_
+(sayes he) _Joachimaca [Errata: Joachimica] argentum gramini [Errata:
+graminis] modo & more e Lapidibus minerae velut e radice excrevisse
+digiti Longitudine, testis est Dr. Schreterus, qui ejusmodi venas
+aspectu jucundas & admirabiles Domi sua aliis saepe monstravit &
+Donavit. Item Aqua caerulea Inventa est Annebergae, ubi argentum erat
+adhuc in primo ente, quae coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi & boni
+argenti._
+
+[Footnote 30: _In Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum,
+fossis ad altitudinem bipedaneam actis. Id decennio renatum denuo
+foditur non aliter ac Ilvae ferrum._]
+
+The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, and
+yet they are both very memorable in themselves, and as pertinent to
+our present purpose.
+
+The first I meet with in the Commentary of _Johannes Valehius_ upon
+the _Kleine Baur_, In which that Industrious Chymist Relates, with
+many circumstances, that at a Mine-Town (If I may so English the
+German _Bergstat_) eight miles or Leagues distant from _Strasburg_
+call'd _Mariakirch_, a Workman came to the Overseer, and desired
+employment; but he telling him that there was not any of the best sort
+at present for him, added that till he could be preferr'd to some
+such, he might in the mean time, to avoid idleness, work in a Grove or
+Mine-pit thereabouts, which at that time was little esteem'd. This
+Workman after some weeks Labour, had by a Crack appearing in the Stone
+upon a Stroak given near the wall, an Invitation Given him to Work his
+Way through, which as soon as he had done, his Eyes were saluted by a
+mighty stone or Lump which stood in the middle of the Cleft (that had
+a hollow place behind it) upright, and in shew like an armed-man; but
+consisted of pure fine Silver having no Vein or Ore by it, or any
+other Additament, but stood there free, having only underfoot
+something like a burnt matter; and yet this one Lump held in Weight
+above a 1000 marks, which, according to the Dutch, Account [Errata:
+Dutch account] makes 500 pound weight of fine silver. From which and
+other Circumstances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of the
+place, the Noble Metalline Spirits, (Sulphureous and Mercurial) were
+carri'd from the neighbouring Galleries or Vaults, through other
+smaller Cracks and Clefts, into that Cavity, and there collected as in
+a close Chamber or Cellar; whereinto when they were gotten, they did
+in process of time settle into the forementioned precious mass of
+Metal.
+
+The other Germane Relation is of That great Traveller and Laborious
+Chymist _Johannes_ (not _Georgus_) _Agricola_; who in his notes upon
+what _Poppius_ has written of Antimony, Relates, that when he was
+among the _Hungarian_ Mines in the deep Groves, he observ'd that there
+would often arise in them a warm Steam (not of that malignant sort
+which the Germains call _Shwadt_, which (sayes he) is a meer poyson,
+and often suffocates the Diggers [Errata: diggers)], which fasten'd it
+self to the Walls; and that coming again to review it after a couple
+of dayes, he discern'd that it was all very fast, and glistering;
+whereupon having collected it and Distill'd it _per Retortam_, he
+obtain'd from it a fine Spirit, adding, that the Mine-Men inform'd
+him, that this Steam or Damp of the English Mine [Errata: damp as the
+Englishmen also call it] (retaining the dutch Term) would at last have
+become a Metal, as Gold or Silver.
+
+I referr (sayes _Carneades_) to another Occasion, the Use that may be
+made of these Narratives towards the explicating the Nature of
+Metalls; and that of Fixtness, Malleableness, and some other Qualities
+conspicuous in them. And in the mean time, this I may at present
+deduce from these Observations, That 'tis not very probable, that,
+whensoever 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
+last Relations seem less to favour the Chymists than _Aristotle_, who
+would have Metals Generated of certain _Halitus_ or steams, the
+foremention'd Observations together, make it seem more Likely that the
+mineral Earths or those Metalline steams (wherewith probably such
+Earths are plentifully imbu'd) do contain in them some seminal
+Rudiment, or some thing Equivalent thereunto; by whose plastick power
+the rest of the matter, though perhaps Terrestrial and heavy, is in
+Tract of time fashion'd into this or That metalline Ore; almost as I
+formerly noted, that fair water was by the seminal Principle of Mint,
+Pompions, and other Vegetables, contriv'd into Bodies answerable to
+such Seeds. And that such Alterations of Terrestrial matter are not
+impossible, seems evident from that notable Practice of the Boylers of
+Salt-Petre, who unanimously observe, as well here in _England_ as in
+other Countries; That if an Earth pregnant with Nitre be depriv'd, by
+the affusion of water, of all its true and dissoluble Salt, yet the
+Earth will after some years yield them Salt-Petre again; For which
+reason some of the eminent and skillfullest of them keep it in heaps
+as a perpetual Mine of Salt Petre; whence it may appear, that the
+Seminal Principle of Nitre latent in the Earth does by degrees
+Transforme the neighbouring matter into a Nitrous Body; for though I
+deny that some Volatile Nitre may by such Earths be attracted (as they
+speak) out of the Air, yet that the innermost parts of such great
+heaps that lye so remote from the Air should borrow from it all the
+Nitre they abound with, is not probable, for other reasons besides the
+remoteness of the Air, though I have not the Leasure to mention them.
+
+And I remember, that a person of Great Credit, and well acquainted
+with the wayes of making Vitriol, affirm'd to me, that he had
+observ'd, that a kind of mineral which abounds in that Salt, being
+kept within Doors and not expos'd (as is usual) to the free Air and
+Rains, did of it self in no very long time turn into Vitriol, not only
+in the outward or superficial, but even in the internal and most
+Central parts.
+
+And I also remember, that I met with a certain kind of Merkasite that
+lay together in great Quantities under ground, which did, even in my
+chamber, in so few hours begin of it self to turne into Vitriol, that
+we need not distrust the newly recited narrative. But to return to
+what I was saying of Nitre; as Nature made this Salt-Petre out of the
+once almost and inodorous Earth it was bred in, and did not find a
+very stinking and corrosive Acid Liquor, and a sharp Alcalyzate Salt
+to compound it of, though these be the Bodies into which the Fire
+dissolves it; so it were not necessary that Nature should make up all
+Metals and other Minerals of Pre-existent Salt, and Sulphur, and
+Mercury, though such Bodies might by Fire be obtained from it. Which
+one consideration duly weigh'd is very considerable in the present
+controversy: And to this agree well the Relations of our two German
+Chymists; for besides that it cannot be convincingly prov'd, it is not
+so much as likely that so languid and moderate a heat as that within
+the Mines, should carry up to so great a heat [Errata: height], though
+in the forme of fumes, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; since we find in our
+Distillations, that it requires a considerable Degree of Fire to raise
+so much as to the height of one foot not only Salt, but even Mercury
+it self, in close Vessels. And if it be objected, that it seems by the
+stink that is sometimes observ'd when Lightening falls down here
+below, that sulphureous steams may ascend very high without any
+extraordinary Degree of heat; It may be answer'd, among other things,
+that the Sulphur of Silver is by Chymists said to be a fixt Sulphur,
+though not altogether so well Digested as that of Gold.
+
+But, proceeds _Carneades_, If it had not been to afford You some hints
+concerning the Origine of Metals, I need not have deduc'd any thing
+from these Observations; It not being necessary to the Validity of my
+Argument that my Deductions from them should be irrefragable, because
+my Adversaries the _Aristotelians_ and Vulgar Chymists do not, I
+presume, know any better then I, _a priori_, of what ingredients
+Nature compounds Metals and Minerals. For their Argument to prove that
+those Bodies are made up of such Principles, is drawn _a posteriori_;
+I mean from this, that upon the _Analysis_ of Mineral bodies they are
+resolv'd into those differing substances. That we may therefore
+examine this Argument, Let us proceed to consider what can be alledg'd
+in behalf of the Elements from the Resolutions of Bodies by the fire;
+which you remember was the second Tophick [Transcriber's Note: Topick]
+whence I told you the Arguments of my Adversaries were desum'd.
+
+And that I may first dispatch what I have to say concerning Minerals,
+I will begin the remaining part of my discourse with considering how
+the fire divides them.
+
+And first, I have partly noted above, that though Chymists pretend
+from some to draw salt, from others running Mercury, and from others a
+Sulphur; Yet they have not hitherto taught us by any way in us
+[Errata: use] among them to separate any one principle, whether Salt,
+Sulphur, or Mercury, from all sorts of Minerals without exception. And
+thence I may be allow'd to conclude that there is not any of the
+Elements that is an Ingredient of all Bodies, since there are some of
+which it is not so.
+
+In the next place, supposing that either Sulphur or Mercury were
+obtainable from all sorts of Minerals. Yet still this Sulphur or
+Mercury would be but a compounded, not an Elementary body, as I told
+you already on another occasion. And certainly he that takes notice of
+the wonderful Operations of Quicksilver, whether it be common, or
+drawn from Mineral Bodies, can scarce be so inconsiderate as to think
+it of the very same nature with that immature and fugitive substance
+which in Vegetables and Animals Chymists have been pleas'd to call
+their Mercury. So that when Mercury is got by the help of the fire out
+of a metal or other Mineral Body, if we will not suppose that it was
+not pre-existent in it, but produc'd by the action of the fire upon
+the Concrete, we may at least suppose this Quicksilver to have been a
+perfect Body of its own kind (though perhaps lesse heterogeneous then
+more secundary mixts) which happen'd to be mingl'd _per minima_, and
+coagulated with the other substances, whereof the Metal or Mineral
+consisted. As may be exemplyfied partly by Native Vermillion wherein
+the Quicksilver and Sulphur being exquisitely blended both with one
+another, and that other course Mineral stuff (what ever it be) that
+harbours them, make up a red body differing enough from both; and yet
+from which part of the Quicksilver, and of the Sulphur, may be easily
+enough obtain'd; Partly by those Mines wherein nature has so curiously
+incorporated Silver with Lead, that 'tis extreamly difficult, and yet
+possible, to separate the former out of the Latter. [Errata: latter;]
+And partly too by native Vitriol, wherein the Metalline Corpuscles are
+by skill and industry separable from the saline ones, though they be
+so con-coagulated with them, that the whole Concrete is reckon'd among
+Salts.
+
+And here I further observe, that I never could see any Earth or Water,
+properly so call'd, separated from either Gold or Silver (to name now
+no other Metalline Bodies) and therefore to retort the argument upon
+my Adversaries, I may conclude, that since there are some bodies in
+which, for ought appears, there is neither Earth nor Water. [Errata:
+Water;] I may be allow'd to conclude that neither of those two is an
+Universal Ingredient of all those Bodies that are counted perfectly
+mixt, which I desire you would remember against Anon.
+
+It may indeed be objected, that the reason why from Gold or Silver we
+cannot separate any moisture, is, because that when it is melted out
+of the Oare, the vehement Fire requisite to its Fusion forc'd away all
+the aqueous and fugitive moisture; and the like fire may do from the
+materials of Glass. To which I shall Answer, that I Remember I read
+not long since in the Learned _Josephus Acosta_,[31] who relates it
+upon his own observation; that in _America_, (where he long lived)
+there is a kind of Silver which the _Indians_ call _Papas_, and
+sometimes (sayes he) they find pieces very fine and pure like to small
+round roots, the which is rare in that metal, but usuall in Gold;
+Concerning which metal he tells us, that besides this they find some
+which they call Gold in grains, which he tells us are small morsels of
+Gold that they find whole without mixture of any other metal, which
+hath no need of melting or Refining in the fire.
+
+[Footnote 31: _Acosta_ Natural and Moral history of the Indies, L. 3.
+c. 5, p. 212.]
+
+I remember that a very skilful and credible person affirmed to me,
+that being in the _Hungarian_ mines he had the good fortune to see a
+mineral that was there digg'd up, wherein pieces of Gold of the
+length, and also almost of the bigness of a humane Finger, grew in the
+Oar, as if they had been parts and Branches of Trees.
+
+And I have my self seen a Lump of whitish 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 sparr, divers little
+Lumps of fine Gold, (for such I was assured that Tryal had manifested
+it to be) some of them Seeming to be about the Bigness of pease.
+
+But that is nothing to what our _Acosta_ subjoynes, which is indeed
+very memorable, namely, that of the morsels of Native and pure Gold,
+which we lately heard him mentioning he had now and then seen some
+that weighed many pounds;[32] to which I shall add, that I my self
+have seen a Lump of Oar not long since digged up, in whose stony part
+there grew, almost like Trees, divers parcels though not of Gold, yet
+of (what perhaps Mineralists will more wonder at) another Metal which
+seemed to be very pure or unmixt with any Heterogeneous Substances,
+and were some of them as big as my Finger, if not bigger. But upon
+Observations of this kind, though perhaps I could, yet I must not at
+present dwell any longer.
+
+[Footnote 32: See _Acosta_ in the fore-cited Place, and the passage of
+_Pliny_ quoted by him.]
+
+To proceed Therefore now (sayes _Carneades_) to the Consideration of
+the _Analysis_ of Vegetables, although my Tryals give me no cause to
+doubt but that out of most of them five differing Substances may be
+obtain'd by the fire, yet I think it will not be so easily
+Demonstrated that these deserve to be call'd Elements in the Notion
+above explain'd.
+
+And before I descend to particulars, I shall repeat and premise this
+General Consideration, that these differing substances that are call'd
+Elements or Principles, differ not from each other as Metals, Plants
+and Animals, or as such Creatures as are immediately produc'd each by
+its peculiar Seed, and Constitutes a distinct propagable sort of
+Creatures in the Universe; but these are only Various Schemes of
+matter or Substances that differ from each other, but in consistence
+(as Running Mercury and the same Metal congeal'd by the Vapor of
+Lead) and some very few other accidents, as Tast, or Smel, or
+Inflamability, or the want of them. So that by a change of Texture not
+impossible to be wrought by the Fire and other Agents that have the
+Faculty not only to dissociate the smal parts of Bodies, but
+afterwards to connect them after a new manner, the same parcell of
+matter may acquire or lose such accidents as may suffice to Denominate
+it Salt, or Sulphur, or Earth. If I were fully to clear to you my
+apprehensions concerning this matter, I should perhaps be obliged to
+acquaint you with divers of the Conjectures (for I must yet call them
+no more) I have had Concerning the Principles of things purely
+Corporeal: For though because I seem not satisfi'd with the Vulgar
+Doctrines, either of the Peripatetick or Paracelsian Schools, many of
+those that know me, (and perhaps, among Them, _Eleutherius_ himself)
+have thought me wedded to the Epicurean _Hypotheses_, (as others have
+mistaken me for an _Helmontian_;) yet if you knew how little
+Conversant I have been with _Epicurean_ Authors, and how great a part
+of _Lucretius_ himself I never yet had the Curiosity to read, you
+would perchance be of another mind; especially if I were to entertain
+you at large, I say not, of my present Notions; but of my former
+thoughts concerning the Principles of things. But, as I said above,
+fully to clear my Apprehensions would require a Longer Discourse than
+we can now have.
+
+For, I should tell you that I have sometimes thought it not unfit,
+that to the Principles which may be assign'd to things, as the World
+is now Constituted, we should, if we consider the Great Mass of matter
+as it was whilst the Universe was in making, add another, which may
+Conveniently enough be call'd an Architectonick Principle or power; by
+which I mean those Various Determinations, and that Skilfull Guidance
+of the motions of the small parts of the Universal matter by the most
+wise Author of things, which were necessary at the beginning to turn
+that confus'd _Chaos_ into this Orderly and beautifull World; and
+Especially, to contrive the Bodies of Animals and Plants, and the
+Seeds of those things whose kinds were to be propagated. For I confess
+I cannot well Conceive, how from matter, Barely put into Motion, and
+then left to it self, there could Emerge such Curious Fabricks as the
+Bodies of men and perfect Animals, and such yet more admirably
+Contriv'd parcels of matter, as the seeds of living Creatures.
+
+I should likewise tell you upon what grounds, and in what sence, I
+suspected the Principles of the World, as it now is, to be Three,
+_Matter_, _Motion_ and _Rest_. I say, _as the World now is_, because
+the present Fabrick of the Universe, and especially the seeds of
+things, together with the establisht Course of Nature, is a Requisite
+or Condition, upon whose account divers things may be made out by our
+three Principles, which otherwise would be very hard, if possible, to
+explicate.
+
+I should moreover declare in general (for I pretend not to be able to
+do it otherwise) not only why I Conceive that Colours, Odors, Tasts,
+Fluidness and Solidity, and those other qualities that Diversifie and
+Denominate Bodies may Intelligibly be Deduced from these three; _but
+how two of the Three_ Epicurean Principles (which, I need not tell,
+you [Transcriber's Note: tell you,] are Magnitude, Figure and Weight)
+are Themselves Deducible from Matter and Motion; since the Latter of
+these Variously Agitating, and, as it were, Distracting the Former,
+must needs disjoyne its parts; which being Actually separated must
+Each of them necessarily both be of some Size, and obtain some shape
+or other. Nor did I add to our Principles the _Aristotelean
+Privation_, partly for other Reasons, which I must not now stay to
+insist on; and partly because it seems to be rather an Antecedent, or
+a _Terminus a quo_, then a True Principle, as the starting-Post is
+none of the Horses Legs or Limbs.
+
+I should also explain why and how I made rest [Errata: Rest] to be,
+though not so considerable a Principle of things, as Motion, yet a
+Principle of them; partly because it is (for ought we know [Errata:
+know)] as Ancient at least as it, and depends not upon Motion, nor any
+other quality of matter; and partly, because it may enable the Body in
+which it happens to be, both to continue in a State of Rest till some
+external force put it out of that state, and to concur to the
+production of divers Changes in the bodies that hit against it, by
+either quite stopping or lessning their Motion (whilst the body
+formerly at Rest Receives all or part of it into it self) or else by
+giving a new Byass, or some other Modification, to Motion, that is, To
+the Grand and Primary instrument whereby Nature produces all the
+Changes and other Qualities that are to be met with in the World.
+
+I should likewise, after all this, explain to you how, although
+Matter, Motion and Rest, seem'd to me to be the Catholick Principles
+of the Universe, I thought the Principles of Particular bodies might
+be Commodiously enough reduc'd to two, namely _Matter_, and (what
+Comprehends the two other, and their effects) the result or Aggregate
+[Errata: Aggregate or complex] of those Accidents, which are the
+Motion or Rest, (for in some Bodies both are not to be found) the
+Bigness, Figure, Texture) [Errata: delete )] and the thence resulting
+Qualities of the small parts) [Errata: delete )] which are necessary
+to intitle the Body whereto they belong to this or that Peculiar
+Denomination; and discriminating it from others to appropriate it to a
+Determinate Kind of Things, as [Errata: (as] Yellowness, Fixtness,
+such a Degree of Weight, and of Ductility, do make the Portion of
+matter wherein they Concur, to be reckon'd among perfect metals, and
+obtain the name of Gold.) Which [Errata: This] Aggregate or result of
+Accidents you may, if You please, call either _Structure_ or Texture.
+
+[Errata: no paragraph break] Though [Errata: (Though] indeed, that do
+not so properly Comprehend the motion of the constituent parts
+especially in case some of them be Fluid [Errata: Fluid)], or what
+other appellation shall appear most Expressive. Or if, retaining the
+Vulgar Terme, You will call it the _Forme_ of the thing it
+denominates, I shall not much oppose it; Provided the word be
+interpreted to mean but what I have express'd, and not a Scholastick
+_Substantial Forme_, which so many intelligent men profess to be to
+them altogether Un-intelligible.
+
+But, sayes _Carneades_, if you remember that 'tis a Sceptick speaks to
+you, and that 'tis not so much my present Talk to make assertions as
+to suggest doubts, I hope you will look upon what I have propos'd,
+rather as a Narrative of my former conjectures touching the principles
+of things, then as a Resolute Declaration of my present opinions of
+them; especially since although they cannot but appear Very much to
+their Disadvantage, If you Consider Them as they are propos'd without
+those Reasons and Explanations by which I could perhaps make them
+appear much lesse extravagant; yet I want time to offer you what may
+be alledg'd to clear and countenance these notions; my design in
+mentioning them unto you at present being, _partly_, to bring some
+Light and Confirmation to divers passages of my discourse to you;
+_partly_ to shew you, that I do not (as you seem to have suspected)
+embrace all _Epicurus_ his principles; but Dissent from him in some
+main things, as well as from _Aristotle_ and the Chymists, in others;
+& _partly_ also, or rather chiefly, to intimate to you the grounds
+upon which I likewise differ from _Helmont_ in this, that whereas he
+ascribes almost all things, and even diseases themselves, to their
+determinate Seeds; I am of opinion, that besides the peculiar
+Fabricks of the Bodies of Plants and Animals (and perhaps also of some
+Metals and Minerals) which I take to be the Effects of seminal
+principles, there are many other bodies in nature which have and
+deserve distinct and Proper names, but yet do but result from such
+contextures of the matter they are made of, as may without determinate
+seeds be effected by heat, cold, artificial mixtures and compositions,
+and divers other causes which sometimes nature imployes of her own
+accord; and oftentimes man by his power and skill makes use of to
+fashion the matter according to his Intentions. This may be
+exemplified both in the productions of Nature, and in those of Art; of
+the first sort I might name multitudes; but to shew how sleight 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;
+
+I shall invite you to observe with me, That Clouds, Rain, Hail, Snow,
+Froth, and Ice, may be but water, having its parts varyed as to their
+size and distance in respect of each other, and as to motion and
+rest. And among Artificial Productions we may take notice (to skip the
+Crystals of Tartar) of Glass, Regulus, Martis-Stellatus [Errata:
+Regulus Martis Stellatus], and particularly of the Sugar of Lead,
+which though made of that insipid Metal and sour salt of Vinager, has
+in it a sweetnesse surpassing that of common Sugar, and divers other
+qualities, which being not to be found in either of its two
+ingredients, must be confess'd to belong to the Concrete it self, upon
+the account of its Texture.
+
+This Consideration premis'd, it will be, I hope, the more easie to
+perswade you that the Fire may as well produce some new textures in a
+parcel of matter, as destroy the old.
+
+Wherefore hoping that you have not forgot the Arguments formerly
+imploy'd against the Doctrine of the _Tria prima_; namely that the
+Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, into which the Fire seems to resolve
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies, are yet compounded, not simple and
+Elementary Substances; And that (as appeared by the Experiment of
+Pompions) the _Tria prima_ may be made out of Water; hoping I say,
+that you remember These and the other Things that I formerly
+represented to the same purpose, I shall now add only, that if we
+doubt not the Truth of some of _Helmonts_ Relation [Errata:
+Relations], We may well doubt whether any of these Heterogeneities be
+(I say not pre-existent, so as to convene together, when a plant or
+Animal is to be constituted but) so much as in-existent in the
+Concrete whence they are obtain'd, when the Chymists [Errata: Chymist]
+first goes about to resolve it; For not to insist upon the
+un-inflamable Spirit of such Concretes, because that may be pretended
+to be but a mixture of Phlegme and Salt; the Oyle or Sulphur of
+Vegetables or Animals is, according to him, reducible by the help of
+Lixiviate Salts into Sope; as that Sope is by the help of repeated
+Distillations from a _Caput Mortuum_ of Chalk into insipid Water. And
+as for the saline substance that seems separable from mixt bodies; the
+same _Helmonts_ tryals[33] give us cause to think, That it may be a
+production of the Fire, which by transporting and otherwise altering
+the particles of the matter, does bring it to a Saline nature.
+
+[Footnote 33: _Omne autem Alcali addita pinguedine in aqueum liquorem,
+qui tandem mera & simplex aqua fit, reducitur, (ut videre est in
+Sapone, Lazurio lapide, &c.) quoties per adjuncta fixa semen
+Pinguedinis deponit._ Helmont.]
+
+For I know (sayes he, in the place formerly alledg'd to another
+purpose) a way to reduce all stones into a meer Salt of equal weight
+with the stone whence it was produc'd, and that without any of the
+least either Sulphur or Mercury; which asseveration of my Author would
+perhaps seem less incredible to You, if I durst acquaint You with all
+I could say upon that subject. And hence by the way you may also
+conclude that the Sulphur and Mercury, as they call them, that
+Chymists are wont to obtain from compound Bodies by the Fire, may
+possibly in many Cases be the productions of it; since if the same
+bodies had been wrought upon by the Agents employ'd by _Helmont_, they
+would have yielded neither Sulphur nor Mercury; and those portions of
+them which the Fire would have presented Us in the forme of
+Sulphureous and Mercurial Bodies would have, by _Helmonts_ method,
+been exhibited to us in the form of Salt.
+
+But though (sayes _Eleutherius_) You have alledg'd very plausible
+Arguments against the _tria Prima_, yet I see not how it will be
+possible for you to avoid acknowledging that Earth and Water are
+Elementary Ingredients, though not of Mineral Concretes, yet of all
+Animal and Vegetable Bodies; Since if any of these of what sort soever
+be committed to Distillation, there is regularly and constantly
+separated from it a phlegme or aqueous part and a _Caput Mortuum_ or
+Earth.
+
+I readily acknowledged (answers _Carneades_) it is not so easy to
+reject Water and Earth (and especially the former) as 'tis to reject
+the _Tria Prima_, from being the Elements of mixt Bodies; but 'tis not
+every difficult thing that is impossible.
+
+I consider then, as to Water, that the chief Qualities which make men
+give that name to any visible Substance, are, that it is Fluid or
+Liquid, and that it is insipid and inodorous. Now as for the tast of
+these qualities, I think you have never seen any of those separated
+substances that the Chymists call Phlegme which was perfectly devoyd
+both of Tast and Smell: and if you object, that yet it may be
+reasonably suppos'd, that since the whole Body is Liquid, the mass is
+nothing but Elementary Water faintly imbu'd with some of the Saline or
+Sulphureous parts of the same Concrete, which it retain'd with it
+upon its Separation from the Other Ingredients. To this I answer, That
+this Objection would not appear so stong [Transcriber's Note: strong]
+as it is plausible, if Chymists understood the Nature of Fluidity and
+Compactnesse; and that, as I formerly observ'd, to a Bodies being
+Fluid there is nothing necessary, but that it be divided into parts
+small enough; and that these parts be put into such a motion among
+themselves as to glide some this way and some that way, along each
+others Surfaces. So that, although a Concrete were never so dry, and
+had not any Water or other Liquor in-existent in it, yet such a
+Comminution of its parts may be made, by the fire or other Agents, as
+to turn a great portion of them into Liquor. Of this Truth I will give
+an instance, employ'd by our friend here present as one of the most
+conducive of his experiments to Illustrate the nature of Salts. If you
+Take, then, sea salt and melt it in the Fire to free it from the
+aqueous parts, and afterward distill it with a vehement Fire from
+burnt Clay, or any other, as dry a _Caput mortuum_ as you please, you
+will, as Chymists confess, [Errata: confesse (delete comma)] by
+teaching it drive over a good part of the Salt in the form of a
+Liquor. And to satisfy some ingenious men, That a great part of this
+Liquor was still true sea salt brought by the Operation of the Fire
+into Corpuscles so small, and perhaps so advantageously shap'd, as to
+be capable of the forme of a Fluid Body, He did in my presence poure
+to such spiritual salts a due proportion of the spirit (or salt and
+Phlegme) of Urine, whereby having evaporated the superfluous moisture,
+he soon obtain'd such another Concrete, both as to tast and smell, and
+easie sublimableness as common Salt _Armoniack_, which you know is
+made up of grosse and undistill'd sea salt united with the salts of
+Urine and of Soot, which two are very neer of kin to each other. And
+further, to manifest that the Corpuscles of sea salt and the Saline
+ones of Urine retain their several Natures in this Concrete, He mixt
+it with a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar, and committing it to
+Distillation soon regain'd his spirit of Urine in a liquid form by its
+self, the Sea salt staying behind with the Salt of Tartar. Wherefore
+it is very possible that dry Bodies may by the Fire be reduc'd to
+Liquors without any separation of Elements, but barely by a certain
+kind of Dissipation and Comminution of the matter, whereby its parts
+are brought into a new state. And if it be still objected, that the
+Phlegme of mixt Bodies must be reputed water, because so weak a tast
+needs but a very small proportion of Salt to impart it; It may be
+reply'd, that for ought appears, common Salt and divers other bodies,
+though they be distill'd never so dry, and in never so close Vessels,
+will yield each of them pretty store of a Liquor, wherein though (as I
+lately noted) Saline Corpuscles abound, Yet there is besides a large
+proportion of Phlegme, as may easily be discovered by coagulating the
+Saline Corpuscles 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 separated a salt from Oyle of Vitriol it self
+(though a very ponderous Liquor and drawn from a saline body) by
+boyling it with a just quantity of Mercury, and then washing the newly
+coagulated salt from the Precipitate with fair Water. Now to what can
+we more probably ascribe this plenty of aqueous Substance afforded us
+by the Distillation of such bodies, than unto this, That among the
+various operations of the Fire upon the matter of a Concrete, divers
+particles of that matter are reduc'd to such a shape and bignesse as
+is requisite to compose such a Liquor as Chymists are wont to call
+Phlegme or Water. How I conjecture this change may be effected, 'tis
+neither necessary for me to tell you, nor possible to do so without a
+much longer discourse then were now seasonable. But I desire you would
+with me reflect upon what I formerly told you concerning the change of
+Quicksilver into Water; For that Water having but a very faint tast,
+if any whit more than divers of those liquors that Chymists referr to
+Phlegme; By that experiment it seems evident, that even a metalline
+body, and therefore much more such as are but Vegetable or Animal, may
+by a simple operation of the Fire be turn'd in great part into Water.
+And since those I dispute with are not yet able out of Gold, or
+Silver, or divers other Concretes to separate any thing like Water; I
+hope I may be allow'd to conclude against Them, that water it self is
+not an Universal and pre-existent Ingredient of Mixt Bodies.
+
+But as for those Chymists that, Supposing with me the Truth of what
+_Helmont_ relates of the _Alkahest's_ wonderful Effects, have a right
+to press me with his Authority concerning them, and to alledge that he
+could Transmute all reputedly mixt Bodies into insipid and meer Water;
+To those I shall represent, That though his Affirmations conclude
+strongly against the Vulgar Chymists (against whom I have not
+therefore scrupl'd to Employ Them) since they Evince that the Commonly
+reputed Principles or Ingredients of Things are not Permanent and
+indestructible, since they may be further reduc'd into Insipid Phlegme
+differing from them all; Yet till we can be allow'd to examine this
+Liquor, I think it not unreasonable to doubt whether it be not
+something else then meer Water. For I find not any other reason given
+by _Helmont_ of his Pronouncing it so, then that it is insipid. Now
+Sapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to our
+Tongue, Palate, and other Organs of Tast, it may very possibly be,
+that the small Parts of a Body may be of such a Size and Shape, as
+either by their extream Littleness, or by their slenderness, or by
+their Figure, to be unable to pierce into and make a perceptible
+Impression upon the Nerves or Membranous parts of the Organs of Tast,
+and what [Errata: yet] may be fit to work otherwise upon divers other
+Bodies than meer Water can, and consequently to Disclose it self to be
+of a Nature farr enough from Elementary. In Silke dyed Red or of any
+other Colour, whilst many Contiguous Threads makes up a skein, the
+Colour of the Silke is conspicuous; 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 simple Thread, you shall not easily be able to
+discern any Colour at all; So subtile an Object having not the Force
+to make upon the Optick Nerve an Impression great enough to be taken
+Notice of. It is also observ'd, that the best sort of Oyl-Olive is
+almost tastless, and yet I need not tell you how exceedingly distant
+in Nature Oyle is from Water. The Liquor into which I told you, upon
+the Relation of _Lully_, and [Errata: an] Eye-witness that Mercury
+might be Transmuted, has sometimes but a very Languid, if any Tast,
+and yet its Operations even upon some Mineral Bodies are very
+peculiar. Quicksilver it self also, though the Corpuscles it consists
+of be so very small as to get into the Pores of that Closest and
+compactest of Bodies, Gold, is yet (you know) altogether Tastless. And
+our _Helmont_ several times tells us, that fair Water wherein a little
+Quantity f [Errata: of] Quicksilver has lain for some time, though it
+acquire no certain Tast or other sensible Quality from the
+Quicksilver; Yet it has a power to destroy wormes in humane Bodies;
+which he does much, but not causelessly extoll. And I remember, a
+great Lady, that had been Eminent for her Beauty in Divers Courts,
+confess'd to me, that this insipid Liquor was of all innocent washes
+for the Face the best that she ever met with.
+
+And here let me conclude my Discourse, concerning such waters or
+Liquors as I have hitherto been examining, with these two
+Considerations. Whereof the first is, That by reason of our being wont
+to drink nothing but Wine, Bear, Cyder, or other strongly tasted
+Liquors, there may be in several of these Liquors, that are wont to
+pass for insipid Phlegme, very peculiar and Distinct, Tasts [Errata:
+distinct Tasts] though unheeded (and perhaps not to be perceiv'd) by
+Us. For to omit what Naturalists affirm of Apes, (and which probably
+may be true of divers other Animals) that they have a more exquisite
+palate than Men: among Men themselves, those that are wont to drink
+nothing but water may (as I have try'd in my self) Discern very
+sensibly a great Difference of Tasts in several waters, which one
+un-accustomed to drink water would take to be all alike insipid. And
+this is the _first_ of my two Considerations; the _Other_ is, That it
+is not impossible that the Corpuscles into which a body is dissipated
+by the Fire may by the Operation of the same fire have their figures
+so altered, or may be by associations with one another brought into
+little Masses of such a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to make
+sensible Impressions on the Tongue. And that you may not think such
+alterations impossible, be pleased to consider with me, that not only
+the sharpest Spirit of Vinager having dissolved as much Corall as it
+can, will Coagulate with it into a Substance, which though soluble in
+water, like salt, is incomparably less strongly Tasted then the
+Vinager was before; but (what is more considerable) though the Acid
+salts that are carried up with Quicksilver in the preparation of
+common sublimate are so sharp, that being moistened with water it will
+Corrode some of the Metals themselves; yet this Corrosive Sublimate
+being twice or thrice re-sublim'd with a full proportion of insipid
+Quicksilver, Constitutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, which
+the Chymists call _Mercurius dulcis_; not because it is sweet, but
+because the sharpness of the Corrosive Salts is so taken away by their
+Combination with the Mercurial Corpuscles, that the whole mixture when
+it is prepar'd is judg'd to be insipid.
+
+And thus (continues _Carneades_) having given you some Reasons why I
+refuse to admit Elementary water for a constant Ingredient of Mixt
+Bodies, It will be easie for me to give you an Account why I also
+reject Earth.
+
+For first, it may well be suspected that many Substances pass among
+Chymists under the name of Earth, because, like it, they are Dry, and
+Heavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Elementary Nature.
+This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what I
+formerly told you concerning what Chymists call the Dead Earth of
+things, and especially touching the copper to be drawn from the _Caput
+Mortuum_ of Vitriol; And if also you allow me to subjoyn a casual but
+memorable Experiment made by _Johannes Agricola_ upon the _Terra
+Damnata_ of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon
+_Popius_ [Transcriber's Note: Poppius],) that in the year 1621 he made
+an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining _Faeces_ he reverberated in a
+moderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up in
+a Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing to
+calcine the _Faeces_ to a perfect Whiteness, that he might make
+someting [Transcriber's Note: something] else out of them. But coming
+to break the pot, he found above but very little _Faeces_, and those
+Grey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine Red _Regulus_ which
+he first marvell'd at and knew not what to make of, being well assured
+that not the least thing, besides the _Faeces_ of the Sulphur, came
+into the pot; and that the Sulphur it self had only been dissolv'd in
+Linseed Oyle; this _Regulus_ he found heavy and malleable almost as
+Lead; having caus'd a Goldsmith to draw him a Wire of it, he found it
+to be of the Fairest copper, and so rightly colour'd, that a Jew of
+_Prague_ offer'd him a great price for it. And of this Metal he sayes
+he had 12 _loth_ (or six ounces) out of one pound of Ashes or _Faeces_.
+And this Story may well incline us to suspect that since the _Caput
+Mortuum_ of the Sulphur was kept so long in the fire before it was
+found to be any thing else then a _Terra damnata_, there may be divers
+other Residences of Bodies which are wont to pass only for the
+Terrestrial _Faeces_ of things, and therefore to be thrown away as soon
+as the Distillation or Calcination 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 unwarrantable forwardness of common Chymists to
+pronounce things useless _Faeces_, by observing how often they reject
+the _Caput Mortuum_ of Verdegrease; which is yet so farr from
+deserving that Name, that not only by strong fires and convenient
+Additaments it may in some hours be reduc'd into copper, but with a
+certain Flux Powder I sometimes 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 sake kept Venetian Taclk [Errata: Talck] in no less
+a heat than that of a glass Furnace, I found after all the Brunt of
+the fire it had indur'd, the remaining Body though brittle and
+discolour'd, had not lost very much of its former Bulke, and seem'd
+still to be nearer of kin to Talck than to meer Earth. And I remember
+too, that a candid Mineralist, famous for his Skill in trying of Oars,
+requesting me one day to procure him a certain _American_ Mineral
+Earth of a _Virtuoso_, who he thought would not refuse me; I enquir'd
+of him why he seem'd so greedy of it: he confess'd to me that this
+Gentleman having brought that Earth to the publick Say-Masters; and
+they upon their being unable by any means to bring it to fusion or
+make it fly away, he (the Relator) had procur'd a little of it; and
+having try'd it with a peculiar Flux separated from it neer a third
+part of pure Gold; so great mistakes may be committed in hastily
+concluding things to be Uselesse Earth.
+
+Next, it may be suppos'd, That as in the Resolution of Bodies by the
+Fire some of the dissipated Parts may, by their various occursion
+occasion'd by the heat, be brought to stick together so closely as to
+constitute Corpuscles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; the
+aggregate of which Corpuscles is wont to be call'd Ashes or Earrh
+[Errata: Earth]; So other Agents may resolve the Concrete into Minute
+Parts, after so differing a manner as not to produce any _Caput
+mortuum_, or dry and heavy Body. As you may remember _Helmont_ above
+inform'd us, that with his great Dissolvent he divided a Coal into two
+liquid and volatile Bodies, aequiponderant to the Coal, without any dry
+or fixt Residence at all.
+
+And indeed, I see not why it should be necessary that all Agents that
+resolve Bodies into portions of differingly qualifi'd matter must
+work on them the same way, and divide them into just such parts, both
+for nature and Number, as the Fire dissipates them into. For since, as
+I noted before, the Bulk and shape of the small Parts of bodies,
+together with their Fitness and Unfitness to be easily put into
+Motion, may make the liquors or other substances such Corpuscles
+compose, as much to differ from each other as do some of the Chymical
+principles: Why may not something happen in this case, not unlike what
+is usuall in the grosser divisions of bodies by Mechanical
+Instruments? Where we see that some Tools reduce Wood, for Instance,
+into darts [Errata: parts] of several shapes, bignesse, and other
+qualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into grosser parts; some
+more long and slender, as splinters; and some more thick and
+irregular, as chips; but all of considerable bulk; but Files and Saws
+makes a Comminution of it into Dust; which, as all the others, is of
+the more solid sort of parts; whereas others divide it into long and
+broad, but thin and flexible parts, as do _Planes_: And of this kind
+of parts it self there is also a variety according to the Difference
+of the Tools employ'd to work on the Wood; the shavings made by the
+_plane_ being in some things differing from those shives or thin and
+flexible pieces of wood that are obtain'd by _Borers_, and these from
+some others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examples
+applicable to this purpose I have elsewhere given you. To which I may
+add, that whereas in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar well
+melted and incorporated together, the action of pure spirit of wine
+digested on it is to separate the sulphureous from the Alcalizate
+Parts, by dissolving the former and leaving the latter, the action of
+Wine (probably upon the score of its copious Phlegme) upon the same
+mixture is to divide it into Corpuscles consisting of both Alcalizate
+and Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is but
+a Factitious Concrete; I answer, that however the instance may serve
+to illustrate what I propos'd, if not to prove it; and that Nature her
+self doth in the bowels of the Earth make Decompounded Bodies, as we
+see in Vitriol, Cinnaber, and even in Sulphur it self; I will not urge
+that the Fire divides new Milk into five differing Substances; but
+Runnet and Acid Liquors divide it into a Coagulated matter and a thin
+Whey: And on the other side churning divides it into Butter and
+Butter-milk, which may either of them be yet reduc'd to other
+substances differing from the former. I will not presse this, I say,
+nor other instances of this Nature, because I cannot in few words
+answer what may be objected, that these Concretes sequestred without
+the help of the Fire may by it be further divided into Hypostatical
+Principles. But I will rather represent, That whereas the same spirit
+of Wine will dissociare [Transcriber's Note: dissociate] the Parts of
+Camphire, and make them one Liquor with it self; _Aqua Fortis_ will
+also disjoyn them, and put them into motion; but so as to keep them
+together, and yet alter their Texture into the form of an Oyle. I know
+also an uncompounded Liquor, that an extraordinary Chymist would not
+allow to be so much as Saline, which doth (as I have try'd) from Coral
+it self (as fixt as divers judicious writers assert that Concrete to
+be) not only obtain a noble Tincture, Without the Intervention of
+Nitre or other Salts; but will carry over the Tincture in
+Distillation. And if some reasons did not forbid me, I could now tell
+you of a _Menstruum_ I make my self, that doth more odly dissociate
+the parts of Minerals very fixt in the fire. So that it seems not
+incredible, that there may be some Agent or way of Operation found,
+whereby this or that Concrete, if not all Firme Bodies, may be
+resolv'd into parts so very minute and so unapt to stick close to one
+another, that none of them may be fixt enough to stay behind in a
+strong Fire, and to be incapable of Distillation; nor consequently to
+be look'd upon as Earth. But to return to _Helmont_, the same Authour
+somewhere supply's me with another Argument against the Earth's being
+such an Element as my Adversaries would have it. For he somewhere
+affirms, that he can reduce all the Terrestrial parts of mixt bodies
+into insipid water; whence we may argue against the Earths being one
+of their Elements, even from that Notion of Elements which you may
+remember _Philoponus_ recited out of _Aristotle_ himself, when he
+lately disputed for his Chymists against _Themistius_. And here we
+may on this occasion consider, that since a Body from which the Fire
+hath driven away its looser parts is wont to be look'd upon as Earth,
+upon the Account of its being endow'd with both these qualities,
+Tastlessenesse and Fixtnesse, (for Salt of Tartar though Fixt passes
+not among the Chymists for Earth, because 'tis strongly Tasted) if it
+be in the power of Natural Agents to deprive the _Caput Mortuum_ of a
+body of either of those two Qualities, or to give them both to a
+portion of matter that had them not both before, the Chymists will not
+easily define what part of a resolv'd Concrete is earth, and make out,
+that that Earth is a primary, simple, and indestructible Body. Now
+there are some cases wherein the more skilful of the Vulgar Chymists
+themselves pretend to be able, by repeated Cohobations and other fit
+Operations, to make the Distilled parts of a Concrete bring its own
+_Caput Mortuum_ over the Helme, in the forme of a Liquor; in which
+state being both Fluid and Volatile, you will easily believe it would
+not be taken for Earth. And indeed by a skilful, but not Vulgar, way
+of managing some Concretes, there may be more effected in this kind,
+then you perhaps would easily think. And on the other side, that
+either Earth may be Generated, or at least Bodies that did not before
+appear to be neer Totally Earth, may be so alter'd as to pass for it,
+seems very possible, if _Helmont_[34] have done that by Art which he
+mentions in several places; especially where He sayes that he knowes
+wayes whereby Sulphur once dissolv'd is all of it fix'd into a
+Terrestrial Powder; and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn'd
+into Earth: Which last he elsewhere sayes is Done by the Odour only of
+a certain Sulphureous Fire. And in another place He mentions one way
+of doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; because the
+Materialls I had prepar'd for Trying it, were by a Servants mistake
+unhappily thrown away.
+
+[Footnote 34: _Novi item modos quibus totum Salpetiae [Errata:
+sal-petrae] in terram convertitur, totumque Sulphur semel dissolutum
+fixetur in Pulvearem terreum. Helmont in Compl. atque Mist. Elementor.
+Sect. 24._]
+
+And these Last Arguments may be confirm'd by the Experiment I have
+often had occasion to mention concerning the Mint I produc'd out of
+Water. And partly by an Observation of _Rondeletius_ concerning the
+Growth of Animals also, Nourish'd but by Water, which I remember'd not
+to mention, when I discours'd to you about the Production of things
+out of Water. This Diligent Writer then in his instructive book of
+fishes,[35] affirmes That his Wife kept a fish in a Glass of water
+without any other Food for three years; in which space it was
+constantly augmented, till at last it could not come out of the Place
+at which it was put in, and at length was too big for the glass it
+self though that were of a large capacity. And because there is no
+just reason to doubt, that this Fish, if Distill'd, would have yielded
+the like differing substances with other Animals: And However, because
+the Mint which I had out of water afforded me upon Distillation a good
+quantity of Charcoal, I think I may from thence inferr, that Earth it
+self may be produc'd out of Water; or if you please, that water may be
+transmuted into Earth; and consequently, that though it could be
+prov'd that Earth is an Ingredient actually in-existent in the
+Vegetable and Animal Bodies whence it may be obtain'd by Fire: yet it
+would not necessarily follow, that Earth as a pre-existent Element
+Does with other Principles convene to make up those Bodies whence it
+seems to have been separated.
+
+[Footnote 35: _Lib. 1. cap. 2._]
+
+After all is said (sayes _Eleutherius_) I have yet something to
+Object, that I cannot but think considerable, since _Carneades_
+Himself alledg'd it as such; for, (continues _Eleutherius_ smiling) I
+must make bold to try whether you can as luckily answer your own
+Arguments, as those of your Antagonists, I mean (pursues he) that part
+of your Concessions, wherein you cannot but remember that you supply'd
+your Adversaries with an Example to prove that there may be Elementary
+Bodies, by taking Notice that Gold may be an Ingredient in a multitude
+of differing Mixtures, and yet retain its Nature, notwithstanding all
+that the Chymists by their Fires and Corrosive Waters are able to do
+to Destroy it.
+
+I sufficiently intimated to you at that time (replies _Carneades_)
+that I propos'd this Example, chiefly to shew you how Nature may be
+Conceived to have made Elements, not to prove that she actually has
+made any; And you know, that _a posse ad esse_ the Inference will not
+hold. But (continues _Carneades_) to answer more directly to the
+Objection drawn from Gold, I must tell You, that though I know very
+well that divers of the more sober Chymists have complain'd of the
+Vulgar Chymists, as of Mountebanks or Cheats, for pretending so
+vainly, as hitherto they have done, to Destroy Gold; Yet I know a
+certain _Menstruum_ (which our Friend has made, and intends shortly to
+communicate to the Ingenious) of so piercing and powerfull a Quality,
+That if notwithstanding much care, and some skill, I did not much
+deceive myself, I have with it really destroy'd even refin'd Gold, and
+brought it into a Metalline Body of another colour and Nature, as I
+found by Tryals purposely made. And if some just Considerations did
+not for the present Forbid it, I could Perchance here shew you by
+another Experiment or Two of my own Trying, that such _Menstruums_ may
+be made as to entice away and retain divers parts, from Bodies, which
+even the more Judicious and Experienc'd _Spagyrists_ have pronounc'd
+irresoluble by the Fire. Though (which I Desire you would mark) in
+neither of these Instances, the Gold or Precious Stones be Analys'd
+into any of the _Tria Prima_, but only Reduc'd to new Concretes. And
+indeed there is a great Disparity betwixt the Operations of the
+several Agents whereby the Parts of a Body come to be Dissipated. As
+if (for Instance) you dissolve the purer sort of Vitriol in common
+Water, the Liquor will swallow up the Mineral, and so Dissociate its
+Corpuscles, that they will seem to make up but one Liquor with those
+of the water; and yet each of these Corpuscles retains its Nature and
+Texture, and remains a Vitriolate and Compounded Body. But if the same
+Vitriol be exposed to a strong Fire, it will then be divided not only,
+as before, into smaller parts, but into Heterogeneous Substances, each
+of the Vitriolate Corpuscles that remain'd entire in the water, being
+it self upon the Destruction of its former Texture dissipated or
+divided into new Particles of differing Qualities. But Instances more
+fitly applicable to this purpose, I have already given you. Wherefore
+to return to what I told you about the Destruction of Gold, that
+Experiment Invites me to Represent to you, that Though there were
+either Saline, or Sulphureous, or Terrestrial Portions of Matter,
+whose parts were so small, so firmly united together, or of a figure
+so fit to make them cohere to one another, (as we see that in
+quicksilver broken into little Globes, the Parts brought to touch one
+another do immediately re-imbody) that neither the Fire, nor the usual
+Agents employ'd by Chymists, are pierceing enough to divide their
+Parts, so as to destroy the Texture of the single Corpuscles; yet it
+would not necessarily follow, That such Permanent Bodies were
+Elementary, since tis possible there may be Agents found in Nature,
+some of whose parts may be of such a Size and Figure as to take better
+Hold of some parts of these seemingly Elementary Corpuscles than these
+parts do of the rest, and Consequently may carry away such parts with
+them, and so dissolve the Texture of the Corpuscle by pulling its
+parts asunder. And if it be said, that at least we may this way
+discover the Elementary Ingredients of Things, by observing into what
+Substances these Corpuscles that were reputed pure are divided; I
+answer, that it is not necessary that such a Discovery should be
+practicable. For if the Particles of the Dissolvent do take such firme
+hold of those of the Dissolved Body, they must constitute together new
+Bodies, as well as Destroy the Old; and the strickt Union, which
+according to this _Hypothesis_ may well be suppos'd betwixt the Parts
+of the Emergent Body, will make it as Little to be Expected that they
+should be pull'd asunder, but by little Parts of matter, that to
+Divide them Associate Themselves and stick extreamly close to those of
+them which they sever from their Former Adherents. Besides that it is
+not impossible, that a Corpuscle suppos'd to be Elementary may have
+its Nature changed, without suffering a Divorce of its parts, barely
+by a new Texture Effected by some powerfull Agent; as I formerly told
+you, the same portion of matter may easily by the Operation of the
+Fire be turn'd at pleasure into the form of a Brittle and Transparent,
+or an Opacous and Malleable Body.
+
+And indeed, if you consider how farr the bare Change of Texture,
+whether made by Art or Nature (or rather by Nature with or without the
+assistance of man) can go in producing such New Qualities in the same
+parcel of matter, and how many inanimate Bodies (such as are all the
+Chymical productions of the Fire) we know are Denominated and
+Distinguish'd not so much by any Imaginary Substantial Form, as by the
+aggregate of these Qualities. If you consider these Things, I say, and
+that the varying of either the figure, or the Size, or the Motion, or
+the Situation, or Connexion of the Corpuscles whereof any of these
+Bodies is compos'd, may alter the Fabrick of it, you will possibly be
+invited to suspect, with me, that there is no great need that Nature
+should alwayes have Elements before hand, whereof to make such Bodies
+as we call mixts. And that it is not so easie as Chymists and others
+have hitherto Imagin'd, to discern, among the many differing
+Substances that may without any extraordinary skill be obtain'd from
+the same portion of matter, Which ought to be esteemed exclusively to
+all the rest, its in-existent Elementary Ingredients; much lesse to
+determine what Primogeneal and Simple Bodies convened together to
+compose it. To exemplify this, I shall add to what I have already on
+several occasions Represented, but this single instance.
+
+You may remember (_Eleutherius_) that I formerly intimated to you,
+that besides Mint and Pompions, I produced divers other Vegetables of
+very differing Natures out of Water. Wherefore you will not, I
+presume, think it incongruous to suppose, that when a slender
+Vine-slip is set into the ground, and takes root, there it may
+likewise receive its Nutriment from the water attracted out of the
+earth by his roots, or impell'd by the warm'th of the sun, or pressure
+of the ambient air into the pores of them. And this you will the more
+easily believe, if you ever observ'd what a strange quantity of Water
+will Drop out of a wound given to the Vine, in a convenient place, at
+a seasonable time in the Spring; and how little of Tast or Smell this
+_Aqua Vitis_, as Physitians call it, is endow'd with, notwithstanding
+what concoction or alteration it may receive in its passage through
+the Vine, to discriminate it from common Water. Supposing then this
+Liquor, at its first entrance into the roots of the Vine, to be common
+Water; Let Us a little consider how many various Substances may be
+obtain'd from it; though to do so, I must repeat somewhat that I had a
+former occasion to touch upon. And first, this Liquor being Digested
+in the plant, and assimilated by the several parts of it, is turn'd
+into the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &c. of the Vine; The same Liquor
+may be further dry'd, and fashon'd into Vine-buds, and these a while
+after are advanced unto sour Grapes, which express'd yield Verjuice, a
+Liquor very differing in several qualities both from Wine and other
+Liquors obtainable from the Vine: These soure Grapes being by the heat
+of the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well tasted Grapes; These
+if dry'd in the Sun and Distill'd, afford a faetid Oyle and a piercing
+_Empyreumatical_ Spirit, but not a Vinous Spirit; These dry'd Grapes
+or Raisins boyl'd in a convenient proportion of Water make a sweet
+Liquor, which being betimes distill'd afford an Oyle and Spirit much
+like those of the Raisins themselves; If the juice of the Grapes be
+squeez'd out and put to Ferment, it first becomes a sweet and turbid
+Liquor, then grows lesse sweet and more clear, and then affords in
+common Distillations 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 likewise without
+Addition obtain'd in processe of time (and by an easie way which I am
+ready to teach you) from one of the noblest sorts of Wine, pretty
+store of pure and curiously figured Crystals of Salt, together with a
+great proportion of a Liquor as sweet almost as Hony; and these I
+obtained not from Must, but True and sprightly Wine; besides the
+Vinous Liquor, the fermented Juice of Grapes is partly turned into
+liquid Dregs or Leeze, and partly into that crust or dry feculancy
+that is commonly called Tartar; and this Tartar may by the Fire be
+easily divided into five differing substances; four of which are not
+Acid, and the other not so manifestly Acid as the Tartar it self; The
+same Vinous Juice after some time, especially if it be not carefully
+kept, Degenerates into that very sour Liquor called Vinegar; from
+which you may obtain by the Fire a Spirit and a Crystalline Salt
+differing enough from the Spirit and Lixiviate Salt of Tartar. And if
+you pour the Dephlegm'd Spirit of the Vinegar upon the Salt of Tartar,
+there will be produc'd such a Conflict or Ebullition as if there were
+scarce two more contrary Bodies in Nature; and oftentimes in this
+Vinager you may observe part of the matter to be turned into an
+innumerable company of swimming Animals, which our Friend having
+divers years ago observed, hath in one of his Papers taught us how to
+discover clearly without the help of a _Microscope_.
+
+Into all these various Schemes of matter, or differingly Qualifyed
+Bodies, besides divers others that I purposely 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 supervenient Agents
+or Causes, without the visible concurrence of any extraneous
+Ingredient; but if we be allowed to add to the Productions of this
+transmuted Water a few other substances, we may much encrease the
+Variety of such Bodies; although in this second sort of Productions,
+the Vinous parts seem scarce to retain 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 such a Disposition, that in their recess
+occasion'd by the Fire they came to be alter'd as to shape, or
+Bigness, or both, and associated after a New manner. Thus, as I
+formerly told you, I did by the Addition of a _Caput Mortuum_ of
+Antimony, and some other Bodies unfit for Distillation, obtain from
+crude Tartar, store of a very Volatile and Crystalline Salt, differing
+very much in smell and other Qualities from the usuall salts of
+Tartar.
+
+But (sayes _Eleutherius_, interrupting him at these Words) if you have
+no restraint upon you, I would very gladly before you go any further,
+be more particularly inform'd, how you make this Volatile Salt,
+because (you know) that such Multitudes of Chymists have by a scarce
+imaginable Variety of wayes, attempted in Vain the Volatilization of
+the Salt of Tartar, that divers learned _Spagyrists_ speak as if it
+were impossible, to make any thing out of Tartar, that shall be
+Volatile in a Saline Forme, or as some of them express it, _in forma
+sicca_. I am very farr from thinking (answers _Carneades_) that the
+Salt I have mention'd is that which _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_ mean
+when they speak of _Sal Tartari Volatile_, and ascribe such great
+things to it. For the Salt I speak of falls extreamly short of those
+Virtues, not seeming in its Tast, Smel, and other Obvious Qualities,
+to differ very much (though something it do differ) from Salt of
+Harts-horn, and other Volatile Salts drawn from the Distill'd Parts of
+Animals. Nor have I yet made Tryals enough to be sure, that it is a
+pure Salt of Tartar without participating any thing at all of the
+Nitre, or Antimony. But because it seems more likely to proceed from
+the Tartar, than from any of the other Ingredients, and because the
+Experiment is in it self not Ignoble, and Luciferous enough (as
+shewing a new way to produce a Volatile Salt contrary to Acid Salts
+from Bodies that otherwise are Observ'd to yield no such Liquor, but
+either only, or chiefly, Acid ones,) I shall, to satisfie you,
+acquaint you before any of my other Friends with the way I now use
+(for I have formerly us'd some others) to make it.
+
+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
+these be powder'd and well mingl'd; this done, you must have in
+readiness a long neck or Retort of Earth, which must be plac'd in a
+Furnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of a
+convenient Bigness, at which you may cast in the Mixture, and
+presently stop it up again; this Vessel being fitted with a large
+Receiver must have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the sides be
+red hot, and then you must cast in the above prepar'd Mixture, by
+about halfe a spoonfull (more or less) at a time, at the hole made for
+that purpose; which being nimbly stopt, the Fumes will pass into the
+Receiver and condense 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 abounds in the Salt I told you of, part of which
+may easily enough be separated by the way I use in such cases, which
+is, to put the Liquor into a glass Egg, or bolthead with a long and
+narrow Neck. For if this be plac'd a little inclining in hot sand,
+there will sublime 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
+Saltish, not an Acid Salt; it hisses upon the Affusion of Spirit of
+Nitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Dissolv'd in Spirit
+of Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; it
+presently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whiteness;
+and in summ, has divers Operations like those that I have observ'd in
+that sort of Salts to which I have resembled it: and is so Volatile,
+that for Distinction sake, I call it _Tartari Fugitivus_ [Errata: Sal
+Tartari Fugitivus]. What virtues it may have in Physick I have not yet
+had the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not be
+despicable. And besides that a very Ingenious Friend of mine tells me
+he hath done great matters against the stone, with a Preparation not
+very much Differing from ours, a very Experienc'd Germane Chymist
+finding that I was unacquainted with the wayes of making this salt,
+told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymist prizes it
+so highly, that he had a while since procur'd a Priviledge from the
+Magistrates, that none but He, or by his Licence, should vent a Spirit
+made almost after the same Way with mine, save that he leaves out one
+of the Ingredients, namely the Quick-lime. But, continues _Carneades_,
+to resume my Former Discourse where your Curiosity interrupted it;
+
+Tis also a common practice in _France_ to bury thin Plates of Copper
+in the Marc (as the French call it) or Husks of Grapes, whence the
+Juice has been squeez'd out in the Wine-press, and by this means the
+more saline parts of those Husks working by little and little upon the
+Copper, Coagulate Themselves with it into that Blewish Green Substance
+we in English call Verdigrease. Of which I therefore take Notice,
+because having Distill'd it in a Naked Fire, I found as I expected,
+that by the Association of the Saline with the Metalline parts, the
+former were so alter'd, that the Distill'd Liquor, even without
+Rectification, seem'd by smell and Tast, strong almost like _Aqua
+Fortis_, and very much surpassed the purest and most Rectifi'd Spirit
+of Vinager that ever I made. And this Spirit I therefore ascribe to
+the salt of the Husks alter'd by their Co-Mixture with the copper
+(though the Fire afterwards Divorce and Transmute them) because I
+found this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of a
+_Crocus_ or redish powder: And because Copper is of too sluggish a
+Nature to be forc'd over in close Vessels by no stronger a heat. And
+that which is also somewhat Remarkable in the Destillation of good
+Verdigrease, (or at least of that sort that I us'd) is this, that I
+Never could observe that it yielded me any oyl, (unless a little black
+slime which was separated in Rectification may pass for Oyle) though
+both Tartar and Vinager, (especially the former) will by Destillation
+yield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewise you pour Spirit of
+Vinager upon Calcin'd Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by its
+Commixture with the Metalline parts, though Insipid, acquire in a few
+hours a more than Saccharine sweetness; and these Saline parts being
+by a strong Fire Destill'd from the Lead wherewith they were imbody'd,
+will, as I formerly also noted to a Different purpose, leave the Metal
+behind them alter'd in some qualities from what it was, and will
+themselves ascend, partly in the Forme of an unctuous Body or Oyle,
+partly in that of Phlegme; but for the greatest part in the Forme of a
+subtile Spirit, indow'd, besides divers new Qualities which I am not
+now willing to take notice of, with a strong smell very much other
+than that of Vinager, and a piercing tast quite differing both from
+the Sowerness of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetness of the Sugar
+of Lead.
+
+To be short, As the difference of Bodies may depend meerly upon that
+of the schemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the seeds of
+Things, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minute
+parts of a Body (either by breaking them into smaller ones of
+differing shapes, or by Uniting together these Fragments with the
+unbroken Corpuscles, or such Corpuscles among Themselves) and the same
+Agents partly by Altering the shape or bigness of the Constituent
+Corpuscles of a Body, partly by driving away some of them, partly by
+blending others with them, and partly by some new manner of connecting
+them, may give the whole portion of matter a new Texture of its minute
+parts; and thereby make it deserve a new and Distinct name. So that
+according as the small parts of matter recede from each other, or work
+upon each other, or are connected together after this or that
+determinate manner, a Body of this or that denomination is produced,
+as some other Body happens thereby to be alter'd or destroy'd.
+
+Since then those things which Chymists produce by the help of the Fire
+are but inanimate Bodies; since such fruits of the Chymists skill
+differ from one another but in so few qualities that we see plainly
+that by fire and other Agents we can employ, we can easily enough work
+as great alterations upon matter, as those that are requisite to
+change one of these Chymical Productions into another; Since the same
+portion of matter may without being Compounded with any extraneous
+Body, or at least Element, be made to put on such a variety of
+formes, and consequently to be (successively) turn'd into so many
+differing Bodies. And since the matter cloath'd with so many differing
+formes was originally but water, and that in its passage thorow so
+many transformations, it was never reduc'd into any of those
+substances which are reputed to be the Principles or Elements of mixt
+Bodies, except by the violence of the fire, which it self divides not
+Bodies into perfectly simple or Elementary substances, but into new
+Compounds; Since, I say, these things are so, I see not why we must
+needs believe that there are any Primogeneal and simple Bodies, of
+which as of Pre-exsistent Elements Nature is obliged to compound all
+others. Nor do I see why we may not conceive that she may produce the
+Bodies accounted mixt out of one another by Variously altering and
+contriving their minute parts, without resolving the matter into any
+such simple or Homogeneous substances as are pretended. Neither, to
+dispatch, do I see why it should be counted absur'd [Transcriber's
+Note: absurd] to think, that when a Body is resolv'd by the Fire into
+its suppos'd simple Ingredients, those substances are not true and
+proper Elements, but rather were, as it were, Accidentally produc'd by
+the fire, which by Dissipating a Body into minute Parts does, if those
+parts be shut up in Close Vessels, for the most part necessarily bring
+them to Associate Themselves after another manner than before, and so
+bring Them into Bodies of such Different Consistences as the Former
+Texture of the Body, and Concurrent Circumstances make such disbanded
+particles apt to Constitute; as experience shews us (and I have both
+noted it, and prov'd it already) that as there are some Concretes
+whose parts when dissipated by fire are fitted to be put into such
+Schemes of matter as we call Oyle, and Salt, and Spirit; So there are
+others, such as are especially the greatest part of Minerals, whose
+Corpuscles being of another Size or figure, or perhaps contriv'd
+another Way, will not in the Fire yield Bodies of the like
+Consistences, but rather others of differing Textures; Not to mention,
+that from Gold and some other Bodies, we see not that the Fire
+separates any Distinct Substances at all; nor That even those Similar
+Parts of Bodies which the Chymists Obtain by the Fire, are the
+Elements whose names they bear, but Compound Bodies, upon which, for
+their resemblance to them in consistence, or some other obvious
+Quality, Chymists have been pleas'd to bestow such Appellations.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONCLUSION.
+
+
+These last Words of _Carneades_ being soon after follow'd by a noise
+which seem'd to come from the place where the rest of the Company was,
+he took it for a warning, that it was time for him to conclude or
+break off his Discourse; and told his Friend; By this time I hope you
+see, _Eleutherius_, that if _Helmonts_ Experiments be true, it is no
+absurdity to question whether that Doctrine be one, that doth not
+assert Any Elements in the sence before explain'd. But because that,
+as divers of my Arguments suppose the marvellous power of the
+_Alkahest_ in the Analyzing of Bodies, so the Effects ascrib'd to that
+power are so unparallell'd and stupendious, that though I am not sure
+but that there _may be_ such an Agent, yet little less than [Greek:
+autopsia] seems requisite to make a man sure there _is_. And
+consequently I leave it to you to judge, how farre those of my
+Arguments that are built upon _Alkahestical_ Operations are weakned by
+that Liquors being Matchless; and shall therefore desire you not to
+think that I propose this Paradox that rejects all Elements, as an
+Opinion equally probable with the former part of my discourse. For by
+that, I hope, you are satisfied, that the Arguments wont to be brought
+by Chymists, to prove That all Bodies consist of either Three
+Principles, or Five, are far from being so strong as those that I have
+employ'd to prove, that there is not any certain and Determinate
+number of such Principles or Elements to be met with Universally in
+all mixt Bodies. And I suppose I need not tell you, that these
+_Anti-Chymical_ Paradoxes might have been manag'd more to their
+Advantage; but that having not confin'd my Curiosity to Chymical
+Experiments, I who am but a young Man, and younger Chymist, can yet be
+but slenderly furnished with them, in reference to so great and
+difficult a Task as you impos'd upon me; Besides that, to tell you the
+Truth, I durst not employ some even of the best Experiments I am
+acquainted with, because I must not yet disclose them; but however, I
+think I may presume that what I have hitherto Discoursed will induce
+you to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in finding
+Experiments than the Causes of them; or in assigning the Principles by
+which they may best be explain'd. And indeed, when in the writings of
+_Paracelsus_ I meet with such Phantastick and Un-intelligible
+Discourses as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with,
+father'd upon such excellent Experiments, as though he seldom clearly
+teaches, I often find he knew; me thinks the Chymists, in their
+searches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators of _Solomons
+Tarshish_ Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages,
+not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too; For
+so the Writings of several (for I say not, all) of your Hermetick
+Philosophers present us, together with divers Substantial and noble
+Experiments, Theories, which either like Peacocks feathers make a
+great shew, but are neither solid nor useful; or else like Apes, if
+they have some appearance of being rational, are blemish'd with some
+absurdity or other, that when they are _Attentively_ consider'd, makes
+them appear Ridiculous.
+
+_Carneades_ having thus finish'd his Discourse against the received
+Doctrines of the _Elements_; _Eleutherius_ judging he should not have
+time to say much to him before their separation, made some haste to
+tell him; I confess, _Carneades_, that you have said more in favour of
+your Paradoxes then I expected. For though divers of the Experiments
+you have mention'd are no secrets, and were not unknown to me, yet
+besides that you have added many of your own unto them, you have laid
+them together in such a way, and apply'd them to such purposes, and
+made such Deductions From them, as I have not Hitherto met with.
+
+But though I be therefore inclin'd to think, that _Philoponus_, had he
+heard you, would scarce have been able in all points to defend the
+Chymical _Hypothesis_ against the arguments wherewith you have oppos'd
+it; yet me thinks that however your Objections seem to evince a great
+part of what they pretend to, yet they evince it not all; and the
+numerous tryals of those you call the vulgar Chymists, may be allow'd
+to prove something too.
+
+Wherefore, if it be granted you that you have made it probable,
+
+First, that the differing substances into which mixt Bodies are wont
+to be resolved by the Fire are not of a pure and an Elementary nature,
+especially for this Reason, that they yet retain so much of the nature
+of the Concrete that afforded them, as to appear to be yet somewhat
+compounded, and oftentimes to differ in one Concrete from Principles
+of the same denomination in another:
+
+Next, that as to the number of these differing substances, neither is
+it precisely three, because in most Vegetable and Animal bodies Earth
+and Phlegme are also to be found among their Ingredients; nor is there
+any one determinate number into which the Fire (as it is wont to be
+employ'd) does precisely and universally resolve all compound Bodies
+whatsoever, as well Minerals as others that are reputed perfectly
+mixt.
+
+Lastly, that there are divers Qualities which cannot well be refer'd
+to any of these Substances, as if they primarily resided in it and
+belong'd to it; and some other qualities, which though they seem to
+have their chief and most ordinary residence in some one of these
+Principles or Elements of mixt Bodies, are not yet so deducible from
+it, but that also some more general Principles must be taken in to
+explicate them.
+
+If, I say, the Chymists (continues _Eleutherius_) be so Liberall as to
+make you these three Concessions, I hope you will, on your part, be so
+civil and Equitable as to grant them these three other propositions,
+namely;
+
+First, that divers Mineral Bodies, and therefore probably all the
+rest, may be resolv'd into a Saline, a Sulphureous, and a Mercurial
+part; And that almost all Vegetable and Animal Concretes may, if not
+by the Fire alone, yet, by a skilfull Artist Employing the Fire as
+his chief Instrument, be divided into five differing Substances, Salt,
+Spirit, Oyle, Phlegme and Earth; of which the three former by reason
+of their being so much more Operative than the Two Later, deserve to
+be Lookt upon as the Three active Principles, and by way of Eminence
+to be call'd the three principles of mixt bodies.
+
+Next, that these Principles, Though they be not perfectly Devoid of
+all Mixture, yet may without inconvenience be stil'd the Elements of
+Compounded bodies, and bear the Names of those Substances which they
+most Resemble, and which are manifestly predominant in them; and that
+especially for this reason, that none of these Elements is Divisible
+by the Fire into Four or Five differing substances, like the Concrete
+whence it was separated.
+
+Lastly, That Divers of the Qualities of a mixt Body, and especially
+the Medical Virtues, do for the most part lodge in some One or Other
+of its principles, and may Therefore usefully be sought for in That
+Principle sever'd from the others.
+
+And in this also (pursues _Eleutherius_) methinks both you and the
+Chymists may easily agree, that the surest way is to Learn by
+particular Experiments, what differing parts particular Bodies do
+consist of, and by what wayes (either Actual or potential fire) they
+may best and most Conveniently be Separated, as without relying too
+much upon the Fire alone, for the resolving of Bodies, so without
+fruitlessly contending to force them into more Elements than Nature
+made Them up of, or strip the sever'd Principles so naked, as by
+making Them Exquisitely Elementary to make them almost useless,
+
+These things (subjoynes _Eleu._) I propose, without despairing to see
+them granted by you; not only because I know that you so much preferr
+the Reputation of _Candor_ before that of subtility, that your having
+once suppos'd a truth would not hinder you from imbracing it when
+clearly made out to you; but because, upon the present occasion, it
+will be no disparagement to you to recede from some of your Paradoxes,
+since the nature and occasion of your past Discourse did not oblige
+you to declare your own opinions, but only to personate an Antagonist
+of the Chymists. So that (concludes he, with a smile) you may now by
+granting what I propose, add the Reputation of Loving the truth
+sincerely to that of having been able to oppose it subtilly.
+
+_Carneades's_ haste forbidding him to answer this crafty piece of
+flattery; Till I shal (sayes he) have an opportunity to acquaint you
+with my own Opinions about the controversies I have been discoursing
+of, you will not, I hope, expect I should declare my own sence of the
+Arguments I have employ'd. Wherefore I shall only tell you thus much
+at present; that though not only an acute Naturalist, but even I my
+self could take plausible Exceptions at some of them; yet divers of
+them too are such as will not perhaps be readily answer'd, and will
+Reduce my Adversaries, at least, to alter and Reform their
+_Hypothesis_. I perceive I need not minde you that the Objections I
+made against the Quaternary of Elements and Ternary of Principles
+needed not to be oppos'd so much against the Doctrines Themselves
+(either of which, especially the latter, may be much more probably
+maintain'd than hitherto it seems to have been, by those Writers for
+it I have met with) as against the unaccurateness and the
+unconcludingness of the _Analytical_ Experiments vulgarly Relyed On to
+Demonstrate them.
+
+And therefore, if either of the two examin'd Opinions, or any other
+Theory of Elements, shall upon rational and Experimental grounds be
+clearly made out to me; 'Tis Obliging, but not irrational, in you to
+Expect, that I shall not be so farr in Love with my Disquieting
+Doubts, as not to be content to change them for undoubted truths. And
+(concludes _Carneades_ smiling) it were no great disparagement for a
+Sceptick to confesse to you, that as unsatisfy'd as the past discourse
+may have made you think me with the Doctrines of the Peripateticks,
+and the Chymists, about the Elements and Principles, I can yet so
+little discover what to acquiesce in, that perchance the Enquiries of
+others have scarce been more unsatisfactory to me, than my own have
+been to my self.
+
+
+_FINIS._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Authors constant Absence from the Presse, whilst the former
+Treatise was Printing, and the Nature of the Subject it self,
+wherewith ordinary Composers are not wont to be at all acquainted,
+will, 'tis hop'd, procure the Readers Excuse, till the next Edition,
+if the _Errata_ be somewhat numerous, and if among them there want not
+some grosser mistakes, which yet are not the only Blemishes these
+lines must take notice of and acknowledg; For the Author now perceives
+that through the fault of those to whom he had committed the former
+Treatise in loose Sheets, some Papers that belonged to it, have
+altogether miscarryed. And though it have luckily enough happen'd, for
+the most part, that the Omission of them does not marr the Cohaerence
+of the rest; yet till the next design'd Edition afford an
+_opportunity_ of inserting them, it is thought fit that the Printer
+give notice of one Omission at the End of the first Dialogue; and that
+to these _Errata_ there be annex'd the ensuing sheet of Paper, that
+was casually lost, or forgotten by him that should have put it into
+the Presse; where it ought to have been inserted, in the 187. printed
+Page, at the break, betwixt the words, [_Nature_] in the 13th. line,
+and [_But_] in the next line after. Though it is to be noted here,
+that by the mistake of the Printer, in some Books, the number of 187
+is placed at the top of two somewhat distant pages; and in such copies
+the following addition ought to be inserted in the latter of the two,
+as followeth.
+
+     And on this occasion I cannot but take notice, that whereas
+     the great Argument which the Chymists are wont to employ to
+     vilify Earth and Water, and make them be look'd upon as
+     useless and unworthy to be reckon'd among the Principles of
+     Mixt Bodies, is, that they are not endow'd with Specifick
+     Properties, but only with Elementary qualities; of which
+     they use to speak very sleightingly, as of qualities
+     contemptible and unactive: I see no sufficient Reason for
+     this Practice of the Chymists: For 'tis confess'd that Heat
+     is an Elementary Quality, and yet that an almost innumerable
+     company of considerable Things are perform'd by Heat, is
+     manifest to them that duly consider the various _Phaenomena_
+     wherein it intervenes as a principall Actor; and none ought
+     less to ignore or distrust this Truth then a Chymist. Since
+     almost all the operations and Productions of his Art are
+     performed chiefly by the means of Heat. And as for Cold it
+     self, upon whose account they so despise the Earth and
+     Water, if they please to read in the Voyages of our English
+     and Dutch Navigators in _Nova Zembla_ and other Northern
+     Regions what stupendious Things may be effected by Cold,
+     they would not perhaps think it so despicable. And not to
+     repeat what I lately recited to You out of _Paracelsus_
+     himself, who by the help of an intense Cold teaches to
+     separate the Quintessence of Wine; I will only now observe
+     to You, that the Conservation of the Texture of many Bodies
+     both animate and inanimate do's so much depend upon the
+     convenient motion both of their own Fluid and Looser Parts,
+     and of the ambient Bodies, whether Air, Water, &c. that not
+     only in humane Bodies we see that the immoderate or
+     unseasonable coldness of the Air (especially when it finds
+     such Bodies overheated) do's very frequently discompose the
+     _Oeconomie_ of them, and occasion variety of Diseases; but
+     in the solid and durable Body of Iron it self, in which one
+     would not expect that suddain Cold should produce any
+     notable change, it may have so great an operation, that if
+     you take a Wire, or other slender piece of steel, and having
+     brought it in the fire to a white heat, You suffer it
+     afterwards to cool leasurely in the Air, it will when it is
+     cold be much of the same hardnesse it was of before: Whereas
+     if as soon as You remove it from the fire, you plunge it
+     into cold water, it will upon the sudden Refrigeration
+     acquire a very much greater hardness then it had before;
+     Nay, and will become manifestly brittle. And that you may
+     not impute this to any peculiar Quality in the Water, or
+     other Liquor, or Unctuous matter, wherein such heated steel
+     is wont to be quenched that it may be temper'd; I know a
+     very skillful Tradesman, that divers times hardens steel by
+     suddenly cooling it in a Body that is neither a liquor, nor
+     so much as moist. A tryal of that Nature I remember I have
+     seen made. And however by the operation that Water has upon
+     steel quenched in it, whether upon the Account of its
+     coldness and moisture, or upon that of any other of its
+     qualities, it appears, that water is not alwaies so
+     inefficacious and contemptible a Body, as our Chymists would
+     have it passe for. And what I have said of the Efficacy of
+     Cold and Heat, might perhaps be easily enough carried
+     further by other considerations and experiments; were it not
+     that having been mention'd only upon the Bye, I must not
+     insist on it, but proceed to another Subject.
+
+
+
+
+_ERRATA._
+
+
+Pag. 5. line. 6. read _so qualify'd_, 15. 19. _Ratiocinations_, 25.
+15. _for a_, 33. 17. in a parenth. (_that is no more_), 51. 24.
+_besides another Caput_, 79. 10. _employ_, 86. 13. _structure_, 97.
+13. _Sack_, ibid. 22. _Sack_, 104. 29. instead of _appear it, will_,
+leg. _appear, it will_, 118. 20. _leasure_, ibid. _principal_, 126.
+20. _and till it suffer_, 129. 3. leg. in parenth. (_notwithstanding,
+&c._ 131. 15. _so_, 144. 15. [Greek: Synchysis], 151. 5. _nor have
+been resolved_, 180. 25. _Magistram_, 185. 15. _lately_, 188. 15.
+_tunned_, 200. 1. _intolerable_, ibid. 2. _in_, 209. 21. _tegularum_,
+210. 7. _distill'd from_, 215. 25. dele _the_, 220. 1. _bodies_, 228.
+11. [Transcriber's Note: 21.] _fugitive_, 231. 17. instead of _all_
+lege _a pound_, 237. 6. _Chymist_, 248. 18. _Ashes off_, 251. 23.
+_Deopilative)_, 259. 6. _it self_, 269. 10. [Greek: ousia analogos],
+_ibid._ [Greek: astron stoicheio], 276. 25. make a parenth. at the
+words, _by the_, and shut it after the words in the 27. line _at all_,
+280. 11. _Corals_, 288. 6. _ascribes_, 294. 22. _porosity_, ibid. 28.
+_noted_, 296. 1. _Bodies_, 305. 8. _(attended_, 307. 12. dele _to_,
+308. 12. _devisers_, 312. 14. _and_, 313. 3. _too_, 314. 24.
+_fugitivenesse_, 333. 13. _origine_, ibid. 24. _contrivance of_, 339.
+1. _Nay, Barthias_, 142. [Transcriber's Note: 342.] 3. _in; I will_,
+350. 26. _absurd_, 356. 11. [Transcriber's Note: 21.] _Goutieres_,
+358. 6. _antea_, 360. 1. _compertissimum_, ibid. 18. _Joachimica_,
+ibid. 19 _graminis_, ibid. 23. _sua_ [Transcriber's Note: this appears
+to be correct on the original page 360], 362. 6. _Dutch account_, 363.
+2. _diggers)_, ibid. 11. and 12. lin. read _damp as the Englishmen
+also call it_, 366. 25. _a height_, 368. 19. _in use_, 370. 9.
+_latter; And_, ibid. 24. _Water; I_, 377. 22. _Rest_, ibid. 25.
+_know)_, 378. 23. after _Aggregate_ insert _or complex_, ibid. 27.
+dele ), ibid. 28. dele ), 379. 4. before _as_ begin a parenth. which
+ends lin. 9. at _Gold_, ibid. instead of _Which_, put _This_, ibid.
+12. with the word _Texture_ should be connected the next line,
+_Though_, and this word _Though_ is to have put before it a
+parenthesis, which is to end at the word _Fluid_ in the 16th. line,
+383. 3. _Regulus Martis Stellatus_, 382. 3. _Relations_, ibid. 9.
+_Chymist_, 386. 29. _confesse by teaching it_, 391. 8. _and yet may_,
+392. 1. _an_, ibid. 12. _of_, 393. [Transcriber's Note: line 5]
+_distinct Tasts_, 397. 13. _Talck_, 398. 18. _Earth_, 399. 18.
+_parts_, 404. 8. _sal-petrae_, 419. 20. after _it_ put in _Sal_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Publisher doth advertise the Redaer [Transcriber's Note: Reader],
+that seeing there are divers Experiments related in this Treatise,
+which the Author is not unwilling to submit to the consideration also
+of Forraign Philosophers, he believes this piece will be very soon
+translated into Latin._
+
+
+END.
+
+
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