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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.

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A

PRÆFACE

INTRODUCTORY

To the following Treatise.

O give the Reader an account,Why the following Treatise is suffer’dto pass abroad so maim’d and imperfect, I must inform him that ’tisnow long since, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I set downsome of the Reasons that kept me from fully acquiescing either in thePeripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principlesof mixt Bodies. This Discourse some years after falling into the handsof some Learned men, had the good luck to be so favourably receiv’d,and advantageously spoken of by them, that having had more thenordinary Invitations given me to make it publick, I thought fit toreview it, that I might retrench some things that seem’d not so fit tobe shewn to every Reader, And substitute some of those other thingsthat 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 Icomplain of it: But since I writ That, I found many sheets thatbelong’d to the subjects I am now about to discourse of. Whereforeseeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue aswas requisite to state the Case, and serve for an Introduction as wellto the conference betwixt Carneadesand Eleutherius,as to someother Dialogues, which for certain reasons are not now herewithpublish’d, I resolv’d to supply, as well as I could, the Contents of aPaper belonging to the second of the following Discourses, which Icould not possibly retrive, though it were the chief of them all. Andhaving 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 incomplyance with their Desires; that not only it should be publish’d,but that it should be publish’d as soon as conveniently might be. Ihad indeed all along the Dialogues spoken of my self, as of a thirdPerson; For, they containing Discourses which were among the firstTreatises 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 betheir Author. But besides that now I find, ’tis not unknown to manywho it is that writ them, I am made to believe that ’tis notinexpedient, they should be known to come from a Person not altogethera stranger to Chymical Affairs. And I made the lesse scruple to letthem come abroad uncompleated, partly, because my affairs andPræ-ingagements to publish divers other Treatises allow’d me smallhopes of being able in a great while to compleat these Dialogues. Andpartly, because I am not unapt to think, that they may come abroadseasonably enough, though not for the Authors reputation, yet forother purposes. For I observe, that of late Chymistry begins, asindeed it deserves, to be cultivated by Learned Men who beforedespis’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 forgranted and employ’d, and so adopted by very eminent Writers bothNaturalists and Physitians. Now this I fear may prove somewhatprejudicial to the Advancement of solid Philosophy: For though I am agreat Lover of Chymical Experiments, and though I have no mean esteemof divers Chymical Remedies, yet I distinguish these from theirNotions about the causes of things, and their manner of Generation.And for ought I can hitherto discern, there are a thousand Phænomenain Nature, besides a Multitude of Accidents relating to the humaneBody, which will scarcely be clearly & satisfactorily made out by themthat confine themselves to deduce things from Salt, Sulphur andMercury, and the other Notions peculiar to the Chymists, withouttaking much more Notice than they are wont to do, of the Motions andFigures, of the small Parts of Matter, and the other more Catholickand Fruitful affections of Bodies. Wherefore it will not perhaps benow unseasonable to let our Carneadeswarne Men, not to subscribe tothe grand Doctrine of the Chymists touching their three HypostaticalPrinciples, till they have a little examin’d it, and consider’d, howthey can clear it from his Objections, divers of which ’tis like theymay never have thought on; since a Chymist scarce would, and none buta Chymist could propose them. I hope also it will not be unacceptableto several Ingenious Persons, who are unwilling to determine of anyimportant Controversie, without a previous consideration of what maybe said on both sides, and yet have greater desires to understandChymical Matters, than Opportunities of learning them, to find heretogether, besides several Experiments of my own purposely made toIllustrate the Doctrine of the Elements, divers others scarce to bemet with, otherwise then Scatter’d among many Chymical Books. And toFind these Associated Experiments so Deliver’d as that an OrdinaryReader, if he be but Acquainted with the usuall Chymical Termes, mayeasily enough Understand Them; and even a wary One may safely rely onThem. These Things I add, because a Person any Thing vers’d in theWritings 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 ofArt(as they call them) nor to be Understood even by these withoutDifficulty And Hazardous Tryalls. Insomuch that some of Them Scarceever speak so candidly, as when they make use of that known ChymicalSentence; Ubi palam locuti fumus, ibi nihil diximus.And as theobscurity of what some Writers deliver makes it very difficult to beunderstood; so the Unfaithfulness of too many others makes it unfit tobe reli’d on. For though unwillingly, Yet I must for the truths sake,and the Readers, warne him not to be forward to believe ChymicalExperiments when they are set down only by way of Prescriptions, andnot of Relations; that is, unless he that delivers them mentions hisdoing it upon his own particular knowledge, or upon the Relation ofsome credible person, avowing it upon his own experience. For I amtroubled, I must complain, that even Eminent Writers, both Physitiansand Philosophers, whom I can easily name, if it be requir’d, have oflate suffer’d themselves to be so far impos’d upon, as to Publish andBuild upon Chymical Experiments, which questionless they never try’d;for if they had, they would, as well as I, have found them not to betrue. And indeed it were to be wish’d, that now that those begin toquote Chymical Experiments that are not themselves Acquainted withChymical Operations, men would Leave off that Indefinite Way ofVouching the Chymists say this, or the Chymists affirme that, andwould rather for each Experiment they alledge name the Author orAuthors, upon whose credit they relate it; For, by this means theywould secure themselves from the suspition of falshood (to which theother Practice Exposes them) and they would Leave the Reader to Judgeof what is fit for him to Believe of what is Deliver’d, whilst theyemploy not their own great names to Countenance doubtfull Relations;and they will also do Justice to the Inventors or Publishers of trueExperiments, as well as upon the Obtruders of false ones. Whereas bythat general Way of quoting the Chymists, the candid Writer isDefrauded of the particular Praise, and the Impostor escapes thePersonal Disgrace that is due to him.

The remaining Part of this Præface must be imploy’d in sayingsomething for Carneades,and something for my Self.

And first, Carneadeshopes that he will be thought to have disputedcivilly and Modestly enough for one that was to play the Antagonistand the Sceptick. And if he any where seem to sleight his AdversariesTenents and Arguments, he is willing to have it look’d upon as what hewas induc’d to, not so much by his Opinion of them, as the Examplesof Themistiusand Philoponus,and the custom of such kind ofDisputes.

Next, In case that some of his Arguments shall not be thought of themost Cogent sort that may be, he hopes it will be consider’d that itought not to be Expected, that they should be So. For, his Part beingchiefly but to propose Doubts and Scruples, he does enough, if heshews that his Adversaries Arguments are not strongly Concluding,though his own be not so neither. And if there should appear anydisagreement betwixt the things he delivers in divers passages, hehopes it will be consider’d, that it is not necessary that all thethings a Sceptick Proposes, should be consonant; since it being hiswork to Suggest doubts against the Opinion he questions, it isallowable for him to propose two or more severall Hypothesesaboutthe same thing: And to say that it may be accounted for this way, orthat way, or the other Way, though these wayes be perhaps inconsistentamong Themselves. Because it is enough for him, if either of theproposed Hypothesesbe but as probable as that he calls a question.And if he proposes many that are Each of them probable, he does themore satisfie his doubts, by making it appear the more difficult to besure, that that which they alwayes differ from is the true. And ourCarneadesby holding the Negative, he has this Advantage, that ifamong all the Instances he brings to invalidate all the VulgarDoctrine of those he Disputes with, any one be Irrefragable, thatalone is sufficient to overthrow a Doctrine which Universally assertswhat he opposes. For, it cannot be true, that all Bodies whatsoeverthat are reckon’d among the Perfectly mixt Ones, are Compounded ofsuch a Determinate Number of such or such Ingredients, in case any onesuch Body can be produc’d, that is not so compounded; and he hopestoo, that Accurateness will be the less expected from him, because hisundertaking obliges him to maintain such Opinions in Chymistry, andthat chiefly by Chymical Arguments, as are Contrary to the veryPrinciples of the Chymists; From whose writings it is not Thereforelike he should receive any intentionall Assistance, except from somePassages of the Bold and Ingenious Helmont,with whom he yetdisagrees in many things (which reduce him to explicate DiversChymical Phænomena,according to other Notions;) And of whoseRatiocinations, not only some seem very Extravagant, but even the Restare not wont to be as considerable as his Experiments. And though itbe True indeed, that some Aristotelianshave occasionally writtenagainst the Chymical Doctrine he Oppugnes, yet since they have done itaccording to their Principles, And since our Carneadesmust as welloppose their Hypothesisas that of the Spagyrist, he was fain tofight his Adversaries with their own Weapons, Those of thePeripatetick being Improper, if not hurtfull for a Person of hisTenents; besides that those Aristotelians,(at Least, those he metwith,) that have written against the Chymists, seem to have had solittle Experimental Knowledge in Chymical Matters, that by theirfrequent Mistakes and unskilfull Way of Oppugning, they have too oftenexpos’d Themselves to the Derision of their Adversaries, for writingso Confidently against what they appear so little to understand.

And Lastly, Carneadeshopes, he shall doe the Ingenious this Pieceof service, that by having Thus drawn the Chymists Doctrine out oftheir Dark and Smoakie Laboratories, and both brought it into the openlight, and shewn the weakness of their Proofs, that have hithertobeen wont to be brought for it, either Judicious Men shall henceforthbe allowed calmly and after due information to disbelieve it, or thoseabler Chymists, that are zealous for the reputation of it, will beoblig’d to speak plainer then hitherto has been done, and maintain itby better Experiments and Arguments then Those Carneadeshathexamin’d: so That he hopes, the Curious will one Way or other Deriveeither satisfaction or instruction from his endeavours. And as he isready to make good the profession he makes in the close of hisDiscourse, he being ready to be better inform’d, so he expects eitherto be indeed inform’d, or to be let alone. For Though if any Trulyknowing Chymists shall Think fit in a civil and rational way to shewhim any truth touching the matter in Dispute That he yet discernesnot, Carneadeswill not refuse either to admit, or to own aConviction: yet if any impertinent Person shall, either to get Himselfa Name, or for what other end soever, wilfully or carelesly mistakethe State of the Controversie, or the sence of his Arguments, or shallrail instead of arguing, as hath been done of Late in Print by diversChymists;G. and F. and H. and others, in their books against oneanother.or lastly, shall write against them in a canting way; Imean, shall express himself in ambiguous or obscure termes, or arguefrom experiments not intelligibly enough Deliver’d, Carneadesprofesses, That he values his time so much, as not to think theanswering such Trifles worth the loss of it.

And now having said thus much for Carneades,I hope the Reader willgive me leave to say something too for my self.

And first, if some morose Readers shall find fault with my havingmade the Interlocutors upon occasion complement with one another, andthat I have almost all along written these Dialogues in a stile moreFashionable then That of meer scholars is wont to be, I hope I shallbe excus’d by them that shall consider, that to keep a due decorumin the Discourses, it was fit that in a book written by a Gentleman,and wherein only Gentlemen are introduc’d as speakers, the Languageshould be more smooth, and the Expressions more civil than is usual inthe more Scholastick way of writing. And indeed, I am not sorry tohave this Opportunity of giving an example how to manage even Disputeswith Civility; whence perhaps some Readers will be assisted to discerna Difference betwixt Bluntness of speech and Strength of reason, andfind that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without being an Enemy toCivility; and may confute an Opinion without railing at Them that holdit; To whom he that desires to convince and not to provoke them, mustmake some amends by his Civility to their Persons, for his severityto their mistakes; and must say as little else as he can, to displeasethem, when he says that they are in an error.

But perhaps other Readers will be less apt to find fault with theCivility of my Disputants, than the Chymists will be, upon the readingof some Passages of the following Dialogue, to accuse CarneadesofAsperity. But if I have made my Sceptick sometimes speak sleightinglyof the Opinions he opposes, I hope it will not be found that I havedone 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 thePrince of the Romane Orators himself makes both great Persons andFriends say of one anothers Opinions, in his excellent Dialogues, DeNatura Deorum:And I shall scarce be suspected of Partiality, in thecase, by them that take Notice that there is full as much (if not farmore) liberty of sleighting their Adversaries Tenents to be met within the Discourses of those with whom Carneadesdisputes. Nor neededI make the Interlocutors speak otherwise then freely in a Dialogue,wherein it was sufficiently intimated, that I meant not to declare myown Opinion of the Arguments propos’d, much lesse of the wholeControversy it self otherwise than as it may by an attentive Reader beguess’d at by some Passages of Carneades:(I say, some Passages,because I make not all that he says, especially in the heat ofDisputation, mine,) partly in this Discourse, and partly in some otherDialogues betwixt the same speakers (though they treat not immediatelyof the Elements) which have long layn by me, and expect theEntertainment that these present Discourses will meet with. And indeedthey will much mistake me, that shall conclude from what I nowpublish, that I am at Defyance with Chymistry, or would make myReaders so. I hope the SpeciminaI have lately publish’d of anattempt to shew the usefulness of Chymical Experiments toContemplative Philosophers, will give those that shall read them otherthoughts of me: & I had a design (but wanted opportunity) to publishwith these Papers an Essay I have lying by me, the greater part ofwhich is Apologetical for one sort of Chymists. And at least, as forthose that know me, I hope the pain I have taken in the fire will bothconvince 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,) andperswade them to believe me when I declare that I distinguish betwixtthose Chymists that are either Cheats, or but Laborants, and the trueAdepti;By whom, could I enjoy their Conversation, I would bothwillingly and thankfully be instructed; especially concerning theNature and Generation of Metals: And possibly, those that know howlittle I have remitted of my former addictedness to make ChymicalExperiments, will easily believe, that one of the chief Designes ofthis Sceptical Discourse was, not so much to discredit Chymistry, asto give an occasion and a kind of necessity to the more knowingArtists to lay aside a little of their over-great Reservedness, &either explicate or prove the Chymical Theory better than ordinaryChymists have done, or by enriching us with some of their noblersecrets to evince that Their art is able to make amends even for thedeficiencies of their Theory: And thus much I shall here make bold toadd, that we shall much undervalue Chymistry, if we imagine, that itcannot teach us things farr more useful, not only to Physick but toPhilosophy, than those that are hitherto known to vulgar Chymists. Andyet as for inferiour Spagyrists themselves, they have by their laboursdeserv’d so well of the Common-wealth of Learning, that methinks ’tisPity they should ever misse the Truth which they have so industriouslysought. 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 notmuch more cultivated than hitherto it has been, and do not both employPhilosophy and Philosophers, and help to make men such. Nor would Ithat have been diverted by other Studies as well as affairs, bethought to pretend being a profound Spagyrist, by finding so manyfaults in the Doctrine wherein the Generality of Chymists scruples notto Acquiesce: For besides that ’tis most commonly far easier to frameObjections against any propos’d Hypothesis,than to propose anHypothesisnot lyable to Objections (besides this I say) ’tis no suchgreat matter, if whereas Beginners in Chymistry are commonly at onceimbu’d with the Theory and Operations of their profession, I who hadthe 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 withother Eyes than the Generality of Learners; And should be moredispos’d to accommodate the Phænomenathat occur’d to me to otherNotions than to those of the Spagyrists. And having at firstentertain’d a suspition That the Vulgar Principles were lesse Generaland comprehensive, or lesse considerately Deduc’d from ChymicalOperations, than was believ’d; it was not uneasie for me both to Takenotice of divers Phænomena,overlook’d by prepossest Persons, thatseem’d not to suite so well with the HermeticalDoctrine; and, todevise some Experiments likely to furnish me with Objections againstit, not known to many, that having practis’d Chymistry longerperchance 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 ExperimentsI have communicated, be considerable, or not, I willingly leave othersto Judge; and This only I shall say for my Self, That I haveendeavour’d to deliver matters of Fact, so faithfully, that I may aswell assist the lesse skilful Readers to examine the ChymicalHypothesis,as provoke the Spagyrical Philosophers to illustrate it:which if they do, and that either the Chymical opinion, or thePeripatetick, or any other Theory of the Elements differing from thatI am most inclin’d to, shall be intelligibly explicated, and dulyprov’d to me; what I have hitherto discours’d will not hinder it frommaking a Proselyte of a Person that Loves Fluctuation of Judgmentlittle enough to be willing to be eas’d of it by any thing butError.

PHYSIOLOGICAL

CONSIDERATIONS

Touching

The experiments wont to be employedto evince either the IVPeripatetick Elements, or theIII Chymical Principles ofMixt Bodies.

Part of the First Dialogue.

Perceivethat divers of my Friends have thought it very strange tohear me speak so irresolvedly, as I have been wont to do, concerningthose things which some take to be the Elements, and others to be thePrinciples of all mixt Bodies. But I blush not to acknowledge that Imuch lesse scruple to confess that I Doubt, when I do so, then(2) toprofess that I Know what I do not: And I should have much strongerExpectations then I dare yet entertain, to see Philosophy solidlyestablish’t, if men would more carefully distinguish those things thatthey know, from those that they ignore or do but think, and thenexplicate clearly the things they conceive they understand,acknowledge ingenuously what it is they ignore, and profess socandidly their Doubts, that the industry of intelligent persons mightbe set on work to make further enquiries, and the easiness of lessdiscerning Men might not be impos’d on. But because a more particularaccompt will probably be expected of my unsatisfyedness not only withthe Peripatetick, but with the Chymical Doctrine of the PrimitiveIngredients of Bodies: It may possibly serve to satisfy others of theexcusableness of my disatisfaction to peruse the ensuing Relation ofwhat 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 wehave been speaking, was amply and variously discours’d of.(3)

It was on one of the fairest dayes of this Summer that the inquisitiveEleutherius came to invite me to make a visit with him to his friendCarneades. I readily consented to this motion, telling him that ifhe would but permit me to go first and make an excuse at a place notfar off, where I had at that hour appointed to meet, but not about abusiness either of moment, or that could not well admit of a delay, Iwould presently wait on him, because of my knowingCarneades to beso conversant with nature and with Furnaces, and so unconfin’d tovulgar Opinions, that he would probably by some ingenious Paradox orother, give our mindes at least a pleasing Exercise, and perhapsenrich them with some solid instruction.Eleutherius then firstgoing with me to the place where my Apology was to be made, Iaccompanied him to the lodging ofCarneades, where when we werecome, we were told by the Servants, that he was retired with a coupleof Friends (whose names they also told us) to one of the Arbours inhis Garden, to enjoy under its coole shades a delightful protectionfrom the yet troublesome heat of the Sun.(4)

Eleutherius being perfectly acquainted with that Garden immediatelyled me to the Arbour, and relying on the intimate familiarity that hadbeen long cherish’d betwixt him andCarneades; in spight of myReluctancy to what might look like an intrusion upon his privacy,drawing me by the hand, he abruptly entered the Arbour, where we foundCarneades,Philoponus, andThemistius, sitting close about alittle round Table, on which besides paper, pen, and inke, there laytwo or three open Books;Carneades appeared not at all troubled atthis surprise, but rising from the Table, received his Friend withopen looks and armes, and welcoming me also with his wonted freedomand civility, invited us to rest our selves by him, which, as soon aswe had exchanged with his two Friends (who were ours also) thecivilities accustomed on such occasions, we did. And he presentlyafter we had seated our selves, shutting the Books that lay open, andturning to us with a smiling countenance seemed ready to begin somesuch unconcerning discourse as is wont to pass or rather waste thetime in promiscuous companies.(5)

ButEleutherius guessing at what he meant to do, prevented him bytelling him, I perceiveCarneades by the books that you have beennow shutting, and much more by the posture wherein I found Personsqualifi’d to discourse of serious matters; andso accustom’d to do it, that you three were before our coming, engag’din some Philosophical conference, which I hope you will eitherprosecute, and allow us to be partakers of, in recompence of thefreedome we have us’d in presuming to surprise you, or else give usleave to repair the injury we should otherwise do you, by leaving youto the freedom we have interrupted, and punishing our selves for ourboldness 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, ButCarneades suddenly laying hold on his arme, and stopping him by it,smileingly told him, We are not so forward to lose good company as youseem to imagine; especially since you are pleas’d to desire to bepresent at what we shall say, about such a Subject as that You foundus considering. For that, being(6) the number of the Elements,Principles, or Materiall Ingredients of Bodies, is an enquiry whosetruth is of that Importance, and of that Difficulty, that it may aswell deserve as require to be searched into by such skilfullIndagators of Nature as your selves. And therefore we sent to invitethe bold and acuteLeucippus to lend us some light by his AtomicalParadox, upon which we expected such pregnant hints, that ’twas notwithout a great deal of trouble that we had lately word brought usthat he was not to be found; and we had likewise begg’d the Assistanceof your presence and thoughts, had not the messenger we employ’d toLeucippus inform’d us, that as he was going, he saw you both pass bytowards another part of the Town; And this frustrated expectation ofLeucippus his company, who told me but last night that he would beready to give me a meeting where I pleas’d to day, having very longsuspended our conference about the freshly mention’d Subject, it wasso newly begun when you came in, that we shall scarce need to repeatany thing to acquaint you with what has pass’d betwixt us before(7) yourarrival, so that I cannot but look upon it as a fortunate Accidentthat you should come so seasonably, to be not hearers alone, but wehope Interlocutors at our conference. For we shall not only allow ofyour presence at it, but desire your Assistance in it; which I addeboth for other reasons, and because though these learned Gentlemen(sayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to discoursebefore any Auditory, provided it be intelligent enough to understandthem, yet for my part (continues he with a new smile,) I shall notdare to vent my unpremeditated thoughts before two such Criticks,unless by promising to take your turnes of speaking, You will allow memine of quarrelling, with what has been said. He and his friends addeddivers things to convince us that they were both desirous that weshould hear them, and resolved against our doing so, unless we allowedthem sometimes to hear us.Elutherius after having a while fruitlesly endeavoured to obtainleave to be silent promis’d he would not be so alwayes, provided thathe were permitted according to the freedom of his(8) Genious andPrinciples to side with one of them in the managing of one Argument,and, if he saw cause, with his Antagonist, in the Prosecution ofanother, without being confin’d to stick to any one party or Opinion,which was after some debate accorded him. But I conscious to my ownDisability’s told them resolutely thatI was as much more willing asmore fit to be a hearer then a speaker, among such knowing Persons,and on so abstruse a Subject. And that therefore I beseeched themwithout necessitating me to proclaim my weaknesses, to allow me tolessen them by being a silent Auditor of their Discourses: to sufferme to be at which I could present them no motive, save that theirinstructions would make them in me a more intelligent Admirer. Iadded, that I desir’d not to be idle whilst they were imploy’d, butwould if they pleas’d, by writing down in short hand what should bedelivered, preserve Discourses that I knew would merit to be lasting.At firstCarneades and his two friends utterly rejected this motion;and all that my Resoluteness to make use of my ears, not(9) tongue, attheir debates, could do, was to make them acquiesce in the PropositionofEleutherius, who thinking himself concern’d, because he broughtme thither, to afford me some faint assistance, was content that Ishould register their Arguments, that I might be the better able afterthe conclusion of their conference to give them my sence upon theSubject of it, (The number of Elements or Principles:) which hepromis’d I should do at the end of the present Debates, if time wouldpermit, or else at our next meeting. And this being by him undertakenin my name, though without my consent, the company would by no meansreceive my Protestation against it, but casting, all at once, theireyes onCarneades, they did by that and their unanimous silence,invite him to begin; which (after a short pause, during which heturn’d himself toEleutherius and me) he did in this manner.

Notwithstanding the subtile reasonings I have met with in the books ofthe Peripateticks, and the pretty experiments that have been shew’d mein the Laboratories of Chymists, I am of so(10) diffident, or dull aNature, as to think that if neither of them can bring more cogentarguments to evince the truth of their assertion then are wont to bebrought; a Man may rationally enough retain some doubts concerning thevery number of those materiall Ingredients of mixt bodies, which somewould have us call Elements, and others principles. Indeed when Iconsidered that the Tenents concerning the Elements are asconsiderable amongst the Doctrines of natural Philosophy as theElements themselves are among the bodies of the Universe, I expectedto find those Opinions solidly establish’d, upon which so many othersare superstructed. But when I took the pains impartially to examinethe bodies themselves that are said to result from the blendedElements, and to torture them into a confession of their constituentPrinciples, I was quickly induc’d to think that the number of theElements has been contended about by Philosophers with moreearnestness then success. This unsatisfiedness of mine has been muchwonder’d at, by these two Gentlemen (at which words he pointed atThemisti(11)us andPhiloponus) who though they differ almost as muchbetwixt themselves about the question we are to consider, as I do fromeither of them, yet they both agree very well in this, that there is adeterminate 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 notsuch as they perswade?) but is wont to be clearly enough demonstratedboth by Reason and Experience. This has occasion’d our presentConference. For our Discourse this afternoon, having fallen from onesubject to another, and at length setl’d on this, they proffer’d todemonstrate to me, each of them the truth of his opinion, out of boththe Topicks that I have freshly nam’d. But on the former (that ofReason strictly so taken) we declin’d insisting at the present, lestwe should not have time enough before supper to go thorough theReasons and Experiments too. The latter of which we unanimouslythought the most requisite to be seriously examin’d. I must desire youthen to take notice Gentlemen (continuedCarneades) that my presentbusiness doth not(12) oblige me so to declare my own opinion on theSubject in question, as to assert or deny the truth either of thePeripatetick, or the Chymical Doctrine concerning the number of theElements, but only to shew you that neither of these Doctrines hathbeen satisfactorily proved by the arguments commonly alledged on itsbehalfe. So that if I really discern (as perhaps I think I do) thatthere may be a more rational account then ordinary, given of one ofthese opinions, I am left free to declare my self of it,notwithstanding my present engagement, it being obvious to all yourobservation, that a solid truth may be generally maintained by noother, then incompetent Arguments. And to this Declaration I hope itwill be needless to add, that my task obliges me not to answer theArguments that may be drawn either forThemistius orPhiloponus’sOpinion from the Topick of reason, as opposed to experiments; since’tis these only that I am to examine and not all these neither, butsuch of them alone as either of them shall think fit to insist on, andas have hitherto been wont to be brought either to prove that ’tis(13)the four Peripatetick Elements, or that ’tis the three ChymicalPrinciples that all compounded bodies consist of. These things (addsCarneades) I thought my self obliged to premise, partly lest youshould do these Gentlemen (pointing atThemistius andPhiloponus,and smiling on them) the injury of measuring their parts by thearguments they are ready to propose, the lawes of our Conferenceconfining 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; andpartly, that you should not condemn me of presumption for disputingagainst persons over whom I can hope for no advantage, thatI mustnot derive from the nature, or rules of our controversy, wherein Ihave but a negative to defend, and wherein too I am like on severaloccasions to have the Assistance of one of my disagreeing adversariesagainst the other.

Philoponus andThemistius soon returned this complement withcivilities of the like nature, in whichEleutherius perceiving themengaged, to prevent the further loss of that time of which they werenot like to have very much to spare, he(14) minded them that theirpresent businesse was not to exchange complements, but Arguments: andthen addressing his speech toCarneades, I esteem it no smallhappinesse (saies he) that I am come here so luckily this Evening. ForI have been long disquieted with Doubts concerning this very subjectwhich you are now ready to debate. And since a Question of thisimportance is to be now discussed by persons that maintain suchvariety of opinions concerning it, and are both so able to enquireafter truth, and so ready to embrace it by whomsoever and on whatoccasion soever it is presented them; I cannot but promise my selfthat I shall before we part either lose my Doubts or the hopes of everfinding them resolved;Eleutherius paused not here; but to preventtheir answer, added almost in the same breath; and I am not a littlepleased to find that you are resolved on this occasion to insistrather on Experiments then Syllogismes. For I, and no doubt You, havelong observed, that those Dialectical subtleties, that the Schoolmentoo often employ about Physiological Mysteries, are wont much more todeclare the wit of him(15) that uses them, then increase the knowledge orremove the doubts of sober lovers of truth. And such captioussubtleties do indeed often puzzle and sometimes silence men, butrarely satisfy them. Being like the tricks of Jugglers, whereby mendoubt not but they are cheated, though oftentimes they cannot declareby what slights they are imposed on. And therefore I think you havedone very wisely to make it your businesse to consider thePhænomenarelating to the present Question, which have been afforded byexperiments, especially since it might seem injurious to our senses,by whose mediation we acquire so much of the knowledge we have ofthings corporal, to have recourse to far-fetched and abstractedRatiocination, to know what are the sensibleingredients of those sensible things that we daily see and handle, andare supposed to have the liberty to untwist (if I may so speak) intothe primitive bodies they consist of. He annexed that he wishedtherefore they would no longer delay his expected satisfaction, ifthey had not, as he feared they had, forgotten something preparatoryto their debate; and that was to(16) lay down what should be all alongunderstood by the word Principle or Element.Carneades thank’d himfor his admonition, but told him that they had not been unmindful ofso requisite a thing. But that being Gentlemen and very far from thelitigious humour of loving to wrangle about words or terms or notionsas empty; they had before his coming in, readily agreed promiscuouslyto use when they pleased, Elements and Principles as terms equivalent:and to understand both by the one and the other, those primitive andsimple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and intowhich they are ultimately resolved. And upon the same account (headded) we agreed to discourse of the opinions to be debated, as wehave found them maintained by the Generality of the assertors of thefour Elements of the one party, and of those that receive the threePrinciples on the other, without tying our selves to enquirescrupulously what notion eitherAristotle orParacelsus, or thisor that Interpreter, or follower of either of those great persons,framed of Elements or Principles; our design being to examine, notwhat these(17) or those writers thought or taught, but what we find to bethe obvious and most general opinion of those, who are willing to beaccounted Favourers of the Peripatetick or Chymical Doctrine,concerning this subject.

I see not (saiesEleutherius) why you might not immediately begin toargue, if you were but agreed which of your two friendly Adversariesshall be first heard. And it being quickly resolv’d on thatThemistius should first propose the Proofs for his Opinion, becauseit was the antienter, and the more general, he made not the companyexpect long before he thus addressed himself toEleutherius, as tothe Person least interessed in the dispute.

If you have taken sufficient notice of the late Confession which wasmade byCarneades, and which (though his Civility dressed it up incomplementall Expressions) was exacted of him by his Justice, Isuppose You will be easily made sensible, that I engage in thisControversie with great and peculiar Disadvantages, besides thosewhich his Parts and my Personal Disabilities would bring to any othercause to be(18) maintained by me against him. For he justly apprehendingthe 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 asidethe best Weapons I have, and those I can best handle; Whereas if Iwere allowed the freedom, in pleading for the four Elements, to employthe Arguments suggested to me by Reason to demonstrate them, I shouldalmost as little doubt of making You a Proselyte to those unsever’dTeachers, Truth andAristotle, as I do of your Candour and yourJudgment. And I hope you will however consider, that that greatFavorite and Interpreter of Nature,Aristotle, who was (as hisOrganum witnesses) the greatest Master of Logick that ever liv’d,disclaim’d the course taken by other petty Philosophers (Antient andModern) who not attending the Coherence and Consequences of theirOpinions, are more sollicitous to make each particular Opinionplausible independently upon thethe rest, then to frame them all so,as not only to be consistent together, but to support each other. Forthat great(19) Man in his vast and comprehensive Intellect, so fram’deach of his Notions, that being curiously adapted into one Systeme,they need not each of them any other defence then that which theirmutuall Coherence gives them: As ’tis in an Arch, where each singlestone, which if sever’d from the rest would be perhaps defenceless, issufficiently secur’d by the solidity and entireness of the wholeFabrick of which it is a part. How justly this may be apply’d to thepresent case, I could easily shew You, if I were permitted to declareto You, how harmoniousAristotles Doctrine of the Elements is withhis other Principles of Philosophy; and how rationally he has deduc’dtheir number from that of the combinations of the four first Qualitiesfrom the kinds of simple Motion belonging to simple bodies, and from Iknow not how many other Principles andPhænomena of Nature, which soconspire with his Doctrine of the Elements, that they mutuallystrengthen and support each other. But since ’tis forbidden me toinsist on Reflections of this kind, I must proceed to tell You, thatthough the(20) Assertors of the four Elements value Reason so highly, andare furnish’d with Arguments enough drawn from thence, to be satisfi’dthat there must be four Elements, though no Man had ever yet made anysensible tryal to discover their Number, yet they are not destitute ofExperience to satisfie others that are wont to be more sway’d by theirsenses then their Reason. And I shall proceed to consider thetestimony of Experience, when I shall have first advertis’d You, thatif Men were as perfectly rational as ’tis to be wish’d they were, thissensible way of Probation would be as needless as ’tis wont to beimperfect. For it is much more high and Philosophical to discoverthingsa priore, thena posteriore. And therefore thePeripateticks have not been very sollicitous to gather Experiments toprove their Doctrines, contenting themselves with a few only, tosatisfie those that are not capable of a Nobler Conviction. And indeedthey employ Experiments rather to illustrate then to demonstrate theirDoctrines, as Astronomers use Sphæres of pastboard, to descend to thecapaci(21)ties of such as must be taught by their senses, for want ofbeing arriv’d to a clear apprehension of purely Mathematical Notionsand Truths. I speak thusEleutherius (addsThemistius) only to doright to Reason, and not out of Diffidence of the Experimental proof Iam to alledge. For though I shall name but one, yet it is such a oneas will make all other appear as needless as it self will be foundSatisfactory. For if You but consider a piece of green-Wood burning ina Chimney, You will readily discern in the disbanded parts of it thefour Elements, of which we teach It and other mixt bodies to becompos’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 readilyvanishing 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 theburning Wood betrayes it self to more then one of our senses; and theashes by their weight, their firiness, and their dryness, put it pastdoubt that they belong to the Element(22) of Earth. If I spoke (continuesThemistius) to less knowing Persons, I would perhaps make someExcuse for building upon such an obvious and easieAnalysis, but’twould be, I fear, injurious, not to think such an Apology needlessto You, who are too judicious either to think it necessary thatExperiments to prove obvious truths should be farr fetch’d, or towonder that among so many mixt Bodies that are compounded of the fourElements, some of them should upon a slightAnalysis manifestlyexhibite the Ingredients they consist of. Especially since it is veryagreeable to the Goodness of Nature, to disclose, even in some of themost obvious Experiments that Men make, a Truth so important, and sorequisite to be taken notice of by them. Besides that ourAnalysisby how much the more obvious we make it, by so much the more suittableit will be to the Nature of that Doctrine which ’tis alledged toprove, which being as clear and intelligible to the Understanding asobvious to the sense, tis no marvail the learned part of Mankindshould so long and so generally imbrace it. For this Doctrine(23) is verydifferent from the whimseys ofChymists and other Modern Innovators,of whoseHypotheses we may observe, as Naturalists do of lessperfect Animals, that as they are hastily form’d, so they are commonlyshort liv’d. For so these, as they are often fram’d in one week, areperhaps thought fit to be laughed at the next; and being builtperchance but upon two or three Experiments are destroyed by a thirdor fourth, whereas the doctrine of the four Elements was fram’d byAristotle after he had leasurely considered those Theories of formerPhilosophers, which are now with great applause revived, as discoveredby these latter ages; And had so judiciously detected and supplyed theErrors and defects of formerHypotheses concerning the Elements,that his Doctrine of them has been ever since deservedly embraced bythe letter’d part of Mankind: All the Philosophers that preceded himhaving in their several ages contributed to the compleatness of thisDoctrine, as those of succeeding times have acquiesc’d in it. Nor hasanHypothesis so deliberately and maturely established been calledin Questi(24)on till in the last CenturyParacelsus and some few othersooty Empiricks, rather then (as they are fain to call themselves)Philosophers, having their eyes darken’d, and their Brains troubl’dwith the smoke of their own Furnaces, began to rail at thePeripatetick Doctrine, which they were too illiterate to understand,and to tell the credulous World, that they could see but threeIngredients in mixt Bodies; which to gain themselves the repute ofInventors, they endeavoured to disguise by calling them, instead ofEarth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; to which theygave the canting title of Hypostatical Principles: but when they cameto describe them, they shewed how little they understood what theymeant by them, by disagreeing as much from one another, as from thetruth they agreed in opposing: For they deliver theirHypotheses asdarkly as their Processes; and ’tis almost as impossible for any soberMan to find their meaning, as ’tis for them to find their Elixir. Andindeed nothing has spread their Philosophy, but their great Brags andundertakings; notwithstanding all which, (sayesThemisti(25)us smiling)I scarce know any thing they have performed worth wondering at, savethat they have been able to drawPhiloponus to their Party, and toengage him to the Defence of an unintelligibleHypothesis, whoknowes 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, ashis Adversary had done, toEleutherius, returned this Answer to it,I hop’dfor Demonstration, but I perceiveThemistiushopes to put me off with a Harangue, wherein he cannot have given me agreater Opinion of his Parts, then he has given me Distrust for hisHypothesis, since for it even a Man of such Learning can bring nobetter Arguments. The Rhetorical part of his Discourse, though it makenot the least part of it, I shall say nothing to, designing to examineonly the Argumentative part, and leaving it toPhiloponus to answerthose passages wherein eitherParacelsus orChymists areconcern’d: I shall observe to You, that in what he has said(26) besides,he makes it his Business to do these two things. The one to proposeand make out an Experiment to demonstrate the common Opinion about thefour Elements; And the other, to insinuate divers things which hethinks may repair the weakness of his Argument, from Experience, andupon other Accounts bring some credit to the otherwise defencelessDoctrine he maintains.

To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it seems to meto be obnoxious to not a few considerable Exceptions.

And first, if I would now deal rigidly with my Adversary, I might heremake a great Question of the very way of Probation which he and othersemploy, without the least scruple, to evince, that the Bodies commonlycall’d mixt, are made up of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, which theyare pleas’d also to call Elements; namely that upon the suppos’dAnalysis made by the fire, of the former sort ofConcretes, thereare wont to emerge Bodies resembling those which they take for theElements. For not to Anticipate here what I foresee I(27) shall haveoccasion to insist on, when I come to discourse withPhiloponusconcerning the right that fire has to pass for the proper andUniversal Instrument of Analysing mixt Bodies, not to Anticipate that,I say, if I were dispos’d to wrangle, I might alledge, that byThemistius his Experiment it would appear rather that those he callsElements, are made of those he calls mixt Bodies, then mix’d Bodies ofthe Elements. For inThemistius’s Analyz’d Wood, and in other Bodiesdissipated and alter’d by the fire, it appears, and he confesses, thatwhich he takes for Elementary Fire and Water, are made out of theConcrete; but it appears not that the Concrete was made up of Fire andWater. Nor has either He, or any Man, for ought I know, of hisperswasion, yet prov’d that nothing can be obtained from a Body by thefire that was notPre-existent in it.

At this unexpected objection, not onlyThemistius, but the rest ofthe company appear’d not a little surpriz’d; but after a whilePhiloponus conceiving his opinion, as well as that ofAristotle,concern’d in that Objection, You cannot sure(28) (sayes he toCarneades) propose this Difficulty; not to call it Cavill, otherwisethen as an Exercise of wit, and not as laying any weight upon it. Forhow can that be separated from a thing that was not existent in it.When, for instance, a Refiner mingles Gold and Lead, and exposing thisMixture upon a Cuppell to the violence of the fire, thereby separatesit into pure and refulgent Gold and Lead (which driven off togetherwith the Dross of the Gold is thence call’dLithargyrium Auri) canany man doubt that sees these two so differing substances separatedfrom the Mass, that they were existent in it before it was committedto the fire.

I should (repliesCarneades) allow your Argument to prove something,if, as Men see the Refiners commonly take before hand both Lead andGold to make the Mass you speak of, so we did see Nature pull down aparcell of the Element of Fire, that is fancy’d to be plac’d I knownot 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(29) Fire presentsus 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 thefire do’s only take the Elementary Ingredients asunder, withoutotherwise altering them. For else ’tis obvious, that Bodies may affordsubstances which were not pre-existent in them; as Flesh too long keptproduces Magots, and old Cheese Mites, which I suppose you will notaffirm to be Ingredients of those Bodies. Now that fire do’s notalwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at leastalter also the Ingredients of Bodies, if I did not expect ere long abetter occasion to prove it, I might make probable out of your veryInstance, wherein there is nothing Elementary separated by the greatviolence of the Refiners fire: the Gold and Lead which are the twoIngredients separated upon theAnalysis being confessedly yetperfectly mixt Bodies, and the Litharge being Lead indeed; but suchLead as is differing in consistence and other Qualities from what itwas before. To which I must add that I have sometimes seen, and soquestionlesse have you(30) much oftener, some parcells of Glasse adheringto the Test or Cuppel, and this Glass though Emergent as well as theGold or Litharge upon your Analysis, you will not I hope allow to havebeen a third Ingredient of the Mass out of which the fire produc’d it.

BothPhiloponus andThemistius were about to reply, whenEleutherius apprehending that the Prosecution of this Dispute wouldtake up time, which might be better employ’d, thought fit to preventthem by saying toCarneades: You made at least half a Promise, whenyou 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 toyour cause, that you should. For though you should grant that thereare Elements, it would not follow that there must be precisely four.And therefore I hope you will proceed to acquaint us with your otherand more considerable Objections againstThemistius’s Opinion,especially since there is so great a Disproportion in Bulke betwixtthe Earth, Water and Air, on the one part, and those little parcellsof resembling substances, that the fire sepa(31)rates fromConcretes onthe other part, that I can scarce think that you are serious, when tolose no advantage against your Adversary, you seem to deny it to berational, to conclude these great simple Bodies to be the Elements,and not the Products of compounded ones.

What you alledge (repliesCarneades) of the Vastness of the Earthand Water, has long since made me willing to allow them to be thegreatest and chief Masses of Matter to be met with here below: But Ithink I could shew You, if You would give me leave, that this willprove only that the Elements, as You call them, are the chief Bodiesthat make up the neighbouring part of the World, but not that they aresuch Ingredients as every mixt Body must consist of. But since Youchallenge me of something of a Promise, though it be not an entireone, Yet I shall willingly perform it. And indeed I intended not whenI first mention’d this Objection, to insist on it at present againstThemistius, (as I plainly intimated in my way of proposing it:)being only desirous to let you see, that though I discern’d myAdvantages, yet(32) I was willing to forego some of them, rather thenappear a rigid Adversary of a Cause so weak, that it may with safetybe favourably dealt with. But I must here profess, and desire You totake Notice of it, that though I pass on to another Argument, it isnot because I think this first invalid. For You will find in theProgress of our Dispute, that I had some reason to question the veryway of Probation imploy’d both by Peripateticks and Chymists, toevince 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 Iknow) been so much as plausibly attempted to be proved by either.Hoping then that when we come to that part of our Debate, whereinConsiderations relating to this Matter are to be treated of, you willremember what I have now said, and that I do rather for a whilesuppose, then absolutely grant the truth of what I have question’d, Iwill proceed to another Objection.

And hereuponEleutherius having(33) promis’d him not to be unmindfull,when time should serve, of what he had declar’d.

I consider then (sayesCarneades) in the next place, that there aredivers Bodies out of whichThemistius will not prove in haste, thatthere can be so many Elements as four extracted by the Fire. And Ishould perchance trouble him if I should ask him what Peripatetick canshew us, (I say not, all the four Elements, for that would be toorigid a Question, but) any one of them extracted out of Gold by anydegree of Fire whatsoever. Nor is Gold the only Bodie in Nature thatwould puzzle anAristotelian,that is no moreto analyze by the Fire into Elementary Bodies, since, for oughtI have yet observ’d, both Silver and calcin’dVenetian Talck, andsome other Concretes, not necessary here to be nam’d, are so fixt,that to reduce any of them into four Heterogeneous Substances hashitherto prov’d a Task much too hard, not only for the Disciples ofAristotle, but those ofVulcan, at least, whilst the latter haveemploy’d only Fire to make theAnalysis.

The next Argument (continuesCar(34)neades) that I shall urge againstThemistius’s Opinion shall be this, That as there are divers BodieswhoseAnalysis by Fire cannot reduce them into so many HeterogeneousSubstances orIngregredients asfour, 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 whenanalyz’d five distinct Substances, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt andEarth, as Experience has shewn us in distilling Mans Blood,Harts-Horns, and divers other Bodies that belonging to theAnimal-Kingdom abound with not uneasily sequestrable Salt.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The First Part.

I Am (sayesCarneades) so unwilling to denyEleutherius any thing,that though, before the rest of the Company I am resolv’d to make goodthe part I have undertaken of a Sceptick; yet I shall readily, sinceyou will have it so, lay aside for a while the Person of an Adversaryto the Peripateticks and Chymists; and before I acquaint you with myObjections against their Opinions, acknowledge to you what may be(whether truly or not) tollerably enough added, in favour of a certainnumber of Principles of mixt Bodies, to that grand and known Argumentfrom theAnalysis(36) of compound Bodies, which I may possiblyhereafter be able to confute.

And that you may the more easily Examine, and the better Judge of whatI have to say, I shall cast it into a pretty number of distinctPropositions, to which I shall not premise any thing; because I takeit for granted, that you need not be advertis’d, that much of what Iam to deliver, whether for or against a determinate number ofIngredients of mix’d Bodies, may be indifferently apply’d to the fourPeripatetick Elements, and the three Chymical Principles, thoughdivers of my Objections will more peculiarly belong to these lastnam’d, because the ChymicalHypothesis seeming to be much morecountenanc’d by Experience then the other, it will be expedient toinsist chiefly upon the disproving of that; especially since most ofthe Arguments that are imploy’d against it, may, by a littlevariation, be made to conclude, at least as strongly against the lessplausible,Aristotelian Doctrine.

Propos. I.It seems not absurd to conceive that at the first Production of mixtBodies, the Universal Matter whereof they among other Parts of theUniverse consisted, was actually divided into little Particles ofseveral sizes and shapes variously mov’d.

This (sayesCarneades) I suppose you will easily enough allow. Forbesides that which happens in the Generation, Corruption, Nutrition,and wasting of Bodies, that which we discover partly by ourMicroscopes of the extream littlenesse of even the scarce sensibleparts of Concretes; and partly by the Chymical Resolutions of mixtBodies, and by divers other Operations of Spagyrical Fires upon them,seems sufficiently to manifest their consisting of parts very minuteand of differing Figures. And that there does also intervene a variouslocal Motion of such small Bodies, will scarce be denied; whether wechuse to grant the Origine of Concretions assign’d byEpicurus, orthat related byMoses. For the first, as you well know, supposes notonly all(38) mixt Bodies, but all others to be produc’d by the variousand casual occursions of Atomes, moving themselves to and fro by aninternal Principle in the Immense or rather InfiniteVacuum. And asfor the inspir’d Historian, He, informing us that the great and WiseAuthor of Things did not immediately create Plants, Beasts, Birds, &c.but produc’d them out of those portions of the pre-existent, thoughcreated, Matter, that he calls Water and Earth, allows us to conceive,that the constituent Particles whereof these new Concretes were toconsist, were variously moved in order to their being connected intothe Bodies they were, by their various Coalitions and Textures, tocompose.

But (continuesCarneades) presuming that the first Proposition needsnot be longer insisted on, I will pass on to the second, and tell youthat

Propos. II.Neither is it impossible that of these minute Particles divers of thesmallest and neighbouring ones were here and there associated intominute Masses or Clusters, and did by their Coalitions constitutegreat store of such little primary Concre(39)tions or Masses as were noteasily dissipable into such Particles as compos’d them.

To what may be deduc’d, in favour of this Assertion, from the Natureof the Thing it self, I will add something out of Experience, whichthough I have not known it used to such a purpose, seems to me morefairly to make out that there May be Elementary Bodies, then the morequestionable Experiments of Peripateticks and Chymists prove thatthere Are such. I consider then that Gold will mix and be colliquatednot only with Silver, Copper, Tin and Lead, but with Antimony,Regulus Martis and many other Minerals, with which it will composeBodies very differing both from Gold, and the other Ingredients of theresulting Concretes. And the same Gold will also by commonAquaRegis, and (I speak it knowingly) by divers otherMenstruums bereduc’d into a seeming Liquor, in so much that the Corpuscles of Goldwill, with those of theMenstruum, pass through Cap-Paper, and withthem also coagulate into a Crystalline Salt. And I have further try’d,that(40) 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 aconsiderable length; and many other wayes may Gold be disguis’d, andhelp to constitute Bodies of very differing Natures both from It andfrom one another, and neverthelesse be afterward reduc’d to theself-same Numerical, Yellow, Fixt, Ponderous and Malleable Gold it wasbefore its commixture. Nor is it only the fixedst of Metals, but themost fugitive, that I may employ in favour of our Proposition: forQuicksilver will with divers Metals compose anAmalgam, with diversMenstruums it seems to be turn’d into a Liquor, withAqua fortiswill be brought into either a red or white Powder or precipitate, withOyl of Vitriol into a pale Yellow one, with Sulphur it will compose ablood-red and volatile Cinaber, with some Saline Bodies it will ascendin form of a Salt which will be dissoluble in water; withRegulus ofAntimony 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 hardand brittle Substance by another: And(41) some there are who affirm, thatby proper Additaments they can reduce Quicksilver into Oyl, nay intoGlass, to mention no more. And yet out of all these exotick Compounds,we may recover the very same running Mercury that was the mainIngredient of them, and was so disguis’d in them. Now the Reason(proceedsCarneades) that I have represented these things concerningGold and Quicksilver, is, That it may not appear absurd to conceive,that such little primary Masses or Clusters, as our Propositionmentions, may remain undissipated, notwithstanding their entring intothe composition of various Concretions, since the Corpuscle of Goldand Mercury, though they be not primary Concretions of the most minuteParticles or matter, but confessedly mixt Bodies, are able to concurreplentifully to the composition of several very differing Bodies,without losing their own Nature or Texture, or having their cohæsionviolated by the divorce of their associated parts or Ingredients.

Give me leave to add (sayesEleutherius) on this occasion, to whatyou now observ’d, that as confidently as some(42) Chymists, and othermodern Innovators in Philosophy are wont to object against thePeripateticks, That from the mixture of their four Elements therecould arise but an inconsiderable variety of compound Bodies; yet iftheAristotelians were but half as well vers’d in the works ofNature as they are in the Writings of their Master, the propos’dObjection would not so calmly triumph, as for want of Experiments theyare fain to suffer it to do. For if we assigne to the Corpuscles,whereof each Element consists, a peculiar size and shape, it mayeasily enough be manifested, That such differingly figur’d Corpusclesmay be mingled in such various Proportions, and may be connected somany several wayes, that an almost incredible number of variouslyqualified Concretes may be compos’d of them. Especially since theCorpuscles of one Element may barely, by being associated amongthemselves, make up little Masses of differing size and figure fromtheir constituent parts: and since also to the strict union of suchminute Bodies there seems oftentimes nothing requisite, besides thebare Contact of a great part of their Surfaces.(43) And how great avariety ofPhænomena the same matter, without the addition of anyother, and only several ways dispos’d or contexed, is able to exhibit,may partly appear by the multitude of differing Engins which by thecontrivances of skilful Mechanitians, and the dexterity of expertWorkmen, may be made of Iron alone. But in our present case beingallow’d to deduce compound Bodies from four very differently qualifiedsorts of matter, he who shall but consider what you freshly tooknotice of concerning the new Concretes resulting from the mixture ofincorporated Minerals, will scarce doubt but that the four Elementsmannag’d by Natures Skill may afford a multitude of differingCompounds.

I am thus far of your minde (sayesCarneades) that theAristotelians might with probability deduce a much greater number ofcompound Bodies from the mixture of their four Elements, thanaccording to their presentHypothesis they can, if instead of vainlyattempting to deduce the variety and properties of all mixt Bodiesfrom the Combinations and Temperaments of the four Elements, as theyare (among them) endowd(44) with the four first Qualities, they hadendeavoured to do it by the Bulk and Figure of the smallest parts ofthose supposed Elements. For from these more Catholick and FruitfullAccidents of the Elementary matter may spring a great variety ofTextures, upon whose Account a multitude of compound Bodies may verymuch differ from one another. And what I now observe touching the fourPeripatetick Elements, may be also applyed,mutatis mutandis, (asthey speak) to the Chymical Principles. But (to take notice of that bythe by) both the one and the other, must, I fear, call in to theirassistance something that is not Elementary, to excite or regulate themotion of the parts of the matter, and dispose them after the mannerrequisite to the Constitution of particular Concretes. For thatotherwise they are like to give us but a very imperfect account of theOrigine of very many mixt Bodies, It would, I think, be no hard matterto perswade you, if it would not spend time, and were no Digression,to examine, what they are wont to alledge of the Origine of theTextures and Qualities of mixt Bodies,(45) from a certain substantialForm, whose Origination they leave more obscure than what it isassum’d to explicate.

Propos. III.I shall not peremptorily deny, that from most of such mixt Bodies aspartake either of Animal or Vegetable Nature, there may by the Help ofthe Fire, be actually obtain’d a determinate number (whether Three,Four or Five, or fewer or more) of Substances, worthy of differingDenominations.

Of the Experiments that induce me to make this Concession, I am liketo have occasion enough to mention several in the prosecution of myDiscourse. And therefore, that I may not hereafter be oblig’d totrouble You and my self with needless Repetitions, I shall now onlydesire you to take notice of such Experiments, when they shall bemention’d, and in your thoughts referre them hither.

Propos. IV.It may likewise be granted, that those distinct Substances, whichConcretes generally either afford or are made up of, may without verymuch Inconvenience be call’d the Elements or Principles of them.

When I said,without very much Inconvenience, I had in my Thoughtsthat sober Admonition ofGalen,Cum de re constat, de verbis nonest Litigandum. And therefore also I scruple not to sayElements orPrinciples, partly because the Chymists are wont to call theIngredients of mixt Bodies,Principles, as theAristotelians namethemElements; I would here exclude neither. And, partly, because itseems doubtfull whether the same Ingredients may not be call’dPrinciples? as not being compounded of any more primary Bodies: andElements, in regard that all mix’d Bodies are compounded of them.But I thought it requisite to limit my Concession by premising thewords,very much, to the wordInconvenience, because that thoughthe Inconvenience of calling the distinct Substances, mention’d in thePropositionElements orPrinciples, be not very great,(47) yet thatit is an Impropriety of Speech, and consequently in a matter of thismoment not to be altogether overlook’d, You will perhaps think, aswell as I, by that time you shall have heard the following part of myDiscourse, by which you will best discern what Construction to putupon the former Propositions, and how far they may be look’d upon, asthings that I concede as true, and how far as things I only representas specious enough to be fit to be consider’d.

And nowEleutherius (continuesCarneades) I must resume the personof a Sceptick, and as such, propose some part of what may be eitherdislik’t, or at least doubted of in the commonHypothesis of theChymists: which if I examine with a little the more freedom, I hope Ineed not desire you (a Person to whom I have the Happinesse of beingso well known) to look upon it as something more suitable to theEmployment whereto the Company has, for this Meeting, doom’d me; theneither to my Humour or my Custom.

Now though I might present you many things against the Vulgar ChymicalOpinion of the three Principles, and the(48) Experiments wont to bealledg’d as Demonstrations of it, yet those I shall at present offeryou may be conveniently enough comprehended in four CapitalConsiderations; touching all which I shall only premise this ingeneral, That since it is not my present Task so much to assert anHypothesis of my own, as to give an Account wherefore I suspect theTruth of that of the Chymists, it ought not to be expected that all myObjections should be of the most cogent sort, since it is reasonenough to Doubt of a propos’d Opinion, that there appears no cogentReason for it.

To come then to the Objections themselves; I consider in the firstplace, That notwithstanding what common Chymists have prov’d ortaught, it may reasonably enough be Doubted, how far, and in whatsence, Fire ought to be esteem’d the genuine and universal Instrumentof analyzing mixt Bodies.

This Doubt, you may remember, was formerly mention’d, but sotransiently discours’d of, that it will now be fit to insist upon it;And manifest that it was not so inconsiderately propos’d as ourAdversaries then imagin’d.(49)

But, before I enter any farther into this Disquisition, I cannot buthere take notice, that it were to be wish’d, our Chymists had clearlyinform’d us what kinde of Division of Bodies by Fire must determinethe number of the Elements: For it is nothing near so easy as manyseem to think, to determine distinctly the Effects of Heat, as I couldeasily manifest, if I had leasure to shew you how much the Operationsof Fire may be diversify’d by Circumstances. But not wholly to pass bya matter of this Importance, I will first take notice to you, thatGuajacum (for Instance) burnt with an open Fire in a Chimney, issequestred into Ashes and Soot, whereas the same Wood distill’d in aRetort does yield far other Heterogeneities, (to use theHelmontianexpression) and is resolv’d into Oyl, Spirit, Vinager, Water andCharcoal; the last of which to be reduc’d into Ashes, requires thebeing farther calcin’d then it can be in a close Vessel: Besideshaving kindled Amber, and held a clean Silver Spoon, or some otherConcave and smooth Vessel over the Smoak of its Flame, I observ’d theSoot into which that Fume condens’d,(50) to be very differing from anything that I had observ’d to proceed from the steam of Amber purposely(for that is not usual) distilledper se in close Vessels. Thushaving, for Tryals sake, kindled Camphire, and catcht the Smoak thatcopiously ascended out of the Flame, it condens’d into a Black andunctuous Soot, which would not have been guess’d by the Smell or otherProperties to have proceeded from Camphire: whereas having (as I shallotherwhere more fully declare) expos’d a quantity of that FugitiveConcrete to a gentle heat in a close Glass-Vessel, it sublim’d upwithout seeming to have lost any thing of its whiteness, or itsNature, both which it retain’d, though afterwards I so encreased theFire as to bring it to Fusion. And, besides Camphire, there are diversother Bodies (that I elsewhere name) in which the heat in closeVessels is not wont to make any separation of Heterogeneities, butonly a comminution of Parts, those that rise first being Homogenealwith the others, though subdivided into smaller Particles: whenceSublimations have been stiled,The Pestles of the Chymists. But nothere(51) to mention what I elsewhere take notice of, concerning commonBrimstone once or twice sublim’d, that expos’d to a moderate Fire inSubliming-Pots, it rises all into dry, and almost tastless, Flowers;Whereas being expos’d to a naked Fire it affords store of a Saline andFretting Liquor: Not to mention this, I say, I will further observe toyou, that as it is considerable in theAnalysis of mixt Bodies,whether the Fire act on them when they are expos’d to the open Air, orshut up in close Vessels, so is the degree of Fire by which theAnalysis is attempted of no small moment. For a mildeBalneum willsever unfermented Blood (for Instance) but into Phlegme andCaputmortuum, the later whereof (which I have sometimes had) hard,brittle, and of divers Colours, (transparent almost likeTortoise-shell) press’d by a good Fire in a Retort yields a Spirit, anOyl or two, and a volatile Salt, besidesaCaputmortuum. It may be also pertinent to our present Designe, to takenotice of what happens in the making and distilling of Sope; for byone degree of Fire the Salt, the Water and the Oyl or Grease, whereofthat factitious(52) Concrete is made up, being boyl’d up together areeasily brought to mingle and incorporate into one Mass; but by anotherand further degree of Heat the same Mass may be again divided into anoleagenous, an aqueous, a Saline, and an Earthy part. And so we mayobserve that impure Silver and Lead being expos’d together to amoderate Fire, will thereby be colliquated into one Mass, and mingleper minima, as they speak, whereas a much vehementer Fire will driveor carry off the baser Metals (I mean the Lead, and the Copper orother Alloy) from the Silver, though not, for ought appears, separatethem from one another. Besides, when a Vegetable abounding in fixtSalt is analyz’d by a naked Fire, as one degree of Heat will reduce itinto Ashes, (as the Chymists themselves teach us) so, by only afurther degree of Fire, those Ashes may be vitrified and turn’d intoGlass. I will not stay to examine how far a meere Chymist might onthis occasion demand, If it be lawful for anAristotelian to makeAshes, (which he mistakes for meere Earth) pass for an Element,because by one degree of Fire it may be(53) produc’d, why a Chymist maynot upon the like Principle argue, that Glass is one of the Elementsof many Bodies, because that also may be obtain’d from them, barely bythe 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 beobtain’d from a Concrete, as Chymists have not been able to separate;either by barely burning it in an open Fire, or by barely distillingit in close Vessels. For to me it seems very considerable, and Iwonder that men have taken so little notice of it, that I have not byany of the common wayes of Distillation in close Vessels, seen anyseparation 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, andthat Soot is afterwards plac’d in a strong Retort, and compell’d by anurgent Fire to part with its Spirit, Oyl and Salt; for though I darenot peremptorily deny, that in the Liquors ofGuajacum and otherWoods distill’d in Retorts after the common manner, there may beSaline parts, which by reason of the Analogy may pretend to the nameof some kinde of(54) volatile Salts; yet questionless there is a greatdisparity betwixt such Salts and that which we have sometimes obtain’dupon the first Distillation of Soot (though for the most part it hasnot been separated from the first or second Rectification, andsometimes not till the third) For we could never yet see separatedfrom Woods analyz’d only the vulgar way in close vessels any volatileSalt in a dry and Saline form, as that of Soot, which we have oftenhad very Crystalline and Geometrically figur’d. And then, whereas theSaline parts of the Spirits ofGuajacum, &c. appear upondistillation sluggish enough, the Salt of Soot seems to be one of themost volatile Bodies in all Nature; and if it be well made willreadily ascend with the milde heat of a Furnace, warm’d only by thesingle Wieck of a Lamp, to the top of the highest Glass Vessels thatare commonly made use of for Distillation: and besides all this, thetaste and smell of the Salt of Soot are exceeding differing from thoseof the Spirits ofGuajacum, &c. and the former not only smells andtastes much less like a vegetable Salt, than like that of Harts-horn,and other(55) Animal Concretes; but in divers other Properties seems moreof Kinne to the Family of Animals, than to that of vegetable Salts, asI may elsewhere (God permitting) have an occasion more particularly todeclare. I might likewise by some other Examples manifest, That theChymists, to have dealt clearly, ought to have more explicitly andparticularly declar’d by what Degree of Fire, and in what manner ofApplication of it, they would have us Judge a Division made by theFire to be a trueAnalysis into their Principles, and theProductions of it to deserve the name of Elementary Bodies. But it istime that I proceed to mention the particular Reasons that incline meto Doubt, whether the Fire be the true and universal Analyzer of mixtBodies; of which Reasons what has been already objected may pass forone.

In the next place I observe, That there are some mixt Bodies fromwhich it has not been yet made appear, that any degree of Fire canseparate either Salt or Sulphur or Mercury, much less all the Three.The most obvious Instance of this Truth is Gold, which is a Body sofix’d, and wherein the Elementary(56) Ingredients (if it have any) are sofirmly united to each other, that we finde not in the operationswherein Gold is expos’d to the Fire, how violent soever, that it doesdiscernably so much as lose of its fixednesse or weight, so far is itfrom being dissipated into those Principles, whereof one at least isacknowledged to be Fugitive enough; and so justly did the SpagyricallPoet somewhere exclaim,

And I must not omit on this occasion to mention to you,Eleutherius,the memorable Experiment that I remember I met with inGastoClaveusGasto Claveus Apolog. Argur. & Chrysopera., who, though a Lawyer by Profession, seems to have had nosmall Curiosity and Experience in Chymical affairs: He relates then,that having put into one small Earthen Vessel an Ounce of the mostpure Gold, and into another the like weight of pure Silver, he plac’dthem both in that part of a Glass-house Furnace wherein the Workmenkeep their Metal, (as our English Artificers call their Liquid Glass)continually melted, and that having there kept both the Gold and(57) theSilver in constant Fusion for two Moneths together, he afterwards tookthem out of the Furnace and the Vessels, and weighing both of themagain, found that the Silver had not lost above a 12th part of itsweight, but the Gold had not of his lost any thing at all. And thoughour Author endeavours to give us of this a Scholastick Reason, which Isuppose you would be as little satisfied with, as I was when I readit; yet for the matter of Fact, which will serve our present turne, heassures us, that though it be strange, yet Experience it self taughtit him to be most true.

And though there be not perhaps any other Body to be found soperfectly fix’d as Gold, yet there are divers others so fix’d orcompos’d, at least of so strictly united parts, that I have not yetobserv’d the Fire to separate from them any one of the ChymistsPrinciples. I need not tell you what Complaints the more Candid andJudicious of the Chymists themselves are wont to make of thoseBoasters that confidently pretend, that they have extracted the Saltor Sulphur of Quicksilver, when they have disguis’d it by Additaments,wherewith it re(58)sembles the Concretes whose Names are given it;whereas by a skilful and rigidExamen, it may be easily enoughstript of its Disguises, and made to appear again in the pristine formof running Mercury. The pretended Salts and Sulphurs being so far frombeing Elementary parts extracted out of the Bodie of Mercurie, thatthey are rather (to borrow a terme of the Grammarians) De-compoundBodies, made up of the whole Metal and theMenstruum or otherAdditaments imploy’d to disguise it. And as for Silver, I never couldsee any degree of Fire make it part with any of its three Principles.And though the Experiment lately mentioned fromClaveus may beget aSuspition that Silver may be dissipated by Fire, provided it beextreamly violent and very lasting: yet it will not necessarilyfollow, that because the Fire was able at length to make the Silverlose a little of its weight, it was therefore able to dissipate itinto its Principles. For first I might alledge that I have observ’dlittle Grains of Silver to lie hid in the small Cavities (perhapsglas’d over by a vitrifying heat) in Crucibles, wherein Silver hasbeen long kept in Fusion,(59) whence some Goldsmiths of my Acquaintancemake a Benefit by grinding such Crucibles to powder, to recover out ofthem the latent particles of Silver. And hence I might argue, thatperhapsClaveus was mistaken, and imagin’d that Silver to have beendriven away by the Fire, that indeed lay in minute parts hid in hisCrucible, in whose pores so small a quantity as he mist of soponderous a Bodie might very well lie conceal’d.

But Secondly, admitting that some parts of the Silver were driven awayby the violence of the Fire, what proof is there that it was eitherthe Salt, the Sulphur, or the Mercury of the Metal, and not rather apart of it homogeneous to what remain’d? For besides, that the Silverthat was left seem’d not sensibly alter’d, which probably would haveappear’d, had so much of any one of its Principles been separated fromit: We finde in other Mineral Bodies of a less permanent nature thanSilver, that the Fire may divide them into such minute parts, as to beable to carry them away with its self, without at all destroying theirNature. Thus we see that in the re(60)fining of Silver, the Lead that ismix’d with it (to carry away the Copper or other ignoble Mineral thatembases the Silver) will, if it be let alone, in time evaporate awayupon the Test; but if (as is most usual amongst those that refinegreat quantities of Metals together) the Lead be blown off from theSilver by Bellowes, that which would else have gone away in the Formof unheeded steams, will in great part be collected not far from theSilver, in the Form of a darkish Powder or Calx, which, because it isblown off from Silver, they call Litharge of Silver. And thusAgricolaAgricola de Natura Fossil. Lib. 9. Cap. 11. & 12. in divers places informs us, when Copper, or the Oare ofit is colliquated by the violence of the Fire withCadmia, theSparks that in great multitudes do fly upwards do, some of them, stickto the vaulted Roofs of the Furnaces, in the form of little and (forthe most part) White Bubbles, which therefore the Greeks, and, inImitation of them, our Drugsters callPompholix: and others moreheavy partly adhere to the sides of the Furnace, and partly(especially if the Covers be not kept upon the Pots) fall to theGround, and by reason of their Ashy(61) Colour as well as Weight werecalled by the same Greeksσποδος, which, I need not tell you,in their Language signifies Ashes. I might add, that I have not foundthat from Venetian Talck (I say Venetian, because I have found otherkinds of that Mineral more open) from theLapis Ossifragus, (whichthe Shops callOstiocolla) fromMuscovia Glass, from pure andFusible Sand, to mention now no other Concretes; those of myAcquaintance that have try’d have been able by the Fire to separateany one of the Hypostatical Principles, which you will the lessscruple to believe, if you consider that Glass may be made by the bareColliquation of the Salt and Earth remaining in the Ashes of a burntPlant, and that yet common Glass, once made, does so far resist theviolence of the Fire, that most Chymists think it a Body moreundestroyable then Gold it self. For if the Artificer can so firmlyunite such comparative gross Particles as those of Earth and Salt thatmake up common Ashes, into a Body indissoluble by Fire; why may notNature associate in divers Bodies the more minute ElementaryCorpuscles she has at hand too firmly to(62) let them be separable by theFire? And on this Occasion,Eleutherius, give me leave to mention toyou two or three sleight Experiments, which will, I hope, be foundmore pertinent to our present Discourse, than at first perhaps theywill appear. The first is, that, having (for Tryals sake) put aquantity of that Fugitive Concrete, Camphire, into a Glass Vessel, andplac’d it in a gentle Heat, I found it (not leaving behinde, accordingto my Estimate, not so much as one Grain) to sublime to the Top of theVessel into Flowers: which in Whiteness, Smell, &c. seem’d not todiffer from the Camphire it self. Another Experiment is that ofHelmont, who in several places affirms, That a Coal kept in a Glassexactly clos’d will never be calcin’d to Ashes, though kept never solong in a strong Fire. To countenance which I shall tell you thisTryal of my own, That having sometimes distilled some Woods, asparticularly Box, whilst ourCaput mortuum remain’d in the Retort,it continued black like Charcoal, though the Retort were Earthen, andkept red-hot in a vehement Fire; but as soon as ever it was broughtout of the candent(63) Vessel into the open Air, the burning Coals didhastily degenerate or fall asunder, without the Assistance of any newCalcination, into pure white Ashes. And to these two I shall add butthis obvious and known Observation, that common Sulphur (if it be pureand freed from its Vinager) being leasurely sublim’d in close Vessels,rises into dry Flowers, which may be presently melted into a Bodie ofthe same Nature with that which afforded them. Though if Brimstone beburnt in the open Air it gives, you know, a penetrating Fume, whichbeing caught in a Glass-Bell condenses into that acid Liquor calledOyl of Sulphurper Campanam. The use I would make of theseExperiments collated with what I lately told you out ofAgricola isthis, That even among the Bodies that are not fixt, there are diversof such a Texture, that it will be hard to make it appear, how theFire, as Chymists are wont to imploy it, can resolve them intoElementary Substances. For some Bodies being of such a Texture thatthe Fire can drive them into the cooler and less hot part of theVessels wherein they are included, and if need be, remove them fromplace(64) to place to fly the greatest heat, more easily than it candivorce their Elements (especially without the Assistance of the Air)we see that our Chymists cannot Analyze them in close Vessels, and ofother compound Bodies the open Fire can as little separate theElements. For what can a naked Fire do to Analyze a mixt Bodie, if itscomponent Principles be so minute, and so strictly united, that theCorpuscles of it need less heat to carry them up, than is requisite todivide them into their Principles. So that of some Bodies the Firecannot in close Vessels make anyAnalysis at all, and others will inthe open Air fly away in the Forms of Flowers or Liquors, before theHeat can prove able to divide them into their Principles. And this mayhold, whether the various similar parts of a Concrete be combin’d byNature or by Art; For in factitiousSal Armoniack we finde thecommon and the Urinous Salts so well mingled, that both in the openFire, and in subliming Vessels they rise together as one Salt, whichseems in such Vessels irresoluble by Fire alone. For I can shew youSal Armoniack which after the ninth Sublimation does still retainits(65) compounded Nature. And indeed I scarce know any one Mineral, fromwhich by Fire alone Chymists are wont to sever any Substance simpleenough to deserve the name of an Element or Principle. For though outof native Cinnaber they distill Quicksilver, and though from many ofthose Stones that the Ancients calledPyrites they sublimeBrimstone, yet both that Quicksilver and this Sulphur being very oftenthe same with the common Minerals that are sold in the Shops underthose names, are themselves too much compounded Bodies to pass for theElements of such. And thus much,Eleutherius, for the SecondArgument that belongs to my First Consideration; the others I shallthe lesse insist on, because I have dwelt so long upon this.

Proceed we then in the next place to consider, That there are diversSeparations to be made by other means, which either cannot at all, orelse cannot so well be made by the Fire alone. When Gold and Silverare melted into one Mass, it would lay a great Obligation uponRefiners and Goldsmiths to teach them the Art of separating them(66) bythe Fire, without the trouble and charge they are fain to be at tosever them. Whereas they may be very easily parted by the Affusion ofSpirit of Nitre orAqua fortis (which the French therefore callEaude Depart:) so likewise the Metalline part of Vitriol will not be soeasily and conveniently separated from the Saline part even by aviolent Fire, as by the Affusion of certain Alkalizate Salts in aliquid Form upon the Solution of Vitriol made in common water. Forthereby the acid Salt of the Vitriol, leaving the Copper it hadcorroded to joyn with the added Salts, the Metalline part will beprecipitated to the bottom almost like Mud. And that I may not giveInstances only in De-compound Bodies, I will add a not useless one ofanother kinde. Not only Chymists have not been able (for ought isvulgarly known) by Fire alone to separate true Sulphur from Antimony;but though you may finde in their Books many plausible Processes ofExtracting it, yet he that shall make as many fruitlesse Tryals as Ihave done to obtain it by, most of them will, I suppose, be easilyperswaded, that the Productions of such(67) Processes are AntimonialSulphurs rather in Name than Nature. But though Antimony sublim’d byits self is reduc’d but to a volatile Powder, or Antimonial Flowers,of a compounded Nature like the Mineral that affords them: yet Iremember that some years ago I sublim’d out of Antimony a Sulphur, andthat in greater plenty then ever I saw obtain’d from that Mineral, bya Method which I shall therefore acquaint you with, because Chymistsseem not to have taken notice of what Importance such Experiments maybe in the Indagation of the Nature, and especially of the Number ofthe Elements. Having then purposely for Tryals sake digested eightOunces of good and well powder’d Antimony with twelve Ounces of Oyl ofVitriol in a well stopt Glas-Vessel for about six or seven Weeks; andhaving caus’d the Mass (grown hard and brittle) to be distill’d in aRetort plac’d in Sand, with a strong Fire; we found the Antimony to beso opened, or alter’d by theMenstruum wherewith it had beendigested, That whereas crude Antimony, forc’d up by the Fire, arisesonly in Flowers, our Antimony thus handled afforded us(68) partly in theReceiver, and partly in the Neck and at the Top of the Retort, aboutan Ounce of Sulphur, yellow and brittle like common Brimstone, and ofso Sulphureous a smell, that upon the unluting the Vessels it infectedthe Room with a scarce supportable stink. And this Sulphur, besidesthe Colour and Smell, had the perfect Inflamability of commonBrimstone, and would immediately kindle (at the Flame of a Candle) andburn blew like it. And though it seem’d that the long digestionwherein our Antimony andMenstruum were detain’d, did conduce to thebetter unlocking of the Mineral, yet if you have not the leasure tomake so long a Digestion, you may by incorporating with powder’dAntimony a convenient Quantity of Oyl of Vitriol, and committing themimmediately to Distillation, obtain a little Sulphur like unto thecommon one, and more combustible than perhaps you will at first takenotice of. For I have observ’d, that though (after its being firstkindled) the Flame would sometimes go out too soon of its self, if thesame Lump of Sulphur were held again to the Flame of a Candle, itwould be(69) rekindled and burn a pretty while, not only after thesecond, but after the third or fourth accension. You, to whom I thinkI shewed my way of discovering something of Sulphureous in Oyl ofVitriol, may perchance suspect,Eleutherius, either that thisSubstance was some Venereal Sulphur that lay hid in that Liquor, andwas by this operation only reduc’d into a manifest Body; or else thatit was a compound of the unctuous parts of the Antimony, and theSaline ones of the Vitriol, in regard that (asGuntherLib. 1. Observat. Cap. 6. informsus) divers learned men would have Sulphur to be nothing but a mixturemade in the Bowels of the Earth of Vitriolate Spirits and a certaincombustible Substance. But the Quantity of Sulphur we obtain’d byDigestion was much too great to have been latent in the Oyl ofVitriol. And that Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to theConstitution of such a Sulphur as ours, I could easily manifest, if Iwould acquaint you with the several wayes by which I have obtain’d,though not in such plenty, a Sulphur of Antimony, colour’d andcombustible like common Brimstone. And though I am not now minded(70) todiscover them, yet I shall tell you, that to satisfie some IngeniousMen, that distill’d Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to theobtaining of such a Sulphur as we have been considering, I did by thebare distillation of only Spirit of Nitre, from its weight of crudeAntimony separate, in a short time, a yellow and very inflamableSulphur, which, for ought I know, deserves as much the name of anElement, as any thing that Chymists are wont to separate from anyMineral by the Fire. I could perhaps tell you of other Operations uponAntimony, whereby That may be extracted from it, which cannot beforc’d out of it by the Fire; but I shall reserve them for a fitterOpportunity, and only annex at present this sleight, but notimpertinent Experiment. That whereas I lately observed to you, thatthe Urinous and common Salts whereofSal Armoniack consists,remain’d unsever’d by the Fire in many successive Sublimations, theymay be easily separated, and partly without any Fire at all, bypouring upon the Concrete finely powder’d, a Solution of Salt ofTartar, or of the Salt of Wood-Ashes; for upon your diligently mixing(71)of these you will finde your Nose invaded with a very strong smell ofUrine, and perhaps too your Eyes forc’d to water by the same subtleand piercing Body that produces the stink; both these effectsproceeding from hence, that by the Alcalizate Salt, the Sea Salt thatenter’d the composition of theSal Armoniack is mortify’d and mademore fixt, and thereby a divorce is made between it and the volatileUrinous Salt, which being at once set at liberty, and put into motion,begins presently to fly away, and to offend the Nostrils and Eyes itmeets with by the way. And if the operation of these Salts be inconvenient Glasses promoted by warmth, though but by that of a Bath,the ascending Steams may easily be caught and reduc’d into a penetrantSpirit, abounding with a Salt, which I have sometimes found to beseparable in a Crystalline Form. I might add to these Instances, thatwhereas Sublimate, consisting, as you know, of Salts & Quicksilvercombin’d and carried up together by Heat, may be Sublim’d, I know nothow often, by a like degree of Fire, without suffering any divorce ofthe component Bodies, the Mercury may be ea(72)sily sever’d from theadhering Salts, if the Sublimate be distill’d from Salt of Tartar,Quick Lime, or such Alcalizate Bodies. But I will rather observe toyou,Eleutherius, what divers ingenious men have thought somewhatstrange; that by such an Additament that seems but only to promote theSeparation, there may be easily obtain’d from a Concrete that by theFire alone is easily divisible into all the Elements that Vegetablesare suppos’d to consist of, such a similar Substance as differs inmany respects from them all, and consequently has by many of the mostIntelligent Chymists been denied to be contain’d in the mixt Body. ForI know a way, and have practis’d it, whereby common Tartar, withoutthe addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral exceptSalt-petre, may by one Distillation in an Earthen Retort be made toafford good store of real Salt, readily dissoluble in water, which Ifound to be neither acid, nor of the smell of Tartar, and to be almostas volatile as Spirit of Wine it self, and to be indeed of sodiffering a Nature from all that is wont to be separated by Fire fromTartar, that divers(73) Learned Men, with whom I discours’d of it, couldhardly be brought to beleeve, that so fugitive a Salt could beafforded by Tartar, till I assur’d it them upon my own Knowledge. Andif I did not think you apt to suspect me to be rather too backwardthan too forward to credit or affirm unlikely things, I could convinceyou by what I have yet lying by me of that anomalous Salt.

The Fourth thing that I shall alledge to countenance my firstConsideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body intoSubstances of divers Consistences, does not most commonly analyze itinto Hypostatical Principles, but only disposes its parts into newTextures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of acompound Nature. This Argument it will be requisite for me toprosecute so fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confess that’tis not for want of good Proofs that I desire leave to suspend myProofs till theSeries of my Discourse shall make it more proper andseasonable to propose them.

It may be further alledg’d on the behalf of my First Consideration,That some such distinct Substances may be ob(74)tain’d from someConcretes 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, theSulphur of Wine, may not only be separated from it by the gentle heatof 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 itis not easy to keep it from flying away, even without the Applicationof external heat. I have likewise observ’d that a Vessel full of Urinebeing plac’d in a Dunghill, the Putrefaction is wont after some weeksso to open the Body, that the parts disbanding the Saline Spirit, willwithin no very long time, if the Vessel be not stopt, fly away of itself; Insomuch that from such Urine I have been able to distill littleor nothing else than a nauseous Phlegme, instead of the active andpiercing Salt and Spirit that it would have afforded, when firstexpos’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 veryhard to(75) prove, that there can no other Body or way be given whichwill as well as the Fire divide Concretes into several homogeneousSubstances, which may consequently be call’d their Elements orPrinciples, as well as those separated or produc’d by the Fire. Forsince we have lately seen, that Nature can successefully employ otherInstruments than the Fire to separate distinct Substances from mixtBodies, how know we, but that Nature has made, or Art may make, somesuch Substance as may be a fit Instrument to Analyze mixt Bodies, orthat some such Method may be found by Humane Industry or Luck, bywhose 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 theProducts of such anAnalysis may not as justly be call’d thecomponent Principles of the Bodies that afford them, it will not beeasy to shew, especially since I shall hereafter make it evident, thatthe Substances which Chymists are wont to call the Salts, andSulphurs, and Mercuries of Bodies, are not so pure and Elementary asthey presume, and as theirHypothesis requires. And this may(76)therefore be the more freely press’d upon the Chymists, becauseneither theParacelsians, nor theHelmontians can reject itwithout apparent Injury to their respective Masters. ForHelmontdo’s more than once Inform his Readers, that bothParacelsus andHimself were Possessors of the famous Liquor,Alkahest, which forits great power in resolving Bodies irresoluble by Vulgar Fires, hesomewhere seems to callIgnis Gehennæ. To this Liquor he ascribes,(and that in great part upon his own Experience) such wonders, that ifwe suppose them all true, I am so much the more a Friend to Knowledgethan to Wealth, that I should think theAlkahest a nobler and moredesireable Secret than the Philosophers Stone it self. Of thisUniversal Dissolvent he relates, That having digested with it for acompetent time a piece of Oaken Charcoal, it was thereby reduc’d intoa couple of new and distinct Liquors, discriminated from each other bytheir Colour and Situation, and that the whole body of the Coal wasreduc’d into those Liquors, both of them separable from his ImmortalMenstruum, which remain’d as fit for such Operati(77)ons as before. Andhe moreover tells us in divers places of his Writings, that by thispowerful, and unwearied Agent, he could dissolve Metals, Marchasites,Stones, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of what kinde soever, and evenGlass it self (first reduc’d to powder,) and in a word, all kinds ofmixt Bodies in the World into their several similar Substances,without any Residence orCaput mortuum. And lastly, we may gatherthis further from his Informations, That the homogeneous Substancesobtainable from compound Bodies by his piercing Liquor, wereoftentimes different enough both as to Number and as to Nature, fromthose into which the same Bodies are wont to be divided by commonFire. Of which I shall need in this place to mention no other proof,then that whereas we know that in our commonAnalysis of a mixtBody, there remains a terrestrial and very fixt Substance, oftentimesassociated with a Salt as fixt; Our Author tells us, that by his wayhe could Distill over all Concretes without anyCaput mortuum, andconsequently could make those parts of the Concrete volatile, which inthe VulgarAnalysis would have(78) been fixt. So that if our Chymistswill not reject the solemn and repeated Testimony of a Person, whocannot but be acknowledg’d for one of the greatest Spagyrists thatthey can boast of, they must not deny that there is to be found inNature another Agent able to Analyze compound Bodies less violently,and both more genuinely and more universally than the Fire. And for myown part, though I cannot but say on this Occasion what (you know) ourFriend Mr.Boyle is wont to say, when he is askt his Opinion of anystrange Experiment;That He that hath seen it hath more Reason tobeleeve it, than He that hath not; yet I have foundHelmont sofaithful a Writer, even in divers of his improbable Experiments (Ialwayes except that Extravagant TreatiseDe Magnetica VulnerumCuratione, which some of his Friends affirm to have been firstpublish’d by his Enemies) that I think it somewhat harsh to give himthe Lye, especially to what he delivers upon his own proper Tryal. AndI have heard from very credible Eye-witnesses some things, and seensome others my self, which argue so strongly, that a circulated Salt,or aMenstruum(79) (such as it may be) may by being abstracted fromcompound Bodies, whether Mineral, Animal, or Vegetable, leave themmore unlockt than a wary Naturalist would easily beleeve, that I darenot confidently measure the Power of Nature and Art by that of theMenstruums, and other Instruments that eminent Chymists themselvesare as yet wont toEmpoly about the Analyzing ofBodies; nor Deny that aMenstruum may at least from this or thatparticular Concrete obtain some apparently similar Substance,differing from any obtainable from the same Body by any degree ormanner of Application of the Fire. And I am the more backward to denyperemptorily, that there may be such Openers of compound Bodies,because among the Experiments that make me speak thus warily, therewanted not some in which it appear’d not, that one of the Substancesnot separable by common Fires andMenstruums could retain any thingof the Salt by which the separation was made.

And here,Eleutherius, (sayesCarneades) I should conclude as muchof my Discourse as belongs to the first Con(80)sideration I propos’d, butthat I foresee, that what I have delivered will appear liable to twosuch specious Objections, that I cannot safely proceed any furthertill I have examin’d them.

And first, one sort of Opposers will be forward to tell me, That theydo not pretend by Fire alone to separate out of all compound BodiestheirHypostatical Principles; it being sufficient that the Firedivides them into such, though afterwards they employ other Bodies tocollect the similar parts of the Compound; as ’tis known, that thoughthey make use of water to collect the Saline parts of Ashes from theTerrestrial wherewith they are blended, yet it is the Fire only thatIncinerates Bodies, and reduces the fix’d part of them into the Saltand Earth, whereof Ashes are made up. This Objection is not, Iconfess, inconsiderable, and I might in great part allow of it,without granting it to make against me, if I would content my self toanswer, that it is not against those that make it that I have beendisputing, but against those Vulgar Chymists, who themselves believe,and would fain make others do so, That the Fire is not only(81) anuniversal, but anadæquate andsufficient Instrument to analyze mixt Bodies with. For as to theirPractice of Extracting the fix’d Salt out of Ashes by the Affusion ofWater, ’tis obvious to alleadge, that the Water does only assembletogether the Salt the Fire had before divided from the Earth: as aSieve does not further break the Corn, but only bring together intotwo distinct heaps the Flour and the Bran, whose Corpuscles before laypromiscuously blended together in the Meal. This I say I mightalleadge, and thereby exempt my self from the need of taking anyfarther notice of the propos’d Objection. But not to lose the Rise itmay afford me of Illustrating the matter under Consideration, I amcontent briefly to consider it, as far forth as my presentDisquisition may be concern’d in it.

Not to repeat then what has been already answer’d, I say farther, thatthough 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 maketheir Extractions with, in such cases wherein the Water does notcooperate with the Fire to make theAna(82)lysis; yet since I Grantthis but upon Supposition that the Water does only wash off the SalineParticles, which the Fire Alone has Before Extricated in the Analyz’dBody, it will not be Reasonable, that this Concession should Extend toother Liquors that may Add to what they Dissolve, nor so much as toother Cases than those Newly Mentioned: Which Limitation I Desire Youwould be Pleas’d to Bear in Mind till I shall Anon have Occasion tomake Use of it. And This being thus Premis’d, I shall Proceed toObserve,

First, That Many of the Instances I Propos’d in the PrecedingDiscourse are Such, that the Objection we are Considering will not atall Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the Assistance of Water thanwithout 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 allMixt Bodies, since of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymists have mostExercis’d Themselves, there Appear scarce Any which they are able toAnalyze by Fire,(83) Nay, from which they can Unquestionably Separate somuch as any One of their Hypostatical Principles; Which may wellAppear no small Disparagement as well to theirHypothesis as totheir Pretensions.

It will also remain True, notwithstanding the Objection, That theremay be Other Wayes than the wontedAnalysis by Fire, to Separatefrom a Compound Body Substances asHomogeneneousas those that Chymists Scruple not to Reckon among theirTria Prima (as some of them, for Brevity Sake, call their ThreePrinciples.)

And it Appears, That by Convenient Additaments such Substances may beSeparated by the Help of the Fire, as could not be so by the Firealone: Witness the Sulphur of Antimony.

And Lastly, I must Represent, That since it appears too that the Fireis but One of the Instruments that must be Employ’d in the Resolutionof Bodies, We may Reasonably Challenge the Liberty of doing TwoThings. For when ever anyMenstruum or other Additament is Employ’d,together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from(84) a Body, Wemay well take the Freedom to Examine, whether or no ThatMenstruumdo barely Help to Separate the Principle Obtain’d by It, or whetherthere Intervene not a Coalition of the Parts of the Body Wrought uponwith Those of theMenstruum, whereby the Produc’d Concrete may beJudg’d to Result from the Union of Both. And it will be fartherAllowable for Us to Consider, how far any Substance, Separated by theHelp of such Additaments, Ought to pass for one of theTria Prima;since by One Way of Handling the same Mixt Body it may according tothe Nature of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, bemade to Afford differing Substances from those Obtainable from it byother Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may appear by whatI Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Substancesinto which a Concrete is Divisible by the Fire without Additaments,though perhaps those Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter theComposition of the Obtained Body, but only Diversify the Operation ofthe Fire upon the Concrete; and though that(85) Concrete by the Firealone may be Divided into a Number of Differing Substances, as Greatas any of the Chymists that I have met with teach us that of theElements to be. And having said thus much (sayesCarneades) to theObjection likely to be Propos’d by some Chymists, I am now to Examinethat which I Foresee will be Confidently press’d by DiversPeripateticks, who, to Prove Fire to be the true Analyzer of Bodies,will Plead, That it is the very Definition of Heat given byAristotle, and Generally Received,Congregare Homogenea, &Heterogenea Segregare, to Assemble Things of a Resembling, andDisjoyn those of a Differing Nature. To this I answer, That thisEffect is far from being so Essential to Heat, as ’tis GenerallyImagin’d; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property ofHeat is, to set a Moving, and thereby to Dissociate the parts ofBodies, and Subdivide them into Minute Particles, without regard totheir being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in theBoyling of Water, the Distillation of Quicksilver, or the Exposing ofBodies to the action of the Fire, whose Parts(86) either Are not (atleast in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Dissimilar, where all thatthe Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts whichare of the same Nature with one another, and with theirTotum, astheir Reduction by Condensation Evinces. And even when the Fire seemsmost soCongregare Homogenea, & Segregare Heterogenea, it Producesthat Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Dissolve theCement, or rather Shatter the Frame, or[tructurethat kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one CommonForm; upon which Dissolution the Component Particles of the Mixt,being Freed and set at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes withoutany Operation of the Fire, Associate themselves each with its Like, orrather do take those places which their Several Degrees of Gravity andLevity, Fixedness or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious fromthe Impression of the Fire) Assigne them. Thus in the Distillation(for Instance) of Man’s Blood, the Fire do’s First begin to DissolvetheNexus or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the most(87)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, tillForsaken by what carried it up, its Weight sinks it down into theReceiver: but all this while the other Principles of the ConcreteRemain Unsever’d, and Require a stronger Degree of Heat to make aSeparation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire must beIncreas’d which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, theybeing, though Beleev’d to be Differing Principles, and though Reallyof Different Consistency, yet of an almost Equal Volatility. Afterthem, as less Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde theEarth and theAlcali, which being of an Equal Fixednesse, the FireSevers them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into aRed-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 willCarry up all the Volatile Elements Confusedly in one Fume, which willafterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to theDegree of their Gravity, or ac(88)cording to the Exigency of theirrespective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the most part, to theSides and Top, and the Phlegme Fastening it self there too in greatDrops, the Oyle and Spirit placing themselves Under, or Above oneanother, according as their Ponderousness makes them Swim or Sink. For’tis Observable, that though Oyl or Liquid Sulphur be one of theElements Separated by this FieryAnalysis, yet the Heat whichAccidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Principles,has not alwayes the same Operation on this, there being divers Bodieswhich Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One sinks to the Bottom of thatSpirit on which the other Swims; as I can shew You in some Oyls of thesame Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can shew you Two Oylscarefully made of the same Parcel of Humane Blood, which not onlyDiffer 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 thatsome(89) of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how farsoever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature isObvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, whichthe Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter ofthese is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth andSalt; but the Former being condens’d into that Soot which adheres toour Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, andSpirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, allalmost, Equally Volatile to that Degree of Fire which Forces them up,(the more Volatile Parts Helping perhaps, as well as the Urgency ofthe Fire, to carry up the more Fixt ones, as I have often Try’d inDulcify’dColcothar, Sublim’d bySal Armoniack Blended with it)are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by otherDegrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity oftheir Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing BodiesUnited into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding noParts Volatile(90) enough to be Expell’d or carried up, makes noSeparation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silverand Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever’d byAquaFortis, orAqua Regis (according to the Predominancy of the Silveror the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remainunsever’d, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles(whose Littlenesse may be argu’d from their Fluidity) in which eitherthe little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokesupon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without anySequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimesdoes not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature;provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in theFigure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the makingof many Plaisters, Oyntments, &c. And in such Metalline Mixtures asthat made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one ofpure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curiousPatterns (for Gold and Silver Works)(91) as I have sometimes taken greatPleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire areDiffering enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are socombin’d by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarceafterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instanceis afforded us by the Common Preparation ofMercurius Dulcis, wherethe Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre,Employ’d to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with theMercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then toDulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together inmany successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. Andsometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elementsof a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does veryseldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meetingwith some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead ofmaking a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, isunable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alca(92)lizate Salt and theTerrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, andby Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course orgreenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire,which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able toDivorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flowdown from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos’d for a good while, withSilver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in theFusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of aCrucible 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 ofthe Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm thatSea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigiousVehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by greatWheels 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, Solidand very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quan(93)tity, that in someplaces I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mendedwith Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. AndI have also Observ’d, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, havingbeen employ’d in Furnaces wherein it was expos’d to very strong andlasting 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 itPretty large Pieces of Perfect and Transparent Glass. And lest Youmight think,Eleutherius, that the Question’d Definition of Heat maybe Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given andAcquiesc’d in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taughtto betam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare; Give me leave torepresent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; fornot to Mention the Exceptions, which aLogician, as such, may Takeat it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which isSuppos’d to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform’d byevery Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of(94)Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer’d a while to stand, theCold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, whichSubsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if theUrinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the wholeLiquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood,Straw, Dust, Water, &c. are Suppos’d to be United into one Lump ofIce, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may soSpeak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of theLiquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in thatLiquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly ifwe Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes,or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute ofAqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold,we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much asCompacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselveswe findPhænomena(95) which Induce us to Question the Definition whichwe are examining. IfParacelsus his Authority were to be look’t uponas a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insiston that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Winemay be Sever’d from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance ofCongelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process,not only byParacelsians, but other Writers, some of whom seem notto have perus’d it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage inthe Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of hisArchidoxis, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it soundsthus.De Vino sciendum est, fæcem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, &Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auriin auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriamponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinumvetustissimum & optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque adplacitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat,& sigillo Hermetis occlusum(96) in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, & incontinuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cumfrigus & gelu maxime sæviunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur.Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protruditin vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod verocongelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc inPelicanum positum in arenæ digestione non adeo calida per aliquodtempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quolocuti sumus.

But I dare notEleu. lay much Weight upon this Process, because Ihave found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable inthis Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hathbeen Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied withlasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure to Freeze a thinVial full of Sack; and even with Snow and Salt I could Freeze littlemore then the Surface of it; and I supposeEleu. that tis not everyDegree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able tomake such anAnalysis(97) (if I may so call it) of them by Separatingtheir Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though notoften, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could notObserve the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc’d toWinter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call’dNovaZembla, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was aSeparation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle ofNovember, yet of the Freezing of theirBack inDecember following they give but this Account:Yea and our Sack,which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Manto have his part, we were forc’d to melt it in the Fire; which weshar’d every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith wewere forc’d to sustain our selves. In which words they imply not,that theirBack was divided by the Frost into differingSubstances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All whichnotwithstanding,Eleu. suppose that it may be made to appear, thateven Cold sometimes mayCongregare Homogenea, & HeterogeneaSegregare: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once,pur(98)posely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding withSulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos’d the Decoction toa keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ’d, that the moreAqueous Parts of it were turn’d by the next Morning into Ice, towardsthe innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as Ithen conjectur’d, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be theirEnvironing Enemy, they had there preserv’d themselves unfrozen in theForm of a high colour’d Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous partshaving been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in theDecoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold aswould 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 alreadyintimated,Eleutherius, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment,not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have beenmistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that muchmore full and eminent(99) Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extreamCold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention’d Dutchmen that Winter’d inNova Zembla; the Relation of whose Voyage beinga very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorablepart of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus’d the Passageto be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.

“Gerard de Veer,John Cornelyson and Others, sent out ofAmsterdam,Anno Dom. 1596. being forc’d by unseasonable Weather toWinter inNova Zembla, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth ofOctober, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, andladed a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go toour House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great aStorm and Cold, that we were forc’d to go into the Ship again, becausewe were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer intothe 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 ofBeer(100) standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yetby reason of the great Cold, the Beer that purg’d out froze as hardupon the Side of the Barrel, as if it had been glu’d thereon: and inthat sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, anddrank it up; but first we were forc’d to melt the Beer, for there wasscarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest thatwas unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strongto drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and beingmelted we Mix’d one with the other, and so drank it; but it hadneither Strength nor Taste.”

And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very SharpWinter purposely try’d to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beermoderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ’d,that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, itseems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I foundturn’d into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour andconsistence seem’dma(101)festly enoughto be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail’d, because I didnot either discerne by the Taste, or find by Enquiry, that the Beerwas at all too New to be very fit to be Drank. I might confirm theDutchmens Relation, by what happen’d a while since to a neere Friendof mine, who complained to me, that having Brew’d some Beer or Ale forhis own drinking inHolland (where he then dwelt) the Keenness ofthe 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 Imust not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely becauseyou may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does notdirectly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have alreadyenlarg’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 Ishould say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance;yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption(102) of ourChymists andAristotelians appear Questionable, I hope I have soPerform’d that Task, that I may now Proceed to my FollowingConsiderations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on theFirst.

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 andAristotelians are wontto Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance thatis Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent init as a Principle or Element of it.

That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I willFirst Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed toArgue for it.

And I suppose You will easily Believe(104) That I do not mean that anything is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materiallypre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly NaturallAgents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as oneAtome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create;which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophershave Deny’d the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and theEpicureans and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to theirGods themselves.

Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some ThingsObtain’d by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barelyMaterially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which beforethey be Expos’d to the Fire afford us several Documents of theirabounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will servethe present Turn, if it appear that diverse things Obtain’d from aMixt Body expos’d to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for ifthis be made toappear it, will be Rationalle(105)nough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others,in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be theElementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, ofwhich it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least tillsome other Argument then that drawn from theAnalysis be Brought toresolve the Doubt.

That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That itmay without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the DifferingSubstances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were soExsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts)wherein we find them when theAnalysis is over, that the Fire didonly Dis-joyne and Extricate the Corpuscles of one Principle fromthose of the other wherewith before they were Blended.

Having thus Explain’d my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do twothings, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that suchSubstances as Chymists call Principles May be produc’dDe novo (asthey speak.) And the other is to(106) make it probable that by the Fire wemay Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were notin the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.

To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be astrue as ’tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Anotherbut in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion,and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall toconceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may byVarious Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name,somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or AqueousBody. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr.Boyle has promis’d us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme Inow willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquiredinto. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I havelately Deliver’d shall be Deduc’d from Experiments made Divers Yearssince. The first of which would have been much more(107) considerable, butthat by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the besttime of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design’d; itbeing abouthe middle ofMay before I wasable to begin an Experiment which should have then been two monethsold; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to GiveYou this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention’d, I caus’d MyGardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder’d from being presentmyself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry itwell in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost levelwith the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed hehad before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is anIndian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him toWater only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasionspermitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew,though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder’d it fromattaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found(108)the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, asbig about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up;Which about the Middle ofOctober was carefully Done by the sameGardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it;I haveWeighed the Pompion with the Stalk and Leaves, all which Weighed threepound 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 hadnot 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 foundit Shrink little or nothing.

But to deal Candidly with You,Eleutherius, I must not conceal fromYou the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this presentSummer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as mayappear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner,in these Words.To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I haveGain’d two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound anda Halfe, the Branches with the(109) Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting twoOunces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak’d it inseveral small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, Ifound 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 intoan Oven the Second Time, (after the Bread was drawn) and after I hadtaken it out and weighed it, I found it to be the Same Weight: So ISuppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I thinkthat the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by theCucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and thelike) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You shouldsend for them.) But yet in this Tryal,Eleutherius, it appears thatthough some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour’d init, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of TransmutedWater. And I might add, that a year after I caus’d the formerlymentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, withso good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it didnot only much surpass any(110) that I made before, but seem’d strangely toconclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappilylost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of theCircumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may beas conveniently try’d with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth ishasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Growwell 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 ashigh as a Tall Man; and I have had leaves of it in my Garden neer aFoot and a Halfe broad. But the next time I Try this Experiment, itshall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot ofEarth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But becauseevery Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experimentneither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and moreExpeditionsTryals. 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(111)the lower part Immers’d in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mintbegan to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots andLeaves, 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 wasgrown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various andramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth,presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant tobehold. The like I try’d with sweet Marjoram, and I found theExperiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme andPeniroyal, 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 therebyobtain’d some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a smallQuantity of adust Oyl, and aCaput mortuum; which appearing to be aCoal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but(112) the Quantity ofit was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us’d tonourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I choseSpring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is morediscernably a kinde ofπανσπερμια, which, though it begranted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it,besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which maybe suppos’d to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, whichmay be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit ofthe World Corporify’d, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, Imay elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.

But perhaps I might have sav’d a great part of my Labour. For I findethatHelmont (an Author more considerable for his Experiments thanmany Learned men are pleas’d to think him) having had an Opportunityto prosecute an Experiment much of the same nature with those I havebeen now speaking of, for five Years together, obtain’d at the end ofthat time so notable a Quantity of Transmuted Water,(113) that I shouldscarce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention’dtogether, were it not that the Length of Time Requisite to this maydeterr the Curiosity of some, and exceed the leasure of Others; andpartly, that so Paradoxical a Truth as that which these Experimentsseem to hold forth, needs to be Confirm’d by more Witnesses then one,especially since the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with inHelmonts Treatise of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made hisTestimonies suspected in his other Writings, though as to some of theUnlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might safely undertaketo be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I wasmentioning to You, he sayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earthdry’d in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Vessel andmoisten’d it with Raine water he planted in it the Trunk of a Willowtree of five pound Weight; this he Water’d, as need required, withRain or with Distill’d Water; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth fromgetting into the Vessell, he employ’d a plate of Iron tinn’d over andper(114)forated with many holes. Five years being efflux’d, he took outthe Tree and weighed it, and (with computing the leaves that fellduring four Autumnes) he found it to weigh 169 pound, and about threeOunces. And Having again Dry’d the Earth it grew in, he found it wantof its Former Weight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; sothat 164 pound of the Roots, Wood, and Bark, which Constituted theTree, seem to have Sprung from the Water. And though it appears notthatHelmont had the Curiosity to make anyAnalysis of this Plant,yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nourish’dwith Water only, will I suppose keep You from Doubting that if he hadDistill’d this Tree, it would have afforded him the like DistinctSubstances as another Vegetable of the same kind. I need not Subjoynethat I had it also in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the samepurpose with those I related to You would succeed in other Bodies thenVegetables, because importunate Avocations having hitherto hinder’d mefrom putting my Design in Practise, I(115)can yet speak butConfecturallyof the Success: but the best is,that the Experiments already made and mention’d to you need not theAssistance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my present task makes itconcern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.

One would suspect (sayesEleutherius after his long silence) by whatYou have been discoursing, that You are not far fromHelmontsOpinion about the Origination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps toodislike not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.

What You have been Newly Discoursing (repliesEleutherius) tells us,that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyrist scruplesnot to Assert that all mixt Bodies spring from one Element; and thatVegetables, Animals, Marchasites, Stones, Metalls, &c. are Materiallybut simple Water disguis’d into these Various Formes, by the plastickor Formative Virtue of their seeds. And as for his Reasons you mayfind divers of them scatter’d up and(216) down his writings; theconsiderabl’st of which seem to be these three; The Ultimate Reductionof mixt Bodies into Insipid Water, the Vicissitude of the supposedElements, and the production of perfectly mixt Bodies out of simpleWater. And first he affirmes that theSal circulatus Paracelsi, orhis LiquorAlkahest, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, andMineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their severalinternall Disparities of Parts (withoutCaput Mortuum, or theDestruction of their seminal Virtues;) and that theAlkahest beingabstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and Virtue wherewithit Dissolv’d them, the Liquors may by frequent Cohobations from chalkeor some other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv’d of their seminalEndowments, and return at last to their first matter, Insipid Water;some other wayes he proposes here and there, to divest some particularBodies of their borrow’d shapes, and make them remigrate to theirfirst Simplicity. The second Topick whenceHelmont drawes hisArguments, to prove Water to be the Material cause of Mixt Bodies, Itold(117) You was this, that the other suppos’d Elements may be transmutedinto one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc’don this Occasion, are so uneasie to be made and to be judg’d of, thatI shall not insist on them; not to mention, that if they were grantedto be true, his Inference from them is somewhat disputable; andtherefore I shall pass on to tell You, That as, in his First Argument,our Paradoxical Author endeavours to prove Water the Sole Element ofMixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Resolution, when by hisAlkahest, orsome other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been Destroy’d, whichDisguis’d them, or when by time those seeds are Weari’d or Exantlatedor unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Universe anyLonger: So in His Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the sameConclusion, by the constitution of Bodies which he asserts to benothing but Water Subdu’d by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives hereand there in his Writings several Instances, as to Plants and Animals;but divers of them being Difficult either to be try’d or to beUnderstood, and others of them being(118) not altogether Unobnoxious toExceptions, I think you have singl’d out the Principal and lessQuestionable Experiment when you lately mention’d that of the WillowTree. And having thus, ContinuesEleutherius, to Answer yourQuestion, given you a Summary Account of what I am Confident You knowbetter then I do, I shall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, ifthe giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Prosecution ofyour Discourse.

ThatIf (repliesCarneades) was not needlessly annex’d: forthorowly to examine such an Hypothesis and such Arguments wouldrequire so many Considerations, and Consequently so much time, that Ishould not now have theLiesure to perfect such aDigression, and much less to finish myPrincipleDiscourse. Yet thus much I shall tell You at present, that you neednot fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; since, however theHelmontians may in complement to their Master pretend it to be a newDiscovery, Yet though the Arguments be for the most part his, theOpinion it self is very Antient: ForDi(119)ogenes Laertius and diversother Authors speak ofThales, as the first among theGræciansthat made disquisitions upon nature. And of thisThales, I Remember,TullyDe Natura Deorum. informes us, that he taught all things were at first madeof Water. And it seems byPlutarch andJustin Martyr, that theOpinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us’d to defendhis Tenet by the Testimony ofHomer. And a Greek Author, (theScholiast ofApollonius) upon these Words

Affirms (out ofZeno) that theChaos, whereof all things weremade, was, according toHesiod, Water; which, settling first, becameSlime, and then condens’d into solid Earth. And the same Opinion aboutthe Generation of Slime seems to have been entertain’d byOrpheus,out of whom one of the AntientsAthenagoras. cites this Testimony,

It seems also by what is delivered inStraboUniversarum rerum primordia diverta esse, faciendi autemmundi initium aquam. Strabo. Geograp. lib. 15. circa medium. out of anotherAuthor, concerning theIndians, That they likewise held that allthings had differing Beginnings, but that of which the World was made,was Water. And the like Opinion has been by some of the Antientsascrib’d to thePhœnicians, from whomThales himself isconceiv’d to have borrow’d it; as probably the Greeks did much oftheir Theologie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philosophy too;since the Devising of the AtomicalHypothesis commonly ascrib’d toLucippus and his DiscipleDemocritus, is by Learned Men attributedto oneMoschus aPhœnician. And possibly the Opinion is yetantienter than so; For ’tis known that thePhœnicians borrow’dmost of their Learning from theHebrews. And among those thatacknowledge the Books ofMoses, many have been inclin’d to thinkWater to have been the Primitive and Universal Matter, by perusing theBeginning ofGenesis, where the Waters seem to be mention’d as theMaterial Cause, not only of Sublunary Compounded Bodies, but of allthose that make up the Universe; whose Component Parts did orderly,as(121) it were, emerge out of that vast Abysse, by the Operation of theSpirit of God, who is said to have been moving Himself as hatchingFemales do (as the Originalםרחפת,MeracephetDeuter. 32. 11. issaid to Import, and as it seems to signifie in one of the two otherplaces, wherein alone I have met with it in the Hebrew Bible)Jerem. 23. 9. uponthe Face of the Waters; which being, as may be suppos’d, DivinelyImpregnated with the seeds of all things, were by that productiveIncubation qualify’d to produce them. But you, I presume, Expect thatI should Discourse of this Matter like a Naturalist, not a Philologer.Wherefore I shall add, to CountenanceHelmont’s Opinion, Thatwhereas he gives not, that I remember, any Instance of any MineralBody, nor scarce of any Animal, generated of Water, a French Chymist,Monsieur de Rochas, has presented his Readers an Experiment, whichif it were punctually such as he has deliver’d it, is very Notable. Hethen, Discoursing of the Generation of things according to certainChymical and Metaphorical Notions (which I confess are not to meIntelligible) sets down, among divers Speculations not(122) pertinent toour Subject, the following Narrative, which I shall repeat to you thesence of in English, with as little variation from the Literal senceof the French words, as my memory will enable me.Having (sayes he)discern’d such great Wonders by the Natural Operation of Water, Iwould know what may be done with it by Art Imitating Nature. WhereforeI took Water which I well knew not to be compounded, nor to be mix’dwith any other thing than that Spirit of Life (whereof he had spokenbefore;)and with a Heat Artificial, Continual and Proportionate, Iprepar’d and dispos’d it by the above mention’d Graduations ofCoagulation, Congelation, and Fixation, untill it was turn’d intoEarth, which Earth produc’d Animals, Vegetables and Minerals. I tellnot what Animals, Vegetables and Minerals, for that is reserv’d foranother Occasion: but the Animals did Move of themselves, Eat,&c.—and by the true Anatomie I made of them, I found that they werecompos’d of much Sulphur, little Mercury, and less Salt.—The Mineralsbegan to grow and encrease by converting into their own Nature onepart of the Earth thereunto dispos’d; they were solid and(123) heavy. Andby this truly Demonstrative Science, namely Chymistry, I found thatthey were compos’d of much Salt, little Sulphur, and less Mercury.

But (sayesCarneades) I have some Suspitions concerning this strangeRelation, which make me unwilling to Declare an Opinion of it, unlessI were satisfied concerning divers Material Circumstances that ourAuthor has left unmentioned; though as for the Generation of LivingCreatures, both Vegetable and Sensitive, it needs not seem Incredible,since we finde that our common water (which indeed is oftenImpregnated with Variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) beinglong kept in a quiet place will putrifie and stink, and then perhapstoo produce Moss and little Worms, or other Insects, according to thenature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. I must likewise desireyou to take Notice, that asHelmont gives us no Instance of theProduction of Minerals out of Water, so the main Argument that heemploy’s to prove that they and other Bodies may be resolv’d intowater, is drawn from the Operations of hisAlkahest, andconsequently cannot(124) be satisfactorily Examin’d by You and Me.

Yet certainly (sayesEleutherius) You cannot but have somewhatwonder’d as well as I, to observe how great a share of Water goes tothe making up of Divers Bodies, whose Disguises promise nothing neereso much. The Distillation of Eeles, though it yielded me some Oyle,and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, besides theCaput mortuum, yet wereall these so disproportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (andin which at first they boyl’d as in a Pot of Water) that they seem’dto have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewisestrangely abound in Vipers, though they are esteem’d very hot inOperation, and will in a Convenient Aire survive some dayes the lossof their Heads and Hearts, so vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloudit self as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as ’tis reputed, doesso abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Distilling some of it onpurpose 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 sixOunces of Phlegm, before any of the(125) more operative Principles beganto arise, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to satisfie myself that some of these Animall Phlegms were void enough of Spirit todeserve that Name, I would not content my self to taste them only, butfruitlesly pour’d on them acid Liquors, to try if they contain’d anyVolatile Salt or Spirit, which (had there been any there) wouldprobably have discover’d it self by making an Ebullition with theaffused Liquor. And now I mention Corrosive Spirits, I am minded toInforme 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 idoneousBody, or else if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have verymanifestly Observ’d in the making a Medecine somewhat likeHelmont’sBalsamus Samech, with Distill’d Vinager instead of Spirit of Wine,wherewith he prepares it: For you would scarce Beleeve (what I havelately Observ’d) that of that acid Spirit, the Salt of Tartar, fromwhich it is Distill’d, will by mortifying and re(126)taining the acid Saltturn into worthless Phlegm neere twenty times its weight, before it beso 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 tobe the most free from Water, it being so Igneous that it will Flameall away without leaving the least Drop behinde it, yet even thisFiery Liquor is byHelmont not improbably affirm’d, in case what herelates be True, to be Materially Water, under a Sulphureous Disguise:For, according to him, in the making that excellent Medecine,Paracelsus hisBalsamus Samech, (which is nothing butSalTartari dulcify’d by Distilling from it Spirit of Wine till the Saltbe sufficiently glutted with its Sulphur,and sufferthe 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, ordepriv’d it of the Sulphureous parts of the Spirit of Wine, the rest,which is incomparably the greater part of the Liquor, will remigrateinto Phlegm. I added that Clause [In case what he Relates be True]because I have not as yet sufficiently try’d it my(127) self. But not onlysomething of Experiment keeps me from thinking it, as many Chymistsdo, absurd, (though I have, as well as they, in vain try’d it withordinary Salt of Tartar;) but besides thatHelmont often Relates it,and draws Consequences from it; A Person noted for his Sobernesse andSkill in Spagyrical Preparations, having been askt by me, Whether theExperiment might not be made to succeed, if the Salt and Spirit wereprepar’d according to a way suitable to my Principles, he affirm’d tome, that he had that way I propos’d madeHelmont’s Experimentsucceed very well, without adding any thing to the Salt and Spirit.But our way is neither short nor Easie.

I have indeed (sayesCarneades) sometimes wonder’d to see how muchPhlegme may be obtain’d from Bodies by the Fire. But concerning thatPhlegme I may anon have Occasion to note something, which I thereforeshall not now anticipate. But to return to the Opinion ofThales,and ofHelmont, I consider, that supposing theAlkahest couldreduce all Bodies into water, yet whether that water, because insipid,must be Ele(128)mentary, may not groundlesly be doubted; For I rememberthe Candid and EloquentPetrus Laurembergius in his Notes uponSala’s Aphorismes affirmes, that he saw an insipidMenstruum thatwas a powerfull Dissolvent, and (if my Memory do not much mis-informeme) could dissolve Gold. And the water which may be Drawn fromQuicksilver without Addition, though it be almost Tastless, You will Ibelieve think of a differing Nature from simple Water, especially ifyou Digest in it Appropriated Mineralls. To which I shall add butthis, that this Consideration may be further extended. For I see noNecessity to conceive that the Water mention’d in the Beginning ofGenesis, as the Universal Matter, was simple and Elementary Water;since though we should Suppose it to have been an Agitated Congeriesor Heap consisting of a great Variety of Seminal Principles andRudiments, and of other Corpuscles fit to be subdu’d and Fashion’d bythem, it might yet be a Body Fluid like Water, in case the Corpusclesit was made up of, were by their Creator made small enough, and putinto such an(129) actuall Motion as might make them Glide along oneanother. And as we now say, the Sea consists of Water,notwithstandingthe Saline, Terrestrial, and other Bodiesmingl’d with it,) such a Liquor may well enough be called Water,because that was the greatest of the known Bodies whereunto it waslike; Though, that a Body may be Fluid enough to appear a Liquor, andyet contain Corpuscles of a very differing Nature, You will easilybelieve, if You but expose a good Quantity of Vitriol in a strongVessel to a Competent Fire. For although it contains both Aqueous,Earthy, Saline, Sulphureous, and Metalline Corpuscles, yet the wholeMass will at first be Fluid like water, and boyle like a seething pot.

I might easily (ContinuesCarneades) enlarge my self on suchConsiderations, if I were Now Oblig’d to give You my Judgment of theThalesian, andHelmontian,Hypothesis. But Whether or no weconclude that all things were at first Generated of Water, I mayDeduce from what I have try’d Concerning the Growth of Vegetables,nourish’d with water, all that I now propos’d to my Self(130) or need atpresent to prove, namely that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and ev’n Oyl(though that be thought of all Bodies the most opposite to Water) maybe produc’d out of Water; and consequently that a Chymical Principleas well as a Peripatetick Element, may (in some cases) be Generatedanew, or obtain’d from such a parcel of Matter as was not endow’d withthe form of such a principle or Element before.

And having thus,Eleutherius, Evinc’d that ’tis possible that suchSubstances as those that Chymists are wont to call theirTria Prima,may be Generated, anew: I must next Endeavour to make it Probable,that the Operation of the Fire does Actually (sometimes) not onlydivide Compounded Bodies into smal Parts, but Compound those Partsafter a new Manner; whence Consequently, for ought we Know, there mayEmerge as well Saline and Sulphureous Substances, as Bodies of otherTextures. And perhaps it will assist us in our Enquiry after theEffects of the Operations of the Fire upon other Bodies, to Consider alittle, what it does to those Mixtures which being Productions of theArt of Man, We best know the Com(131)position of. You may then be pleas’dto take Notice that though Sope is made up by the Sope-Boylers of Oyleor Grease, and Salt, and Water Diligently Incorporated together, yetif You expose the Mass they Constitute to a Graduall Fire in a Retort,You shall then indeed make a Separation, but not of the sameSubstances that were United into Sope, but of others of a Distant andyet not an Elementary Nature, and especially of an Oyle very sharp andFætid, and of a very Differing Quality from that which was Employ’d tomake the Sope:fo if you Mingle in a due Proportion,SalArmoniack with Quick-Lime, and Distill them by Degrees of Fire, Youshall not Divide theSal Armoniack from the Quick-Lime, though theone be a Volatile, and the other a Fix’d Substance, but that whichwill ascend will be a Spirit much more Fugitive, Penetrant, andstinking, thenSal Armoniack; and there will remain with theQuick-Lime all or very near all the Sea Salt that concurr’d to make uptheSal Armoniack; concerning which Sea Salt I shall, to satisfieYou how well it was United to the(132) Lime, informe You, that I have bymaking the Fire at length very Vehement, caus’d both the Ingredientsto melt in the Retort it self into one Mass and such Masses are apt toRelent in the Moist Air. If it be here Objected, that these Instancesare taken from factitious Concretes which are more Compounded thenthose which Nature produces; I shall reply, that besides that I haveMention’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 makeDecompound Bodies, I mean mingle together such mixt Bodies as arealready Compounded of Elementary, or rather of more simple ones. ForVitriol (for Instance) though I have sometimes taken it out ofMinerall Earths, where Nature had without any assistance of Artprepar’d it to my Hand, is really, though Chymists are pleas’d toreckon it among Salts, a De-compounded Body Consisting (as I shallhave occasion to declare anon) of a Terrestriall Substance, of aMetal, and also of at least one Saline Body, of a peculiar and notElementary Nature. And we see also in Animals, that their(133) blood maybe compos’d of Divers very Differing Mixt Bodies, since we find itobserv’d that divers Sea-Fowle tast rank of the Fish on which theyordinarily feed; andHipocrates himself Observes, that a Child maybe purg’d by the Milke of the Nurse, if she have takenElaterium;which argues that the purging Corpuscles of the Medicament Concurr tomake up the Milke of the Nurse; and that white Liquor is generally byPhysitians suppos’d to be but blanch’d and alter’d Blood. And Iremember I have observ’d, not farr from theAlps, that at a certaintime of the Year the Butter of that Country was very Offensive tostrangers, by reason of the rank tast of a certain Herb, whereon theCows were then wont plentifully to feed. But (proceedsCarneades) togive you Instances of another kind, to shew that things may beobtain’d by the Fire from a Mixt Body that were not Pre-existent init, let Me Remind You, that from many Vegetables there may without anyAddition be Obtain’d Glass, a Body, which I presume You will not saywas Pre-existent in it, but produc’d by the Fire. To which I shall(134)add but this one Example more, namely that by a certain Artificial wayof handling Quicksilver, You may without Addition separate from it atleast a 5th. or 4th. part of a clear Liquor, which with an OrdinaryPeripatetick would pass for Water, and which a Vulgar Chymist wouldnot scruple to call Phlegme, and which, for ought I have yet seen orheard, is not reducible into Mercury again, and Consequently is morethen a Disguise of it. Now besides that divers Chymists will not allowMercury to have any or at least any Considerable Quantity of either ofthe Ignoble Ingredients, Earth and Water; Besides this, I say, thegreat Ponderousness of Quicksilver makes it very unlikely that it canhave so much Water in it as may be thus obtain’d from it, sinceMercury weighs 12 or 14 times as much as water of the same Bulk. Nayfor a further Confirmation of this Argument, I will add this StrangeRelation, that two Friends of mine, the one a Physitian, and the othera Mathematician, and both of them Persons of unsuspected Credit, haveSolemnly assured me, that after many Tryals they made, to reduce(135)Mercury into Water, in Order to a Philosophicall Work, upon Gold(which yet, by the way, I know prov’d Unsuccesfull) they did once bydivers Cohobations reduce a pound of Quicksilver into almost a poundof Water, and this without the Addition of any other Substance, butonly by pressing the Mercury by a Skillfully Manag’d Fire in purposelycontriv’d Vessels. But of these Experiments our Friend (sayesCarneades, pointing at the Register of this Dialogue) will perhapsgive 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 maysometimes as well alter Bodies as divide them, and by it we may obtainfrom a Mixt Body what was not Pre-existent in it. And how are we surethat in no other Body what we call Phlegme is barely separated, notProduc’d by the Action of the Fire: Since so many other Mixt Bodiesare of a much less Constant, and more alterable Nature, then Mercury,by many Tricks it is wont to put upon Chymists, and by the ExperimentsI told You of, about an hour(136) since, Appears to be. But because Ishall ere long have Occasion to resume into Consideration the Power ofthe Fire to produce new Concretes, I shall no longer insist on thisArgument at present; only I must mind You, that if You will notdis-believeHelmonts Relations, You must confess that theTriaPrima are neither ingenerable nor incorruptible Substances; since byhisAlkahest some of them may be produc’d of Bodies that were beforeof another Denomination; and by the same powerfullMenstruum all ofthem may be reduc’d into insipid Water.

HereCarneades was about to pass on to his Third Consideration, whenEleutherius being desirous to hear what he could say to clear hissecond General Consideration from being repugnant to what he seem’d tothink the true Theory of Mistion, prevented him by telling him, Isomewhat wonder,Carneades, that You, who are in so many Pointsunsatisfied with the Peripatetick Opinion touching the Elements andMixt Bodies, should also seem averse to that Notion touching themanner of Mistion, wherein the Chymists (though perhaps with(137)outknowing that they do so) agree with most of the Antient Philosophersthat precededAristotle, and that for Reasons so considerable, thatdivers Modern Naturalists and Physitians, in other things unfavourableenough to the Spagyrists, do in this case side with them against thecommon Opinion of the Schools. If you should ask me (continuesEleutherius) what Reasons I mean? I should partly by the Writings ofSennertus and other learned Men, and partly by my own Thoughts, besupply’d with more, then ’twere at present proper for me to Insistlargely on. And therefore I shall mention only, and that briefly,three or four. Of these, I shall take the First from the state of theControversie itself, and the genuine Notion of Mistion, which thoughmuch intricated by the Schoolmen, I take in short to be this,Aristotle, at least as many of his Interpreters expound him, and asindeed he Teaches in some places, where he professedly Dissents fromthe Antients, declares Mistion to be such a mutual Penetration, andperfect Union of the mingl’d Elements, that there is no Portion of themixt Body, how Minute soever, which does not(140) contain All, and Everyof the Four Elements, or in which, if you please, all the Elements arenot. And I remember, that he reprehends the Mistion taught by theAncients, as too sleight or gross, for this Reason, that Bodies mixtaccording to theirHypothesis, though they appear so to humane Eyes,would not appear such to the acute Eyes of aLynx, whose perfecterSight 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 ofBodies were Mixt, yet they did almost unanimously hold, that in acompounded Bodie, though theMiscibilia, whether Elements,Principles, or whatever they pleas’d to call them, were associated insuch small Parts, and with so much Exactness, that there was nosensible Part of the Mass but seem’d to be of the same Nature with therest, and with the whole; Yet as to the Atomes, or other InsensibleParcels of Matter, whereof each of theMiscibilia consisted, theyretain’d each of them its own Nature, being but by Apposition orJuxta-Position uni(141)ted with the rest into one Bodie. So thatalthough by virtue of this composition the mixt Body did perhapsobtain Divers new Qualities, yet still the Ingredients that Compoundedit, retaining their own Nature, were by the Destruction of theCompositum separable from each other, the minute Parts disingag’dfrom those of a differing Nature, and associated with those of theirown sort returning to be again, Fire, Earth, or Water, as they werebefore they chanc’d to be Ingredients of thatCompositum. This maybe explain’d (ContinuesEleutherius,) by a piece of Cloath made ofwhite and black threds interwoven, wherein though the whole pieceappear neither white nor black, but of a resulting Colour, that isgray, yet each of the white and black threds that compose it, remainswhat it was before, as would appear if the threds were pull’d asunder,and sorted each Colour by it self. This (pursuesEleutherius) being,as I understand it, the State of the Controversie, and theAristotelians after their Master Commonly Defining, that Mistion isMiscibilium alteratorum Unio, that seems to comport much(140) betterwith the Opinion of the Chymists, then with that of their Adversaries,since according to that as the newly mention’d Example declares, thereis but aJuxta-position of separable Corpuscles, retaining each itsown Nature, whereas according to theAristotelians, when what theyare pleas’d to call a mixt Body results from the Concourse of theElements, theMiscibilia cannot so properly be said to be Alter’d,as Destroy’d, since there is no Part in the mixt Body, how smallsoever, that can be call’d eitherFir, orAir, or Water, or Earth.

Nor indeed can I well understand, how Bodies can be mingl’d otherwayes then as I have declar’d, or at least how they can be mingl’d, asour Peripateticks would have it. For whereasAristotle tells us,that if a Drop of Wine be put into ten thousand Measures of Water, theWine being Overpower’d by so Vast a Quantity of Water will be turn’dinto it, he speaks to my Apprehension, very improbably; For though Oneshould add to that Quantity of Water as many Drops of Wine as would aThousand times exceed it all,(141) yet by his Rule the whole Liquor shouldnot be aCrama, a Mixture of Wine and Water, wherein the Wine wouldbe Predominant, but Water only; Since the Wine being added but by aDrop at a time would still Fall into nothing but Water, andConsequently would be turn’d into it. And if this would hold in Metalstoo, ’twere a rare secret for Goldsmiths, and Refiners; For by meltinga Mass of Gold, or Silver, and by but casting into it Lead orAntimony, Grain after Grain, they might at pleasure, within areasonable Compass of time, turn what Quantity they desire, of theIgnoble into the Noble Metalls. And indeed since a Pint of wine, and apint of water, amount to about a Quart of Liquor, it seems manifest tosense, that these Bodies doe not Totally Penetrate one another, as onewould have it; but that each retains its own Dimensions; andConsequently, that they are by being Mingl’d only divided into minuteBodies, that do but touch one another with their Surfaces, as do theGrains, of Wheat, Rye, Barley, &c. in a heap of severall sorts ofCorn: And unless we say, that as(144) when one measure of wheat, forInstance, is Blended with a hundred measures of Barley, there happensonly aJuxta-position and Superficial Contact betwixt the Grains ofwheat, and as many or thereabouts of the Grains of Barley. So when aDrop of wine is mingl’d with a great deal of water, there is but anApposition of so many Vinous Corpuscles to a Correspondent Number ofAqueous ones; Unless I say this be said, I see not how that Absurditywill be avoyded, whereunto the Stoical Notion of mistion (namely byσυνχυσις, or Confusion) wasLiable, according to which the least Body may be co-extended with thegreatest: Since in a mixt Body wherein before the Elements wereMingl’d there was, for Instance, but one pound of water to tenthousand of Earth, yet according to them there must not be the leastpart of that Compound, that Consisted not as well of Earth, as water.But I insist, Perhaps, too long (sayesEleutherius) upon the proofsafforded me by the Nature of Mistion: Wherefore I will but name Two orThree other Arguments; whereof the first shall be,(145) that according toAristotle himself, the motion of a mixt Body followes the Nature ofthe Predominant Element, as those wherein the Earth prevails, tendtowards the Centre of heavy Bodies. And since many things make itEvident, that in divers Mixt Bodies the Elementary Qualities are aswell Active, though not altogether so much so as in the Elementsthemselves, it seems not reasonable to deny the actual Existence ofthe Elements in those Bodies wherein they Operate.

To which I shall add this Convincing Argument, that Experiencemanifests, andAristotle Confesses it, that theMiscibilia may beagain separated from a mixt Body, as is Obvious in the ChymicalResolutions of Plants and Animalls, which could not be unless they didactually retain their formes in it: For since, according toAristotle, and I think according to truth, there is but one commonMass of all things, which he has been pleas’d to callMateria Prima;And since tis not therefore the Matter but the Forme that Constitutesand Discriminates Things, to say that the Elements remain not in aMixt Bo(144)dy, according to their Formes, but according to their Matter,is not to say that they remain there at all; Since although thosePortions of Matter were Earth and water, &c. before they concurr’d,yet the resulting Body being once Constituted, may as well be said tobe simple as any of the Elements, the Matter being confessedly of thesame Nature in all Bodies, and the Elementary Formes being accordingto thisHypothesis perish’d and abolish’d.

And lastly, and if we will Consult Chymical Experiments, we shall findthe Advantages of the Chymical Doctrine above the Peripatetick Titlelittle less then Palpable. For in that Operation that Refiners callQuartation, which they employ to purifie Gold, although three parts ofSilver be so exquisitely mingl’d by Fusion with a fourth Part of Gold(whence the Operation is Denominated) that the resulting Mass acquiresseverall new Qualities, by virtue of the Composition, and that thereis scarce any sensible part of it that is not Compos’d of both themetalls; Yet if You cast this mixture intoAqua Fortis, the Silverwill be dissolv’d in the(145)Menstruum, and the Gold like a dark orblack Powder will fall to the Bottom of it, and either Body may beagain reduc’d into such a Metal as it was before, which shews: that itretain’d its Nature, notwithstanding its being mixtper Minima withthe other: We likewise see, that though one part of pure Silver bemingled with eight or ten Parts, or more, of Lead, yet the Fire willupon the Cuppel easily and perfectly separate them again. And thatwhich I would have you peculiarly Consider on this Occasion is, thatnot only in Chymicall Anatomies there is a Separation made of theElementary Ingredients, but that some Mixt Bodies afford a very muchgreater Quantity of this or that Element or Principle than of another;as we see, that Turpentine and Amber yield much more Oyl and Sulphurthan they do Water, whereas Wine, which is confess’d to be a perfectlymixt Bodie, yields but a little Inflamable Spirit, or Sulphur, and notmuch more Earth; but affords a vast proportion of Phlegm or water:which could not be, if as the Peripateticks suppose, every, even ofthe minutest Particles, were of the same(146) nature with the whole, andconsequently did contain both Earth and Water, and Aire, and Fire;Wherefore as to whatAristotle principally, and almost only Objects,that unless his Opinion be admitted, there would be no true andperfect Mistion, but onely Aggregates or Heaps of contiguousCorpuscles, which, though the Eye of Man cannot discerne, yet the Eyeof aLynx might perceive not to be of the same Nature with oneanother and with theirTotum, as the Nature of Mistion requires, ifhe do not beg the Question, and make Mistion to consist in what otherNaturalists deny to be requisite to it, yet He at least objects Thatas a great Inconvenience which I cannot take for such, till he havebrought as Considerable Arguments as I have propos’d to prove thecontrary, to evince that Nature makes other Mistions than such as Ihave allowed, wherein theMiscibilia are reduc’d into minute Parts,and United as farr as sense can discerne: which if You will not grantto be sufficient for a true Mistion, he must have the same Quarrelwith Nature her self, as with his Adversaries.(147)

Wherefore (ContinuesEleutherius) I cannot but somewhat marvail thatCarneades should oppose the Doctrine of the Chymist in a Particular,wherein they do as well agree with his old Mistress, Nature, asdissent from his old Adversary,Aristotle.

I must not (repliesCarneades) engage my self at present to examinethorowly the Controversies concerning Mistion: And if there were nothird thing, but that I were reduc’d to embrace absolutely andunreservedly either the Opinion ofAristotle, or that of thePhilosophers that went before him, I should look upon the latter,which the Chymists have adopted, as the more defensible Opinion: Butbecause differing in the Opinions about the Elements from bothParties, I think I can take a middle Course, and Discourse to you ofMistion after a way that does neither perfectly agree, nor perfectlydisagree with either, as I will not peremptorily define, whether therebe not Cases wherein somePhænomena of Mistion seem to favour theOpinion that the Chymists Patrons borrow’d of the Antients, I shallonly endeavour to shew You that there(148) are some cases which may keepthe Doubt, which makes up my second General Consideration from beingunreasonable.

I shall then freely acknowledge to You (sayesCarneades) that I amnot over well satisfi’d with the Doctrine that is ascribed toAristotle, concerning Mistion, especially since it teaches that thefour Elements may again be separated from the mixt Body; whereas ifthey continu’d not in it, it would not be so much a Separation as aProduction. And I think the Ancient Philosophers that PrecededAristotle, and Chymists who have since receiv’d the same Opinion, dospeak of this matter more intelligibly, if not more probably, then thePeripateticks: but though they speak Congruously enough, to theirbelieving, that there are a certain Number of Primogeneal Bodies, bywhose Concourse all those we call Mixts are Generated, and which inthe Destruction of mixt Bodies do barely part company, and recede fromone another, just such as they were when they came together; yet I,who meet with very few Opinions that I can entirely Acquiesce in,(149)must confess to You that I am inclin’d to differ not only from theAristotelians, but from the old Philosophers and the Chymists, aboutthe Nature of Mistion: And if You will give me leave, I shall Brieflypropose to you my present Notion of it, provided you will look uponit, not so much as an Assertion as anHypothesis; in talking ofwhich I do not now pretend to propose and debate the whole Doctrine ofMistion, but to shew that ’tis not Improbable, that sometimes mingl’dsubstances may be so strictly united, that it doth not by the usuallOperations of the Fire, by which Chymists are wont to supposethemselves to have made theAnalyses of mixt Bodies, sufficientlyappear, that in such Bodies theMiscibilia that concurr’d to makethem up do each of them retain its own peculiar Nature: and by theSpagyrists Fires may be more easily extricated and Recover’d, thanAlter’d, either by a Change of Texture in the Parts of the sameIngredient, or by an Association with some parts of another Ingredientmore strict than was that of the parts of this or thatMiscibileamong themselves. At these wordsEleu.(150) having press’d him to dowhat he propos’d, and promis’d to do what he desir’d;

I consider then (resumesCarneades) that, not to mention thoseimproper Kinds of mistion, whereinHomogeneous Bodies are Joyn’d, aswhen Water is mingl’d with water, or two Vessels full of the same kindof Wine with one another, the mistion I am now to Discourse of seems,Generally speaking, to be but an Unionper Minima of any two or moreBodies of differing Denominations; as when Ashes and Sand areColliquated into Glass or Antimony, and Iron intoRegulus Martis, orWine and Water are mingl’d, and Sugar is dissolv’d in the Mixture. Nowin this general notion of Mistion it does not appear clearlycomprehended, that theMiscibilia or Ingredients do in their smallParts so retain their Nature and remain distinct in the Compound, thatthey may thence by the Fire be again taken asunder: For though I denynot that in some Mistions of certain permanent Bodies this Recovery ofthe same Ingredients may be made, yet I am not convinc’d that it willhold in all or even in most, or that it is necessarily deducible fromChy(151)micall Experiments, and the true Notion of Mistion. To explainthis a little, I assume, that Bodies may be mingl’d, and that verydurably, that are not Elementary or resolv’dinto Elements or Principles that they may be mingl’d; as isevident in theRegulus of Colliquated Antimony, and Iron newlymention’d; and in Gold Coyne, which lasts so many ages; whereingenerally the Gold is alloy’d by the mixture of a quantity, greater orlesser, (in our Mints they use about a 12th. part) of either silver,or Copper, or both. Next, I consider, that there being but oneUniversal matter of things, as ’tis known that theAristoteliansthemselves acknowledge, who call itMateria Prima (about whichnevertheless I like not all their Opinions,) the Portions of thismatter seem to differ from One Another, but in certain Qualities orAccidents, fewer or more; upon whose Account the Corporeal Substancethey belong to receives its Denomination, and is referr’d to this orthat particular sort of Bodies; so that if it come to lose, or bedepriv’d of those Qualities, though it ceases not to be a body, yet itceases(152) from being that kind of Body as a Plant, or Animal; or Red,Green, Sweet, Sowre, or the like. I consider that it very oftenhappens that the small parts of Bodies cohere together but byimmediate Contact and Rest; and that however, there are few Bodieswhose minute Parts stick so close together, to what cause soever theirCombination be ascrib’d, but that it is possible to meet with someother Body, whose small Parts may get between them, and so dis-joynthem; or may be fitted to cohere more strongly with some of them, thenthose some do with the rest; or at least may be combin’d so closelywith them, as that neither the Fire, nor the other usual Instrumentsof Chymical Anatomies will separate them. These things being promis’d,I will not peremptorily deny, but that there may be some Clusters ofParticles, wherein the Particles are so minute, and the Coherence sostrict, or both, that when Bodies of Differing Denominations, andconsisting of such durable Clusters, happen to be mingl’d, though theCompound Body made up of them may be very Differing from either of(153)the Ingredients, yet each of the little Masses or Clusters may soretain its own Nature, as to be again separable, such as it wasbefore. As when Gold and Silver being melted together in a DueProportion (for in every Proportion, the Refiners will tell You thatthe Experiment will not succeed)Aqua Fortis will dissolve theSilver, and leave the Gold untoucht; by which means, as you latelynoted, both the Metalls may be recover’d from the mixed Mass. But(ContinuesCarneades) there are other Clusters wherein the Particlesstick not so close together, but that they may meet with Corpuscles ofanother Denomination, which are dispos’d to be more closely Unitedwith 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 aDeterminate Quality or Nature, each of them really ceases to be aCorpuscle of the same Denomination it was before; and from theCoalition of these there may emerge a new Body, as really one, aseither of the Corpuscles was before(154) they were mingl’d, or, if youplease, Confounded: Since this Concretion is really endow’d with itsown Distinct qualities, and can no more by the Fire, or any otherknown way ofAnalysis, be divided again into the Corpuscles that atfirst concurr’d to make it, than either of them could by the samemeans be subdivided into other Particles. But (sayesEleutherius) tomake this more intelligible by particular examples; If you dissolveCopper inAqua Fortis, or Spirit of Nitre, (for I remember not whichI us’d, nor do I think it much Material) You may by Crystalizing theSolution Obtain a goodly Vitriol; which though by Virtue of theComposition it have manifestly diverse Qualities, not to be met within either of the Ingredients, yet it seems that the Nitrous Spirits,or at least many of them, may in this Compounded Mass retain theirformer Nature; for having for tryal sake Distill’d this VitriollSpirit, there came over store of Red Fumes, which by that Colour, bytheir peculiar stinke, and by their Sourness, manifested themselves tobe, Nitrous Spirits; and that the remaining Calx continu’d Copper,(155) Isuppose you’l easily beleeve. But if you dissolveMinium, which isbut Lead Powder’d by the Fire, in good Spirit of Vinager, andCrystalize the Solution, you shall not only have a Saccharine Saltexceedingly differing from both its Ingredients; but the Union of someParts of theMenstruum with some of those of the Metal is so strict,that the Spirit of Vinager seems to be, as such, destroy’d, since theSaline Corpuscles have quite lost that acidity, upon whose Account theLiquor was call’d Spirit of Vinager; nor can any such Acid Parts aswere put to theMinium be Separated by any known way from theSaccharum Saturni resulting from them both; for not only there is noSowrness at all, but an admirable Sweetness to be tasted in theConcretion; and not only I found not that Spirit of Wine, whichotherwise will immediately hiss when mingl’d with strong Spirit ofVinager, would hiss being pour’d uponSaccharum Saturni, wherein yetthe Acid Salt of Vinager, did it Survive, may seem to be concentrated;but upon the Distillation ofSaccharum Saturni by its Self I foundindeed a Liquor very Pe(156)netrant, but not at all Acid, and differing aswell in smell and other Qualities, as in tast, from the Spirit ofVinager; which likewise seem’d to have left some of its Parts veryfirmly united to theCaput Mortuum, which though of a Leaden Naturewas in smell, Colour, &c. differing fromMinium; which brings intomy mind, that though two Powders, the one Blew, and the other Yellow,may appear a Green mixture, without either of them losing its ownColour, as a good Microscope has sometimes inform’d me; yet havingmingl’dMinium andSal Armoniack in a requisite Proportion, andexpos’d them in a Glass Vessel to the Fire, the whole Mass becameWhite, and the Red Corpuscles were destroy’d; for though the Calcin’dLead was separable from the Salt, yet you’l easily beleeve it did notpart from it in the Forme of a Red Powder, such as was theMinium,when it was put to theSal Armoniack. I leave it also to beconsider’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(157) some Cases may, retain its own Nature in it,so thatChymsts may Extricate each sortof them from all the others, wherewith it concurr’d to make a Body ofone Denomination.

I know there may be a Distinction betwixt MatterImmanent, when thematerial Parts remain and retain their own Nature in the thingsmateriated, as some of the Schoolmen speak, (in which sence Wood,Stones and Lime are the matter of a House,) andTransient, which inthe materiated thing is so alter’d, as to receive a new Forme, withoutbeing capable of re-admitting again the Old. In which sence theFriends of this Distinction say, thatChyle is the matter of Blood,and Blood that of a Humane Body, of all whose Parts ’tis presum’d tobe the Aliment. I know also that it may be said, that of materialPrinciples, some arecommon to all mixt Bodies, asAristotles fourElements, or the ChymistsTria Prima; othersPeculiar, whichbelong to this or that sort of Bodies; as Butter and a kind of wheymay be said to be the Proper Principles of Cream: and I deny not, butthat these Distinctions may in some Cases(158) be of Use; but partly bywhat I have said already, and partly by what I am to say, You mayeasily enough guess in what sence I admit them, and discerne that insuch a sence they will either illustrate some of my Opinions, or atleast will not overthrow any of them.

To prosecute then what I was saying before, I will add to thispurpose, That since the Major part of Chymists Credit, what those theycall Philosophers affirme of their Stone, I may represent to them,that though when Common Gold and Lead are mingled Together, the Leadmay be sever’d almost un-alter’d from the Gold; yet if instead of GoldaTantillum of the RedElixir be mingled with the Saturn, theirUnion will be so indissoluble in the perfect Gold that will beproduc’d by it, that there is no known, nor perhaps no possible way ofseparating the diffus’dElixir from the fixed Lead, but they bothConstitute a most permanent Body, wherein the Saturne seems to havequite lost its Properties that made it be call’d Lead, and to havebeen rather transmuted by theElixir, then barely associated to it.So that it seems not al(159)wayes necessary, that the Bodies that are puttogetherper minima, should each retain its own Nature; So as whenthe Mass it Self is dissipated by the Fire, to be more dispos’d tore-appear in its Pristine Forme, then in any new one, which by astricter association of its Parts with those of some of the otherIngredients of theCompositum, then with one another, it may haveacquired.

And if it be objected, that unless theHypothesis I oppose beadmitted, in such Cases as I have proposed there would not be an Unionbut a Destruction of mingled Bodies, which seems all one as to say,that of such Bodies there is no mistion at all; I answer, thatthough the Substances that are mingl’d remain, only their Accidentsare Destroy’d, andthough we may with tollerable Congruity call themMiscibilia, because they are Distinct Bodies before they are puttogether, however afterwards they are so Confounded that I shouldrather call them Concretions, or Resulting Bodies, than mixt ones; andthough, perhaps, some other and better Account may be propos’d, uponwhich the name(160) of mistion may remain; yet if what I have said bethought Reason, I shall not wrangle about Words, though I think itfitter to alter a Terme of Art, then reject a new Truth, because itsuits not with it. If it be also Objected that this Notion of mine,concerning mixtion, though it may be allow’d, when Bodies alreadyCompounded are put to be mingl’d, yet it is not applicable to thosemixtions that are immediately made of the Elements, or Principlesthemselves; I Answer in the first place, that I here Consider theNature of mixtion somewhat more Generally, then the Chymists, who yetcannot deny that there are oftentimes Mixtures, and those very durableones, made of Bodies that are not Elementary. And in the next place,that though it may be probably pretended that in those Mixtures thatare made immediately of the Bodies that are call’d Principles orElements, the mingl’d Ingredients may better retain their own Naturein the Compounded Mass, and be more easily separated from thence; yet,besides that it may be doubted, whether there be any such PrimaryBodies, I see not why the(161) reason I alleadg’d, of the destructibilityof the Ingredients of Bodies in General, may not sometimes beApplicable to Salt Sulphur or Mercury; ’till it be shewn upon whataccount we are to believe them Priviledged. And however, (if youplease but to recall to mind, to what purpose I told you at First, Imeant to speak of Mistion at this Time) you will perhaps allow thatwhat I have hitherto Discoursed about it may not only give some Lightto the Nature of it in general (especially when I shall have anOpportunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that subject more fully)but may on some Occasions also be Serviceable to me in the InsuingPart of this Discourse.

But, to look back Now to that part of our Discourse, whence thisExcursion concerning Mistion has so long diverted us, though we thereDeduc’d, from the differing Substances obtained from a Plant nourishedonly with Water, and from some other things, that it was not necessarythat nature should alwaies compound a Body at first of all suchdiffering bodies as the fire could afterwards make it afford; yet thisis not all that may be collected from those Experi(162)ments. For fromthem there seems also Deducible something that Subverts an otherFoundation of the Chymical Doctrine. For since that (as we have seen)out of fair Water alone, not only Spirit, but Oyle, and Salt, andEarth may be Produced; It will follow that Salt and Sulphur are notPrimogeneal Bodies, and principles, since they are every Day made outof plain Water by the Texture which the Seed or Seminal principle ofplants puts it into. And this would not perhaps seem so strange, ifthrough pride, or negligence, We were not Wont to Overlook the Obviousand Familiar Workings of Nature; For if We consider what slightQualities they are that serve to denominate one of theTria Prima,We shall find that Nature do’s frequently enough work as greatAlterations in divers parcells of matter: For to be readily dissolublein water, is enough to make the body that is so, passe for a Salt. Andyet I see not why from a new shufling and Disposition of the ComponentParticles of a body, it should be much harder for Nature to compose abody dissoluble in(163) Water, of a portion of Water that was not sobefore, then of the Liquid substance of an Egg, which will easily mixwith Water, to produce by the bare warmth of a hatching Hen, Membrans,Feathers, Tendons, and other parts, that are not dissoluble in Wateras that Liquid Substance was: Nor is the Hardness and Brittleness ofSalt more difficult for Nature to introduce into such a yielding bodyas Water, then it is for her to make the Bones of a Chick out of thetender Substance of the Liquors of an Egg. But instead of prosecutingthis consideration, as I easily might, I will proceed, as soon as Ihave taken notice of an objection that lies in my Way. For I easilyforesee it will be alledged, that the above mentioned Examples are alltaken from Plants, and Animals, in whom the Matter is Fashioned by thePlastick power of the seed, or something analogous thereunto. Whereasthe Fire do’s not act like any of the Seminal Principles, butdestroyes them all, when they come within its Reach. But to this Ishall need at present to make but this easy Answer, That whether it bea Seminal Principle, or any other which(164) fashions that Matter afterthose various manners I have mentioned to You, yet ’tis Evident, thateither by the Plastick principle Alone, or that and Heat Together, orby some Other cause capable to contex the matter, it is yet possiblethat the matter may be Anew contriv’d into such Bodies. And ’tis onlyfor 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 toHim) has, I presume, shew’n You, that a Considering Man may very wellquestion the Truth of those very Suppositions which Chymists as wellas Peripateticks, without proving, take for granted; and upon whichDepends the Validity of the Inferences they draw from theirExperiments. Wherefore having dispach’t that, which though a ChymistPerhaps will not, yet I do, look upon as the most Important, as wellas Difficult, part of my Task, it will now be Seasonable for me topro(166)ceed to the Consideration of the Experiments themselves, whereinthey are wont so much to Triumph and Glory. And these will the ratherdeserve a serious Examination, because those that Alledge them arewont to do it with so much Confidence and Ostentation, that they havehitherto impos’d upon almost all Persons, without exceptingPhilosophers and Physitians themselves, who have read their Books, orheard them talk. For some learned Men have been content rather tobeleeve what they so boldly Affirm, then be at the trouble and charge,to try whether or no it be True. Others again, who have Curiosityenough to Examine the Truth of what is Averr’d, want Skill andOpportunity to do what they Desire. And the Generality even of LearnedMen, seeing the Chymists (not contenting themselves with the Schoolsto amuse the World with empty words) Actually Perform’d divers strangethings, and, among those Resolve Compound Bodies into severalSubstances not known by former Philosophers to be contain’d in them:Men I say, seeing these Things, and(167) Hearing with what ConfidenceChymists Averr the Substances Obtain’d from Compound Bodies by theFire to be the True Elements, or, (as they speak) HypostaticallPrinciples of them, are forward to think it but Just as well asModest, that according to theLogicians Rule, the SkilfullArtistsshould be Credited in their own Art; Especially when those thingswhose Nature they so Confidently take upon them to teach others arenot only Productions of their own Skill, but such as others Know notelse what to make of.

But though (ContinuesCarneades) the Chymists have been able uponsome 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 arenot unpractis’d in the Trade, must not suffer our Selves to be impos’dupon by hard Names, or bold Assertions; nor to be dazl’d by that Lightwhich should but assist us to discern things the more clearly. It isone thing to be able to help Nature to produce things, and anotherthing to Understand well the Nature(168) of the things produc’d. As wesee, that many Persons that can beget Children, are for all that asIgnorant of the Number and Nature of the parts, especially theinternal ones, that Constitute a Childs Body, as they that never wereParents. Nor do I Doubt, but you’l excuse me, if as I thank theChymists for the things theirAnalysis shews me, so I take theLiberty to consider how many, and what they are, without beingastonish’d at them; as if, whosoever hath Skill enough to shew mensome new thing of his own making, had the Right to make them believewhatsoever he pleases to tell them concerning it.

Wherefore I will now proceed to my Third General Consideration, whichis, That it does not appear, thatThree is precisely and Universallythe Number of the Distinct Substances or Elements, whereinto mixtBodies are resoluble by the Fire; I mean that ’tis not prov’d byChymists, that all the Compound Bodies, which are granted to beperfectly mixt, are upon their ChymicalAnalysis divisible each ofthem into just Three Distinct Substances, nei(169)ther more nor less,which are wont to be lookt upon as Elementary, or may as well bereputed so as those that are so reputed. Which last Clause I subjoyne,to prevent your Objecting, that some of the Substances I may haveoccasion to mention by and by, are not perfectly Homogeneous, norConsequently worthy of the name of Principles. For that which I am nowto consider, is, into how many Differing Substances, that mayplausibly pass for the Elementary Ingredients of a mix’d Body, it maybe Analyz’d by the Fire; but whether each of these be un-compounded, Ireserve to examine, when I shall come to the next GeneralConsideration; where I hope to evince, that the Substances which theChymists not only allow, but assert to be the Component Principles ofthe Body resolv’d into them, are not wont to be uncompounded.

Now there are two Kind of Arguments (pursuesCarneades) which may bebrought to make my Third Proposition seem probable; one sort of thembeing of a more Speculative Nature, and the other drawn fromExpe(170)rience. To begin then with the first of these.

But asCarneades was going to do as he had said,Eleutheriusinterrupted him, by saying with a somewhat smiling countenance;

If you have no mind I should think, that the Proverb,That Good Witshave bad Memories, is Rational and Applicable to You, You must notForget now you are upon the Speculative Considerations, that mayrelate to the Number of the Elements; that your Self did not longsince Deliver and Concede some Propositions in Favour of the ChymicalDoctrine, which I may without disparagement to you think it uneasie,even forCarneades to answer.

I have not, replies he, Forgot the Concessions you mean; but I hopetoo, that you have not forgot neither with what Cautions they weremade, when I had not yet assumed the Person I am now sustaining. Buthowever, I shall to content You, so discourse of my Third generalconsideration, as to let You see, That I am not Unmindful of thethings you would have me remember.(171)

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 Ithen did, that the Elements consisted at first of certain small andprimary Coalitions of the minute Particles of matter into Corpusclesvery numerous, and very like each other, It will not be absurd toconceive, that such primary Clusters may be of far more sorts thenthree or five; and consequently, that we need not suppose, that ineach of the compound Bodies we are treating of there should be foundjust three sorts of such primitive Coalitions, as we are speaking of.

And if according to this Notion we allow a considerable number ofdiffering Elements, I may add, that it seems very possible, that tothe constitution of one sort of mixt Bodies two kinds of Elementaryones may suffice (as I lately Exemplify’d to you, in that most durableConcrete, Glass,) another sort of Mixts may be compos’d of threeElements, another of four, another of five, and another perhaps ofmany more. So that according to this Notion, there can be nodeterminate number assign’d, as(172) that of the Elements; of all sorts ofcompound Bodies whatsoever, it being very probable that some Concretesconsist of fewer, some of more Elements. Nay, it does not seemImpossible, according to these Principles, but that there may be twosorts of Mixts, whereof the one may not have any of all the sameElements 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 theother; or as we often meet with diverse Electuaries, in which noIngredient (except Sugar) is common to any two of them. I will nothere debate whether there may not be a multitude of these Corpuscles,which by reason of their being primary and simple, might be calledElementary, if several sorts of them should convene to compose anyBody, which are as yet free, and neither as yet contex’d and entangl’dwith primary Corpuscles of other kinds, but remains liable to besubdu’d and fashion’d by Seminal Principles, or the like powerful andTransmuting Agent, by whom they may be so connected among themselves,or with the parts of one of the bodies, as to make the com(173)poundBodies, whose Ingredients they are, resoluble into more, or otherElements then those that Chymists have hitherto taken notice of.

To all which I may add, that since it appears, by what I observ’d toyou of the permanency of Gold and Silver, that even Corpuscles thatare not of an Elementary but compounded Nature, may be of so durable aTexture, as to remain indissoluble in the ordinaryAnalysis thatChymists make of Bodies by the Fire; ’Tis not impossible but that,though there were but three Elements, yet there may be a greaternumber of Bodies, which the wonted wayes of Anatomy will not discoverto be no Elementary Bodies.

But, sayesCarneades, having thus far, in compliance to you, talk’tconjecturally of the number of the Elements, ’tis now time toconsider, not of how many Elements it is possible that Nature maycompound mix’d Bodies, but (at least as farr as the ordinaryExperiments of Chymists will informe us) of how many she doth makethem up.

I say then, that it does not by these sufficiently appear to me, thatthere is(174) any one determinate number of Elements to be uniformly metwith 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 thefirst place Represent, That there are divers Bodies, which I couldnever see by fire divided into so many as three Elementary substances.I would fain (as I said lately toPhiloponus) see that fixt andnoble Metal we call Gold separated into Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: andif any man will submit to a competent forfeiture in case of failing, Ishall willingly in case of prosperous successe pay both for theMaterials and the charges of such an Experiment. ’Tis not, that afterwhat I have try’d my self I dare peremptorily deny, that there may outof Gold be extracted a certain substance, which I cannot hinderChymists from calling its Tincture or Sulphur; and which leaves theremaining Body depriv’d of its wonted colour. Nor am I sure, thatthere cannot be drawn out of the same Metal a real quick and runningMercury. But for the Salt of Gold, I never could either see it, or besatisfied that there was ever such a thing separa(175)ted,in rerumnatura, by the relation of any credible eye witnesse. And for theseveral Processes that Promise that effect, the materials that must bewrought upon are somewhat too pretious and costly to be wasted upon sogroundlesse adventures, of which not only the successe is doubtful,but the very possibility is not yet demonstrated. Yet that which mostdeterres me from such tryalls, is not their chargeablenesse, but theirunsatisfactorinesse, though they should succeed. For the Extraction ofthis golden Salt being in Chymists Processes prescribed to be effectedby corrosiveMenstruums, or the Intervention of other Saline Bodies,it will remain doubtful to a wary person, whether the Emergent Salt bethat of the Gold it self; or of the Saline Bodies or Spirits employ’dto prepare it; For that such disguises of Metals do often impose uponArtists, I am sureEleutherius is not so much a stranger toChymistry as to ignore. I would likewise willingly see the threeprinciples separated from the pure sort of Virgin-Sand, fromOsteocolla, from refined Silver, from Quicksilver, freed from itsadventitious Sulphur, fromVenetianTalk,(176) which by long detention in an extremeReverberium, I couldbut divide into smaller Particles, (not the constituent principles,)Nay, which, when I caused it to be kept, I know not how long, in aGlasse-house fire, came out in the Figure it’s Lumps had when put in,though alter’d to an almostAmethystine colour; and from diversother Bodies, which it were now unnecessary to enumerate. For though Idare not absolutely affirme it to be impossible to Analyze theseBodies into theirTria Prima; yet because, neither my ownExperiments, nor any competent Testimony hath hitherto either taughtme how such anAnalysis may be made, or satisfy’d me, that it hathbeen so, I must take the Liberty to refrain from believing it, tillthe Chymists prove it, or give us intelligible and practicableProcesses to performe what they pretend. For whilst they affect thatÆnigmatical obscurity with which they are wont to puzzle the Readersof their divulg’d Processes concerning the Analyticall Preparation ofGold or Mercury, they leave wary persons much unsatisfyed whether orno the differing Substances, they promise to produce, be truly(177) theHypostatical Principles, or only some intermixtures of the dividedBodies with those employ’d to work upon them, as is Evident in theseeming Crystalls of Silver, and those of Mercury; which though bysome inconsiderately supposed to be the Salts of those Metalls, areplainly but mixtures of the Metalline Bodies, with the Saline parts ofAqua fortis or other corrosive Liquors; as is evident by their beingreducible into Silver or Quicksilver, as they were before.

I cannot but Confesse (saithEleutherius) that though Chymists mayupon probable grounds affirm themselves Able to obtain theirTriaPrima, from Animals and Vegetables, yet I have often wondred thatthey should so confidently pretend also to resolve all Metalline andother Mineral bodies into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. For ’tis asaying almost Proverbial, among those Chymists themselves that areaccounted Philosophers; and our famous CountrymanRoger Bacon hasparticularly adopted it; thatFacilius est aurum facere quamdestruere. And I fear, with You, that Gold is not the only Mineralfrom which Chymists are wont fruitlessly to attempt the(178) separating oftheir three Principles. I know indeed (continuesEleutherius) thatthe LearnedSennertus,Sennert. lib. de cons. & dissens. pag. 147. even in that book where he takes not upon himto play the Advocate for the Chymists, but the Umpier betwixt them andthe Peripateticks, expresses himself roundly, thus;Salem omnibusinesse (mixtis scilicet) & ex iis fieri posse omnibus inresolutionibus Chymicis versatis notissimum est. And in the nextPage,Quod de sale dixi, saies he,Idem de Sulphure dici potest:but by his favour I must see very good proofs, before I believe suchgeneral Assertions, how boldly soever made; and he that would convinceme of their truth, must first teach me some true and practicable wayof separating Salt and Sulphur from Gold, Silver, and those manydifferent 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 thosenewly nam’d Bodies so resolved; butHelmont,Helmon. pag. 409. who was much bettervers’d in the Chymical Anatomizing of Bodies then eitherSennertusorI, has somewhere this resolute passage;Scio (saies he)exarena, silicibus & saxis, non Calcariis, nunquam Sulphur autMercu(179)rium trahi posse; NayQuercetanusQuercet. apud Billich. in Thessalo redivivo. pag. 99. himself, though the grandstickler for theTria Prima, has this Confession of theIrresolubleness of Diamonds;Adamas (saith he)omnium factusLapidum solidissimus ac durissimus ex arctissima videlicet triumprincipiorum unione ac Cohærentia, quæ nulla arte separationis insolutionem principiorum suorum spiritualium disjungi potest. Andindeed, pursuesEleutherius, I was not only glad, but somewhatsurprized to find you inclined to Admit that there may be a Sulphurand a running Mercury drawn from Gold; for unlesse you do (as yourexpression seem’d to intimate) take the word Sulphur in a very loosesence, I must doubt whether our Chymists can separate a Sulphur fromGold: For when I saw you make the experiment that I suppose invitedyou to speak as you did, I did not judge the golden Tincture to be thetrue principle of Sulphur extracted from the body, but an aggregate ofsome such highly colour’d parts of the Gold, as a Chymist would havecalled aSulphur incombustible, which in plain English seems to belittle better than to call it a Sulphur and no Sulphur. And as forMetalline Mercuries, I had(180) notwondred at it, though you hadexpressed much more severity in speaking of them: For I remember thathaving once met an old and famous Artist, who had long been (and stillis) Chymist to a great Monarch, the repute he had of a very honest maninvited me to desire him to tell me ingenuously whether or no, amonghis many labours, he had ever really extracted a true and runningMercury out of Metalls; to which question he freely replyed, that hehad never separated a true Mercury from any Metal; nor had ever seenit really done by any man else. And though Gold is, of all Metalls,That, whose Mercury Chymists have most endeavoured to extract, andwhich they do the most brag they have extracted; yet the ExperiencedAngelus Sala, in hisSpagyrical account of the sevenTerrestrialPlanets (that is the seven metalls) affords us this memorableTestimony, to, our present purpose;Quanquam (saies he)&c.experientia tamen (quam stultorumMagistrumvocamus) certe Comprobavit, Mercurium auri adeo fixum, maturum, &arcte cum reliquis ejusdem corporis substantiis conjungi, ut nullomodo retrogredi possit. To which he sub-joynes,(181) that he himself hadseen much Labour spent upon that Design, but could never see any suchMercury produc’d thereby. And I easily beleeve what he annexes;thathe had often seen Detected many tricks and Impostures of CheatingAlchymists. For, the most part of those that are fond of suchCharlatans, being unskilfull or Credulous, or both, ’tis very easiefor such as have some Skill, much craft, more boldness, and noConscience, to impose upon them; and therefore, though many profess’dAlchymists, and divers Persons of Quality have told me that theyhave 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 aDesign to deceive others; or have not had Skill and circumspectionenough to keep themselves from being deceived.

You recall to my mind (sayesCarneades) a certain Experiment I oncedevis’d, innocently to deceive some persons, and let them and otherssee how little is to be built upon the affirmation of those that areeither unskillfull or unwary, when they tell us they have(182) seenAlchymists make the Mercury of this or that Metal; and to make thisthe more evident, I made my Experiment much more Slight, Short andSimple, than the Chymists usuall processes to Extract MetallineMercuries; which Operations being commonly more Elaborate andIntricate, and requiring a much more longer time, give theAlchymists a greater opportunity to Cozen, and Consequently are moreObnoxious to the Spectators suspicion. And that wherein I endeavour’dto make my Experiment look the more like a TrueAnalysis, was, thatI not only pretended as well as others to extract a Mercury from theMetal I wrought upon, but likewise to separate a large proportion ofmanifest and inflamable Sulphur. I take then, of the filings ofCopper, about a Drachme or two, of common sublimate, powder’d, thelike Weight, andSal Armoniack near about as much as of Sublimate;these three being well mingl’d together I put into a small Vial with along neck, or, which I find better, into a Glass Urinall, which(having first stopped it with Cotton) to avoid(183) the Noxious Fumes, Iapproach by degrees to a competent Fire of well kindled coals, or(which looks better, but more endangers the Glass) to the Flame of acandle; and after a while the bottom of the Glass being held Just uponthe Kindled Coals, or in the flame, You may in about a quarter of anHour, or perchance in halfe that time, perceive in the Bottom of theGlass some running Mercury; and if then You take away the Glass andbreak it, You shall find a Parcel of Quicksilver, Perhaps altogether,and perhaps part of it in the pores of the Solid Mass; You shall findtoo, that the remaining Lump being held to the Flame of the Candlewill readily burn with a greenish Flame, and after a little while(perchance presently) will in the Air Acquire a Greenish Blew, whichbeing the Colour that is ascrib’d to Copper, when its Body isunlocked, ’Tis easie to perswade Men that this is the True Sulphur ofVenus, especially since not only the Salts may be Suppos’d partly tobe Flown away, and partly to be Sublim’d to the upper part of theGlass, whose inside (will(184) Commonly appear Whitened by them) but theMetal seems to be quite Destroy’d, the Copper no longer appearing in aMetalline Forme, but almost in that of a Resinous Lump; whereas indeedthe Case is only this, That the Saline parts of the Sublimate,together with theSal Armoniack, being excited and actuated by theVehement heat, fall upon the Copper, (which is a Metal they can moreeasily corrode, than silver) whereby the small parts of the Mercurybeing freed from the Salts that kept them asunder, and being by theheat tumbled up and down after many Occursions, they Convene into aConspicuous Mass of Liquor; and as for the Salts, some of the moreVolatile of them Subliming to the upper part of the Glass, the othersCorrode the Copper, and uniting themselves with it do strangely alterand Disguise its Metallick Form, and compose with it a new kind ofConcrete inflamable like Sulphur; concerning which I shall not now sayany thing, since I can Referr You to the Diligent Observations which Iremember Mr.Boyle has made concerning this Odde kind ofVerdigrease. But Continues(185)Carneades smiling, you know I was notcut out for a Mountebank, and therefore I will hasten to resume theperson of a Sceptick, and take up my discourse where You diverted mefrom prosecuting it.

In the next place, then, I consider, that, as there are some Bodieswhich yield not so many as the three Principles; so there are manyothers, that in their Resolution Exhibite more principles than three;and that therefore the Ternary Number is not that of the Universal andAdequate Principles of Bodies. If you allow of the Discourse Iatelymade You, touching the primary Associations of thesmall Particles of matter, You will scarce think it improbable, thatof such Elementary Corpuscles there may be more sorts then eitherthree, or four, or five. And if you will grant, what will scarce bedeny’d, that Corpuscles of a compounded Nature may in all the wontedExamples of Chymists pass for Elementary, I see not, why you shouldthink it impossible, that asAqua Fortis, orAqua Regis will makea Separation of colliquated Silver and Gold, though the Fire cannot;so there may be some A(186)gent found out so subtile and so powerfull, atleast in respect of those particular compounded Corpuscles, as to beable to resolve them into those more simple ones, whereof theyconsist, and consequently encrease the number of the DistinctSubstances, whereinto the mixt Body has been hitherto thoughtresoluble. And if that be true, which I recited to you a while ago outofHelmont concerning the Operations of theAlkahest, whichdivides Bodies into other Distinct Substances, both as to number andNature, then the Fire does; it will not a little countenance myConjecture. But confining our selves to such wayes of Analyzing mix’dBodies, as are already not unknown to Chymists, it may withoutAbsurdity be Question’d, whether besides those grosser Elements ofBodies, which they call Salt Sulphur and Mercury, there may not beIngredients of a more Subtile Nature, which being extreamly little,and not being in themselves Visible, may escape unheeded at theJunctures of the Destillatory Vessels, though never so carefullyLuted. For let me observe to you one thing, which though(187) not takennotice of by Chymists, may be a notion of good Use in divers Cases toa Naturalist, that we may well suspect, that there may be severallSorts of Bodies, which are not Immediate Objects of any one of oursenses; since we See, that not only those little Corpuscles that issueout of the Loadstone, and perform the Wonders for which it is justlyadmired; But theEffluviums of Amber, Jet, and other ElectricallConcretes, though by their effects upon the particular Bodies dispos’dto receive their Action, they seem to fall under the Cognizance of ourSight, yet do they not as Electrical immediately Affect any of oursenses, as do the bodies, whether minute or greater, that we See,Feel, Taste, &c. But, continuesCarneades, because you may expect Ishould, as the Chymists do, consider only the sensible Ingredients ofMixt Bodies, let us now see, what Experience will, even as to these,suggest to us.

It seems then questionable enough, whether from Grapes variouslyorder’d there may not be drawn more distinct Substances by the help ofthe Fire, then from most other mixt Bodies. For the(188) Grapes themselvesbeing dryed into Raysins and distill’d, will (besidesAlcali,Phlegm, and Earth) yield a considerable quantity of an EmpyreumaticalOyle, and a Spirit of a very different nature from that of Wine. Alsothe unfermented Juice of Grapes affords other distil’d Liquors thenWine doth. The Juice of Grapes after fermentation will yield aSpiritus Ardens; which if competently rectifyed will all burn awaywithout leaving any thing remaining. The same fermented Juicedegenerating into Vinager, yields an acid and corroding Spirit. Thesame Juiceturn’d up, armes it self with Tartar; outof which may be separated, as out of other Bodies, Phlegme, Spirit,Oyle, Salt and Earth: not to mention what Substances may be drawn fromthe Vine it self, probably differing from those which are separatedfrom Tartar, which is a body by it self, that has few resemblers inthe World. And I will further consider that what force soever you willallow this instance, to evince that there are some Bodies that yieldmore Elements then others, it can scarce be deny’d but that the Majorpart of bodies that are divisible into Ele(189)ments, yield more thenthree. For, besides those which the Chymists are pleased to nameHypostatical, most bodies contain two others, Phlegme and Earth, whichconcurring as well as the rest to the constitution of Mixts, and beingas generally, if not more, found in theirAnalysis, I see nosufficient cause why they should be excluded from the number ofElements. Nor will it suffice to object, as theParacelsians arewont to do, that theTria prima are the most useful Elements, andthe Earth and Water but worthlesse and unactive; for Elements beingcall’d so in relation to the constituting of mixt Bodies, it should beupon the account of its Ingrediency, not of its use, that any thingshould be affirmed or denyed to be an Element: and as for thepretended uselessness of Earth and Water, it would be consider’d thatusefulnesse, or the want of it, denotes only a Respect or Relation tous; and therefore the presence, or absence of it, alters not theIntrinsick nature of the thing. The hurtful Teeth of Vipers are forought I know useless to us, and yet are not to be deny’d to be partsof their Bodies; and it were hard to shew of(186) what greater Use to Us,then Phlegme and Earth, are those Undiscern’d Stars, which our NewTelescopes discover to Us, in many Blanched places of the Sky; andyet we cannot but acknowledge them Constituent and Considerably greatparts of the Universe. Besides that whether or no the Phlegme andEarth be immediately Useful, but necessary to constitute the Bodywhence they are separated; and consequently, if the mixt Body be notUseless to us, those constituent parts, without which it could nothave been That mixt Body, may be said not to be Unuseful to Us: andthough the Earth and Water be not so conspicuously Operative (afterseparation) as the other three more active Principles, yet in thiscase it will not be amiss to remember the lucky Fable ofMenemiusAggrippa, of the dangerous Sedition of the Hands and Legs, and othermore busie parts of the Body, against the seemingly unactive Stomack.And to this case also we may not unfitly apply that Reasoning of anApostle, to another purpose;If the Ear shall say, because I Am notthe Eye, I am not of the Body; Is it therefore not of the Body? If thewhole(187)Body were Eye, where were the Hearing? If the whole were forhearing, where the smelling? In a word, since Earth and water appear,as clearly and as generally as the other Principles upon theresolution of Bodies, to be the Ingredients whereof they are made up;and since they are useful, if not immediately to us, or rather toPhysitians, to the Bodies they constitute, and so though in somewhat aremoter way, are serviceable to us; to exclude them out of the numberof Elements, is not to imitate Nature.

Transcriber’s Note: See theprinter’s note for material that theprinter inadvertently omitted from this page.

But, pursuesCarneades, though I think it Evident, that Earth andPhlegme are to be reckon’d among the Elements of most Animal andVegetable Bodies, yet ’tis not upon that Account alone, that I thinkdivers Bodies resoluble into more Substances then three. For there aretwo Experiments, that I have sometimes made to shew, that at leastsome Mixts are divisible into more Distinct Substances then five. Theone of these Experiments, though ’twill be more seasonable for me tomention it fully anon, yet in the mean time, I shall tell you thusmuch of it, That out of two Distill’d Liquors,(192) which pass forElements of the Bodies whence they are drawn, I can without Additionmake a true Yellow and Inflamable Sulphur, notwithstanding that thetwo Liquors remain afterwards Distinct. Of the other Experiment, whichperhaps will not be altogether unworthy your Notice, I must now giveyou this particular Account. I had long observ’d, that by theDestillation of divers Woods, both in Ordinary, and some unusuallsorts of Vessels, the Copious Spirit that came over, had besides astrong tast, to be met with in the Empyreumaticall Spirits of manyother Bodies, an Acidity almost like that of Vinager: Wherefore Isuspected, 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 reallyconsist of two Differing Substances, and may be divisible into them;and consequently, that such Woods and other Mixts as abound with sucha Vinager, may be said to consist of one Element or Principle, morethen the Chymists as yet are Aware of; Wherefore bethinking(193) my self,how the separation of these two Spirits might be made, I Quicklyfound, that there were several wayes of Compassing it. But that ofthem which I shall at present mention, was this, Having Destill’d aQuantity of Box-Woodper se, and slowly rectify’d the sowrishSpirit, the better to free it both from Oyle and Phlegme, I cast intothis 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 theother part of the Liquor, which was not of an acid Nature, nor fit tofasten upon the Corals, would be permitted to ascend alone. Nor was Ideceiv’d in my Expectation; For having gently abstracted the Liquorfrom the Coralls, there came over a Spirit of a Strong smell, and of atast very piercing, but without any sourness; and which was in diversequalities manifestly different, not only from a Spirit of Vinager, butfrom some Spirit of the same Wood, that I purposely kept by me withoutdepriving it of its acid Ingredient. And to satisfy you, that thesetwo Substances were of(194) a very differing Nature, I might informe youof several Tryals that I made, but must not name some of them, becauseI cannot do so without making some unseasonable discoveries. Yet thisI shall tell you at present, that the sowre Spirit ofBox, not onlywould, as I just now related, dissolve Corals, which the other wouldnot fasten on, but being pour’d upon Salt of Tartar would immediatelyboile and hiss, whereas the other would lye quietly upon it. The acidSpirit pour’d uponMinium made a Sugar of Lead, which I did not findthe other to do; some drops of this penetrant spirit being mingl’dwith some drops of the blew Syrup of Violets seem’d rather to dilutethen otherwise alter the colour; whereas the Acid Spirit turn’d thesyrup of a reddish colour, and would probably have made it of as purea red as Acid Salts are wont to do, had not its operation beenhindered by the mixture of the other Spirit. A few drops of thecompound Spirit being Shaken into a pretty quantity of the infusion ofLignum Nephriticum, presently destroyed all the blewish colour,whereas the other Spirit would not take it away. To all which(195) itmight be added, that having for tryals sake pour’d fair water upon theCorals that remained in the bottom of the glass wherein I hadrectifyed the double spirit (if I may so call it) that was first drawnfrom the Box, I found according to my expectation that the Acid Spirithad really dissolved the Corals, and had coagulated with them. For bythe affusion of fair Water, I Obtain’d a Solution, which (to note thatsingularity upon the bye) was red, whence the Water being evaporated,there remained a soluble Substance much like the Ordinary Salt ofCoral, as Chymists are pleas’d to call that Magistery of Corals, whichthey make by dissolving them in common spirit of Vinager, andabstracting theMenstruum ad Siccitatem. I know not whether I shouldsubjoine, on this occasion, that the simple spirit of Box, if Chymistswill have it therefore Saline because it has a strong tast, willfurnish us with a new kind of Saline Bodies, differing from thosehitherto taken notice of. For whereas of the three chief sorts ofSalts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous, there is nonethat seems to be friends with both the other(196) two, as I may, e’re itbe long, have occasion to shew; I did not find but that the simplespirit of Box did agree very well (at least as farr as I had occasionto try it) both with the Acid and the other Salts. For though it wouldlye very quiet with salt of Tartar, Spirit of Urine, or other bodies,whose Salts were either of an Alcalizate or fugitive Nature; yet didnot the mingling of Oyle of Vitriol it self produce any hissing orEffervescence, which you know is wont to ensue upon the Affusion ofthat highly Acid Liquor upon either of the Bodies newly mentioned.

I think my self, sayesEleutherius, beholden to you, for thisExperiment; not only because I forsee you will make it helpful to youin the Enquiry you are now upon, but because it teaches us a Method,whereby we may prepare a numerous sort of new spirits, which thoughmore simple then any that are thought Elementary, are manifestlyendow’d with peculiar and powerfull qualities, some of which mayprobably be of considerable use in Physick, as well alone, asassociated with other things; as one may hopefully guess by theredness of(197) that Solution your sour Spirit made of Corals, and by someother circumstances of your Narrative. And suppose (pursuesEleutherius) that you are not so confin’d, for the separation of theAcid parts of these compound Spirits from the other, to employ Corals;but that you may as well make use of any Alcalizate Salt, or ofPearls, or Crabs eyes, or any other Body, upon which common Spirit ofVinager will easily work, and, to speak in anHelmontian Phrase,Exantlate it self.

I have not yet tryed, sayesCarneades, of what use the mention’dliquors may be in Physick, either as Medicines or asMenstruums: ButI could mention now (and may another time) divers of the tryals that Imade to satisfy my self of the difference of these two Liquors. Butthat, as I allow your thinking what you newly told me about Corals, Ipresume you will allow me, from what I have said already, to deducethis Corollary; That there are divers compound bodies, which may beresolv’d into four such differing Substances, as may as well merit thename of Principles, as those to which the Chymists freely give it. Forsince they scruple(198) not to reckon that which I call the compoundSpirit of Box, for the spirit, or as others would have it, the Mercuryof that Wood, I see not, why the Acid liquor, and the other, shouldnot each of them, especially that last named, be lookt upon as moreworthy to be called an Elementary Principle; since it must needs be ofa more simple nature then the Liquor, which was found to be divisibleinto that, and the Acid Spirit. And this further use (continuesCarneades) may be made of our experiment to my present purpose, thatit may give us a rise to suspect, that since a Liquor reputed by theChymists to be, without dispute, Homogeneous, is by so slight a waydivisible into two distinct and more simple Ingredients, some moreskilful or happier Experimenter then I may find a way either furtherto divide one of these Spirits, or to resolve some or other, if notall, of those other Ingredients of mixt Bodies, that have hithertopass’d among Chymists for their Elements or Principles.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Fourth Part.

ANd thus much (sayesCarneades) may suffice to be said of theNumber of the Distinct substances separable from mixt Bodies by theFire: Wherefore I now proceed to consider thenature of them, andshew you, That though they seemHomogeneous Bodies, yet have theynot the purity and simplicity that is requisite to Elements. And Ishould immediately proceed to the proof of my Assertion, but that theConfidence wherewith Chymists are wont to call each of the Substanceswe speak of by the name of Sulphur or Mercury, or the other of theHyposta(200)ticall Principles, and theintollerablnAmbiguity they allow themselvesie their Writings andExpressions, makes it necessary for me in Order to the Keeping youeither from mistaking me, or thinking I mistake the Controversie, totake Notice to you and complain of the unreasonable Liberty they givethemselves of playing with Names at pleasure. And indeed if I wereoblig’d in this Dispute, to have such regard to the Phraseology ofeach particular Chymist, as not to Write any thing which this or thatAuthor may not pretend, not to contradict this or that sence, which hemay give as Occasion serves to his Ambiguous Expressions, I shouldscarce know how to dispute, nor which way to turn myself. For I findthat even Eminent Writers, (such asRaymund Lully,Paracelsus andothers) do so abuse the termes they employ, that as they will now andthen give divers things, one name; so they will oftentimes give onething, many Names; and some of them (perhaps) such, as do much moreproperly signifie some Distinct Body of another kind; nay even inTechnical Words or Termes of Art,(201) they refrain not from thisConfounding Liberty; but will, as I have Observ’d, call the sameSubstance, sometimes the Sulphur, and Sometimes the Mercury of a Body.And now I speak of Mercury, I cannot but take Notice, that theDescriptions they give us of that Principle or Ingredient of mixtBodies, are so intricate, that even those that have Endeavour’d toPollish and Illustrate the Notions of the Chymists, are fain toconfess that they know not what to make of it, either by IngenuousAcknowledgments, or Descriptions that are not Intelligible.

I must confess (sayesEleutherius) I have, in the reading ofParacelsus and other Chymical Authors, been troubled to find, thatsuch hard Words and Equivocal Expressions, as You justly complain of,do even when they treat of Principles, seem to be studiously affectedby those Writers; whether to make themselves to be admir’d by theirReaders, and their Art appear more Venerable and Mysterious, or, (asthey would have us think) to conceal from them a Knowledge themselvesjudge inestimable.(202)

But whatever (sayesCarneades) these Men may promise themselves froma Canting way of delivering the Principles of Nature, they will findthe Major part of Knowing Men so vain, as when they understand notwhat they read, to conclude, that it is rather the Writers fault thentheir own. And those that are so ambitious to be admir’d by theVulgar, that rather then go without the Admiration of the Ignorantthey will expose themselves to the contempt of the Learned, thoseshall, by my consent, freely enjoy their Option. As for the MysticalWriters scrupling to Communicate their Knowledge, they might less totheir own Disparagement, and to the trouble of their Readers, haveconceal’d it by writing no Books, then by Writing bad ones. IfThemistius were here, he would not stick to say, that Chymists writethus darkly, not because they think their Notions too precious to beexplain’d, but because they fear that if they were explain’d, menwould discern, that they are farr from being precious. And indeed, Ifear that the chief Reason why Chymists have written so(203) obscurely oftheir three Principles, may be, That not having Clear and DistinctNotions of them themselves, they cannot write otherwise thenConfusedly of what they but Confusedly Apprehend: Not to say thatdivers of them, being Conscious to the Invalidity of their Doctrine,might well enough discerne that they could scarce keep themselves frombeing confuted, but by keeping themselves from being clearlyunderstood. But though much may be said to Excuse the Chymists whenthey write Darkly, and Ænigmatically, about the Preparation of theirElixir, and Some few other grandArcana, the divulging of whichthey may upon Grounds Plausible enough esteem unfit; yet when theypretend to teach the General Principles of Natural Philosophers, thisEquivocall Way of Writing is not to be endur’d. For in suchSpeculative Enquiries, where the naked Knowledge of the Truth is thething Principally aim’d at, what does he teach me worth thanks thatdoes not, if he can, make his Notion intelligible to me, but byMystical Termes, and Ambiguous Phrases darkens what he should clearup; and makes(204) me add the Trouble of guessing at the sence of what heEquivocally expresses, to that of examining the Truth of what he seemsto deliver. And if the matter of the Philosophers Stone, and themanner of preparing it, be such Mysteries as they would have the Worldbelieve them, they may Write Intelligibly and Clearly of thePrinciples of mixt Bodies in General, without Discovering what theycall the Great Work. But for my part (ContinuesCarneades) what myIndignation at this Un-philosophical way of teaching Principles hasnow extorted from me, is meant chiefly to excuse my self, if I shallhereafter oppose any Particular Opinion or assertion, that someFollower ofParacelsus or any Eminent Artist may pretend not to behis Masters. For, as I told you long since, I am not Oblig’d toexamine private mens writings, (which were a Labour as endless asunprofitable) being only engag’d to examine those Opinions about theTria Prima, which I find those Chymists I have met with to agree inmost: And I Doubt not but my Arguments against their Doctrine will bein great part ea(205)sily enough applicable ev’n to those privateOpinions, which they do not so directly and expresly oppose. Andindeed, that which I am now entering upon being the Consideration ofthe things themselves whereintoSpagyrists resolve mixt Bodies bythe Fire, If I can shew that these are not of an Elementary Nature, itwill be no great matter what names these or those Chymists have beenpleased to give them. And I question not that to a Wise man, andconsequently toEleutherius, 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 asChymists are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as theyuse to instance the several substances separated by the Fire from aMixt Body, as a sufficient proof of their being its componentElements: Yet those differing Substances are many of them farr enoughfrom Elementary simplicity, and may be yet look’d upon as mixt Bodies,most of them also retaining, somewhat at least, if not very much, ofthe Nature of those(206) Concretes whence they were forc’d.

I am glad (sayesEleutherius) to see the Vanity or Envy of thecanting Chymists thus discover’d and chastis’d; and I could wish, thatLearned Men would conspire together to make these deluding Writerssensible, that they must nolonge hopewith Impunity to abuse the World. For whilst such Men are quietlypermitted to publish Books with promising Titles, and therein toAssert what they please, and contradict others, and ev’n themselves asthey please, with as little danger of being confuted as of beingunderstood, they are encourag’d to get themselves a name, at the costof the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for thereason newly mention’d, to let their Books and Them alone: And theignorant and credulous (of which the number is still much greater thenthat of the other) are forward to admire most what they leastunderstand. But if Judicious men skill’d in Chymical affaires shallonce agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep menfrom being stunn’d, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words;’tis to be hop’d that(207) these men finding that they can no longer writeimpertinently and absurdly, without being laugh’d at for doing so,will be reduc’d either to write nothing, or Books that may teach ussomething, and not rob men, as formerly, of invaluable Time; and soceasing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we shalleither by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their silence escapean Inconvenience.

But after all this is said (continuesEleutherius) it may berepresented in favour of the Chymists, that, in one regard the Libertythey take in using names, if it be excusable at any time, may be moreso when they speak of the substances whereinto theirAnalysisresolves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name theirown Children, it has ever been allow’d to the Authors of newInventions, to Impose Names upon them. And therefore the subjects wespeak of being so the Productions of the Chymist’s Art, as not to beotherwise, but by it, obtainable; it seems but equitable to give theArtists leave to name them as they please: considering also that noneare so fit and likely to teach us what those Bo(208)dies are, as they towhom we ow’d them.

I told You already (sayesCarneades) that there is great Differencebetwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to givea Philosophical Account of them. And I will not now add, that many aMine-digger may meet, whilst he follows his work, with a Gemm or aMineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he shews it aJeweller or a Mineralist to be inform’d what it is. But that which Iwould rather have here observ’d, is, That the Chymists I am now indebate with have given up the Liberty You challeng’d for them, ofusing Names at Pleasure, and confin’d Themselves by theirDescriptions, though but such as they are, of their Principles; sothat although they might freely have call’d any thing theirAnalysispresents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, orwhat they pleas’d; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (forinstance) is a Primogeneal and simple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &c.they must give me leave to dis-believe them, if they tell me that aBody that is either compounded or uninflamable is(209) such a Sulphur; andto think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and someother Minerals abound with an Incombustible Sulphur, which is asproper an Expression, as a Sun-shine Night, or Fluid Ice.

But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to myFourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals;some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because Ihave Touched on them already.

And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage inHelmont;Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitioremulterioris & nobilioris qualitatis participem quā qui immediatè perdistillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vitæ dephlegmata, quodfacilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippedistillatum oleum absque laterum auttigularumadditamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert abejus oleitate; quæ elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partesdissimilares sola digestione & Salis circulati Paracelsiciappositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere & quantitatibuspristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in suiheterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum exoleo, prout & suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur,longéque ab aquæ vitæ acrimoniâ distinctus.—Helmont. Aura vitalis,pag. 725. which though I have not Found much heeded by hisReaders, He Himselfmentions as a notable thing, and I take to be avery considerable one; for whereas the Distill’d oyle ofoyle-olive,though(210) drawnper se is (as I have try’d) of a very sharp andfretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oylebeing only digested withParacelsus’s sal circulatum, is reduc’dinto dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing fromthe oyledistill’d, from sallet oyle; as alsothat by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet andgentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then thatwhich is immediately drawn by distillation and call’dDephlegm’d Aquavitæ, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote,although thesal circulatum that makes theseAnatomies beseparated from the Analyz’d Bodies, in the same weight and with thesame qualities it had before; which Affirmation ofHelmont if weadmit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very greatdisparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles,or several spirits) separable from compound Bodies: For, besides thedifferences I shall anon take notice of, betwixt those distill’d Oylesthat are commonly known to Chymists, it appears by this, that by meansof theSal Circulatum, There may(211) be quite another sort of Oylesobtain’d from the same Body; and who knowes but that there may be yetother Agents found in Nature, by whose help there may, whether byTransmutation or otherwise, be obtain’d from the Bodies Vulgarlycall’d Mixt, Oyles or other substances, Differing from those of thesame Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymists, or even toHelmont Himself: but for fear You should tell me, that this is but aconjecture grounded upon another Man’s Relation, whose Truth we havenot the means to Experiment, I will not Insist upon it; but leavingYou to Consider of it at leasure, I shall proceed to what is next.

Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion ofLucippus,Democritus, and other primeAnatomists of old, and is in our dayesreviv’d by no mean Philosophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, suchas Chymists use, consists of swarmes of little Bodies swiftly moving,which by their smallness and motion are able to permeate the sollidestand Compactest Bodies, and even Glass it Self; If this (I say) beTrue, since we see that In flints and other Concretes,(212) the Fiery partis Incorporated with the Grosser, it will not be Irrationall toconjecture, that multitudes of these Fiery Corpuscles, getting in atthe Pores of the Glass, may associate themselves with the parts of themixt Body whereon they work, and with them Constitute new Kinds ofCompound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections ofthe Parts of the Dissipated Body happen to dispose them, in Referenceto such Combinations; of which also there may be the greater Number;if it be likewise granted that the Corpuscles of the Fire, though allexceeding minute, and very swiftly moved, are not all of the samebigness, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Considerations toDiscourse to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I havenewly said, some particular Experiments by which I have been Deduc’dto think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon some Bodiesmay really Associate themselves therewith, and add to the Quantity.But because I am not so sure, that when the Fire works upon Bodiesincluded in Glasses, it does it by a reall Trajection(213) of the FieryCorpuscles themselves, through the Substance of the Glass, I willproceed to what is next to be mention’d.

I could (sayesEleutherius) help you to some Proofes, whereby Ithink it may be made very probable, that when the Fire actsimmediately upon a Body, some of its Corpuscles may stick to those ofthe burnt Body, as they seem to do in Quicklime, but in greaternumbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding YourProgress, I shall desire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time,and proceed as you intended.

You may then in the next place (sayesCarneades) observe with me,that not only there are some Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do notby 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-compoundBody that is Dissipable into several Substances, by being expos’d tothe Fire it may be resolv’d into such as are neither Elementary, norsuch as it was upon its last mixture Compounded of; but into new(214)Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You some Examples inSope, Sugar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we shall Consider that thereare some Bodies, as well Natural, (as that I last nam’d) asFactitious, manifestly De-compounded; That in the Bowells of the EarthNature may, as we see she sometimes does, make strange Mixtures; ThatAnimals are nourish’d with other Animals and Plants; And, that thesethemselves have almost all of them their Nutriment and Growth,either from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour’d in the Pores of theEarth,or from the Excrements of Animalls,or from the putrify’dBodies, either of living Creatures or Vegetables,or from otherSubstances of a Compounded Nature; If, I say, we consider this, it mayseem probable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not tomention those of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then mentake Notice of; And indeed, as I have formerly also observ’d, it doesnot at all appear, that all Mixtures must be of Elementary Bodies; butit seems farr more probable, that there are divers sorts of(215) compoundBodies, even in regard of all or some of their Ingredients, consider’dAntecedently to their Mixture. For though some seem to be made up bythe immediate Coalitions of the Elements, or Principles themselves,and therefore may be call’dPrima Mista, orMista Primaria; yet itseems that many other Bodies are mingl’d (if I may so speak) at thesecond hand, their immediate Ingredients being not Elementary, butthese primary Mixts newly spoken of; And from divers of theseSecondary sort of Mixts may result, by a further Composition, a Thirdsort, and so onwards. Nor is it improbable, that some Bodies are madeup of Mixt Bodies, not all of the same Order, but of several; as (forInstance) a Concrete may consist of Ingredients, whereof the one mayhave been a primary, the other a Secondary Mixt Body; (as I have inNative Cinnaber, by my way of Resolving it, found both that Courserthe part that seems more properly to be Oar,and a Combustible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps withoutany Ingredient of this latter sort, it may be compos’d of Mixt Bodies,some of(216) them of the first, and some of the third Kind; And this mayperhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens insome Chymical Preparations of those Medicines which they call theirBezoardicum’s. For first, they take Antimony and Iron, which may belook’d upon asPrima Mista; of these they compound a StarryRegulus, and to this they add according to their Intention, eitherGold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Composition. Tothis they add Sublimate, which is it self a De-compound body,(consisting of common Quicksilver, and divers Salts United bySublimation into a Crystalline Substance) and from this Sublimate, andthe other Metalline Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow’dto be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymistsaffirm it, that by this Art some of the Gold or Silver mingl’d withtheRegulus 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 waybrought over a(217) great Deal of Gold, in hope to do something furtherwith it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only miss’d of hisAim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz’d Gold out of theAntimonial butter, wherewith it is strictly united.

Now (ContinuesCarneades) if a Compound body consist of Ingredientsthat are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that theSubstances into which the Fire Dissolves it, though seeminglyHomogeneous enough, may be of a Compounded Nature, those parts of eachbody that are most of Kin associating themselves into a Compound of anew Kind. As when (for example sake) I have caus’d Vitrioll andSalArmoniack, and Salt Petre to be mingl’d and Destill’d together, theLiquor that came over manifested it self not to be either Spirit ofNitre, or ofSal Armoniack, or of Vitrioll. For none of these woulddissolve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; andthereby manifested it self to be a new Compound, consisting at leastof Spirit of Nitre, andSal Armoniack, (for the latter dissolv’d inthe former,(218) will Work on Gold) which nevertheless are not by anyknown way separable, and consequently would not pass for a Mixt Body,if we our selves did not, to obtain it, put and Distill togetherdivers 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 sucha simple Liquor as Chymists presume it, I mingl’d it with an equal ora Double Quantity (for I try’d the Experiment more then once) ofcommon Oyle of Turpentine, such as together with the other Liquor Ibought at the Drugsters. And having carefully (for the Experiment isNice, and somewhat dangerous) Distill’d the Mixture in a small GlassRetort, I obtain’d according to my Desire, (besides the two Liquors Ihad put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain substance, which stickingall about the Neck of the Retort Discover’d it self to be Sulphur, notonly by a very strong Sulphureous smell, and by the colour of(219)Brimstone; but also by this, That being put upon a coal, it wasimmediately kindl’d, and burn’d like common Sulphur. And of thisSubstance I have yet by me some little Parcells, which You may commandand examine when you please. So that from this Experiment I may deduceeither one, or both of these Propositions, That a real Sulphur may bemade by the Conjunction of two such Substances as Chymists take forElementary, And which did not either of them apart appear to have anysuch 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 yieldsit, may yet be so Compounded a body as to contain, besides its Salinepart, a Sulphur like common brimstone, which would hardly be it self asimple or un-compounded body.

I might (pursuesCarneades) remind You, that I formerly representedit, 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 ofDe-(220)compoundbody,there may result Mixts of an altogether new kind, bythe Coalition of Elements that never perhaps conven’d before. I might,I say, mind You of this, and add divers things to this secondConsideration; but for fear of wanting time I willingly pretermitthem, to pass on to the third, which is this, That the Fire does notalwayes barely resolve or take asunder, but may also after a newmanner mingle and compound together the parts (whether Elementary ornot) of the Body Dissipated by it.

This is so evident, sayesCarneades, in some obvious Examples, thatI cannot but wonder at their Supiness that have not taken notice ofit. For when Wood being burnt in a Chimney is dissipated by the Fireinto Smoke and Ashes, that smoke composes soot, which is so far frombeing any one of the principles of the Wood, that (as I noted above)you may by a furtherAnalysis separate five or six distinctsubstances from it. And as for the remaining Ashes, the Chymiststhemselves teach us, that by a further degree of fire they may beindissolubly united into glass. ’Tis true, that theA(221)nalysis whichthe Chymists principally build upon is made, not in the open air, butin close Vessels; but however, the Examples lately produc’d may inviteyou shrewdly to suspect, That heat may as well compound as dissipatethe Parts of mixt Bodies: and not to tell you, that I have known aVitrification made even in close vessels, I must remind you that theFlowers of Antimony, and those of Sulphur, are very mix’d Bodies,though they ascend in close vessells: And that ’twas in stopt glassesthat I brought up the whole Body of Camphire. And whereas it may beobjected, 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 bydistillation; I answer, That besides that ’tis possible, that a Bodymay be chang’d from Consistent to Fluid, or from Fluid to Consistent,without being otherwise much altered, as may appear by the Easinesswherewith in Winter, without any Addition or Separation of VisibleIngredients, the same substance may be quickly harden’d into brittleIce, and thaw’d again into Fluid Water; Besides this, I say it wouldbe consider’d, that common(222) Quick-silver it self, which the EminentestChymists confess to be a mixt Body, may be Driven over the Helme inits Pristine forme of Quicksilver, and consequently, in that of aLiquor. And certainly ’tis possible that very compounded Bodies mayconcur to Constitute Liquors; Since, not to mention that I have foundit possible, by the help of a certainMenstruum, to distill Gold itself through a Retort, even with a Moderate Fire: Let us but considerwhat happens in Butter of Antimony. For if that be carefullyrectify’d, it may be reduc’d into a very clear Liquor; and yet if Youcast a quantity of fair water upon it, there will quickly precipitatea Ponderous and Vomitive Calx, which made before a considerable partof the Liquor, and yet is indeed (though some eminent Chymists wouldhave it Mercurial) an Antimonial Body carryed over and kept dissolv’dby the Salts of the Sublimate, and consequently a compounded one; asYou may find if You will have the Curiosity to Examine this Whitepowder by a skilful Reduction. And that You may not think that Bodiesas compounded as flowers of Brimstone cannot be brought(223) to Concurr toConstitute Distill’d Liquors; And also That You may not imagine withDivers Learned Men that pretend no small skill in Chymistry, that atleast no mixt Body can be brought over the Helme, but by corrosiveSalts, I am ready to shew You, when You please, among other wayes ofbringing over Flowers of Brimstone (perhaps I might add even MineralSulphurs) some, wherein I employ none but Oleaginous bodies to makeVolatile Liquors, in which not only the colour, but (which is a muchsurer mark) the smell and some Operations manifest that there isbrought over a Sulphur that makes part of the Liquor.

One thing more there is,Eleutherius, sayesCarneades, which is sopertinent to my present purpose, that though I have touch’d upon itbefore, I cannot but on this occasion take notice of it. And it isthis, That the Qualities or Accidents, upon whose account Chymists arewont to call a portion of Matter by the name of Mercury or some otherof their Principles, are not such but that ’tis possible as Great (andtherefore why not the like?) may be produc’d by such changes(224) ofTexture, and other Alterations, as the Fire may make in the smallParts of a Body. I have already prov’d, when I discours’d of thesecond General Consideration, by what happens to plants nourish’d onlywith fair water, and Eggs hatch’d into Chickens, that by changing thedisposition of the component parts of a Body, Nature is able to effectas great Changes in a parcell of Matter reputed similar, as thoserequisite to Denominate one of theTria Prima. And thoughHelmontdo somewhere wittily call the Fire the Destructor and the ArtificialDeath of Things; And although another Eminent Chymist and Physitian bepleas’d to build upon this, That Fire can never generate any thing butFire; Yet You will, I doubt not, be of another mind, If You considerhow many new sorts of mixt Bodies Chymists themselves have produc’d bymeans of the Fire: And particularly, if You consider how that Nobleand Permanent Body, Glass, is not only manifestly produc’d by theviolent action of the Fire, but has never, for ought we know, beenproduc’d any other way. And indeed it seems but an inconsiderateAssertion of(225) someHelmontians, that every sort of Body of aPeculiar Denomination must be produc’d by some Seminal power; as Ithink I could evince, if I thought it so necessary, as it is for me tohasten 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 toproduce, not as upon Natural but Artificial Bodies. For there is notalwaies such a difference as many imagine betwixt the one and theother: Nor is it so easy as they think, clearly to assigne that whichProperly, Constantly, and Sufficiently, Discriminates them. But not toengage my self in so nice a Disquisition, it may now suffice toobserve, that a thing is commonly termed Artificial, when a parcel ofmatter is by the Artificers hand, or Tools, or both, brought to such ashape or Form, as he Design’d before-hand in his Mind: Whereas in manyof the Chymical Productions the effect would be produc’d whether theArtificer intended it or no; and is oftentimes very much other then heIntended or Look’t for; and the Instruments employ’d, are not ToolsArtificially fashion’d and(226) shaped, like those of Tradesmen, for thisor that particular Work; but, for the most part, Agents of Nature’sown providing, and whose chief Powers of Operation they receive fromtheir own Nature or Texture, not the Artificer. And indeed, the Fireis as well a Natural Agent as Seed: And the Chymist that imployes it,does but apply Natural Agents and Patients, who being thus broughttogether, and acting according to their respective Natures, performethe worke themselves; as Apples, Plums, or other fruit, are naturalProductions, though the Gardiner bring and fasten together the Sciensof the Stock, and both Water, and do perhaps divers other wayesContribute to its bearing fruit. But, to proceed to what I was goingto say, You may observe with me,Eleutherius, that, as I told Youonce before, Qualities sleight enough may serve to Denominate aChymical Principle. For, when they anatomize a compound Body by theFire, if they get a Substance inflamable, and that will not minglewith Water, that they presently call Sulphur; what is sapid andDissoluble in Water, that must pass for Salt; Whatsoever is(227) fix’d andindissoluble in Water, that they name Earth. And I was going to add,that, whatsoever Volatile substance they know not what to make of, notto say, whatsoever they please, that they call Mercury. But that theseQualities may either be produc’d, otherwise then by such as they callSeminal Agents, or may belong to bodies of a compounded Nature, may beshewn, among other Instances, in Glass made of ashes, where theexceeding strongly-tastedAlcalizate Salt joyning with the Earthbecomes insipid, and with it constitutes a Body, which though alsodry, 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, thatHelmont,Helmont pag. 412. amongstother Medicines that he commends, has a short processe, wherein,though the Directions for Practice are but obscurely intimated; yet Ihave some reason not to Dis-believe the Process, without affirming ordenying any thing about the vertues of the remedy to be made by it.Quando (sayes he)oleum cinnamomi &c. suo sali alkali misceturabsque omni aqua, trium mensium artificiosa occultaque circulatione,totum in salem vola(228)tilem commutatum est, vere essentiam sui simplicisin nobis exprimit, & usque in prima nostri constitutivasese ingerit.A not unlike Processe he delivers in another place; from whence, if wesuppose him to say true, I may argue, that since by the Fire there maybe produc’d a substance that is as well Saline and volatile as theSalt of Harts-horn, blood, &c. which pass for Elementary; and sincethat this Volatile Salt is really compounded of a Chymical Oyle and afixt Salt, the one made Volatile by the other, and both associated bythe fire, it may well be suspected that other Substances, emergingupon the Dissipation of Bodies by the Fire, may be new sorts of Mixts,and consist of Substances of differing natures; and particularly, Ihave sometimes suspected, that since the Volatile Salts of Blood,Harts-horn, &c. arefigitive and endow’d with anexceeding strong smell, either that Chymists do Erroneously ascribeall odours to sulphurs, or that such Salts consist of some oyly partswell incorporated with the Saline ones. And the like conjecture I havealso made concerning Spirit of Vinager, which, though the Chymiststhink one of the Principles(229) of that Body, and though being an AcidSpirit it seems to be much less of kin then Volatile Salts tosulphurs; yet, not to mention its piercing smell; which I know notwith what congruity the Chymist will deduce from Salt, I wonder theyhave not taken notice of what their ownTyrocinium ChymicumTyroc. Chym.
L. 1. C. 4. teach usconcerning the Destillation ofSaccharum Saturni; out of whichBeguinus assures Us, that he distill’d, besides a very finespirit, no lesse then two Oyles, the one blood-red and ponderous, butthe 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 hedelivers. And though I remember not that I have had two distinct Oylesfrom Sugar of Lead, yet that it will though distill’d without additionyield some Oyle, disagrees not with my Experience. I know the Chymistswill be apt to pretend, that these Oyls are but the volatiliz’dsulphur of the lead; and will perhaps argue it from whatBeguinusrelates, that when the Distillation is ended, you’l find aCaputMortuum extreamly black, and (as he speaks)nullius momenti, as ifthe Body, or at least the chief part of(230) the Metal it self were by thedistillation carried over the Helme. But since you know as well as IthatSaccharum Saturni is a kind of Magistery, made only bycalcining of Leadper se, dissolving it in distill’d Vinager, andcrystalizing the solution; if I had leasure to tell You how Differinga thing I did upon examination find theCaput Mortuum, so sleightedbyBeguinus, to be from what he represents it, I believe you wouldthink the conjecture propos’d less probable then one or other of thesethree; either that this Oyle did formerly concur to constitute theSpirit of Vinager, and so that what passes for a Chymical Principlemay yet be further resoluble into distinct substances; or that someparts of the Spirit together with some parts of the Lead mayconstitute a Chymical Oyle, which therefore though it pass forHomogeneous, may be a very compounded Body: or at least that by theaction of the Distill’d Vinager and the Saturnine Calx one uponanother, part of the Liquor may be so alter’d as to be transmuted froman Acid Spirit into an Oyle. And though the truth of either of the twoformer conjectures would make the example I(231) have reflected on morepertinent to my present argument; yet you’l easily discern, the Thirdand last Conjecture cannot be unserviceable to confirm some otherpassages of my discourse.

To return then to what I was saying just before I mention’dHelmont’s Experiment, I shall subjoyne, That Chymists must confessalso that in the perfectly Dephlegm’d spirit of Wine, or otherFermented Liquors, that which they call the Sulphur of the Concreteloses, by the Fermentation, the Property of Oyle, (which the Chymistslikewise take to be the true Sulphur of the Mixt) of being unminglablewith the Water. And if You will creditHelmont,Ostendi alias, quomodo lib. una aquæ vitæ combibita insale Tartari siccato, vix fiat semuncia salis, cæterum totum corpusfiat aqua Elementalis. Helmont. in Aura vitali.allof the purest Spirit of Wine may barely by the help of pureSalt of Tartar (which is but the fixed Salt of Wine) be resolv’d orTransmuted into scarce half an ounce of Salt, and as much ElementaryWater as amounts to the remaining part of the mention’d weight. And itmay (as I think I formerly also noted) be doubted, whether that Fixtand Alcalizate Salt, which is so unanimously agreed on to be theSaline Principle of incinerated Bodies, be not,(232) as ’tis Alcalizate, aProduction 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 thatSalt being very Acid is of a quite Differing Tast from the LixiviateSalt of Calcin’d Tartar. And though it be not truly Objected againstthe Chymists, that they obtain all Salts they make, by reducing theBody they work on into Ashes with Violent Fires, (since Hartshorn,Amber, Blood, and divers other Mixts yield a copious Salt before theybe burn’d to Ashes) yet this Volatile Salt Differs much, as we shallsee anon, from the Fixt Alcalizate Salt I speak of; which for ought Iremember 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. Andsome eminentSpagyrists, and evenRaimund Lully himself, teach,that meerly by the Fire Quicksilver may in convenient Vessels bereduc’d (at least in great part) into a thin Liquor like Water, andminglable with it. So that by the bare Action(233) of the Fire, ’tispossible, that the parts of a mixt Body should be so dispos’d afternew and differing manners, that it may be sometimes of oneconsistence, sometimes of another; And may in one State be dispos’d tobe mingl’d with Water, and in another not. I could also shew you, thatBodies from which apart Chymists cannot obtain any thing that isCombustible, may by being associated together, and by the help of theFire, afford an inflamable Substance. And that on the other side, ’tispossible for a Body to be inflamable, from which it would very muchpuzzle any ordinary Chymist; and perhaps any other, to separate aninflamable Principle or Ingredient. Wherefore, since the Principles ofChymists may receive their Denominations from Qualities, which itoften exceeds not the power of Art, nor alwayes that of the Fire toproduce; And since such Qualities may be found in Bodies that differso much in other Qualities from one another, that they need not beallow’d to agree in that pure and simple Nature, which Principles, tobe so indeed, must have; it may(234) justly be suspected, that manyProductions of the Fire that are shew’d us by Chymists, as thePrinciples of the Concrete that afforded them, may be but a new kindof Mixts. And to annex, on this Occasion, to these arguments takenfrom the Nature of the thing, one of those whichLogicians calladHominem, I shall desire You to take Notice, that thoughParacelsusHimself, 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 theElements themselves, and all the other Parts of the Universe, arecompos’d of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; yet the learnedSennertus,and all the more wary Chymists, have rejected that conceit, and domany of them confess, that theTria Prima are each of them made upof the four Elements; and others of them make Earth and Water concurwith Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to the Constitution of Mixt bodies. Sothat one sort of theseSpagyrists, notwithstanding the speciousTitles they give to the productions of the Fire, do in effect grantwhat I contend for. And, of the o(235)ther sort I may well demand, to whatKind of Bodies the Phlegme and dead Earth, to be met with in ChymicalResolutions, are to be referr’d? For either they must say, withParacelsus, but against their own Concessions as well as againstExperience, that these are also compos’d of theTria Prima, whereofthey cannot separate any one from either of them; or else they mustconfess that two of the vastest Bodies here below, Earth, and Water,are neither of them compos’d of theTria Prima; and thatconsequently those three are not the Universal, and AdequateIngredients, neither of all Sublunary Bodies, nor even of all mixtBodies.

I know that the chief of these Chymists represent, that though theDistinct Substances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire,are not pure and Homogeneous; yet since the four Elements into whichtheAristotelians pretend to resolve the like bodies by the sameAgent, are not simple neither, as themselves acknowledge, ’tis asallowable for the Chymists to call the one Principles, as for thePeripateticks to call the other Elements; since in both cases the(236)Imposition of the name is grounded only upon the Predominancy of thatElement whose name is ascrib’d to it. Nor shall I deny, that thisArgument of the Chymists is no ill one against theAristotelians.But what Answer can it prove to me, who you know am disputing againsttheAristotelian Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and must notlook upon any body as a true Principle or Element, but as yetcompounded, which is not perfectly Homogeneous, but is furtherResoluble into any number of Distinct Substances how small soever. Andas for the Chymists calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, uponpretence that the Principle of the same name is predominant in it,That it self is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely thatthese productions of the Fire, are yet compounded bodies. And yetwhilst this is granted, it is affirm’d, but not prov’d, that thereputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, consists mainly of one body thatdeserves the name of a principle of the same Denomination. For how doChymists make it appear that there are any such primitive and simplebo(237)dies in those we are speaking of; since ’tis upon the matterconfess’d by the answer lately made, that these are not such? And ifthey pretend by Reason to evince what they affirm, what becomes oftheir confident boasts, that theChymists (whom theytherefore, afterBeguinus, call aPhilosophus orOpifexSensatus) can convince our Eyes, by manifestly shewing in any mixtbody those simple substances he teaches them to be compos’d of? Andindeed, for the Chymists to have recourse in this case to other proofsthen Experiments, as it is to wave the grand Argument that has allthis while been given out for a Demonstrative One; so it releases mefrom the obligation to prosecute a Dispute wherein I am not engag’d toExamine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plausibly Enoughbe Represented, in favour of the Chymists, that it being evident thatmuch the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, orMercury, is really such; it would be very rigid to deny thoseSubstances the names ascribed them, only because of some sleightmixture of another Body; since not only the Peripateticks callparticular parcels of(238) matter Elementary, though they acknowledge thatElements are not to be anywhere found pure, at least here below; Andsince especially there is a manifest Analogie and Resemblance betwixtthe bodies obtainable by Chymical Anatomies and the principles whosenames are given them; I have, I say, consider’d that these things maybe represented: But as for what is drawn from the Custome of thePeripateticks, I have already told You, that though it may be employ’dagainst Them, Yet it is not available against me who allow nothing tobe an Element that is not perfectly Homogeneous. And whereas it isalledg’d, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to thesubstance wherein it abounds; I answer, that that might much morereasonably be said, if either we or the Chymists had seen Nature takepure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mercury, and compound of them everysort of Mixt Bodies. But, since ’tis to experience that they appeal,we must not take it for granted, that the Distill’d Oyle (forinstance) of a plant is mainly compos’d of the pure principle call’dSulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof,(239) that there is inthat sort of Plants such an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for thespecious argument, which is drawn from the Resemblance betwixt theProductions of the Fire, and the Respective, eitherAristotelianElements, orChymical Principles, by whose names they are call’d; itwill appear more plausible then cogent, if You will but recall to mindthe state of the controversie; which is not, whether or no there beobtain’d from mixt Bodies certain substances that agree in outwardappearance, or in some Qualities with Quicksilver or Brimstone, orsome such obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodiesconfess’d to be perfectly mixt were compos’d of, and are resolubleinto a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keepthe state of the question in your Eye, you’l easily discerne thatthere is much of what should be Demonstrated, left unprov’d by thoseChymical Experiments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I havealready discover’d more at large) I shall now take notice, that itwill not presently follow, that because a Production of the Fire hassome affinity with some of the greater Masses(240) of matter here below,that therefore they are both of the same Nature, and deserve the sameName; for the Chymists are not content, that flame should be look’tupon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, andactive, because it wants some other Qualities belonging to the natureof Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call Ashes, orQuicklime, Earth, notwithstanding the many likenesses between them;because they are not tastlesse, as Elementary Earth ought to be: Butif you should ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomiesof Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they consist of the threePrinciples into which the fire resolves them? I answer, that theirDissections may be granted to prove, that some mixt bodies (for inmany it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included inclose Vessels, (for that Condition also is often requisite)dissolubeinto several Substances differing insome Qualities, but principally in Consistence. So that out of most ofthem may be obtain’d a fixt substance partly saline, and partlyinsipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or(241) more that withoutbeing unctuous have a manifest taste. Now if Chymists will agree tocall the dry and sapid substance salt, the Unctous liquor Sulphur, andthe other Mercury, I shall not much quarrel with them for so doing:But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are simpleand primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, andwhich was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, theymust give me leave to doubt whether (whatever their other argumentsmay do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will also tellme that the Substances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, arepure and similar, as Principles ought to be, they must give me leaveto believe my own senses; and their own confessions, before their bareAssertions. And that you may not (Eleutherius) think I deal sorigidly with them, because I scruple to Take these Productions of theFire for such as the Chymists would have them pass for, upon theaccount of their having some affinity with them; consider a littlewith me, that in regard an Element or Principle ought to be perfectlySimilar and(242) Homogeneous, there is no just cause why I should rathergive the body propos’d the Name of this or that Element or Principle,because it has a resemblance to it in some obvious Quality, ratherthen deny it that name upon the account of divers other Qualities,wherein the propos’d Bodies are unlike; and if you do but considerwhat sleight and easily producible qualities they are that suffice, asI have already more then once observ’d, to Denominate a ChymicalPrinciple or an Element, you’l not, I hope, think my wariness to bedestitute either of Example, or else of Reason. For we see that theChymists will not allow theAristotelians that the Salt in Ashesought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Terrestrial partsymbolize in weight, in dryness, in fixness and fusibility, onlybecause the one is sapid and dissoluble in Water, and the other not:Besides, we see that sapidness and volatility are wont to denominatethe Chymists Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you,may agree in those Qualities which may yet be of very differingnatures, and disagree in qualities either more numerous, or moreconsiderable, or both. For(243) not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua Fortis,Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit ofVinager, and all Saline Liquors Distill’d from Animal Bodies, but allthe Acetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All these, Isay, and many others must belong to the Chymists Mercury, though itappear not why some of them should more be comprehended under onedenomination then the Chymists Sulphur, or Oyle should likewise be;for their Distill’d Oyles are also Fluid, Volatile, and Tastable, aswell as their Mercury; Nor is it Necessary, that their Sulphur shouldbe Unctuous or Dissoluble in Water, since they generally referr Spiritof Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and willfreely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability must constitutethe Essence of the Chymists Sulphur; as uninflamablenesse joyned withany 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 andSpirit of Harts-horne being pour’d together will boile(244) and hisse andtosse up one another into the air, which the Chymists make signes ofgreat Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed these Spiritsdiffer much both in Taste, Smell, and Operations;) Since I elsewheretell you of my having made two sorts of Oyle out of the same mansblood, that would not mingle with one another; And since I might tellYou Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodieswhich according to the Chymists must be huddl’d up together under oneDenomination; I leave you to Judge whether such a multitude ofSubstances as may agree in these sleight Qualities, and yet Disagreein Others more Considerable, are more worthy to be call’d by the Nameof a Principle (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to haveappellations given them that may make them differ, in name too, fromthe bodies from which they so wildly differ in Nature. And hence also,by the bye, you may perceive that ’tis not unreasonable to distrustthe Chymists way of Argumentation, when being unable to shew us that(245)such a Liquor is (for Example) purely saline, they prove, that atleast salt is much the predominant principle, because that thepropos’d substance is strongly tasted, and all Tast proceeds fromsalt; whereas those Spirits, such as spirit of Tartar, spirit ofHarts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries ofthe Bodies that afford them, have manifestly a strong and piercingtast, and so has (according to what I formerly noted) the spirit ofBox &c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr’d to compose it hasbeen separated from it. And indeed, if sapidness belong not to thespirit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I scarce knowhow it will be discriminated from their phlegm, since by the absenceof Inflamability it must be distinguish’d from their sulphur, whichaffords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the ChymicalDoctrine is in our present Case; since not only the spirits ofVegitables and Animals, but their Oyles are very strongly tasted, ashe that shall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or ofCloves, or even of Turpentine, may quickly find, to his smart. And notonly I(246) never try’d any Chymical Oyles whose tast was not verymanifest and strong; but a skilful and inquisitive person who made ithis business by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, andreduce them to an Elementary simplicity, Informes us, that he neverwas able to make them at all Tastless; whence I might inferr, that theproof Chymists confidently give us of a bodies being saline, is so farfrom demonstrating the Predominancy, that it does not clearly Evinceso much as the presence of the saline Principle in it. But I will not(pursuesCarneades) remind you, that the Volatile salt ofHarts-horn, Amber, Blood, &c. are exceeding strongly scented,notwithstanding that most Chymists deduce Odours from Sulphur, andfrom them argue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorousbody, because I must not so much as add any new Examples of theincompetency of this sort of Chymical arguments; since having alreadydetain’d You but too long in those generals that appertain to myfourth consideration, ’tis time that I proceed to the particularsthemselves, to which I thought fit they should be previous:(247)

These Generals (continuesCarneades) being thus premis’d, we mightthe better survey the Unlikeness that an attentive and unprepossess’dobserver may take notice of in each sort of Bodies which the Chymistsare wont to call the salts or sulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretesthat yield Them, as if they had all a simplicity, and Identity ofNature: whereas salts if they were all Elementary would as littlediffer as do the Drops of pure and simple Water. ’Tis known that bothChymists and Physitians ascribe to the fixt salts of calcin’d Bodiesthe vertues of their concretes; and consequently very differingOperations. So we find theAlkali of Wormwood much commended indistempers of the stomach; that of Eyebright for those that have aweak sight; and that ofGuaiacum (of which a great Quantity yieldsbut a very little salt) is not only much commended in VenerealDiseases, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, whichyet I have not had occasion to try. And though, I confess, I have longthought, that theseAlkalizate salts are, for the most part, veryneer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of(248) theConcretes whence they were separated; Yet being minded to Observewatchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this GeneralObservation, I observ’d at the Glasse-house, that sometimes the Metal(as the Workmen call it) or Masse of colliquated Ingredients, which byBlowing they fashion into Vessels of divers shapes, did sometimesprove of a very differing colour, and a somewhat differing Texture,from what was usuall. And having enquired whether the cause of suchAccidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixtsalt employ’d to bring the sand to fusion, I found that the knowingstWorkmen imputed these Mis-adventures to theAshes, ofsome certain kind of Wood, as having observ’d the ignobler kindof Glass I lately mention’d to be frequently produc’d when they hademploy’d such sorts of Ashes which therefore they scruple to make useof, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember also, that anIndustrious Man of my acquaintance having bought a vast quantity ofTobacco stalks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curiosity to go seewhether that Exotick Plant, which(249) so much abounds in volatile salt,would afford a peculiar kind ofAlcali; and I was pleas’d to findthat in theLixivium of it, it was not necessary, as is usual, toevaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain’d a Saline Calx,consisting like lime quench’d in the Air of a heap of littleCorpuscles of unregarded shapes; but the fixt salt shot into figur’dCrystal, almost as Nitre orSal-armoniack and other uncalcin’d saltsare wont to do; And I further remember that I have observ’d in thefixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a tast notso unlike to that of common salt, and very differing from the wontedcaustick Lixiviate tast of other salts made by Incineration. Butbecause the Instances I have alledg’d of the Difference ofAlcalizate salt are but few, and therefore I am still inclin’d tothink, that most Chymists and many Physitians do, inconsideratlyenough and without Warrant from Experience, ascribe the Vertues of theConcretes expos’d to Calcination, to the salts obtain’d by it; I shallrather, to shew the Disparity of salts, mention in the first Place theapparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt salts and the(250) AnimalVolatile ones: As (for Example) betwixt salt of Tartar, and salt ofHarts-horn; whereof the former is so fixt that ’twill indure the bruntof 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) isso far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat aseasily as Spirit of Wine it self. And to this I shall add, in the nextplace, That even among the Volatile salts themselves, there is aconsiderable Difference, as appears by the distinct Properties of (forInstance) salt of Amber, salt of Urine, salt of Mans Skull, (so muchextoll’d against the falling Sicknesse) and divers others which cannotescape an ordinary Observer. And this Diversity of Volatile salts Ihave observ’d to be somtimes Discernable even to the Eye, in theirFigures. For the salt of Harts-horn I have observ’d to adhere to theReceiver in the forme almost of aParallelipipedon; and of theVolatile salt of humane blood (long digested before distillation, withspirit of Wine) I can shew you store of graines of that Figure whichGeometricians call aRhombus; though I dare not(251) undertake thatthe 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’dto force them up, or how hastily soever they have been made to convenein the spirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have usuallyobserv’d them after a while to shoot. And although, as I lately toldYou, I seldom found any Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixtSalts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have suspected that mostof these volatile Salts, having so great a Resemblance in smell, intast, and fugitiveness, differ but little, if at all, in theirMedicinal properties: As indeed I have found them generally to agreein divers of them (as in their being somewhat Diaphoretick and veryDeopilative; Yet I rememberHelmontError vero per distillationem nobis monstrat etiamSpiritum salinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gustudistinguibilem a spiritu Urinæ; In eo tamen essentialiter diversum,quod spiritus talis cruoris curat Epilepsiam, non autem Spiritus salislotii. Helmont. Aura Vitalis.somewhere informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt thesaline spirit of Urine and that of Mans blood, that the former willnot cure the Epilepsy,(252) but the Latter will. Of the Efficacy also ofthe Salt of Common Amber against the same Disease in Children, (for inGrown Persons it is not a specifick) I may elsewhere have an Occasionto Entertain You. And when I consider that to the obtaining of theseVolatile Salts (especially that of Urine) there is not requisite sucha Destructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get those Saltsthat must be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude,that they may differ from one another, and consequently recede from anElementary Simplicity. And, if I could here shew You what Mr.Boylehas Observ’d, touching the Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts;You would quickly discern, not only that Chymists do give themselves astrange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to theirown Rules to be look’d upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that amongthose very Salts that seem Elementary, because produc’d upon theAnatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a visibleDisparity, but, to speak in the common Lan(253)guage, a manifest Antipathyor Contrariety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hissing that iswont to ensue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for Instance, ispour’d upon pot ashes, or Salt of Tartar. And I shall beg leave ofthis Gentleman, sayesCarneades, casting his Eyes on me, to let meobserve to You out of some of his papers, particularly those whereinhe treats of some Preparations of Urine, that not only one and thesame body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he exemplifiesin the Spirit andAlkali of Nitre; but that from the same body theremay without addition be obtain’d three differing and Visible Salts.For He Relates, that he observ’d in Urine, not only a Volatile andCrystalline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewise a kind ofSalArmoniack, or such a Salt as would sublime in the form of a salt, andtherefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being so fugitive as theVolatile salt; from which it seem’d also otherwise to differ. I haveindeed suspected that this may be aSal Armoniack properly enough socall’d, as Compounded of the Volatile salt of Urine, and the fixt(254) ofthe same Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike sea-salt; but thatit self argues a manifest Difference betwixt the salts, since such aVolatile salt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordinaryAlcali, butto 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 betwixtthe fixt and Volatile salt (of the same Concrete) Wood, I devis’d thefollowing Experiment. I took common Venetian sublimate, and dissolv’das 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 filtratingthe Water, as soon as I found theLixivium sufficiently sharp uponthe tongue, I reserv’d it for use: Then on part of the former solutionof sublimate dropping a little of this Dissolv’d Fixt salt of Wood,the Liquors presently turn’d of an Orange Colour; but upon the otherpart of the clear solution of sublimate putting some of the Volatilesalt of Wood (which abounds in the spirit of soot) the Liquorimmediately turn’d white, almost like Milke, and af(255)ter a while letfall a white sediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To allthis that I have said concerning the Difference of salts, I might addwhat I Formerly told you, concerning the simple spirit of Box, andsuch like Woods, which differ much from the other salts hithertomention’d, and yet would belong to the saline Principle, if Chymistsdid truly teach that all Tasts proceed from it. And I might alsoannex, what I noted to you out ofHelmontAliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &c. suo sali Alcali misceturabsque omni aqua, trium mensium Artificiosa occultaque circulatione,totum in salem volatilem commutatum est. Helmont. Tria PrimaChymicorum, &c. pag. 412. concerning Bodies,which, though they consist in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yetappear but Volatile salts; But to insist on these things, were torepeat; and therefore I shall proceed.

This Disparity is also highly eminent in the separated sulphurs orChymical Oyles of things. For they contain so much of the scent, andtast, and vertues, of the Bodies whence they were drawn, that theyseem to be but the MaterialCrasis (if I may so speak) of theirConcretes. Thus the Oyles of Cinna(256)mon, Cloves, Nutmegs and otherspices, seem to be but the United Aromatick parts that did ennoblethose Bodies. And ’tis a known thing, that Oyl of Cinnamon, and oyleof Cloves, (which I have likewise observ’d in the Oyles of severalWoods) will sink to the Bottom of Water: whereas those of Nutmegs anddivers other Vegetables will swim upon it. The Oyle (abusively call’dspirit) of Roses swims at the Top of the Water in the forme of a whitebutter, which I remember not to have observ’d in any other Oyle drawnin any Limbeck; yet there is a way (not here to be declar’d) by whichI have seen it come over in the forme of other Aromatick Oyles, to theDelight and Wonder of those that beheld it. In Oyle of Anniseeds,which I drew both with, and without Fermentation, I observ’d the wholeBody of the Oyle in a coole place to thicken into the Consistence andAppearance of white Butter, which with the least heat resum’d itsFormer Liquidness. In the Oyl of Olive drawn over in a Retort, I havelikewise more then once seen a spontaneous Coagulation in the(257)Receiver: And I have of it by me thus Congeal’d; which is of such astrangely Penetrating scent, as if ’twould Perforate the Noses thatapproach it. The like pungent Odour I also observ’d in the Distill’dLiquor of common sope, which forc’d over fromMinium, latelyafforded an oyle of a most admirable Penetrancy; And he must be agreat stranger, both to the Writings and preparations of Chymists,that sees not in the Oyles they distill from Vegetables and Animals, aconsiderable and obvious Difference. Nay I shall venture to add,Eleutherius, (what perhaps you will think of kin to a Paradox) thatdivers times out of the same Animal or Vegetable, there may beextracted Oyles of Natures obviously differing. To which purpose Ishall not insist on the swimming and sinking Oyles, which I havesometimes observ’d to float on, and subside under the spirit ofGuajacum, and that of divers other Vegetables Distill’d with astrong and lasting Fire; Nor shall I insist on the observationelsewhere mention’d, of the divers and unminglable oyles afforded usby Humane Blood long fermented and(258) Digested with spirit of Wine,because these kind of oyles may seem chiefly to differ in Consistenceand Weight, being all of them high colour’d and adust. But theExperiment which I devis’d to make out this Difference of the oyles ofthe same Vegetable,ad Oculum, (as they speak) was this thatfollowes. I took a pound of Annisseeds, and having grosly beaten them,caused them to be put into a very large glass Retort almost filledwith fair Water; and placing this Retort in a sand Furnace, I caus’d avery Gentle heat to be administer’d during the first day, and a greatpart 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 andAromatick Oyle of the seeds. And then encreasing the Fire, andchanging the Receiver, I obtain’d besides an Empyreumatical Spirit, aquantity of adust oyle; whereof a little floated upon the Spirit, andthe rest was more heavy, and not easily separable from it. And whereasthese oyles were very dark, and smell’d (as Chymists speak) sostrongly of the Fire, that their Odour(259) did not betray from whatVegetables they had been forc’d; the otherAromatick Oyle wasenrich’d with the genuine smell and tast of the Concrete; andspontaneously coagulating it self into white butter did manifestselfto be the true Oyle of Annisseeds; which Concrete Itherefore chose to employ about this Experiment, that the Differenceof these Oyles might be more conspicuous then it would have been, hadI instead of it destill’d another Vegetable.

I had almost forgot to take notice, that there is another sort ofBodies, which though not obtain’d from Concretes by Distillation, manyChymists are wont to call their Sulphur; not only because suchsubstances are, for the most part, high colour’d (whence they arealso, and that more properly, called Tinctures) as dissolv’d Sulphursare 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. Andupon this account they presume, that they can sequester the sul(260)phureven of Minerals and Metalls; from which ’tis known that they cannotby Fire alone separate it. To all This I shall answer; That if thesesequestred substances where indeed the sulphurs of the Bodies whencethey are drawn, there would as well be a great Disparity betwixtChymical Sulphurs obtain’d by Spirit of Wine, as I have already shewnthere is betwixt those obtain’d by Distillation in the forme of Oyles:which will be evident from hence, that not to urge that themselvesascribe distinct vertues to Mineral Tinctures, extolling the Tinctureof Gold against such and such Diseases; the Tincture of Antimony, orof its Glass, against others; and the Tincture of Emerauld againstothers; ’tis plain, that in Tinctures drawn from Vegetables, if thesuperfluous spirit of Wine be distill’d off, it leaves at the bottomthat thicker substance which Chymists use to call the Extract of theVegetable. And that these Extracts are endow’d with very differingQualities according to the Nature of the Particular Bodies thatafforded them (though I fear seldom with so much of the specifickvertues as is wont to be imagin’d) is freely confess’d(261) both byPhysitians and Chymists. But,Eleutherius, (sayesCarneades) wemay here take Notice that the Chymists do as well in this case, as inmany others, allow themselves a License to abuse Words: For not againto argue from the differing properties of Tinctures, that they are notexactly pure and Elementary Sulphurs; they would easily appear not tobe so much as Sulphur’s, although we should allow Chymical Oyles todeserve that Name. For however in some Mineral Tinctures the Naturalfixtness of the extracted Body does not alwayes suffer it to be easilyfurther resoluble into differing substances; Yet in very many extractsdrawn from Vegetables, it may very easily be manifested that thespirit of Wine has not sequestred the sulphureous Ingredient from thesaline and Mercurial ones; but has dissolv’d (for I take it to be aSolution) the finer Parts of the Concrete (without making any nicedistinction of their being perfectly Sulphureous or not) and united itself with them into a kind of Magistery; which consequently mustcontain Ingredients or Parts of several sorts. For we see that thestones that are rich in vitriol,(262) being often drench’d withrain-Water, the Liquor will then extract a fine and transparentsubstance coagulable into Vitriol; and yet though this Vitriol bereadily dissoluble in Water, it is not a true Elementary Salt, but, asYou know, a body resoluble into very differing Parts, whereof one (asI shall have occasion to tell You anon) is yet of a Metalline, andconsequently not of an Elementary Nature. You may consider also, thatcommon Sulphur is readily dissoluble in Oyle of Turpentine, thoughnotwithstanding its Name it abounds as well, if not as much, in Saltas in true Sulphur; witness the great quantity of saline Liquor itaffords being set to flame away under a glasse Bell. Nay I have, whichperhaps You will think strange, with the same Oyle of Turpentine aloneeasily enough dissolv’d crude Antimony finely powder’d into aBlood-red Balsam, wherewith perhaps considerable things may beperform’d in Surgery. And if it were now Requisite, I could tell Youof some other Bodies (such as Perhaps You would not suspect) that Ihave been able to work upon with certain Chymical Oyles. But insteadof digressing further(263) I shall make this use of the Example I havenam’d. That ’tis not unlikely, but that Spirit of Wine which by itspungent tast, and by some other Qualities that argue it better(especially its Reduciblenesse, according toHelmont, intoAlcali,and Water,) seems to be as well of a Saline as of a SulphureousNature, may well be suppos’d Capable of Dissolving Substances That arenot meerly Elementary sulphurs, though perhaps they may abound withParts that are of kin thereunto. For I find that Spirit of Wine willdissolveGumm Lacca,Benzoine, and theResinous Parts ofJallap, and even ofGuaiacum; whence we may well suspect that itmay from Spices, Herbs, and other lesse compacted Vegetables, extractsubstances that are not perfect Sulphurs but mixt Bodies. And to putit past Dispute, there is many a Vulgar Extract drawn with Spirit ofWine, which committed to Distillation will afford such differingsubstances as will Loudly proclaim it to have been a very compoundedBody. So that we may justly suspect, that even in Mineral Tinctures itwill not alwaies follow, that because a red substance(264) is drawn fromthe Concrete by spirit of Wine, that Substance is its true andElementary Sulphur. And though some of these Extracts may perhaps beinflamable; Yet besides that others are not, and besides that theirbeing reduc’d to such Minuteness of Parts may much facilitate theirtaking Fire; besides this, I say, We see that common Sulphur, commonOyle, Gumm Lac, and many Unctuous and Resinous Bodies, will flame wellenough, though they be of very compounded natures: Nay Travellers ofUnsuspected Credit assure Us, as a known thing, that in some NorthernCountries where Firr trees and Pines abound, the poorer sort ofInhabitants use Long splinters of those Resinous Woods to burneinstead of Candles. And as for the rednesse wont to be met with insuch solutions, I could easily shew, that ’tis not necessary it shouldproceed from the Sulphur of the Concrete, Dissolv’d by the Spirit ofWine; if I had leasure to manifest how much Chymists are wont todelude themselves and others by the Ignorance of those other causesupon whose account spirit of Wine and otherMenstruums may acquire(265)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, asthe best spirit of Wine is, but the more inflamable and deflagrable.And therefore since an Oyle can be by the Fire alone immediatelyturn’d into flame, which is something of a very differing Nature fromit: I shall Demand how this Oyle can be a Primogeneal andIncorruptible Body, as most Chymists would have their Principles;Since it is further resoluble into flame, which whether or no it be aportion of the Element of Fire, as anAristotelian would conclude,is certainly something of a very differing Nature from a ChymicalOyle, since it burnes, and shines, and mounts swiftly upwards; none ofwhich a Chymical Oyle does, whilst it continues such. And if it shouldbe Objected, that the Dissipated Parts of this flaming Oyle may becaught and collected again into Oyl or Sulphur; I shall demand, whatChymist appears to have ever done it; and without Examining whether itmay not hence be as well said that sulphur is but compacted Fire, asthat Fire is but(266) diffus’d Sulphur, I shall leave you to considerwhether it may not hence be argu’d, that neither Fire nor Sulphur areprimitive and indestructible Bodies; and I shall further observe that,at least it will hence appear that a portion of matter may withoutbeing Compounded with new Ingredients, by having the Texture andMotion of its small parts chang’d, be easily, by the means of theFire, endow’d with new Qualities, more differing from them it hadbefore, then are those which suffice to discriminate the ChymistsPrinciples from one another.

We are next to Consider, whether in the Anatomy of mixt Bodies, thatwhich Chymists call the Mercurial part of them be un-compounded, orno. But to tell You True, though Chymists do Unanimously affirm thattheir Resolutions discover a Principle, which they call Mercury, yet Ifind them to give of it Descriptions so Differing, and soÆnigmaticall, that I, who am not asham’d to confess that I cannotunderstand what is not sence, must acknowledge to you that I know notwhat to make of them.Paracelsus himself, and(267) therefore, as youwill easily believe, many of his Followers, does somewhere call thatMercury which ascends upon the burning of Wood, as the Peripateticksare wont to take the same smoke for Air; and so seems to defineMercury by Volatility, or (if I may coyne such a Word) Effumability.But since, in this Example, both Volatile Salt and Sulphur make partof the smoke, which does indeed consist also both of Phlegmatick andTerrene Corpuscles, this Notion is not to be admitted; And I find thatthe more sober Chymists themselves disavow it. Yet to shew you howlittle of clearness we are to expect in the accounts even of latterSpagyrists, be pleas’d to take notice, thatBeguinus, even in hisTyrocinium Chymicum,Chm. Tyrocin. lib. 1. Cap. 2. written for the Instruction of Novices,when he comes to tell us what are meant by theTria Prima, which fortheir being Principles ought to be defin’d the more accurately andplainly, gives us this Description of Mercury;Mercurius (sayes he)est liquor ille acidus, permeabilis, penetrabilis, æthereus, acpurissimus, a quo omnis Nutricatio, Sensus, Motus, Vires, Colores,Senectutisque Præproperæ retarda(268)tio. Which words are not so much aDefinition of it, as anEncomium: and yetQuercetanus in hisDescription of the same Principle adds to these, divers otherEpithets. But both of them, to skip very many other faults that maybe found with their Metaphoricall Descriptions, speak incongruously tothe Chymists own Principles. For if Mercury be an Acid Liquor, eitherHermetical Philosophy must err in ascribing all Tasts to Salt, or elseMercury must not be a Principle, but Compounded of a Saline Ingredientand somewhat else.Libavius, though he find great fault with theobscurity of what the Chymists write concerning their MercurialPrinciple, does yet but give us such a Negative Description of it, asSennertus, how favourable soever to theTria Prima, is notsatisfi’d with. And thisSennertus Himself, though the LearnedstChampion for the Hypostatical Principles, does almost as frequently asjustly complain of the unsatisfactoriness of what the Chymists teachconcerning their Mercury; and yet he himself (but with his wontedmodesty) Substitutes instead of the Description(269) ofLibavius,another, which many Readers, especially if they be not Peripateticks,will not know what to make of. For scarce telling us any more, thenthat in all bodies that which is found besides Salt and Sulphur, andthe Elements, or, as they call them, Phlegm and Dead Earth, is thatSpirit which inAristotles Language may be call’dουσιαν αναλογον τω τωναϛρων ϛοιχαιω.He sayes that which I confess is not at allsatisfactory to me, who do not love to seem to acquiesce in any mansMystical Doctrines, that I may be thought to understand them.

If (sayesEleutherius) I durst presume that the same thing would bethought clear by me, and those that are fond of such cloudyExpressions as You justly Tax the Chymists for, I should venture tooffer to Consideration, whether or no, since the Mercurial Principlethat arises from Distillation is unanimously asserted to be distinctfrom the salt and Sulphur of the same Concrete, that may not be call’dthe Mercury of a Body, which though it ascend in Distillation, as dothe Phlegme and Sulphur, is neither insipid like the former, norinfla(270)mable like the latter. And therefore I would substitute to thetoo much abused Name of Mercury, the more clear and FamiliarAppellation of Spirit, which is also now very much made use of even bythe Chymists themselves, of our times, though they have not given usso Distinct an Explication, as were fit, of what may be call’d theSpirit of a mixt Body.

I should not perhaps (sayesCarneades) much quarrel with your Notionof Mercury. But as for the Chymists, what they can mean, withcongruity to their own Principles, by the Mercury of Animals andVegetables, ’twill not be so easie to find out; for they ascribe Tastsonly to the Saline Principle, and consequently would be much put to itto shew what Liquor it is, in the Resolution of Bodies, that not beinginsipid, for that they call Phlegme, neither is inflamable as Oyle orSulphur, nor has any Tast; which according to them must proceed from aMixture, at least, of Salt. And if we should take Spirit in the senceof the Word receiv’d among Modern Chymists and Physitians, for anyDistill’d Liquor that(271) is neither Phlegme nor oyle, the Appellationwould yet appear Ambiguous enough. For, plainly, that which firstascends in the Distillation of Wine and Fermented Liquors, isgenerally as well by Chymists as others reputed a Spirit. And yet pureSpirit of Wine being wholly inflamable ought according to them to bereckon’d to the Sulphureous, not the Mercurial Principle. And amongthe other Liquors that go under the name of Spirits, there are diverswhich seem to belong to the family of Salts, such as are the Spiritsof Nitre, Vitriol, Sea-Salt and others, and even the Spirit ofHarts-horn, being, as I have try’d, in great part, if not totallyreducible into Salt and Phlegme, may be suspected to be but a VolatileSalt disguis’d by the Phlegme mingl’d with it into the forme of aLiquor. However if this be a Spirit, it manifestly differs very muchfrom that of Vinager, the Tast of the one being Acid, and the otherSalt, and their Mixture in case they be very pure, sometimesoccasioning an Effervescence like that of those Liquors the Chymistscount most contrary to one another. And even among(272) those Liquors thatseem to have a better title then those hitherto mention’d, to the nameof Spirits, there appears a sensible Diversity; For spirit of Oak, forinstance, differs from that of Tartar, and this from that of Box, orofGuaiacum. And in short, even these spirits as well as otherDistill’d Liquors manifest a great Disparity betwixt themselves,either in their Actions on our senses, or in their other operations.

And (continuesCarneades) besides this Disparity that is to be metwith among those Liquors that the Modernes call spirits, & take forsimilar bodies, what I have formerly told you concerning the Spirit ofBox-wood may let you see that some of those Liquors not only havequalities very differing from others, but may be further resolved intosubstances differing from one another.

And since many moderne Chymists and other Naturalists are pleased totake the Mercurial spirit of Bodies for the same Principle, underdiffering names, I must invite you to observe, with me, the greatdifference that is conspicuous betwixt all the Vegetable and Animalspirits I have mention’d and running(273) Mercury. I speak not of thatwhich is commonly sold in shops that many of themselves will confesseto be a mixt Body; but of that which is separated from Metals, whichby some Chymists that seem more Philosophers then the rest, andespecially by the above mentionedClaveus, is (for distinction sake)calledMercurius Corporum. Now this Metalline Liquor being one ofthose three Principles of which Mineral Bodies are bySpagyristsaffirmed to be compos’d and to be resoluble into them, the manynotorious Differences betwixt them and the Mercuries, as They callThem, of Vegetables and Animals will allow me to inferr, either thatMinerals and the other two sorts of Mixt Bodies consist not of thesame Elements, or that those Principles whereinto Minerals areimmediately resolved, which Chymists with great ostentation shew us asthe true principles, of them, are but Secundary Principles, or Mixtsof a peculiar sort, which must be themselves reduc’d to a verydiffering forme, to be of the same kind with Vegetable and AnimalLiquors.

But this is not all; for although I for(274)merly told You how LittleCredit there is to be given to the Chymical Processes commonly to bemet with, of Extracting the Mercuries of Metals, Yet I will now add,that supposing that the more Judicious of Them do not untruly affirmethat they have really drawn true and running Mercury from severalMetals (which I wish they had cleerly taught Us how to do also,) yetit may be still doubted whether such extracted Mercuries do not aswell differ from common Quicksilver, and from one another, as from theMercuries of Vegetables and Animalls.Claveus,Dixi autem de argento vivo a metallis prolicito, quodvulgare ob nimiam frigiditatem & humiditatem nimium concoctioni estcontumax, nec ab auro solum alterato coerceri potest. Gast. Clave. inApoll. in his Apology,speaking of someexperiments whereby Metalline Mercuries may be fixtinto the nobler metals, adds, that he spake of the Mercuries drawnfrom metals; because common Quicksilver by reason of its excessivecoldnesse and moisture is unfit for that particular kind of operation;for which though a few lines before he prescribes in general theMercuries of Metalline Bodies, yet he chiefly commends that drawn byart from silver.(275) And elsewhere, in the same Book, he tells us, thathe himself tryed, that by bare coction the quicksilver of Tin orPewter (argentum vivum ex stanno prolicitum) may by an efficientcause, as he speaks, be turn’d into pure Gold. And the Experienc’dAlexander van Suchten, somewhere tells us, that by a way heintimates may be made a Mercury of Copper, not of the Silver colour ofother Mercuries, but green; to which I shall add, that an eminentperson, 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 tomake, at least in any considerable quantity) fixt into perfect Gold.And being by me demanded whether or no any other Mercury would not aswell have been changed by the same Operations, he assured me of theNegative.

And since I am fallen upon the mention of the Mercuries of metals, youwill perhaps expect (Eleutherius!) that I should say something oftheir two other principles; but must freely confess to you, that whatDisparity there may be be(276)tween the salts and sulphurs of Metals andotherMenerals, I am not my selfexperienced enough in the separations and examens of them, to ventureto determine: (for as for the salts of Metals, I formerly representedit 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 notedabove, 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 isvery difficult to give the separated principles all their due, and nomore. But the Sulphur of Antimony which is vehemently vomitive, andthe strongly scented Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol inclines me to thinkthat not only Mineral Sulphurs differ from Vegetable ones, but alsofrom one another, retaining much of the nature of their Concretes. Thesalts of metals, and of some sort of minerals, You will easily guesseby the Doubts I formerly express’d, whether metals haveany salt atall, that I have not been so happy as yetto see, perhaps not for want of curiosity. But ifParacelsus didalwaies(277) write so consentaneously to himself that his opinion wereconfidently to be collected from every place of his writings wherehe seems to expresse it, I might safely take upon me to tell you, thathe both countenances in general what I have delivered in my Fourthmain consideration, and in particular warrants me to suspect thatthere may be a difference in metalline and mineral Salts, as well aswe find it in those of other bodies. For,Sulphur (sayes he)Paracel. de Mineral. Tract. 1. pag. 141.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 & totidemsalia; sal aliud in metallis, aliud in gemmis, aliud in lapidibus,aliud in salibus, aliud in vitriolo, aliud in alumine: similis etiamMercurii est ratio. Alius in Metallis, alius in Gemmis, &c. Ita utunicuique speciei suus peculiaris Mercurius sit. Et tamen res saltemtres 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 e(278)tiam sulphura auri, salia auri, mercurii auri; idem competitetiam 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. Fromwhich passage (Eleutherius) I suppose you will think I might withoutrashness conclude, either that my opinion is favoured by that ofParacelsus, or thatParacelsus his opinion was not alwaies thesame. But because in divers other places of his writings he seems totalk at a differing rate of the three Principles and the fourElements, 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 itis brought to countenance, it is very difficult to know what hisopinion concerning salt, sulphur and mercury, was; and thatconsequently we had reason about the beginning of our conferences, todecline taking upon us, either to examine or oppose it.

I know not whether I should on this occasion add, that those verybodies the Chymists call Phlegme and Earth do yet recede from anElementary simplicity.(279) That common Earth and Water frequently do so,notwithstanding the received contrary opinion, is not deny’d by themore wary of the moderne Peripateticks themselves: and certainly, mostEarths are much lesse simple bodies then is commonly imagined even byChymists, who do not so consideratly to prescribe and employ EarthsPromiscuously in those distillations that require the mixture of somecaput mortuum, to hinder the flowing together of the matter, and toretain its grosser parts. For I have found some Earths to yield bydistillation a Liquor very far from being inodorous or insipid; and’tis a known observation, that most kinds of fat Earth kept cover’dfrom the rain, and hindred from spending themselves in the productionof vegetables, will in time become impregnated with Salt-Petre.

But I must remember that the Water and Earths I ought here to speakof, are such as are separated from mixt Bodies by the fire; andtherefore to restrain my Discourse to such, I shall tell you, That wesee the Phlegme of Vitriol (for instance) is a very effectual remedieagainst burnes; and I know a very Fa(280)mous and experienc’dPhysitian,whose unsuspected secret (himself confess’d to me) it is, for thediscussing of hard and Obstinate Tumours. The Phlegme of Vinager,though drawn exceeding leasurly in a digesting Furnace, I havepurposely made tryall of; and sometimes found it able to draw, thoughslowly, a saccharine sweetness out of Lead; and as I remember by longDigestion, I dissolv’dCorpals in it. The Phlegme ofthe sugar of Saturne is said to have very peculiar properties. DiversEminent Chymists teach, that it will dissolve Pearls, which beingprecipitated by the spirit of the same concrete are thereby (as theysay) rendred volatile; which has been confirmed to me, upon his ownobservation, by a person of great veracity. The Phlegme of Wine, andindeed divers other Liquors that are indiscriminately condemnd to becast away as phlegm, are endow’d with qualities that make them differboth from meer water, and from each other; and whereas the Chymistsare pleas’d to call thecaput mortuum of what they have distill’d(after they have by affusion of water drawn away its salt)terradamnata, or Earth, it may be doubted whether or(281) no those earths areall of them perfectly alike: and it is scarce to be doubted, but thatthere are some of them which remain yet unreduc’d to an Elementarynature. The ashes of wood depriv’d of all the salt, and bone-Ashes, orcalcin’d Harts-horn, which Refiners choose to make Tests of, as freestfrom Salt, seem unlike: and he that shall compare either of theseinsipid ashes to Lime, and much more to thecalx ofTalk(though by the affusion of water they beexquisitely dulcify’d) will perhaps see cause to think them things ofa somewhat differing nature. And it is evident in Colcothar that theexactest calcination, follow’d by an exquisite dulcification, does notalwaies reduce the remaining body into elementary earth; for after thesalt or Vitriol (if the Calcination have been too faint) is drawn outof the Colcothar, the residue is not earth, but a mixt body, rich inMedical vertues (as experience has inform’d me) and whichAngelusSala affirmes to be partly reducible into malleable Copper; which Ijudge very probable: for though when I was making Experiments uponColcothar, I was destitute of a Furnace capable of giving a heatintense Enough to bring such a(282) Calx to Fusion; yet having conjectur’dthat if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find itout there, I put some dulcifi’d Colcothar into thatMenstruum, andfound the Liquor, according to my Expectation, presently Colour’d asHighly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Copper.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Fifth Part.

HEreCarneades making a pause, I must not deny (sayes his Friend tohim) that I think You have sufficiently prov’d that these distinctSubstances which Chymists are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, bytheir Vulgar Destillation, are not pure and simple enough to deserve,in Rigour of speaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But Isuppose You have heard, that there are some ModernSpagyrists, whogive out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, soreduce the separated Ingredients of Mixt Bodies to an Elementarysimplicity, That(284) the Oyles (for Instance) extracted from all Mixtsshall as perfectly resemble one another, as the Drops of Water do.

If you remember (repliesCarneades) that at the Beginning of ourConference withPhiloponus, I declar’d to him before the rest of theCompany, that I would notengage my self at present to do any morethen examine the usual proofs alledg’d by Chymists, for the Vulgardoctrine of their three Hypostatical Principles; You will easilyperceive that I am not oblig’d to make answer to what you newlypropos’d; and that it rather grants, then disproves what I have beencontending for: Since by pretending to make so great a change in thereputed Principles that Destillation affords the commonSpagyrists,’tis plainly enough presuppos’d, that before such ArtificialDepurations be made, the Substances to be made more simple were notyet simple enough to be look’d upon as Elementary; Wherefore in casetheArtists 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 VulgarOpinion(285) touching thetria Prima. And as to the thing it self, Ishall freely acknowledge to you, that I love not to be forward indetermining things to be impossible, till I know and have consider’dthe means by which they are propos’d to be effected. And therefore Ishall not peremptorily deny either the possibility of what theseArtists promise, or my Assent to any just Inference; howeverdestructive to my Conjectures, that may be drawn from theirperformances. But give me leave to tell you withall, that because suchpromises are wont (as Experience has more then once inform’d me) to bemuch more easily made, then made good by Chymists, I must withhold myBeliefe from their assertions, till their Experiments exact it; andmust not be so easie as to expect before hand, an unlikely thing uponno stronger Inducements then are yet given me: Besides that I have notyet found by what I have heard of these Artists, that though theypretend to bring the several Substances into which the Fire hasdivided the Concrete, to an exquisite simplicity, They pretend also tobe able by the Fire to divide all Concretes,(286) Minerals, and others,into the same number of Distinct Substances. And in the mean time Imust think it improbable, that they can either truly separate as manydiffering Bodies from Gold (for Instance) orOsteocolla, as we cando from Wine, or Vitriol; or that the Mercury (for Example) of Gold orSaturn would be perfectly of the same Nature with that of Harts-horn;and that the sulphur of Antimony would be but Numerically differentfrom the Distill’d butter or oyle of Roses.

But suppose (sayesEleutherius) that you should meet with Chymists,who would allow you to take in Earth and Water into the number of theprinciples of Mixt Bodies; and being also content to change theAmbiguous 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 anOpinion, only because the Five substances into which the Fire dividesmixt Bodies are not exactly pure, and Homogeneous? For my part(287)(ContinuesCarneades) I cannot but think it somewhat strange, incase 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 intojust five Distinct substances; which so little differing from theBodies that bear those names, may so Plausibly be call’d Oyle, Spirit,Salt, Water, and Earth.

The Opinion You now propose (answersCarneades) being another thenthat I was engag’d to examine, it is not requisite for me to Debate itat present; nor should I have leisure to do it thorowly. Wherefore Ishall only tell you in General, that though I think this Opinion insome respects more defensible then that of the Vulgar Chymists; yetyou may easily enough learn from the past Discourse what may bethought of it: Since many of the Objections made against the VulgarDoctrine of the Chymists seem, without much alteration, employableagainst thisHypothesis also. For, besides that this Doctrine doesas well as the other take it for granted, (what is not easie to beprov’d) that the Fire is the true and Adequate Ana(288)lyzer of Bodies,and that all the Distinct substances obtainable from a mixt Body bythe Fire, were so pre-existent in it, that they were but extricatedfrom each other by theAnalysis; Besides that this Opinion, too,ascribe to the Productions of the Fire anElementary simplicity, which I have shewn not to belong to them; andbesides that this Doctrine is lyable to some of the otherDifficulties, wherewith That of theTria Prima is incumber’d;Besides all this, I say, this quinary number of Elements, (if youpardon the Expression) ought at least to have been restrain’d to theGenerality of Animal and Vegetable Bodies, since not only among thesethere are some Bodies (as I formerly argu’d) which, for ought has yetbeen made to appear, do consist, either of fewer or more similarsubstances then precisely Five. But in the Mineral Kingdom, there isscarce one Concrete that has been evinc’d to be adequatly divisibleinto such five Principles or Elements, and neither more nor less, asthis Opinion would have every mixt Body to consist of.

And this very thing (continuesCar(289)neades) may serve to take away orlessen your Wonder, that just so many Bodies as five should be foundupon the Resolution of Concretes. For since we find not that the firecan make any suchAnalysis (into five Elements) of Metals and otherMineral Bodies, whose Texture is more strong and permanent, it remainsthat the Five Substances under consideration be Obtain’d fromVegetable and Animal Bodies, which (probably by reason of their looserContexture) are capable of being Distill’d. And as to such Bodies,’tis natural enough, that, whether we suppose that there are, or arenot, precisely five Elements, there should ordinarily occurr in theDissipated 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 Schemesof Matter; it is very likely, that they will by the Fire be dividedinto fix’d and Volatile (I mean, in Reference to that degree of heatby which they are destill’d) and those Volatile(290) parts will, for themost part, ascend either in a dry forme, which Chymists are pleas’d tocall, if they be Tastless, Flowers; if Sapid, Volatile Salt; or in aLiquid Forme. And this Liquor must be either inflamable, and so passfor oyl, or not inflamable, and yet subtile and pungent, which may becall’d Spirit; or else strengthless or insipid, which may be nam’dPhlegme, or Water. And as for the fixt part, orCaput Mortuum, itwill most commonly consist of Corpuscles, partly Soluble in Water, orSapid, (especially if the Saline parts were not so Volatile, as to flyaway before) which make up its fixt salt; and partly insoluble andinsipid, which therefore seems to challenge the name of Earth. Butalthough upon this ground one might easily enough have foretold, thatthe differing substances obtain’d from a perfectly mixt Body by theFire would for the most part be reducible to the five newly mentionedStates of Matter; yet it will not presently follow, that these fiveDistinct substances were simple and primogeneal bodies, sopre-existent in the Concrete that the fire does but take them asunder.Besides(291) that it does not appear, that all Mixt Bodies, (witness,Gold, Silver, Mercury, &c.) Nay nor perhaps all Vegetables, which mayappear by what we said above ofCamphire,Benzoin, &c. areresoluble by Fire into just such differing Schemes of Matter. Nor willthe Experiments formerly alledg’d permit us to look upon theseseparated Substances as Elementary, or uncompounded. Neither will itbe a sufficient Argument of their being Bodies that deserve the Nameswhich Chymists are pleas’d to give them, that they have an Analogy inpoint of Consistence, or either Volatility or Fixtness, or else someother obvious Quality, with the suppos’d Principles, whose names areascrib’d to them. For, as I told you above, notwithstanding thisResemblance in some one Quality, there may be such a Disparity inothers, as may be more fit to give them Differing Appellations, thenthe Resemblance is to give them one and the same. And indeed it seemsbut somewhat a gross Way of judging of the Nature of Bodies, toconclude without Scruple, that those must be of the same(292) Nature thatagree in some such General Quality, as Fluidity, Dryness, Volatility,and the like: since each of those Qualities, or States of Matter, mayComprehend a great Variety of Bodies, otherwise of a very differingNature; as we may see in the Calxes of Gold, of Vitriol, and ofVenetian 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 maylikewise gather from what I have formerly Observ’d, touching theSpirit of Box-Wood, which though a Volatile, Sapid, and not inflamableLiquor, as well as the Spirits of Harts-horn, of Blood and others,(and therefore has been hitherto call’d, the Spirit, and esteem’d forone of the Principles of the Wood that affords it;) may yet, as I toldYou, be subdivided into two Liquors, differing from one another, andone of them at least, from the Generality of other Chymical Spirits.

But you may your self, if you please, (pursuesCarneades)accommodate to theHypothesis you propos’d what other particularsyou shall think applicable to it,(293) in the foregoing Discourse. For Ithink it unseasonable for me to meddle now any further with aControversie, which since it does not now belong to me, Leaves me atLiberty to Take my Own time to Declare my Self about it.

Eleutherius perceiving thatCarneades was somewhat unwilling tospend any more time upon the debate of this Opinion, and havingperhaps some thoughts of taking hence a Rise to make him Discourse itmore fully another time, thought not fit as then to make any furthermention to him of the propos’d opinion, but told him;

I presume I need not mind you,Carneades, That both the Patrons ofthe ternary number of Principles, and those that would have fiveElements, endeavour to back their experiments with a specious Reasonor two; and especially some of those Embracers of the Opinion lastnam’d (whom I have convers’d with, and found them Learned men) assignethis Reason of the necessity of five distinct Elements; that otherwisemixt Bodies could not be so compounded and temper’d as to obtain a dueconsi(294)stence and competent Duration. For Salt (say they) is theBasis of Solidity; and Permanency in Compound Bodies, without whichthe other four Elements might indeed be variously and loosly blendedtogether, but would remain incompacted; but that Salt might bedissolv’d into minute Parts, and convey’d to the other Substances tobe compacted by it, and with it, there is a Necessity of Water. Andthat the mixture may not be too hard and brittle, a Sulphureous orOyly Principle must intervene to make the mass more tenacious; to thisa Mercurial spirit must be superadded; which by its activity may for awhilepremeate, and as it were leaventhe whole Mass, and thereby promote the more exquisite mixture andincorporation of the Ingredients. To all which (lastly) a portion ofEarth must be added, which by its drinesse andporacitymay soak up part of that water wherein the Salt wasdissolv’d, and eminently concurr with the other ingredients to givethe whole body the requisite consistence.

I perceive (sayesCarneades smiling) that if it be true, as ’twaslatelyrooted from the Proverb,That good Wits have(295)bad Memories, You have that Title, as well as a better, to a placeamong the good Wits. For you have already more then once forgot, thatI declar’d to you that I would at this Conference Examine only theExperiments of my Adversaries, not their Speculative Reasons. Yet ’tisnot (SubjoynesCarneades) for fear of medling with the Argument youhave propos’d, that I decline the examining it at present. For if whenwe are more at leasure, you shall have a mind that we may Solemnlyconsider of it together; I am confident we shall scarce find itinsoluble. And in the mean time we may observe, that such a way ofArguing may, it seems, be speciously accommodated to differingHypotheses. For I find thatBeguinus, and other Assertors of theTria Prima, pretend to make out by such a way, the requisiteness oftheir Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to constitute mixt Bodies, withouttaking notice of any necessity of an Addition of Water and Earth.

And indeed neither sort of Chymists seem to have duly consider’d howgreat Variety there is in the Textures and(296) Consistences of CompoundBodie; sand how little the consistence andDuration of many of them seem to accommodate and be explicable by thepropos’d Notion. And not to mention those almost incorruptibleSubstances obtainable by the Fire, which I have prov’d to be somewhatcompounded, and which the Chymists will readily grant not to beperfectly mixt Bodies: (Not to mention these, I say) If you will butrecall to mind some of those Experiments, whereby I shew’d You thatout of common Water only mixt Bodies (and even living ones) of verydiffering consistences, and resoluble by Fire into as many Principlesas other bodies acknowledg’d to be perfectly mixt; if you do this, Isay, you will not, I suppose, be averse from beleeving, that Nature bya convenient disposition of the minute parts of a portion of mattermay contrive bodies durable enough, and of this, or that, or the otherConsistence, without being oblig’d to make use of all, much less ofany Determinate quantity of each of the five Elements, or of the threePrinciples to compound such bodies of. And I have (pursuesCarne(297)ades) something wonder’d, Chymists should not consider, thatthere is scarce any body in Nature so permanent and indissoluble asGlass; which yet themselves teach us may be made of bare Ashes,brought to fusion by the meer Violence of the Fire; so that, sinceAshes are granted to consist but of pure Salt and simple Earth,sequestred from all the other Principles or Elements, they mustacknowledge, That even Art it self can of two Elements only, or, ifyou please, one Principle and one Element, compound a Body moredurable then almost any in the World. Which being undeniable, how willthey prove that Nature cannot compound Mixt Bodies, and even durableOnes, under all the five Elements or material Principles.

But to insist any longer on this Occasional Disquisition, Touchingtheir Opinion that would Establish five Elements, were to remember aslittle as You did before, that the Debate of this matter is no part ofmy first undertaking; and consequently, that I have already spent timeenough in what I look back upon but as a digression, or at best anExcursion.(298)

And thus,Eleutherius, (sayesCarneades) having at length gonethrough the four Considerations I propos’d to Discourse unto you, Ihold it not unfit, for fear my having insisted so long on each of themmay have made you forget theirSeries, briefly to repeat them bytelling you, that

Since, in the first place, it may justly be doubted whether or no theFire be, as Chymists suppose it, the genuine and Universal Resolver ofmixt Bodies;

Since we may doubt, in the next place, whether or no all the DistinctSubstances that may be obtain’d from a mixt body by the Fire werepre-existent there in the formes in which they were separated from it;

Since also, though we should grant the Substances separable from mixtBodies by the fire to have been their component Ingredients, yet theNumber of such substances does not appear the same in all mixt Bodies;some of them being Resoluble into more differing substances thanthree, and Others not being Resoluble into so many as three.

And Since, Lastly, those very substances that are thus separated arenot for the(299) most part pure and Elementary bodies, but new kinds ofmixts;

Since, I say, these things are so, I hope you will allow me to inferr,that the Vulgar Experiments (I might perchance have Added, theArguments too) wont to be Alledg’d by Chymists to prove, that theirthree Hypostatical Principles do adequately compose all mixt Bodies,are not so demonstrative as to reduce a wary Person to acquiesce intheir Doctrine, which, till they Explain and prove it better, will byits perplexing darkness be more apt to puzzle then satisfy consideringmen, and will to them appear incumbred with no small Difficulties.

And from what has been hitherto deduc’d (continuesCarneades) we mayLearn, what to Judge of the common Practice of those Chymists, whobecause they have found that Diverse compound Bodies (for it will nothold in All) can be resolv’d into, or rather can be brought to affordtwo or three differing Substances more then the Soot and Ashes,whereinto the naked fire commonly divides them in our Chymnies, cry uptheir own Sect for the Invention of a New Philosophy, some of them, asHelmont, &c. styling(300) themselves Philosophers by the Fire; and themost part not only ascribing, but as far as in them lies, engrossingto those of their Sect the Title of PHILOSOPHERS.

But alas, how narrow is this Philosophy, that reaches but to some ofthose compound Bodies, which we find but upon, or in the crust oroutside of our terrestrial Globe, which is it self but a point incomparison of the vast extended Universe, of whose other and greaterparts the Doctrine of theTria Prima does not give us an Account!For what does it teach us, either of the Nature of the Sun, whichAstronomers affirme to be eight-score and odd times bigger then thewhole Earth? or of that of those numerous fixt Starrs, which, forought we know, would very few, if any of them, appear inferiour inbulke and brightness to the Sun, if they were as neer us as He? Whatdoes the knowing that Salt, sulphur and Mercury, are the Principles ofMixt Bodies, informe us of the Nature of that vast, fluid, andÆtherial Substance, that seemes to make up the interstellar, andconsequently much the greatest part of the World? for as for(301) theopinion commonly ascrib’d toParacelsus, as if he would have notonly the four Peripatetick Elements, but even the Celestial parts ofthe Universe to consist of his three Principles, since the modernChymists themselves have not thought so groundless a conceit worththeir owning, I shall not think it Worth my confuting.

But I should perchance forgive the Hypothesis I have been all thiswhile examining, if, though it reaches but to a very little part ofthe World, it did at least give us a satisfactory account of thosethings to which ’tis said to reach. But I find not, that it gives usany other then a very imperfect information even about mixt Bodiesthemselves: For how will the knowledge of theTria Prima discover tous the Reason, why the Loadstone drawes a Needle and disposes it torespect the Poles, and yet seldom precisely points at them? how willthis Hypothesis teach Us how a Chick is formed in the Egge, or how theSeminal Principles of Mint, Pompions, and other Vegitables, that Imention’d to You above, can fashion Water into Various Plants, each ofthem endow’d with its peculiar(302) and determinate shape, and with diversspecifick and discriminating Qualities? How does this Hypothesis shewus, how much Salt, how much Sulphur, and how much Mercury must betaken to make a Chick or a Pompion? and if We know that, whatPrinciple is it, that manages these Ingredients, and contrives (forinstance) such Liquors as the White and Yelk of an Egge into such avariety of Textures as is requisite to fashion the Bones, Veines,Arteries, Nerves, Tendons, Feathers, Blood, and other parts of aChick; and not only to fashion each Limbe, but to connect themaltogether, after that manner that is most congruous to the perfectionof the Animal which is to Consist of Them? For to say, that some morefine and subtile part of either or all the Hypostatical Principles isthe Director in all this business, and the Architect of all thisElaborate structure, is to give one occasion to demand again, whatproportion and way of mixture of theTria Prima afforded thisArchitectonick Spirit, and what Agent made so skilful and happy amixture? And the Answer to this Question, if the Chymists will keepthemselves(303) within their three Principles, will be lyable to the sameInconvenience, that the Answer to the former was. And if it were notto intrench upon the Theame of a Friend of ours here present, I couldeasily prosecute the Imperfections of the Vulgar Chymists Philosophy,and shew you, that by going about to explicate by their threePrinciples, I say not, all the abstruse Properties of mixt Bodies, buteven such Obvious and more familiarPhænomena asFluidity andFirmness, The Colours and Figures of Stones, Minerals, and othercompound Bodies, The Nutrition of either Plants or Animals, theGravity 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 thousandothers as difficult to account for) from any proportion of the threesimple Ingredients, Chymists will be much more likely to discreditthemselves and theirHypothesis, then satisfy an intelligentInquirer after Truth.

But (interposesEleutherus) ThisObjection seems no more then may be made against the four PeripatetickElements. And indeed almost against any otherHy(304)pothesis, thatpretends by any Determinate Number of Material Ingredients to render areason of thePhænomena of Nature. And as for the use of theChymical Doctrine of the three Principles, I suppose you need not betold by me, that The great Champion of it, The LearnedSennertus,Senn. de Cons. & Dissen. p. 165. assignes this noble use of theTria Prima, Thatfrom Them, as the neerest and most Proper Principles, may be Deduc’dand Demonstrated the Properties which are in Mixt Bodies, and whichcannot be Proximately (as They speak) deduc’d from the Elements. AndThis, sayes he, is chiefly Apparent, when we Inquire into theProperties and Faculties of Medecines. And I know (continuesEleutherius) That the Person You have assum’d, of an Opponent of theHermetick Doctrine, will not so far prevaile against your Native andwonted Equity, as To keep You from acknowledging that Philosophy ismuch beholden to the Notions and Discoveries of Chymists.

If the Chymists You speak of (ReplyesCarneades) had been so modest,or so Discreet, as to propose their O(305)pinion of theTria Prima, butas a Notion useful among Others, to increase Humane knowledge, theyhad deserv’d more of our thanks; and less of our Opposition; but sincethe Thing that they pretend is not so much to contribute a Notiontoward the Improvement of Philosophy, as to make this Notionattendedby a few lesse considerable ones) pass for a NewPhilosophy itself. Nay, since they boast so much of this phancie oftheirs, that the famousQuercetanus scruples not to write, that ifhis most certain Doctrine of the three Principles were sufficientlyLearned, Examin’d, and Cultivated, it would easily Dispel all theDarkness that benights our minds, and bring in a Clear Light, thatwould remove all Difficulties. This School affording Theorems andAxiomes irrefragable, and to be admitted without Dispute by impartialJudges; and so useful withal, as to exempt us from the necessity ofhaving recourse, for want of the knowledg of causes, to that Sanctuaryof theigorant, Occult Qualities;since, I say, this Domestick Notion of the Chymists is so muchovervalued by them, I cannot think it unfit, they should be made(306)sensible of their mistake; and be admonish’d to take in more fruitfuland comprehensive Principles, if they mean to give us an account ofthePhænomena of Nature; and not confine themselves and (as far asthey can) others to such narrow Principles, as I fear will scarceinable them to give an account (I mean an intelligible one) of thetenth part (I say not) of all thePhænomena of Nature; but even ofall such as by theLeucippian or some of the other sorts ofPrinciples may be plausibly enough explicated. And though I be notunwilling to grant, that the incompetency I impute to the ChymicalHypothesis is but the same which may be Objected against that of thefour Elements, and divers other Doctrines that have been maintain’d byLearned men; yet since ’tis the ChymicalHypothesis only which I amnow examining, I see not why, if what I impute to it be a realinconvenience, either it should cease to be so, or I should scruple toobject it, because either Theories are lyable thereunto, as well asthe Hermetical. For I know not why a Truth should be thought lesse aTruth for the being fit to overthrow variety of Errors.(307)

I am oblig’d to You (continuesCarneades, a little smiling) for thefavourable Opinion You are pleas’d to express of my Equity, if therebe no design in it. But I need not be tempted by an Artifice, orinvited by a Complement, to acknowledge the great service that theLabours of Chymists have done the Lovers of useful Learning; nor evenon this occasion shall their Arrogance hinder my Gratitude. But sincewe are as well examiningto the truth of theirDoctrine as the merit of their industry, I must in order to theinvestigation of the first, continue a reply, to talk at the rate ofthe part I have assum’d; And tell you, that when I acknowledg theusefulness of the Labours ofSpagyrists to Natural Philosophy, I doit upon the score of their experiments, not upon that of TheirSpeculations; for it seems to me, that their Writings, as theirFurnaces, afford as well smoke as light; and do little lesse obscuresome subjects, then they illustrate others. And though I am unwillingto deny, that ’tis difficult for a man to be an AccomplishtNaturalist, that is a stranger to Chymistry, yet I look upon thecommon Operations and practices(308) of Chymists, almost as I do on theLetters of the Alphabet, without whose knowledge ’tis very hard for aman to become a Philosopher; and yet that knowledge is very far frombeing sufficient to make him One.

But (sayesCarneades, resuming a more serious Look) to consider alittle more particularly what you alledg in favour of the ChymicalDoctrine of theTria Prima, though I shall readily acknowledge itnot to be unuseful, and that theDivisers andEmbracers 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 asundeservedly entertain’d; yet what has been alledg’d concerning theusefulness of theTria Prima, seems to me liable to no contemptibleDifficulties.

And first, as for the very way of Probation, which the more Learnedand more Sober Champions of the Chymical cause employ to evince theChymical Principles in Mixt Bodies, it seems to me to be farr enoughfrom being convincing. This grand and leading Argument, your(309)Sennertus Himself, who layes Great weight upon it, and tells us,that the most Learned Philosophers employ this way of Reasoning toprove the most important things, proposes thus:Ubicunque (sayes he)pluribus eædem affectiones & qualitates insunt, per commune quoddamPrincipium insint necesse est, sicut omnia sunt Gravia propter terram,calida propter Ignem. At Colores, Odores, Sapores, esseφλογιϛον& similia alia, mineralibus, Metallis, Gemmis, Lapidibus,Plantis, Animalibus insunt. Ergo per commune aliquod principium, &subiectum, insunt. At tale principium non sunt Elementa. Nullam enimhabent ad tales qualitates producendas potentiam. Ergo alia principia,unde fluant, inquirenda sunt.

In the Recital of this Argument, (sayesCarneades) I thereforethought fit to retain the Language wherein the Author proposes it,that I might also retain the propriety of some Latine Termes, to whichI do not readily remember any that fully answer in English. But as forthe Argumentation it self, ’tis built upon a precarious supposition,that seems to me neither Demonstrable nor true; for, how does it(310)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 theyall partake? (For that the Major of our Authors Argument is to beUnderstood of the Material Ingredients of bodies, appears by theInstances of Earth and Fire he annexes to explain it.) For to beginwith that very Example which he is pleas’d to alledge for himself; howcan he prove, that the Gravity of all Bodies proceeds from what theyparticipate of the Element of Earth? Since we see, that not onlycommon Water, but the more pure Distill’d Rain Water is heavy; andQuicksilver is much heavier than Earth it self; though none of myAdversaries has yet prov’d, that it contains any of that Element. AndI the Rather make use of this Example of Quicksilver, because I seenot how the Assertors of the Elements will give any better Account ofit 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(311) may be the Predominant Elementin it, since we see, that several Bodies which by Distillation affordLiquors that weigh more then theirCaput Mortuum do not yet consistof Liquor enough to be Fluid. Yet if it be demanded how Quicksilvercomes to be so heavy, then ’tis reply’d, that ’tis by reason of theEarth that abounds in it; but since, according to them, it mustconsist also of air, and partly of Fire, which they affirm to be lightElements, how comes it that it should be so much heavier then Earth ofthe same bulk, though to fill up the porosities and other Cavities itbe made up into a mass or paste with Water, which it self they allowto be a heavy Element. But to returne to ourSpagyrists, we see thatChymical Oyles and fixt Salts, though never so exquisitely purify’dand freed from terrestrial parts, do yet remain ponderous enough. AndExperience has inform’d me, that a pound, for instance, of some of theheaviest Woods, asGuajacum that will sink in Water, being burnt toAshes will yield a much less weight of them (whereof I found but asmall part to be Alcalyzate) then much ligh(312)ter Vegetables: As alsothat the black Charcoal of it will not sink as did the wood, but swim;which argues that the Differing Gravity of Bodies proceeds chieflyfrom their particular Texture, as is manifest in Gold, the closest andCompactest of Bodies, which is many times heavier then we can possiblymake any parcell of Earth of the same Bulk. I will not examine, whatmay be argu’d touching the Gravity or Quality Analagous thereunto, ofeven Celestial bodies, from the motion of the spots about the Sun,dfrom the appearing equality of the suppos’d Seas in theMoon; nor consider how little thosePhæmoneawould agree with whatSennertus presumes concerningGravity. 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 theuniverse, and far more General then almost any other of those that areto be met with in any of the Chymicall Principles, orAristotelianElements; since not only the Air, but that vast expansion we callHeaven, in comparison of which(313) our Terrestrial Globe (supposing itwere all Solid) is but a point; and perhapsto the Sunand the fixt Stars are fluid bodies. I demand also, from which of theChymical Principles Motion flowes; which yet is an affection of mattermuch more General then any that can be deduc’d from any of the threeChymical Principles. I might ask the like Question concerning Light,which is not only to be found in the Kindl’d Sulphur of mixtBodis,but (not to mention those sorts ofrotten Woods, and rotten Fish that shine in the Dark) in the tails ofliving Glow-wormes, and in the Vast bodies of the Sun and Stars. Iwould gladly also know, in which of the three Principles the Quality,we call Sound, resides as in its proper Subject; since either Oylfalling upon Oyle, or Spirit upon Spirit, or Salt upon Salt, in agreat quantity, and from a considerable height, will make a noise, orif you please, create a sound, and (that the objection may reach theAristotelians) so will also water upon water, and Earth upon Earth.And I could name other qualities to be met within divers bodies, ofwhich I(314) suppose my Adversaries will not in haste assign any Subject,upon whose Account it must needs be, that the quality belongs to allthe other several bodies.

And, before I proceed any further, I must here invite you to comparethe supposition we are examining, with some other of the ChymicalTenents. For, first they do in effect teach that more then one qualitymay belong to, and be deduc’d from, one Principle. For, they ascribeto Salt Tasts, and the power of Coagulation; to sulphur, as wellOdours as inflamableness; And some of them ascribe to Mercury,Colours; as all of them do effumability, as they speak. And on theother side, it is evident that Volatility belongs in common to all thethree Principles, and to Water too. For ’tis manifest, that ChymicalOyles are Volatile; That also divers Salts Emerging, upon the Analysisof many Concretes, are very Volatile, is plain from thefigitivenessof Salt, of Harts-horne, flesh, &c. ascendingin the Distillation of those bodies. How easily water may be made toascend in Vapours, there is scarce any body that has not observ’d. Andas(315) for what they call the Mercuriall Principle of bodies, that is soapt to be rais’d in the form of Steam, thatParacelsus and othersdefine it by that aptness to fly up; so that (to draw that inferenceby the way) it seems not that Chymists have been accurate in theirDoctrine of qualities, and their respective Principles, since theyboth derive several qualities from the same Principle, and mustascribe the same quality to almost all their Principles and otherbodies besides. And thus much for the first thing taken for granted,without sufficient proof, by yourSennertus: And to add that uponthe Bye (continuesCarneades) we may hence learn what to judge ofthe way of Argumentation, which that fierce Champion of theAristotelians against the Chymists,Anthonius GuntherusBillichiusIn Thessalo redivivo. Cap. 10. pag. 73. & 74. employes, where he pretends to prove againstBeguinus, that not only the four Elements do immediately concur toConstitute every mixt body, and are both present in it, and obtainablefrom it upon its Dissolution; but that in theTria Prima themselves,whereinto Chymists are wont to resolve mixt Bodies, each of themclearly dis(316)covers it self to consist of four Elements. TheRatiocination it self (pursuesCarneades) being somewhat unusual, Idid the other Day Transcribe it, and (sayes He, pulling a Paper out ofhis Pocket) it is this.Ordiamur, cum Beguino, a ligno viridi, quodsi concremetur, videbis in sudore Aquam, in fumo Aerem, in flamma &Prunis Ignem, Terram in cineribus: Quod si Beguino placuerit ex eocolligere humidum aquosum, cohibere humidum oleaginosum, extrahere excineribus salem; Ego ipsi in unoquoque horum seorsim quatuor Elementaad oculum demonstrabo, eodem artificio quo in ligno viridi eademonstravi. Humorem aquosum admovebo Igni. Ipse Aquam Ebullirevidebit, in Vapore Aerem conspiciet, Ignem sentiet in æstu, plus minusTerræ 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 siccumvocat & Terrestrem, qui tamen nec fusus Aquam, nec caustica vi ignemcelare potest; ignis vero Violentia in halitus versus nec ab Aere sealienum esse demonstrat; Idem de Lacte, de Ovis, de semine Lini, deGaryophyllis, de Nitro,(317) de sale Marino, denique de Antimonio, quodfuit de Ligno viridi Judicium; eadem de illorum partibus, quasBeguinusadducit, sententia, quæ de viridis ligni humore aquoso, quæde liquore ejusdem oleoso, quæ de sale fuit.

This bold Discourse (resumesCarneades, putting up again his Paper,)I think it were not very difficult to confute, if his Arguments wereas considerable as our time will probably prove short for theremaining and more necessary Part of my Discourse; wherefore referringYou for an Answer to what was said concerning the Dissipated Parts ofa burnt piece of green Wood, to what I toldThemistius on the likeoccasion, I might easily shew You, how sleightly and superficially ourGuntherus talks of the dividing the flame of Green Wood into hisfour Elements;When he makes that vapour to be air, which beingcaught in Glasses and condens’d, presently discovers it self to havebeen but an Aggregate of innumerable very minute drops of Liquor; andWhen he would prove the Phlegmes being compos’d of Fire by that Heatwhich is adventitious to the Liquor, and ceases upon the absence ofwhat pro(318)duc’d it (whether that be an Agitation proceeding from themotion of the External Fire, or the presence of a Multitude of igneousAtomes pervading the pores of the Vessel, and nimbly permeating thewhole Body of the Water) I might, I say, urge these and divers otherWeaknesses of His Discourse. But I will rather take Notice of what ismore pertinent to the Occasion of this Digression, namely, that Takingit for Granted, that Fluidity (with which he unwarily seems toconfound Humidity) must proceed from the Element of Water, he makes aChymical Oyle to Consist of that Elementary Liquor; and yet in thevery next Words proves, that it consists also of Fire, by itsInflamability; not remembring that exquisitely pure Spirit of Wine isboth more Fluid then Water it self, and yet will Flame all awaywithout leaving the Least Aqueous Moisture behind it; and without suchanAmurca and Soot as he would Deduce the presence of Earth from. Sothat the same Liquor may according to his Doctrine be concluded by itsgreat Fluidity to be almost all Water; and by its burning all away tobe all disguised(319) Fire. And by the like way of Probation our Authorwould shew that the fixt salt of Wood is compounded of the fourElements. For (sayes he) being turn’d by the violence of the Fire intosteames, it shews it self to be of kin to Air; whereas I doubt whetherhe ever saw a true fixt Salt (which to become so, must have alreadyendur’d the violence of an Incinerating Fire) brought by the Firealone to ascend in the Forme of Exhalations; but I do not doubt thatif he did, and had caught those Exhalations in convenient Vessels, hewould have found them as well as the Steames of common Salt, &c. of aSaline and not an Aereal Nature. And whereas our Authour takes it alsofor Granted, that the Fusibility of Salt must be Deduc’d from Water,it is indeed so much the Effect of heat variously agitating the MinuteParts of a Body, without regard to Water, that Gold (which by itsbeing the heavyest and fixtest of Bodies, should be the most Earthy)will be brought to Fusion by a strong Fire; which sure is more likelyto drive away then increase its Aqueous Ingredient, if it have any;and on the other side, for want of a sufficient a(320)gitation of itsminute parts, Ice is not Fluid, but Solid; though he presumes alsothat the Mordicant Quality of Bodies must proceed from a fieryingredient; whereas, not to urge that the Light and inflamable parts,which are the most likely to belong to the Element of Fire, mustprobably be driven away by that time the violence of the Fire hasreduc’d the Body to ashes; Not to urge this, IIsay, nor that Oyle of Vitriol which quenchesFire, burnes the Tongue and flesh of those that Unwarily tast or applyit, as a caustick doth, it is precarious to prove the Presence of Firein fixt salts from their Caustick power, unlesse it were first shewn,that all the Qualities ascribed to salts must be deduc’d from those ofthe Elements; which, had I Time, I could easily manifest to be no easytalk. And not to mention that our Authour makes a Body as Homogeneousas any he can produce for Elementary, belong both to Water and Fire,Though it be neither Fluid nor Insipid, like Water; nor light andVolatile, like Fire; he seems to omit in this Anatomy the Element ofEarth, save That he intimates, That the salt may pass for(321) that; Butsince a few lines before, he takes Ashes for Earth, I see not how hewill avoid an Inconsistency either betwixt the Parts of his Discourseor betwixt some of them and his Doctrine. For since There is amanifest Difference betwixt the Saline and the insipid Parts of Ashes,I see not how substances That Disagree in such Notable Qualities canbe both said to be Portions of an Element, whose Nature requires thatit be Homogeneous, especially in this case where anAnalysis by theFire is suppos’d to have separated it from the admixture of otherElements, which are confess’d by mostAristotelians to be Generallyfound in common Earth, and to render it impure. And sure if when wehave consider’d for how little a Disparities sake the Peripateticksmake these Symbolizing Bodies Aire and Fire to be two DistinctElements, we shall also consider that the Saline part of Ashes is verystrongly Tasted, and easily soluble in Water; whereas the other partof the same Ashes is insipid and indissoluble in the same Liquor: Notto add, that the one substance is Opacous, and the other some(322)whatDiaphanous, nor that they differ in Divers other Particulars; If weconsider those things, I say, we shall hardly think that both theseSubstances 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 byThemistius,and where it has been prov’d against him, that however insipid Earthmay perhaps by Additaments be turn’d into Salt, yet ’tis not like itshould be so by the Fire alone: For we see that when we refine Goldand Silver, the violentest Fires We can Employ on them give them notthe least Rellish of Saltness. And I thinkPhiloponus has rightlyobserv’d, that the Ashes of some Concretes contain very little salt ifany at all; For Refiners suppose that bone-ashes are free from it, andtherefore make use of them for Tests and Cuppels, which ought to beDestitute of Salt, lest the Violence of the Fire should bring them toVitrification; And having purposely and heedfully tasted a Cuppel madeof only bone-ashes and fair water, which I had caus’d to be ex(323)pos’dto a Very Violent Fire, acuated by the Blast of a large pair of DoubleBellows, I could not perceive that the force of the Fire had impartedto it the least Saltness, or so much as made it less Insipid.

But (sayesCarneades) since neither You nor I love Repetitions, Ishall not now make any of what else was urg’d againstThemistius butrather invite You to take notice with me that when our Authour, thougha Learned Man, and one that pretends skill enough in Chymistry toreforme the whole Art, comes to make good his confident Undertaking,to give us an occular Demonstration of the immediate Presence of thefour Elements in the resolution of Green Wood, He is fain to saythings that agree very little with one another. For about thebeginning of that passage of His lately recited to you, he makes thesweat 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 linesafter, he will in each of these, nay (as I just now noted) in oneDistinct Part of the Ashes, shew the four Elements. So that either theformerAna(324)lysis must be incompetent to prove that Number ofElements, since by it the burnt Concrete is not reduc’d intoElementary Bodies, but into such as are yet each of them compounded ofthe four Elements; or else these Qualities from which he endeavours todeduce the presence of all the Elements, in the fixt salt, and each ofthe other separated substances, will be but a precarious way ofprobation: especially if you consider, that the extractedAlcali ofWood, being for ought appears at least as similar a Body as any thatthe Peripateticks can shew us, if its differing Qualities must arguethe presence of Distinct Elements, it will scarce be possible for themby any way they know of employing the fire upon a Body, to shew thatany 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 toshew that the Peripateticks as well as the Chymists take in ourpresent Controversie something for granted which they ought to prove,I shall returne to my exceptions, where I ended the first of them, andfurther tell you, that neither is that the only precarious(325) thing thatI take notice of inSennertus his Argumentation; for when heinferrs, that because the Qualities he Mentions as Colours, Smels, andthe like, belong not to the Elements; they therefore must to theChymical Principles, he takes that for granted, which will not inhaste be prov’d; as I might here manifest, but that I may by and byhave a fitter opportunity to take notice of it. And thus much atpresent may suffice to have Discours’d against the Supposition, thatalmost every Quality must have someδεκτικον πρωτον, as theyspeak, some Native receptacle, wherein as in its proper Subject ofinhesion it peculiarly resides, and on whose account that qualitybelongs to the other Bodies, Wherein it is to be met with. Now thisFundamental supposition being once Destroy’d, whatsoever is built uponit, must fall to ruine of it self.

But I consider further, that Chymists are (for ought I have found) farfrom being able to explicate by any of theTria Prima, thosequalities which they pretend to belong primarily unto it, and in mixtBodies to Deduce from it. Tis true indeed, that such qua(326)lities arenot explicable by the four Elements; but it will not therefore follow,that they are so by the three hermetical Principles; and this is itthat seems to have deceiv’d the Chymists, and is indeed a very commonmistake amongst most Disputants, who argue as if there could be buttwo Opinions concerning the Difficulty about which they contend; andconsequently they inferr, that if their Adversaries Opinion beErroneous, Their’s must needs be the Truth; whereas many questions,and especially in matters Physiological, may admit of so manyDifferingHypotheses, that ’twill be very inconsiderate andfallacious to conclude (except where the Opinions are preciselyContradictory) the Truth of one from the falsity of another. And inour particular case ’tis no way necessary, that the Properties of mixtBodies must be explicable either by the Hermetical, or theAristotelian Hypothesis, there being divers other and more plausiblewayes of explaining them, and especially that, which deduces qualitiesfrom the motion, figure, and contrivance of the small parts of Bodies;as I think might be(327) shewn, if the attempt were as seasonable, as Ifear it would be Tedious.

I will allow then, that the Chymists do not causelessly accuse theDoctrine of the four elements of incompetency to explain theProperties of Compound bodies. And for this Rejection of a VulgarError, they ought not to be deny’d what praise men may deserve forexploding a Doctrine whose Imperfections are so conspicuous, that menneeded but not to shut their Eyes, to discover them. But I ammistaken, if our Hermetical Philosophers Themselves need not, as wellas the Peripateticks, have Recourse to more Fruitfull andComprehensive Principles then thetria Prima, to make out theProperties of the Bodies they converse with. Not to accumulateExamples to this purpose, (because I hope for a fitter opportunity toprosecute this Subject) let us at present only point at Colour, thatyou may guess by what they say of so obvious and familiar a Quality,how little Instruction we are to expect from theTria Prima in thosemore abstruse ones, which they with theAristotelians stile Occult.For about Colours, nei(328)ther do they at all agree among themselves, norhave I met with any one, of which of the three Perswasions soever,that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymists are wont toascribe Colours to Mercury;Paracelsus in divers places attributesthem to Salt; andSennertus,De Cons. & dissen. cap. 11. pag. 186. having recited their differingOpinions, Dissents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sulphur.But how Colours do, nay, how they may, arise from either of thesePrinciples, I think you will scarce say that any has yet intelligiblyexplicated. And if Mr.Boyle will allow me to shew you theExperiments which he has collected about Colours, you will, I doubtnot, confess that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of thePredominancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of theirTexture, and especially the Disposition of their superficial parts,whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is so modifi’d, as bydiffering Impressions variously to affect the Organs of Sight. I mighthere take notice of the pleasing variety of Colours exhibited by theTriangular glass, (as ’tis wont to be call’d) and demand,(329) whataddition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls theBody 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 apparentColours; that I may not lose time in examing the Distinction, I willalledge against the Chymists, a couple of examples of Real andPermanent Colours Drawn from Metalline Bodies, and represent, thatwithout the addition of any extraneous body, Quicksilver may by theFire alone, and that in glass Vessels, be depriv’d of its silver-likeColour, and be turn’d into a Red Body; and from this Red Body withoutAddition likewise may be obtain’d a Mercury Bright and Specular as itwas before; So that I have here a lasting Colour Generated andDestroy’d (as I have seen) at pleasure, without adding or taking awayeither Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and slenderpiece of harden’d steel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at somelittle distance short of the point, You shall not have held(330) the Steellong 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 wererun along in chase of one another towards the point; So that the samebody, and that in one and the same part, may not only have a newcolour produc’d in it, but exhibite successively divers Colours withina minute of an hour, or thereabouts, and any of these Colours may byRemoving the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and last manyyears. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot reasonably besuppos’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 thatIron, 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 equivalentheat Conveniently appli’d, the like Colours will again be made toappear and succeed one another, as at the First. But I must not anyfurther prosecute an Occasional Discourse, though(331) that were not soDifficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chymists to givea better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, thenthey have done of Colours. And yourSennertusSennert. deCon. seus. &Dissens. pag. 165. 166. Himself (though anAuthor I much value) would I fear have been exceedingly puzl’d toresolve, by theTria Prima, halfe that Catalogue of Problems, whichhe challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their fourElements. And supposing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur werethe Principle to which this or that Quality may be peculiarlyreferr’d, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us somethingconcerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but something. For indeedhe does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable measure satisfiean inquisitive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know,that such a quality resides in such a Principle or Element, whilst Iremain altogether ignorant of the Cause of that quality, and themanner of its production and Operation? How little do I know more thenany Ordinary Man of Gravity, if I know but that the Heaviness of mixt(332)bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos’d of, if I knownot the reason why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymistteach the Philosopher of the Nature of Purgatition, if he only tellshim that the Purgative Vertue of Medicines resides in their Salt? For,besides that this must not be conceded without Limitation, since thepurging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein theyare infus’d, are at most but such compounded Salts, (I mean mingl’dwith Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjectsof the Vegetable Kingdom afford;) And since too that Quicksilverprecipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a powder, iswont to be strongly enough Cathartical, though the Chymists have notyet prov’d, that either Gold or Mercury have any Salt at all, muchless any that is Purgative; Besides this, I say, how little is it tome, to know That ’tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for Instance) thatpurges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; since scarce anyElementary Salt is in small quantity cathartical. And if I know nothow(333) 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 acquaintedwith him; so it may be one thing to know the subject wherein a Qualityprincipally resides, and another thing to have a right notion andknowledg of the quality its self. Now that which I take to be thereason of this Chymical Deficiency, is the same upon whose account Ithink theAristotelian and divers other Theories incompetent toexplicate theOrigen of Qualities. For I am apt tothink, that men will never be able to explain thePhænomena ofNature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Presence andProportion of such or such material Ingredients, and consider suchingredients or Elements as Bodies in a state of rest; whereas indeedthe greatest part of the affections of matter, and consequently of thePhænomena of nature, seems to depend upon the motion and thecontinuance 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 partsstrike, that modifies to moti(334)on or Impression, and concurrs with itto the production of those Effects which make up the chief part of theNaturalists Theme.

But (sayesEleutherius) me thinks for all this, you have left somepart 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 usefulDiscovery, that since in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur ofanother and the Mercury of a third, the Medicinal vertue of itresides, that Principle ought to be separated from the rest, and therethe desired faculty must be sought for.

I never denyed (ReplyesCarneades) that the Notion of theTriaPrima may be of some use, but (continues he laughing) by what you nowalledg for it, it will but appear That it is useful to Apothecaries,rather than to Philosophers, The being able to make things Operativebeing sufficient to those, whereas the Knowledge of Causes is theThing looked after by These. And let me Tell You,Eleutherius, eventhis it self will need to be entertained with some caution.(335)

For first, it will not presently follow, That if the Purgative orother vertue of a simple may be easily extracted by Water or Spirit ofWine, it Resides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unlessethe Body have before been resolved by the Fire, or some Other PowerfulAgent, it will, for the most part, afford in the Liquors I have named,rather the finer compounded parts of it self, Than the Elementaryones. As I noted before, That Water will dissolve not only pure Salts,but Crystals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr’h, and Other CompoundBodies. As also Spirit of Wine will Dissolve not only the pure Sulphurof Concretes, but likewise the whole Substance of divers ResinousBodies, as Benzoin, the Gummous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, andOther bodies that are counted perfectly Mixt. And we see that theExtracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a simpleand Elementary Nature, but Masses consisting of the looser Corpuscles,and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; since byDistillation they may be Divided into more Elementary substances.(336)

Next, we may consider That even when there intervenes a Chymicalresolution byhe Fire, ’tis seldom in theSaline or Sulphureous principle, as such, that the desir’d Faculty ofthe Concrete Resides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet amixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predominant init. For, if in Chymical Resolutions the separated Substances were pureand simple Bodies, and of a perfect Elementary Nature; no one would beindued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualitieswould Differ as Little as do those of Water. And let me add this uponthe bye, That even Eminent Chymists have suffer’d themselves to bereprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying some ofthe things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though suchcompleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bodies might perhaps be moresatisfactory to our Understanding; yet others are often more useful toour Lives, the efficacy of such Chymical Productions depending mostupon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are separated, or gainby the new associations of the Dis(337)sipated among themselves; whereasif they were meerly Elementary, their uses would be comparatively verysmall; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other such Substances ofone denomination, would be the very same.

And by the Way (Eleutherius) I am inclin’d upon this ground toThink, That the artificial resolution of compound bodies by Fire doesnot so much enrich mankind, as it divides them into their supposedPrinciples; as upon the score of its making new compounds bynowcombinations of the dissipated parts of theresolv’d Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies isconsiderably increased. And many of those new productions are indow’dwith useful qualities, divers of which they owe not to the body fromwhich they were obtein’d, but to Their newly Acquired Texture.

But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that asthere are divers Concretes whose Faculties reside in some one or otherof those differing Substances that Chymists call their Sulphurs,Salts, and Mercuries, and consequently may be best obtain’d, byana(338)lyzing the Concrete whereby the desired Principles may be hadsever’d or freed from the rest; So there are other wherein the noblestproperties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but dependimmediately upon the form (or if you will) result from the determinatestructure of the Whole Concrete; and consequently they that go aboutto extract the Vertues of such bodies, by exposing them to theViolence of the Fire, do exceedingly mistake, and take the way toDestroy what they would obtain.

I remmember thatHelmontHelmont Pharm. & Dispens. Nov. p. 458. himself somewhere confesses, That as theFire betters some things and improves their Vertues, so it spoylesothers and makes them degenerate. And elsewhere he judiciouslyaffirmes, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a simple, suchas Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire beseparated from it. And lest you should doubt whether he means by thevertues of things those that are Medical; he has in one place thisingenuous confession;Credo (sayes he)simplicia in suasimplicitate esse sufficientia pro sanatione omnium morborum.(339)Nag.Barthias,Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17. even in a Comment uponBeguinus,scruples not to make this acknowledgment;Valde absurdum est (sayeshe)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. Consonantlywhereunto he also tells Us (and Vouches the famousPlaterus, forhaving candidly given the same Advertisement to his Auditors,) thatsome things have greater vertues, and better suited to our humanenature, when unprepar’d, than when they have past the Chymists Fire;as we see, sayes my Author, in Pepper; of which some grains swallowedperform more towards the relief of a Distempered stomack, than a greatquantity of the Oyle of the same spice.

It has been (pursuesCarneades) by our Friend here present observ’dconcerning Salt-petre, that none of the substances into which the Fireis wont to divide it, retaines either the Tast, the cooling vertue, orsome other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of thoseSubstances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petreit self. The(340) shining property of the tayls of gloworms does survivebut so short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, thatinquisitive men have not scrupled publickly to derideBaptista Portaand others; who deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises haveventur’d to prescribe the distillation of a Water from the tayles ofGlowormes, as a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. Towhich 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 Electricalfaculty 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 dividedElements; none of these having such a Texture as the intire Concrete.And however Chymists boldly deduce such and such properties from thisor that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretesthat abound with this or that Ingredient, ’tis not alwayes so much byvertue of its presence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify’dto perform such and such Effects; as upon the account(341) of theparticular texture of that and the other Ingredients, associated aftera determinate Manner into one Concrete (though possibly such aproportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other forthe constituting of such a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov’dupon the dyal, the bell is struck, and the other actions belonging tothe engine are perform’d, not because the Wheeles are of brass oriron, or part of one metal and part of another, or because the weightsare of Lead, but by Vertue of the size, shape, bigness, andco-aptation of the several parts; which would performe the same thingsthough the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights ofStone or Clay; provided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine werethe same: though it be not to be deny’d, that Brasse and Steel aremore convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood.And to let you see,Eleutherius, that ’tis sometimes at least, uponthe Texture of the small parts of a body, and not alwaies upon thepresence, or recesse, or increase, or Decrement of any one of itsPrinciple, that it may lose some(142) such Qualities, and acquire somesuch others as are thought very strongly inherent to the bodies theyResidein. I will add to what may from my past discoursebe refer’d to this purpose, this Notable Example, from my Ownexperience; That Lead may without any additament, and only by variousapplications of the Fire, lose its colour, and acquire sometimes agray, sometimes a yellowish, sometimes a red, sometimes anamethihstine colour; and afterhaving past through these, and perhaps divers others, again recoverits 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, andpresently be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. Andbesides, that the same lead, which I find byMicroscopes to be oneof the most opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a finetransparent glasse; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Natureagain; and all this, as I said, without the addition of any extraneousbody, and meerly by the manner and Method of exposing it to the Fire.

But (sayesCarneades) after having al(343)ready put you to so prolix atrouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a promise of puttingspeedily a period to it; And to make good that promise, I shall fromall that I have hitherto discoursed with you, deduce but this oneproposition by way of Corollary. [That it may as yet be doubted,whether or no there be any determinate Number of Elements; Or, if youplease, whether or no all compound bodies, do consist of the samenumber of Elementary ingredients or material Principles.]

This being but an inference from the foregoing Discourse, it will notbe requisite to insist at large on the proofs of it; But only to pointat the chief of Them, and Referr You for Particulars to what has beenalready Delivered.

In the First place then, from what has been so largely discours’d, itmay appear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by thecommon Peripateticks, or by the vulgar Chymists, to demonstrate thatall mixt bodies are made up precisely either of the four Elements, orthe three Hypostatical Principles, do not evince what they arealledg’d to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended tobe(344) drawn from Reason in favour ofAristotelian Hypothesis (for theChymists are wont to rely almost altogether upon Experiments) they areCommonly 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 indeedall of them as indemonstrable as the conclusion to be inferr’d fromthem; and some of them so manifestly weak and prooflesse; that he mustbe a very courteous adversary, that can be willing to grant them; andas unskilful a one, that can be compelled to do so.

In the next place, it may be considered, if what those Patriarchs oftheSpagyrists,Paracelsus andHelmont, do on divers occasionspositively deliver, be true; namely that theAlkahest does Resolveall mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it must bedecided which of the two resolutions (that made by theAlkahest, orthat 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(345) notice in the last place, that asthe distinct substances whereinto theAlkahest divides bodies, areaffirm’d to be differing in nature from those whereunto they are wontto be reduc’d by fire, and to be obtain’d from some bodies more inNumber than from some others; since he tells us,Novi saxum & lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo autlapidi & æquiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure autMercurio. Helmont. pag. 409. he could totallyreduce all sorts of Stones into Salt only, whereas of a coal he hadtwo distinct Liquors. So, although we should acquiesce in thatresolution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies arethereby divided into the same number of Elements and Principles; someConcretes affordding more of them than others do; Nay and sometimesthis or that Body affording a greater number of Differing substancesby one way of management, than the same yields by another. And theythat out of Gold, or Mercury, or Muscovy-glasse, will draw me as manydistinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juiceof Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall veryThankfully learn. Nor does it ap(346)pear more congruous to that varietythat so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that allelemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then itwould be for a language, that all its words should consist of the samenumber of Letters.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST

OR,

A Paradoxical Appendix to the
Foregoing Treatise.

The Sixth Part.

HEreCarneades Having Dispach’t what he Thought Requisite to opposeagainst what the Chymists are wont to alledge for Proof of their threePrinciples, Paus’d awhile, and look’d about him, to discover whetherit were Time for him and his Friend to Rejoyne the Rest of theCompany. ButEleutherius perceiving nothing yet to(348) forbid Them toProsecute their Discourse a little further, said to his Friend, (whohad 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 haveproceeded to question whether there be any Elements at all. And Iconfess 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 probablysuffice to examine that Paradox; because you have so largly Deduc’dalready many Things pertinent to it, that you need but intimate howyou would have them Apply’d, and what you would inferr from them.

Carneades having in Vain represented that their leasure could be butvery short, that he had already prated very long, that he wasunprepared to maintain so great and so invidious a Paradox, was atlength prevail’d with to tell his Friend; Since,Eleutherius, youwill have me DiscourseEx Tempore of the Paradox you mention, I amcontent, (though more perhaps to express my(349) Obedience, then myOpinion) to tell you that (supposing the Truth ofHelmonts andParacelsus’s Alkahestical Experiments, if I may so call them) thoughit may seem extravagant, yet it is not absurd to doubt, whether, forought has been prov’d, there be a necessity to admit any Elements, orHypostatical Principles, at all.

And, as formerly, so now, to avoid the needless trouble of Disputingseverally with theAristotelians and the Chymists, I will address myself to oppose them I have last nam’d, Because their Doctrine aboutthe Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretending highly tobe grounded upon Experience. And, to deal not only fairly butfavourably with them, I will allow them to take in Earth and Water totheir other Principles. Which I consent to, the rather that myDiscourse may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; whocannot plead for any so probably as for those two Elements; that offire above the Air being Generally by Judicious Men exploded as anImaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compose Mixt(350) Bodies asone of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Ratherreplenishing, by reason of its Weight and Fluidity, all those Cavitiesof bodies here below, whether compounded or not, that are big enoughto admit it, and are not fill’d up with any grosser substance.

And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize You, that I now mean byElements, as those Chymists that speak plainest do by theirPrinciples, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly unmingledbodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another,are the Ingredients of which all those call’d perfectly mixt Bodiesare immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimatelyresolved: now whether there be any one such body to be constantly metwith 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 Ineed not be soabsur’d as to deny that there are suchbodies as Earth, and Water, and Quicksilver, and Sulphur: But I lookupon Earth and Water, as component parts(351) of the Universe, or ratherof the Terrestrial Globe, not of all mixt bodies. And though I willnot peremptorily deny that there may sometimes either a runningMercury, or a Combustible Substance be obtain’d from a Mineral, oreven a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Elementin the sence above declar’d; as I shall have occasion to shew you byand by.

To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceedupon, I must tell you, that in matters of Philosophy, this seems to mea 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 areperswaded that there are Elements are unable to satisfie a consideringman, I suppose my doubts will appear rational.

Now the Considerations that induce men to think that there areElements, may be conveniently enough referr’d to two heads. Namely,the one, that it is necessary that Nature make use of Elements toconstitute the bodies that(352) are reputed Mixt. And the other, That theResolution of such bodies manifests that nature had compounded them ofElementary ones.

In reference to the former of these Considerations, there are two orthree things that I have to Represent.

And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not longsince related to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, andother vegetables, out of fair water. For by those experiments itsseems evident, that Water may be Transmuted into all the otherElements; from whence it may be inferr’d, both, That ’tis not everyThing Chymists will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayesbe a Primordiate and Ingenerable body. And that Nature may contex aPlant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having allthe Elements previously presented to her to compound it of. And, ifyou will allow the relation I mention’d out ofMounsieur De Rochasto be True; then may not only plants, but Animals and Minerals too, beproduced out of Water, And however there is little doubt to be made,but that the plants my tryals afforded me(353) as they were like in somany other respects to the rest of the plants of the sameDenomination; so they would, in case I had reduc’d them toputrefaction, have likewise produc’d Wormes or other insects, as wellas the resembling Vegetables are wont to do; so that Water may, byVarious Seminal Principles, be successively Transmuted into bothplants and Animals. And if we consider that not only Men, but evensucking Children are, but too often, Tormented with Solid Stones, butthat divers sorts of Beasts themselves, (whateverHelmont againstExperience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavystones in their Kidneys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Grassand other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Disguised Water, it willnot seem improbable that even some Concretes of a mineral Nature, mayLikewise be form’d of Water.

We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nourisht, andconsequently may Consist of Common water; so may both plants andAnimals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Rudiments) consist ofcompound Bodies,(354) without having any thing meerly Elementary broughtthem by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in diversmen, who whilst they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwardsLive altogether upon Flesh, Fish, wine, and other perfectly mixtBodies. It may be seen also in sheep, who on some of our English Downsor Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the grasse, without scarcedrinking at all. And yet more manifestly in the magots that breed andgrow up to their full bignesse within the pulps of Apples, Pears, orthe like Fruit. We see also, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Saltgive a much more speedy increment to corn and other Vegetables thanWater alone would do: And it hath been assur’d me, by a manexperienc’d in such matters, that sometimes when to bring up rootsvery early, the Mould they were planted in was made over-rich, thevery substance of the Plant has tasted of the Dung. And let us alsoconsider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Treeof another kind. As for instance, the Ciens of a Pear upon aWhite-thorne; for there the ascending(355) Liquor is already alter’d,either by the root, or in its ascent by the bark, or both wayes, andbecomes a new mixt body: as may appear by the differing qualities tobe met with in the saps of several trees; as particularly, themedicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have sometimes drunk uponHelmonts great and not undeserved commendation) Now the graft, beingfasten’d to the stock must necessarily nourish its self, and produceits Fruit, only out of this compound Juice prepared for it by theStock, 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) remainin an Animal; we may easily suppose, That the blood of that Animal whoFeeds upon this, though it be a Well constituted Liquor, and have allthe differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by onepræsiding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of itsparts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary thateven in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal andVegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make hercompositions of.(356)

Having said thus much touching the constitution of Plants and Animals,I might perhaps be able to say as much touching that of Minerals, andeven Metalls, if it were as easy for us to make experiment in Order tothe production of these, as of those. But the growth or increment ofMinerals being usually a work of excessively long time, and for themost part perform’d in the bowels of the Earth, where we cannot seeit, I must instead of Experiments make use, on this occasion, ofObservations.

That stones were not all made at once, but that are some of them nowadayes generated, may (though it be deny’d by some) be fully prov’d byseveral examples, of which I shall now scarce alledg any other, thenthat famous place inFrance known by the name ofLes CavesGentieres, where the Water falling from the upperParts of the cave to the ground does presently there condense intolittle stones, of such figures as the drops, falling either severallyor upon one another, and coagulating presently into stone, chance toexhibit. Of these stones some Ingenuous Friends of ours, that went awhile since to visit that place, did me(357) the favour to present me withsome that they brought thence. And I remember that both that soberRelator of his Voyages,Van Linschoten, and another good Author,inform us that in the Diamond Mines (as they call them) in theEast-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 yearsthey find in the same place new Diamonds produc’d there since. Fromboth which Relations, especially the first, it seems probable thatNature does not alwayes stay for divers Elementary Bodies, when she isto produce stones. And as for Metals themselves, Authors of good noteassure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc’d at oncealtogether, but have been observ’d to grow; so that what was not aMineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were easieto alledg many testimonies of professed Chymists. But that they mayhave the greater authority, I shall rather present you with a fewborrowed from more unsuspected writers.Sulphuris Mineram (as theinquisitiveP. Fallopius notes)quæ nutrix est caloris subterranei(158)fabri seu Archæi fontium & mineralium, Infra terram citissime renascitestantur Historiæ Metallicæ. Sunt enim loca e quibus si hoc annosulphur effossum fuerit; intermissa fossione per quadriennium redeuntfossores & omnia sulphure, utautea, rursus inveniuntplena.Pliny Relates,In Italiæ Insula Ilva, gigni ferrimetallum. Strabomulto expressius; effossum ibi metallum semperregenerari. Nam si effossio spatio centum annorum intermittebatur, &iterum illuc revertebantur, fossores reperisse maximam copiam ferriregeneratam. Which history not only is countenanced byFallopius,from the Incom which the Iron of that Island yielded the Duke ofFlorence in his time; but is mention’d more expressely to ourpurpose, by the LearnedCesalpinus.Vena (sayes he)ferricopiosissima est in Italia; ob eam nobilitata Ilva Tirrheni marisInsula incredibili copia, etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens: Namterra quæ eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venamconvertitur. Which last clause is therefore very notable, becausefrom thence we may deduce, that earth, by a Metalline plastickprinciple latent in it, may be in processe of time chang’d into ametal. And evenAgricolaIn Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum,fossis ad altitudinem bipedaneam actis. Id decennio renatum denuofoditur non aliter ac Ilvæ ferrum.(359) himself, though the Chymists complain ofhim as their adversary, acknowledges thus much and more; by telling usthat at a Town calledSaga inGermany, they dig up Iron in theFields, by sinking ditches two foot deep; And adding, that within thespace of ten years the Ditches are digged again for Iron sinceproduced, As the same Metal is wont to be obtain’d inElva. Alsoconcerning Lead, not to mention what evenGalen notes, that it willincrease both in bulk and Weight if it be long kept in Vaults orSellars, where the Air is gross and thick, as he collects from thesmelling of those pieces of Lead that were imploy’d to fasten togetherthe parts of old Statues. Not to mention this, I say,BoccaciusCertaldus, as I find him Quoted by a Diligent Writer, has thisPassage touching the Growth of Lead.Fessularum mons (sayes he)inHetruria, Florentiæ civitati imminens, lapides plumbarios habet; quisi excidantur, brevi temporis spatio, novis incrementis instaurantur;ut (annexes my Author)tradit(360) Boccacius Certaldus, qui idcompotissimum esse scribit. Nihil hoc noviest; sed de eadem Plinius, lib. 34. Hist. Natur. cap. 17. dudumprodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his solis plumbi metallis, quod derelictafertilius reviviscunt. In plumbariis secundo Lapide ab Amberga dictisad Asylum recrementa congesta in cumulos, exposita solibus pluviisquepaucis annis, redunt suum metallum cum fenore. I might Add to these,continuesCarneades, many things that I have met with concerning theGeneration of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I shallmention but two or three Narratives. The First you may find RecordedbyGerhardus the Physick Professor, in these Words.In valle(sayes he)Joachimaca argentumgraminimodo & more e Lapidibus mineræ velut e radice excrevissedigiti Longitudine, testis est Dr. Schreterus, qui ejusmodi venasaspectu jucundas & admirabiles Domi sua aliis sæpe monstravit &Donavit. Item Aqua cærulea Inventa est Annebergæ, ubi argentum eratadhuc in primo ente, quæ coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi & boniargenti.

The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, andyet(361) they are both very memorable in themselves, and as pertinent toour present purpose.

The first I meet with in the Commentary ofJohannes Valehius upontheKleine Baur, In which that Industrious Chymist Relates, withmany circumstances, that at a Mine-Town (If I may so English theGermanBergstat) eight miles or Leagues distant fromStrasburgcall’dMariakirch, a Workman came to the Overseer, and desiredemployment; but he telling him that there was not any of the best sortat present for him, added that till he could be preferr’d to somesuch, he might in the mean time, to avoid idleness, work in a Grove orMine-pit thereabouts, which at that time was little esteem’d. ThisWorkman after some weeks Labour, had by a Crack appearing in the Stoneupon a Stroak given near the wall, an Invitation Given him to Work hisWay through, which as soon as he had done, his Eyes were saluted by amighty stone or Lump which stood in the middle of the Cleft (that hada hollow place behind it) upright, and in shew like an armed-man; butconsisted of pure fine(362) Silver having no Vein or Ore by it, or anyother Additament, but stood there free, having only underfootsomething like a burnt matter; and yet this one Lump held in Weightabove a 1000 marks, which, according to theDutch, Accountmakes 500 pound weight of fine silver. From which andother Circumstances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of theplace, the Noble Metalline Spirits, (Sulphureous and Mercurial) werecarri’d from the neighbouring Galleries or Vaults, through othersmaller Cracks and Clefts, into that Cavity, and there collected as ina close Chamber or Cellar; whereinto when they were gotten, they didin process of time settle into the forementioned precious mass ofMetal.

The other Germane Relation is of That great Traveller and LaboriousChymistJohannes (notGeorgus)Agricola; who in his notes uponwhatPoppius has written of Antimony, Relates, that when he wasamong theHungarian Mines in the deep Groves, he observ’d that therewould often arise in them a warm Steam (not of that malignant sortwhich the Germains callShwadt,(363) which (sayes he) is a meer poyson,and often suffocates theDiggers, which fasten’d itself to the Walls; and that coming again to review it after a coupleof dayes, he discern’d that it was all very fast, and glistering;whereupon having collected it and Distill’d itper Retortam, heobtain’d from it a fine Spirit, adding, that the Mine-Men inform’dhim, that this Steam orDamp of the English Mine(retaining the dutch Term) would at last havebecome a Metal, as Gold or Silver.

I referr (sayesCarneades) to another Occasion, the Use that may bemade of these Narratives towards the explicating the Nature ofMetalls; and that of Fixtness, Malleableness, and some other Qualitiesconspicuous in them. And in the mean time, this I may at presentdeduce from these Observations, That ’tis not very probable, that,whensoever a Mineral, or even a Metall, is to be Generated in theBowels of the Earth, Nature needs to have at hand both Salt, andSulphur, and Mercury to Compound it of; for, not to urge that the twolast Relations seem less to favour the Chymists thanAristotle, who(364)would have Metals Generated of certainHalitus or steams, theforemention’d Observations together, make it seem more Likely that themineral Earths or those Metalline steams (wherewith probably suchEarths are plentifully imbu’d) do contain in them some seminalRudiment, or some thing Equivalent thereunto; by whose plastick powerthe rest of the matter, though perhaps Terrestrial and heavy, is inTract of time fashion’d into this or That metalline Ore; almost as Iformerly noted, that fair water was by the seminal Principle of Mint,Pompions, and other Vegetables, contriv’d into Bodies answerable tosuch Seeds. And that such Alterations of Terrestrial matter are notimpossible, seems evident from that notable Practice of the Boylers ofSalt-Petre, who unanimously observe, as well here inEngland as inother Countries; That if an Earth pregnant with Nitre be depriv’d, bythe affusion of water, of all its true and dissoluble Salt, yet theEarth will after some years yield them Salt-Petre again; For whichreason some of the eminent and skillfullest of them keep it in heapsas a perpetual(365) Mine of Salt Petre; whence it may appear, that theSeminal Principle of Nitre latent in the Earth does by degreesTransforme the neighbouring matter into a Nitrous Body; for though Ideny that some Volatile Nitre may by such Earths be attracted (as theyspeak) out of the Air, yet that the innermost parts of such greatheaps that lye so remote from the Air should borrow from it all theNitre they abound with, is not probable, for other reasons besides theremoteness of the Air, though I have not the Leasure to mention them.

And I remember, that a person of Great Credit, and well acquaintedwith the wayes of making Vitriol, affirm’d to me, that he hadobserv’d, that a kind of mineral which abounds in that Salt, beingkept within Doors and not expos’d (as is usual) to the free Air andRains, did of it self in no very long time turn into Vitriol, not onlyin the outward or superficial, but even in the internal and mostCentral parts.

And I also remember, that I met with a certain kind of Merkasite thatlay together in great Quantities under(366) ground, which did, even in mychamber, in so few hours begin of it self to turne into Vitriol, thatwe need not distrust the newly recited narrative. But to return towhat I was saying of Nitre; as Nature made this Salt-Petre out of theonce almost and inodorous Earth it was bred in, and did not find avery stinking and corrosive Acid Liquor, and a sharp Alcalyzate Saltto compound it of, though these be the Bodies into which the Firedissolves it; so it were not necessary that Nature should make up allMetals and other Minerals of Pre-existent Salt, and Sulphur, andMercury, though such Bodies might by Fire be obtained from it. Whichone consideration duly weigh’d is very considerable in the presentcontroversy: And to this agree well the Relations of our two GermanChymists; for besides that it cannot be convincingly prov’d, it is notso much as likely that so languid and moderate a heat as that withinthe Mines, should carry up to so great aheat, thoughin the forme of fumes, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; since we find in ourDistillations, that it requires a considerable Degree of Fire to raiseso much as to the height of one(367) foot not only Salt, but even Mercuryit self, in close Vessels. And if it be objected, that it seems by thestink that is sometimes observ’d when Lightening falls down herebelow, that sulphureous steams may ascend very high without anyextraordinary 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, proceedsCarneades, If it had not been to afford You some hintsconcerning the Origine of Metals, I need not have deduc’d any thingfrom these Observations; It not being necessary to the Validity of myArgument that my Deductions from them should be irrefragable, becausemy Adversaries theAristotelians and Vulgar Chymists do not, Ipresume, know any better then I,a priori, of what ingredientsNature compounds Metals and Minerals. For their Argument to prove thatthose Bodies are made up of such Principles, is drawna posteriori;I mean from this, that upon theAnalysis of Mineral bodies they areresolv’d into those differing substances.(368) That we may thereforeexamine this Argument, Let us proceed to consider what can be alledg’din behalf of the Elements from the Resolutions of Bodies by the fire;which you remember was the secondTophickwhence 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 howthe fire divides them.

And first, I have partly noted above, that though Chymists pretendfrom some to draw salt, from others running Mercury, and from others aSulphur; Yet they have not hitherto taught us by any way inusamong them to separate any one principle, whether Salt,Sulphur, or Mercury, from all sorts of Minerals without exception. Andthence I may be allow’d to conclude that there is not any of theElements that is an Ingredient of all Bodies, since there are some ofwhich it is not so.

In the next place, supposing that either Sulphur or Mercury wereobtainable from all sorts of Minerals. Yet still this(369) Sulphur orMercury would be but a compounded, not an Elementary body, as I toldyou already on another occasion. And certainly he that takes notice ofthe wonderful Operations of Quicksilver, whether it be common, ordrawn from Mineral Bodies, can scarce be so inconsiderate as to thinkit of the very same nature with that immature and fugitive substancewhich in Vegetables and Animals Chymists have been pleas’d to calltheir Mercury. So that when Mercury is got by the help of the fire outof a metal or other Mineral Body, if we will not suppose that it wasnot pre-existent in it, but produc’d by the action of the fire uponthe Concrete, we may at least suppose this Quicksilver to have been aperfect Body of its own kind (though perhaps lesse heterogeneous thenmore secundary mixts) which happen’d to be mingl’dper minima, andcoagulated with the other substances, whereof the Metal or Mineralconsisted. As may be exemplyfied partly by Native Vermillion whereinthe Quicksilver and Sulphur being exquisitely blended both with oneanother, and that other course Mineral stuff (what ever it be) thatharbours(370) them, make up a red body differing enough from both; and yetfrom which part of the Quicksilver, and of the Sulphur, may be easilyenough obtain’d; Partly by those Mines wherein nature has so curiouslyincorporated Silver with Lead, that ’tis extreamly difficult, and yetpossible, to separate the former out of theLatter.And partly too by native Vitriol, wherein the Metalline Corpuscles areby skill and industry separable from the saline ones, though they beso con-coagulated with them, that the whole Concrete is reckon’d amongSalts.

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 nowno other Metalline Bodies) and therefore to retort the argument uponmy Adversaries, I may conclude, that since there are some bodies inwhich, for ought appears, there is neither Earth norWater.I may be allow’d to conclude that neither of those two is anUniversal Ingredient of all those Bodies that are counted perfectlymixt, which I desire you would remember against Anon.(371)

It may indeed be objected, that the reason why from Gold or Silver wecannot separate any moisture, is, because that when it is melted outof the Oare, the vehement Fire requisite to its Fusion forc’d away allthe aqueous and fugitive moisture; and the like fire may do from thematerials of Glass. To which I shall Answer, that I Remember I readnot long since in the LearnedJosephus Acosta,Acosta Natural and Moral history of the Indies, L. 3.c. 5, p. 212. who relates itupon his own observation; that inAmerica, (where he long lived)there is a kind of Silver which theIndians callPapas, andsometimes (sayes he) they find pieces very fine and pure like to smallround roots, the which is rare in that metal, but usuall in Gold;Concerning which metal he tells us, that besides this they find somewhich they call Gold in grains, which he tells us are small morsels ofGold that they find whole without mixture of any other metal, whichhath no need of melting or Refining in the fire.

I remember that a very skilful and credible person affirmed to me,that being in theHungarian mines he had the good fortune to see amineral that was(372) there digg’d up, wherein pieces of Gold of thelength, and also almost of the bigness of a humane Finger, grew in theOar, as if they had been parts and Branches of Trees.

And I have my self seen a Lump of whitish Mineral, that was brought asa Rarity to a Great and knowing Prince, wherein there grew here andthere in the Stone, which looked like a kind of sparr, divers littleLumps of fine Gold, (for such I was assured that Tryal had manifestedit to be) some of them Seeming to be about the Bigness of pease.

But that is nothing to what ourAcostaSeeAcosta in the fore-cited Place, and the passage ofPliny quoted by him. subjoynes, which is indeedvery memorable, namely, that of the morsels of Native and pure Gold,which we lately heard him mentioning he had now and then seen somethat weighed many pounds; to which I shall add, that I my selfhave seen a Lump of Oar not long since digged up, in whose stony partthere grew, almost like Trees, divers parcels though not of Gold, yetof (what perhaps Mineralists will more wonder at) another Metal whichseemed to be very pure or un(373)mixt with any Heterogeneous Substances,and were some of them as big as my Finger, if not bigger. But uponObservations of this kind, though perhaps I could, yet I must not atpresent dwell any longer.

To proceed Therefore now (sayesCarneades) to the Consideration oftheAnalysis of Vegetables, although my Tryals give me no cause todoubt but that out of most of them five differing Substances may beobtain’d by the fire, yet I think it will not be so easilyDemonstrated that these deserve to be call’d Elements in the Notionabove explain’d.

And before I descend to particulars, I shall repeat and premise thisGeneral Consideration, that these differing substances that are call’dElements or Principles, differ not from each other as Metals, Plantsand Animals, or as such Creatures as are immediately produc’d each byits peculiar Seed, and Constitutes a distinct propagable sort ofCreatures in the Universe; but these are only Various Schemes ofmatter or Substances that differ from each other, but in consistence(as Running Mercury and(174) the same Metal congeal’d by the Vapor ofLead) and some very few other accidents, as Tast, or Smel, orInflamability, or the want of them. So that by a change of Texture notimpossible to be wrought by the Fire and other Agents that have theFaculty not only to dissociate the smal parts of Bodies, butafterwards to connect them after a new manner, the same parcell ofmatter may acquire or lose such accidents as may suffice to Denominateit Salt, or Sulphur, or Earth. If I were fully to clear to you myapprehensions concerning this matter, I should perhaps be obliged toacquaint you with divers of the Conjectures (for I must yet call themno more) I have had Concerning the Principles of things purelyCorporeal: For though because I seem not satisfi’d with the VulgarDoctrines, either of the Peripatetick or Paracelsian Schools, many ofthose that know me, (and perhaps, among Them,Eleutherius himself)have thought me wedded to the EpicureanHypotheses, (as others havemistaken me for anHelmontian;) yet if you knew how littleConversant I have been withEpicurean(375) Authors, and how great a partofLucretius himself I never yet had the Curiosity to read, youwould perchance be of another mind; especially if I were to entertainyou at large, I say not, of my present Notions; but of my formerthoughts concerning the Principles of things. But, as I said above,fully to clear my Apprehensions would require a Longer Discourse thanwe 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 Worldis now Constituted, we should, if we consider the Great Mass of matteras it was whilst the Universe was in making, add another, which mayConveniently enough be call’d an Architectonick Principle or power; bywhich I mean those Various Determinations, and that Skilfull Guidanceof the motions of the small parts of the Universal matter by the mostwise Author of things, which were necessary at the beginning to turnthat confus’dChaos into this Orderly and beautifull World; andEspecially, to contrive the Bodies of A(376)nimals and Plants, and theSeeds of those things whose kinds were to be propagated. For I confessI cannot well Conceive, how from matter, Barely put into Motion, andthen left to it self, there could Emerge such Curious Fabricks as theBodies of men and perfect Animals, and such yet more admirablyContriv’d parcels of matter, as the seeds of living Creatures.

I should likewise tell you upon what grounds, and in what sence, Isuspected the Principles of the World, as it now is, to be Three,Matter,Motion andRest. I say,as the World now is, becausethe present Fabrick of the Universe, and especially the seeds ofthings, together with the establisht Course of Nature, is a Requisiteor Condition, upon whose account divers things may be made out by ourthree Principles, which otherwise would be very hard, if possible, toexplicate.

I should moreover declare in general (for I pretend not to be able todo it otherwise) not only why I Conceive that Colours, Odors, Tasts,Fluidness and Solidity, and those other qualities that Diversifie andDenominate Bodies(377) may Intelligibly be Deduced from these three;buthow two of the Three Epicurean Principles (which, I need nottell, youare Magnitude, Figure and Weight)are Themselves Deducible from Matter and Motion; since the Latter ofthese Variously Agitating, and, as it were, Distracting the Former,must needs disjoyne its parts; which being Actually separated mustEach of them necessarily both be of some Size, and obtain some shapeor other. Nor did I add to our Principles theAristoteleanPrivation, partly for other Reasons, which I must not now stay toinsist on; and partly because it seems to be rather an Antecedent, oraTerminus a quo, then a True Principle, as the starting-Post isnone of the Horses Legs or Limbs.

I should also explain why and how I maderest to be,though not so considerable a Principle of things, as Motion, yet aPrinciple of them; partly because it is (for ought weknowas Ancient at least as it, and depends not upon Motion, nor anyother quality of matter; and partly, because it may enable the Body inwhich it happens to be,(378) both to continue in a State of Rest till someexternal force put it out of that state, and to concur to theproduction of divers Changes in the bodies that hit against it, byeither quite stopping or lessning their Motion (whilst the bodyformerly at Rest Receives all or part of it into it self) or else bygiving a new Byass, or some other Modification, to Motion, that is, Tothe Grand and Primary instrument whereby Nature produces all theChanges and other Qualities that are to be met with in the World.

I should likewise, after all this, explain to you how, althoughMatter, Motion and Rest, seem’d to me to be the Catholick Principlesof the Universe, I thought the Principles of Particular bodies mightbe Commodiously enough reduc’d to two, namelyMatter, and (whatComprehends the two other, and their effects) the result orAggregateof those Accidents, which are theMotion or Rest, (for in some Bodies both are not to be found) theBigness, Figure,Texture) and the thence resultingQualities of the smallparts) which are necessaryto intitle the Body whereto they(379) belong to this or that PeculiarDenomination; and discriminating it from others to appropriate it to aDeterminate Kind of Things,as Yellowness, Fixtness,such a Degree of Weight, and of Ductility, do make the Portion ofmatter wherein they Concur, to be reckon’d among perfect metals, andobtain the name of Gold.)Which Aggregate or result ofAccidents you may, if You please, call eitherStructure or Texture.

Though indeed, that donot so properly Comprehend the motion of the constituent partsespecially in case some of them beFluid, or whatother appellation shall appear most Expressive. Or if, retaining theVulgar Terme, You will call it theForme of the thing itdenominates, I shall not much oppose it; Provided the word beinterpreted to mean but what I have express’d, and not a ScholastickSubstantial Forme, which so many intelligent men profess to be tothem altogether Un-intelligible.

But, sayesCarneades, if you remember that ’tis a Sceptick speaks toyou, and that ’tis not so much my present Talk(380) to make assertions asto suggest doubts, I hope you will look upon what I have propos’d,rather as a Narrative of my former conjectures touching the principlesof things, then as a Resolute Declaration of my present opinions ofthem; especially since although they cannot but appear Very much totheir Disadvantage, If you Consider Them as they are propos’d withoutthose Reasons and Explanations by which I could perhaps make themappear much lesse extravagant; yet I want time to offer you what maybe alledg’d to clear and countenance these notions; my design inmentioning them unto you at present being,partly, to bring someLight 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 allEpicurus his principles; but Dissent from him in somemain things, as well as fromAristotle and the Chymists, in others;&partly also, or rather chiefly, to intimate to you the groundsupon which I likewise differ fromHelmont in this, that whereas heascribes almost all things, and even diseases themselves, to theirdeterminate Seeds; I am of opinion, that(381) besides the peculiarFabricks of the Bodies of Plants and Animals (and perhaps also of someMetals and Minerals) which I take to be the Effects of seminalprinciples, there are many other bodies in nature which have anddeserve distinct and Proper names, but yet do but result from suchcontextures of the matter they are made of, as may without determinateseeds be effected by heat, cold, artificial mixtures and compositions,and divers other causes which sometimes nature imployes of her ownaccord; and oftentimes man by his power and skill makes use of tofashion the matter according to his Intentions. This may beexemplified both in the productions of Nature, and in those of Art; ofthe first sort I might name multitudes; but to shew how sleight avariation of Textures without addition of new ingredients may procurea parcel of matter divers names, and make it be Lookt upon asDifferent 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 theirsize and distance in respect of each other, and as to motion(383) andrest. And among Artificial Productions we may take notice (to skip theCrystals of Tartar) of Glass,Regulus, Martis-Stellatus,and particularly of the Sugar of Lead,which though made of that insipid Metal and sour salt of Vinager, hasin it a sweetnesse surpassing that of common Sugar, and divers otherqualities, which being not to be found in either of its twoingredients, must be confess’d to belong to the Concrete it self, uponthe account of its Texture.

This Consideration premis’d, it will be, I hope, the more easie toperswade you that the Fire may as well produce some new textures in aparcel of matter, as destroy the old.

Wherefore hoping that you have not forgot the Arguments formerlyimploy’d against the Doctrine of theTria prima; namely that theSalt, Sulphur and Mercury, into which the Fire seems to resolveVegetable and Animal Bodies, are yet compounded, not simple andElementary Substances; And that (as appeared by the Experiment ofPompions) theTria prima may be made out of Water; hoping I say,that you remember These and the other Things that I formerlyrepresented(382) to the same purpose, I shall now add only, that if wedoubt not the Truth of some ofHelmontsRelation,We may well doubt whether any of these Heterogeneities be(I say not pre-existent, so as to convene together, when a plant orAnimal is to be constituted but) so much as in-existent in theConcrete whence they are obtain’d, when theChymistsfirst goes about to resolve it; For not to insist upon theun-inflamable Spirit of such Concretes, because that may be pretendedto be but a mixture of Phlegme and Salt; the Oyle or Sulphur ofVegetables or Animals is, according to him, reducible by the help ofLixiviate Salts into Sope; as that Sope is by the help of repeatedDistillations from aCaput Mortuum of Chalk into insipid Water. Andas for the saline substance that seems separable from mixt bodies; thesameHelmonts tryalsOmne autem Alcali addita pinguedine in aqueum liquorem,qui tandem mera & simplex aqua fit, reducitur, (ut videre est inSapone, Lazurio lapide, &c.) quoties per adjuncta fixa semenPinguedinis deponit. Helmont. give us cause to think, That it may be aproduction of the Fire, which by transporting and otherwise alteringthe particles of the matter, does bring it to a Saline nature.

For I know (sayes he, in the place formerly alledg’d to anotherpurpose) a way to reduce all stones into a meer Salt of equal weightwith the stone whence it was produc’d, and that without any of theleast either Sulphur or Mercury; which asseveration of my Author wouldperhaps seem less incredible to You, if I durst acquaint You with allI could say upon that subject. And hence by the way you may alsoconclude that the Sulphur and Mercury, as they call them, thatChymists are wont to obtain from compound Bodies by the Fire, maypossibly in many Cases be the productions of it; since if the samebodies had been wrought upon by the Agents employ’d byHelmont, theywould have yielded neither Sulphur nor Mercury; and those portions ofthem which the Fire would have presented Us in the forme ofSulphureous and Mercurial Bodies would have, byHelmonts method,been exhibited to us in the form of Salt.

But though (sayesEleutherius) You have alledg’d very plausibleArguments against thetria Prima, yet I see not how it will bepossible for you to avoid acknowledging that Earth and Water are(385)Elementary Ingredients, though not of Mineral Concretes, yet of allAnimal and Vegetable Bodies; Since if any of these of what sort soeverbe committed to Distillation, there is regularly and constantlyseparated from it a phlegme or aqueous part and aCaput Mortuum orEarth.

I readily acknowledged (answersCarneades) it is not so easy toreject Water and Earth (and especially the former) as ’tis to rejecttheTria Prima, from being the Elements of mixt Bodies; but ’tis notevery difficult thing that is impossible.

I consider then, as to Water, that the chief Qualities which make mengive that name to any visible Substance, are, that it is Fluid orLiquid, and that it is insipid and inodorous. Now as for the tast ofthese qualities, I think you have never seen any of those separatedsubstances that the Chymists call Phlegme which was perfectly devoydboth of Tast and Smell: and if you object, that yet it may bereasonably suppos’d, that since the whole Body is Liquid, the mass isnothing but Elementary Water faintly imbu’d with some of the Saline orSul(386)phureous parts of the same Concrete, which it retain’d with itupon its Separation from the Other Ingredients. To this I answer, Thatthis Objection would not appear sostongas it is plausible, if Chymists understood the Nature of Fluidity andCompactnesse; and that, as I formerly observ’d, to a Bodies beingFluid there is nothing necessary, but that it be divided into partssmall enough; and that these parts be put into such a motion amongthemselves as to glide some this way and some that way, along eachothers Surfaces. So that, although a Concrete were never so dry, andhad not any Water or other Liquor in-existent in it, yet such aComminution of its parts may be made, by the fire or other Agents, asto turn a great portion of them into Liquor. Of this Truth I will givean instance, employ’d by our friend here present as one of the mostconducive of his experiments to Illustrate the nature of Salts. If youTake, then, sea salt and melt it in the Fire to free it from theaqueous parts, and afterward distill it with a vehement Fire fromburnt Clay, or any other, as dry aCaput mortuum as you please, youwill, as Chymistsconfess,(387) byteaching it drive over a good part of the Salt in the form of aLiquor. And to satisfy some ingenious men, That a great part of thisLiquor was still true sea salt brought by the Operation of the Fireinto Corpuscles so small, and perhaps so advantageously shap’d, as tobe capable of the forme of a Fluid Body, He did in my presence poureto such spiritual salts a due proportion of the spirit (or salt andPhlegme) of Urine, whereby having evaporated the superfluous moisture,he soon obtain’d such another Concrete, both as to tast and smell, andeasie sublimableness as common SaltArmoniack, which you know ismade up of grosse and undistill’d sea salt united with the salts ofUrine and of Soot, which two are very neer of kin to each other. Andfurther, to manifest that the Corpuscles of sea salt and the Salineones of Urine retain their several Natures in this Concrete, He mixtit with a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar, and committing it toDistillation soon regain’d his spirit of Urine in a liquid form by itsself, the Sea salt staying behind with the Salt of Tartar. Whereforeit is very possible that dry Bodies may by the Fire be re(388)duc’d toLiquors without any separation of Elements, but barely by a certainkind of Dissipation and Comminution of the matter, whereby its partsare brought into a new state. And if it be still objected, that thePhlegme of mixt Bodies must be reputed water, because so weak a tastneeds but a very small proportion of Salt to impart it; It may bereply’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 Ilately noted) Saline Corpuscles abound, Yet there is besides a largeproportion of Phlegme, as may easily be discovered by coagulating theSaline Corpuscles with any convenient Body; as I lately told you, ourFriend coagulated part of the Spirit of Salt with Spirit of Urine: andas I have divers times separated a salt from Oyle of Vitriol it self(though a very ponderous Liquor and drawn from a saline body) byboyling it with a just quantity of Mercury, and then washing the newlycoagulated salt from the Precipitate with fair Water. Now to what canwe more probably ascribe this plenty(389) of aqueous Substance afforded usby the Distillation of such bodies, than unto this, That among thevarious operations of the Fire upon the matter of a Concrete, diversparticles of that matter are reduc’d to such a shape and bignesse asis requisite to compose such a Liquor as Chymists are wont to callPhlegme or Water. How I conjecture this change may be effected, ’tisneither necessary for me to tell you, nor possible to do so without amuch longer discourse then were now seasonable. But I desire you wouldwith me reflect upon what I formerly told you concerning the change ofQuicksilver into Water; For that Water having but a very faint tast,if any whit more than divers of those liquors that Chymists referr toPhlegme; By that experiment it seems evident, that even a metallinebody, and therefore much more such as are but Vegetable or Animal, mayby 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, orSilver, or divers other Concretes to separate any thing like Water; Ihope I may be allow’d to conclude against Them, that water it self isnot an(390) Universal and pre-existent Ingredient of Mixt Bodies.

But as for those Chymists that, Supposing with me the Truth of whatHelmont relates of theAlkahest’s wonderful Effects, have a rightto press me with his Authority concerning them, and to alledge that hecould Transmute all reputedly mixt Bodies into insipid and meer Water;To those I shall represent, That though his Affirmations concludestrongly against the Vulgar Chymists (against whom I have nottherefore scrupl’d to Employ Them) since they Evince that the Commonlyreputed Principles or Ingredients of Things are not Permanent andindestructible, since they may be further reduc’d into Insipid Phlegmediffering from them all; Yet till we can be allow’d to examine thisLiquor, I think it not unreasonable to doubt whether it be notsomething else then meer Water. For I find not any other reason givenbyHelmont of his Pronouncing it so, then that it is insipid. NowSapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to ourTongue, Palate, and other Organs of Tast, it may very possibly be,(391)that the small Parts of a Body may be of such a Size and Shape, aseither by their extream Littleness, or by their slenderness, or bytheir Figure, to be unable to pierce into and make a perceptibleImpression upon the Nerves or Membranous parts of the Organs of Tast,andwhat may be fit to work otherwise upon divers otherBodies than meer Water can, and consequently to Disclose it self to beof a Nature farr enough from Elementary. In Silke dyed Red or of anyother Colour, whilst many Contiguous Threads makes up a skein, theColour of the Silke is conspicuous; but if only a very few of them belookt upon, the Colour will appear much fainter then before. But ifYou take out one simple Thread, you shall not easily be able todiscern any Colour at all; So subtile an Object having not the Forceto make upon the Optick Nerve an Impression great enough to be takenNotice of. It is also observ’d, that the best sort of Oyl-Olive isalmost tastless, and yet I need not tell you how exceedingly distantin Nature Oyle is from Water. The Liquor into which I told you, uponthe Relation ofLully,(392)and Eye-witness that Mercurymight be Transmuted, has sometimes but a very Languid, if any Tast,and yet its Operations even upon some Mineral Bodies are verypeculiar. Quicksilver it self also, though the Corpuscles it consistsof be so very small as to get into the Pores of that Closest andcompactest of Bodies, Gold, is yet (you know) altogether Tastless. AndourHelmont several times tells us, that fair Water wherein a littleQuantityf Quicksilver has lain for some time, though itacquire no certain Tast or other sensible Quality from theQuicksilver; Yet it has a power to destroy wormes in humane Bodies;which he does much, but not causelessly extoll. And I remember, agreat Lady, that had been Eminent for her Beauty in Divers Courts,confess’d to me, that this insipid Liquor was of all innocent washesfor the Face the best that she ever met with.

And here let me conclude my Discourse, concerning such waters orLiquors as I have hitherto been examining, with these twoConsiderations. Whereof the first is, That by reason of our being wontto drink nothing but(393) Wine, Bear, Cyder, or other strongly tastedLiquors, there may be in several of these Liquors, that are wont topass for insipid Phlegme, very peculiar andDistinct, Taststhough unheeded (and perhaps not to be perceiv’d) byUs. For to omit what Naturalists affirm of Apes, (and which probablymay be true of divers other Animals) that they have a more exquisitepalate than Men: among Men themselves, those that are wont to drinknothing but water may (as I have try’d in my self) Discern verysensibly a great Difference of Tasts in several waters, which oneun-accustomed to drink water would take to be all alike insipid. Andthis is thefirst of my two Considerations; theOther is, That itis not impossible that the Corpuscles into which a body is dissipatedby the Fire may by the Operation of the same fire have their figuresso altered, or may be by associations with one another brought intolittle Masses of such a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to makesensible Impressions on the Tongue. And that you may not think suchalterations impossible, be pleased to consider with me, that not(394) onlythe sharpest Spirit of Vinager having dissolved as much Corall as itcan, will Coagulate with it into a Substance, which though soluble inwater, like salt, is incomparably less strongly Tasted then theVinager was before; but (what is more considerable) though the Acidsalts that are carried up with Quicksilver in the preparation ofcommon sublimate are so sharp, that being moistened with water it willCorrode some of the Metals themselves; yet this Corrosive Sublimatebeing twice or thrice re-sublim’d with a full proportion of insipidQuicksilver, Constitutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, whichthe Chymists callMercurius dulcis; not because it is sweet, butbecause the sharpness of the Corrosive Salts is so taken away by theirCombination with the Mercurial Corpuscles, that the whole mixture whenit is prepar’d is judg’d to be insipid.

And thus (continuesCarneades) having given you some Reasons why Irefuse to admit Elementary water for a constant Ingredient of MixtBodies, It will be easie for me to give you an Account why I alsoreject Earth.(395)

For first, it may well be suspected that many Substances pass amongChymists under the name of Earth, because, like it, they are Dry, andHeavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Elementary Nature.This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what Iformerly told you concerning what Chymists call the Dead Earth ofthings, and especially touching the copper to be drawn from theCaputMortuum of Vitriol; And if also you allow me to subjoyn a casual butmemorable Experiment made byJohannes Agricola upon theTerraDamnata of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes uponPopius,) that in the year 1621 he madean Oyle of Sulphur; the remainingFæces he reverberated in amoderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up ina Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing tocalcine theFæces to a perfect Whiteness, that he might makesometing else out of them. But comingto break the pot, he found above but very littleFæces, and thoseGrey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine RedRegulus(396) whichhe first marvell’d at and knew not what to make of, being well assuredthat not the least thing, besides theFæces of the Sulphur, cameinto the pot; and that the Sulphur it self had only been dissolv’d inLinseed Oyle; thisRegulus he found heavy and malleable almost asLead; having caus’d a Goldsmith to draw him a Wire of it, he found itto be of the Fairest copper, and so rightly colour’d, that a Jew ofPrague offer’d him a great price for it. And of this Metal he sayeshe had 12loth (or six ounces) out of one pound of Ashes orFæces.And this Story may well incline us to suspect that since theCaputMortuum of the Sulphur was kept so long in the fire before it wasfound to be any thing else then aTerra damnata, there may be diversother Residences of Bodies which are wont to pass only for theTerrestrialFæces of things, and therefore to be thrown away as soonas the Distillation or Calcination of the Body that yielded them isended; which yet if they were long and Skilfully examin’d by the firewould appear to be differing from Elementary Earth. And I have takennotice of the(397) unwarrantable forwardness of common Chymists topronounce things uselessFæces, by observing how often they rejecttheCaput Mortuum of Verdegrease; which is yet so farr fromdeserving that Name, that not only by strong fires and convenientAdditaments it may in some hours be reduc’d into copper, but with acertain Flux Powder I sometimes make for Recreation, I have in two orthree minutes obtain’d that Metal from it. To which I may add, thathaving for tryall sake kept VenetianTaclk in no lessa heat than that of a glass Furnace, I found after all the Brunt ofthe fire it had indur’d, the remaining Body though brittle anddiscolour’d, had not lost very much of its former Bulke, and seem’dstill to be nearer of kin to Talck than to meer Earth. And I remembertoo, that a candid Mineralist, famous for his Skill in trying of Oars,requesting me one day to procure him a certainAmerican MineralEarth of aVirtuoso, who he thought would not refuse me; I enquir’dof him why he seem’d so greedy of it: he confess’d to me that thisGentleman having brought that Earth to the publick Say-Masters;(398) andthey upon their being unable by any means to bring it to fusion ormake it fly away, he (the Relator) had procur’d a little of it; andhaving try’d it with a peculiar Flux separated from it neer a thirdpart of pure Gold; so great mistakes may be committed in hastilyconcluding things to be Uselesse Earth.

Next, it may be suppos’d, That as in the Resolution of Bodies by theFire some of the dissipated Parts may, by their various occursionoccasion’d by the heat, be brought to stick together so closely as toconstitute Corpuscles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; theaggregate of which Corpuscles is wont to be call’d Ashes orEarrh;So other Agents may resolve the Concrete into MinuteParts, after so differing a manner as not to produce anyCaputmortuum, or dry and heavy Body. As you may rememberHelmont aboveinform’d us, that with his great Dissolvent he divided a Coal into twoliquid and volatile Bodies, æquiponderant to the Coal, without any dryor fixt Residence at all.

And indeed, I see not why it should be necessary that all Agents thatresolve(399) Bodies into portions of differingly qualifi’d matter mustwork on them the same way, and divide them into just such parts, bothfor nature and Number, as the Fire dissipates them into. For since, asI noted before, the Bulk and shape of the small Parts of bodies,together with their Fitness and Unfitness to be easily put intoMotion, may make the liquors or other substances such Corpusclescompose, as much to differ from each other as do some of the Chymicalprinciples: Why may not something happen in this case, not unlike whatis usuall in the grosser divisions of bodies by MechanicalInstruments? Where we see that some Tools reduce Wood, for Instance,intodarts of several shapes, bignesse, and otherqualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into grosser parts; somemore long and slender, as splinters; and some more thick andirregular, as chips; but all of considerable bulk; but Files and Sawsmakes a Comminution of it into Dust; which, as all the others, is ofthe more solid sort of parts; whereas others divide it into long andbroad, but thin and flexible parts, as doPlanes: And of this kindof parts it self there is also a(400) variety according to the Differenceof the Tools employ’d to work on the Wood; the shavings made by theplane being in some things differing from those shives or thin andflexible pieces of wood that are obtain’d byBorers, and these fromsome others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examplesapplicable to this purpose I have elsewhere given you. To which I mayadd, that whereas in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar wellmelted and incorporated together, the action of pure spirit of winedigested on it is to separate the sulphureous from the AlcalizateParts, by dissolving the former and leaving the latter, the action ofWine (probably upon the score of its copious Phlegme) upon the samemixture is to divide it into Corpuscles consisting of both Alcalizateand Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is buta Factitious Concrete; I answer, that however the instance may serveto illustrate what I propos’d, if not to prove it; and that Nature herself doth in the bowels of the Earth make Decompounded Bodies, as wesee in Vitriol, Cinnaber, and even in Sulphur it self; I will not urgethat(401) the Fire divides new Milk into five differing Substances; butRunnet and Acid Liquors divide it into a Coagulated matter and a thinWhey: And on the other side churning divides it into Butter andButter-milk, which may either of them be yet reduc’d to othersubstances differing from the former. I will not presse this, I say,nor other instances of this Nature, because I cannot in few wordsanswer what may be objected, that these Concretes sequestred withoutthe help of the Fire may by it be further divided into HypostaticalPrinciples. But I will rather represent, That whereas the same spiritof Wine willdissociare the Parts ofCamphire, and make them one Liquor with it self;Aqua Fortis willalso disjoyn them, and put them into motion; but so as to keep themtogether, and yet alter their Texture into the form of an Oyle. I knowalso an uncompounded Liquor, that an extraordinary Chymist would notallow to be so much as Saline, which doth (as I have try’d) from Coralit self (as fixt as divers judicious writers assert that Concrete tobe) not only obtain a noble Tincture, Without the Intervention ofNitre or other(402) Salts; but will carry over the Tincture inDistillation. And if some reasons did not forbid me, I could now tellyou of aMenstruum I make my self, that doth more odly dissociatethe parts of Minerals very fixt in the fire. So that it seems notincredible, that there may be some Agent or way of Operation found,whereby this or that Concrete, if not all Firme Bodies, may beresolv’d into parts so very minute and so unapt to stick close to oneanother, that none of them may be fixt enough to stay behind in astrong Fire, and to be incapable of Distillation; nor consequently tobe look’d upon as Earth. But to return toHelmont, the same Authoursomewhere supply’s me with another Argument against the Earth’s beingsuch an Element as my Adversaries would have it. For he somewhereaffirms, that he can reduce all the Terrestrial parts of mixt bodiesinto insipid water; whence we may argue against the Earths being oneof their Elements, even from that Notion of Elements which you mayrememberPhiloponus recited out ofAristotle himself, when helately disputed for his Chymists againstThemistius. And here wemay(403) on this occasion consider, that since a Body from which the Firehath 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 passesnot among the Chymists for Earth, because ’tis strongly Tasted) if itbe in the power of Natural Agents to deprive theCaput Mortuum of abody of either of those two Qualities, or to give them both to aportion of matter that had them not both before, the Chymists will noteasily define what part of a resolv’d Concrete is earth, and make out,that that Earth is a primary, simple, and indestructible Body. Nowthere are some cases wherein the more skilful of the Vulgar Chymiststhemselves pretend to be able, by repeated Cohobations and other fitOperations, to make the Distilled parts of a Concrete bring its ownCaput Mortuum over the Helme, in the forme of a Liquor; in whichstate being both Fluid and Volatile, you will easily believe it wouldnot be taken for Earth. And indeed by a skilful, but not Vulgar, wayof managing some Concretes, there may be more effected(404) in this kind,then you perhaps would easily think. And on the other side, thateither Earth may be Generated, or at least Bodies that did not beforeappear to be neer Totally Earth, may be so alter’d as to pass for it,seems very possible, ifHelmontNovi item modos quibus totumSalpetiæin terram convertitur, totumque Sulphur semel dissolutumfixetur in Pulvearem terreum. Helmont in Compl. atque Mist. Elementor.Sect. 24. have done that by Art which hementions in several places; especially where He sayes that he knoweswayes whereby Sulphur once dissolv’d is all of it fix’d into aTerrestrial Powder; and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn’dinto Earth: Which last he elsewhere sayes is Done by the Odour only ofa certain Sulphureous Fire. And in another place He mentions one wayof doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; because theMaterialls I had prepar’d for Trying it, were by a Servants mistakeunhappily thrown away.

And these Last Arguments may be confirm’d by the Experiment I haveoften had occasion to mention concerning the Mint I produc’d out ofWater. And partly by an Observation ofRondeletius(405) concerning theGrowth of Animals also, Nourish’d but by Water, which I remember’d notto mention, when I discours’d to you about the Production of thingsout of Water. This Diligent Writer then in his instructive book offishes,Lib. 1. cap. 2. affirmes That his Wife kept a fish in a Glass of waterwithout any other Food for three years; in which space it wasconstantly augmented, till at last it could not come out of the Placeat which it was put in, and at length was too big for the glass itself though that were of a large capacity. And because there is nojust reason to doubt, that this Fish, if Distill’d, would have yieldedthe like differing substances with other Animals: And However, becausethe Mint which I had out of water afforded me upon Distillation a goodquantity of Charcoal, I think I may from thence inferr, that Earth itself may be produc’d out of Water; or if you please, that water may betransmuted into Earth; and consequently, that though it could beprov’d that Earth is an Ingredient actually in-existent in theVegetable and Animal Bodies whence it may be obtain’d by Fire: yet itwould(406) not necessarily follow, that Earth as a pre-existent ElementDoes with other Principles convene to make up those Bodies whence itseems to have been separated.

After all is said (sayesEleutherius) I have yet something toObject, that I cannot but think considerable, sinceCarneadesHimself alledg’d it as such; for, (continuesEleutherius smiling) Imust make bold to try whether you can as luckily answer your ownArguments, as those of your Antagonists, I mean (pursues he) that partof your Concessions, wherein you cannot but remember that you supply’dyour Adversaries with an Example to prove that there may be ElementaryBodies, by taking Notice that Gold may be an Ingredient in a multitudeof differing Mixtures, and yet retain its Nature, notwithstanding allthat the Chymists by their Fires and Corrosive Waters are able to doto Destroy it.

I sufficiently intimated to you at that time (repliesCarneades)that I propos’d this Example, chiefly to shew you how Nature may beConceived to have made Elements, not to prove that she(407) actually hasmade any; And you know, thata posse ad esse the Inference will nothold. But (continuesCarneades) to answer more directly to theObjection drawn from Gold, I must tell You, that though I know verywell that divers of the more sober Chymists have complain’d of theVulgar Chymists, as of Mountebanks or Cheats, for pretending sovainly, as hitherto they have done, to Destroy Gold; Yet I know acertainMenstruum (which our Friend has made, and intends shortly tocommunicate to the Ingenious) of so piercing and powerfull a Quality,That if notwithstanding much care, and some skill, I did not muchdeceive myself, I have with it really destroy’d even refin’d Gold, andbrought it into a Metalline Body of another colour and Nature, as Ifound by Tryals purposely made. And if some just Considerations didnot for the present Forbid it, I could Perchance here shew you byanother Experiment or Two of my own Trying, that suchMenstruums maybe made as to entice away and retain divers parts, from Bodies, whicheven the more Judicious and Experienc’dSpagyrists have pro(408)nounc’dirresoluble by the Fire. Though (which I Desire you would mark) inneither of these Instances, the Gold or Precious Stones be Analys’dinto any of theTria Prima, but only Reduc’d to new Concretes. Andindeed there is a great Disparity betwixt the Operations of theseveral Agents whereby the Parts of a Body come to be Dissipated. Asif (for Instance) you dissolve the purer sort of Vitriol in commonWater, the Liquor will swallow up the Mineral, and so Dissociate itsCorpuscles, that they will seem to make up but one Liquor with thoseof the water; and yet each of these Corpuscles retains its Nature andTexture, and remains a Vitriolate and Compounded Body. But if the sameVitriol be exposed to a strong Fire, it will then be divided not only,as before, into smaller parts, but into Heterogeneous Substances, eachof the Vitriolate Corpuscles that remain’d entire in the water, beingit self upon the Destruction of its former Texture dissipated ordivided into new Particles of differing Qualities. But Instances morefitly applicable to this purpose, I have already given you. Whereforeto re(409)turn to what I told you about the Destruction of Gold, thatExperiment Invites me to Represent to you, that Though there wereeither Saline, or Sulphureous, or Terrestrial Portions of Matter,whose parts were so small, so firmly united together, or of a figureso fit to make them cohere to one another, (as we see that inquicksilver broken into little Globes, the Parts brought to touch oneanother do immediately re-imbody) that neither the Fire, nor the usualAgents employ’d by Chymists, are pierceing enough to divide theirParts, so as to destroy the Texture of the single Corpuscles; yet itwould not necessarily follow, That such Permanent Bodies wereElementary, 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 betterHold of some parts of these seemingly Elementary Corpuscles than theseparts do of the rest, and Consequently may carry away such parts withthem, and so dissolve the Texture of the Corpuscle by pulling itsparts asunder. And if it be said, that at least we may this waydiscover the Elementary Ingredients of(410) Things, by observing into whatSubstances these Corpuscles that were reputed pure are divided; Ianswer, that it is not necessary that such a Discovery should bepracticable. For if the Particles of the Dissolvent do take such firmehold of those of the Dissolved Body, they must constitute together newBodies, as well as Destroy the Old; and the strickt Union, whichaccording to thisHypothesis may well be suppos’d betwixt the Partsof the Emergent Body, will make it as Little to be Expected that theyshould be pull’d asunder, but by little Parts of matter, that toDivide them Associate Themselves and stick extreamly close to those ofthem which they sever from their Former Adherents. Besides that it isnot impossible, that a Corpuscle suppos’d to be Elementary may haveits Nature changed, without suffering a Divorce of its parts, barelyby a new Texture Effected by some powerfull Agent; as I formerly toldyou, the same portion of matter may easily by the Operation of theFire be turn’d at pleasure into the form of a Brittle and Transparent,or an Opacous and Malleable Body.(411)

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 theassistance of man) can go in producing such New Qualities in the sameparcel of matter, and how many inanimate Bodies (such as are all theChymical productions of the Fire) we know are Denominated andDistinguish’d not so much by any Imaginary Substantial Form, as by theaggregate of these Qualities. If you consider these Things, I say, andthat the varying of either the figure, or the Size, or the Motion, orthe Situation, or Connexion of the Corpuscles whereof any of theseBodies is compos’d, may alter the Fabrick of it, you will possibly beinvited to suspect, with me, that there is no great need that Natureshould alwayes have Elements before hand, whereof to make such Bodiesas we call mixts. And that it is not so easie as Chymists and othershave hitherto Imagin’d, to discern, among the many differingSubstances that may without any extraordinary skill be obtain’d fromthe same portion of matter, Which ought to be esteemed exclusively toall the rest,(412) its in-existent Elementary Ingredients; much lesse todetermine what Primogeneal and Simple Bodies convened together tocompose it. To exemplify this, I shall add to what I have already onseveral 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 ofvery differing Natures out of Water. Wherefore you will not, Ipresume, think it incongruous to suppose, that when a slenderVine-slip is set into the ground, and takes root, there it maylikewise receive its Nutriment from the water attracted out of theearth by his roots, or impell’d by the warm’th of the sun, or pressureof the ambient air into the pores of them. And this you will the moreeasily believe, if you ever observ’d what a strange quantity of Waterwill Drop out of a wound given to the Vine, in a convenient place, ata seasonable time in the Spring; and how little of Tast or Smell thisAqua Vitis, as Physitians call it, is endow’d with, notwithstandingwhat concoction or alteration it may receive in its passage(413) throughthe Vine, to discriminate it from common Water. Supposing then thisLiquor, at its first entrance into the roots of the Vine, to be commonWater; Let Us a little consider how many various Substances may beobtain’d from it; though to do so, I must repeat somewhat that I had aformer occasion to touch upon. And first, this Liquor being Digestedin the plant, and assimilated by the several parts of it, is turn’dinto the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &c. of the Vine; The same Liquormay be further dry’d, and fashon’d into Vine-buds, and these a whileafter are advanced unto sour Grapes, which express’d yield Verjuice, aLiquor very differing in several qualities both from Wine and otherLiquors obtainable from the Vine: These soure Grapes being by the heatof the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well tasted Grapes; Theseif dry’d in the Sun and Distill’d, afford a fætid Oyle and a piercingEmpyreumatical Spirit, but not a Vinous Spirit; These dry’d Grapesor Raisins boyl’d in a convenient proportion of Water make a sweetLiquor, which being betimes distill’d afford an Oyle and Spirit muchlike(414) those of the Raisins themselves; If the juice of the Grapes besqueez’d out and put to Ferment, it first becomes a sweet and turbidLiquor, then grows lesse sweet and more clear, and then affords incommon Distillations not an Oyle but a Spirit, which, thoughinflamable like Oyle, differs much from it, in that it is not fat, andthat it will readily mingle with Water. I have likewise withoutAddition obtain’d in processe of time (and by an easie way which I amready to teach you) from one of the noblest sorts of Wine, prettystore of pure and curiously figured Crystals of Salt, together with agreat proportion of a Liquor as sweet almost as Hony; and these Iobtained not from Must, but True and sprightly Wine; besides theVinous Liquor, the fermented Juice of Grapes is partly turned intoliquid Dregs or Leeze, and partly into that crust or dry feculancythat is commonly called Tartar; and this Tartar may by the Fire beeasily divided into five differing substances; four of which are notAcid, and the other not so manifestly Acid as the Tartar it self; Thesame Vinous Juice after some time, especially if it be not carefully(415)kept, Degenerates into that very sour Liquor called Vinegar; fromwhich you may obtain by the Fire a Spirit and a Crystalline Saltdiffering enough from the Spirit and Lixiviate Salt of Tartar. And ifyou 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 werescarce two more contrary Bodies in Nature; and oftentimes in thisVinager you may observe part of the matter to be turned into aninnumerable company of swimming Animals, which our Friend havingdivers years ago observed, hath in one of his Papers taught us how todiscover clearly without the help of aMicroscope.

Into all these various Schemes of matter, or differingly QualifyedBodies, besides divers others that I purposely forbear to mention, maythe Water that is imbib’d by the roots of the Vine be brought, partlyby the formative power of the plant, and partly by supervenient Agentsor Causes, without the visible concurrence of any extraneousIngredient; but if we be allowed to add to the Productions of thistransmuted Water a few other substances, we may much(416) encrease theVariety of such Bodies; although in this second sort of Productions,the Vinous parts seem scarce to retain any thing of the much morefix’d Bodies wherewith they were mingl’d; but only to have by theirMixture with them acquir’d such a Disposition, that in their recessoccasion’d by the Fire they came to be alter’d as to shape, orBigness, or both, and associated after a New manner. Thus, as Iformerly told you, I did by the Addition of aCaput Mortuum ofAntimony, and some other Bodies unfit for Distillation, obtain fromcrude Tartar, store of a very Volatile and Crystalline Salt, differingvery much in smell and other Qualities from the usuall salts ofTartar.

But (sayesEleutherius, interrupting him at these Words) if you haveno 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 scarceimaginable Variety of wayes, attempted in Vain the Volatilization ofthe Salt of Tartar, that divers learnedSpagyrists speak as if itwere impossible,(417) to make any thing out of Tartar, that shall beVolatile in a Saline Forme, or as some of them express it,in formasicca. I am very farr from thinking (answersCarneades) that theSalt I have mention’d is that whichParacelsus andHelmont meanwhen they speak ofSal Tartari Volatile, and ascribe such greatthings to it. For the Salt I speak of falls extreamly short of thoseVirtues, not seeming in its Tast, Smel, and other Obvious Qualities,to differ very much (though something it do differ) from Salt ofHarts-horn, and other Volatile Salts drawn from the Distill’d Parts ofAnimals. Nor have I yet made Tryals enough to be sure, that it is apure Salt of Tartar without participating any thing at all of theNitre, or Antimony. But because it seems more likely to proceed fromthe Tartar, than from any of the other Ingredients, and because theExperiment is in it self not Ignoble, and Luciferous enough (asshewing a new way to produce a Volatile Salt contrary to Acid Saltsfrom Bodies that otherwise are Observ’d to yield no such Liquor, buteither only, or chiefly, Acid ones,) I(418) 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 equalweight, and of Quicklime Halfe the Weight of any one of them; letthese be powder’d and well mingl’d; this done, you must have inreadiness a long neck or Retort of Earth, which must be plac’d in aFurnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of aconvenient Bigness, at which you may cast in the Mixture, andpresently stop it up again; this Vessel being fitted with a largeReceiver must have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the sides bered hot, and then you must cast in the above prepar’d Mixture, byabout halfe a spoonfull (more or less) at a time, at the hole made forthat purpose; which being nimbly stopt, the Fumes will pass into theReceiver and condense there into a Liquor, that being rectifi’d willbe of a pure golden Colour, and carry up that colour to a greatheight; this Spirit abounds in the Salt I told you of, part of whichmay easily enough be separated(419) by the way I use in such cases, whichis, to put the Liquor into a glass Egg, or bolthead with a long andnarrow 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 bemuch of kin to the Volatile Salts of Animals: For like them it has aSaltish, not an Acid Salt; it hisses upon the Affusion of Spirit ofNitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Dissolv’d in Spiritof Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; itpresently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whiteness;and in summ, has divers Operations like those that I have observ’d inthat sort of Salts to which I have resembled it: and is so Volatile,that for Distinction sake, I call itTartari Fugitivus.What virtues it may have in Physick I have not yethad the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not bedespicable. And besides that a very Ingenious Friend of mine tells mehe hath done great matters against the stone, with a Preparation notvery much Differing from ours, a very Experienc’d Germane Chymistfinding that I was(420) unacquainted with the wayes of making this salt,told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymist prizes itso highly, that he had a while since procur’d a Priviledge from theMagistrates, that none but He, or by his Licence, should vent a Spiritmade almost after the same Way with mine, save that he leaves out oneof the Ingredients, namely the Quick-lime. But, continuesCarneades,to resume my Former Discourse where your Curiosity interrupted it;

Tis also a common practice inFrance to bury thin Plates of Copperin the Marc (as the French call it) or Husks of Grapes, whence theJuice has been squeez’d out in the Wine-press, and by this means themore saline parts of those Husks working by little and little upon theCopper, Coagulate Themselves with it into that Blewish Green Substancewe 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, theformer were so alter’d, that the Distill’d Liquor, even withoutRectification, seem’d by smell(421) and Tast, strong almost likeAquaFortis, and very much surpassed the purest and most Rectifi’d Spiritof Vinager that ever I made. And this Spirit I therefore ascribe tothe salt of the Husks alter’d by their Co-Mixture with the copper(though the Fire afterwards Divorce and Transmute them) because Ifound this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of aCrocus or redish powder: And because Copper is of too sluggish aNature to be forc’d over in close Vessels by no stronger a heat. Andthat which is also somewhat Remarkable in the Destillation of goodVerdigrease, (or at least of that sort that I us’d) is this, that INever could observe that it yielded me any oyl, (unless a little blackslime which was separated in Rectification may pass for Oyle) thoughboth Tartar and Vinager, (especially the former) will by Destillationyield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewise you pour Spirit ofVinager upon Calcin’d Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by itsCommixture with the Metalline parts, though Insipid, acquire in a fewhours a more than Saccharine sweetness; and these Saline(422) parts beingby 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 Metalbehind them alter’d in some qualities from what it was, and willthemselves 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 asubtile Spirit, indow’d, besides divers new Qualities which I am notnow willing to take notice of, with a strong smell very much otherthan that of Vinager, and a piercing tast quite differing both fromthe Sowerness of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetness of the Sugarof Lead.

To be short, As the difference of Bodies may depend meerly upon thatof the schemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the seeds ofThings, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minuteparts of a Body (either by breaking them into smaller ones ofdiffering shapes, or by Uniting together these Fragments with theunbroken Corpuscles, or such Corpuscles among Themselves) and the sameAgents partly by Altering the shape or(423) bigness of the ConstituentCorpuscles of a Body, partly by driving away some of them, partly byblending others with them, and partly by some new manner of connectingthem, may give the whole portion of matter a new Texture of its minuteparts; and thereby make it deserve a new and Distinct name. So thataccording as the small parts of matter recede from each other, or workupon each other, or are connected together after this or thatdeterminate 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 Fireare but inanimate Bodies; since such fruits of the Chymists skilldiffer from one another but in so few qualities that we see plainlythat by fire and other Agents we can employ, we can easily enough workas great alterations upon matter, as those that are requisite tochange one of these Chymical Productions into another; Since the sameportion of matter may without being Compounded with any extraneousBody, or at least Element, be made to put on such a va(424)riety offormes, and consequently to be (successively) turn’d into so manydiffering Bodies. And since the matter cloath’d with so many differingformes was originally but water, and that in its passage thorow somany transformations, it was never reduc’d into any of thosesubstances which are reputed to be the Principles or Elements of mixtBodies, except by the violence of the fire, which it self divides notBodies into perfectly simple or Elementary substances, but into newCompounds; Since, I say, these things are so, I see not why we mustneeds believe that there are any Primogeneal and simple Bodies, ofwhich as of Pre-exsistent Elements Nature is obliged to compound allothers. Nor do I see why we may not conceive that she may produce theBodies accounted mixt out of one another by Variously altering andcontriving their minute parts, without resolving the matter into anysuch simple or Homogeneous substances as are pretended. Neither, todispatch, do I see why it should be countedabsur’d to think, thatwhen a Body is resolv’d by the Fire into its suppos’d simpleIngredients, those substances are not true and(425) proper Elements, butrather were, as it were, Accidentally produc’d by the fire, which byDissipating a Body into minute Parts does, if those parts be shut upin Close Vessels, for the most part necessarily bring them toAssociate Themselves after another manner than before, and so bringThem into Bodies of such Different Consistences as the Former Textureof the Body, and Concurrent Circumstances make such disbandedparticles apt to Constitute; as experience shews us (and I have bothnoted it, and prov’d it already) that as there are some Concreteswhose parts when dissipated by fire are fitted to be put into suchSchemes of matter as we call Oyle, and Salt, and Spirit; So there areothers, such as are especially the greatest part of Minerals, whoseCorpuscles being of another Size or figure, or perhaps contriv’danother Way, will not in the Fire yield Bodies of the likeConsistences, but rather others of differing Textures; Not to mention,that from Gold and some other Bodies, we see not that the Fireseparates any Distinct Substances at all; nor That even those SimilarParts of(426) Bodies which the Chymists Obtain by the Fire, are theElements whose names they bear, but Compound Bodies, upon which, fortheir resemblance to them in consistence, or some other obviousQuality, Chymists have been pleas’d to bestow such Appellations.

THE CONCLUSION.

THese last Words ofCarneades being soon after follow’d by a noisewhich 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 orbreak off his Discourse; and told his Friend; By this time I hope yousee,Eleutherius, that ifHelmonts Experiments be true, it is noabsurdity to question whether that Doctrine be one, that doth notassert Any Elements in the sence before explain’d. But because that,as divers of my Arguments suppose the marvellous power of theAlkahest in the Analyzing of Bodies, so the Effects ascrib’d to thatpower are so unparallell’d and stupendious,(428) that though I am not surebut that theremay be such an Agent, yet little less thanαυτοψια seems requisite to make a man sure thereis. Andconsequently I leave it to you to judge, how farre those of myArguments that are built uponAlkahestical Operations are weakned bythat Liquors being Matchless; and shall therefore desire you not tothink that I propose this Paradox that rejects all Elements, as anOpinion equally probable with the former part of my discourse. For bythat, I hope, you are satisfied, that the Arguments wont to be broughtby Chymists, to prove That all Bodies consist of either ThreePrinciples, or Five, are far from being so strong as those that I haveemploy’d to prove, that there is not any certain and Determinatenumber of such Principles or Elements to be met with Universally inall mixt Bodies. And I suppose I need not tell you, that theseAnti-Chymical Paradoxes might have been manag’d more to theirAdvantage; but that having not confin’d my Curiosity to ChymicalExperiments, I who am but a young Man, and younger Chymist, can yet bebut slenderly furnished with(429) them, in reference to so great anddifficult a Task as you impos’d upon me; Besides that, to tell you theTruth, I durst not employ some even of the best Experiments I amacquainted with, because I must not yet disclose them; but however, Ithink I may presume that what I have hitherto Discoursed will induceyou to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in findingExperiments than the Causes of them; or in assigning the Principles bywhich they may best be explain’d. And indeed, when in the writings ofParacelsus I meet with such Phantastick and Un-intelligibleDiscourses as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with,father’d upon such excellent Experiments, as though he seldom clearlyteaches, I often find he knew; me thinks the Chymists, in theirsearches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators ofSolomonsTarshish Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages,not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too; Forso the Writings of several (for I say not, all) of your HermetickPhilosophers present us, together with divers Substantial and(430) nobleExperiments, Theories, which either like Peacocks feathers make agreat shew, but are neither solid nor useful; or else like Apes, ifthey have some appearance of being rational, are blemish’d with someabsurdity or other, that when they areAttentively consider’d, makesthem appear Ridiculous.

Carneades having thus finish’d his Discourse against the receivedDoctrines of theElements;Eleutherius judging he should not havetime to say much to him before their separation, made some haste totell him; I confess,Carneades, that you have said more in favour ofyour Paradoxes then I expected. For though divers of the Experimentsyou have mention’d are no secrets, and were not unknown to me, yetbesides that you have added many of your own unto them, you have laidthem together in such a way, and apply’d them to such purposes, andmade such Deductions From them, as I have not Hitherto met with.

But though I be therefore inclin’d to think, thatPhiloponus, had heheard you, would scarce have been able in all(431) points to defend theChymicalHypothesis against the arguments wherewith you have oppos’dit; yet me thinks that however your Objections seem to evince a greatpart of what they pretend to, yet they evince it not all; and thenumerous tryals of those you call the vulgar Chymists, may be allow’dto prove something too.

First, that the differing substances into which mixt Bodies are wontto 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 natureof the Concrete that afforded them, as to appear to be yet somewhatcompounded, and oftentimes to differ in one Concrete from Principlesof the same denomination in another:

Next, that as to the number of these differing substances, neither isit precisely three, because in most Vegetable and Animal bodies Earthand Phlegme are also to be found among their Ingredients; nor is thereany one determinate number into which the Fire (as it is(432) wont to beemploy’d) does precisely and universally resolve all compound Bodieswhatsoever, as well Minerals as others that are reputed perfectlymixt.

Lastly, that there are divers Qualities which cannot well be refer’dto any of these Substances, as if they primarily resided in it andbelong’d to it; and some other qualities, which though they seem tohave their chief and most ordinary residence in some one of thesePrinciples or Elements of mixt Bodies, are not yet so deducible fromit, but that also some more general Principles must be taken in toexplicate them.

If, I say, the Chymists (continuesEleutherius) be so Liberall as tomake you these three Concessions, I hope you will, on your part, be socivil and Equitable as to grant them these three other propositions,namely;

First, that divers Mineral Bodies, and therefore probably all therest, may be resolv’d into a Saline, a Sulphureous, and a Mercurialpart; And that almost all Vegetable and Animal Concretes may, if notby the Fire alone, yet, by a skilfull Artist Employing the Fire as(433)his chief Instrument, be divided into five differing Substances, Salt,Spirit, Oyle, Phlegme and Earth; of which the three former by reasonof their being so much more Operative than the Two Later, deserve tobe Lookt upon as the Three active Principles, and by way of Eminenceto be call’d the three principles of mixt bodies.

Next, that these Principles, Though they be not perfectly Devoid ofall Mixture, yet may without inconvenience be stil’d the Elements ofCompounded bodies, and bear the Names of those Substances which theymost Resemble, and which are manifestly predominant in them; and thatespecially for this reason, that none of these Elements is Divisibleby the Fire into Four or Five differing substances, like the Concretewhence it was separated.

Lastly, That Divers of the Qualities of a mixt Body, and especiallythe Medical Virtues, do for the most part lodge in some One or Otherof its principles, and may Therefore usefully be sought for in ThatPrinciple sever’d from the others.

And in this also (pursuesEleutherius)(434) methinks both you and theChymists may easily agree, that the surest way is to Learn byparticular Experiments, what differing parts particular Bodies doconsist of, and by what wayes (either Actual or potential fire) theymay best and most Conveniently be Separated, as without relying toomuch upon the Fire alone, for the resolving of Bodies, so withoutfruitlessly contending to force them into more Elements than Naturemade Them up of, or strip the sever’d Principles so naked, as bymaking Them Exquisitely Elementary to make them almost useless,

These things (subjoynesEleu.) I propose, without despairing to seethem granted by you; not only because I know that you so much preferrthe Reputation ofCandor before that of subtility, that your havingonce suppos’d a truth would not hinder you from imbracing it whenclearly made out to you; but because, upon the present occasion, itwill be no disparagement to you to recede from some of your Paradoxes,since the nature and occasion of your past Discourse did not obligeyou to declare your own opinions, but only to personate an Antagonistof(435) the Chymists. So that (concludes he, with a smile) you may now bygranting what I propose, add the Reputation of Loving the truthsincerely to that of having been able to oppose it subtilly.

Carneades’s haste forbidding him to answer this crafty piece offlattery; Till I shal (sayes he) have an opportunity to acquaint youwith my own Opinions about the controversies I have been discoursingof, you will not, I hope, expect I should declare my own sence of theArguments I have employ’d. Wherefore I shall only tell you thus muchat present; that though not only an acute Naturalist, but even I myself could take plausible Exceptions at some of them; yet divers ofthem too are such as will not perhaps be readily answer’d, and willReduce my Adversaries, at least, to alter and Reform theirHypothesis. I perceive I need not minde you that the Objections Imade against the Quaternary of Elements and Ternary of Principlesneeded not to be oppos’d so much against the Doctrines Themselves(either of which, especially the latter, may be much more probablymaintain’d than hitherto it seems to(436) have been, by those Writers forit I have met with) as against the unaccurateness and theunconcludingness of theAnalytical Experiments vulgarly Relyed On toDemonstrate them.

And therefore, if either of the two examin’d Opinions, or any otherTheory of Elements, shall upon rational and Experimental grounds beclearly made out to me; ’Tis Obliging, but not irrational, in you toExpect, that I shall not be so farr in Love with my DisquietingDoubts, as not to be content to change them for undoubted truths. And(concludesCarneades smiling) it were no great disparagement for aSceptick to confesse to you, that as unsatisfy’d as the past discoursemay have made you think me with the Doctrines of the Peripateticks,and the Chymists, about the Elements and Principles, I can yet solittle discover what to acquiesce in, that perchance the Enquiries ofothers have scarce been more unsatisfactory to me, than my own havebeen to my self.

THe Authors constant Absence from the Presse, whilst the formerTreatise 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 theErrata be somewhat numerous, and if among them there want notsome grosser mistakes, which yet are not the only Blemishes theselines must take notice of and acknowledg; For the Author now perceivesthat through the fault of those to whom he had committed the formerTreatise in loose Sheets, some Papers that belonged to it, havealtogether miscarryed. And though it have luckily enough happen’d, forthe most part, that the Omission of them does not marr the Cohærenceof the rest; yet till the next design’d Edition afford anopportunity of inserting them, it is thought fit that the Printergive notice of one Omission at the End of the first Dialogue; and thatto theseErrata there be annex’d the ensuing sheet of Paper, thatwas casually lost, or forgotten by him that should have put it intothe Presse;(438) where it ought to have been inserted, in the187. printedPage, 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 187is placed at the top of two somewhat distant pages; and in such copiesthe following addition ought to be inserted in the latter of the two,as followeth.

And on this occasion I cannot but take notice, that whereasthe great Argument which the Chymists are wont to employ tovilify Earth and Water, and make them be look’d upon asuseless and unworthy to be reckon’d among the Principles ofMixt Bodies, is, that they are not endow’d with SpecifickProperties, but only with Elementary qualities; of whichthey use to speak very sleightingly, as of qualitiescontemptible and unactive: I see no sufficient Reason forthis Practice of the Chymists: For ’tis confess’d that Heatis an Elementary Quality, and yet that an almost innumerablecompany of considerable Things are perform’d by Heat, ismanifest to(439) them that duly consider the variousPhænomenawherein it intervenes as a principall Actor; and none oughtless to ignore or distrust this Truth then a Chymist. Sincealmost all the operations and Productions of his Art areperformed chiefly by the means of Heat. And as for Cold itself, upon whose account they so despise the Earth andWater, if they please to read in the Voyages of our Englishand Dutch Navigators inNova Zembla and other NorthernRegions what stupendious Things may be effected by Cold,they would not perhaps think it so despicable. And not torepeat what I lately recited to You out ofParacelsushimself, who by the help of an intense Cold teaches toseparate the Quintessence of Wine; I will only now observeto You, that the Conservation of the Texture of many Bodiesboth animate and inanimate do’s so much depend upon theconvenient motion both of their own Fluid and Looser Parts,and of the ambient Bodies, whether Air, Water, &c. that notonly in humane Bodies we see that the immoderate orunseasonable coldness of the Air (especially when it findssuch Bodies overhea(440)ted) do’s very frequently discompose theOeconomie of them, and occasion variety of Diseases; butin the solid and durable Body of Iron it self, in which onewould not expect that suddain Cold should produce anynotable change, it may have so great an operation, that ifyou take a Wire, or other slender piece of steel, and havingbrought it in the fire to a white heat, You suffer itafterwards to cool leasurely in the Air, it will when it iscold be much of the same hardnesse it was of before: Whereasif as soon as You remove it from the fire, you plunge itinto cold water, it will upon the sudden Refrigerationacquire a very much greater hardness then it had before;Nay, and will become manifestly brittle. And that you maynot impute this to any peculiar Quality in the Water, orother Liquor, or Unctuous matter, wherein such heated steelis wont to be quenched that it may be temper’d; I know avery skillful Tradesman, that divers times hardens steel bysuddenly cooling it in a Body that is neither a liquor, norso much as moist. A tryal of that Nature I remember I haveseen made. And however by the operation that Water has(441) uponsteel quenched in it, whether upon the Account of itscoldness and moisture, or upon that of any other of itsqualities, it appears, that water is not alwaies soinefficacious and contemptible a Body, as our Chymists wouldhave it passe for. And what I have said of the Efficacy ofCold and Heat, might perhaps be easily enough carriedfurther by other considerations and experiments; were it notthat having been mention’d only upon the Bye, I must notinsist on it, but proceed to another Subject.

ERRATA.

PAg.5. line. 6. readso 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 ofappear 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.Συγχυσις,151. 5.nor havebeen 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. delethe,220. 1.bodies,228.11.fugitive,231. 17. instead ofalllegea pound,237. 6.Chymist,248. 18.Ashes off,251. 23.Deopilative),259. 6.it self,269. 10.ουσια αναλογος,ibid.αϛρων ϛοιχειω,276. 25. make a parenth. at thewords,by the, and shut it after the words in the 27. lineat all,280. 11.Corals,288. 6.ascribes,294. 22.porosity, ibid. 28.noted,296. 1.Bodies,305. 8.(attended,307. 12. deleto,308. 12.devisers,312.(442) 14.and,313. 3.too,314. 24.fugitivenesse,333. 13.origine, ibid. 24.contrivance of,339.1.Nay, Barthias,142. 3.in; I will,350. 26.absurd,356.11.Goutieres,358. 6.antea,360. 1.compertissimum, ibid. 18.Joachimica,ibid. 19graminis, ibid. 23.sua,362. 6.Dutch account,363.2.diggers), ibid. 11. and 12. lin. readdamp as the Englishmenalso 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. afterAggregate insertor complex, ibid. 27.dele ), ibid. 28. dele ),379. 4. beforeas begin a parenth. whichends lin. 9. atGold, ibid. instead ofWhich, putThis, ibid.12. with the wordTexture should be connected the next line,Though, and this wordThough is to have put before it aparenthesis, which is to end at the wordFluid 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.distinct Tasts,397. 13.Talck,398. 18.Earth,399. 18.parts,404. 8.sal-petræ,419. 20. afterit put inSal.

The Publisher doth advertise theRedaer,that seeing there are divers Experiments related in this Treatise,which the Author is not unwilling to submit to the consideration alsoof Forraign Philosophers, he believes this piece will be very soontranslated into Latin.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Sceptical Chymist, by Robert Boyle

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).

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:

ORCHYMICO-PHYSICAL

Doubts &Paradoxes,

Touching the

SPAGYRIST’S PRINCIPLES

Commonly call’d

HYPOSTATICAL,

As they are wont to be Propos’d andDefended by the Generality of

ALCHYMISTS.

Whereunto is præmis’d Part of another Discourserelating to the same Subject.

BYThe HonourableROBERT BOYLE, Esq;

LONDON,Printed byJ. Cadwell forJ. Crooke, and are to beSold at theShip in St.Paul’s Church-Yard.MDCLXI.

CONTENTS

APRÆFACEINTRODUCTORYTo the following Treatise.

PHYSIOLOGICALCONSIDERATIONSTouching

Part of the First Dialogue.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:

ORCHYMICO-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.

LONDON,Printed forJ. Crooke, and are to be sold at theShip in St.Pauls Church-Yard. 1661.

THESCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The First Part.

THESCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Second Part.

THESCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Third Part.

THESCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Fourth Part.

THESCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Fifth Part.

THESCEPTICAL CHYMISTOR,A Paradoxical Appendix to theForegoing Treatise.

The Sixth Part.

THE CONCLUSION.

ERRATA.

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).

OR

CHYMICO-PHYSICAL

As they are wont to be Propos’d and
Defended by the Generality of

Whereunto is præmis’d Part of another Discourse
relating to the same Subject.

BY

The HonourableROBERT BOYLE, Esq;

LONDON,

Printed byJ. Cadwell forJ. Crooke, and are to be
Sold at theShip in St.Paul’s Church-Yard.

MDCLXI.

A

PRÆFACE

INTRODUCTORY

To the following Treatise.

PHYSIOLOGICAL

CONSIDERATIONS

Touching

OR

CHYMICO-PHYSICAL

LONDON,

Printed forJ. Crooke, and are to be sold at the
Ship in St.Pauls Church-Yard. 1661.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST

OR,

A Paradoxical Appendix to the
Foregoing Treatise.