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Title: The Sceptical Chymist
or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
Author: Robert Boyle
Release Date: October 8, 2007 [eBook #22914]
Language: English
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THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:
OR
CHYMICO-PHYSICAL
Doubts & Paradoxes,
Touching the
SPAGYRIST'S PRINCIPLES
Commonly call'd
HYPOSTATICAL,
As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of
ALCHYMISTS.
Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same
Subject.
BY
The Honourable _ROBERT BOYLE_, Esq;
_LONDON,_
Printed by _J. Cadwell_ for _J. Crooke_, and are to be Sold at the
_Ship_ in St. _Paul's_ Church-Yard.
_MDCLXI._
CONTENTS
A Præface Introductory
Physiological Considerations
The First Part
The Second Part
The Third Part
The Fourth Part
The Fifth Part
The Sixth Part
The Conclusion
Printer's Note
Errata
A
PRÆFACE
INTRODUCTORY
_To the following Treatise._
_To give the Reader an account, Why the following Treatise is suffer'd
to pass abroad so maim'd and imperfect, I must inform him that 'tis
now long since, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I set down
some of the Reasons that kept me from fully acquiescing either in the
Peripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principles
of mixt Bodies. This Discourse some years after falling into the hands
of some Learned men, had the good luck to be so favourably receiv'd,
and advantageously spoken of by them, that having had more then
ordinary Invitations given me to make it publick, I thought fit to
review it, that I might retrench some things that seem'd not so fit to
be shewn to every Reader, And substitute some of those other things
that occurr'd to me of the trials and observations I had since made.
What became of my papers, I elsewhere mention in a Preface where I
complain of it: But since I writ That, I found many sheets that
belong'd to the subjects I am now about to discourse of. Wherefore
seeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue as
was requisite to state the Case, and serve for an Introduction as well
to the conference betwixt_ Carneades _and_ Eleutherius, _as to some
other Dialogues, which for certain reasons are not now herewith
publish'd, I resolv'd to supply, as well as I could, the Contents of a
Paper belonging to the second of the following Discourses, which I
could not possibly retrive, though it were the chief of them all. And
having once more try'd the Opinion of Friends, but not of the same,
about this imperfect work, I found it such, that I was content in
complyance with their Desires; that not only it should be publish'd,
but that it should be publish'd as soon as conveniently might be. I
had indeed all along the Dialogues spoken of my self, as of a third
Person; For, they containing Discourses which were among the first
Treatises that I ventur'd long ago to write of matters Philosophical,
I had reason to desire, with the Painter, to_ latere pone tabulam,
_and hear what men would say of them, before I own'd my self to be
their Author. But besides that now I find, 'tis not unknown to many
who it is that writ them, I am made to believe that 'tis not
inexpedient, they should be known to come from a Person not altogether
a stranger to Chymical Affairs. And I made the lesse scruple to let
them come abroad uncompleated, partly, because my affairs and
Præ-ingagements to publish divers other Treatises allow'd me small
hopes of being able in a great while to compleat these Dialogues. And
partly, because I am not unapt to think, that they may come abroad
seasonably enough, though not for the Authors reputation, yet for
other purposes. For I observe, that of late Chymistry begins, as
indeed it deserves, to be cultivated by Learned Men who before
despis'd it; and to be pretended to by many who never cultivated it,
that they may be thought not to ignore it: Whence it is come to passe,
that divers Chymical Notions about Matters Philosophical are taken for
granted and employ'd, and so adopted by very eminent Writers both
Naturalists and Physitians. Now this I fear may prove somewhat
prejudicial to the Advancement of solid Philosophy: For though I am a
great Lover of Chymical Experiments, and though I have no mean esteem
of divers Chymical Remedies, yet I distinguish these from their
Notions about the causes of things, and their manner of Generation.
And for ought I can hitherto discern, there are a thousand_ Phænomena
_in Nature, besides a Multitude of Accidents relating to the humane
Body, which will scarcely be clearly & satisfactorily made out by them
that confine themselves to deduce things from Salt, Sulphur and
Mercury, and the other Notions peculiar to the Chymists, without
taking much more Notice than they are wont to do, of the Motions and
Figures, of the small Parts of Matter, and the other more Catholick
and Fruitful affections of Bodies. Wherefore it will not perhaps be
now unseasonable to let our_ Carneades _warne Men, not to subscribe to
the grand Doctrine of the Chymists touching their three Hypostatical
Principles, till they have a little examin'd it, and consider'd, how
they can clear it from his Objections, divers of which 'tis like they
may never have thought on; since a Chymist scarce would, and none but
a Chymist could propose them. I hope also it will not be unacceptable
to several Ingenious Persons, who are unwilling to determine of any
important Controversie, without a previous consideration of what may
be said on both sides, and yet have greater desires to understand
Chymical Matters, than Opportunities of learning them, to find here
together, besides several Experiments of my own purposely made to
Illustrate the Doctrine of the Elements, divers others scarce to be
met with, otherwise then Scatter'd among many Chymical Books. And to
Find these Associated Experiments so Deliver'd as that an Ordinary
Reader, if he be but Acquainted with the usuall Chymical Termes, may
easily enough Understand Them; and even a wary One may safely rely on
Them. These Things I add, because a Person any Thing vers'd in the
Writings of Chymists cannot but Discern by their obscure, Ambiguous,
and almost Ænigmatical Way of expressing what they pretend to Teach,
that they have no Mind, to be understood at all, but by_ the Sons of
Art _(as they call them) nor to be Understood even by these without
Difficulty And Hazardous Tryalls. Insomuch that some of Them Scarce
ever speak so candidly, as when they make use of that known Chymical
Sentence;_ Ubi palam locuti fumus, ibi nihil diximus. _And as the
obscurity of what some Writers deliver makes it very difficult to be
understood; so the Unfaithfulness of too many others makes it unfit to
be reli'd on. For though unwillingly, Yet I must for the truths sake,
and the Readers, warne him not to be forward to believe Chymical
Experiments when they are set down only by way of Prescriptions, and
not of Relations; that is, unless he that delivers them mentions his
doing it upon his own particular knowledge, or upon the Relation of
some credible person, avowing it upon his own experience. For I am
troubled, I must complain, that even Eminent Writers, both Physitians
and Philosophers, whom I can easily name, if it be requir'd, have of
late suffer'd themselves to be so far impos'd upon, as to Publish and
Build upon Chymical Experiments, which questionless they never try'd;
for if they had, they would, as well as I, have found them not to be
true. And indeed it were to be wish'd, that now that those begin to
quote Chymical Experiments that are not themselves Acquainted with
Chymical Operations, men would Leave off that Indefinite Way of
Vouching the Chymists say this, or the Chymists affirme that, and
would rather for each Experiment they alledge name the Author or
Authors, upon whose credit they relate it; For, by this means they
would secure themselves from the suspition of falshood (to which the
other Practice Exposes them) and they would Leave the Reader to Judge
of what is fit for him to Believe of what is Deliver'd, whilst they
employ not their own great names to Countenance doubtfull Relations;
and they will also do Justice to the Inventors or Publishers of true
Experiments, as well as upon the Obtruders of false ones. Whereas by
that general Way of quoting the Chymists, the candid Writer is
Defrauded of the particular Praise, and the Impostor escapes the
Personal Disgrace that is due to him._
_The remaining Part of this Præface must be imploy'd in saying
something for_ Carneades, _and something for my Self._
_And first_, Carneades _hopes that he will be thought to have disputed
civilly and Modestly enough for one that was to play the Antagonist
and the Sceptick. And if he any where seem to sleight his Adversaries
Tenents and Arguments, he is willing to have it look'd upon as what he
was induc'd to, not so much by his Opinion of them, as the Examples
of_ Themistius _and_ Philoponus, _and the custom of such kind of
Disputes._
_Next, In case that some of his Arguments shall not be thought of the
most Cogent sort that may be, he hopes it will be consider'd that it
ought not to be Expected, that they should be So. For, his Part being
chiefly but to propose Doubts and Scruples, he does enough, if he
shews that his Adversaries Arguments are not strongly Concluding,
though his own be not so neither. And if there should appear any
disagreement betwixt the things he delivers in divers passages, he
hopes it will be consider'd, that it is not necessary that all the
things a Sceptick Proposes, should be consonant; since it being his
work to Suggest doubts against the Opinion he questions, it is
allowable for him to propose two or more severall_ Hypotheses _about
the same thing: And to say that it may be accounted for this way, or
that way, or the other Way, though these wayes be perhaps inconsistent
among Themselves. Because it is enough for him, if either of the
proposed_ Hypotheses _be but as probable as that he calls a question.
And if he proposes many that are Each of them probable, he does the
more satisfie his doubts, by making it appear the more difficult to be
sure, that that which they alwayes differ from is the true. And our_
Carneades _by holding the Negative, he has this Advantage, that if
among all the Instances he brings to invalidate all the Vulgar
Doctrine of those he Disputes with, any one be Irrefragable, that
alone is sufficient to overthrow a Doctrine which Universally asserts
what he opposes. For, it cannot be true, that all Bodies whatsoever
that are reckon'd among the Perfectly mixt Ones, are Compounded of
such a Determinate Number of such or such Ingredients, in case any one
such Body can be produc'd, that is not so compounded; and he hopes
too, that Accurateness will be the less expected from him, because his
undertaking obliges him to maintain such Opinions in Chymistry, and
that chiefly by Chymical Arguments, as are Contrary to the very
Principles of the Chymists; From whose writings it is not Therefore
like he should receive any intentionall Assistance, except from some
Passages of the Bold and Ingenious_ Helmont, _with whom he yet
disagrees in many things (which reduce him to explicate Divers
Chymical_ Phænomena, _according to other Notions;) And of whose
Ratiocinations, not only some seem very Extravagant, but even the Rest
are not wont to be as considerable as his Experiments. And though it
be True indeed, that some_ Aristotelians _have occasionally written
against the Chymical Doctrine he Oppugnes, yet since they have done it
according to their Principles, And since our_ Carneades _must as well
oppose their_ Hypothesis _as that of the Spagyrist, he was fain to
fight his Adversaries with their own Weapons, Those of the
Peripatetick being Improper, if not hurtfull for a Person of his
Tenents; besides that those_ Aristotelians, _(at Least, those he met
with,) that have written against the Chymists, seem to have had so
little Experimental Knowledge in Chymical Matters, that by their
frequent Mistakes and unskilfull Way of Oppugning, they have too often
expos'd Themselves to the Derision of their Adversaries, for writing
so Confidently against what they appear so little to understand._
_And Lastly_, Carneades _hopes, he shall doe the Ingenious this Piece
of service, that by having Thus drawn the Chymists Doctrine out of
their Dark and Smoakie Laboratories, and both brought it into the open
light, and shewn the weakness of their Proofs, that have hitherto
been wont to be brought for it, either Judicious Men shall henceforth
be allowed calmly and after due information to disbelieve it, or those
abler Chymists, that are zealous for the reputation of it, will be
oblig'd to speak plainer then hitherto has been done, and maintain it
by better Experiments and Arguments then Those_ Carneades _hath
examin'd: so That he hopes, the Curious will one Way or other Derive
either satisfaction or instruction from his endeavours. And as he is
ready to make good the profession he makes in the close of his
Discourse, he being ready to be better inform'd, so he expects either
to be indeed inform'd, or to be let alone. For Though if any Truly
knowing Chymists shall Think fit in a civil and rational way to shew
him any truth touching the matter in Dispute That he yet discernes
not,_ Carneades _will not refuse either to admit, or to own a
Conviction: yet if any impertinent Person shall, either to get Himself
a Name, or for what other end soever, wilfully or carelesly mistake
the State of the Controversie, or the sence of his Arguments, or shall
rail instead of arguing, as hath been done of Late in Print by divers
Chymists;_[1] _or lastly, shall write against them in a canting way; I
mean, shall express himself in ambiguous or obscure termes, or argue
from experiments not intelligibly enough Deliver'd_, Carneades
_professes, That he values his time so much, as not to think the
answering such Trifles worth the loss of it._
[Footnote 1: G. and F. and H. and others, in their books against one
another.]
_And now having said thus much for_ Carneades, _I hope the Reader will
give me leave to say something too for my self._
_And first, if some morose Readers shall find fault with my having
made the Interlocutors upon occasion complement with one another, and
that I have almost all along written these Dialogues in a stile more
Fashionable then That of meer scholars is wont to be, I hope I shall
be excus'd by them that shall consider, that to keep a due_ decorum
_in the Discourses, it was fit that in a book written by a Gentleman,
and wherein only Gentlemen are introduc'd as speakers, the Language
should be more smooth, and the Expressions more civil than is usual in
the more Scholastick way of writing. And indeed, I am not sorry to
have this Opportunity of giving an example how to manage even Disputes
with Civility; whence perhaps some Readers will be assisted to discern
a Difference betwixt Bluntness of speech and Strength of reason, and
find that a man may be a Champion for Truth, without being an Enemy to
Civility; and may confute an Opinion without railing at Them that hold
it; To whom he that desires to convince and not to provoke them, must
make some amends by his Civility to their Persons, for his severity
to their mistakes; and must say as little else as he can, to displease
them, when he says that they are in an error._
_But perhaps other Readers will be less apt to find fault with the
Civility of my Disputants, than the Chymists will be, upon the reading
of some Passages of the following Dialogue, to accuse_ Carneades _of
Asperity. But if I have made my Sceptick sometimes speak sleightingly
of the Opinions he opposes, I hope it will not be found that I have
done any more, than became the Part he was to act of an Opponent:
Especially, if what I have made him say be compar'd with what the
Prince of the Romane Orators himself makes both great Persons and
Friends say of one anothers Opinions, in his excellent Dialogues,_ De
Natura Deorum: _And I shall scarce be suspected of Partiality, in the
case, by them that take Notice that there is full as much (if not far
more) liberty of sleighting their Adversaries Tenents to be met with
in the Discourses of those with whom_ Carneades _disputes. Nor needed
I make the Interlocutors speak otherwise then freely in a Dialogue,
wherein it was sufficiently intimated, that I meant not to declare my
own Opinion of the Arguments propos'd, much lesse of the whole
Controversy it self otherwise than as it may by an attentive Reader be
guess'd at by some Passages of_ Carneades: _(I say, some Passages,
because I make not all that he says, especially in the heat of
Disputation, mine,) partly in this Discourse, and partly in some other
Dialogues betwixt the same speakers (though they treat not immediately
of the Elements) which have long layn by me, and expect the
Entertainment that these present Discourses will meet with. And indeed
they will much mistake me, that shall conclude from what I now
publish, that I am at Defyance with Chymistry, or would make my
Readers so. I hope the_ Specimina _I have lately publish'd of an
attempt to shew the usefulness of Chymical Experiments to
Contemplative Philosophers, will give those that shall read them other
thoughts of me: & I had a design (but wanted opportunity) to publish
with these Papers an Essay I have lying by me, the greater part of
which is Apologetical for one sort of Chymists. And at least, as for
those that know me, I hope the pain I have taken in the fire will both
convince them, that I am far from being an Enemy to the Chymists Art,
(though I am no friend to many that disgrace it by professing it,) and
perswade them to believe me when I declare that I distinguish betwixt
those Chymists that are either Cheats, or but Laborants, and the true_
Adepti; _By whom, could I enjoy their Conversation, I would both
willingly and thankfully be instructed; especially concerning the
Nature and Generation of Metals: And possibly, those that know how
little I have remitted of my former addictedness to make Chymical
Experiments, will easily believe, that one of the chief Designes of
this Sceptical Discourse was, not so much to discredit Chymistry, as
to give an occasion and a kind of necessity to the more knowing
Artists to lay aside a little of their over-great Reservedness, &
either explicate or prove the Chymical Theory better than ordinary
Chymists have done, or by enriching us with some of their nobler
secrets to evince that Their art is able to make amends even for the
deficiencies of their Theory: And thus much I shall here make bold to
add, that we shall much undervalue Chymistry, if we imagine, that it
cannot teach us things farr more useful, not only to Physick but to
Philosophy, than those that are hitherto known to vulgar Chymists. And
yet as for inferiour Spagyrists themselves, they have by their labours
deserv'd so well of the Common-wealth of Learning, that methinks 'tis
Pity they should ever misse the Truth which they have so industriously
sought. And though I be no Admirer of the Theorical Part of their Art,
yet my conjectures will much deceive me, if the Practical Part be not
much more cultivated than hitherto it has been, and do not both employ
Philosophy and Philosophers, and help to make men such. Nor would I
that have been diverted by other Studies as well as affairs, be
thought to pretend being a profound Spagyrist, by finding so many
faults in the Doctrine wherein the Generality of Chymists scruples not
to Acquiesce: For besides that 'tis most commonly far easier to frame
Objections against any propos'd_ Hypothesis, _than to propose an_
Hypothesis _not lyable to Objections (besides this I say) 'tis no such
great matter, if whereas Beginners in Chymistry are commonly at once
imbu'd with the Theory and Operations of their profession, I who had
the good Fortune to Learn the Operations from illiterate Persons,
upon whose credit I was not Tempted to take up any opinion about them,
should consider things with lesse prejudice, and consequently with
other Eyes than the Generality of Learners; And should be more
dispos'd to accommodate the_ Phænomena _that occur'd to me to other
Notions than to those of the Spagyrists. And having at first
entertain'd a suspition That the Vulgar Principles were lesse General
and comprehensive, or lesse considerately Deduc'd from Chymical
Operations, than was believ'd; it was not uneasie for me both to Take
notice of divers_ Phænomena, _overlook'd by prepossest Persons, that
seem'd not to suite so well with the_ Hermetical _Doctrine; and, to
devise some Experiments likely to furnish me with Objections against
it, not known to many, that having practis'd Chymistry longer
perchance then I have yet liv'd, may have far more Experience, Than I,
of particular processes._
_To conclude, whether the Notions I have propos'd, and the Experiments
I have communicated, be considerable, or not, I willingly leave others
to Judge; and This only I shall say for my Self, That I have
endeavour'd to deliver matters of Fact, so faithfully, that I may as
well assist the lesse skilful Readers to examine the Chymical_
Hypothesis, _as provoke the Spagyrical Philosophers to illustrate it:
which if they do, and that either the Chymical opinion, or the
Peripatetick, or any other Theory of the Elements differing from that
I am most inclin'd to, shall be intelligibly explicated, and duly
prov'd to me; what I have hitherto discours'd will not hinder it from
making a Proselyte of a Person that Loves Fluctuation of Judgment
little enough to be willing to be eas'd of it by any thing but
Error._
PHYSIOLOGICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Touching
_The experiments wont to be employed to evince either the IV
Peripatetick Elements, or the III Chymical Principles of Mixt Bodies._
Part of the First Dialogue.
I Perceive that divers of my Friends have thought it very strange to
hear me speak so irresolvedly, as I have been wont to do, concerning
those things which some take to be the Elements, and others to be the
Principles of all mixt Bodies. But I blush not to acknowledge that I
much lesse scruple to confess that I Doubt, when I do so, then to
profess that I Know what I do not: And I should have much stronger
Expectations then I dare yet entertain, to see Philosophy solidly
establish't, if men would more carefully distinguish those things that
they know, from those that they ignore or do but think, and then
explicate clearly the things they conceive they understand,
acknowledge ingenuously what it is they ignore, and profess so
candidly their Doubts, that the industry of intelligent persons might
be set on work to make further enquiries, and the easiness of less
discerning Men might not be impos'd on. But because a more particular
accompt will probably be expected of my unsatisfyedness not only with
the Peripatetick, but with the Chymical Doctrine of the Primitive
Ingredients of Bodies: It may possibly serve to satisfy others of the
excusableness of my disatisfaction to peruse the ensuing Relation of
what passed a while since at a meeting of persons of several opinions,
in a place that need not here be named; where the subject whereof we
have been speaking, was amply and variously discours'd of.
It was on one of the fairest dayes of this Summer that the inquisitive
_Eleutherius_ came to invite me to make a visit with him to his friend
_Carneades_. I readily consented to this motion, telling him that if
he would but permit me to go first and make an excuse at a place not
far off, where I had at that hour appointed to meet, but not about a
business either of moment, or that could not well admit of a delay, I
would presently wait on him, because of my knowing _Carneades_ to be
so conversant with nature and with Furnaces, and so unconfin'd to
vulgar Opinions, that he would probably by some ingenious Paradox or
other, give our mindes at least a pleasing Exercise, and perhaps
enrich them with some solid instruction. _Eleutherius_ then first
going with me to the place where my Apology was to be made, I
accompanied him to the lodging of _Carneades_, where when we were
come, we were told by the Servants, that he was retired with a couple
of Friends (whose names they also told us) to one of the Arbours in
his Garden, to enjoy under its coole shades a delightful protection
from the yet troublesome heat of the Sun.
_Eleutherius_ being perfectly acquainted with that Garden immediately
led me to the Arbour, and relying on the intimate familiarity that had
been long cherish'd betwixt him and _Carneades_; in spight of my
Reluctancy to what might look like an intrusion upon his privacy,
drawing me by the hand, he abruptly entered the Arbour, where we found
_Carneades_, _Philoponus_, and _Themistius_, sitting close about a
little round Table, on which besides paper, pen, and inke, there lay
two or three open Books; _Carneades_ appeared not at all troubled at
this surprise, but rising from the Table, received his Friend with
open looks and armes, and welcoming me also with his wonted freedom
and civility, invited us to rest our selves by him, which, as soon as
we had exchanged with his two Friends (who were ours also) the
civilities accustomed on such occasions, we did. And he presently
after we had seated our selves, shutting the Books that lay open, and
turning to us with a smiling countenance seemed ready to begin some
such unconcerning discourse as is wont to pass or rather waste the
time in promiscuous companies.
But _Eleutherius_ guessing at what he meant to do, prevented him by
telling him, I perceive _Carneades_ by the books that you have been
now shutting, and much more by the posture wherein I found Persons
qualifi'd [Errata: so qualify'd] to discourse of serious matters; and
so accustom'd to do it, that you three were before our coming, engag'd
in some Philosophical conference, which I hope you will either
prosecute, and allow us to be partakers of, in recompence of the
freedome we have us'd in presuming to surprise you, or else give us
leave to repair the injury we should otherwise do you, by leaving you
to the freedom we have interrupted, and punishing our selves for our
boldness by depriving our selves of the happiness of your company.
With these last words he and I rose up, as if we meant to be gone, But
_Carneades_ suddenly laying hold on his arme, and stopping him by it,
smileingly told him, We are not so forward to lose good company as you
seem to imagine; especially since you are pleas'd to desire to be
present at what we shall say, about such a Subject as that You found
us considering. For that, being the number of the Elements,
Principles, or Materiall Ingredients of Bodies, is an enquiry whose
truth is of that Importance, and of that Difficulty, that it may as
well deserve as require to be searched into by such skilfull
Indagators of Nature as your selves. And therefore we sent to invite
the bold and acute _Leucippus_ to lend us some light by his Atomical
Paradox, upon which we expected such pregnant hints, that 'twas not
without a great deal of trouble that we had lately word brought us
that he was not to be found; and we had likewise begg'd the Assistance
of your presence and thoughts, had not the messenger we employ'd to
_Leucippus_ inform'd us, that as he was going, he saw you both pass by
towards another part of the Town; And this frustrated expectation of
_Leucippus_ his company, who told me but last night that he would be
ready to give me a meeting where I pleas'd to day, having very long
suspended our conference about the freshly mention'd Subject, it was
so newly begun when you came in, that we shall scarce need to repeat
any thing to acquaint you with what has pass'd betwixt us before your
arrival, so that I cannot but look upon it as a fortunate Accident
that you should come so seasonably, to be not hearers alone, but we
hope Interlocutors at our conference. For we shall not only allow of
your presence at it, but desire your Assistance in it; which I adde
both for other reasons, and because though these learned Gentlemen
(sayes he, turning to his two friends) need not fear to discourse
before any Auditory, provided it be intelligent enough to understand
them, yet for my part (continues he with a new smile,) I shall not
dare to vent my unpremeditated thoughts before two such Criticks,
unless by promising to take your turnes of speaking, You will allow me
mine of quarrelling, with what has been said. He and his friends added
divers things to convince us that they were both desirous that we
should hear them, and resolved against our doing so, unless we allowed
them sometimes to hear us. _Elutherius_ [Transcriber's Note:
Eleutherius] after having a while fruitlesly endeavoured to obtain
leave to be silent promis'd he would not be so alwayes, provided that
he were permitted according to the freedom of his Genious and
Principles to side with one of them in the managing of one Argument,
and, if he saw cause, with his Antagonist, in the Prosecution of
another, without being confin'd to stick to any one party or Opinion,
which was after some debate accorded him. But I conscious to my own
Disability's told them resolutely that _I_ was as much more willing as
more fit to be a hearer then a speaker, among such knowing Persons,
and on so abstruse a Subject. And that therefore I beseeched them
without necessitating me to proclaim my weaknesses, to allow me to
lessen them by being a silent Auditor of their Discourses: to suffer
me to be at which I could present them no motive, save that their
instructions would make them in me a more intelligent Admirer. I
added, that I desir'd not to be idle whilst they were imploy'd, but
would if they pleas'd, by writing down in short hand what should be
delivered, preserve Discourses that I knew would merit to be lasting.
At first _Carneades_ and his two friends utterly rejected this motion;
and all that my Resoluteness to make use of my ears, not tongue, at
their debates, could do, was to make them acquiesce in the Proposition
of _Eleutherius_, who thinking himself concern'd, because he brought
me thither, to afford me some faint assistance, was content that I
should register their Arguments, that I might be the better able after
the conclusion of their conference to give them my sence upon the
Subject of it, (The number of Elements or Principles:) which he
promis'd I should do at the end of the present Debates, if time would
permit, or else at our next meeting. And this being by him undertaken
in my name, though without my consent, the company would by no means
receive my Protestation against it, but casting, all at once, their
eyes on _Carneades_, they did by that and their unanimous silence,
invite him to begin; which (after a short pause, during which he
turn'd himself to _Eleutherius_ and me) he did in this manner.
Notwithstanding the subtile reasonings I have met with in the books of
the Peripateticks, and the pretty experiments that have been shew'd me
in the Laboratories of Chymists, I am of so diffident, or dull a
Nature, as to think that if neither of them can bring more cogent
arguments to evince the truth of their assertion then are wont to be
brought; a Man may rationally enough retain some doubts concerning the
very number of those materiall Ingredients of mixt bodies, which some
would have us call Elements, and others principles. Indeed when I
considered that the Tenents concerning the Elements are as
considerable amongst the Doctrines of natural Philosophy as the
Elements themselves are among the bodies of the Universe, I expected
to find those Opinions solidly establish'd, upon which so many others
are superstructed. But when I took the pains impartially to examine
the bodies themselves that are said to result from the blended
Elements, and to torture them into a confession of their constituent
Principles, I was quickly induc'd to think that the number of the
Elements has been contended about by Philosophers with more
earnestness then success. This unsatisfiedness of mine has been much
wonder'd at, by these two Gentlemen (at which words he pointed at
_Themistius_ and _Philoponus_) who though they differ almost as much
betwixt themselves about the question we are to consider, as I do from
either of them, yet they both agree very well in this, that there is a
determinate number of such ingredients as I was just now speaking of,
and that what that number is, I say not, may be, (for what may not
such as they perswade?) but is wont to be clearly enough demonstrated
both by Reason and Experience. This has occasion'd our present
Conference. For our Discourse this afternoon, having fallen from one
subject to another, and at length setl'd on this, they proffer'd to
demonstrate to me, each of them the truth of his opinion, out of both
the Topicks that I have freshly nam'd. But on the former (that of
Reason strictly so taken) we declin'd insisting at the present, lest
we should not have time enough before supper to go thorough the
Reasons and Experiments too. The latter of which we unanimously
thought the most requisite to be seriously examin'd. I must desire you
then to take notice Gentlemen (continued _Carneades_) that my present
business doth not oblige me so to declare my own opinion on the
Subject in question, as to assert or deny the truth either of the
Peripatetick, or the Chymical Doctrine concerning the number of the
Elements, but only to shew you that neither of these Doctrines hath
been satisfactorily proved by the arguments commonly alledged on its
behalfe. So that if I really discern (as perhaps I think I do) that
there may be a more rational account then ordinary, given of one of
these opinions, I am left free to declare my self of it,
notwithstanding my present engagement, it being obvious to all your
observation, that a solid truth may be generally maintained by no
other, then incompetent Arguments. And to this Declaration I hope it
will be needless to add, that my task obliges me not to answer the
Arguments that may be drawn either for _Themistius_ or _Philoponus's_
Opinion from the Topick of reason, as opposed to experiments; since
'tis these only that I am to examine and not all these neither, but
such of them alone as either of them shall think fit to insist on, and
as have hitherto been wont to be brought either to prove that 'tis
the four Peripatetick Elements, or that 'tis the three Chymical
Principles that all compounded bodies consist of. These things (adds
_Carneades_) I thought my self obliged to premise, partly lest you
should do these Gentlemen (pointing at _Themistius_ and _Philoponus_,
and smiling on them) the injury of measuring their parts by the
arguments they are ready to propose, the lawes of our Conference
confining them to make use of those that the vulgar of Philosophers
(for even of them there is a vulgar) has drawn up to their hands; and
partly, that you should not condemn me of presumption for disputing
against persons over whom I can hope for no advantage, that _I_ must
not derive from the nature, or rules of our controversy, wherein I
have but a negative to defend, and wherein too I am like on several
occasions to have the Assistance of one of my disagreeing adversaries
against the other.
_Philoponus_ and _Themistius_ soon returned this complement with
civilities of the like nature, in which _Eleutherius_ perceiving them
engaged, to prevent the further loss of that time of which they were
not like to have very much to spare, he minded them that their
present businesse was not to exchange complements, but Arguments: and
then addressing his speech to _Carneades_, I esteem it no small
happinesse (saies he) that I am come here so luckily this Evening. For
I have been long disquieted with Doubts concerning this very subject
which you are now ready to debate. And since a Question of this
importance is to be now discussed by persons that maintain such
variety of opinions concerning it, and are both so able to enquire
after truth, and so ready to embrace it by whomsoever and on what
occasion soever it is presented them; I cannot but promise my self
that I shall before we part either lose my Doubts or the hopes of ever
finding them resolved; _Eleutherius_ paused not here; but to prevent
their answer, added almost in the same breath; and I am not a little
pleased to find that you are resolved on this occasion to insist
rather on Experiments then Syllogismes. For I, and no doubt You, have
long observed, that those Dialectical subtleties, that the Schoolmen
too often employ about Physiological Mysteries, are wont much more to
declare the wit of him that uses them, then increase the knowledge or
remove the doubts of sober lovers of truth. And such captious
subtleties do indeed often puzzle and sometimes silence men, but
rarely satisfy them. Being like the tricks of Jugglers, whereby men
doubt not but they are cheated, though oftentimes they cannot declare
by what slights they are imposed on. And therefore I think you have
done very wisely to make it your businesse to consider the _Phænomena_
relating to the present Question, which have been afforded by
experiments, especially since it might seem injurious to our senses,
by whose mediation we acquire so much of the knowledge we have of
things corporal, to have recourse to far-fetched and abstracted
Ratiocination [Errata: Ratiocinations], to know what are the sensible
ingredients of those sensible things that we daily see and handle, and
are supposed to have the liberty to untwist (if I may so speak) into
the primitive bodies they consist of. He annexed that he wished
therefore they would no longer delay his expected satisfaction, if
they had not, as he feared they had, forgotten something preparatory
to their debate; and that was to lay down what should be all along
understood by the word Principle or Element. _Carneades_ thank'd him
for his admonition, but told him that they had not been unmindful of
so requisite a thing. But that being Gentlemen and very far from the
litigious humour of loving to wrangle about words or terms or notions
as empty; they had before his coming in, readily agreed promiscuously
to use when they pleased, Elements and Principles as terms equivalent:
and to understand both by the one and the other, those primitive and
simple Bodies of which the mixt ones are said to be composed, and into
which they are ultimately resolved. And upon the same account (he
added) we agreed to discourse of the opinions to be debated, as we
have found them maintained by the Generality of the assertors of the
four Elements of the one party, and of those that receive the three
Principles on the other, without tying our selves to enquire
scrupulously what notion either _Aristotle_ or _Paracelsus_, or this
or that Interpreter, or follower of either of those great persons,
framed of Elements or Principles; our design being to examine, not
what these or those writers thought or taught, but what we find to be
the obvious and most general opinion of those, who are willing to be
accounted Favourers of the Peripatetick or Chymical Doctrine,
concerning this subject.
I see not (saies _Eleutherius_) why you might not immediately begin to
argue, if you were but agreed which of your two friendly Adversaries
shall be first heard. And it being quickly resolv'd on that
_Themistius_ should first propose the Proofs for his Opinion, because
it was the antienter, and the more general, he made not the company
expect long before he thus addressed himself to _Eleutherius_, as to
the Person least interessed in the dispute.
If you have taken sufficient notice of the late Confession which was
made by _Carneades_, and which (though his Civility dressed it up in
complementall Expressions) was exacted of him by his Justice, I
suppose You will be easily made sensible, that I engage in this
Controversie with great and peculiar Disadvantages, besides those
which his Parts and my Personal Disabilities would bring to any other
cause to be maintained by me against him. For he justly apprehending
the force of truth, though speaking by no better a tongue then mine,
has made it the chief condition of our Duell, that I should lay aside
the best Weapons I have, and those I can best handle; Whereas if I
were allowed the freedom, in pleading for the four Elements, to employ
the Arguments suggested to me by Reason to demonstrate them, I should
almost as little doubt of making You a Proselyte to those unsever'd
Teachers, Truth and _Aristotle_, as I do of your Candour and your
Judgment. And I hope you will however consider, that that great
Favorite and Interpreter of Nature, _Aristotle_, who was (as his
_Organum_ witnesses) the greatest Master of Logick that ever liv'd,
disclaim'd the course taken by other petty Philosophers (Antient and
Modern) who not attending the Coherence and Consequences of their
Opinions, are more sollicitous to make each particular Opinion
plausible independently upon the the [Transcriber's Note: extra "the"
in original] rest, then to frame them all so, as not only to be
consistent together, but to support each other. For that great Man in
his vast and comprehensive Intellect, so fram'd each of his Notions,
that being curiously adapted into one Systeme, they need not each of
them any other defence then that which their mutuall Coherence gives
them: As 'tis in an Arch, where each single stone, which if sever'd
from the rest would be perhaps defenceless, is sufficiently secur'd by
the solidity and entireness of the whole Fabrick of which it is a
part. How justly this may be apply'd to the present case, I could
easily shew You, if I were permitted to declare to You, how harmonious
_Aristotles_ Doctrine of the Elements is with his other Principles of
Philosophy; and how rationally he has deduc'd their number from that
of the combinations of the four first Qualities from the kinds of
simple Motion belonging to simple bodies, and from I know not how many
other Principles and _Phænomena_ of Nature, which so conspire with his
Doctrine of the Elements, that they mutually strengthen and support
each other. But since 'tis forbidden me to insist on Reflections of
this kind, I must proceed to tell You, that though the Assertors of
the four Elements value Reason so highly, and are furnish'd with
Arguments enough drawn from thence, to be satisfi'd that there must be
four Elements, though no Man had ever yet made any sensible tryal to
discover their Number, yet they are not destitute of Experience to
satisfie others that are wont to be more sway'd by their senses then
their Reason. And I shall proceed to consider the testimony of
Experience, when I shall have first advertis'd You, that if Men were
as perfectly rational as 'tis to be wish'd they were, this sensible
way of Probation would be as needless as 'tis wont to be imperfect.
For it is much more high and Philosophical to discover things _a
priore_, then _a posteriore_. And therefore the Peripateticks have not
been very sollicitous to gather Experiments to prove their Doctrines,
contenting themselves with a few only, to satisfie those that are not
capable of a Nobler Conviction. And indeed they employ Experiments
rather to illustrate then to demonstrate their Doctrines, as
Astronomers use Sphæres of pastboard, to descend to the capacities of
such as must be taught by their senses, for want of being arriv'd to a
clear apprehension of purely Mathematical Notions and Truths. I speak
thus _Eleutherius_ (adds _Themistius_) only to do right to Reason, and
not out of Diffidence of the Experimental proof I am to alledge. For
though I shall name but one, yet it is such a one as will make all
other appear as needless as it self will be found Satisfactory. For if
You but consider a piece of green-Wood burning in a Chimney, You will
readily discern in the disbanded parts of it the four Elements, of
which we teach It and other mixt bodies to be compos'd. The fire
discovers it self in the flame by its own light; the smoke by
ascending to the top of the chimney, and there readily vanishing into
air, like a River losing it self in the Sea, sufficiently manifests to
what Element it belongs and gladly returnes. The water in its own form
boyling and hissing at the ends of the burning Wood betrayes it self
to more then one of our senses; and the ashes by their weight, their
firiness, and their dryness, put it past doubt that they belong to the
Element of Earth. If I spoke (continues _Themistius_) to less knowing
Persons, I would perhaps make some Excuse for building upon such an
obvious and easie _Analysis_, but 'twould be, I fear, injurious, not
to think such an Apology needless to You, who are too judicious either
to think it necessary that Experiments to prove obvious truths should
be farr fetch'd, or to wonder that among so many mixt Bodies that are
compounded of the four Elements, some of them should upon a slight
_Analysis_ manifestly exhibite the Ingredients they consist of.
Especially since it is very agreeable to the Goodness of Nature, to
disclose, even in some of the most obvious Experiments that Men make,
a Truth so important, and so requisite to be taken notice of by them.
Besides that our _Analysis_ by how much the more obvious we make it,
by so much the more suittable it will be to the Nature of that
Doctrine which 'tis alledged to prove, which being as clear and
intelligible to the Understanding as obvious to the sense, tis no
marvail the learned part of Mankind should so long and so generally
imbrace it. For this Doctrine is very different from the whimseys of
_Chymists_ and other Modern Innovators, of whose _Hypotheses_ we may
observe, as Naturalists do of less perfect Animals, that as they are
hastily form'd, so they are commonly short liv'd. For so these, as
they are often fram'd in one week, are perhaps thought fit to be
laughed at the next; and being built perchance but upon two or three
Experiments are destroyed by a third or fourth, whereas the doctrine
of the four Elements was fram'd by _Aristotle_ after he had leasurely
considered those Theories of former Philosophers, which are now with
great applause revived, as discovered by these latter ages; And had so
judiciously detected and supplyed the Errors and defects of former
_Hypotheses_ concerning the Elements, that his Doctrine of them has
been ever since deservedly embraced by the letter'd part of Mankind:
All the Philosophers that preceded him having in their several ages
contributed to the compleatness of this Doctrine, as those of
succeeding times have acquiesc'd in it. Nor has an _Hypothesis_ so
deliberately and maturely established been called in Question till in
the last Century _Paracelsus_ and some few other sooty Empiricks,
rather then (as they are fain to call themselves) Philosophers, having
their eyes darken'd, and their Brains troubl'd with the smoke of their
own Furnaces, began to rail at the Peripatetick Doctrine, which they
were too illiterate to understand, and to tell the credulous World,
that they could see but three Ingredients in mixt Bodies; which to
gain themselves the repute of Inventors, they endeavoured to disguise
by calling them, instead of Earth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt,
Sulphur, and Mercury; to which they gave the canting title of
Hypostatical Principles: but when they came to describe them, they
shewed how little they understood what they meant by them, by
disagreeing as much from one another, as from the truth they agreed in
opposing: For they deliver their _Hypotheses_ as darkly as their
Processes; and 'tis almost as impossible for any sober Man to find
their meaning, as 'tis for them to find their Elixir. And indeed
nothing has spread their Philosophy, but their great Brags and
undertakings; notwithstanding all which, (sayes _Themistius_ smiling)
I scarce know any thing they have performed worth wondering at, save
that they have been able to draw _Philoponus_ to their Party, and to
engage him to the Defence of an unintelligible _Hypothesis_, who
knowes so well as he does, that Principles ought to be like Diamonds,
as well very clear, as perfectly solid.
_Themistius_ having after these last words declared by his silence,
that he had finished his Discourse, _Carneades_ addressing himself, as
his Adversary had done, to _Eleutherius_, returned this Answer to it,
I hop'd for [Errata: for a] Demonstration, but I perceive _Themistius_
hopes to put me off with a Harangue, wherein he cannot have given me a
greater Opinion of his Parts, then he has given me Distrust for his
_Hypothesis_, since for it even a Man of such Learning can bring no
better Arguments. The Rhetorical part of his Discourse, though it make
not the least part of it, I shall say nothing to, designing to examine
only the Argumentative part, and leaving it to _Philoponus_ to answer
those passages wherein either _Paracelsus_ or _Chymists_ are
concern'd: I shall observe to You, that in what he has said besides,
he makes it his Business to do these two things. The one to propose
and make out an Experiment to demonstrate the common Opinion about the
four Elements; And the other, to insinuate divers things which he
thinks may repair the weakness of his Argument, from Experience, and
upon other Accounts bring some credit to the otherwise defenceless
Doctrine he maintains.
To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it seems to me
to be obnoxious to not a few considerable Exceptions.
And first, if I would now deal rigidly with my Adversary, I might here
make a great Question of the very way of Probation which he and others
employ, without the least scruple, to evince, that the Bodies commonly
call'd mixt, are made up of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, which they
are pleas'd also to call Elements; namely that upon the suppos'd
_Analysis_ made by the fire, of the former sort of _Concretes_, there
are wont to emerge Bodies resembling those which they take for the
Elements. For not to Anticipate here what I foresee I shall have
occasion to insist on, when I come to discourse with _Philoponus_
concerning the right that fire has to pass for the proper and
Universal Instrument of Analysing mixt Bodies, not to Anticipate that,
I say, if I were dispos'd to wrangle, I might alledge, that by
_Themistius_ his Experiment it would appear rather that those he calls
Elements, are made of those he calls mixt Bodies, then mix'd Bodies of
the Elements. For in _Themistius's_ Analyz'd Wood, and in other Bodies
dissipated and alter'd by the fire, it appears, and he confesses, that
which he takes for Elementary Fire and Water, are made out of the
Concrete; but it appears not that the Concrete was made up of Fire and
Water. Nor has either He, or any Man, for ought I know, of his
perswasion, yet prov'd that nothing can be obtained from a Body by the
fire that was not _Pre-existent_ in it.
At this unexpected objection, not only _Themistius_, but the rest of
the company appear'd not a little surpriz'd; but after a while
_Philoponus_ conceiving his opinion, as well as that of _Aristotle_,
concern'd in that Objection, You cannot sure (sayes he to
_Carneades_) propose this Difficulty; not to call it Cavill, otherwise
then as an Exercise of wit, and not as laying any weight upon it. For
how can that be separated from a thing that was not existent in it.
When, for instance, a Refiner mingles Gold and Lead, and exposing this
Mixture upon a Cuppell to the violence of the fire, thereby separates
it into pure and refulgent Gold and Lead (which driven off together
with the Dross of the Gold is thence call'd _Lithargyrium Auri_) can
any man doubt that sees these two so differing substances separated
from the Mass, that they were existent in it before it was committed
to the fire.
I should (replies _Carneades_) allow your Argument to prove something,
if, as Men see the Refiners commonly take before hand both Lead and
Gold to make the Mass you speak of, so we did see Nature pull down a
parcell of the Element of Fire, that is fancy'd to be plac'd I know
not how many thousand Leagues off, contiguous to the Orb of the Moon,
and to blend it with a quantity of each of the three other Elements,
to compose every mixt Body, upon whose Resolution the Fire presents
us with Fire, and Earth, and the rest. And let me add, _Philoponus_,
that to make your Reasoning cogent, it must be first prov'd, that the
fire do's only take the Elementary Ingredients asunder, without
otherwise altering them. For else 'tis obvious, that Bodies may afford
substances which were not pre-existent in them; as Flesh too long kept
produces Magots, and old Cheese Mites, which I suppose you will not
affirm to be Ingredients of those Bodies. Now that fire do's not
alwayes barely separate the Elementary parts, but sometimes at least
alter also the Ingredients of Bodies, if I did not expect ere long a
better occasion to prove it, I might make probable out of your very
Instance, wherein there is nothing Elementary separated by the great
violence of the Refiners fire: the Gold and Lead which are the two
Ingredients separated upon the _Analysis_ being confessedly yet
perfectly mixt Bodies, and the Litharge being Lead indeed; but such
Lead as is differing in consistence and other Qualities from what it
was before. To which I must add that I have sometimes seen, and so
questionlesse have you much oftener, some parcells of Glasse adhering
to the Test or Cuppel, and this Glass though Emergent as well as the
Gold or Litharge upon your Analysis, you will not I hope allow to have
been a third Ingredient of the Mass out of which the fire produc'd it.
Both _Philoponus_ and _Themistius_ were about to reply, when
_Eleutherius_ apprehending that the Prosecution of this Dispute would
take up time, which might be better employ'd, thought fit to prevent
them by saying to _Carneades_: You made at least half a Promise, when
you first propos'd this Objection, that you would not (now at least)
insist on it, nor indeed does it seem to be of absolute necessity to
your cause, that you should. For though you should grant that there
are Elements, it would not follow that there must be precisely four.
And therefore I hope you will proceed to acquaint us with your other
and more considerable Objections against _Themistius's_ Opinion,
especially since there is so great a Disproportion in Bulke betwixt
the Earth, Water and Air, on the one part, and those little parcells
of resembling substances, that the fire separates from _Concretes_ on
the other part, that I can scarce think that you are serious, when to
lose no advantage against your Adversary, you seem to deny it to be
rational, to conclude these great simple Bodies to be the Elements,
and not the Products of compounded ones.
What you alledge (replies _Carneades_) of the Vastness of the Earth
and Water, has long since made me willing to allow them to be the
greatest and chief Masses of Matter to be met with here below: But I
think I could shew You, if You would give me leave, that this will
prove only that the Elements, as You call them, are the chief Bodies
that make up the neighbouring part of the World, but not that they are
such Ingredients as every mixt Body must consist of. But since You
challenge me of something of a Promise, though it be not an entire
one, Yet I shall willingly perform it. And indeed I intended not when
I first mention'd this Objection, to insist on it at present against
_Themistius_, (as I plainly intimated in my way of proposing it:)
being only desirous to let you see, that though I discern'd my
Advantages, yet I was willing to forego some of them, rather then
appear a rigid Adversary of a Cause so weak, that it may with safety
be favourably dealt with. But I must here profess, and desire You to
take Notice of it, that though I pass on to another Argument, it is
not because I think this first invalid. For You will find in the
Progress of our Dispute, that I had some reason to question the very
way of Probation imploy'd both by Peripateticks and Chymists, to
evince the being and number of the Elements. For that there are such,
and that they are wont to be separated by the Analysis made by Fire,
is indeed taken for granted by both Parties, but has not (for ought I
know) been so much as plausibly attempted to be proved by either.
Hoping then that when we come to that part of our Debate, wherein
Considerations relating to this Matter are to be treated of, you will
remember what I have now said, and that I do rather for a while
suppose, then absolutely grant the truth of what I have question'd, I
will proceed to another Objection.
And hereupon _Eleutherius_ having promis'd him not to be unmindfull,
when time should serve, of what he had declar'd.
I consider then (sayes _Carneades_) in the next place, that there are
divers Bodies out of which _Themistius_ will not prove in haste, that
there can be so many Elements as four extracted by the Fire. And I
should perchance trouble him if I should ask him what Peripatetick can
shew us, (I say not, all the four Elements, for that would be too
rigid a Question, but) any one of them extracted out of Gold by any
degree of Fire whatsoever. Nor is Gold the only Bodie in Nature that
would puzzle an _Aristotelian_, that is no more [Errata: (that is no
more)] to analyze by the Fire into Elementary Bodies, since, for ought
I have yet observ'd, both Silver and calcin'd _Venetian_ Talck, and
some other Concretes, not necessary here to be nam'd, are so fixt,
that to reduce any of them into four Heterogeneous Substances has
hitherto prov'd a Task much too hard, not only for the Disciples of
_Aristotle_, but those of _Vulcan_, at least, whilst the latter have
employ'd only Fire to make the _Analysis_.
The next Argument (continues _Carneades_) that I shall urge against
_Themistius's_ Opinion shall be this, That as there are divers Bodies
whose _Analysis_ by Fire cannot reduce them into so many Heterogeneous
Substances or Ingregredients [Transcriber's Note: Ingredients] as
four, so there are others which may be reduc'd into more, as the Blood
(and divers other parts) of Men and other Animals, which yield when
analyz'd five distinct Substances, Phlegme, Spirit, Oyle, Salt and
Earth, as Experience has shewn us in distilling Mans Blood,
Harts-Horns, and divers other Bodies that belonging to the
Animal-Kingdom abound with not uneasily sequestrable Salt.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST:
OR
CHYMICO-PHYSICAL
Doubts & Paradoxes,
Touching the
EXPERIMENTS
WHEREBY
VULGAR SPAGYRISTS
Are wont to Endeavour to Evince their
SALT, SULPHUR
AND
MERCURY,
TO BE
The True Principles of Things.
_Utinam jam tenerentur omnia, & inoperta ac confessa Veritas esset!
Nihil ex Decretis mutaremus. Nunc Veritatem cum eis qui docent,
quærimus._ Sen.
_LONDON,_
Printed for _J. Crooke_, and are to be sold at the Ship in St. _Pauls_
Church-Yard. 1661.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
_The First Part._
I am (sayes _Carneades_) so unwilling to deny _Eleutherius_ any thing,
that though, before the rest of the Company I am resolv'd to make good
the part I have undertaken of a Sceptick; yet I shall readily, since
you will have it so, lay aside for a while the Person of an Adversary
to the Peripateticks and Chymists; and before I acquaint you with my
Objections against their Opinions, acknowledge to you what may be
(whether truly or not) tollerably enough added, in favour of a certain
number of Principles of mixt Bodies, to that grand and known Argument
from the _Analysis_ of compound Bodies, which I may possibly
hereafter be able to confute.
And that you may the more easily Examine, and the better Judge of what
I have to say, I shall cast it into a pretty number of distinct
Propositions, to which I shall not premise any thing; because I take
it for granted, that you need not be advertis'd, that much of what I
am to deliver, whether for or against a determinate number of
Ingredients of mix'd Bodies, may be indifferently apply'd to the four
Peripatetick Elements, and the three Chymical Principles, though
divers of my Objections will more peculiarly belong to these last
nam'd, because the Chymical _Hypothesis_ seeming to be much more
countenanc'd by Experience then the other, it will be expedient to
insist chiefly upon the disproving of that; especially since most of
the Arguments that are imploy'd against it, may, by a little
variation, be made to conclude, at least as strongly against the less
plausible, _Aristotelian_ Doctrine.
To proceed then to my Propositions, I shall begin with this. That
[Sidenote: Propos. I.]
_It seems not absurd to conceive that at the first Production of mixt
Bodies, the Universal Matter whereof they among other Parts of the
Universe consisted, was actually divided into little Particles of
several sizes and shapes variously mov'd._
This (sayes _Carneades_) I suppose you will easily enough allow. For
besides that which happens in the Generation, Corruption, Nutrition,
and wasting of Bodies, that which we discover partly by our
_Microscopes_ of the extream littlenesse of even the scarce sensible
parts of Concretes; and partly by the Chymical Resolutions of mixt
Bodies, and by divers other Operations of Spagyrical Fires upon them,
seems sufficiently to manifest their consisting of parts very minute
and of differing Figures. And that there does also intervene a various
local Motion of such small Bodies, will scarce be denied; whether we
chuse to grant the Origine of Concretions assign'd by _Epicurus_, or
that related by _Moses_. For the first, as you well know, supposes not
only all mixt Bodies, but all others to be produc'd by the various
and casual occursions of Atomes, moving themselves to and fro by an
internal Principle in the Immense or rather Infinite _Vacuum_. And as
for the inspir'd Historian, He, informing us that the great and Wise
Author of Things did not immediately create Plants, Beasts, Birds, &c.
but produc'd them out of those portions of the pre-existent, though
created, Matter, that he calls Water and Earth, allows us to conceive,
that the constituent Particles whereof these new Concretes were to
consist, were variously moved in order to their being connected into
the Bodies they were, by their various Coalitions and Textures, to
compose.
But (continues _Carneades_) presuming that the first Proposition needs
not be longer insisted on, I will pass on to the second, and tell you
that
[Sidenote: Propos. II.]
_Neither is it impossible that of these minute Particles divers of the
smallest and neighbouring ones were here and there associated into
minute Masses or Clusters, and did by their Coalitions constitute
great store of such little primary Concretions or Masses as were not
easily dissipable into such Particles as compos'd them._
To what may be deduc'd, in favour of this Assertion, from the Nature
of the Thing it self, I will add something out of Experience, which
though I have not known it used to such a purpose, seems to me more
fairly to make out that there May be Elementary Bodies, then the more
questionable Experiments of Peripateticks and Chymists prove that
there Are such. I consider then that Gold will mix and be colliquated
not only with Silver, Copper, Tin and Lead, but with Antimony,
_Regulus Martis_ and many other Minerals, with which it will compose
Bodies very differing both from Gold, and the other Ingredients of the
resulting Concretes. And the same Gold will also by common _Aqua
Regis_, and (I speak it knowingly) by divers other _Menstruums_ be
reduc'd into a seeming Liquor, in so much that the Corpuscles of Gold
will, with those of the _Menstruum_, pass through Cap-Paper, and with
them also coagulate into a Crystalline Salt. And I have further try'd,
that with a small quantity of a certain Saline Substance I prepar'd,
I can easily enough sublime Gold into the form of red Crystalls of a
considerable length; and many other wayes may Gold be disguis'd, and
help to constitute Bodies of very differing Natures both from It and
from one another, and neverthelesse be afterward reduc'd to the
self-same Numerical, Yellow, Fixt, Ponderous and Malleable Gold it was
before its commixture. Nor is it only the fixedst of Metals, but the
most fugitive, that I may employ in favour of our Proposition: for
Quicksilver will with divers Metals compose an _Amalgam_, with divers
_Menstruums_ it seems to be turn'd into a Liquor, with _Aqua fortis_
will be brought into either a red or white Powder or precipitate, with
Oyl of Vitriol into a pale Yellow one, with Sulphur it will compose a
blood-red and volatile Cinaber, with some Saline Bodies it will ascend
in form of a Salt which will be dissoluble in water; with _Regulus_ of
Antimony and Silver I have seen it sublim'd into a kinde of Crystals,
with another Mixture I reduc'd it into a malleable Body, into a hard
and brittle Substance by another: And some there are who affirm, that
by proper Additaments they can reduce Quicksilver into Oyl, nay into
Glass, to mention no more. And yet out of all these exotick Compounds,
we may recover the very same running Mercury that was the main
Ingredient of them, and was so disguis'd in them. Now the Reason
(proceeds _Carneades_) that I have represented these things concerning
Gold and Quicksilver, is, That it may not appear absurd to conceive,
that such little primary Masses or Clusters, as our Proposition
mentions, may remain undissipated, notwithstanding their entring into
the composition of various Concretions, since the Corpuscle of Gold
and Mercury, though they be not primary Concretions of the most minute
Particles or matter, but confessedly mixt Bodies, are able to concurre
plentifully to the composition of several very differing Bodies,
without losing their own Nature or Texture, or having their cohæsion
violated by the divorce of their associated parts or Ingredients.
Give me leave to add (sayes _Eleutherius_) on this occasion, to what
you now observ'd, that as confidently as some Chymists, and other
modern Innovators in Philosophy are wont to object against the
Peripateticks, That from the mixture of their four Elements there
could arise but an inconsiderable variety of compound Bodies; yet if
the _Aristotelians_ were but half as well vers'd in the works of
Nature as they are in the Writings of their Master, the propos'd
Objection would not so calmly triumph, as for want of Experiments they
are fain to suffer it to do. For if we assigne to the Corpuscles,
whereof each Element consists, a peculiar size and shape, it may
easily enough be manifested, That such differingly figur'd Corpuscles
may be mingled in such various Proportions, and may be connected so
many several wayes, that an almost incredible number of variously
qualified Concretes may be compos'd of them. Especially since the
Corpuscles of one Element may barely, by being associated among
themselves, make up little Masses of differing size and figure from
their constituent parts: and since also to the strict union of such
minute Bodies there seems oftentimes nothing requisite, besides the
bare Contact of a great part of their Surfaces. And how great a
variety of _Phænomena_ the same matter, without the addition of any
other, and only several ways dispos'd or contexed, is able to exhibit,
may partly appear by the multitude of differing Engins which by the
contrivances of skilful Mechanitians, and the dexterity of expert
Workmen, may be made of Iron alone. But in our present case being
allow'd to deduce compound Bodies from four very differently qualified
sorts of matter, he who shall but consider what you freshly took
notice of concerning the new Concretes resulting from the mixture of
incorporated Minerals, will scarce doubt but that the four Elements
mannag'd by Natures Skill may afford a multitude of differing
Compounds.
I am thus far of your minde (sayes _Carneades_) that the
_Aristotelians_ might with probability deduce a much greater number of
compound Bodies from the mixture of their four Elements, than
according to their present _Hypothesis_ they can, if instead of vainly
attempting to deduce the variety and properties of all mixt Bodies
from the Combinations and Temperaments of the four Elements, as they
are (among them) endowd with the four first Qualities, they had
endeavoured to do it by the Bulk and Figure of the smallest parts of
those supposed Elements. For from these more Catholick and Fruitfull
Accidents of the Elementary matter may spring a great variety of
Textures, upon whose Account a multitude of compound Bodies may very
much differ from one another. And what I now observe touching the four
Peripatetick Elements, may be also applyed, _mutatis mutandis_, (as
they speak) to the Chymical Principles. But (to take notice of that by
the by) both the one and the other, must, I fear, call in to their
assistance something that is not Elementary, to excite or regulate the
motion of the parts of the matter, and dispose them after the manner
requisite to the Constitution of particular Concretes. For that
otherwise they are like to give us but a very imperfect account of the
Origine of very many mixt Bodies, It would, I think, be no hard matter
to perswade you, if it would not spend time, and were no Digression,
to examine, what they are wont to alledge of the Origine of the
Textures and Qualities of mixt Bodies, from a certain substantial
Form, whose Origination they leave more obscure than what it is
assum'd to explicate.
But to proceed to a new Proposition.
[Sidenote: Propos. III.]
_I shall not peremptorily deny, that from most of such mixt Bodies as
partake either of Animal or Vegetable Nature, there may by the Help of
the Fire, be actually obtain'd a determinate number (whether Three,
Four or Five, or fewer or more) of Substances, worthy of differing
Denominations._
Of the Experiments that induce me to make this Concession, I am like
to have occasion enough to mention several in the prosecution of my
Discourse. And therefore, that I may not hereafter be oblig'd to
trouble You and my self with needless Repetitions, I shall now only
desire you to take notice of such Experiments, when they shall be
mention'd, and in your thoughts referre them hither.
To these three Concessions I have but this Fourth to add, That
[Sidenote: Propos. IV.]
_It may likewise be granted, that those distinct Substances, which
Concretes generally either afford or are made up of, may without very
much Inconvenience be call'd the Elements or Principles of them._
When I said, _without very much Inconvenience_, I had in my Thoughts
that sober Admonition of _Galen_, _Cum de re constat, de verbis non
est Litigandum_. And therefore also I scruple not to say _Elements_ or
_Principles_, partly because the Chymists are wont to call the
Ingredients of mixt Bodies, _Principles_, as the _Aristotelians_ name
them _Elements_; I would here exclude neither. And, partly, because it
seems doubtfull whether the same Ingredients may not be call'd
_Principles_? as not being compounded of any more primary Bodies: and
_Elements_, in regard that all mix'd Bodies are compounded of them.
But I thought it requisite to limit my Concession by premising the
words, _very much_, to the word _Inconvenience_, because that though
the Inconvenience of calling the distinct Substances, mention'd in the
Proposition _Elements_ or _Principles_, be not very great, yet that
it is an Impropriety of Speech, and consequently in a matter of this
moment not to be altogether overlook'd, You will perhaps think, as
well as I, by that time you shall have heard the following part of my
Discourse, by which you will best discern what Construction to put
upon the former Propositions, and how far they may be look'd upon, as
things that I concede as true, and how far as things I only represent
as specious enough to be fit to be consider'd.
And now _Eleutherius_ (continues _Carneades_) I must resume the person
of a Sceptick, and as such, propose some part of what may be either
dislik't, or at least doubted of in the common _Hypothesis_ of the
Chymists: which if I examine with a little the more freedom, I hope I
need not desire you (a Person to whom I have the Happinesse of being
so well known) to look upon it as something more suitable to the
Employment whereto the Company has, for this Meeting, doom'd me; then
either to my Humour or my Custom.
Now though I might present you many things against the Vulgar Chymical
Opinion of the three Principles, and the Experiments wont to be
alledg'd as Demonstrations of it, yet those I shall at present offer
you may be conveniently enough comprehended in four Capital
Considerations; touching all which I shall only premise this in
general, That since it is not my present Task so much to assert an
_Hypothesis_ of my own, as to give an Account wherefore I suspect the
Truth of that of the Chymists, it ought not to be expected that all my
Objections should be of the most cogent sort, since it is reason
enough to Doubt of a propos'd Opinion, that there appears no cogent
Reason for it.
To come then to the Objections themselves; I consider in the first
place, That notwithstanding what common Chymists have prov'd or
taught, it may reasonably enough be Doubted, how far, and in what
sence, Fire ought to be esteem'd the genuine and universal Instrument
of analyzing mixt Bodies.
This Doubt, you may remember, was formerly mention'd, but so
transiently discours'd of, that it will now be fit to insist upon it;
And manifest that it was not so inconsiderately propos'd as our
Adversaries then imagin'd.
But, before I enter any farther into this Disquisition, I cannot but
here take notice, that it were to be wish'd, our Chymists had clearly
inform'd us what kinde of Division of Bodies by Fire must determine
the number of the Elements: For it is nothing near so easy as many
seem to think, to determine distinctly the Effects of Heat, as I could
easily manifest, if I had leasure to shew you how much the Operations
of Fire may be diversify'd by Circumstances. But not wholly to pass by
a matter of this Importance, I will first take notice to you, that
_Guajacum_ (for Instance) burnt with an open Fire in a Chimney, is
sequestred into Ashes and Soot, whereas the same Wood distill'd in a
Retort does yield far other Heterogeneities, (to use the _Helmontian_
expression) and is resolv'd into Oyl, Spirit, Vinager, Water and
Charcoal; the last of which to be reduc'd into Ashes, requires the
being farther calcin'd then it can be in a close Vessel: Besides
having kindled Amber, and held a clean Silver Spoon, or some other
Concave and smooth Vessel over the Smoak of its Flame, I observ'd the
Soot into which that Fume condens'd, to be very differing from any
thing that I had observ'd to proceed from the steam of Amber purposely
(for that is not usual) distilled _per se_ in close Vessels. Thus
having, for Tryals sake, kindled Camphire, and catcht the Smoak that
copiously ascended out of the Flame, it condens'd into a Black and
unctuous Soot, which would not have been guess'd by the Smell or other
Properties to have proceeded from Camphire: whereas having (as I shall
otherwhere more fully declare) expos'd a quantity of that Fugitive
Concrete to a gentle heat in a close Glass-Vessel, it sublim'd up
without seeming to have lost any thing of its whiteness, or its
Nature, both which it retain'd, though afterwards I so encreased the
Fire as to bring it to Fusion. And, besides Camphire, there are divers
other Bodies (that I elsewhere name) in which the heat in close
Vessels is not wont to make any separation of Heterogeneities, but
only a comminution of Parts, those that rise first being Homogeneal
with the others, though subdivided into smaller Particles: whence
Sublimations have been stiled, _The Pestles of the Chymists_. But not
here to mention what I elsewhere take notice of, concerning common
Brimstone once or twice sublim'd, that expos'd to a moderate Fire in
Subliming-Pots, it rises all into dry, and almost tastless, Flowers;
Whereas being expos'd to a naked Fire it affords store of a Saline and
Fretting Liquor: Not to mention this, I say, I will further observe to
you, that as it is considerable in the _Analysis_ of mixt Bodies,
whether the Fire act on them when they are expos'd to the open Air, or
shut up in close Vessels, so is the degree of Fire by which the
_Analysis_ is attempted of no small moment. For a milde _Balneum_ will
sever unfermented Blood (for Instance) but into Phlegme and _Caput
mortuum_, the later whereof (which I have sometimes had) hard,
brittle, and of divers Colours, (transparent almost like
Tortoise-shell) press'd by a good Fire in a Retort yields a Spirit, an
Oyl or two, and a volatile Salt, besides a [Errata: another] _Caput
mortuum_. It may be also pertinent to our present Designe, to take
notice of what happens in the making and distilling of Sope; for by
one degree of Fire the Salt, the Water and the Oyl or Grease, whereof
that factitious Concrete is made up, being boyl'd up together are
easily brought to mingle and incorporate into one Mass; but by another
and further degree of Heat the same Mass may be again divided into an
oleagenous, an aqueous, a Saline, and an Earthy part. And so we may
observe that impure Silver and Lead being expos'd together to a
moderate Fire, will thereby be colliquated into one Mass, and mingle
_per minima_, as they speak, whereas a much vehementer Fire will drive
or carry off the baser Metals (I mean the Lead, and the Copper or
other Alloy) from the Silver, though not, for ought appears, separate
them from one another. Besides, when a Vegetable abounding in fixt
Salt is analyz'd by a naked Fire, as one degree of Heat will reduce it
into Ashes, (as the Chymists themselves teach us) so, by only a
further degree of Fire, those Ashes may be vitrified and turn'd into
Glass. I will not stay to examine how far a meere Chymist might on
this occasion demand, If it be lawful for an _Aristotelian_ to make
Ashes, (which he mistakes for meere Earth) pass for an Element,
because by one degree of Fire it may be produc'd, why a Chymist may
not upon the like Principle argue, that Glass is one of the Elements
of many Bodies, because that also may be obtain'd from them, barely by
the Fire? I will not, I say, lose time to examine this, but observe,
that by a Method of applying the Fire, such similar Bodies may be
obtain'd from a Concrete, as Chymists have not been able to separate;
either by barely burning it in an open Fire, or by barely distilling
it in close Vessels. For to me it seems very considerable, and I
wonder that men have taken so little notice of it, that I have not by
any of the common wayes of Distillation in close Vessels, seen any
separation made of such a volatile Salt as is afforded us by Wood,
when that is first by an open Fire divided into Ashes and Soot, and
that Soot is afterwards plac'd in a strong Retort, and compell'd by an
urgent Fire to part with its Spirit, Oyl and Salt; for though I dare
not peremptorily deny, that in the Liquors of _Guajacum_ and other
Woods distill'd in Retorts after the common manner, there may be
Saline parts, which by reason of the Analogy may pretend to the name
of some kinde of volatile Salts; yet questionless there is a great
disparity betwixt such Salts and that which we have sometimes obtain'd
upon the first Distillation of Soot (though for the most part it has
not been separated from the first or second Rectification, and
sometimes not till the third) For we could never yet see separated
from Woods analyz'd only the vulgar way in close vessels any volatile
Salt in a dry and Saline form, as that of Soot, which we have often
had very Crystalline and Geometrically figur'd. And then, whereas the
Saline parts of the Spirits of _Guajacum_, &c. appear upon
distillation sluggish enough, the Salt of Soot seems to be one of the
most volatile Bodies in all Nature; and if it be well made will
readily ascend with the milde heat of a Furnace, warm'd only by the
single Wieck of a Lamp, to the top of the highest Glass Vessels that
are commonly made use of for Distillation: and besides all this, the
taste and smell of the Salt of Soot are exceeding differing from those
of the Spirits of _Guajacum_, &c. and the former not only smells and
tastes much less like a vegetable Salt, than like that of Harts-horn,
and other Animal Concretes; but in divers other Properties seems more
of Kinne to the Family of Animals, than to that of vegetable Salts, as
I may elsewhere (God permitting) have an occasion more particularly to
declare. I might likewise by some other Examples manifest, That the
Chymists, to have dealt clearly, ought to have more explicitly and
particularly declar'd by what Degree of Fire, and in what manner of
Application of it, they would have us Judge a Division made by the
Fire to be a true _Analysis_ into their Principles, and the
Productions of it to deserve the name of Elementary Bodies. But it is
time that I proceed to mention the particular Reasons that incline me
to Doubt, whether the Fire be the true and universal Analyzer of mixt
Bodies; of which Reasons what has been already objected may pass for
one.
In the next place I observe, That there are some mixt Bodies from
which it has not been yet made appear, that any degree of Fire can
separate either Salt or Sulphur or Mercury, much less all the Three.
The most obvious Instance of this Truth is Gold, which is a Body so
fix'd, and wherein the Elementary Ingredients (if it have any) are so
firmly united to each other, that we finde not in the operations
wherein Gold is expos'd to the Fire, how violent soever, that it does
discernably so much as lose of its fixednesse or weight, so far is it
from being dissipated into those Principles, whereof one at least is
acknowledged to be Fugitive enough; and so justly did the Spagyricall
Poet somewhere exclaim,
_Cuncta adeo miris illic compagibus harent._
And I must not omit on this occasion to mention to you, _Eleutherius_,
the memorable Experiment that I remember I met with in _Gasto
Claveus_,[2] who, though a Lawyer by Profession, seems to have had no
small Curiosity and Experience in Chymical affairs: He relates then,
that having put into one small Earthen Vessel an Ounce of the most
pure Gold, and into another the like weight of pure Silver, he plac'd
them both in that part of a Glass-house Furnace wherein the Workmen
keep their Metal, (as our English Artificers call their Liquid Glass)
continually melted, and that having there kept both the Gold and the
Silver in constant Fusion for two Moneths together, he afterwards took
them out of the Furnace and the Vessels, and weighing both of them
again, found that the Silver had not lost above a 12th part of its
weight, but the Gold had not of his lost any thing at all. And though
our Author endeavours to give us of this a Scholastick Reason, which I
suppose you would be as little satisfied with, as I was when I read
it; yet for the matter of Fact, which will serve our present turne, he
assures us, that though it be strange, yet Experience it self taught
it him to be most true.
[Footnote 2: _Gasto Claveus_ Apolog. Argur. & Chrysopera.]
And though there be not perhaps any other Body to be found so
perfectly fix'd as Gold, yet there are divers others so fix'd or
compos'd, at least of so strictly united parts, that I have not yet
observ'd the Fire to separate from them any one of the Chymists
Principles. I need not tell you what Complaints the more Candid and
Judicious of the Chymists themselves are wont to make of those
Boasters that confidently pretend, that they have extracted the Salt
or Sulphur of Quicksilver, when they have disguis'd it by Additaments,
wherewith it resembles the Concretes whose Names are given it;
whereas by a skilful and rigid _Examen_, it may be easily enough
stript of its Disguises, and made to appear again in the pristine form
of running Mercury. The pretended Salts and Sulphurs being so far from
being Elementary parts extracted out of the Bodie of Mercurie, that
they are rather (to borrow a terme of the Grammarians) De-compound
Bodies, made up of the whole Metal and the _Menstruum_ or other
Additaments imploy'd to disguise it. And as for Silver, I never could
see any degree of Fire make it part with any of its three Principles.
And though the Experiment lately mentioned from _Claveus_ may beget a
Suspition that Silver may be dissipated by Fire, provided it be
extreamly violent and very lasting: yet it will not necessarily
follow, that because the Fire was able at length to make the Silver
lose a little of its weight, it was therefore able to dissipate it
into its Principles. For first I might alledge that I have observ'd
little Grains of Silver to lie hid in the small Cavities (perhaps
glas'd over by a vitrifying heat) in Crucibles, wherein Silver has
been long kept in Fusion, whence some Goldsmiths of my Acquaintance
make a Benefit by grinding such Crucibles to powder, to recover out of
them the latent particles of Silver. And hence I might argue, that
perhaps _Claveus_ was mistaken, and imagin'd that Silver to have been
driven away by the Fire, that indeed lay in minute parts hid in his
Crucible, in whose pores so small a quantity as he mist of so
ponderous a Bodie might very well lie conceal'd.
But Secondly, admitting that some parts of the Silver were driven away
by the violence of the Fire, what proof is there that it was either
the Salt, the Sulphur, or the Mercury of the Metal, and not rather a
part of it homogeneous to what remain'd? For besides, that the Silver
that was left seem'd not sensibly alter'd, which probably would have
appear'd, had so much of any one of its Principles been separated from
it: We finde in other Mineral Bodies of a less permanent nature than
Silver, that the Fire may divide them into such minute parts, as to be
able to carry them away with its self, without at all destroying their
Nature. Thus we see that in the refining of Silver, the Lead that is
mix'd with it (to carry away the Copper or other ignoble Mineral that
embases the Silver) will, if it be let alone, in time evaporate away
upon the Test; but if (as is most usual amongst those that refine
great quantities of Metals together) the Lead be blown off from the
Silver by Bellowes, that which would else have gone away in the Form
of unheeded steams, will in great part be collected not far from the
Silver, in the Form of a darkish Powder or Calx, which, because it is
blown off from Silver, they call Litharge of Silver. And thus
_Agricola_[3] in divers places informs us, when Copper, or the Oare of
it is colliquated by the violence of the Fire with _Cadmia_, the
Sparks that in great multitudes do fly upwards do, some of them, stick
to the vaulted Roofs of the Furnaces, in the form of little and (for
the most part) White Bubbles, which therefore the Greeks, and, in
Imitation of them, our Drugsters call _Pompholix_: and others more
heavy partly adhere to the sides of the Furnace, and partly
(especially if the Covers be not kept upon the Pots) fall to the
Ground, and by reason of their Ashy Colour as well as Weight were
called by the same Greeks [Greek: spodos], which, I need not tell you,
in their Language signifies Ashes. I might add, that I have not found
that from Venetian Talck (I say Venetian, because I have found other
kinds of that Mineral more open) from the _Lapis Ossifragus_, (which
the Shops call _Ostiocolla_) from _Muscovia_ Glass, from pure and
Fusible Sand, to mention now no other Concretes; those of my
Acquaintance that have try'd have been able by the Fire to separate
any one of the Hypostatical Principles, which you will the less
scruple to believe, if you consider that Glass may be made by the bare
Colliquation of the Salt and Earth remaining in the Ashes of a burnt
Plant, and that yet common Glass, once made, does so far resist the
violence of the Fire, that most Chymists think it a Body more
undestroyable then Gold it self. For if the Artificer can so firmly
unite such comparative gross Particles as those of Earth and Salt that
make up common Ashes, into a Body indissoluble by Fire; why may not
Nature associate in divers Bodies the more minute Elementary
Corpuscles she has at hand too firmly to let them be separable by the
Fire? And on this Occasion, _Eleutherius_, give me leave to mention to
you two or three sleight Experiments, which will, I hope, be found
more pertinent to our present Discourse, than at first perhaps they
will appear. The first is, that, having (for Tryals sake) put a
quantity of that Fugitive Concrete, Camphire, into a Glass Vessel, and
plac'd it in a gentle Heat, I found it (not leaving behinde, according
to my Estimate, not so much as one Grain) to sublime to the Top of the
Vessel into Flowers: which in Whiteness, Smell, &c. seem'd not to
differ from the Camphire it self. Another Experiment is that of
_Helmont_, who in several places affirms, That a Coal kept in a Glass
exactly clos'd will never be calcin'd to Ashes, though kept never so
long in a strong Fire. To countenance which I shall tell you this
Tryal of my own, That having sometimes distilled some Woods, as
particularly Box, whilst our _Caput mortuum_ remain'd in the Retort,
it continued black like Charcoal, though the Retort were Earthen, and
kept red-hot in a vehement Fire; but as soon as ever it was brought
out of the candent Vessel into the open Air, the burning Coals did
hastily degenerate or fall asunder, without the Assistance of any new
Calcination, into pure white Ashes. And to these two I shall add but
this obvious and known Observation, that common Sulphur (if it be pure
and freed from its Vinager) being leasurely sublim'd in close Vessels,
rises into dry Flowers, which may be presently melted into a Bodie of
the same Nature with that which afforded them. Though if Brimstone be
burnt in the open Air it gives, you know, a penetrating Fume, which
being caught in a Glass-Bell condenses into that acid Liquor called
Oyl of Sulphur _per Campanam_. The use I would make of these
Experiments collated with what I lately told you out of _Agricola_ is
this, That even among the Bodies that are not fixt, there are divers
of such a Texture, that it will be hard to make it appear, how the
Fire, as Chymists are wont to imploy it, can resolve them into
Elementary Substances. For some Bodies being of such a Texture that
the Fire can drive them into the cooler and less hot part of the
Vessels wherein they are included, and if need be, remove them from
place to place to fly the greatest heat, more easily than it can
divorce their Elements (especially without the Assistance of the Air)
we see that our Chymists cannot Analyze them in close Vessels, and of
other compound Bodies the open Fire can as little separate the
Elements. For what can a naked Fire do to Analyze a mixt Bodie, if its
component Principles be so minute, and so strictly united, that the
Corpuscles of it need less heat to carry them up, than is requisite to
divide them into their Principles. So that of some Bodies the Fire
cannot in close Vessels make any _Analysis_ at all, and others will in
the open Air fly away in the Forms of Flowers or Liquors, before the
Heat can prove able to divide them into their Principles. And this may
hold, whether the various similar parts of a Concrete be combin'd by
Nature or by Art; For in factitious _Sal Armoniack_ we finde the
common and the Urinous Salts so well mingled, that both in the open
Fire, and in subliming Vessels they rise together as one Salt, which
seems in such Vessels irresoluble by Fire alone. For I can shew you
_Sal Armoniack_ which after the ninth Sublimation does still retain
its compounded Nature. And indeed I scarce know any one Mineral, from
which by Fire alone Chymists are wont to sever any Substance simple
enough to deserve the name of an Element or Principle. For though out
of native Cinnaber they distill Quicksilver, and though from many of
those Stones that the Ancients called _Pyrites_ they sublime
Brimstone, yet both that Quicksilver and this Sulphur being very often
the same with the common Minerals that are sold in the Shops under
those names, are themselves too much compounded Bodies to pass for the
Elements of such. And thus much, _Eleutherius_, for the Second
Argument that belongs to my First Consideration; the others I shall
the lesse insist on, because I have dwelt so long upon this.
[Footnote 3: _Agricola_ de Natura Fossil. Lib. 9. Cap. 11. & 12.]
Proceed we then in the next place to consider, That there are divers
Separations to be made by other means, which either cannot at all, or
else cannot so well be made by the Fire alone. When Gold and Silver
are melted into one Mass, it would lay a great Obligation upon
Refiners and Goldsmiths to teach them the Art of separating them by
the Fire, without the trouble and charge they are fain to be at to
sever them. Whereas they may be very easily parted by the Affusion of
Spirit of Nitre or _Aqua fortis_ (which the French therefore call _Eau
de Depart_:) so likewise the Metalline part of Vitriol will not be so
easily and conveniently separated from the Saline part even by a
violent Fire, as by the Affusion of certain Alkalizate Salts in a
liquid Form upon the Solution of Vitriol made in common water. For
thereby the acid Salt of the Vitriol, leaving the Copper it had
corroded to joyn with the added Salts, the Metalline part will be
precipitated to the bottom almost like Mud. And that I may not give
Instances only in De-compound Bodies, I will add a not useless one of
another kinde. Not only Chymists have not been able (for ought is
vulgarly known) by Fire alone to separate true Sulphur from Antimony;
but though you may finde in their Books many plausible Processes of
Extracting it, yet he that shall make as many fruitlesse Tryals as I
have done to obtain it by, most of them will, I suppose, be easily
perswaded, that the Productions of such Processes are Antimonial
Sulphurs rather in Name than Nature. But though Antimony sublim'd by
its self is reduc'd but to a volatile Powder, or Antimonial Flowers,
of a compounded Nature like the Mineral that affords them: yet I
remember that some years ago I sublim'd out of Antimony a Sulphur, and
that in greater plenty then ever I saw obtain'd from that Mineral, by
a Method which I shall therefore acquaint you with, because Chymists
seem not to have taken notice of what Importance such Experiments may
be in the Indagation of the Nature, and especially of the Number of
the Elements. Having then purposely for Tryals sake digested eight
Ounces of good and well powder'd Antimony with twelve Ounces of Oyl of
Vitriol in a well stopt Glas-Vessel for about six or seven Weeks; and
having caus'd the Mass (grown hard and brittle) to be distill'd in a
Retort plac'd in Sand, with a strong Fire; we found the Antimony to be
so opened, or alter'd by the _Menstruum_ wherewith it had been
digested, That whereas crude Antimony, forc'd up by the Fire, arises
only in Flowers, our Antimony thus handled afforded us partly in the
Receiver, and partly in the Neck and at the Top of the Retort, about
an Ounce of Sulphur, yellow and brittle like common Brimstone, and of
so Sulphureous a smell, that upon the unluting the Vessels it infected
the Room with a scarce supportable stink. And this Sulphur, besides
the Colour and Smell, had the perfect Inflamability of common
Brimstone, and would immediately kindle (at the Flame of a Candle) and
burn blew like it. And though it seem'd that the long digestion
wherein our Antimony and _Menstruum_ were detain'd, did conduce to the
better unlocking of the Mineral, yet if you have not the leasure to
make so long a Digestion, you may by incorporating with powder'd
Antimony a convenient Quantity of Oyl of Vitriol, and committing them
immediately to Distillation, obtain a little Sulphur like unto the
common one, and more combustible than perhaps you will at first take
notice of. For I have observ'd, that though (after its being first
kindled) the Flame would sometimes go out too soon of its self, if the
same Lump of Sulphur were held again to the Flame of a Candle, it
would be rekindled and burn a pretty while, not only after the
second, but after the third or fourth accension. You, to whom I think
I shewed my way of discovering something of Sulphureous in Oyl of
Vitriol, may perchance suspect, _Eleutherius_, either that this
Substance was some Venereal Sulphur that lay hid in that Liquor, and
was by this operation only reduc'd into a manifest Body; or else that
it was a compound of the unctuous parts of the Antimony, and the
Saline ones of the Vitriol, in regard that (as _Gunther_[4] informs
us) divers learned men would have Sulphur to be nothing but a mixture
made in the Bowels of the Earth of Vitriolate Spirits and a certain
combustible Substance. But the Quantity of Sulphur we obtain'd by
Digestion was much too great to have been latent in the Oyl of
Vitriol. And that Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
Constitution of such a Sulphur as ours, I could easily manifest, if I
would acquaint you with the several wayes by which I have obtain'd,
though not in such plenty, a Sulphur of Antimony, colour'd and
combustible like common Brimstone. And though I am not now minded to
discover them, yet I shall tell you, that to satisfie some Ingenious
Men, that distill'd Vitriolate Spirits are not necessary to the
obtaining of such a Sulphur as we have been considering, I did by the
bare distillation of only Spirit of Nitre, from its weight of crude
Antimony separate, in a short time, a yellow and very inflamable
Sulphur, which, for ought I know, deserves as much the name of an
Element, as any thing that Chymists are wont to separate from any
Mineral by the Fire. I could perhaps tell you of other Operations upon
Antimony, whereby That may be extracted from it, which cannot be
forc'd out of it by the Fire; but I shall reserve them for a fitter
Opportunity, and only annex at present this sleight, but not
impertinent Experiment. That whereas I lately observed to you, that
the Urinous and common Salts whereof _Sal Armoniack_ consists,
remain'd unsever'd by the Fire in many successive Sublimations, they
may be easily separated, and partly without any Fire at all, by
pouring upon the Concrete finely powder'd, a Solution of Salt of
Tartar, or of the Salt of Wood-Ashes; for upon your diligently mixing
of these you will finde your Nose invaded with a very strong smell of
Urine, and perhaps too your Eyes forc'd to water by the same subtle
and piercing Body that produces the stink; both these effects
proceeding from hence, that by the Alcalizate Salt, the Sea Salt that
enter'd the composition of the _Sal Armoniack_ is mortify'd and made
more fixt, and thereby a divorce is made between it and the volatile
Urinous Salt, which being at once set at liberty, and put into motion,
begins presently to fly away, and to offend the Nostrils and Eyes it
meets with by the way. And if the operation of these Salts be in
convenient Glasses promoted by warmth, though but by that of a Bath,
the ascending Steams may easily be caught and reduc'd into a penetrant
Spirit, abounding with a Salt, which I have sometimes found to be
separable in a Crystalline Form. I might add to these Instances, that
whereas Sublimate, consisting, as you know, of Salts & Quicksilver
combin'd and carried up together by Heat, may be Sublim'd, I know not
how often, by a like degree of Fire, without suffering any divorce of
the component Bodies, the Mercury may be easily sever'd from the
adhering Salts, if the Sublimate be distill'd from Salt of Tartar,
Quick Lime, or such Alcalizate Bodies. But I will rather observe to
you, _Eleutherius_, what divers ingenious men have thought somewhat
strange; that by such an Additament that seems but only to promote the
Separation, there may be easily obtain'd from a Concrete that by the
Fire alone is easily divisible into all the Elements that Vegetables
are suppos'd to consist of, such a similar Substance as differs in
many respects from them all, and consequently has by many of the most
Intelligent Chymists been denied to be contain'd in the mixt Body. For
I know a way, and have practis'd it, whereby common Tartar, without
the addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral except
Salt-petre, may by one Distillation in an Earthen Retort be made to
afford good store of real Salt, readily dissoluble in water, which I
found to be neither acid, nor of the smell of Tartar, and to be almost
as volatile as Spirit of Wine it self, and to be indeed of so
differing a Nature from all that is wont to be separated by Fire from
Tartar, that divers Learned Men, with whom I discours'd of it, could
hardly be brought to beleeve, that so fugitive a Salt could be
afforded by Tartar, till I assur'd it them upon my own Knowledge. And
if I did not think you apt to suspect me to be rather too backward
than too forward to credit or affirm unlikely things, I could convince
you by what I have yet lying by me of that anomalous Salt.
[Footnote 4: Lib. 1. Observat. Cap. 6.]
The Fourth thing that I shall alledge to countenance my first
Consideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body into
Substances of divers Consistences, does not most commonly analyze it
into Hypostatical Principles, but only disposes its parts into new
Textures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of a
compound Nature. This Argument it will be requisite for me to
prosecute so fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confess that
'tis not for want of good Proofs that I desire leave to suspend my
Proofs till the _Series_ of my Discourse shall make it more proper and
seasonable to propose them.
It may be further alledg'd on the behalf of my First Consideration,
That some such distinct Substances may be obtain'd from some
Concretes without Fire, as deserve no less the name of Elementary,
than many that Chymists extort by the Violence of the Fire.
We see that the Inflamable Spirit, or as the Chymists esteem it, the
Sulphur of Wine, may not only be separated from it by the gentle heat
of a Bath, but may be distill'd either by the help of the Sun-Beams,
or even of a Dunghill, being indeed of so Fugitive a Nature, that it
is not easy to keep it from flying away, even without the Application
of external heat. I have likewise observ'd that a Vessel full of Urine
being plac'd in a Dunghill, the Putrefaction is wont after some weeks
so to open the Body, that the parts disbanding the Saline Spirit, will
within no very long time, if the Vessel be not stopt, fly away of it
self; Insomuch that from such Urine I have been able to distill little
or nothing else than a nauseous Phlegme, instead of the active and
piercing Salt and Spirit that it would have afforded, when first
expos'd to the Fire, if the Vessel had been carefully stopt.
And this leads me to consider in the Fifth place, That it will be very
hard to prove, that there can no other Body or way be given which
will as well as the Fire divide Concretes into several homogeneous
Substances, which may consequently be call'd their Elements or
Principles, as well as those separated or produc'd by the Fire. For
since we have lately seen, that Nature can successefully employ other
Instruments than the Fire to separate distinct Substances from mixt
Bodies, how know we, but that Nature has made, or Art may make, some
such Substance as may be a fit Instrument to Analyze mixt Bodies, or
that some such Method may be found by Humane Industry or Luck, by
whose means compound Bodies may be resolv'd into other Substances,
than such as they are wont to be divided into by the Fire. And why the
Products of such an _Analysis_ may not as justly be call'd the
component Principles of the Bodies that afford them, it will not be
easy to shew, especially since I shall hereafter make it evident, that
the Substances which Chymists are wont to call the Salts, and
Sulphurs, and Mercuries of Bodies, are not so pure and Elementary as
they presume, and as their _Hypothesis_ requires. And this may
therefore be the more freely press'd upon the Chymists, because
neither the _Paracelsians_, nor the _Helmontians_ can reject it
without apparent Injury to their respective Masters. For _Helmont_
do's more than once Inform his Readers, that both _Paracelsus_ and
Himself were Possessors of the famous Liquor, _Alkahest_, which for
its great power in resolving Bodies irresoluble by Vulgar Fires, he
somewhere seems to call _Ignis Gehennæ_. To this Liquor he ascribes,
(and that in great part upon his own Experience) such wonders, that if
we suppose them all true, I am so much the more a Friend to Knowledge
than to Wealth, that I should think the _Alkahest_ a nobler and more
desireable Secret than the Philosophers Stone it self. Of this
Universal Dissolvent he relates, That having digested with it for a
competent time a piece of Oaken Charcoal, it was thereby reduc'd into
a couple of new and distinct Liquors, discriminated from each other by
their Colour and Situation, and that the whole body of the Coal was
reduc'd into those Liquors, both of them separable from his Immortal
_Menstruum_, which remain'd as fit for such Operations as before. And
he moreover tells us in divers places of his Writings, that by this
powerful, and unwearied Agent, he could dissolve Metals, Marchasites,
Stones, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of what kinde soever, and even
Glass it self (first reduc'd to powder,) and in a word, all kinds of
mixt Bodies in the World into their several similar Substances,
without any Residence or _Caput mortuum_. And lastly, we may gather
this further from his Informations, That the homogeneous Substances
obtainable from compound Bodies by his piercing Liquor, were
oftentimes different enough both as to Number and as to Nature, from
those into which the same Bodies are wont to be divided by common
Fire. Of which I shall need in this place to mention no other proof,
then that whereas we know that in our common _Analysis_ of a mixt
Body, there remains a terrestrial and very fixt Substance, oftentimes
associated with a Salt as fixt; Our Author tells us, that by his way
he could Distill over all Concretes without any _Caput mortuum_, and
consequently could make those parts of the Concrete volatile, which in
the Vulgar _Analysis_ would have been fixt. So that if our Chymists
will not reject the solemn and repeated Testimony of a Person, who
cannot but be acknowledg'd for one of the greatest Spagyrists that
they can boast of, they must not deny that there is to be found in
Nature another Agent able to Analyze compound Bodies less violently,
and both more genuinely and more universally than the Fire. And for my
own part, though I cannot but say on this Occasion what (you know) our
Friend Mr. _Boyle_ is wont to say, when he is askt his Opinion of any
strange Experiment; _That He that hath seen it hath more Reason to
beleeve it, than He that hath not_; yet I have found _Helmont_ so
faithful a Writer, even in divers of his improbable Experiments (I
alwayes except that Extravagant Treatise _De Magnetica Vulnerum
Curatione_, which some of his Friends affirm to have been first
publish'd by his Enemies) that I think it somewhat harsh to give him
the Lye, especially to what he delivers upon his own proper Tryal. And
I have heard from very credible Eye-witnesses some things, and seen
some others my self, which argue so strongly, that a circulated Salt,
or a _Menstruum_ (such as it may be) may by being abstracted from
compound Bodies, whether Mineral, Animal, or Vegetable, leave them
more unlockt than a wary Naturalist would easily beleeve, that I dare
not confidently measure the Power of Nature and Art by that of the
_Menstruums_, and other Instruments that eminent Chymists themselves
are as yet wont to Empoly [Errata: employ] about the Analyzing of
Bodies; nor Deny that a _Menstruum_ may at least from this or that
particular Concrete obtain some apparently similar Substance,
differing from any obtainable from the same Body by any degree or
manner of Application of the Fire. And I am the more backward to deny
peremptorily, that there may be such Openers of compound Bodies,
because among the Experiments that make me speak thus warily, there
wanted not some in which it appear'd not, that one of the Substances
not separable by common Fires and _Menstruums_ could retain any thing
of the Salt by which the separation was made.
And here, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) I should conclude as much
of my Discourse as belongs to the first Consideration I propos'd, but
that I foresee, that what I have delivered will appear liable to two
such specious Objections, that I cannot safely proceed any further
till I have examin'd them.
And first, one sort of Opposers will be forward to tell me, That they
do not pretend by Fire alone to separate out of all compound Bodies
their _Hypostatical_ Principles; it being sufficient that the Fire
divides them into such, though afterwards they employ other Bodies to
collect the similar parts of the Compound; as 'tis known, that though
they make use of water to collect the Saline parts of Ashes from the
Terrestrial wherewith they are blended, yet it is the Fire only that
Incinerates Bodies, and reduces the fix'd part of them into the Salt
and Earth, whereof Ashes are made up. This Objection is not, I
confess, inconsiderable, and I might in great part allow of it,
without granting it to make against me, if I would content my self to
answer, that it is not against those that make it that I have been
disputing, but against those Vulgar Chymists, who themselves believe,
and would fain make others do so, That the Fire is not only an
universal, but an adæquate [Transcriber's Note: adequate] and
sufficient Instrument to analyze mixt Bodies with. For as to their
Practice of Extracting the fix'd Salt out of Ashes by the Affusion of
Water, 'tis obvious to alleadge, that the Water does only assemble
together the Salt the Fire had before divided from the Earth: as a
Sieve does not further break the Corn, but only bring together into
two distinct heaps the Flour and the Bran, whose Corpuscles before lay
promiscuously blended together in the Meal. This I say I might
alleadge, and thereby exempt my self from the need of taking any
farther notice of the propos'd Objection. But not to lose the Rise it
may afford me of Illustrating the matter under Consideration, I am
content briefly to consider it, as far forth as my present
Disquisition may be concern'd in it.
Not to repeat then what has been already answer'd, I say farther, that
though I am so civil an Adversary, that I will allow the Chymists,
after the Fire has done all its work, the use of fair Water to make
their Extractions with, in such cases wherein the Water does not
cooperate with the Fire to make the _Analysis_; yet since I Grant
this but upon Supposition that the Water does only wash off the Saline
Particles, which the Fire Alone has Before Extricated in the Analyz'd
Body, it will not be Reasonable, that this Concession should Extend to
other Liquors that may Add to what they Dissolve, nor so much as to
other Cases than those Newly Mentioned: Which Limitation I Desire You
would be Pleas'd to Bear in Mind till I shall Anon have Occasion to
make Use of it. And This being thus Premis'd, I shall Proceed to
Observe,
First, That Many of the Instances I Propos'd in the Preceding
Discourse are Such, that the Objection we are Considering will not at
all Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the Assistance of Water than
without it Separate any of the Three Principles, either from Gold,
Silver, Mercury, or some Others of the Concretes named Above.
Hence We may Inferre, That Fire is not an Universal Analyzer of all
Mixt Bodies, since of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymists have most
Exercis'd Themselves, there Appear scarce Any which they are able to
Analyze by Fire, Nay, from which they can Unquestionably Separate so
much as any One of their Hypostatical Principles; Which may well
Appear no small Disparagement as well to their _Hypothesis_ as to
their Pretensions.
It will also remain True, notwithstanding the Objection, That there
may be Other Wayes than the wonted _Analysis_ by Fire, to Separate
from a Compound Body Substances as Homogeneneous [Transcriber's Note:
Homogeneous] as those that Chymists Scruple not to Reckon among their
_Tria Prima_ (as some of them, for Brevity Sake, call their Three
Principles.)
And it Appears, That by Convenient Additaments such Substances may be
Separated by the Help of the Fire, as could not be so by the Fire
alone: Witness the Sulphur of Antimony.
And Lastly, I must Represent, That since it appears too that the Fire
is but One of the Instruments that must be Employ'd in the Resolution
of Bodies, We may Reasonably Challenge the Liberty of doing Two
Things. For when ever any _Menstruum_ or other Additament is Employ'd,
together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from a Body, We
may well take the Freedom to Examine, whether or no That _Menstruum_
do barely Help to Separate the Principle Obtain'd by It, or whether
there Intervene not a Coalition of the Parts of the Body Wrought upon
with Those of the _Menstruum_, whereby the Produc'd Concrete may be
Judg'd to Result from the Union of Both. And it will be farther
Allowable for Us to Consider, how far any Substance, Separated by the
Help of such Additaments, Ought to pass for one of the _Tria Prima_;
since by One Way of Handling the same Mixt Body it may according to
the Nature of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, be
made to Afford differing Substances from those Obtainable from it by
other Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may appear by what
I Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Substances
into which a Concrete is Divisible by the Fire without Additaments,
though perhaps those Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter the
Composition of the Obtained Body, but only Diversify the Operation of
the Fire upon the Concrete; and though that Concrete by the Fire
alone may be Divided into a Number of Differing Substances, as Great
as any of the Chymists that I have met with teach us that of the
Elements to be. And having said thus much (sayes _Carneades_) to the
Objection likely to be Propos'd by some Chymists, I am now to Examine
that which I Foresee will be Confidently press'd by Divers
Peripateticks, who, to Prove Fire to be the true Analyzer of Bodies,
will Plead, That it is the very Definition of Heat given by
_Aristotle_, and Generally Received, _Congregare Homogenea, &
Heterogenea Segregare_, to Assemble Things of a Resembling, and
Disjoyn those of a Differing Nature. To this I answer, That this
Effect is far from being so Essential to Heat, as 'tis Generally
Imagin'd; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property of
Heat is, to set a Moving, and thereby to Dissociate the parts of
Bodies, and Subdivide them into Minute Particles, without regard to
their being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in the
Boyling of Water, the Distillation of Quicksilver, or the Exposing of
Bodies to the action of the Fire, whose Parts either Are not (at
least in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Dissimilar, where all that
the Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts which
are of the same Nature with one another, and with their _Totum_, as
their Reduction by Condensation Evinces. And even when the Fire seems
most so _Congregare Homogenea, & Segregare Heterogenea_, it Produces
that Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Dissolve the
Cement, or rather Shatter the Frame, or [tructure [Errata: structure]
that kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one Common
Form; upon which Dissolution the Component Particles of the Mixt,
being Freed and set at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes without
any Operation of the Fire, Associate themselves each with its Like, or
rather do take those places which their Several Degrees of Gravity and
Levity, Fixedness or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious from
the Impression of the Fire) Assigne them. Thus in the Distillation
(for Instance) of Man's Blood, the Fire do's First begin to Dissolve
the _Nexus_ or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the most
Volatile, and Easy to be Extracted, is either by the Igneous Atomes,
or the Agitation they are put into by the Fire, first carried up, till
Forsaken by what carried it up, its Weight sinks it down into the
Receiver: but all this while the other Principles of the Concrete
Remain Unsever'd, and Require a stronger Degree of Heat to make a
Separation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire must be
Increas'd which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, they
being, though Beleev'd to be Differing Principles, and though Really
of Different Consistency, yet of an almost Equal Volatility. After
them, as less Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde the
Earth and the _Alcali_, which being of an Equal Fixednesse, the Fire
Severs them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into a
Red-hot Earthen or Iron Retort you cast the Matter to be Distill'd,
You may Observe, as I have often done, that the Predominant Fire will
Carry up all the Volatile Elements Confusedly in one Fume, which will
afterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to the
Degree of their Gravity, or according to the Exigency of their
respective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the most part, to the
Sides and Top, and the Phlegme Fastening it self there too in great
Drops, the Oyle and Spirit placing themselves Under, or Above one
another, according as their Ponderousness makes them Swim or Sink. For
'tis Observable, that though Oyl or Liquid Sulphur be one of the
Elements Separated by this Fiery _Analysis_, yet the Heat which
Accidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Principles,
has not alwayes the same Operation on this, there being divers Bodies
which Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One sinks to the Bottom of that
Spirit on which the other Swims; as I can shew You in some Oyls of the
same Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can shew you Two Oyls
carefully made of the same Parcel of Humane Blood, which not only
Differ extreamly in Colour, but Swim upon one another without Mixture,
and if by Agitation Confounded will of themselves Divorce again.
And that the Fire doth oftentimes divide Bodies, upon the account that
some of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how far
soever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature is
Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which
the Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter of
these is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth and
Salt; but the Former being condens'd into that Soot which adheres to
our Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, and
Spirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all
almost, Equally Volatile to that Degree of Fire which Forces them up,
(the more Volatile Parts Helping perhaps, as well as the Urgency of
the Fire, to carry up the more Fixt ones, as I have often Try'd in
Dulcify'd _Colcothar_, Sublim'd by _Sal Armoniack_ Blended with it)
are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other
Degrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity of
their Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing Bodies
United into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no
Parts Volatile enough to be Expell'd or carried up, makes no
Separation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver
and Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever'd by _Aqua
Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ (according to the Predominancy of the Silver
or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain
unsever'd, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles
(whose Littlenesse may be argu'd from their Fluidity) in which either
the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokes
upon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without any
Sequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimes
does not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature;
provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in the
Figure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the making
of many Plaisters, Oyntments, &c. And in such Metalline Mixtures as
that made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one of
pure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curious
Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works) as I have sometimes taken great
Pleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire are
Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are so
combin'd by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarce
afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instance
is afforded us by the Common Preparation of _Mercurius Dulcis_, where
the Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre,
Employ'd to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with the
Mercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then to
Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together in
many successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And
sometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements
of a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does very
seldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meeting
with some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead of
making a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, is
unable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alcalizate Salt and the
Terrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and
by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course or
greenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire,
which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to
Divorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flow
down from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos'd for a good while, with
Silver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in the
Fusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a
Crucible into Glass is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember,
I have Observ'd too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of
the Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm that
Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigious
Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by great
Wheels turn'd about by Water) part of the Materials Expos'd to it was,
instead of being Analyz'd, Colliquated, and turn'd into a Dark, Solid
and very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quantity, that in some
places I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mended
with Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. And
I have also Observ'd, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, having
been employ'd in Furnaces wherein it was expos'd to very strong and
lasting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts so Wrought on by the Fire,
as to be Perfectly Vitrifi'd, which I have try'd by Forcing from it
Pretty large Pieces of Perfect and Transparent Glass. And lest You
might think, _Eleutherius_, that the Question'd Definition of Heat may
be Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given and
Acquiesc'd in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taught
to be _tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare_; Give me leave to
represent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; for
not to Mention the Exceptions, which a _Logician_, as such, may Take
at it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is
Suppos'd to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform'd by
every Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of
Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer'd a while to stand, the
Cold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, which
Subsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if the
Urinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole
Liquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood,
Straw, Dust, Water, &c. are Suppos'd to be United into one Lump of
Ice, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may so
Speak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the
Liquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in that
Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if
we Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes,
or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute of
Aqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold,
we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much as
Compacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselves
we find _Phænomena_ which Induce us to Question the Definition which
we are examining. If _Paracelsus_ his Authority were to be look't upon
as a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insist
on that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Wine
may be Sever'd from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance of
Congelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process,
not only by _Paracelsians_, but other Writers, some of whom seem not
to have perus'd it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage in
the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of his
_Archidoxis_, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it sounds
thus. _De Vino sciendum est, fæcem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, &
Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auri
in auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam
ponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum
vetustissimum & optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque ad
placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat,
& sigillo Hermetis occlusum in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, & in
continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum
frigus & gelu maxime sæviunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur.
Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protrudit
in vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero
congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc in
Pelicanum positum in arenæ digestione non adeo calida per aliquod
tempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quo
locuti sumus._
But I dare not _Eleu._ lay much Weight upon this Process, because I
have found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable in
this Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hath
been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied with
lasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure to Freeze a thin
Vial full of Sack; and even with Snow and Salt I could Freeze little
more then the Surface of it; and I suppose _Eleu._ that tis not every
Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to
make such an _Analysis_ (if I may so call it) of them by Separating
their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though not
often, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not
Observe the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc'd to
Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call'd _Nova
Zembla_, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was a
Separation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle of
_November_, yet of the Freezing of their Back [Errata: Sack] in
_December_ following they give but this Account: _Yea and our Sack,
which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Man
to have his part, we were forc'd to melt it in the Fire; which we
shar'd every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we
were forc'd to sustain our selves._ In which words they imply not,
that their Back [Errata: Sack] was divided by the Frost into differing
Substances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All which
notwithstanding, _Eleu._ suppose that it may be made to appear, that
even Cold sometimes may _Congregare Homogenea, & Heterogenea
Segregare_: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once,
purposely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with
Sulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos'd the Decoction to
a keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ'd, that the more
Aqueous Parts of it were turn'd by the next Morning into Ice, towards
the innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I
then conjectur'd, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be their
Environing Enemy, they had there preserv'd themselves unfrozen in the
Form of a high colour'd Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts
having been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in the
Decoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold as
would not have been able to have Divorc'd the Parts of Urine or Wine,
which by Fermentation or Digestion are wont, as Tryal has inform'd me,
to be more intimately associated each with other. But I have already
intimated, _Eleutherius_, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment,
not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have been
mistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that much
more full and eminent Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream
Cold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention'd Dutch
men that Winter'd in _Nova Zembla_; the Relation of whose Voyage being
a very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorable
part of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus'd the Passage
to be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.
"_Gerard de Veer_, _John Cornelyson_ and Others, sent out of
_Amsterdam_, _Anno Dom._ 1596. being forc'd by unseasonable Weather to
Winter in _Nova Zembla_, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of
_October_, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and
laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to
our House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great a
Storm and Cold, that we were forc'd to go into the Ship again, because
we were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer into
the Ship again, but were forc'd to let it stand without upon the Sled:
the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of
Beer standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yet
by reason of the great Cold, the Beer that purg'd out froze as hard
upon the Side of the Barrel, as if it had been glu'd thereon: and in
that sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, and
drank it up; but first we were forc'd to melt the Beer, for there was
scarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest that
was unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strong
to drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and being
melted we Mix'd one with the other, and so drank it; but it had
neither Strength nor Taste."
And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very Sharp
Winter purposely try'd to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beer
moderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ'd,
that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, it
seems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I found
turn'd into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour and
consistence seem'd mafestly [Transcriber's Note: manifestly] enough
to be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail'd, because I did
not either discerne by the Taste, or find by Enquiry, that the Beer
was at all too New to be very fit to be Drank. I might confirm the
Dutchmens Relation, by what happen'd a while since to a neere Friend
of mine, who complained to me, that having Brew'd some Beer or Ale for
his own drinking in _Holland_ (where he then dwelt) the Keenness of
the late bitter Winter froze the Drink so as to reduce it into Ice,
and a small Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I
must not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely because
you may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does not
directly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have already
enlarg'd my self too much upon the first Consideration I propos'd,
though it appears so much a Paradox, that it seem'd to Require that I
should say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance;
yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption of our
Chymists and _Aristotelians_ appear Questionable, I hope I have so
Perform'd that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following
Considerations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on the
First.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
_The Second Part._
The Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This,
That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and _Aristotelians_ are wont
to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that
is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in
it as a Principle or Element of it.
That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I will
First Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed to
Argue for it.
And I suppose You will easily Believe That I do not mean that any
thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially
pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall
Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one
Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create;
which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers
have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the
_Epicureans_ and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their
Gods themselves.
Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things
Obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely
Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before
they be Expos'd to the Fire afford us several Documents of their
abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve
the present Turn, if it appear that diverse things Obtain'd from a
Mixt Body expos'd to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for if
this be made to appear it, will [Errata: appear, it will] be Rationall
enough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others,
in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the
Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of
which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till
some other Argument then that drawn from the _Analysis_ be Brought to
resolve the Doubt.
That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That it
may without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing
Substances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were so
Exsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts)
wherein we find them when the _Analysis_ is over, that the Fire did
only Dis-joyne and Extricate the Corpuscles of one Principle from
those of the other wherewith before they were Blended.
Having thus Explain'd my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do two
things, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that such
Substances as Chymists call Principles May be produc'd _De novo_ (as
they speak.) And the other is to make it probable that by the Fire we
may Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were not
in the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.
To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be as
true as 'tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another
but in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion,
and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall to
conceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may by
Various Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name,
somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous
Body. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr.
_Boyle_ has promis'd us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme I
now willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquired
into. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I have
lately Deliver'd shall be Deduc'd from Experiments made Divers Years
since. The first of which would have been much more considerable, but
that by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the best
time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design'd; it
being about he [Transcriber's Note: the] middle of _May_ before I was
able to begin an Experiment which should have then been two moneths
old; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to Give
You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention'd, I caus'd My
Gardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder'd from being present
myself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry it
well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost level
with the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed he
had before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is an
Indian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him to
Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasions
permitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew,
though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder'd it from
attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found
the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, as
big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up;
Which about the Middle of _October_ was carefully Done by the same
Gardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it; _I have
Weighed the Pompion with the Stalk and Leaves, all which Weighed three
pound wanting a quarter; Then I took the Earth, baked it as formerly,
and found it just as much as I did at First, which made me think I had
not dry'd it Sufficiently: then I put it into the Oven twice More,
after the Bread was Drawn, and Weighed it the Second time, but found
it Shrink little or nothing._
But to deal Candidly with You, _Eleutherius_, I must not conceal from
You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this present
Summer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as may
appear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner,
in these Words. _To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have
Gain'd two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and
a Halfe, the Branches with the Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two
Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak'd it in
several small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, I
found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was formerly;
yet I was not satisfi'd, doubting the Earth was not dry: I put it into
an Oven the Second Time, (after the Bread was drawn) and after I had
taken it out and weighed it, I found it to be the Same Weight: So I
Suppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I think
that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by the
Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and the
like) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You should
send for them.)_ But yet in this Tryal, _Eleutherius_, it appears that
though some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour'd in
it, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of Transmuted
Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus'd the formerly
mentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with
so good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it did
not only much surpass any that I made before, but seem'd strangely to
conclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappily
lost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the
Circumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may be
as conveniently try'd with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth is
hasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Grow
well in Earth undung'd, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it;
for 'tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes as
high as a Tall Man; and I have had leaves of it in my Garden neer a
Foot and a Halfe broad. But the next time I Try this Experiment, it
shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of
Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because
every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment
neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more Expeditions
[Transcriber's Note: Expeditious] Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint,
about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water,
so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and
the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint
began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,
and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and
Leaves, and these very strong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint:
but the Heat of my Chamber, as I suppose, kill'd the Plant when it was
grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and
ramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth,
presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant to
behold. The like I try'd with sweet Marjoram, and I found the
Experiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme and
Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of these Vegetables,
cherish'd only by Water, having obtain'd a competent Growth, I did,
for Tryals sake, cause to be Distill'd in a small Retort, and thereby
obtain'd some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a small
Quantity of adust Oyl, and a _Caput mortuum_; which appearing to be a
Coal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but the Quantity of
it was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us'd to
nourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I chose
Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more
discernably a kinde of [Greek: panspermia], which, though it be
granted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it,
besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which may
be suppos'd to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, which
may be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit of
the World Corporify'd, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I
may elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.
But perhaps I might have sav'd a great part of my Labour. For I finde
that _Helmont_ (an Author more considerable for his Experiments than
many Learned men are pleas'd to think him) having had an Opportunity
to prosecute an Experiment much of the same nature with those I have
been now speaking of, for five Years together, obtain'd at the end of
that time so notable a Quantity of Transmuted Water, that I should
scarce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention'd
together, were it not that the Length of Time Requisite to this may
deterr the Curiosity of some, and exceed the leasure of Others; and
partly, that so Paradoxical a Truth as that which these Experiments
seem to hold forth, needs to be Confirm'd by more Witnesses then one,
especially since the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with in
_Helmonts_ Treatise of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made his
Testimonies suspected in his other Writings, though as to some of the
Unlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might safely undertake
to be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I was
mentioning to You, he sayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earth
dry'd in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Vessel and
moisten'd it with Raine water he planted in it the Trunk of a Willow
tree of five pound Weight; this he Water'd, as need required, with
Rain or with Distill'd Water; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth from
getting into the Vessell, he employ'd a plate of Iron tinn'd over and
perforated with many holes. Five years being efflux'd, he took out
the Tree and weighed it, and (with computing the leaves that fell
during four Autumnes) he found it to weigh 169 pound, and about three
Ounces. And Having again Dry'd the Earth it grew in, he found it want
of its Former Weight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; so
that 164 pound of the Roots, Wood, and Bark, which Constituted the
Tree, seem to have Sprung from the Water. And though it appears not
that _Helmont_ had the Curiosity to make any _Analysis_ of this Plant,
yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nourish'd
with Water only, will I suppose keep You from Doubting that if he had
Distill'd this Tree, it would have afforded him the like Distinct
Substances as another Vegetable of the same kind. I need not Subjoyne
that I had it also in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the same
purpose with those I related to You would succeed in other Bodies then
Vegetables, because importunate Avocations having hitherto hinder'd me
from putting my Design in Practise, I can yet speak but Confecturally
[Transcriber's Note: Conjecturally] of the Success: but the best is,
that the Experiments already made and mention'd to you need not the
Assistance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my present task makes it
concern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.
One would suspect (sayes _Eleutherius_ after his long silence) by what
You have been discoursing, that You are not far from _Helmonts_
Opinion about the Origination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps too
dislike not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.
What _Helmontian_ Opinion, and what Arguments do you mean (askes
_Carneades_.)
What You have been Newly Discoursing (replies _Eleutherius_) tells us,
that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyrist scruples
not to Assert that all mixt Bodies spring from one Element; and that
Vegetables, Animals, Marchasites, Stones, Metalls, &c. are Materially
but simple Water disguis'd into these Various Formes, by the plastick
or Formative Virtue of their seeds. And as for his Reasons you may
find divers of them scatter'd up and down his writings; the
considerabl'st of which seem to be these three; The Ultimate Reduction
of mixt Bodies into Insipid Water, the Vicissitude of the supposed
Elements, and the production of perfectly mixt Bodies out of simple
Water. And first he affirmes that the _Sal circulatus Paracelsi_, or
his Liquor _Alkahest_, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, and
Mineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their several
internall Disparities of Parts (without _Caput Mortuum_, or the
Destruction of their seminal Virtues;) and that the _Alkahest_ being
abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and Virtue wherewith
it Dissolv'd them, the Liquors may by frequent Cohobations from chalke
or some other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv'd of their seminal
Endowments, and return at last to their first matter, Insipid Water;
some other wayes he proposes here and there, to divest some particular
Bodies of their borrow'd shapes, and make them remigrate to their
first Simplicity. The second Topick whence _Helmont_ drawes his
Arguments, to prove Water to be the Material cause of Mixt Bodies, I
told You was this, that the other suppos'd Elements may be transmuted
into one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc'd
on this Occasion, are so uneasie to be made and to be judg'd of, that
I shall not insist on them; not to mention, that if they were granted
to be true, his Inference from them is somewhat disputable; and
therefore I shall pass on to tell You, That as, in his First Argument,
our Paradoxical Author endeavours to prove Water the Sole Element of
Mixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Resolution, when by his _Alkahest_, or
some other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been Destroy'd, which
Disguis'd them, or when by time those seeds are Weari'd or Exantlated
or unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Universe any
Longer: So in His Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the same
Conclusion, by the constitution of Bodies which he asserts to be
nothing but Water Subdu'd by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives here
and there in his Writings several Instances, as to Plants and Animals;
but divers of them being Difficult either to be try'd or to be
Understood, and others of them being not altogether Unobnoxious to
Exceptions, I think you have singl'd out the Principal and less
Questionable Experiment when you lately mention'd that of the Willow
Tree. And having thus, Continues _Eleutherius_, to Answer your
Question, given you a Summary Account of what I am Confident You know
better then I do, I shall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, if
the giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Prosecution of
your Discourse.
That _If_ (replies _Carneades_) was not needlessly annex'd: for
thorowly to examine such an Hypothesis and such Arguments would
require so many Considerations, and Consequently so much time, that I
should not now have the Liesure [Errata: leasure] to perfect such a
Digression, and much less to finish my Principle [Errata: principal]
Discourse. Yet thus much I shall tell You at present, that you need
not fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; since, however the
_Helmontians_ may in complement to their Master pretend it to be a new
Discovery, Yet though the Arguments be for the most part his, the
Opinion it self is very Antient: For _Diogenes Laertius_ and divers
other Authors speak of _Thales_, as the first among the _Græcians_
that made disquisitions upon nature. And of this _Thales_, I Remember,
_Tully_[5] informes us, that he taught all things were at first made
of Water. And it seems by _Plutarch_ and _Justin Martyr_, that the
Opinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us'd to defend
his Tenet by the Testimony of _Homer_. And a Greek Author, (the
_Scholiast_ of _Apollonius_) upon these Words
[Greek: Ex iliou [Transcriber's Note: iluos] eblastêse chthôn
autê],[6]
_The Earth of Slime was made,_
Affirms (out of _Zeno_) that the _Chaos_, whereof all things were
made, was, according to _Hesiod_, Water; which, settling first, became
Slime, and then condens'd into solid Earth. And the same Opinion about
the Generation of Slime seems to have been entertain'd by _Orpheus_,
out of whom one of the Antients[7] cites this Testimony,
[Greek: Ek tou hydatos ilui katistê.]
_Of Water Slime was made._
[Footnote 5: De Natura Deorum.]
[Footnote 6: Argonaut. 4.]
[Footnote 7: Athenagoras.]
It seems also by what is delivered in _Strabo_[8] out of another
Author, concerning the _Indians_, That they likewise held that all
things had differing Beginnings, but that of which the World was made,
was Water. And the like Opinion has been by some of the Antients
ascrib'd to the _Phoenicians_, from whom _Thales_ himself is
conceiv'd to have borrow'd it; as probably the Greeks did much of
their Theologie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philosophy too;
since the Devising of the Atomical _Hypothesis_ commonly ascrib'd to
_Lucippus_ and his Disciple _Democritus_, is by Learned Men attributed
to one _Moschus_ a _Phoenician_. And possibly the Opinion is yet
antienter than so; For 'tis known that the _Phoenicians_ borrow'd
most of their Learning from the _Hebrews_. And among those that
acknowledge the Books of _Moses_, many have been inclin'd to think
Water to have been the Primitive and Universal Matter, by perusing the
Beginning of _Genesis_, where the Waters seem to be mention'd as the
Material Cause, not only of Sublunary Compounded Bodies, but of all
those that make up the Universe; whose Component Parts did orderly,
as it were, emerge out of that vast Abysse, by the Operation of the
Spirit of God, who is said to have been moving Himself as hatching
Females do (as the Original [Hebrew: merachephet], _Meracephet_[9] is
said to Import, and as it seems to signifie in one of the two other
places, wherein alone I have met with it in the Hebrew Bible)[10] upon
the Face of the Waters; which being, as may be suppos'd, Divinely
Impregnated with the seeds of all things, were by that productive
Incubation qualify'd to produce them. But you, I presume, Expect that
I should Discourse of this Matter like a Naturalist, not a Philologer.
Wherefore I shall add, to Countenance _Helmont's_ Opinion, That
whereas he gives not, that I remember, any Instance of any Mineral
Body, nor scarce of any Animal, generated of Water, a French Chymist,
_Monsieur de Rochas_, has presented his Readers an Experiment, which
if it were punctually such as he has deliver'd it, is very Notable. He
then, Discoursing of the Generation of things according to certain
Chymical and Metaphorical Notions (which I confess are not to me
Intelligible) sets down, among divers Speculations not pertinent to
our Subject, the following Narrative, which I shall repeat to you the
sence of in English, with as little variation from the Literal sence
of the French words, as my memory will enable me. _Having_ (sayes he)
_discern'd such great Wonders by the Natural Operation of Water, I
would know what may be done with it by Art Imitating Nature. Wherefore
I took Water which I well knew not to be compounded, nor to be mix'd
with any other thing than that Spirit of Life_ (whereof he had spoken
before;) _and with a Heat Artificial, Continual and Proportionate, I
prepar'd and dispos'd it by the above mention'd Graduations of
Coagulation, Congelation, and Fixation, untill it was turn'd into
Earth, which Earth produc'd Animals, Vegetables and Minerals. I tell
not what Animals, Vegetables and Minerals, for that is reserv'd for
another Occasion: but the Animals did Move of themselves, Eat,
&c.--and by the true Anatomie I made of them, I found that they were
compos'd of much Sulphur, little Mercury, and less Salt.--The Minerals
began to grow and encrease by converting into their own Nature one
part of the Earth thereunto dispos'd; they were solid and heavy. And
by this truly Demonstrative Science, namely Chymistry, I found that
they were compos'd of much Salt, little Sulphur, and less Mercury._
[Footnote 8: Universarum rerum primordia diverta esse, faciendi autem
mundi initium aquam. Strabo. Geograp. lib. 15. circa medium.]
[Footnote 9: Deuter. 32. 11.]
[Footnote 10: Jerem. 23. 9.]
But (sayes _Carneades_) I have some Suspitions concerning this strange
Relation, which make me unwilling to Declare an Opinion of it, unless
I were satisfied concerning divers Material Circumstances that our
Author has left unmentioned; though as for the Generation of Living
Creatures, both Vegetable and Sensitive, it needs not seem Incredible,
since we finde that our common water (which indeed is often
Impregnated with Variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) being
long kept in a quiet place will putrifie and stink, and then perhaps
too produce Moss and little Worms, or other Insects, according to the
nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. I must likewise desire
you to take Notice, that as _Helmont_ gives us no Instance of the
Production of Minerals out of Water, so the main Argument that he
employ's to prove that they and other Bodies may be resolv'd into
water, is drawn from the Operations of his _Alkahest_, and
consequently cannot be satisfactorily Examin'd by You and Me.
Yet certainly (sayes _Eleutherius_) You cannot but have somewhat
wonder'd as well as I, to observe how great a share of Water goes to
the making up of Divers Bodies, whose Disguises promise nothing neere
so much. The Distillation of Eeles, though it yielded me some Oyle,
and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, besides the _Caput mortuum_, yet were
all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (and
in which at first they boyl'd as in a Pot of Water) that they seem'd
to have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewise
strangely abound in Vipers, though they are esteem'd very hot in
Operation, and will in a Convenient Aire survive some dayes the loss
of their Heads and Hearts, so vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloud
it self as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as 'tis reputed, does
so abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Distilling some of it on
purpose to try the Experiment (as I had formerly done in Deers Bloud)
out of about seven Ounces and a half of pure Bloud we drew neere six
Ounces of Phlegm, before any of the more operative Principles began
to arise, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to satisfie my
self that some of these Animall Phlegms were void enough of Spirit to
deserve that Name, I would not content my self to taste them only, but
fruitlesly pour'd on them acid Liquors, to try if they contain'd any
Volatile Salt or Spirit, which (had there been any there) would
probably have discover'd it self by making an Ebullition with the
affused Liquor. And now I mention Corrosive Spirits, I am minded to
Informe you, That though they seem to be nothing else but Fluid Salts,
yet they abound in Water, as you may Observe, if either you Entangle,
and so Fix their Saline Part, by making them Corrode some idoneous
Body, or else if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have very
manifestly Observ'd in the making a Medecine somewhat like _Helmont's
Balsamus Samech_, with Distill'd Vinager instead of Spirit of Wine,
wherewith he prepares it: For you would scarce Beleeve (what I have
lately Observ'd) that of that acid Spirit, the Salt of Tartar, from
which it is Distill'd, will by mortifying and retaining the acid Salt
turn into worthless Phlegm neere twenty times its weight, before it be
so fully Impregnated as to rob no more Distill'd Vinager of its Salt.
And though Spirit of Wine Exquisitely rectify'd seem of all Liquors to
be the most free from Water, it being so Igneous that it will Flame
all away without leaving the least Drop behinde it, yet even this
Fiery Liquor is by _Helmont_ not improbably affirm'd, in case what he
relates be True, to be Materially Water, under a Sulphureous Disguise:
For, according to him, in the making that excellent Medecine,
_Paracelsus_ his _Balsamus Samech_, (which is nothing but _Sal
Tartari_ dulcify'd by Distilling from it Spirit of Wine till the Salt
be sufficiently glutted with its Sulphur, and suffer [Errata: and till
it suffer] the Liquor to be drawn off, as strong as it was pour'd on)
when the Salt of Tartar from which it is Distill'd hath retain'd, or
depriv'd it of the Sulphureous parts of the Spirit of Wine, the rest,
which is incomparably the greater part of the Liquor, will remigrate
into Phlegm. I added that Clause [_In case what he Relates be True_]
because I have not as yet sufficiently try'd it my self. But not only
something of Experiment keeps me from thinking it, as many Chymists
do, absurd, (though I have, as well as they, in vain try'd it with
ordinary Salt of Tartar;) but besides that _Helmont_ often Relates it,
and draws Consequences from it; A Person noted for his Sobernesse and
Skill in Spagyrical Preparations, having been askt by me, Whether the
Experiment might not be made to succeed, if the Salt and Spirit were
prepar'd according to a way suitable to my Principles, he affirm'd to
me, that he had that way I propos'd made _Helmont's_ Experiment
succeed very well, without adding any thing to the Salt and Spirit.
But our way is neither short nor Easie.
I have indeed (sayes _Carneades_) sometimes wonder'd to see how much
Phlegme may be obtain'd from Bodies by the Fire. But concerning that
Phlegme I may anon have Occasion to note something, which I therefore
shall not now anticipate. But to return to the Opinion of _Thales_,
and of _Helmont_, I consider, that supposing the _Alkahest_ could
reduce all Bodies into water, yet whether that water, because insipid,
must be Elementary, may not groundlesly be doubted; For I remember
the Candid and Eloquent _Petrus Laurembergius_ in his Notes upon
_Sala's_ Aphorismes affirmes, that he saw an insipid _Menstruum_ that
was a powerfull Dissolvent, and (if my Memory do not much mis-informe
me) could dissolve Gold. And the water which may be Drawn from
Quicksilver without Addition, though it be almost Tastless, You will I
believe think of a differing Nature from simple Water, especially if
you Digest in it Appropriated Mineralls. To which I shall add but
this, that this Consideration may be further extended. For I see no
Necessity to conceive that the Water mention'd in the Beginning of
_Genesis_, as the Universal Matter, was simple and Elementary Water;
since though we should Suppose it to have been an Agitated Congeries
or Heap consisting of a great Variety of Seminal Principles and
Rudiments, and of other Corpuscles fit to be subdu'd and Fashion'd by
them, it might yet be a Body Fluid like Water, in case the Corpuscles
it was made up of, were by their Creator made small enough, and put
into such an actuall Motion as might make them Glide along one
another. And as we now say, the Sea consists of Water, notwithstanding
[Errata: (notwithstanding] the Saline, Terrestrial, and other Bodies
mingl'd with it,) such a Liquor may well enough be called Water,
because that was the greatest of the known Bodies whereunto it was
like; Though, that a Body may be Fluid enough to appear a Liquor, and
yet contain Corpuscles of a very differing Nature, You will easily
believe, if You but expose a good Quantity of Vitriol in a strong
Vessel to a Competent Fire. For although it contains both Aqueous,
Earthy, Saline, Sulphureous, and Metalline Corpuscles, yet the whole
Mass will at first be Fluid like water, and boyle like a seething pot.
I might easily (Continues _Carneades_) enlarge my self on such
Considerations, if I were Now Oblig'd to give You my Judgment of the
_Thalesian_, and _Helmontian_, _Hypothesis_. But Whether or no we
conclude that all things were at first Generated of Water, I may
Deduce from what I have try'd Concerning the Growth of Vegetables,
nourish'd with water, all that I now propos'd to my Self or need at
present to prove, namely that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and ev'n Oyl
(though that be thought of all Bodies the most opposite to Water) may
be produc'd out of Water; and consequently that a Chymical Principle
as well as a Peripatetick Element, may (in some cases) be Generated
anew, or obtain'd from such a parcel of Matter as was not endow'd with
the form of such a principle or Element before.
And having thus, _Eleutherius_, Evinc'd that 'tis possible that such
Substances as those that Chymists are wont to call their _Tria Prima_,
may be Generated, anew: I must next Endeavour to make it Probable,
that the Operation of the Fire does Actually (sometimes) not only
divide Compounded Bodies into smal Parts, but Compound those Parts
after a new Manner; whence Consequently, for ought we Know, there may
Emerge as well Saline and Sulphureous Substances, as Bodies of other
Textures. And perhaps it will assist us in our Enquiry after the
Effects of the Operations of the Fire upon other Bodies, to Consider a
little, what it does to those Mixtures which being Productions of the
Art of Man, We best know the Composition of. You may then be pleas'd
to take Notice that though Sope is made up by the Sope-Boylers of Oyle
or Grease, and Salt, and Water Diligently Incorporated together, yet
if You expose the Mass they Constitute to a Graduall Fire in a Retort,
You shall then indeed make a Separation, but not of the same
Substances that were United into Sope, but of others of a Distant and
yet not an Elementary Nature, and especially of an Oyle very sharp and
Fætid, and of a very Differing Quality from that which was Employ'd to
make the Sope: fo [Errata: so] if you Mingle in a due Proportion, _Sal
Armoniack_ with Quick-Lime, and Distill them by Degrees of Fire, You
shall not Divide the _Sal Armoniack_ from the Quick-Lime, though the
one be a Volatile, and the other a Fix'd Substance, but that which
will ascend will be a Spirit much more Fugitive, Penetrant, and
stinking, then _Sal Armoniack_; and there will remain with the
Quick-Lime all or very near all the Sea Salt that concurr'd to make up
the _Sal Armoniack_; concerning which Sea Salt I shall, to satisfie
You how well it was United to the Lime, informe You, that I have by
making the Fire at length very Vehement, caus'd both the Ingredients
to melt in the Retort it self into one Mass and such Masses are apt to
Relent in the Moist Air. If it be here Objected, that these Instances
are taken from factitious Concretes which are more Compounded then
those which Nature produces; I shall reply, that besides that I have
Mention'd them as much to Illustrate what I propos'd, as to prove it,
it will be Difficult to Evince that Nature her self does not make
Decompound Bodies, I mean mingle together such mixt Bodies as are
already Compounded of Elementary, or rather of more simple ones. For
Vitriol (for Instance) though I have sometimes taken it out of
Minerall Earths, where Nature had without any assistance of Art
prepar'd it to my Hand, is really, though Chymists are pleas'd to
reckon it among Salts, a De-compounded Body Consisting (as I shall
have occasion to declare anon) of a Terrestriall Substance, of a
Metal, and also of at least one Saline Body, of a peculiar and not
Elementary Nature. And we see also in Animals, that their blood may
be compos'd of Divers very Differing Mixt Bodies, since we find it
observ'd that divers Sea-Fowle tast rank of the Fish on which they
ordinarily feed; and _Hipocrates_ himself Observes, that a Child may
be purg'd by the Milke of the Nurse, if she have taken _Elaterium_;
which argues that the purging Corpuscles of the Medicament Concurr to
make up the Milke of the Nurse; and that white Liquor is generally by
Physitians suppos'd to be but blanch'd and alter'd Blood. And I
remember I have observ'd, not farr from the _Alps_, that at a certain
time of the Year the Butter of that Country was very Offensive to
strangers, by reason of the rank tast of a certain Herb, whereon the
Cows were then wont plentifully to feed. But (proceeds _Carneades_) to
give you Instances of another kind, to shew that things may be
obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body that were not Pre-existent in
it, let Me Remind You, that from many Vegetables there may without any
Addition be Obtain'd Glass, a Body, which I presume You will not say
was Pre-existent in it, but produc'd by the Fire. To which I shall
add but this one Example more, namely that by a certain Artificial way
of handling Quicksilver, You may without Addition separate from it at
least a 5th. or 4th. part of a clear Liquor, which with an Ordinary
Peripatetick would pass for Water, and which a Vulgar Chymist would
not scruple to call Phlegme, and which, for ought I have yet seen or
heard, is not reducible into Mercury again, and Consequently is more
then a Disguise of it. Now besides that divers Chymists will not allow
Mercury to have any or at least any Considerable Quantity of either of
the Ignoble Ingredients, Earth and Water; Besides this, I say, the
great Ponderousness of Quicksilver makes it very unlikely that it can
have so much Water in it as may be thus obtain'd from it, since
Mercury weighs 12 or 14 times as much as water of the same Bulk. Nay
for a further Confirmation of this Argument, I will add this Strange
Relation, that two Friends of mine, the one a Physitian, and the other
a Mathematician, and both of them Persons of unsuspected Credit, have
Solemnly assured me, that after many Tryals they made, to reduce
Mercury into Water, in Order to a Philosophicall Work, upon Gold
(which yet, by the way, I know prov'd Unsuccesfull) they did once by
divers Cohobations reduce a pound of Quicksilver into almost a pound
of Water, and this without the Addition of any other Substance, but
only by pressing the Mercury by a Skillfully Manag'd Fire in purposely
contriv'd Vessels. But of these Experiments our Friend (sayes
_Carneades_, pointing at the Register of this Dialogue) will perhaps
give You a more Particular Account then it is necessary for me to do:
Since what I have now said may sufficiently evince, that the Fire may
sometimes as well alter Bodies as divide them, and by it we may obtain
from a Mixt Body what was not Pre-existent in it. And how are we sure
that in no other Body what we call Phlegme is barely separated, not
Produc'd by the Action of the Fire: Since so many other Mixt Bodies
are of a much less Constant, and more alterable Nature, then Mercury,
by many Tricks it is wont to put upon Chymists, and by the Experiments
I told You of, about an hour since, Appears to be. But because I
shall ere long have Occasion to resume into Consideration the Power of
the Fire to produce new Concretes, I shall no longer insist on this
Argument at present; only I must mind You, that if You will not
dis-believe _Helmonts_ Relations, You must confess that the _Tria
Prima_ are neither ingenerable nor incorruptible Substances; since by
his _Alkahest_ some of them may be produc'd of Bodies that were before
of another Denomination; and by the same powerfull _Menstruum_ all of
them may be reduc'd into insipid Water.
Here _Carneades_ was about to pass on to his Third Consideration, when
_Eleutherius_ being desirous to hear what he could say to clear his
second General Consideration from being repugnant to what he seem'd to
think the true Theory of Mistion, prevented him by telling him, I
somewhat wonder, _Carneades_, that You, who are in so many Points
unsatisfied with the Peripatetick Opinion touching the Elements and
Mixt Bodies, should also seem averse to that Notion touching the
manner of Mistion, wherein the Chymists (though perhaps without
knowing that they do so) agree with most of the Antient Philosophers
that preceded _Aristotle_, and that for Reasons so considerable, that
divers Modern Naturalists and Physitians, in other things unfavourable
enough to the Spagyrists, do in this case side with them against the
common Opinion of the Schools. If you should ask me (continues
_Eleutherius_) what Reasons I mean? I should partly by the Writings of
_Sennertus_ and other learned Men, and partly by my own Thoughts, be
supply'd with more, then 'twere at present proper for me to Insist
largely on. And therefore I shall mention only, and that briefly,
three or four. Of these, I shall take the First from the state of the
Controversie itself, and the genuine Notion of Mistion, which though
much intricated by the Schoolmen, I take in short to be this,
_Aristotle_, at least as many of his Interpreters expound him, and as
indeed he Teaches in some places, where he professedly Dissents from
the Antients, declares Mistion to be such a mutual Penetration, and
perfect Union of the mingl'd Elements, that there is no Portion of the
mixt Body, how Minute soever, which does not contain All, and Every
of the Four Elements, or in which, if you please, all the Elements are
not. And I remember, that he reprehends the Mistion taught by the
Ancients, as too sleight or gross, for this Reason, that Bodies mixt
according to their _Hypothesis_, though they appear so to humane Eyes,
would not appear such to the acute Eyes of a _Lynx_, whose perfecter
Sight would discerne the Elements, if they were no otherwise mingled,
than as his Predecessors would have it, to be but Blended, not United;
whereas the Antients, though they did not all Agree about what kind of
Bodies were Mixt, yet they did almost unanimously hold, that in a
compounded Bodie, though the _Miscibilia_, whether Elements,
Principles, or whatever they pleas'd to call them, were associated in
such small Parts, and with so much Exactness, that there was no
sensible Part of the Mass but seem'd to be of the same Nature with the
rest, and with the whole; Yet as to the Atomes, or other Insensible
Parcels of Matter, whereof each of the _Miscibilia_ consisted, they
retain'd each of them its own Nature, being but by Apposition or
_Juxta_-Position united with the rest into one Bodie. So that
although by virtue of this composition the mixt Body did perhaps
obtain Divers new Qualities, yet still the Ingredients that Compounded
it, retaining their own Nature, were by the Destruction of the
_Compositum_ separable from each other, the minute Parts disingag'd
from those of a differing Nature, and associated with those of their
own sort returning to be again, Fire, Earth, or Water, as they were
before they chanc'd to be Ingredients of that _Compositum_. This may
be explain'd (Continues _Eleutherius_,) by a piece of Cloath made of
white and black threds interwoven, wherein though the whole piece
appear neither white nor black, but of a resulting Colour, that is
gray, yet each of the white and black threds that compose it, remains
what it was before, as would appear if the threds were pull'd asunder,
and sorted each Colour by it self. This (pursues _Eleutherius_) being,
as I understand it, the State of the Controversie, and the
_Aristotelians_ after their Master Commonly Defining, that Mistion is
_Miscibilium alteratorum Unio_, that seems to comport much better
with the Opinion of the Chymists, then with that of their Adversaries,
since according to that as the newly mention'd Example declares, there
is but a _Juxta_-position of separable Corpuscles, retaining each its
own Nature, whereas according to the _Aristotelians_, when what they
are pleas'd to call a mixt Body results from the Concourse of the
Elements, the _Miscibilia_ cannot so properly be said to be Alter'd,
as Destroy'd, since there is no Part in the mixt Body, how small
soever, that can be call'd either Fir [Transcriber's Note: Fire], or
Air, or Water, or Earth.
Nor indeed can I well understand, how Bodies can be mingl'd other
wayes then as I have declar'd, or at least how they can be mingl'd, as
our Peripateticks would have it. For whereas _Aristotle_ tells us,
that if a Drop of Wine be put into ten thousand Measures of Water, the
Wine being Overpower'd by so Vast a Quantity of Water will be turn'd
into it, he speaks to my Apprehension, very improbably; For though One
should add to that Quantity of Water as many Drops of Wine as would a
Thousand times exceed it all, yet by his Rule the whole Liquor should
not be a _Crama_, a Mixture of Wine and Water, wherein the Wine would
be Predominant, but Water only; Since the Wine being added but by a
Drop at a time would still Fall into nothing but Water, and
Consequently would be turn'd into it. And if this would hold in Metals
too, 'twere a rare secret for Goldsmiths, and Refiners; For by melting
a Mass of Gold, or Silver, and by but casting into it Lead or
Antimony, Grain after Grain, they might at pleasure, within a
reasonable Compass of time, turn what Quantity they desire, of the
Ignoble into the Noble Metalls. And indeed since a Pint of wine, and a
pint of water, amount to about a Quart of Liquor, it seems manifest to
sense, that these Bodies doe not Totally Penetrate one another, as one
would have it; but that each retains its own Dimensions; and
Consequently, that they are by being Mingl'd only divided into minute
Bodies, that do but touch one another with their Surfaces, as do the
Grains, of Wheat, Rye, Barley, &c. in a heap of severall sorts of
Corn: And unless we say, that as when one measure of wheat, for
Instance, is Blended with a hundred measures of Barley, there happens
only a _Juxta_-position and Superficial Contact betwixt the Grains of
wheat, and as many or thereabouts of the Grains of Barley. So when a
Drop of wine is mingl'd with a great deal of water, there is but an
Apposition of so many Vinous Corpuscles to a Correspondent Number of
Aqueous ones; Unless I say this be said, I see not how that Absurdity
will be avoyded, whereunto the Stoical Notion of mistion (namely by
[Greek: synchysis] [Errata: [Greek: Synchysis]], or Confusion) was
Liable, according to which the least Body may be co-extended with the
greatest: Since in a mixt Body wherein before the Elements were
Mingl'd there was, for Instance, but one pound of water to ten
thousand of Earth, yet according to them there must not be the least
part of that Compound, that Consisted not as well of Earth, as water.
But I insist, Perhaps, too long (sayes _Eleutherius_) upon the proofs
afforded me by the Nature of Mistion: Wherefore I will but name Two or
Three other Arguments; whereof the first shall be, that according to
_Aristotle_ himself, the motion of a mixt Body followes the Nature of
the Predominant Element, as those wherein the Earth prevails, tend
towards the Centre of heavy Bodies. And since many things make it
Evident, that in divers Mixt Bodies the Elementary Qualities are as
well Active, though not altogether so much so as in the Elements
themselves, it seems not reasonable to deny the actual Existence of
the Elements in those Bodies wherein they Operate.
To which I shall add this Convincing Argument, that Experience
manifests, and _Aristotle_ Confesses it, that the _Miscibilia_ may be
again separated from a mixt Body, as is Obvious in the Chymical
Resolutions of Plants and Animalls, which could not be unless they did
actually retain their formes in it: For since, according to
_Aristotle_, and I think according to truth, there is but one common
Mass of all things, which he has been pleas'd to call _Materia Prima_;
And since tis not therefore the Matter but the Forme that Constitutes
and Discriminates Things, to say that the Elements remain not in a
Mixt Body, according to their Formes, but according to their Matter,
is not to say that they remain there at all; Since although those
Portions of Matter were Earth and water, &c. before they concurr'd,
yet the resulting Body being once Constituted, may as well be said to
be simple as any of the Elements, the Matter being confessedly of the
same Nature in all Bodies, and the Elementary Formes being according
to this _Hypothesis_ perish'd and abolish'd.
And lastly, and if we will Consult Chymical Experiments, we shall find
the Advantages of the Chymical Doctrine above the Peripatetick Title
little less then Palpable. For in that Operation that Refiners call
Quartation, which they employ to purifie Gold, although three parts of
Silver be so exquisitely mingl'd by Fusion with a fourth Part of Gold
(whence the Operation is Denominated) that the resulting Mass acquires
severall new Qualities, by virtue of the Composition, and that there
is scarce any sensible part of it that is not Compos'd of both the
metalls; Yet if You cast this mixture into _Aqua Fortis_, the Silver
will be dissolv'd in the _Menstruum_, and the Gold like a dark or
black Powder will fall to the Bottom of it, and either Body may be
again reduc'd into such a Metal as it was before, which shews: that it
retain'd its Nature, notwithstanding its being mixt _per Minima_ with
the other: We likewise see, that though one part of pure Silver be
mingled with eight or ten Parts, or more, of Lead, yet the Fire will
upon the Cuppel easily and perfectly separate them again. And that
which I would have you peculiarly Consider on this Occasion is, that
not only in Chymicall Anatomies there is a Separation made of the
Elementary Ingredients, but that some Mixt Bodies afford a very much
greater Quantity of this or that Element or Principle than of another;
as we see, that Turpentine and Amber yield much more Oyl and Sulphur
than they do Water, whereas Wine, which is confess'd to be a perfectly
mixt Bodie, yields but a little Inflamable Spirit, or Sulphur, and not
much more Earth; but affords a vast proportion of Phlegm or water:
which could not be, if as the Peripateticks suppose, every, even of
the minutest Particles, were of the same nature with the whole, and
consequently did contain both Earth and Water, and Aire, and Fire;
Wherefore as to what _Aristotle_ principally, and almost only Objects,
that unless his Opinion be admitted, there would be no true and
perfect Mistion, but onely Aggregates or Heaps of contiguous
Corpuscles, which, though the Eye of Man cannot discerne, yet the Eye
of a _Lynx_ might perceive not to be of the same Nature with one
another and with their _Totum_, as the Nature of Mistion requires, if
he do not beg the Question, and make Mistion to consist in what other
Naturalists deny to be requisite to it, yet He at least objects That
as a great Inconvenience which I cannot take for such, till he have
brought as Considerable Arguments as I have propos'd to prove the
contrary, to evince that Nature makes other Mistions than such as I
have allowed, wherein the _Miscibilia_ are reduc'd into minute Parts,
and United as farr as sense can discerne: which if You will not grant
to be sufficient for a true Mistion, he must have the same Quarrel
with Nature her self, as with his Adversaries.
Wherefore (Continues _Eleutherius_) I cannot but somewhat marvail that
_Carneades_ should oppose the Doctrine of the Chymist in a Particular,
wherein they do as well agree with his old Mistress, Nature, as
dissent from his old Adversary, _Aristotle_.
I must not (replies _Carneades_) engage my self at present to examine
thorowly the Controversies concerning Mistion: And if there were no
third thing, but that I were reduc'd to embrace absolutely and
unreservedly either the Opinion of _Aristotle_, or that of the
Philosophers that went before him, I should look upon the latter,
which the Chymists have adopted, as the more defensible Opinion: But
because differing in the Opinions about the Elements from both
Parties, I think I can take a middle Course, and Discourse to you of
Mistion after a way that does neither perfectly agree, nor perfectly
disagree with either, as I will not peremptorily define, whether there
be not Cases wherein some _Phænomena_ of Mistion seem to favour the
Opinion that the Chymists Patrons borrow'd of the Antients, I shall
only endeavour to shew You that there are some cases which may keep
the Doubt, which makes up my second General Consideration from being
unreasonable.
I shall then freely acknowledge to You (sayes _Carneades_) that I am
not over well satisfi'd with the Doctrine that is ascribed to
_Aristotle_, concerning Mistion, especially since it teaches that the
four Elements may again be separated from the mixt Body; whereas if
they continu'd not in it, it would not be so much a Separation as a
Production. And I think the Ancient Philosophers that Preceded
_Aristotle_, and Chymists who have since receiv'd the same Opinion, do
speak of this matter more intelligibly, if not more probably, then the
Peripateticks: but though they speak Congruously enough, to their
believing, that there are a certain Number of Primogeneal Bodies, by
whose Concourse all those we call Mixts are Generated, and which in
the Destruction of mixt Bodies do barely part company, and recede from
one another, just such as they were when they came together; yet I,
who meet with very few Opinions that I can entirely Acquiesce in,
must confess to You that I am inclin'd to differ not only from the
_Aristotelians_, but from the old Philosophers and the Chymists, about
the Nature of Mistion: And if You will give me leave, I shall Briefly
propose to you my present Notion of it, provided you will look upon
it, not so much as an Assertion as an _Hypothesis_; in talking of
which I do not now pretend to propose and debate the whole Doctrine of
Mistion, but to shew that 'tis not Improbable, that sometimes mingl'd
substances may be so strictly united, that it doth not by the usuall
Operations of the Fire, by which Chymists are wont to suppose
themselves to have made the _Analyses_ of mixt Bodies, sufficiently
appear, that in such Bodies the _Miscibilia_ that concurr'd to make
them up do each of them retain its own peculiar Nature: and by the
_Spagyrists_ Fires may be more easily extricated and Recover'd, than
Alter'd, either by a Change of Texture in the Parts of the same
Ingredient, or by an Association with some parts of another Ingredient
more strict than was that of the parts of this or that _Miscibile_
among themselves. At these words _Eleu._ having press'd him to do
what he propos'd, and promis'd to do what he desir'd;
I consider then (resumes _Carneades_) that, not to mention those
improper Kinds of mistion, wherein _Homogeneous_ Bodies are Joyn'd, as
when Water is mingl'd with water, or two Vessels full of the same kind
of Wine with one another, the mistion I am now to Discourse of seems,
Generally speaking, to be but an Union _per Minima_ of any two or more
Bodies of differing Denominations; as when Ashes and Sand are
Colliquated into Glass or Antimony, and Iron into _Regulus Martis_, or
Wine and Water are mingl'd, and Sugar is dissolv'd in the Mixture. Now
in this general notion of Mistion it does not appear clearly
comprehended, that the _Miscibilia_ or Ingredients do in their small
Parts so retain their Nature and remain distinct in the Compound, that
they may thence by the Fire be again taken asunder: For though I deny
not that in some Mistions of certain permanent Bodies this Recovery of
the same Ingredients may be made, yet I am not convinc'd that it will
hold in all or even in most, or that it is necessarily deducible from
Chymicall Experiments, and the true Notion of Mistion. To explain
this a little, I assume, that Bodies may be mingl'd, and that very
durably, that are not Elementary or resolv'd [Errata: nor have been
resolved] into Elements or Principles that they may be mingl'd; as is
evident in the _Regulus_ of Colliquated Antimony, and Iron newly
mention'd; and in Gold Coyne, which lasts so many ages; wherein
generally the Gold is alloy'd by the mixture of a quantity, greater or
lesser, (in our Mints they use about a 12th. part) of either silver,
or Copper, or both. Next, I consider, that there being but one
Universal matter of things, as 'tis known that the _Aristotelians_
themselves acknowledge, who call it _Materia Prima_ (about which
nevertheless I like not all their Opinions,) the Portions of this
matter seem to differ from One Another, but in certain Qualities or
Accidents, fewer or more; upon whose Account the Corporeal Substance
they belong to receives its Denomination, and is referr'd to this or
that particular sort of Bodies; so that if it come to lose, or be
depriv'd of those Qualities, though it ceases not to be a body, yet it
ceases from being that kind of Body as a Plant, or Animal; or Red,
Green, Sweet, Sowre, or the like. I consider that it very often
happens that the small parts of Bodies cohere together but by
immediate Contact and Rest; and that however, there are few Bodies
whose minute Parts stick so close together, to what cause soever their
Combination be ascrib'd, but that it is possible to meet with some
other Body, whose small Parts may get between them, and so dis-joyn
them; or may be fitted to cohere more strongly with some of them, then
those some do with the rest; or at least may be combin'd so closely
with them, as that neither the Fire, nor the other usual Instruments
of Chymical Anatomies will separate them. These things being promis'd,
I will not peremptorily deny, but that there may be some Clusters of
Particles, wherein the Particles are so minute, and the Coherence so
strict, or both, that when Bodies of Differing Denominations, and
consisting of such durable Clusters, happen to be mingl'd, though the
Compound Body made up of them may be very Differing from either of
the Ingredients, yet each of the little Masses or Clusters may so
retain its own Nature, as to be again separable, such as it was
before. As when Gold and Silver being melted together in a Due
Proportion (for in every Proportion, the Refiners will tell You that
the Experiment will not succeed) _Aqua Fortis_ will dissolve the
Silver, and leave the Gold untoucht; by which means, as you lately
noted, both the Metalls may be recover'd from the mixed Mass. But
(Continues _Carneades_) there are other Clusters wherein the Particles
stick not so close together, but that they may meet with Corpuscles of
another Denomination, which are dispos'd to be more closely United
with some of them, then they were among themselves. And in such case,
two thus combining Corpuscles losing that Shape, or Size, or Motion,
or other Accident, upon whose Account they were endow'd with such a
Determinate Quality or Nature, each of them really ceases to be a
Corpuscle of the same Denomination it was before; and from the
Coalition of these there may emerge a new Body, as really one, as
either of the Corpuscles was before they were mingl'd, or, if you
please, Confounded: Since this Concretion is really endow'd with its
own Distinct qualities, and can no more by the Fire, or any other
known way of _Analysis_, be divided again into the Corpuscles that at
first concurr'd to make it, than either of them could by the same
means be subdivided into other Particles. But (sayes _Eleutherius_) to
make this more intelligible by particular examples; If you dissolve
Copper in _Aqua Fortis_, or Spirit of Nitre, (for I remember not which
I us'd, nor do I think it much Material) You may by Crystalizing the
Solution Obtain a goodly Vitriol; which though by Virtue of the
Composition it have manifestly diverse Qualities, not to be met with
in either of the Ingredients, yet it seems that the Nitrous Spirits,
or at least many of them, may in this Compounded Mass retain their
former Nature; for having for tryal sake Distill'd this Vitrioll
Spirit, there came over store of Red Fumes, which by that Colour, by
their peculiar stinke, and by their Sourness, manifested themselves to
be, Nitrous Spirits; and that the remaining Calx continu'd Copper, I
suppose you'l easily beleeve. But if you dissolve _Minium_, which is
but Lead Powder'd by the Fire, in good Spirit of Vinager, and
Crystalize the Solution, you shall not only have a Saccharine Salt
exceedingly differing from both its Ingredients; but the Union of some
Parts of the _Menstruum_ with some of those of the Metal is so strict,
that the Spirit of Vinager seems to be, as such, destroy'd, since the
Saline Corpuscles have quite lost that acidity, upon whose Account the
Liquor was call'd Spirit of Vinager; nor can any such Acid Parts as
were put to the _Minium_ be Separated by any known way from the
_Saccharum Saturni_ resulting from them both; for not only there is no
Sowrness at all, but an admirable Sweetness to be tasted in the
Concretion; and not only I found not that Spirit of Wine, which
otherwise will immediately hiss when mingl'd with strong Spirit of
Vinager, would hiss being pour'd upon _Saccharum Saturni_, wherein yet
the Acid Salt of Vinager, did it Survive, may seem to be concentrated;
but upon the Distillation of _Saccharum Saturni_ by its Self I found
indeed a Liquor very Penetrant, but not at all Acid, and differing as
well in smell and other Qualities, as in tast, from the Spirit of
Vinager; which likewise seem'd to have left some of its Parts very
firmly united to the _Caput Mortuum_, which though of a Leaden Nature
was in smell, Colour, &c. differing from _Minium_; which brings into
my mind, that though two Powders, the one Blew, and the other Yellow,
may appear a Green mixture, without either of them losing its own
Colour, as a good Microscope has sometimes inform'd me; yet having
mingl'd _Minium_ and _Sal Armoniack_ in a requisite Proportion, and
expos'd them in a Glass Vessel to the Fire, the whole Mass became
White, and the Red Corpuscles were destroy'd; for though the Calcin'd
Lead was separable from the Salt, yet you'l easily beleeve it did not
part from it in the Forme of a Red Powder, such as was the _Minium_,
when it was put to the _Sal Armoniack_. I leave it also to be
consider'd, whether in Blood, and divers other Bodies, it be probable,
that each of the Corpuscles that concurr to make a Compound Body doth,
though some of them in some Cases may, retain its own Nature in it,
so that Chymsts [Transcriber's Note: Chymists] may Extricate each sort
of them from all the others, wherewith it concurr'd to make a Body of
one Denomination.
I know there may be a Distinction betwixt Matter _Immanent_, when the
material Parts remain and retain their own Nature in the things
materiated, as some of the Schoolmen speak, (in which sence Wood,
Stones and Lime are the matter of a House,) and _Transient_, which in
the materiated thing is so alter'd, as to receive a new Forme, without
being capable of re-admitting again the Old. In which sence the
Friends of this Distinction say, that _Chyle_ is the matter of Blood,
and Blood that of a Humane Body, of all whose Parts 'tis presum'd to
be the Aliment. I know also that it may be said, that of material
Principles, some are _common_ to all mixt Bodies, as _Aristotles_ four
Elements, or the Chymists _Tria Prima_; others _Peculiar_, which
belong to this or that sort of Bodies; as Butter and a kind of whey
may be said to be the Proper Principles of Cream: and I deny not, but
that these Distinctions may in some Cases be of Use; but partly by
what I have said already, and partly by what I am to say, You may
easily enough guess in what sence I admit them, and discerne that in
such a sence they will either illustrate some of my Opinions, or at
least will not overthrow any of them.
To prosecute then what I was saying before, I will add to this
purpose, That since the Major part of Chymists Credit, what those they
call Philosophers affirme of their Stone, I may represent to them,
that though when Common Gold and Lead are mingled Together, the Lead
may be sever'd almost un-alter'd from the Gold; yet if instead of Gold
a _Tantillum_ of the Red _Elixir_ be mingled with the Saturn, their
Union will be so indissoluble in the perfect Gold that will be
produc'd by it, that there is no known, nor perhaps no possible way of
separating the diffus'd _Elixir_ from the fixed Lead, but they both
Constitute a most permanent Body, wherein the Saturne seems to have
quite lost its Properties that made it be call'd Lead, and to have
been rather transmuted by the _Elixir_, then barely associated to it.
So that it seems not alwayes necessary, that the Bodies that are put
together _per minima_, should each retain its own Nature; So as when
the Mass it Self is dissipated by the Fire, to be more dispos'd to
re-appear in its Pristine Forme, then in any new one, which by a
stricter association of its Parts with those of some of the other
Ingredients of the _Compositum_, then with one another, it may have
acquired.
And if it be objected, that unless the _Hypothesis_ I oppose be
admitted, in such Cases as I have proposed there would not be an Union
but a Destruction of mingled Bodies, which seems all one as to say,
that of such Bodies there is no mistion at all; I answer, that
_though_ the Substances that are mingl'd remain, only their Accidents
are Destroy'd, and _though_ we may with tollerable Congruity call them
_Miscibilia_, because they are Distinct Bodies before they are put
together, however afterwards they are so Confounded that I should
rather call them Concretions, or Resulting Bodies, than mixt ones; and
_though_, perhaps, some other and better Account may be propos'd, upon
which the name of mistion may remain; yet if what I have said be
thought Reason, I shall not wrangle about Words, though I think it
fitter to alter a Terme of Art, then reject a new Truth, because it
suits not with it. If it be also Objected that this Notion of mine,
concerning mixtion, though it may be allow'd, when Bodies already
Compounded are put to be mingl'd, yet it is not applicable to those
mixtions that are immediately made of the Elements, or Principles
themselves; I Answer in the first place, that I here Consider the
Nature of mixtion somewhat more Generally, then the Chymists, who yet
cannot deny that there are oftentimes Mixtures, and those very durable
ones, made of Bodies that are not Elementary. And in the next place,
that though it may be probably pretended that in those Mixtures that
are made immediately of the Bodies that are call'd Principles or
Elements, the mingl'd Ingredients may better retain their own Nature
in the Compounded Mass, and be more easily separated from thence; yet,
besides that it may be doubted, whether there be any such Primary
Bodies, I see not why the reason I alleadg'd, of the destructibility
of the Ingredients of Bodies in General, may not sometimes be
Applicable to Salt Sulphur or Mercury; 'till it be shewn upon what
account we are to believe them Priviledged. And however, (if you
please but to recall to mind, to what purpose I told you at First, I
meant to speak of Mistion at this Time) you will perhaps allow that
what I have hitherto Discoursed about it may not only give some Light
to the Nature of it in general (especially when I shall have an
Opportunity to Declare to you my thoughts on that subject more fully)
but may on some Occasions also be Serviceable to me in the Insuing
Part of this Discourse.
But, to look back Now to that part of our Discourse, whence this
Excursion concerning Mistion has so long diverted us, though we there
Deduc'd, from the differing Substances obtained from a Plant nourished
only with Water, and from some other things, that it was not necessary
that nature should alwaies compound a Body at first of all such
differing bodies as the fire could afterwards make it afford; yet this
is not all that may be collected from those Experiments. For from
them there seems also Deducible something that Subverts an other
Foundation of the Chymical Doctrine. For since that (as we have seen)
out of fair Water alone, not only Spirit, but Oyle, and Salt, and
Earth may be Produced; It will follow that Salt and Sulphur are not
Primogeneal Bodies, and principles, since they are every Day made out
of plain Water by the Texture which the Seed or Seminal principle of
plants puts it into. And this would not perhaps seem so strange, if
through pride, or negligence, We were not Wont to Overlook the Obvious
and Familiar Workings of Nature; For if We consider what slight
Qualities they are that serve to denominate one of the _Tria Prima_,
We shall find that Nature do's frequently enough work as great
Alterations in divers parcells of matter: For to be readily dissoluble
in water, is enough to make the body that is so, passe for a Salt. And
yet I see not why from a new shufling and Disposition of the Component
Particles of a body, it should be much harder for Nature to compose a
body dissoluble in Water, of a portion of Water that was not so
before, then of the Liquid substance of an Egg, which will easily mix
with Water, to produce by the bare warmth of a hatching Hen, Membrans,
Feathers, Tendons, and other parts, that are not dissoluble in Water
as that Liquid Substance was: Nor is the Hardness and Brittleness of
Salt more difficult for Nature to introduce into such a yielding body
as Water, then it is for her to make the Bones of a Chick out of the
tender Substance of the Liquors of an Egg. But instead of prosecuting
this consideration, as I easily might, I will proceed, as soon as I
have taken notice of an objection that lies in my Way. For I easily
foresee it will be alledged, that the above mentioned Examples are all
taken from Plants, and Animals, in whom the Matter is Fashioned by the
Plastick power of the seed, or something analogous thereunto. Whereas
the Fire do's not act like any of the Seminal Principles, but
destroyes them all, when they come within its Reach. But to this I
shall need at present to make but this easy Answer, That whether it be
a Seminal Principle, or any other which fashions that Matter after
those various manners I have mentioned to You, yet 'tis Evident, that
either by the Plastick principle Alone, or that and Heat Together, or
by some Other cause capable to contex the matter, it is yet possible
that the matter may be Anew contriv'd into such Bodies. And 'tis only
for the Possibility of this that I am now contending.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
_The Third Part._
What I have hitherto Discours'd, _Eleutherius_, (sayes his Friend to
Him) has, I presume, shew'n You, that a Considering Man may very well
question the Truth of those very Suppositions which Chymists as well
as Peripateticks, without proving, take for granted; and upon which
Depends the Validity of the Inferences they draw from their
Experiments. Wherefore having dispach't that, which though a Chymist
Perhaps will not, yet I do, look upon as the most Important, as well
as Difficult, part of my Task, it will now be Seasonable for me to
proceed to the Consideration of the Experiments themselves, wherein
they are wont so much to Triumph and Glory. And these will the rather
deserve a serious Examination, because those that Alledge them are
wont to do it with so much Confidence and Ostentation, that they have
hitherto impos'd upon almost all Persons, without excepting
Philosophers and Physitians themselves, who have read their Books, or
heard them talk. For some learned Men have been content rather to
beleeve what they so boldly Affirm, then be at the trouble and charge,
to try whether or no it be True. Others again, who have Curiosity
enough to Examine the Truth of what is Averr'd, want Skill and
Opportunity to do what they Desire. And the Generality even of Learned
Men, seeing the Chymists (not contenting themselves with the Schools
to amuse the World with empty words) Actually Perform'd divers strange
things, and, among those Resolve Compound Bodies into several
Substances not known by former Philosophers to be contain'd in them:
Men I say, seeing these Things, and Hearing with what Confidence
Chymists Averr the Substances Obtain'd from Compound Bodies by the
Fire to be the True Elements, or, (as they speak) Hypostaticall
Principles of them, are forward to think it but Just as well as
Modest, that according to the _Logicians_ Rule, the Skilfull _Artists_
should be Credited in their own Art; Especially when those things
whose Nature they so Confidently take upon them to teach others are
not only Productions of their own Skill, but such as others Know not
else what to make of.
But though (Continues _Carneades_) the Chymists have been able upon
some or other of the mention'd Acounts, not only to Delight but Amaze,
and almost to bewitch even Learned Men; yet such as You and I, who are
not unpractis'd in the Trade, must not suffer our Selves to be impos'd
upon by hard Names, or bold Assertions; nor to be dazl'd by that Light
which should but assist us to discern things the more clearly. It is
one thing to be able to help Nature to produce things, and another
thing to Understand well the Nature of the things produc'd. As we
see, that many Persons that can beget Children, are for all that as
Ignorant of the Number and Nature of the parts, especially the
internal ones, that Constitute a Childs Body, as they that never were
Parents. Nor do I Doubt, but you'l excuse me, if as I thank the
Chymists for the things their _Analysis_ shews me, so I take the
Liberty to consider how many, and what they are, without being
astonish'd at them; as if, whosoever hath Skill enough to shew men
some new thing of his own making, had the Right to make them believe
whatsoever he pleases to tell them concerning it.
Wherefore I will now proceed to my Third General Consideration, which
is, That it does not appear, that _Three_ is precisely and Universally
the Number of the Distinct Substances or Elements, whereinto mixt
Bodies are resoluble by the Fire; I mean that 'tis not prov'd by
Chymists, that all the Compound Bodies, which are granted to be
perfectly mixt, are upon their Chymical _Analysis_ divisible each of
them into just Three Distinct Substances, neither more nor less,
which are wont to be lookt upon as Elementary, or may as well be
reputed so as those that are so reputed. Which last Clause I subjoyne,
to prevent your Objecting, that some of the Substances I may have
occasion to mention by and by, are not perfectly Homogeneous, nor
Consequently worthy of the name of Principles. For that which I am now
to consider, is, into how many Differing Substances, that may
plausibly pass for the Elementary Ingredients of a mix'd Body, it may
be Analyz'd by the Fire; but whether each of these be un-compounded, I
reserve to examine, when I shall come to the next General
Consideration; where I hope to evince, that the Substances which the
Chymists not only allow, but assert to be the Component Principles of
the Body resolv'd into them, are not wont to be uncompounded.
Now there are two Kind of Arguments (pursues _Carneades_) which may be
brought to make my Third Proposition seem probable; one sort of them
being of a more Speculative Nature, and the other drawn from
Experience. To begin then with the first of these.
But as _Carneades_ was going to do as he had said, _Eleutherius_
interrupted him, by saying with a somewhat smiling countenance;
If you have no mind I should think, that the Proverb, _That Good Wits
have bad Memories_, is Rational and Applicable to You, You must not
Forget now you are upon the Speculative Considerations, that may
relate to the Number of the Elements; that your Self did not long
since Deliver and Concede some Propositions in Favour of the Chymical
Doctrine, which I may without disparagement to you think it uneasie,
even for _Carneades_ to answer.
I have not, replies he, Forgot the Concessions you mean; but I hope
too, that you have not forgot neither with what Cautions they were
made, when I had not yet assumed the Person I am now sustaining. But
however, I shall to content You, so discourse of my Third general
consideration, as to let You see, That I am not Unmindful of the
things you would have me remember.
To talk then again according to such principles as I then made use of,
I shall represent, that if it be granted rational to suppose, as I
then did, that the Elements consisted at first of certain small and
primary Coalitions of the minute Particles of matter into Corpuscles
very numerous, and very like each other, It will not be absurd to
conceive, that such primary Clusters may be of far more sorts then
three or five; and consequently, that we need not suppose, that in
each of the compound Bodies we are treating of there should be found
just three sorts of such primitive Coalitions, as we are speaking of.
And if according to this Notion we allow a considerable number of
differing Elements, I may add, that it seems very possible, that to
the constitution of one sort of mixt Bodies two kinds of Elementary
ones may suffice (as I lately Exemplify'd to you, in that most durable
Concrete, Glass,) another sort of Mixts may be compos'd of three
Elements, another of four, another of five, and another perhaps of
many more. So that according to this Notion, there can be no
determinate number assign'd, as that of the Elements; of all sorts of
compound Bodies whatsoever, it being very probable that some Concretes
consist of fewer, some of more Elements. Nay, it does not seem
Impossible, according to these Principles, but that there may be two
sorts of Mixts, whereof the one may not have any of all the same
Elements as the other consists of; as we oftentimes see two words,
whereof the one has not any one of the Letters to be met with in the
other; or as we often meet with diverse Electuaries, in which no
Ingredient (except Sugar) is common to any two of them. I will not
here debate whether there may not be a multitude of these Corpuscles,
which by reason of their being primary and simple, might be called
Elementary, if several sorts of them should convene to compose any
Body, which are as yet free, and neither as yet contex'd and entangl'd
with primary Corpuscles of other kinds, but remains liable to be
subdu'd and fashion'd by Seminal Principles, or the like powerful and
Transmuting Agent, by whom they may be so connected among themselves,
or with the parts of one of the bodies, as to make the compound
Bodies, whose Ingredients they are, resoluble into more, or other
Elements then those that Chymists have hitherto taken notice of.
To all which I may add, that since it appears, by what I observ'd to
you of the permanency of Gold and Silver, that even Corpuscles that
are not of an Elementary but compounded Nature, may be of so durable a
Texture, as to remain indissoluble in the ordinary _Analysis_ that
Chymists make of Bodies by the Fire; 'Tis not impossible but that,
though there were but three Elements, yet there may be a greater
number of Bodies, which the wonted wayes of Anatomy will not discover
to be no Elementary Bodies.
But, sayes _Carneades_, having thus far, in compliance to you, talk't
conjecturally of the number of the Elements, 'tis now time to
consider, not of how many Elements it is possible that Nature may
compound mix'd Bodies, but (at least as farr as the ordinary
Experiments of Chymists will informe us) of how many she doth make
them up.
I say then, that it does not by these sufficiently appear to me, that
there is any one determinate number of Elements to be uniformly met
with in all the several sorts of Bodies allow'd to be perfectly mixt.
And for the more distinct proof of this Proposition, I shall in the
first place Represent, That there are divers Bodies, which I could
never see by fire divided into so many as three Elementary substances.
I would fain (as I said lately to _Philoponus_) see that fixt and
noble Metal we call Gold separated into Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: and
if any man will submit to a competent forfeiture in case of failing, I
shall willingly in case of prosperous successe pay both for the
Materials and the charges of such an Experiment. 'Tis not, that after
what I have try'd my self I dare peremptorily deny, that there may out
of Gold be extracted a certain substance, which I cannot hinder
Chymists from calling its Tincture or Sulphur; and which leaves the
remaining Body depriv'd of its wonted colour. Nor am I sure, that
there cannot be drawn out of the same Metal a real quick and running
Mercury. But for the Salt of Gold, I never could either see it, or be
satisfied that there was ever such a thing separated, _in rerum
natura_, by the relation of any credible eye witnesse. And for the
several Processes that Promise that effect, the materials that must be
wrought upon are somewhat too pretious and costly to be wasted upon so
groundlesse adventures, of which not only the successe is doubtful,
but the very possibility is not yet demonstrated. Yet that which most
deterres me from such tryalls, is not their chargeablenesse, but their
unsatisfactorinesse, though they should succeed. For the Extraction of
this golden Salt being in Chymists Processes prescribed to be effected
by corrosive _Menstruums_, or the Intervention of other Saline Bodies,
it will remain doubtful to a wary person, whether the Emergent Salt be
that of the Gold it self; or of the Saline Bodies or Spirits employ'd
to prepare it; For that such disguises of Metals do often impose upon
Artists, I am sure _Eleutherius_ is not so much a stranger to
Chymistry as to ignore. I would likewise willingly see the three
principles separated from the pure sort of Virgin-Sand, from
_Osteocolla_, from refined Silver, from Quicksilver, freed from its
adventitious Sulphur, from _Venetian_ Talk [Transcriber's Note:
Talck], which by long detention in an extreme _Reverberium_, I could
but divide into smaller Particles, (not the constituent principles,)
Nay, which, when I caused it to be kept, I know not how long, in a
Glasse-house fire, came out in the Figure it's Lumps had when put in,
though alter'd to an almost _Amethystine_ colour; and from divers
other Bodies, which it were now unnecessary to enumerate. For though I
dare not absolutely affirme it to be impossible to Analyze these
Bodies into their _Tria Prima_; yet because, neither my own
Experiments, nor any competent Testimony hath hitherto either taught
me how such an _Analysis_ may be made, or satisfy'd me, that it hath
been so, I must take the Liberty to refrain from believing it, till
the Chymists prove it, or give us intelligible and practicable
Processes to performe what they pretend. For whilst they affect that
_Ænigmatical_ obscurity with which they are wont to puzzle the Readers
of their divulg'd Processes concerning the Analyticall Preparation of
Gold or Mercury, they leave wary persons much unsatisfyed whether or
no the differing Substances, they promise to produce, be truly the
Hypostatical Principles, or only some intermixtures of the divided
Bodies with those employ'd to work upon them, as is Evident in the
seeming Crystalls of Silver, and those of Mercury; which though by
some inconsiderately supposed to be the Salts of those Metalls, are
plainly but mixtures of the Metalline Bodies, with the Saline parts of
_Aqua fortis_ or other corrosive Liquors; as is evident by their being
reducible into Silver or Quicksilver, as they were before.
I cannot but Confesse (saith _Eleutherius_) that though Chymists may
upon probable grounds affirm themselves Able to obtain their _Tria
Prima_, from Animals and Vegetables, yet I have often wondred that
they should so confidently pretend also to resolve all Metalline and
other Mineral bodies into Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. For 'tis a
saying almost Proverbial, among those Chymists themselves that are
accounted Philosophers; and our famous Countryman _Roger Bacon_ has
particularly adopted it; that _Facilius est aurum facere quam
destruere_. And I fear, with You, that Gold is not the only Mineral
from which Chymists are wont fruitlessly to attempt the separating of
their three Principles. I know indeed (continues _Eleutherius_) that
the Learned _Sennertus_, even in that book where he takes not upon him
to play the Advocate for the Chymists, but the Umpier betwixt them and
the Peripateticks, expresses himself roundly, thus;[11] _Salem omnibus
inesse (mixtis scilicet) & ex iis fieri posse omnibus in
resolutionibus Chymicis versatis notissimum est._ And in the next
Page, _Quod de sale dixi_, saies he, _Idem de Sulphure dici potest_:
but by his favour I must see very good proofs, before I believe such
general Assertions, how boldly soever made; and he that would convince
me of their truth, must first teach me some true and practicable way
of separating Salt and Sulphur from Gold, Silver, and those many
different sort of Stones, that a violent Fire does not bring to Lime,
but to Fusion; and not only I, for my own part, never saw any of those
newly nam'd Bodies so resolved; but _Helmont_, who was much better
vers'd in the Chymical Anatomizing of Bodies then either _Sennertus_
or _I_, has somewhere this resolute passage;[12] _Scio_ (saies he) _ex
arena, silicibus & saxis, non Calcariis, nunquam Sulphur aut
Mercurium trahi posse_; Nay _Quercetanus_ himself, though the grand
stickler for the _Tria Prima_, has this Confession of the
Irresolubleness of Diamonds;[13] _Adamas_ (saith he) _omnium factus
Lapidum solidissimus ac durissimus ex arctissima videlicet trium
principiorum unione ac Cohærentia, quæ nulla arte separationis in
solutionem principiorum suorum spiritualium disjungi potest._ And
indeed, pursues _Eleutherius_, I was not only glad, but somewhat
surprized to find you inclined to Admit that there may be a Sulphur
and a running Mercury drawn from Gold; for unlesse you do (as your
expression seem'd to intimate) take the word Sulphur in a very loose
sence, I must doubt whether our Chymists can separate a Sulphur from
Gold: For when I saw you make the experiment that I suppose invited
you to speak as you did, I did not judge the golden Tincture to be the
true principle of Sulphur extracted from the body, but an aggregate of
some such highly colour'd parts of the Gold, as a Chymist would have
called a _Sulphur incombustible_, which in plain English seems to be
little better than to call it a Sulphur and no Sulphur. And as for
Metalline Mercuries, I had not _wondred_ at it, though you had
expressed much more severity in speaking of them: For I remember that
having once met an old and famous Artist, who had long been (and still
is) Chymist to a great Monarch, the repute he had of a very honest man
invited me to desire him to tell me ingenuously whether or no, among
his many labours, he had ever really extracted a true and running
Mercury out of Metalls; to which question he freely replyed, that he
had never separated a true Mercury from any Metal; nor had ever seen
it really done by any man else. And though Gold is, of all Metalls,
That, whose Mercury Chymists have most endeavoured to extract, and
which they do the most brag they have extracted; yet the Experienced
_Angelus Sala_, in his _Spagyrical_ account of the seven _Terrestrial_
Planets (that is the seven metalls) affords us this memorable
Testimony, to, our present purpose; _Quanquam_ (saies he) _&c.
experientia tamen (quam stultorum Magistrum [Errata: Magistram]
vocamus) certe Comprobavit, Mercurium auri adeo fixum, maturum, &
arcte cum reliquis ejusdem corporis substantiis conjungi, ut nullo
modo retrogredi possit._ To which he sub-joynes, that he himself had
seen much Labour spent upon that Design, but could never see any such
Mercury produc'd thereby. And I easily beleeve what he annexes; _that
he had often seen Detected many tricks and Impostures of Cheating_
Alchymists. For, the most part of those that are fond of such
_Charlatans_, being unskilfull or Credulous, or both, 'tis very easie
for such as have some Skill, much craft, more boldness, and no
Conscience, to impose upon them; and therefore, though many profess'd
_Alchymists_, and divers Persons of Quality have told me that they
have made or seen the Mercury of Gold, or of this or that other Metal;
yet I have been still apt to fear that either these persons have had a
Design to deceive others; or have not had Skill and circumspection
enough to keep themselves from being deceived.
[Footnote 11: Sennert. lib. de cons. & dissens. pag. 147.]
[Footnote 12: Helmon. pag. 409.]
[Footnote 13: Quercet. apud Billich. in Thessalo redivivo. pag. 99.]
You recall to my mind (sayes _Carneades_) a certain Experiment I once
devis'd, innocently to deceive some persons, and let them and others
see how little is to be built upon the affirmation of those that are
either unskillfull or unwary, when they tell us they have seen
_Alchymists_ make the Mercury of this or that Metal; and to make this
the more evident, I made my Experiment much more Slight, Short and
Simple, than the Chymists usuall processes to Extract Metalline
Mercuries; which Operations being commonly more Elaborate and
Intricate, and requiring a much more longer time, give the
_Alchymists_ a greater opportunity to Cozen, and Consequently are more
Obnoxious to the Spectators suspicion. And that wherein I endeavour'd
to make my Experiment look the more like a True _Analysis_, was, that
I not only pretended as well as others to extract a Mercury from the
Metal I wrought upon, but likewise to separate a large proportion of
manifest and inflamable Sulphur. I take then, of the filings of
Copper, about a Drachme or two, of common sublimate, powder'd, the
like Weight, and _Sal Armoniack_ near about as much as of Sublimate;
these three being well mingl'd together I put into a small Vial with a
long neck, or, which I find better, into a Glass Urinall, which
(having first stopped it with Cotton) to avoid the Noxious Fumes, I
approach by degrees to a competent Fire of well kindled coals, or
(which looks better, but more endangers the Glass) to the Flame of a
candle; and after a while the bottom of the Glass being held Just upon
the Kindled Coals, or in the flame, You may in about a quarter of an
Hour, or perchance in halfe that time, perceive in the Bottom of the
Glass some running Mercury; and if then You take away the Glass and
break it, You shall find a Parcel of Quicksilver, Perhaps altogether,
and perhaps part of it in the pores of the Solid Mass; You shall find
too, that the remaining Lump being held to the Flame of the Candle
will readily burn with a greenish Flame, and after a little while
(perchance presently) will in the Air Acquire a Greenish Blew, which
being the Colour that is ascrib'd to Copper, when its Body is
unlocked, 'Tis easie to perswade Men that this is the True Sulphur of
_Venus_, especially since not only the Salts may be Suppos'd partly to
be Flown away, and partly to be Sublim'd to the upper part of the
Glass, whose inside (will Commonly appear Whitened by them) but the
Metal seems to be quite Destroy'd, the Copper no longer appearing in a
Metalline Forme, but almost in that of a Resinous Lump; whereas indeed
the Case is only this, That the Saline parts of the Sublimate,
together with the _Sal Armoniack_, being excited and actuated by the
Vehement heat, fall upon the Copper, (which is a Metal they can more
easily corrode, than silver) whereby the small parts of the Mercury
being freed from the Salts that kept them asunder, and being by the
heat tumbled up and down after many Occursions, they Convene into a
Conspicuous Mass of Liquor; and as for the Salts, some of the more
Volatile of them Subliming to the upper part of the Glass, the others
Corrode the Copper, and uniting themselves with it do strangely alter
and Disguise its Metallick Form, and compose with it a new kind of
Concrete inflamable like Sulphur; concerning which I shall not now say
any thing, since I can Referr You to the Diligent Observations which I
remember Mr. _Boyle_ has made concerning this Odde kind of
Verdigrease. But Continues _Carneades_ smiling, you know I was not
cut out for a Mountebank, and therefore I will hasten to resume the
person of a Sceptick, and take up my discourse where You diverted me
from prosecuting it.
In the next place, then, I consider, that, as there are some Bodies
which yield not so many as the three Principles; so there are many
others, that in their Resolution Exhibite more principles than three;
and that therefore the Ternary Number is not that of the Universal and
Adequate Principles of Bodies. If you allow of the Discourse I ately
[Errata: lately] made You, touching the primary Associations of the
small Particles of matter, You will scarce think it improbable, that
of such Elementary Corpuscles there may be more sorts then either
three, or four, or five. And if you will grant, what will scarce be
deny'd, that Corpuscles of a compounded Nature may in all the wonted
Examples of Chymists pass for Elementary, I see not, why you should
think it impossible, that as _Aqua Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ will make
a Separation of colliquated Silver and Gold, though the Fire cannot;
so there may be some Agent found out so subtile and so powerfull, at
least in respect of those particular compounded Corpuscles, as to be
able to resolve them into those more simple ones, whereof they
consist, and consequently encrease the number of the Distinct
Substances, whereinto the mixt Body has been hitherto thought
resoluble. And if that be true, which I recited to you a while ago out
of _Helmont_ concerning the Operations of the _Alkahest_, which
divides Bodies into other Distinct Substances, both as to number and
Nature, then the Fire does; it will not a little countenance my
Conjecture. But confining our selves to such wayes of Analyzing mix'd
Bodies, as are already not unknown to Chymists, it may without
Absurdity be Question'd, whether besides those grosser Elements of
Bodies, which they call Salt Sulphur and Mercury, there may not be
Ingredients of a more Subtile Nature, which being extreamly little,
and not being in themselves Visible, may escape unheeded at the
Junctures of the Destillatory Vessels, though never so carefully
Luted. For let me observe to you one thing, which though not taken
notice of by Chymists, may be a notion of good Use in divers Cases to
a Naturalist, that we may well suspect, that there may be severall
Sorts of Bodies, which are not Immediate Objects of any one of our
senses; since we See, that not only those little Corpuscles that issue
out of the Loadstone, and perform the Wonders for which it is justly
admired; But the _Effluviums_ of Amber, Jet, and other Electricall
Concretes, though by their effects upon the particular Bodies dispos'd
to receive their Action, they seem to fall under the Cognizance of our
Sight, yet do they not as Electrical immediately Affect any of our
senses, as do the bodies, whether minute or greater, that we See,
Feel, Taste, &c. But, continues _Carneades_, because you may expect I
should, as the Chymists do, consider only the sensible Ingredients of
Mixt Bodies, let us now see, what Experience will, even as to these,
suggest to us.
It seems then questionable enough, whether from Grapes variously
order'd there may not be drawn more distinct Substances by the help of
the Fire, then from most other mixt Bodies. For the Grapes themselves
being dryed into Raysins and distill'd, will (besides _Alcali_,
Phlegm, and Earth) yield a considerable quantity of an Empyreumatical
Oyle, and a Spirit of a very different nature from that of Wine. Also
the unfermented Juice of Grapes affords other distil'd Liquors then
Wine doth. The Juice of Grapes after fermentation will yield a
_Spiritus Ardens_; which if competently rectifyed will all burn away
without leaving any thing remaining. The same fermented Juice
degenerating into Vinager, yields an acid and corroding Spirit. The
same Juice turn'd [Errata: tunned] up, armes it self with Tartar; out
of which may be separated, as out of other Bodies, Phlegme, Spirit,
Oyle, Salt and Earth: not to mention what Substances may be drawn from
the Vine it self, probably differing from those which are separated
from Tartar, which is a body by it self, that has few resemblers in
the World. And I will further consider that what force soever you will
allow this instance, to evince that there are some Bodies that yield
more Elements then others, it can scarce be deny'd but that the Major
part of bodies that are divisible into Elements, yield more then
three. For, besides those which the Chymists are pleased to name
Hypostatical, most bodies contain two others, Phlegme and Earth, which
concurring as well as the rest to the constitution of Mixts, and being
as generally, if not more, found in their _Analysis_, I see no
sufficient cause why they should be excluded from the number of
Elements. Nor will it suffice to object, as the _Paracelsians_ are
wont to do, that the _Tria prima_ are the most useful Elements, and
the Earth and Water but worthlesse and unactive; for Elements being
call'd so in relation to the constituting of mixt Bodies, it should be
upon the account of its Ingrediency, not of its use, that any thing
should be affirmed or denyed to be an Element: and as for the
pretended uselessness of Earth and Water, it would be consider'd that
usefulnesse, or the want of it, denotes only a Respect or Relation to
us; and therefore the presence, or absence of it, alters not the
Intrinsick nature of the thing. The hurtful Teeth of Vipers are for
ought I know useless to us, and yet are not to be deny'd to be parts
of their Bodies; and it were hard to shew of what greater Use to Us,
then Phlegme and Earth, are those Undiscern'd Stars, which our New
_Telescopes_ discover to Us, in many Blanched places of the Sky; and
yet we cannot but acknowledge them Constituent and Considerably great
parts of the Universe. Besides that whether or no the Phlegme and
Earth be immediately Useful, but necessary to constitute the Body
whence they are separated; and consequently, if the mixt Body be not
Useless to us, those constituent parts, without which it could not
have been That mixt Body, may be said not to be Unuseful to Us: and
though the Earth and Water be not so conspicuously Operative (after
separation) as the other three more active Principles, yet in this
case it will not be amiss to remember the lucky Fable of _Menemius
Aggrippa_, of the dangerous Sedition of the Hands and Legs, and other
more busie parts of the Body, against the seemingly unactive Stomack.
And to this case also we may not unfitly apply that Reasoning of an
Apostle, to another purpose; _If the Ear shall say, because I Am not
the Eye, I am not of the Body; Is it therefore not of the Body? If the
whole Body were Eye, where were the Hearing? If the whole were for
hearing, where the smelling?_ In a word, since Earth and water appear,
as clearly and as generally as the other Principles upon the
resolution of Bodies, to be the Ingredients whereof they are made up;
and since they are useful, if not immediately to us, or rather to
Physitians, to the Bodies they constitute, and so though in somewhat a
remoter way, are serviceable to us; to exclude them out of the number
of Elements, is not to imitate Nature.
[Transcriber's Note: See the printer's note (beginning "The Authors
constant Absence") at the end of the book for material that the
printer inadvertently omitted from this page.]
But, pursues _Carneades_, though I think it Evident, that Earth and
Phlegme are to be reckon'd among the Elements of most Animal and
Vegetable Bodies, yet 'tis not upon that Account alone, that I think
divers Bodies resoluble into more Substances then three. For there are
two Experiments, that I have sometimes made to shew, that at least
some Mixts are divisible into more Distinct Substances then five. The
one of these Experiments, though 'twill be more seasonable for me to
mention it fully anon, yet in the mean time, I shall tell you thus
much of it, That out of two Distill'd Liquors, which pass for
Elements of the Bodies whence they are drawn, I can without Addition
make a true Yellow and Inflamable Sulphur, notwithstanding that the
two Liquors remain afterwards Distinct. Of the other Experiment, which
perhaps will not be altogether unworthy your Notice, I must now give
you this particular Account. I had long observ'd, that by the
Destillation of divers Woods, both in Ordinary, and some unusuall
sorts of Vessels, the Copious Spirit that came over, had besides a
strong tast, to be met with in the Empyreumaticall Spirits of many
other Bodies, an Acidity almost like that of Vinager: Wherefore I
suspected, that though the sowrish Liquor Distill'd, for Instance,
from Box-Wood, be lookt upon by Chymists as barely the Spirit of it,
and therefore as one single Element or Principle; yet it does really
consist of two Differing Substances, and may be divisible into them;
and consequently, that such Woods and other Mixts as abound with such
a Vinager, may be said to consist of one Element or Principle, more
then the Chymists as yet are Aware of; Wherefore bethinking my self,
how the separation of these two Spirits might be made, I Quickly
found, that there were several wayes of Compassing it. But that of
them which I shall at present mention, was this, Having Destill'd a
Quantity of Box-Wood _per se_, and slowly rectify'd the sowrish
Spirit, the better to free it both from Oyle and Phlegme, I cast into
this Rectify'd Liquor a convenient Quantity of Powder'd Coral,
expecting that the Acid part of the Liquor would Corrode the Coral,
and being associated with it would be so retain'd by it, that the
other part of the Liquor, which was not of an acid Nature, nor fit to
fasten upon the Corals, would be permitted to ascend alone. Nor was I
deceiv'd in my Expectation; For having gently abstracted the Liquor
from the Coralls, there came over a Spirit of a Strong smell, and of a
tast very piercing, but without any sourness; and which was in diverse
qualities manifestly different, not only from a Spirit of Vinager, but
from some Spirit of the same Wood, that I purposely kept by me without
depriving it of its acid Ingredient. And to satisfy you, that these
two Substances were of a very differing Nature, I might informe you
of several Tryals that I made, but must not name some of them, because
I cannot do so without making some unseasonable discoveries. Yet this
I shall tell you at present, that the sowre Spirit of _Box_, not only
would, as I just now related, dissolve Corals, which the other would
not fasten on, but being pour'd upon Salt of Tartar would immediately
boile and hiss, whereas the other would lye quietly upon it. The acid
Spirit pour'd upon _Minium_ made a Sugar of Lead, which I did not find
the other to do; some drops of this penetrant spirit being mingl'd
with some drops of the blew Syrup of Violets seem'd rather to dilute
then otherwise alter the colour; whereas the Acid Spirit turn'd the
syrup of a reddish colour, and would probably have made it of as pure
a red as Acid Salts are wont to do, had not its operation been
hindered by the mixture of the other Spirit. A few drops of the
compound Spirit being Shaken into a pretty quantity of the infusion of
_Lignum Nephriticum_, presently destroyed all the blewish colour,
whereas the other Spirit would not take it away. To all which it
might be added, that having for tryals sake pour'd fair water upon the
Corals that remained in the bottom of the glass wherein I had
rectifyed the double spirit (if I may so call it) that was first drawn
from the Box, I found according to my expectation that the Acid Spirit
had really dissolved the Corals, and had coagulated with them. For by
the affusion of fair Water, I Obtain'd a Solution, which (to note that
singularity upon the bye) was red, whence the Water being evaporated,
there remained a soluble Substance much like the Ordinary Salt of
Coral, as Chymists are pleas'd to call that Magistery of Corals, which
they make by dissolving them in common spirit of Vinager, and
abstracting the _Menstruum ad Siccitatem_. I know not whether I should
subjoine, on this occasion, that the simple spirit of Box, if Chymists
will have it therefore Saline because it has a strong tast, will
furnish us with a new kind of Saline Bodies, differing from those
hitherto taken notice of. For whereas of the three chief sorts of
Salts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous, there is none
that seems to be friends with both the other two, as I may, e're it
be long, have occasion to shew; I did not find but that the simple
spirit of Box did agree very well (at least as farr as I had occasion
to try it) both with the Acid and the other Salts. For though it would
lye very quiet with salt of Tartar, Spirit of Urine, or other bodies,
whose Salts were either of an Alcalizate or fugitive Nature; yet did
not the mingling of Oyle of Vitriol it self produce any hissing or
Effervescence, which you know is wont to ensue upon the Affusion of
that highly Acid Liquor upon either of the Bodies newly mentioned.
I think my self, sayes _Eleutherius_, beholden to you, for this
Experiment; not only because I forsee you will make it helpful to you
in the Enquiry you are now upon, but because it teaches us a Method,
whereby we may prepare a numerous sort of new spirits, which though
more simple then any that are thought Elementary, are manifestly
endow'd with peculiar and powerfull qualities, some of which may
probably be of considerable use in Physick, as well alone, as
associated with other things; as one may hopefully guess by the
redness of that Solution your sour Spirit made of Corals, and by some
other circumstances of your Narrative. And suppose (pursues
_Eleutherius_) that you are not so confin'd, for the separation of the
Acid parts of these compound Spirits from the other, to employ Corals;
but that you may as well make use of any Alcalizate Salt, or of
Pearls, or Crabs eyes, or any other Body, upon which common Spirit of
Vinager will easily work, and, to speak in an _Helmontian_ Phrase,
Exantlate it self.
I have not yet tryed, sayes _Carneades_, of what use the mention'd
liquors may be in Physick, either as Medicines or as _Menstruums_: But
I could mention now (and may another time) divers of the tryals that I
made to satisfy my self of the difference of these two Liquors. But
that, as I allow your thinking what you newly told me about Corals, I
presume you will allow me, from what I have said already, to deduce
this Corollary; That there are divers compound bodies, which may be
resolv'd into four such differing Substances, as may as well merit the
name of Principles, as those to which the Chymists freely give it. For
since they scruple not to reckon that which I call the compound
Spirit of Box, for the spirit, or as others would have it, the Mercury
of that Wood, I see not, why the Acid liquor, and the other, should
not each of them, especially that last named, be lookt upon as more
worthy to be called an Elementary Principle; since it must needs be of
a more simple nature then the Liquor, which was found to be divisible
into that, and the Acid Spirit. And this further use (continues
_Carneades_) may be made of our experiment to my present purpose, that
it may give us a rise to suspect, that since a Liquor reputed by the
Chymists to be, without dispute, Homogeneous, is by so slight a way
divisible into two distinct and more simple Ingredients, some more
skilful or happier Experimenter then I may find a way either further
to divide one of these Spirits, or to resolve some or other, if not
all, of those other Ingredients of mixt Bodies, that have hitherto
pass'd among Chymists for their Elements or Principles.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
_The Fourth Part._
And thus much (sayes _Carneades_) may suffice to be said of the
_Number_ of the Distinct substances separable from mixt Bodies by the
Fire: Wherefore I now proceed to consider the _nature_ of them, and
shew you, That though they seem _Homogeneous_ Bodies, yet have they
not the purity and simplicity that is requisite to Elements. And I
should immediately proceed to the proof of my Assertion, but that the
Confidence wherewith Chymists are wont to call each of the Substances
we speak of by the name of Sulphur or Mercury, or the other of the
Hypostaticall Principles, and the intollerabln [Errata: intolerable]
Ambiguity they allow themselves ie [Errata: in] their Writings and
Expressions, makes it necessary for me in Order to the Keeping you
either from mistaking me, or thinking I mistake the Controversie, to
take Notice to you and complain of the unreasonable Liberty they give
themselves of playing with Names at pleasure. And indeed if I were
oblig'd in this Dispute, to have such regard to the Phraseology of
each particular Chymist, as not to Write any thing which this or that
Author may not pretend, not to contradict this or that sence, which he
may give as Occasion serves to his Ambiguous Expressions, I should
scarce know how to dispute, nor which way to turn myself. For I find
that even Eminent Writers, (such as _Raymund Lully_, _Paracelsus_ and
others) do so abuse the termes they employ, that as they will now and
then give divers things, one name; so they will oftentimes give one
thing, many Names; and some of them (perhaps) such, as do much more
properly signifie some Distinct Body of another kind; nay even in
Technical Words or Termes of Art, they refrain not from this
Confounding Liberty; but will, as I have Observ'd, call the same
Substance, sometimes the Sulphur, and Sometimes the Mercury of a Body.
And now I speak of Mercury, I cannot but take Notice, that the
Descriptions they give us of that Principle or Ingredient of mixt
Bodies, are so intricate, that even those that have Endeavour'd to
Pollish and Illustrate the Notions of the Chymists, are fain to
confess that they know not what to make of it, either by Ingenuous
Acknowledgments, or Descriptions that are not Intelligible.
I must confess (sayes _Eleutherius_) I have, in the reading of
_Paracelsus_ and other Chymical Authors, been troubled to find, that
such hard Words and Equivocal Expressions, as You justly complain of,
do even when they treat of Principles, seem to be studiously affected
by those Writers; whether to make themselves to be admir'd by their
Readers, and their Art appear more Venerable and Mysterious, or, (as
they would have us think) to conceal from them a Knowledge themselves
judge inestimable.
But whatever (sayes _Carneades_) these Men may promise themselves from
a Canting way of delivering the Principles of Nature, they will find
the Major part of Knowing Men so vain, as when they understand not
what they read, to conclude, that it is rather the Writers fault then
their own. And those that are so ambitious to be admir'd by the
Vulgar, that rather then go without the Admiration of the Ignorant
they will expose themselves to the contempt of the Learned, those
shall, by my consent, freely enjoy their Option. As for the Mystical
Writers scrupling to Communicate their Knowledge, they might less to
their own Disparagement, and to the trouble of their Readers, have
conceal'd it by writing no Books, then by Writing bad ones. If
_Themistius_ were here, he would not stick to say, that Chymists write
thus darkly, not because they think their Notions too precious to be
explain'd, but because they fear that if they were explain'd, men
would discern, that they are farr from being precious. And indeed, I
fear that the chief Reason why Chymists have written so obscurely of
their three Principles, may be, That not having Clear and Distinct
Notions of them themselves, they cannot write otherwise then
Confusedly of what they but Confusedly Apprehend: Not to say that
divers of them, being Conscious to the Invalidity of their Doctrine,
might well enough discerne that they could scarce keep themselves from
being confuted, but by keeping themselves from being clearly
understood. But though much may be said to Excuse the Chymists when
they write Darkly, and Ænigmatically, about the Preparation of their
_Elixir_, and Some few other grand _Arcana_, the divulging of which
they may upon Grounds Plausible enough esteem unfit; yet when they
pretend to teach the General Principles of Natural Philosophers, this
Equivocall Way of Writing is not to be endur'd. For in such
Speculative Enquiries, where the naked Knowledge of the Truth is the
thing Principally aim'd at, what does he teach me worth thanks that
does not, if he can, make his Notion intelligible to me, but by
Mystical Termes, and Ambiguous Phrases darkens what he should clear
up; and makes me add the Trouble of guessing at the sence of what he
Equivocally expresses, to that of examining the Truth of what he seems
to deliver. And if the matter of the Philosophers Stone, and the
manner of preparing it, be such Mysteries as they would have the World
believe them, they may Write Intelligibly and Clearly of the
Principles of mixt Bodies in General, without Discovering what they
call the Great Work. But for my part (Continues _Carneades_) what my
Indignation at this Un-philosophical way of teaching Principles has
now extorted from me, is meant chiefly to excuse my self, if I shall
hereafter oppose any Particular Opinion or assertion, that some
Follower of _Paracelsus_ or any Eminent Artist may pretend not to be
his Masters. For, as I told you long since, I am not Oblig'd to
examine private mens writings, (which were a Labour as endless as
unprofitable) being only engag'd to examine those Opinions about the
_Tria Prima_, which I find those Chymists I have met with to agree in
most: And I Doubt not but my Arguments against their Doctrine will be
in great part easily enough applicable ev'n to those private
Opinions, which they do not so directly and expresly oppose. And
indeed, that which I am now entering upon being the Consideration of
the things themselves whereinto _Spagyrists_ resolve mixt Bodies by
the Fire, If I can shew that these are not of an Elementary Nature, it
will be no great matter what names these or those Chymists have been
pleased to give them. And I question not that to a Wise man, and
consequently to _Eleutherius_, it will be lesse considerable to know,
what Men Have thought of Things, then what they Should have thought.
In the fourth and last place, then, I consider, that as generally as
Chymists are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as they
use to instance the several substances separated by the Fire from a
Mixt Body, as a sufficient proof of their being its component
Elements: Yet those differing Substances are many of them farr enough
from Elementary simplicity, and may be yet look'd upon as mixt Bodies,
most of them also retaining, somewhat at least, if not very much, of
the Nature of those Concretes whence they were forc'd.
I am glad (sayes _Eleutherius_) to see the Vanity or Envy of the
canting Chymists thus discover'd and chastis'd; and I could wish, that
Learned Men would conspire together to make these deluding Writers
sensible, that they must no longe [Transcriber's Note: longer] hope
with Impunity to abuse the World. For whilst such Men are quietly
permitted to publish Books with promising Titles, and therein to
Assert what they please, and contradict others, and ev'n themselves as
they please, with as little danger of being confuted as of being
understood, they are encourag'd to get themselves a name, at the cost
of the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for the
reason newly mention'd, to let their Books and Them alone: And the
ignorant and credulous (of which the number is still much greater then
that of the other) are forward to admire most what they least
understand. But if Judicious men skill'd in Chymical affaires shall
once agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep men
from being stunn'd, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words;
'tis to be hop'd that these men finding that they can no longer write
impertinently and absurdly, without being laugh'd at for doing so,
will be reduc'd either to write nothing, or Books that may teach us
something, and not rob men, as formerly, of invaluable Time; and so
ceasing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we shall
either by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their silence escape
an Inconvenience.
But after all this is said (continues _Eleutherius_) it may be
represented in favour of the Chymists, that, in one regard the Liberty
they take in using names, if it be excusable at any time, may be more
so when they speak of the substances whereinto their _Analysis_
resolves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name their
own Children, it has ever been allow'd to the Authors of new
Inventions, to Impose Names upon them. And therefore the subjects we
speak of being so the Productions of the Chymist's Art, as not to be
otherwise, but by it, obtainable; it seems but equitable to give the
Artists leave to name them as they please: considering also that none
are so fit and likely to teach us what those Bodies are, as they to
whom we ow'd them.
I told You already (sayes _Carneades_) that there is great Difference
betwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to give
a Philosophical Account of them. And I will not now add, that many a
Mine-digger may meet, whilst he follows his work, with a Gemm or a
Mineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he shews it a
Jeweller or a Mineralist to be inform'd what it is. But that which I
would rather have here observ'd, is, That the Chymists I am now in
debate with have given up the Liberty You challeng'd for them, of
using Names at Pleasure, and confin'd Themselves by their
Descriptions, though but such as they are, of their Principles; so
that although they might freely have call'd any thing their _Analysis_
presents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, or
what they pleas'd; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (for
instance) is a Primogeneal and simple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &c.
they must give me leave to dis-believe them, if they tell me that a
Body that is either compounded or uninflamable is such a Sulphur; and
to think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and some
other Minerals abound with an Incombustible Sulphur, which is as
proper an Expression, as a Sun-shine Night, or Fluid Ice.
But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my
Fourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals;
some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because I
have Touched on them already.
And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage in
_Helmont_;[14] which though I have not Found much heeded by his
Readers, He Himself _mentions_ as a notable thing, and I take to be a
very considerable one; for whereas the Distill'd oyle of _oyle-olive_,
though drawn _per se_ is (as I have try'd) of a very sharp and
fretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oyle
being only digested with _Paracelsus's sal circulatum_, is reduc'd
into dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing from
the oyle distill'd, from [Errata: distill'd from] sallet oyle; as also
that by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet and
gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that
which is immediately drawn by distillation and call'd _Dephlegm'd Aqua
vitæ_, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote,
although the _sal circulatum_ that makes these _Anatomies_ be
separated from the Analyz'd Bodies, in the same weight and with the
same qualities it had before; which Affirmation of _Helmont_ if we
admit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very great
disparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles,
or several spirits) separable from compound Bodies: For, besides the
differences I shall anon take notice of, betwixt those distill'd Oyles
that are commonly known to Chymists, it appears by this, that by means
of the _Sal Circulatum_, There may be quite another sort of Oyles
obtain'd from the same Body; and who knowes but that there may be yet
other Agents found in Nature, by whose help there may, whether by
Transmutation or otherwise, be obtain'd from the Bodies Vulgarly
call'd Mixt, Oyles or other substances, Differing from those of the
same Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymists, or even to
_Helmont_ Himself: but for fear You should tell me, that this is but a
conjecture grounded upon another Man's Relation, whose Truth we have
not the means to Experiment, I will not Insist upon it; but leaving
You to Consider of it at leasure, I shall proceed to what is next.
[Footnote 14: _Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitiorem
ulterioris & nobilioris qualitatis participem qu[=a] qui immediatè per
distillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vitæ dephlegmata, quod
facilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippe
distillatum oleum absque laterum aut tigularum [Errata: tegularum]
additamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert ab
ejus oleitate; quæ elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partes
dissimilares sola digestione & Salis circulati Paracelsici
appositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere & quantitatibus
pristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in sui
heterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum ex
oleo, prout & suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur,
longéque ab aquæ vitæ acrimoniâ distinctus._--Helmont. Aura vitalis,
pag. 725.]
Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion of _Lucippus_,
_Democritus_, and other prime _Anatomists_ of old, and is in our dayes
reviv'd by no mean Philosophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, such
as Chymists use, consists of swarmes of little Bodies swiftly moving,
which by their smallness and motion are able to permeate the sollidest
and Compactest Bodies, and even Glass it Self; If this (I say) be
True, since we see that In flints and other Concretes, the Fiery part
is Incorporated with the Grosser, it will not be Irrationall to
conjecture, that multitudes of these Fiery Corpuscles, getting in at
the Pores of the Glass, may associate themselves with the parts of the
mixt Body whereon they work, and with them Constitute new Kinds of
Compound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections of
the Parts of the Dissipated Body happen to dispose them, in Reference
to such Combinations; of which also there may be the greater Number;
if it be likewise granted that the Corpuscles of the Fire, though all
exceeding minute, and very swiftly moved, are not all of the same
bigness, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Considerations to
Discourse to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I have
newly said, some particular Experiments by which I have been Deduc'd
to think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon some Bodies
may really Associate themselves therewith, and add to the Quantity.
But because I am not so sure, that when the Fire works upon Bodies
included in Glasses, it does it by a reall Trajection of the Fiery
Corpuscles themselves, through the Substance of the Glass, I will
proceed to what is next to be mention'd.
I could (sayes _Eleutherius_) help you to some Proofes, whereby I
think it may be made very probable, that when the Fire acts
immediately upon a Body, some of its Corpuscles may stick to those of
the burnt Body, as they seem to do in Quicklime, but in greater
numbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding Your
Progress, I shall desire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time,
and proceed as you intended.
You may then in the next place (sayes _Carneades_) observe with me,
that not only there are some Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do not
by the usual Examens, made by Fire, Discover themselves to be mixt;
but if (as You may Remember I formerly told You) it be a De-compound
Body that is Dissipable into several Substances, by being expos'd to
the Fire it may be resolv'd into such as are neither Elementary, nor
such as it was upon its last mixture Compounded of; but into new
Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You some Examples in
Sope, Sugar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we shall Consider that there
are some Bodies, as well Natural, (as that I last nam'd) as
Factitious, manifestly De-compounded; That in the Bowells of the Earth
Nature may, as we see she sometimes does, make strange Mixtures; That
Animals are nourish'd with other Animals and Plants; And, that these
themselves have almost all of them their Nutriment and Growth,
_either_ from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour'd in the Pores of the
Earth, _or_ from the Excrements of Animalls, _or_ from the putrify'd
Bodies, either of living Creatures or Vegetables, _or_ from other
Substances of a Compounded Nature; If, I say, we consider this, it may
seem probable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not to
mention those of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then men
take Notice of; And indeed, as I have formerly also observ'd, it does
not at all appear, that all Mixtures must be of Elementary Bodies; but
it seems farr more probable, that there are divers sorts of compound
Bodies, even in regard of all or some of their Ingredients, consider'd
Antecedently to their Mixture. For though some seem to be made up by
the immediate Coalitions of the Elements, or Principles themselves,
and therefore may be call'd _Prima Mista_, or _Mista Primaria_; yet it
seems that many other Bodies are mingl'd (if I may so speak) at the
second hand, their immediate Ingredients being not Elementary, but
these primary Mixts newly spoken of; And from divers of these
Secondary sort of Mixts may result, by a further Composition, a Third
sort, and so onwards. Nor is it improbable, that some Bodies are made
up of Mixt Bodies, not all of the same Order, but of several; as (for
Instance) a Concrete may consist of Ingredients, whereof the one may
have been a primary, the other a Secondary Mixt Body; (as I have in
Native Cinnaber, by my way of Resolving it, found both that Courser
the [Errata: delete "the"] part that seems more properly to be Oar,
and a Combustible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps without
any Ingredient of this latter sort, it may be compos'd of Mixt Bodies,
some of them of the first, and some of the third Kind; And this may
perhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens in
some Chymical Preparations of those Medicines which they call their
_Bezoardicum's_. For first, they take Antimony and Iron, which may be
look'd upon as _Prima Mista_; of these they compound a Starry
_Regulus_, and to this they add according to their Intention, either
Gold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Composition. To
this they add Sublimate, which is it self a De-compound body,
(consisting of common Quicksilver, and divers Salts United by
Sublimation into a Crystalline Substance) and from this Sublimate, and
the other Metalline Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow'd
to be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymists
affirm it, that by this Art some of the Gold or Silver mingl'd with
the _Regulus_ may be carry'd over the Helme with it by the Sublimate;
as indeed a Skilfull and Candid person complain'd to me a while since,
That an experienc'd Friend of His and mine, having by such a way
brought over a great Deal of Gold, in hope to do something further
with it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only miss'd of his
Aim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz'd Gold out of the
Antimonial butter, wherewith it is strictly united.
Now (Continues _Carneades_) if a Compound body consist of Ingredients
that are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that the
Substances into which the Fire Dissolves it, though seemingly
Homogeneous enough, may be of a Compounded Nature, those parts of each
body that are most of Kin associating themselves into a Compound of a
new Kind. As when (for example sake) I have caus'd Vitrioll and _Sal
Armoniack_, and Salt Petre to be mingl'd and Destill'd together, the
Liquor that came over manifested it self not to be either Spirit of
Nitre, or of _Sal Armoniack_, or of Vitrioll. For none of these would
dissolve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; and
thereby manifested it self to be a new Compound, consisting at least
of Spirit of Nitre, and _Sal Armoniack_, (for the latter dissolv'd in
the former, will Work on Gold) which nevertheless are not by any
known way separable, and consequently would not pass for a Mixt Body,
if we our selves did not, to obtain it, put and Distill together
divers Concretes, whose Distinct Operations were known before hand.
And, to add on this Occasion the Experiment I lately promis'd You,
because it is Applicable to our present purpose, I shall Acquaint You,
that suspecting the Common Oyle of Vitrioll not to be altogether such
a simple Liquor as Chymists presume it, I mingl'd it with an equal or
a Double Quantity (for I try'd the Experiment more then once) of
common Oyle of Turpentine, such as together with the other Liquor I
bought at the Drugsters. And having carefully (for the Experiment is
Nice, and somewhat dangerous) Distill'd the Mixture in a small Glass
Retort, I obtain'd according to my Desire, (besides the two Liquors I
had put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain substance, which sticking
all about the Neck of the Retort Discover'd it self to be Sulphur, not
only by a very strong Sulphureous smell, and by the colour of
Brimstone; but also by this, That being put upon a coal, it was
immediately kindl'd, and burn'd like common Sulphur. And of this
Substance I have yet by me some little Parcells, which You may command
and examine when you please. So that from this Experiment I may deduce
either one, or both of these Propositions, That a real Sulphur may be
made by the Conjunction of two such Substances as Chymists take for
Elementary, And which did not either of them apart appear to have any
such body in it; or that Oyle of Vitrioll though a Distill'd Liquor,
and taken for part of the Saline Principle of the Concrete that yields
it, may yet be so Compounded a body as to contain, besides its Saline
part, a Sulphur like common brimstone, which would hardly be it self a
simple or un-compounded body.
I might (pursues _Carneades_) remind You, that I formerly represented
it, as possible, That as there may be more Elements then five, or six;
so the Elements of one body may be Different from those of another;
whence it would follow, that from the Resolution of De-compound body
[Errata: bodies], there may result Mixts of an altogether new kind, by
the Coalition of Elements that never perhaps conven'd before. I might,
I say, mind You of this, and add divers things to this second
Consideration; but for fear of wanting time I willingly pretermit
them, to pass on to the third, which is this, That the Fire does not
alwayes barely resolve or take asunder, but may also after a new
manner mingle and compound together the parts (whether Elementary or
not) of the Body Dissipated by it.
This is so evident, sayes _Carneades_, in some obvious Examples, that
I cannot but wonder at their Supiness that have not taken notice of
it. For when Wood being burnt in a Chimney is dissipated by the Fire
into Smoke and Ashes, that smoke composes soot, which is so far from
being any one of the principles of the Wood, that (as I noted above)
you may by a further _Analysis_ separate five or six distinct
substances from it. And as for the remaining Ashes, the Chymists
themselves teach us, that by a further degree of fire they may be
indissolubly united into glass. 'Tis true, that the _Analysis_ which
the Chymists principally build upon is made, not in the open air, but
in close Vessels; but however, the Examples lately produc'd may invite
you shrewdly to suspect, That heat may as well compound as dissipate
the Parts of mixt Bodies: and not to tell you, that I have known a
Vitrification made even in close vessels, I must remind you that the
Flowers of Antimony, and those of Sulphur, are very mix'd Bodies,
though they ascend in close vessells: And that 'twas in stopt glasses
that I brought up the whole Body of Camphire. And whereas it may be
objected, that all these Examples are of Bodies forc'd up in a dry,
not a Fluid forme, as are the Liquors wont to be obtain'd by
distillation; I answer, That besides that 'tis possible, that a Body
may be chang'd from Consistent to Fluid, or from Fluid to Consistent,
without being otherwise much altered, as may appear by the Easiness
wherewith in Winter, without any Addition or Separation of Visible
Ingredients, the same substance may be quickly harden'd into brittle
Ice, and thaw'd again into Fluid Water; Besides this, I say it would
be consider'd, that common Quick-silver it self, which the Eminentest
Chymists confess to be a mixt Body, may be Driven over the Helme in
its Pristine forme of Quicksilver, and consequently, in that of a
Liquor. And certainly 'tis possible that very compounded Bodies may
concur to Constitute Liquors; Since, not to mention that I have found
it possible, by the help of a certain _Menstruum_, to distill Gold it
self through a Retort, even with a Moderate Fire: Let us but consider
what happens in Butter of Antimony. For if that be carefully
rectify'd, it may be reduc'd into a very clear Liquor; and yet if You
cast a quantity of fair water upon it, there will quickly precipitate
a Ponderous and Vomitive Calx, which made before a considerable part
of the Liquor, and yet is indeed (though some eminent Chymists would
have it Mercurial) an Antimonial Body carryed over and kept dissolv'd
by the Salts of the Sublimate, and consequently a compounded one; as
You may find if You will have the Curiosity to Examine this White
powder by a skilful Reduction. And that You may not think that Bodies
as compounded as flowers of Brimstone cannot be brought to Concurr to
Constitute Distill'd Liquors; And also That You may not imagine with
Divers Learned Men that pretend no small skill in Chymistry, that at
least no mixt Body can be brought over the Helme, but by corrosive
Salts, I am ready to shew You, when You please, among other wayes of
bringing over Flowers of Brimstone (perhaps I might add even Mineral
Sulphurs) some, wherein I employ none but Oleaginous bodies to make
Volatile Liquors, in which not only the colour, but (which is a much
surer mark) the smell and some Operations manifest that there is
brought over a Sulphur that makes part of the Liquor.
One thing more there is, _Eleutherius_, sayes _Carneades_, which is so
pertinent to my present purpose, that though I have touch'd upon it
before, I cannot but on this occasion take notice of it. And it is
this, That the Qualities or Accidents, upon whose account Chymists are
wont to call a portion of Matter by the name of Mercury or some other
of their Principles, are not such but that 'tis possible as Great (and
therefore why not the like?) may be produc'd by such changes of
Texture, and other Alterations, as the Fire may make in the small
Parts of a Body. I have already prov'd, when I discours'd of the
second General Consideration, by what happens to plants nourish'd only
with fair water, and Eggs hatch'd into Chickens, that by changing the
disposition of the component parts of a Body, Nature is able to effect
as great Changes in a parcell of Matter reputed similar, as those
requisite to Denominate one of the _Tria Prima_. And though _Helmont_
do somewhere wittily call the Fire the Destructor and the Artificial
Death of Things; And although another Eminent Chymist and Physitian be
pleas'd to build upon this, That Fire can never generate any thing but
Fire; Yet You will, I doubt not, be of another mind, If You consider
how many new sorts of mixt Bodies Chymists themselves have produc'd by
means of the Fire: And particularly, if You consider how that Noble
and Permanent Body, Glass, is not only manifestly produc'd by the
violent action of the Fire, but has never, for ought we know, been
produc'd any other way. And indeed it seems but an inconsiderate
Assertion of some _Helmontians_, that every sort of Body of a
Peculiar Denomination must be produc'd by some Seminal power; as I
think I could evince, if I thought it so necessary, as it is for me to
hasten to what I have further to discourse. Nor need it much move us,
that there are some who look upon whatsoever the Fire is employ'd to
produce, not as upon Natural but Artificial Bodies. For there is not
alwaies such a difference as many imagine betwixt the one and the
other: Nor is it so easy as they think, clearly to assigne that which
Properly, Constantly, and Sufficiently, Discriminates them. But not to
engage my self in so nice a Disquisition, it may now suffice to
observe, that a thing is commonly termed Artificial, when a parcel of
matter is by the Artificers hand, or Tools, or both, brought to such a
shape or Form, as he Design'd before-hand in his Mind: Whereas in many
of the Chymical Productions the effect would be produc'd whether the
Artificer intended it or no; and is oftentimes very much other then he
Intended or Look't for; and the Instruments employ'd, are not Tools
Artificially fashion'd and shaped, like those of Tradesmen, for this
or that particular Work; but, for the most part, Agents of Nature's
own providing, and whose chief Powers of Operation they receive from
their own Nature or Texture, not the Artificer. And indeed, the Fire
is as well a Natural Agent as Seed: And the Chymist that imployes it,
does but apply Natural Agents and Patients, who being thus brought
together, and acting according to their respective Natures, performe
the worke themselves; as Apples, Plums, or other fruit, are natural
Productions, though the Gardiner bring and fasten together the Sciens
of the Stock, and both Water, and do perhaps divers other wayes
Contribute to its bearing fruit. But, to proceed to what I was going
to say, You may observe with me, _Eleutherius_, that, as I told You
once before, Qualities sleight enough may serve to Denominate a
Chymical Principle. For, when they anatomize a compound Body by the
Fire, if they get a Substance inflamable, and that will not mingle
with Water, that they presently call Sulphur; what is sapid and
Dissoluble in Water, that must pass for Salt; Whatsoever is fix'd and
indissoluble in Water, that they name Earth. And I was going to add,
that, whatsoever Volatile substance they know not what to make of, not
to say, whatsoever they please, that they call Mercury. But that these
Qualities may either be produc'd, otherwise then by such as they call
Seminal Agents, or may belong to bodies of a compounded Nature, may be
shewn, among other Instances, in Glass made of ashes, where the
exceeding strongly-tasted _Alcalizate_ Salt joyning with the Earth
becomes insipid, and with it constitutes a Body, which though also
dry, fixt, and indissoluble in Water, is yet manifestly a mixt Body;
and made so by the Fire itself.
And I remmember to our present purpose, that _Helmont_,[15] amongst
other Medicines that he commends, has a short processe, wherein,
though the Directions for Practice are but obscurely intimated; yet I
have some reason not to Dis-believe the Process, without affirming or
denying any thing about the vertues of the remedy to be made by it.
_Quando_ (sayes he) _oleum cinnamomi &c. suo sali alkali miscetur
absque omni aqua, trium mensium artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
totum in salem volatilem commutatum est, vere essentiam sui simplicis
in nobis exprimit, & usque in prima nostri constitutivasese ingerit._
A not unlike Processe he delivers in another place; from whence, if we
suppose him to say true, I may argue, that since by the Fire there may
be produc'd a substance that is as well Saline and volatile as the
Salt of Harts-horn, blood, &c. which pass for Elementary; and since
that this Volatile Salt is really compounded of a Chymical Oyle and a
fixt Salt, the one made Volatile by the other, and both associated by
the fire, it may well be suspected that other Substances, emerging
upon the Dissipation of Bodies by the Fire, may be new sorts of Mixts,
and consist of Substances of differing natures; and particularly, I
have sometimes suspected, that since the Volatile Salts of Blood,
Harts-horn, &c. are figitive [Errata: fugitive] and endow'd with an
exceeding strong smell, either that Chymists do Erroneously ascribe
all odours to sulphurs, or that such Salts consist of some oyly parts
well incorporated with the Saline ones. And the like conjecture I have
also made concerning Spirit of Vinager, which, though the Chymists
think one of the Principles of that Body, and though being an Acid
Spirit it seems to be much less of kin then Volatile Salts to
sulphurs; yet, not to mention its piercing smell; which I know not
with what congruity the Chymist will deduce from Salt, I wonder they
have not taken notice of what their own _Tyrocinium Chymicum_ teach us
concerning the Destillation of _Saccharum Saturni_; out of which
_Beguinus_[16] assures Us, that he distill'd, besides a very fine
spirit, no lesse then two Oyles, the one blood-red and ponderous, but
the other swimming upon the top of the Spirit, and of a yellow colour;
of which he sayes that he kept then some by him, to verify what he
delivers. And though I remember not that I have had two distinct Oyles
from Sugar of Lead, yet that it will though distill'd without addition
yield some Oyle, disagrees not with my Experience. I know the Chymists
will be apt to pretend, that these Oyls are but the volatiliz'd
sulphur of the lead; and will perhaps argue it from what _Beguinus_
relates, that when the Distillation is ended, you'l find a _Caput
Mortuum_ extreamly black, and (as he speaks) _nullius momenti_, as if
the Body, or at least the chief part of the Metal it self were by the
distillation carried over the Helme. But since you know as well as I
that _Saccharum Saturni_ is a kind of Magistery, made only by
calcining of Lead _per se_, dissolving it in distill'd Vinager, and
crystalizing the solution; if I had leasure to tell You how Differing
a thing I did upon examination find the _Caput Mortuum_, so sleighted
by _Beguinus_, to be from what he represents it, I believe you would
think the conjecture propos'd less probable then one or other of these
three; either that this Oyle did formerly concur to constitute the
Spirit of Vinager, and so that what passes for a Chymical Principle
may yet be further resoluble into distinct substances; or that some
parts of the Spirit together with some parts of the Lead may
constitute a Chymical Oyle, which therefore though it pass for
Homogeneous, may be a very compounded Body: or at least that by the
action of the Distill'd Vinager and the Saturnine Calx one upon
another, part of the Liquor may be so alter'd as to be transmuted from
an Acid Spirit into an Oyle. And though the truth of either of the two
former conjectures would make the example I have reflected on more
pertinent to my present argument; yet you'l easily discern, the Third
and last Conjecture cannot be unserviceable to confirm some other
passages of my discourse.
[Footnote 15: Helmont pag. 412.]
[Footnote 16: Tyroc. Chym. L. 1. C. 4.]
To return then to what I was saying just before I mention'd
_Helmont's_ Experiment, I shall subjoyne, That Chymists must confess
also that in the perfectly Dephlegm'd spirit of Wine, or other
Fermented Liquors, that which they call the Sulphur of the Concrete
loses, by the Fermentation, the Property of Oyle, (which the Chymists
likewise take to be the true Sulphur of the Mixt) of being unminglable
with the Water. And if You will credit _Helmont_,[17] all [Errata: a
pound] of the purest Spirit of Wine may barely by the help of pure
Salt of Tartar (which is but the fixed Salt of Wine) be resolv'd or
Transmuted into scarce half an ounce of Salt, and as much Elementary
Water as amounts to the remaining part of the mention'd weight. And it
may (as I think I formerly also noted) be doubted, whether that Fixt
and Alcalizate Salt, which is so unanimously agreed on to be the
Saline Principle of incinerated Bodies, be not, as 'tis Alcalizate, a
Production of the Fire? For though the tast of Tartar, for Example,
seem to argue that it contains a Salt before it be burn'd, yet that
Salt being very Acid is of a quite Differing Tast from the Lixiviate
Salt of Calcin'd Tartar. And though it be not truly Objected against
the Chymists, that they obtain all Salts they make, by reducing the
Body they work on into Ashes with Violent Fires, (since Hartshorn,
Amber, Blood, and divers other Mixts yield a copious Salt before they
be burn'd to Ashes) yet this Volatile Salt Differs much, as we shall
see anon, from the Fixt Alcalizate Salt I speak of; which for ought I
remember is not producible by any known Way, without Incineration.
'Tis not unknown to Chymists, that Quicksilver may be Precipitated,
without Addition, into a dry Powder, that remains so in Water. And
some eminent _Spagyrists_, and even _Raimund Lully_ himself, teach,
that meerly by the Fire Quicksilver may in convenient Vessels be
reduc'd (at least in great part) into a thin Liquor like Water, and
minglable with it. So that by the bare Action of the Fire, 'tis
possible, that the parts of a mixt Body should be so dispos'd after
new and differing manners, that it may be sometimes of one
consistence, sometimes of another; And may in one State be dispos'd to
be mingl'd with Water, and in another not. I could also shew you, that
Bodies from which apart Chymists cannot obtain any thing that is
Combustible, may by being associated together, and by the help of the
Fire, afford an inflamable Substance. And that on the other side, 'tis
possible for a Body to be inflamable, from which it would very much
puzzle any ordinary Chymist; and perhaps any other, to separate an
inflamable Principle or Ingredient. Wherefore, since the Principles of
Chymists may receive their Denominations from Qualities, which it
often exceeds not the power of Art, nor alwayes that of the Fire to
produce; And since such Qualities may be found in Bodies that differ
so much in other Qualities from one another, that they need not be
allow'd to agree in that pure and simple Nature, which Principles, to
be so indeed, must have; it may justly be suspected, that many
Productions of the Fire that are shew'd us by Chymists, as the
Principles of the Concrete that afforded them, may be but a new kind
of Mixts. And to annex, on this Occasion, to these arguments taken
from the Nature of the thing, one of those which _Logicians_ call _ad
Hominem_, I shall desire You to take Notice, that though _Paracelsus_
Himself, and some that are so mistaken as to think he could not be so,
have ventur'd to teach, that not only the bodies here below, but the
Elements themselves, and all the other Parts of the Universe, are
compos'd of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; yet the learned _Sennertus_,
and all the more wary Chymists, have rejected that conceit, and do
many of them confess, that the _Tria Prima_ are each of them made up
of the four Elements; and others of them make Earth and Water concur
with Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to the Constitution of Mixt bodies. So
that one sort of these _Spagyrists_, notwithstanding the specious
Titles they give to the productions of the Fire, do in effect grant
what I contend for. And, of the other sort I may well demand, to what
Kind of Bodies the Phlegme and dead Earth, to be met with in Chymical
Resolutions, are to be referr'd? For either they must say, with
_Paracelsus_, but against their own Concessions as well as against
Experience, that these are also compos'd of the _Tria Prima_, whereof
they cannot separate any one from either of them; or else they must
confess that two of the vastest Bodies here below, Earth, and Water,
are neither of them compos'd of the _Tria Prima_; and that
consequently those three are not the Universal, and Adequate
Ingredients, neither of all Sublunary Bodies, nor even of all mixt
Bodies.
[Footnote 17: _Ostendi alias, quomodo lib. una aquæ vitæ combibita in
sale Tartari siccato, vix fiat semuncia salis, cæterum totum corpus
fiat aqua Elementalis. Helmont. in Aura vitali._]
I know that the chief of these Chymists represent, that though the
Distinct Substances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire,
are not pure and Homogeneous; yet since the four Elements into which
the _Aristotelians_ pretend to resolve the like bodies by the same
Agent, are not simple neither, as themselves acknowledge, 'tis as
allowable for the Chymists to call the one Principles, as for the
Peripateticks to call the other Elements; since in both cases the
Imposition of the name is grounded only upon the Predominancy of that
Element whose name is ascrib'd to it. Nor shall I deny, that this
Argument of the Chymists is no ill one against the _Aristotelians_.
But what Answer can it prove to me, who you know am disputing against
the _Aristotelian_ Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and must not
look upon any body as a true Principle or Element, but as yet
compounded, which is not perfectly Homogeneous, but is further
Resoluble into any number of Distinct Substances how small soever. And
as for the Chymists calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, upon
pretence that the Principle of the same name is predominant in it,
That it self is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely that
these productions of the Fire, are yet compounded bodies. And yet
whilst this is granted, it is affirm'd, but not prov'd, that the
reputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, consists mainly of one body that
deserves the name of a principle of the same Denomination. For how do
Chymists make it appear that there are any such primitive and simple
bodies in those we are speaking of; since 'tis upon the matter
confess'd by the answer lately made, that these are not such? And if
they pretend by Reason to evince what they affirm, what becomes of
their confident boasts, that the Chymists [Errata: Chymist] (whom they
therefore, after _Beguinus_, call a _Philosophus_ or _Opifex
Sensatus_) can convince our Eyes, by manifestly shewing in any mixt
body those simple substances he teaches them to be compos'd of? And
indeed, for the Chymists to have recourse in this case to other proofs
then Experiments, as it is to wave the grand Argument that has all
this while been given out for a Demonstrative One; so it releases me
from the obligation to prosecute a Dispute wherein I am not engag'd to
Examine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plausibly Enough
be Represented, in favour of the Chymists, that it being evident that
much the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, or
Mercury, is really such; it would be very rigid to deny those
Substances the names ascribed them, only because of some sleight
mixture of another Body; since not only the Peripateticks call
particular parcels of matter Elementary, though they acknowledge that
Elements are not to be anywhere found pure, at least here below; And
since especially there is a manifest Analogie and Resemblance betwixt
the bodies obtainable by Chymical Anatomies and the principles whose
names are given them; I have, I say, consider'd that these things may
be represented: But as for what is drawn from the Custome of the
Peripateticks, I have already told You, that though it may be employ'd
against Them, Yet it is not available against me who allow nothing to
be an Element that is not perfectly Homogeneous. And whereas it is
alledg'd, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to the
substance wherein it abounds; I answer, that that might much more
reasonably be said, if either we or the Chymists had seen Nature take
pure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mercury, and compound of them every
sort of Mixt Bodies. But, since 'tis to experience that they appeal,
we must not take it for granted, that the Distill'd Oyle (for
instance) of a plant is mainly compos'd of the pure principle call'd
Sulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof, that there is in
that sort of Plants such an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for the
specious argument, which is drawn from the Resemblance betwixt the
Productions of the Fire, and the Respective, either _Aristotelian_
Elements, or _Chymical_ Principles, by whose names they are call'd; it
will appear more plausible then cogent, if You will but recall to mind
the state of the controversie; which is not, whether or no there be
obtain'd from mixt Bodies certain substances that agree in outward
appearance, or in some Qualities with Quicksilver or Brimstone, or
some such obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodies
confess'd to be perfectly mixt were compos'd of, and are resoluble
into a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keep
the state of the question in your Eye, you'l easily discerne that
there is much of what should be Demonstrated, left unprov'd by those
Chymical Experiments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I have
already discover'd more at large) I shall now take notice, that it
will not presently follow, that because a Production of the Fire has
some affinity with some of the greater Masses of matter here below,
that therefore they are both of the same Nature, and deserve the same
Name; for the Chymists are not content, that flame should be look't
upon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, and
active, because it wants some other Qualities belonging to the nature
of Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call Ashes, or
Quicklime, Earth, notwithstanding the many likenesses between them;
because they are not tastlesse, as Elementary Earth ought to be: But
if you should ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomies
of Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they consist of the three
Principles into which the fire resolves them? I answer, that their
Dissections may be granted to prove, that some mixt bodies (for in
many it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included in
close Vessels, (for that Condition also is often requisite) dissolube
[Transcriber's Note: dissoluble] into several Substances differing in
some Qualities, but principally in Consistence. So that out of most of
them may be obtain'd a fixt substance partly saline, and partly
insipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or more that without
being unctuous have a manifest taste. Now if Chymists will agree to
call the dry and sapid substance salt, the Unctous liquor Sulphur, and
the other Mercury, I shall not much quarrel with them for so doing:
But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are simple
and primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, and
which was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, they
must give me leave to doubt whether (whatever their other arguments
may do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will also tell
me that the Substances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, are
pure and similar, as Principles ought to be, they must give me leave
to believe my own senses; and their own confessions, before their bare
Assertions. And that you may not (_Eleutherius_) think I deal so
rigidly with them, because I scruple to Take these Productions of the
Fire for such as the Chymists would have them pass for, upon the
account of their having some affinity with them; consider a little
with me, that in regard an Element or Principle ought to be perfectly
Similar and Homogeneous, there is no just cause why I should rather
give the body propos'd the Name of this or that Element or Principle,
because it has a resemblance to it in some obvious Quality, rather
then deny it that name upon the account of divers other Qualities,
wherein the propos'd Bodies are unlike; and if you do but consider
what sleight and easily producible qualities they are that suffice, as
I have already more then once observ'd, to Denominate a Chymical
Principle or an Element, you'l not, I hope, think my wariness to be
destitute either of Example, or else of Reason. For we see that the
Chymists will not allow the _Aristotelians_ that the Salt in Ashes
ought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Terrestrial part
symbolize in weight, in dryness, in fixness and fusibility, only
because the one is sapid and dissoluble in Water, and the other not:
Besides, we see that sapidness and volatility are wont to denominate
the Chymists Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you,
may agree in those Qualities which may yet be of very differing
natures, and disagree in qualities either more numerous, or more
considerable, or both. For not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua Fortis,
Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit of
Vinager, and all Saline Liquors Distill'd from Animal Bodies, but all
the Acetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All these, I
say, and many others must belong to the Chymists Mercury, though it
appear not why some of them should more be comprehended under one
denomination then the Chymists Sulphur, or Oyle should likewise be;
for their Distill'd Oyles are also Fluid, Volatile, and Tastable, as
well as their Mercury; Nor is it Necessary, that their Sulphur should
be Unctuous or Dissoluble in Water, since they generally referr Spirit
of Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and will
freely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability must constitute
the Essence of the Chymists Sulphur; as uninflamablenesse joyned with
any taste is enough to intitle a Distill'd Liquor to be their Mercury.
Now since I can further observe to You, that Spirit of Nitre and
Spirit of Harts-horne being pour'd together will boile and hisse and
tosse up one another into the air, which the Chymists make signes of
great Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed these Spirits
differ much both in Taste, Smell, and Operations;) Since I elsewhere
tell you of my having made two sorts of Oyle out of the same mans
blood, that would not mingle with one another; And since I might tell
You Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodies
which according to the Chymists must be huddl'd up together under one
Denomination; I leave you to Judge whether such a multitude of
Substances as may agree in these sleight Qualities, and yet Disagree
in Others more Considerable, are more worthy to be call'd by the Name
of a Principle (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to have
appellations given them that may make them differ, in name too, from
the bodies from which they so wildly differ in Nature. And hence also,
by the bye, you may perceive that 'tis not unreasonable to distrust
the Chymists way of Argumentation, when being unable to shew us that
such a Liquor is (for Example) purely saline, they prove, that at
least salt is much the predominant principle, because that the
propos'd substance is strongly tasted, and all Tast proceeds from
salt; whereas those Spirits, such as spirit of Tartar, spirit of
Harts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries of
the Bodies that afford them, have manifestly a strong and piercing
tast, and so has (according to what I formerly noted) the spirit of
Box &c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr'd to compose it has
been separated from it. And indeed, if sapidness belong not to the
spirit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I scarce know
how it will be discriminated from their phlegm, since by the absence
of Inflamability it must be distinguish'd from their sulphur, which
affords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the Chymical
Doctrine is in our present Case; since not only the spirits of
Vegitables and Animals, but their Oyles are very strongly tasted, as
he that shall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or of
Cloves, or even of Turpentine, may quickly find, to his smart. And not
only I never try'd any Chymical Oyles whose tast was not very
manifest and strong; but a skilful and inquisitive person who made it
his business by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, and
reduce them to an Elementary simplicity, Informes us, that he never
was able to make them at all Tastless; whence I might inferr, that the
proof Chymists confidently give us of a bodies being saline, is so far
from demonstrating the Predominancy, that it does not clearly Evince
so much as the presence of the saline Principle in it. But I will not
(pursues _Carneades_) remind you, that the Volatile salt of
Harts-horn, Amber, Blood, &c. are exceeding strongly scented,
notwithstanding that most Chymists deduce Odours from Sulphur, and
from them argue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorous
body, because I must not so much as add any new Examples of the
incompetency of this sort of Chymical arguments; since having already
detain'd You but too long in those generals that appertain to my
fourth consideration, 'tis time that I proceed to the particulars
themselves, to which I thought fit they should be previous:
These Generals (continues _Carneades_) being thus premis'd, we might
the better survey the Unlikeness that an attentive and unprepossess'd
observer may take notice of in each sort of Bodies which the Chymists
are wont to call the salts or sulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretes
that yield Them, as if they had all a simplicity, and Identity of
Nature: whereas salts if they were all Elementary would as little
differ as do the Drops of pure and simple Water. 'Tis known that both
Chymists and Physitians ascribe to the fixt salts of calcin'd Bodies
the vertues of their concretes; and consequently very differing
Operations. So we find the _Alkali_ of Wormwood much commended in
distempers of the stomach; that of Eyebright for those that have a
weak sight; and that of _Guaiacum_ (of which a great Quantity yields
but a very little salt) is not only much commended in Venereal
Diseases, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, which
yet I have not had occasion to try. And though, I confess, I have long
thought, that these _Alkalizate_ salts are, for the most part, very
neer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of the
Concretes whence they were separated; Yet being minded to Observe
watchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this General
Observation, I observ'd at the Glasse-house, that sometimes the Metal
(as the Workmen call it) or Masse of colliquated Ingredients, which by
Blowing they fashion into Vessels of divers shapes, did sometimes
prove of a very differing colour, and a somewhat differing Texture,
from what was usuall. And having enquired whether the cause of such
Accidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixt
salt employ'd to bring the sand to fusion, I found that the knowingst
Workmen imputed these Mis-adventures to the Ashes, of [Errata: Ashes
off] some certain kind of Wood, as having observ'd the ignobler kind
of Glass I lately mention'd to be frequently produc'd when they had
employ'd such sorts of Ashes which therefore they scruple to make use
of, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember also, that an
Industrious Man of my acquaintance having bought a vast quantity of
Tobacco stalks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curiosity to go see
whether that Exotick Plant, which so much abounds in volatile salt,
would afford a peculiar kind of _Alcali_; and I was pleas'd to find
that in the _Lixivium_ of it, it was not necessary, as is usual, to
evaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain'd a Saline Calx,
consisting like lime quench'd in the Air of a heap of little
Corpuscles of unregarded shapes; but the fixt salt shot into figur'd
Crystal, almost as Nitre or _Sal-armoniack_ and other uncalcin'd salts
are wont to do; And I further remember that I have observ'd in the
fixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a tast not
so unlike to that of common salt, and very differing from the wonted
caustick Lixiviate tast of other salts made by Incineration. But
because the Instances I have alledg'd of the Difference of
_Alcalizate_ salt are but few, and therefore I am still inclin'd to
think, that most Chymists and many Physitians do, inconsideratly
enough and without Warrant from Experience, ascribe the Vertues of the
Concretes expos'd to Calcination, to the salts obtain'd by it; I shall
rather, to shew the Disparity of salts, mention in the first Place the
apparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt salts and the Animal
Volatile ones: As (for Example) betwixt salt of Tartar, and salt of
Harts-horn; whereof the former is so fixt that 'twill indure the brunt
of a violent Fire, and stand in fusion like a Metal; whereas the other
(besides that it has a differing tast and a very differing smell) is
so far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat as
easily as Spirit of Wine it self. And to this I shall add, in the next
place, That even among the Volatile salts themselves, there is a
considerable Difference, as appears by the distinct Properties of (for
Instance) salt of Amber, salt of Urine, salt of Mans Skull, (so much
extoll'd against the falling Sicknesse) and divers others which cannot
escape an ordinary Observer. And this Diversity of Volatile salts I
have observ'd to be somtimes Discernable even to the Eye, in their
Figures. For the salt of Harts-horn I have observ'd to adhere to the
Receiver in the forme almost of a _Parallelipipedon_; and of the
Volatile salt of humane blood (long digested before distillation, with
spirit of Wine) I can shew you store of graines of that Figure which
_Geometricians_ call a _Rhombus_; though I dare not undertake that
the Figures of these or other Saline Crystals (if I may so call Them)
will be alwaies the same, whatever degree of Fire have been employ'd
to force them up, or how hastily soever they have been made to convene
in the spirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have usually
observ'd them after a while to shoot. And although, as I lately told
You, I seldom found any Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixt
Salts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have suspected that most
of these volatile Salts, having so great a Resemblance in smell, in
tast, and fugitiveness, differ but little, if at all, in their
Medicinal properties: As indeed I have found them generally to agree
in divers of them (as in their being somewhat Diaphoretick and very
Deopilative; [Errata: Deopilative)] Yet I remember _Helmont_[18]
somewhere informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt the
saline spirit of Urine and that of Mans blood, that the former will
not cure the Epilepsy, but the Latter will. Of the Efficacy also of
the Salt of Common Amber against the same Disease in Children, (for in
Grown Persons it is not a specifick) I may elsewhere have an Occasion
to Entertain You. And when I consider that to the obtaining of these
Volatile Salts (especially that of Urine) there is not requisite such
a Destructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get those Salts
that must be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude,
that they may differ from one another, and consequently recede from an
Elementary Simplicity. And, if I could here shew You what Mr. _Boyle_
has Observ'd, touching the Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts;
You would quickly discern, not only that Chymists do give themselves a
strange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to their
own Rules to be look'd upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that among
those very Salts that seem Elementary, because produc'd upon the
Anatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a visible
Disparity, but, to speak in the common Language, a manifest Antipathy
or Contrariety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hissing that is
wont to ensue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for Instance, is
pour'd upon pot ashes, or Salt of Tartar. And I shall beg leave of
this Gentleman, sayes _Carneades_, casting his Eyes on me, to let me
observe to You out of some of his papers, particularly those wherein
he treats of some Preparations of Urine, that not only one and the
same body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he exemplifies
in the Spirit and _Alkali_ of Nitre; but that from the same body there
may without addition be obtain'd three differing and Visible Salts.
For He Relates, that he observ'd in Urine, not only a Volatile and
Crystalline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewise a kind of _Sal
Armoniack_, or such a Salt as would sublime in the form of a salt, and
therefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being so fugitive as the
Volatile salt; from which it seem'd also otherwise to differ. I have
indeed suspected that this may be a _Sal Armoniack_ properly enough so
call'd, as Compounded of the Volatile salt of Urine, and the fixt of
the same Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike sea-salt; but that
it self argues a manifest Difference betwixt the salts, since such a
Volatile salt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordinary _Alcali_, but
to fly away from it in the Heat. And on this occasion I remember that,
to give some of my Friends an Ocular proof of the difference betwixt
the fixt and Volatile salt (of the same Concrete) Wood, I devis'd the
following Experiment. I took common Venetian sublimate, and dissolv'd
as much of it as I well could in fair Water: then I took Wood Ashes,
and pouring on them Warme Water, Dissolv'd their salt; and filtrating
the Water, as soon as I found the _Lixivium_ sufficiently sharp upon
the tongue, I reserv'd it for use: Then on part of the former solution
of sublimate dropping a little of this Dissolv'd Fixt salt of Wood,
the Liquors presently turn'd of an Orange Colour; but upon the other
part of the clear solution of sublimate putting some of the Volatile
salt of Wood (which abounds in the spirit of soot) the Liquor
immediately turn'd white, almost like Milke, and after a while let
fall a white sediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To all
this that I have said concerning the Difference of salts, I might add
what I Formerly told you, concerning the simple spirit of Box, and
such like Woods, which differ much from the other salts hitherto
mention'd, and yet would belong to the saline Principle, if Chymists
did truly teach that all Tasts proceed from it. And I might also
annex, what I noted to you out of _Helmont_[19] concerning Bodies,
which, though they consist in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yet
appear but Volatile salts; But to insist on these things, were to
repeat; and therefore I shall proceed.
[Footnote 18: _Error vero per distillationem nobis monstrat etiam
Spiritum salinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gustu
distinguibilem a spiritu Urinæ; In eo tamen essentialiter diversum,
quod spiritus talis cruoris curat Epilepsiam, non autem Spiritus salis
lotii._ Helmont. Aura Vitalis.]
[Footnote 19: _Aliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &c. suo sali Alcali miscetur
absque omni aqua, trium mensium Artificiosa occultaque circulatione,
totum in salem volatilem commutatum est. Helmont. Tria Prima
Chymicorum, &c. pag. 412._]
This Disparity is also highly eminent in the separated sulphurs or
Chymical Oyles of things. For they contain so much of the scent, and
tast, and vertues, of the Bodies whence they were drawn, that they
seem to be but the Material _Crasis_ (if I may so speak) of their
Concretes. Thus the Oyles of Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmegs and other
spices, seem to be but the United Aromatick parts that did ennoble
those Bodies. And 'tis a known thing, that Oyl of Cinnamon, and oyle
of Cloves, (which I have likewise observ'd in the Oyles of several
Woods) will sink to the Bottom of Water: whereas those of Nutmegs and
divers other Vegetables will swim upon it. The Oyle (abusively call'd
spirit) of Roses swims at the Top of the Water in the forme of a white
butter, which I remember not to have observ'd in any other Oyle drawn
in any Limbeck; yet there is a way (not here to be declar'd) by which
I have seen it come over in the forme of other Aromatick Oyles, to the
Delight and Wonder of those that beheld it. In Oyle of Anniseeds,
which I drew both with, and without Fermentation, I observ'd the whole
Body of the Oyle in a coole place to thicken into the Consistence and
Appearance of white Butter, which with the least heat resum'd its
Former Liquidness. In the Oyl of Olive drawn over in a Retort, I have
likewise more then once seen a spontaneous Coagulation in the
Receiver: And I have of it by me thus Congeal'd; which is of such a
strangely Penetrating scent, as if 'twould Perforate the Noses that
approach it. The like pungent Odour I also observ'd in the Distill'd
Liquor of common sope, which forc'd over from _Minium_, lately
afforded an oyle of a most admirable Penetrancy; And he must be a
great stranger, both to the Writings and preparations of Chymists,
that sees not in the Oyles they distill from Vegetables and Animals, a
considerable and obvious Difference. Nay I shall venture to add,
_Eleutherius_, (what perhaps you will think of kin to a Paradox) that
divers times out of the same Animal or Vegetable, there may be
extracted Oyles of Natures obviously differing. To which purpose I
shall not insist on the swimming and sinking Oyles, which I have
sometimes observ'd to float on, and subside under the spirit of
_Guajacum_, and that of divers other Vegetables Distill'd with a
strong and lasting Fire; Nor shall I insist on the observation
elsewhere mention'd, of the divers and unminglable oyles afforded us
by Humane Blood long fermented and Digested with spirit of Wine,
because these kind of oyles may seem chiefly to differ in Consistence
and Weight, being all of them high colour'd and adust. But the
Experiment which I devis'd to make out this Difference of the oyles of
the same Vegetable, _ad Oculum_, (as they speak) was this that
followes. I took a pound of Annisseeds, and having grosly beaten them,
caused them to be put into a very large glass Retort almost filled
with fair Water; and placing this Retort in a sand Furnace, I caus'd a
very Gentle heat to be administer'd during the first day, and a great
part of the second, till the Water was for the most part drawn off,
and had brought over with it at least most of the Volatile and
Aromatick Oyle of the seeds. And then encreasing the Fire, and
changing the Receiver, I obtain'd besides an Empyreumatical Spirit, a
quantity of adust oyle; whereof a little floated upon the Spirit, and
the rest was more heavy, and not easily separable from it. And whereas
these oyles were very dark, and smell'd (as Chymists speak) so
strongly of the Fire, that their Odour did not betray from what
Vegetables they had been forc'd; the other _Aromatick_ Oyle was
enrich'd with the genuine smell and tast of the Concrete; and
spontaneously coagulating it self into white butter did manifest self
[Errata: it self] to be the true Oyle of Annisseeds; which Concrete I
therefore chose to employ about this Experiment, that the Difference
of these Oyles might be more conspicuous then it would have been, had
I instead of it destill'd another Vegetable.
I had almost forgot to take notice, that there is another sort of
Bodies, which though not obtain'd from Concretes by Distillation, many
Chymists are wont to call their Sulphur; not only because such
substances are, for the most part, high colour'd (whence they are
also, and that more properly, called Tinctures) as dissolv'd Sulphurs
are wont to be; but especially because they are, for the most part,
abstracted and separated from the rest of the Masse by Spirit of Wine:
which Liquor those men supposing to be Sulphureous, they conclude,
that what it works upon, and abstracts, must be a Sulphur also. And
upon this account they presume, that they can sequester the sulphur
even of Minerals and Metalls; from which 'tis known that they cannot
by Fire alone separate it. To all This I shall answer; That if these
sequestred substances where indeed the sulphurs of the Bodies whence
they are drawn, there would as well be a great Disparity betwixt
Chymical Sulphurs obtain'd by Spirit of Wine, as I have already shewn
there is betwixt those obtain'd by Distillation in the forme of Oyles:
which will be evident from hence, that not to urge that themselves
ascribe distinct vertues to Mineral Tinctures, extolling the Tincture
of Gold against such and such Diseases; the Tincture of Antimony, or
of its Glass, against others; and the Tincture of Emerauld against
others; 'tis plain, that in Tinctures drawn from Vegetables, if the
superfluous spirit of Wine be distill'd off, it leaves at the bottom
that thicker substance which Chymists use to call the Extract of the
Vegetable. And that these Extracts are endow'd with very differing
Qualities according to the Nature of the Particular Bodies that
afforded them (though I fear seldom with so much of the specifick
vertues as is wont to be imagin'd) is freely confess'd both by
Physitians and Chymists. But, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) we
may here take Notice that the Chymists do as well in this case, as in
many others, allow themselves a License to abuse Words: For not again
to argue from the differing properties of Tinctures, that they are not
exactly pure and Elementary Sulphurs; they would easily appear not to
be so much as Sulphur's, although we should allow Chymical Oyles to
deserve that Name. For however in some Mineral Tinctures the Natural
fixtness of the extracted Body does not alwayes suffer it to be easily
further resoluble into differing substances; Yet in very many extracts
drawn from Vegetables, it may very easily be manifested that the
spirit of Wine has not sequestred the sulphureous Ingredient from the
saline and Mercurial ones; but has dissolv'd (for I take it to be a
Solution) the finer Parts of the Concrete (without making any nice
distinction of their being perfectly Sulphureous or not) and united it
self with them into a kind of Magistery; which consequently must
contain Ingredients or Parts of several sorts. For we see that the
stones that are rich in vitriol, being often drench'd with
rain-Water, the Liquor will then extract a fine and transparent
substance coagulable into Vitriol; and yet though this Vitriol be
readily dissoluble in Water, it is not a true Elementary Salt, but, as
You know, a body resoluble into very differing Parts, whereof one (as
I shall have occasion to tell You anon) is yet of a Metalline, and
consequently not of an Elementary Nature. You may consider also, that
common Sulphur is readily dissoluble in Oyle of Turpentine, though
notwithstanding its Name it abounds as well, if not as much, in Salt
as in true Sulphur; witness the great quantity of saline Liquor it
affords being set to flame away under a glasse Bell. Nay I have, which
perhaps You will think strange, with the same Oyle of Turpentine alone
easily enough dissolv'd crude Antimony finely powder'd into a
Blood-red Balsam, wherewith perhaps considerable things may be
perform'd in Surgery. And if it were now Requisite, I could tell You
of some other Bodies (such as Perhaps You would not suspect) that I
have been able to work upon with certain Chymical Oyles. But instead
of digressing further I shall make this use of the Example I have
nam'd. That 'tis not unlikely, but that Spirit of Wine which by its
pungent tast, and by some other Qualities that argue it better
(especially its Reduciblenesse, according to _Helmont_, into _Alcali_,
and Water,) seems to be as well of a Saline as of a Sulphureous
Nature, may well be suppos'd Capable of Dissolving Substances That are
not meerly Elementary sulphurs, though perhaps they may abound with
Parts that are of kin thereunto. For I find that Spirit of Wine will
dissolve _Gumm Lacca_, _Benzoine_, and the _Resinous_ Parts of
_Jallap_, and even of _Guaiacum_; whence we may well suspect that it
may from Spices, Herbs, and other lesse compacted Vegetables, extract
substances that are not perfect Sulphurs but mixt Bodies. And to put
it past Dispute, there is many a Vulgar Extract drawn with Spirit of
Wine, which committed to Distillation will afford such differing
substances as will Loudly proclaim it to have been a very compounded
Body. So that we may justly suspect, that even in Mineral Tinctures it
will not alwaies follow, that because a red substance is drawn from
the Concrete by spirit of Wine, that Substance is its true and
Elementary Sulphur. And though some of these Extracts may perhaps be
inflamable; Yet besides that others are not, and besides that their
being reduc'd to such Minuteness of Parts may much facilitate their
taking Fire; besides this, I say, We see that common Sulphur, common
Oyle, Gumm Lac, and many Unctuous and Resinous Bodies, will flame well
enough, though they be of very compounded natures: Nay Travellers of
Unsuspected Credit assure Us, as a known thing, that in some Northern
Countries where Firr trees and Pines abound, the poorer sort of
Inhabitants use Long splinters of those Resinous Woods to burne
instead of Candles. And as for the rednesse wont to be met with in
such solutions, I could easily shew, that 'tis not necessary it should
proceed from the Sulphur of the Concrete, Dissolv'd by the Spirit of
Wine; if I had leasure to manifest how much Chymists are wont to
delude themselves and others by the Ignorance of those other causes
upon whose account spirit of Wine and other _Menstruums_ may acquire
a red or some other high colour. But to returne to our Chymical Oyles,
supposing that they were exactly pure; Yet I hope they would be, as
the best spirit of Wine is, but the more inflamable and deflagrable.
And therefore since an Oyle can be by the Fire alone immediately
turn'd into flame, which is something of a very differing Nature from
it: I shall Demand how this Oyle can be a Primogeneal and
Incorruptible Body, as most Chymists would have their Principles;
Since it is further resoluble into flame, which whether or no it be a
portion of the Element of Fire, as an _Aristotelian_ would conclude,
is certainly something of a very differing Nature from a Chymical
Oyle, since it burnes, and shines, and mounts swiftly upwards; none of
which a Chymical Oyle does, whilst it continues such. And if it should
be Objected, that the Dissipated Parts of this flaming Oyle may be
caught and collected again into Oyl or Sulphur; I shall demand, what
Chymist appears to have ever done it; and without Examining whether it
may not hence be as well said that sulphur is but compacted Fire, as
that Fire is but diffus'd Sulphur, I shall leave you to consider
whether it may not hence be argu'd, that neither Fire nor Sulphur are
primitive and indestructible Bodies; and I shall further observe that,
at least it will hence appear that a portion of matter may without
being Compounded with new Ingredients, by having the Texture and
Motion of its small parts chang'd, be easily, by the means of the
Fire, endow'd with new Qualities, more differing from them it had
before, then are those which suffice to discriminate the Chymists
Principles from one another.
We are next to Consider, whether in the Anatomy of mixt Bodies, that
which Chymists call the Mercurial part of them be un-compounded, or
no. But to tell You True, though Chymists do Unanimously affirm that
their Resolutions discover a Principle, which they call Mercury, yet I
find them to give of it Descriptions so Differing, and so
Ænigmaticall, that I, who am not asham'd to confess that I cannot
understand what is not sence, must acknowledge to you that I know not
what to make of them. _Paracelsus_ himself, and therefore, as you
will easily believe, many of his Followers, does somewhere call that
Mercury which ascends upon the burning of Wood, as the Peripateticks
are wont to take the same smoke for Air; and so seems to define
Mercury by Volatility, or (if I may coyne such a Word) Effumability.
But since, in this Example, both Volatile Salt and Sulphur make part
of the smoke, which does indeed consist also both of Phlegmatick and
Terrene Corpuscles, this Notion is not to be admitted; And I find that
the more sober Chymists themselves disavow it. Yet to shew you how
little of clearness we are to expect in the accounts even of latter
_Spagyrists_, be pleas'd to take notice, that _Beguinus_, even in his
_Tyrocinium Chymicum_,[20] written for the Instruction of Novices,
when he comes to tell us what are meant by the _Tria Prima_, which for
their being Principles ought to be defin'd the more accurately and
plainly, gives us this Description of Mercury; _Mercurius_ (sayes he)
_est liquor ille acidus, permeabilis, penetrabilis, æthereus, ac
purissimus, a quo omnis Nutricatio, Sensus, Motus, Vires, Colores,
Senectutisque Præproperæ retardatio._ Which words are not so much a
Definition of it, as an _Encomium_: and yet _Quercetanus_ in his
Description of the same Principle adds to these, divers other
_Epithets_. But both of them, to skip very many other faults that may
be found with their Metaphoricall Descriptions, speak incongruously to
the Chymists own Principles. For if Mercury be an Acid Liquor, either
Hermetical Philosophy must err in ascribing all Tasts to Salt, or else
Mercury must not be a Principle, but Compounded of a Saline Ingredient
and somewhat else. _Libavius_, though he find great fault with the
obscurity of what the Chymists write concerning their Mercurial
Principle, does yet but give us such a Negative Description of it, as
_Sennertus_, how favourable soever to the _Tria Prima_, is not
satisfi'd with. And this _Sennertus_ Himself, though the Learnedst
Champion for the Hypostatical Principles, does almost as frequently as
justly complain of the unsatisfactoriness of what the Chymists teach
concerning their Mercury; and yet he himself (but with his wonted
modesty) Substitutes instead of the Description of _Libavius_,
another, which many Readers, especially if they be not Peripateticks,
will not know what to make of. For scarce telling us any more, then
that in all bodies that which is found besides Salt and Sulphur, and
the Elements, or, as they call them, Phlegm and Dead Earth, is that
Spirit which in _Aristotles_ Language may be call'd [Greek: ousian
analogon [Errata: ousia analogos] tô tôn astrôn stoichaiô [Errata:
astrôn stoicheiô]]. He sayes that which I confess is not at all
satisfactory to me, who do not love to seem to acquiesce in any mans
Mystical Doctrines, that I may be thought to understand them.
[Footnote 20: _Chm. Tyrocin. lib. 1. Cap. 2._]
If (sayes _Eleutherius_) I durst presume that the same thing would be
thought clear by me, and those that are fond of such cloudy
Expressions as You justly Tax the Chymists for, I should venture to
offer to Consideration, whether or no, since the Mercurial Principle
that arises from Distillation is unanimously asserted to be distinct
from the salt and Sulphur of the same Concrete, that may not be call'd
the Mercury of a Body, which though it ascend in Distillation, as do
the Phlegme and Sulphur, is neither insipid like the former, nor
inflamable like the latter. And therefore I would substitute to the
too much abused Name of Mercury, the more clear and Familiar
Appellation of Spirit, which is also now very much made use of even by
the Chymists themselves, of our times, though they have not given us
so Distinct an Explication, as were fit, of what may be call'd the
Spirit of a mixt Body.
I should not perhaps (sayes _Carneades_) much quarrel with your Notion
of Mercury. But as for the Chymists, what they can mean, with
congruity to their own Principles, by the Mercury of Animals and
Vegetables, 'twill not be so easie to find out; for they ascribe Tasts
only to the Saline Principle, and consequently would be much put to it
to shew what Liquor it is, in the Resolution of Bodies, that not being
insipid, for that they call Phlegme, neither is inflamable as Oyle or
Sulphur, nor has any Tast; which according to them must proceed from a
Mixture, at least, of Salt. And if we should take Spirit in the sence
of the Word receiv'd among Modern Chymists and Physitians, for any
Distill'd Liquor that is neither Phlegme nor oyle, the Appellation
would yet appear Ambiguous enough. For, plainly, that which first
ascends in the Distillation of Wine and Fermented Liquors, is
generally as well by Chymists as others reputed a Spirit. And yet pure
Spirit of Wine being wholly inflamable ought according to them to be
reckon'd to the Sulphureous, not the Mercurial Principle. And among
the other Liquors that go under the name of Spirits, there are divers
which seem to belong to the family of Salts, such as are the Spirits
of Nitre, Vitriol, Sea-Salt and others, and even the Spirit of
Harts-horn, being, as I have try'd, in great part, if not totally
reducible into Salt and Phlegme, may be suspected to be but a Volatile
Salt disguis'd by the Phlegme mingl'd with it into the forme of a
Liquor. However if this be a Spirit, it manifestly differs very much
from that of Vinager, the Tast of the one being Acid, and the other
Salt, and their Mixture in case they be very pure, sometimes
occasioning an Effervescence like that of those Liquors the Chymists
count most contrary to one another. And even among those Liquors that
seem to have a better title then those hitherto mention'd, to the name
of Spirits, there appears a sensible Diversity; For spirit of Oak, for
instance, differs from that of Tartar, and this from that of Box, or
of _Guaiacum_. And in short, even these spirits as well as other
Distill'd Liquors manifest a great Disparity betwixt themselves,
either in their Actions on our senses, or in their other operations.
And (continues _Carneades_) besides this Disparity that is to be met
with among those Liquors that the Modernes call spirits, & take for
similar bodies, what I have formerly told you concerning the Spirit of
Box-wood may let you see that some of those Liquors not only have
qualities very differing from others, but may be further resolved into
substances differing from one another.
And since many moderne Chymists and other Naturalists are pleased to
take the Mercurial spirit of Bodies for the same Principle, under
differing names, I must invite you to observe, with me, the great
difference that is conspicuous betwixt all the Vegetable and Animal
spirits I have mention'd and running Mercury. I speak not of that
which is commonly sold in shops that many of themselves will confesse
to be a mixt Body; but of that which is separated from Metals, which
by some Chymists that seem more Philosophers then the rest, and
especially by the above mentioned _Claveus_, is (for distinction sake)
called _Mercurius Corporum_. Now this Metalline Liquor being one of
those three Principles of which Mineral Bodies are by _Spagyrists_
affirmed to be compos'd and to be resoluble into them, the many
notorious Differences betwixt them and the Mercuries, as They call
Them, of Vegetables and Animals will allow me to inferr, either that
Minerals and the other two sorts of Mixt Bodies consist not of the
same Elements, or that those Principles whereinto Minerals are
immediately resolved, which Chymists with great ostentation shew us as
the true principles, of them, are but Secundary Principles, or Mixts
of a peculiar sort, which must be themselves reduc'd to a very
differing forme, to be of the same kind with Vegetable and Animal
Liquors.
But this is not all; for although I formerly told You how Little
Credit there is to be given to the Chymical Processes commonly to be
met with, of Extracting the Mercuries of Metals, Yet I will now add,
that supposing that the more Judicious of Them do not untruly affirme
that they have really drawn true and running Mercury from several
Metals (which I wish they had cleerly taught Us how to do also,) yet
it may be still doubted whether such extracted Mercuries do not as
well differ from common Quicksilver, and from one another, as from the
Mercuries of Vegetables and Animalls. _Claveus_,[21] in his Apology,
speaking of some _experiments_ whereby Metalline Mercuries may be fixt
into the nobler metals, adds, that he spake of the Mercuries drawn
from metals; because common Quicksilver by reason of its excessive
coldnesse and moisture is unfit for that particular kind of operation;
for which though a few lines before he prescribes in general the
Mercuries of Metalline Bodies, yet he chiefly commends that drawn by
art from silver. And elsewhere, in the same Book, he tells us, that
he himself tryed, that by bare coction the quicksilver of Tin or
Pewter (_argentum vivum ex stanno prolicitum_) may by an efficient
cause, as he speaks, be turn'd into pure Gold. And the Experienc'd
_Alexander van Suchten_, somewhere tells us, that by a way he
intimates may be made a Mercury of Copper, not of the Silver colour of
other Mercuries, but green; to which I shall add, that an eminent
person, whose name his travells and learned writings have made famous,
lately assur'd me that he had more then once seen the Mercury of Lead
(which whatever Authors promise, you will find it very difficult to
make, at least in any considerable quantity) fixt into perfect Gold.
And being by me demanded whether or no any other Mercury would not as
well have been changed by the same Operations, he assured me of the
Negative.
[Footnote 21: _Dixi autem de argento vivo a metallis prolicito, quod
vulgare ob nimiam frigiditatem & humiditatem nimium concoctioni est
contumax, nec ab auro solum alterato coerceri potest._ Gast. Clave. in
Apoll.]
And since I am fallen upon the mention of the Mercuries of metals, you
will perhaps expect (_Eleutherius_!) that I should say something of
their two other principles; but must freely confess to you, that what
Disparity there may be between the salts and sulphurs of Metals and
other Menerals [Transcriber's Note: Minerals], I am not my self
experienced enough in the separations and examens of them, to venture
to determine: (for as for the salts of Metals, I formerly represented
it as a thing much to be question'd, whether they have any at all:)
And for the processes of separation I find in Authors, if they were
(what many of them are not) successfully practicable, as I noted
above, yet they are to be performed by the assistance of other bodies,
so hardly, if upon any termes at all, separable from them, that it is
very difficult to give the separated principles all their due, and no
more. But the Sulphur of Antimony which is vehemently vomitive, and
the strongly scented Anodyne Sulphur of Vitriol inclines me to think
that not only Mineral Sulphurs differ from Vegetable ones, but also
from one another, retaining much of the nature of their Concretes. The
salts of metals, and of some sort of minerals, You will easily guesse
by [Errata: (by] the Doubts I formerly express'd, whether metals have
any salt at all [Errata: all)], that I have not been so happy as yet
to see, perhaps not for want of curiosity. But if _Paracelsus_ did
alwaies write so consentaneously to himself that his opinion were
_confidently_ to be collected from every place of his writings where
he seems to expresse it, I might safely take upon me to tell you, that
he both countenances in general what I have delivered in my Fourth
main consideration, and in particular warrants me to suspect that
there may be a difference in metalline and mineral Salts, as well as
we find it in those of other bodies. For, _Sulphur_ (sayes he)[22]
_aliud in auro, aliud in argento, aliud in ferro, aliud in plumbo,
stanno, &c. sic aliud in Saphiro, aliud in Smaragdo, aliud in rubino,
chrysolito, amethisto, magnete, &c. Item aliud in lapidibus, silice,
salibus, fontibus, &c. nec vero tot sulphura tantum, sed & totidem
salia; sal aliud in metallis, aliud in gemmis, aliud in lapidibus,
aliud in salibus, aliud in vitriolo, aliud in alumine: similis etiam
Mercurii est ratio. Alius in Metallis, alius in Gemmis, &c. Ita ut
unicuique speciei suus peculiaris Mercurius sit. Et tamen res saltem
tres sunt; una essentia est sulphur; una est sal; una est Mercurius.
Addo quod & specialius adhuc singula dividantur; aurum enim non unum,
sed multiplex, ut et non unum pyrum, pomum, sed idem multiplex;
totidem etiam sulphura auri, salia auri, mercurii auri; idem competit
etiam metallis & gemmis; ut quot saphyri præstantiores, lævioris, &c.
tot etiam saphyrica sulphura, saphyrica salia, saphyrici Mercurii, &c.
Idem verum etiam est de turconibus & gemmis aliis universis._ From
which passage (_Eleutherius_) I suppose you will think I might without
rashness conclude, either that my opinion is favoured by that of
_Paracelsus_, or that _Paracelsus_ his opinion was not alwaies the
same. But because in divers other places of his writings he seems to
talk at a differing rate of the three Principles and the four
Elements, I shall content my self to inferr from the alledg'd passage,
that if his doctrine be not consistent with that Part of mine which it
is brought to countenance, it is very difficult to know what his
opinion concerning salt, sulphur and mercury, was; and that
consequently we had reason about the beginning of our conferences, to
decline taking upon us, either to examine or oppose it.
[Footnote 22: Paracel. de Mineral. Tract. 1. pag. 141.]
I know not whether I should on this occasion add, that those very
bodies the Chymists call Phlegme and Earth do yet recede from an
Elementary simplicity. That common Earth and Water frequently do so,
notwithstanding the received contrary opinion, is not deny'd by the
more wary of the moderne Peripateticks themselves: and certainly, most
Earths are much lesse simple bodies then is commonly imagined even by
Chymists, who do not so consideratly to prescribe and employ Earths
Promiscuously in those distillations that require the mixture of some
_caput mortuum_, to hinder the flowing together of the matter, and to
retain its grosser parts. For I have found some Earths to yield by
distillation a Liquor very far from being inodorous or insipid; and
'tis a known observation, that most kinds of fat Earth kept cover'd
from the rain, and hindred from spending themselves in the production
of vegetables, will in time become impregnated with Salt-Petre.
But I must remember that the Water and Earths I ought here to speak
of, are such as are separated from mixt Bodies by the fire; and
therefore to restrain my Discourse to such, I shall tell you, That we
see the Phlegme of Vitriol (for instance) is a very effectual remedie
against burnes; and I know a very Famous and experienc'd _Physitian_,
whose unsuspected secret (himself confess'd to me) it is, for the
discussing of hard and Obstinate Tumours. The Phlegme of Vinager,
though drawn exceeding leasurly in a digesting Furnace, I have
purposely made tryall of; and sometimes found it able to draw, though
slowly, a saccharine sweetness out of Lead; and as I remember by long
Digestion, I dissolv'd Corpals [Errata: Corals] in it. The Phlegme of
the sugar of Saturne is said to have very peculiar properties. Divers
Eminent Chymists teach, that it will dissolve Pearls, which being
precipitated by the spirit of the same concrete are thereby (as they
say) rendred volatile; which has been confirmed to me, upon his own
observation, by a person of great veracity. The Phlegme of Wine, and
indeed divers other Liquors that are indiscriminately condemnd to be
cast away as phlegm, are endow'd with qualities that make them differ
both from meer water, and from each other; and whereas the Chymists
are pleas'd to call the _caput mortuum_ of what they have distill'd
(after they have by affusion of water drawn away its salt) _terra
damnata_, or Earth, it may be doubted whether or no those earths are
all of them perfectly alike: and it is scarce to be doubted, but that
there are some of them which remain yet unreduc'd to an Elementary
nature. The ashes of wood depriv'd of all the salt, and bone-Ashes, or
calcin'd Harts-horn, which Refiners choose to make Tests of, as freest
from Salt, seem unlike: and he that shall compare either of these
insipid ashes to Lime, and much more to the _calx_ of Talk
[Transcriber's Note: Talck] (though by the affusion of water they be
exquisitely dulcify'd) will perhaps see cause to think them things of
a somewhat differing nature. And it is evident in Colcothar that the
exactest calcination, follow'd by an exquisite dulcification, does not
alwaies reduce the remaining body into elementary earth; for after the
salt or Vitriol (if the Calcination have been too faint) is drawn out
of the Colcothar, the residue is not earth, but a mixt body, rich in
Medical vertues (as experience has inform'd me) and which _Angelus
Sala_ affirmes to be partly reducible into malleable Copper; which I
judge very probable: for though when I was making Experiments upon
Colcothar, I was destitute of a Furnace capable of giving a heat
intense Enough to bring such a Calx to Fusion; yet having conjectur'd
that if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find it
out there, I put some dulcifi'd Colcothar into that _Menstruum_, and
found the Liquor, according to my Expectation, presently Colour'd as
Highly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Copper.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
_The Fifth Part._
Here _Carneades_ making a pause, I must not deny (sayes his Friend to
him) that I think You have sufficiently prov'd that these distinct
Substances which Chymists are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, by
their Vulgar Destillation, are not pure and simple enough to deserve,
in Rigour of speaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But I
suppose You have heard, that there are some Modern _Spagyrists_, who
give out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, so
reduce the separated Ingredients of Mixt Bodies to an Elementary
simplicity, That the Oyles (for Instance) extracted from all Mixts
shall as perfectly resemble one another, as the Drops of Water do.
If you remember (replies _Carneades_) that at the Beginning of our
Conference with _Philoponus_, I declar'd to him before the rest of the
Company, that I would not _engage_ my self at present to do any more
then examine the usual proofs alledg'd by Chymists, for the Vulgar
doctrine of their three Hypostatical Principles; You will easily
perceive that I am not oblig'd to make answer to what you newly
propos'd; and that it rather grants, then disproves what I have been
contending for: Since by pretending to make so great a change in the
reputed Principles that Destillation affords the common _Spagyrists_,
'tis plainly enough presuppos'd, that before such Artificial
Depurations be made, the Substances to be made more simple were not
yet simple enough to be look'd upon as Elementary; Wherefore in case
the _Artists_ you speak of could perform what they give out they can,
yet I should not need to be asham'd of having question'd the Vulgar
Opinion touching the _tria Prima_. And as to the thing it self, I
shall freely acknowledge to you, that I love not to be forward in
determining things to be impossible, till I know and have consider'd
the means by which they are propos'd to be effected. And therefore I
shall not peremptorily deny either the possibility of what these
_Artists_ promise, or my Assent to any just Inference; however
destructive to my Conjectures, that may be drawn from their
performances. But give me leave to tell you withall, that because such
promises are wont (as Experience has more then once inform'd me) to be
much more easily made, then made good by Chymists, I must withhold my
Beliefe from their assertions, till their Experiments exact it; and
must not be so easie as to expect before hand, an unlikely thing upon
no stronger Inducements then are yet given me: Besides that I have not
yet found by what I have heard of these Artists, that though they
pretend to bring the several Substances into which the Fire has
divided the Concrete, to an exquisite simplicity, They pretend also to
be able by the Fire to divide all Concretes, Minerals, and others,
into the same number of Distinct Substances. And in the mean time I
must think it improbable, that they can either truly separate as many
differing Bodies from Gold (for Instance) or _Osteocolla_, as we can
do from Wine, or Vitriol; or that the Mercury (for Example) of Gold or
Saturn would be perfectly of the same Nature with that of Harts-horn;
and that the sulphur of Antimony would be but Numerically different
from the Distill'd butter or oyle of Roses.
But suppose (sayes _Eleutherius_) that you should meet with Chymists,
who would allow you to take in Earth and Water into the number of the
principles of Mixt Bodies; and being also content to change the
Ambiguous Name of Mercury for that more intelligible one of spirit,
should consequently make the principles of Compound Bodies to be Five;
would you not think it something hard to reject so plausible an
Opinion, only because the Five substances into which the Fire divides
mixt Bodies are not exactly pure, and Homogeneous? For my part
(Continues _Carneades_) I cannot but think it somewhat strange, in
case this Opinion be not true, that it should fall out so luckily,
that so great a Variety of Bodies should be Analyz'd by the Fire into
just five Distinct substances; which so little differing from the
Bodies that bear those names, may so Plausibly be call'd Oyle, Spirit,
Salt, Water, and Earth.
The Opinion You now propose (answers _Carneades_) being another then
that I was engag'd to examine, it is not requisite for me to Debate it
at present; nor should I have leisure to do it thorowly. Wherefore I
shall only tell you in General, that though I think this Opinion in
some respects more defensible then that of the Vulgar Chymists; yet
you may easily enough learn from the past Discourse what may be
thought of it: Since many of the Objections made against the Vulgar
Doctrine of the Chymists seem, without much alteration, employable
against this _Hypothesis_ also. For, besides that this Doctrine does
as well as the other take it for granted, (what is not easie to be
prov'd) that the Fire is the true and Adequate Analyzer of Bodies,
and that all the Distinct substances obtainable from a mixt Body by
the Fire, were so pre-existent in it, that they were but extricated
from each other by the _Analysis_; Besides that this Opinion, too,
ascribe [Errata: ascribes] to the Productions of the Fire an
Elementary simplicity, which I have shewn not to belong to them; and
besides that this Doctrine is lyable to some of the other
Difficulties, wherewith That of the _Tria Prima_ is incumber'd;
Besides all this, I say, this quinary number of Elements, (if you
pardon the Expression) ought at least to have been restrain'd to the
Generality of Animal and Vegetable Bodies, since not only among these
there are some Bodies (as I formerly argu'd) which, for ought has yet
been made to appear, do consist, either of fewer or more similar
substances then precisely Five. But in the Mineral Kingdom, there is
scarce one Concrete that has been evinc'd to be adequatly divisible
into such five Principles or Elements, and neither more nor less, as
this Opinion would have every mixt Body to consist of.
And this very thing (continues _Carneades_) may serve to take away or
lessen your Wonder, that just so many Bodies as five should be found
upon the Resolution of Concretes. For since we find not that the fire
can make any such _Analysis_ (into five Elements) of Metals and other
Mineral Bodies, whose Texture is more strong and permanent, it remains
that the Five Substances under consideration be Obtain'd from
Vegetable and Animal Bodies, which (probably by reason of their looser
Contexture) are capable of being Distill'd. And as to such Bodies,
'tis natural enough, that, whether we suppose that there are, or are
not, precisely five Elements, there should ordinarily occurr in the
Dissipated parts a five Fold Diversity of Scheme (if I may so speak.)
For if the Parts do not remain all fix'd, as in Gold, Calcin'd Talck,
&c. nor all ascend, as in the Sublimation of Brimstone, Camphire, &c.
but after their Dissipation do associate themselves into new Schemes
of Matter; it is very likely, that they will by the Fire be divided
into fix'd and Volatile (I mean, in Reference to that degree of heat
by which they are destill'd) and those Volatile parts will, for the
most part, ascend either in a dry forme, which Chymists are pleas'd to
call, if they be Tastless, Flowers; if Sapid, Volatile Salt; or in a
Liquid Forme. And this Liquor must be either inflamable, and so pass
for oyl, or not inflamable, and yet subtile and pungent, which may be
call'd Spirit; or else strengthless or insipid, which may be nam'd
Phlegme, or Water. And as for the fixt part, or _Caput Mortuum_, it
will most commonly consist of Corpuscles, partly Soluble in Water, or
Sapid, (especially if the Saline parts were not so Volatile, as to fly
away before) which make up its fixt salt; and partly insoluble and
insipid, which therefore seems to challenge the name of Earth. But
although upon this ground one might easily enough have foretold, that
the differing substances obtain'd from a perfectly mixt Body by the
Fire would for the most part be reducible to the five newly mentioned
States of Matter; yet it will not presently follow, that these five
Distinct substances were simple and primogeneal bodies, so
pre-existent in the Concrete that the fire does but take them asunder.
Besides that it does not appear, that all Mixt Bodies, (witness,
Gold, Silver, Mercury, &c.) Nay nor perhaps all Vegetables, which may
appear by what we said above of _Camphire_, _Benzoin_, &c. are
resoluble by Fire into just such differing Schemes of Matter. Nor will
the Experiments formerly alledg'd permit us to look upon these
separated Substances as Elementary, or uncompounded. Neither will it
be a sufficient Argument of their being Bodies that deserve the Names
which Chymists are pleas'd to give them, that they have an Analogy in
point of Consistence, or either Volatility or Fixtness, or else some
other obvious Quality, with the suppos'd Principles, whose names are
ascrib'd to them. For, as I told you above, notwithstanding this
Resemblance in some one Quality, there may be such a Disparity in
others, as may be more fit to give them Differing Appellations, then
the Resemblance is to give them one and the same. And indeed it seems
but somewhat a gross Way of judging of the Nature of Bodies, to
conclude without Scruple, that those must be of the same Nature that
agree in some such General Quality, as Fluidity, Dryness, Volatility,
and the like: since each of those Qualities, or States of Matter, may
Comprehend a great Variety of Bodies, otherwise of a very differing
Nature; as we may see in the Calxes of Gold, of Vitriol, and of
Venetian Talck, compar'd with common Ashes, which yet are very dry,
and fix'd by the vehemence of the Fire, as well as they. And as we may
likewise gather from what I have formerly Observ'd, touching the
Spirit of Box-Wood, which though a Volatile, Sapid, and not inflamable
Liquor, as well as the Spirits of Harts-horn, of Blood and others,
(and therefore has been hitherto call'd, the Spirit, and esteem'd for
one of the Principles of the Wood that affords it;) may yet, as I told
You, be subdivided into two Liquors, differing from one another, and
one of them at least, from the Generality of other Chymical Spirits.
But you may your self, if you please, (pursues _Carneades_)
accommodate to the _Hypothesis_ you propos'd what other particulars
you shall think applicable to it, in the foregoing Discourse. For I
think it unseasonable for me to meddle now any further with a
Controversie, which since it does not now belong to me, Leaves me at
Liberty to Take my Own time to Declare my Self about it.
_Eleutherius_ perceiving that _Carneades_ was somewhat unwilling to
spend any more time upon the debate of this Opinion, and having
perhaps some thoughts of taking hence a Rise to make him Discourse it
more fully another time, thought not fit as then to make any further
mention to him of the propos'd opinion, but told him;
I presume I need not mind you, _Carneades_, That both the Patrons of
the ternary number of Principles, and those that would have five
Elements, endeavour to back their experiments with a specious Reason
or two; and especially some of those Embracers of the Opinion last
nam'd (whom I have convers'd with, and found them Learned men) assigne
this Reason of the necessity of five distinct Elements; that otherwise
mixt Bodies could not be so compounded and temper'd as to obtain a due
consistence and competent Duration. For Salt (say they) is the
_Basis_ of Solidity; and Permanency in Compound Bodies, without which
the other four Elements might indeed be variously and loosly blended
together, but would remain incompacted; but that Salt might be
dissolv'd into minute Parts, and convey'd to the other Substances to
be compacted by it, and with it, there is a Necessity of Water. And
that the mixture may not be too hard and brittle, a Sulphureous or
Oyly Principle must intervene to make the mass more tenacious; to this
a Mercurial spirit must be superadded; which by its activity may for a
while premeate [Transcriber's Note: permeate], and as it were leaven
the whole Mass, and thereby promote the more exquisite mixture and
incorporation of the Ingredients. To all which (lastly) a portion of
Earth must be added, which by its drinesse and poracity [Errata:
porosity] may soak up part of that water wherein the Salt was
dissolv'd, and eminently concurr with the other ingredients to give
the whole body the requisite consistence.
I perceive (sayes _Carneades_ smiling) that if it be true, as 'twas
lately rooted [Errata: noted] from the Proverb, _That good Wits have
bad Memories_, You have that Title, as well as a better, to a place
among the good Wits. For you have already more then once forgot, that
I declar'd to you that I would at this Conference Examine only the
Experiments of my Adversaries, not their Speculative Reasons. Yet 'tis
not (Subjoynes _Carneades_) for fear of medling with the Argument you
have propos'd, that I decline the examining it at present. For if when
we are more at leasure, you shall have a mind that we may Solemnly
consider of it together; I am confident we shall scarce find it
insoluble. And in the mean time we may observe, that such a way of
Arguing may, it seems, be speciously accommodated to differing
_Hypotheses_. For I find that _Beguinus_, and other Assertors of the
_Tria Prima_, pretend to make out by such a way, the requisiteness of
their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, to constitute mixt Bodies, without
taking notice of any necessity of an Addition of Water and Earth.
And indeed neither sort of Chymists seem to have duly consider'd how
great Variety there is in the Textures and Consistences of Compound
Bodie; sand [Errata: Bodies; and] how little the consistence and
Duration of many of them seem to accommodate and be explicable by the
propos'd Notion. And not to mention those almost incorruptible
Substances obtainable by the Fire, which I have prov'd to be somewhat
compounded, and which the Chymists will readily grant not to be
perfectly mixt Bodies: (Not to mention these, I say) If you will but
recall to mind some of those Experiments, whereby I shew'd You that
out of common Water only mixt Bodies (and even living ones) of very
differing consistences, and resoluble by Fire into as many Principles
as other bodies acknowledg'd to be perfectly mixt; if you do this, I
say, you will not, I suppose, be averse from beleeving, that Nature by
a convenient disposition of the minute parts of a portion of matter
may contrive bodies durable enough, and of this, or that, or the other
Consistence, without being oblig'd to make use of all, much less of
any Determinate quantity of each of the five Elements, or of the three
Principles to compound such bodies of. And I have (pursues
_Carneades_) something wonder'd, Chymists should not consider, that
there is scarce any body in Nature so permanent and indissoluble as
Glass; which yet themselves teach us may be made of bare Ashes,
brought to fusion by the meer Violence of the Fire; so that, since
Ashes are granted to consist but of pure Salt and simple Earth,
sequestred from all the other Principles or Elements, they must
acknowledge, That even Art it self can of two Elements only, or, if
you please, one Principle and one Element, compound a Body more
durable then almost any in the World. Which being undeniable, how will
they prove that Nature cannot compound Mixt Bodies, and even durable
Ones, under all the five Elements or material Principles.
But to insist any longer on this Occasional Disquisition, Touching
their Opinion that would Establish five Elements, were to remember as
little as You did before, that the Debate of this matter is no part of
my first undertaking; and consequently, that I have already spent time
enough in what I look back upon but as a digression, or at best an
Excursion.
And thus, _Eleutherius_, (sayes _Carneades_) having at length gone
through the four Considerations I propos'd to Discourse unto you, I
hold it not unfit, for fear my having insisted so long on each of them
may have made you forget their _Series_, briefly to repeat them by
telling you, that
Since, in the first place, it may justly be doubted whether or no the
Fire be, as Chymists suppose it, the genuine and Universal Resolver of
mixt Bodies;
Since we may doubt, in the next place, whether or no all the Distinct
Substances that may be obtain'd from a mixt body by the Fire were
pre-existent there in the formes in which they were separated from it;
Since also, though we should grant the Substances separable from mixt
Bodies by the fire to have been their component Ingredients, yet the
Number of such substances does not appear the same in all mixt Bodies;
some of them being Resoluble into more differing substances than
three, and Others not being Resoluble into so many as three.
And Since, Lastly, those very substances that are thus separated are
not for the most part pure and Elementary bodies, but new kinds of
mixts;
Since, I say, these things are so, I hope you will allow me to inferr,
that the Vulgar Experiments (I might perchance have Added, the
Arguments too) wont to be Alledg'd by Chymists to prove, that their
three Hypostatical Principles do adequately compose all mixt Bodies,
are not so demonstrative as to reduce a wary Person to acquiesce in
their Doctrine, which, till they Explain and prove it better, will by
its perplexing darkness be more apt to puzzle then satisfy considering
men, and will to them appear incumbred with no small Difficulties.
And from what has been hitherto deduc'd (continues _Carneades_) we may
Learn, what to Judge of the common Practice of those Chymists, who
because they have found that Diverse compound Bodies (for it will not
hold in All) can be resolv'd into, or rather can be brought to afford
two or three differing Substances more then the Soot and Ashes,
whereinto the naked fire commonly divides them in our Chymnies, cry up
their own Sect for the Invention of a New Philosophy, some of them, as
_Helmont, &c._ styling themselves Philosophers by the Fire; and the
most part not only ascribing, but as far as in them lies, engrossing
to those of their Sect the Title of PHILOSOPHERS.
But alas, how narrow is this Philosophy, that reaches but to some of
those compound Bodies, which we find but upon, or in the crust or
outside of our terrestrial Globe, which is it self but a point in
comparison of the vast extended Universe, of whose other and greater
parts the Doctrine of the _Tria Prima_ does not give us an Account!
For what does it teach us, either of the Nature of the Sun, which
Astronomers affirme to be eight-score and odd times bigger then the
whole Earth? or of that of those numerous fixt Starrs, which, for
ought we know, would very few, if any of them, appear inferiour in
bulke and brightness to the Sun, if they were as neer us as He? What
does the knowing that Salt, sulphur and Mercury, are the Principles of
Mixt Bodies, informe us of the Nature of that vast, fluid, and
Ætherial Substance, that seemes to make up the interstellar, and
consequently much the greatest part of the World? for as for the
opinion commonly ascrib'd to _Paracelsus_, as if he would have not
only the four Peripatetick Elements, but even the Celestial parts of
the Universe to consist of his three Principles, since the modern
Chymists themselves have not thought so groundless a conceit worth
their owning, I shall not think it Worth my confuting.
But I should perchance forgive the Hypothesis I have been all this
while examining, if, though it reaches but to a very little part of
the World, it did at least give us a satisfactory account of those
things to which 'tis said to reach. But I find not, that it gives us
any other then a very imperfect information even about mixt Bodies
themselves: For how will the knowledge of the _Tria Prima_ discover to
us the Reason, why the Loadstone drawes a Needle and disposes it to
respect the Poles, and yet seldom precisely points at them? how will
this Hypothesis teach Us how a Chick is formed in the Egge, or how the
Seminal Principles of Mint, Pompions, and other Vegitables, that I
mention'd to You above, can fashion Water into Various Plants, each of
them endow'd with its peculiar and determinate shape, and with divers
specifick and discriminating Qualities? How does this Hypothesis shew
us, how much Salt, how much Sulphur, and how much Mercury must be
taken to make a Chick or a Pompion? and if We know that, what
Principle is it, that manages these Ingredients, and contrives (for
instance) such Liquors as the White and Yelk of an Egge into such a
variety of Textures as is requisite to fashion the Bones, Veines,
Arteries, Nerves, Tendons, Feathers, Blood, and other parts of a
Chick; and not only to fashion each Limbe, but to connect them
altogether, after that manner that is most congruous to the perfection
of the Animal which is to Consist of Them? For to say, that some more
fine and subtile part of either or all the Hypostatical Principles is
the Director in all this business, and the Architect of all this
Elaborate structure, is to give one occasion to demand again, what
proportion and way of mixture of the _Tria Prima_ afforded this
_Architectonick_ Spirit, and what Agent made so skilful and happy a
mixture? And the Answer to this Question, if the Chymists will keep
themselves within their three Principles, will be lyable to the same
Inconvenience, that the Answer to the former was. And if it were not
to intrench upon the Theame of a Friend of ours here present, I could
easily prosecute the Imperfections of the Vulgar Chymists Philosophy,
and shew you, that by going about to explicate by their three
Principles, I say not, all the abstruse Properties of mixt Bodies, but
even such Obvious and more familiar _Phænomena_ as _Fluidity_ and
_Firmness_, The Colours and Figures of Stones, Minerals, and other
compound Bodies, The Nutrition of either Plants or Animals, the
Gravity of Gold or Quicksilver compar'd with Wine or Spirit of Wine;
By attempting, I say, to render a reason of these (to omit a thousand
others as difficult to account for) from any proportion of the three
simple Ingredients, Chymists will be much more likely to discredit
themselves and their _Hypothesis_, then satisfy an intelligent
Inquirer after Truth.
But (interposes _Eleutherus_) [Transcriber's Note: Eleutherius] This
Objection seems no more then may be made against the four Peripatetick
Elements. And indeed almost against any other _Hypothesis_, that
pretends by any Determinate Number of Material Ingredients to render a
reason of the _Phænomena_ of Nature. And as for the use of the
Chymical Doctrine of the three Principles, I suppose you need not be
told by me, that The great Champion of it, The Learned _Sennertus_,[23]
assignes this noble use of the _Tria Prima_, That from Them, as the
neerest and most Proper Principles, may be Deduc'd and Demonstrated
the Properties which are in Mixt Bodies, and which cannot be
Proximately (as They speak) deduc'd from the Elements. And This, sayes
he, is chiefly Apparent, when we Inquire into the Properties and
Faculties of Medecines. And I know (continues _Eleutherius_) That the
Person You have assum'd, of an Opponent of the _Hermetick Doctrine_,
will not so far prevaile against your Native and wonted Equity, as To
keep You from acknowledging that Philosophy is much beholden to the
Notions and Discoveries of Chymists.
[Footnote 23: _Senn. de Cons. & Dissen. p. 165._]
If the Chymists You speak of (Replyes _Carneades_) had been so modest,
or so Discreet, as to propose their Opinion of the _Tria Prima_, but
as a Notion useful among Others, to increase Humane knowledge, they
had deserv'd more of our thanks; and less of our Opposition; but since
the Thing that they pretend is not so much to contribute a Notion
toward the Improvement of Philosophy, as to make this Notion attended
[Errata: (attended] by a few lesse considerable ones) pass for a New
Philosophy itself. Nay, since they boast so much of this phancie of
theirs, that the famous _Quercetanus_ scruples not to write, that if
his most certain Doctrine of the three Principles were sufficiently
Learned, Examin'd, and Cultivated, it would easily Dispel all the
Darkness that benights our minds, and bring in a Clear Light, that
would remove all Difficulties. This School affording Theorems and
Axiomes irrefragable, and to be admitted without Dispute by impartial
Judges; and so useful withal, as to exempt us from the necessity of
having recourse, for want of the knowledg of causes, to that Sanctuary
of the igorant [Transcriber's Note: ignorant], Occult Qualities;
since, I say, this Domestick Notion of the Chymists is so much
overvalued by them, I cannot think it unfit, they should be made
sensible of their mistake; and be admonish'd to take in more fruitful
and comprehensive Principles, if they mean to give us an account of
the _Phænomena_ of Nature; and not confine themselves and (as far as
they can) others to such narrow Principles, as I fear will scarce
inable them to give an account (I mean an intelligible one) of the
tenth part (I say not) of all the _Phænomena_ of Nature; but even of
all such as by the _Leucippian_ or some of the other sorts of
Principles may be plausibly enough explicated. And though I be not
unwilling to grant, that the incompetency I impute to the Chymical
_Hypothesis_ is but the same which may be Objected against that of the
four Elements, and divers other Doctrines that have been maintain'd by
Learned men; yet since 'tis the Chymical _Hypothesis_ only which I am
now examining, I see not why, if what I impute to it be a real
inconvenience, either it should cease to be so, or I should scruple to
object it, because either Theories are lyable thereunto, as well as
the Hermetical. For I know not why a Truth should be thought lesse a
Truth for the being fit to overthrow variety of Errors.
I am oblig'd to You (continues _Carneades_, a little smiling) for the
favourable Opinion You are pleas'd to express of my Equity, if there
be no design in it. But I need not be tempted by an Artifice, or
invited by a Complement, to acknowledge the great service that the
Labours of Chymists have done the Lovers of useful Learning; nor even
on this occasion shall their Arrogance hinder my Gratitude. But since
we are as well examining to [Errata: delete "to"] the truth of their
Doctrine as the merit of their industry, I must in order to the
investigation of the first, continue a reply, to talk at the rate of
the part I have assum'd; And tell you, that when I acknowledg the
usefulness of the Labours of _Spagyrists_ to Natural Philosophy, I do
it upon the score of their experiments, not upon that of Their
Speculations; for it seems to me, that their Writings, as their
Furnaces, afford as well smoke as light; and do little lesse obscure
some subjects, then they illustrate others. And though I am unwilling
to deny, that 'tis difficult for a man to be an Accomplisht
Naturalist, that is a stranger to Chymistry, yet I look upon the
common Operations and practices of Chymists, almost as I do on the
Letters of the Alphabet, without whose knowledge 'tis very hard for a
man to become a Philosopher; and yet that knowledge is very far from
being sufficient to make him One.
But (sayes _Carneades_, resuming a more serious Look) to consider a
little more particularly what you alledg in favour of the Chymical
Doctrine of the _Tria Prima_, though I shall readily acknowledge it
not to be unuseful, and that the Divisers [Errata: devisers] and
Embracers of it have done the Common-Wealth of Learning some service,
by helping to destroy that excessive esteem, or rather veneration,
wherewith the Doctrine of the four Elements was almost as generally as
undeservedly entertain'd; yet what has been alledg'd concerning the
usefulness of the _Tria Prima_, seems to me liable to no contemptible
Difficulties.
And first, as for the very way of Probation, which the more Learned
and more Sober Champions of the Chymical cause employ to evince the
Chymical Principles in Mixt Bodies, it seems to me to be farr enough
from being convincing. This grand and leading Argument, your
_Sennertus_ Himself, who layes Great weight upon it, and tells us,
that the most Learned Philosophers employ this way of Reasoning to
prove the most important things, proposes thus: _Ubicunque_ (sayes he)
_pluribus eædem affectiones & qualitates insunt, per commune quoddam
Principium insint necesse est, sicut omnia sunt Gravia propter terram,
calida propter Ignem. At Colores, Odores, Sapores, esse_ [Greek:
phlogiston] _& similia alia, mineralibus, Metallis, Gemmis, Lapidibus,
Plantis, Animalibus insunt. Ergo per commune aliquod principium, &
subiectum, insunt. At tale principium non sunt Elementa. Nullam enim
habent ad tales qualitates producendas potentiam. Ergo alia principia,
unde fluant, inquirenda sunt._
In the Recital of this Argument, (sayes _Carneades_) I therefore
thought fit to retain the Language wherein the Author proposes it,
that I might also retain the propriety of some Latine Termes, to which
I do not readily remember any that fully answer in English. But as for
the Argumentation it self, 'tis built upon a precarious supposition,
that seems to me neither Demonstrable nor true; for, how does it
appear, that where the same Quality is to be met with in many Bodies,
it must belong to them upon the Account of some one Body whereof they
all partake? (For that the Major of our Authors Argument is to be
Understood of the Material Ingredients of bodies, appears by the
Instances of Earth and Fire he annexes to explain it.) For to begin
with that very Example which he is pleas'd to alledge for himself; how
can he prove, that the Gravity of all Bodies proceeds from what they
participate of the Element of Earth? Since we see, that not only
common Water, but the more pure Distill'd Rain Water is heavy; and
Quicksilver is much heavier than Earth it self; though none of my
Adversaries has yet prov'd, that it contains any of that Element. And
I the Rather make use of this Example of Quicksilver, because I see
not how the Assertors of the Elements will give any better Account of
it then the Chymists. For if it be demanded how it comes to be Fluid,
they will answer, that it participates much of the Nature of Water.
And indeed, according to them, Water may be the Predominant Element
in it, since we see, that several Bodies which by Distillation afford
Liquors that weigh more then their _Caput Mortuum_ do not yet consist
of Liquor enough to be Fluid. Yet if it be demanded how Quicksilver
comes to be so heavy, then 'tis reply'd, that 'tis by reason of the
Earth that abounds in it; but since, according to them, it must
consist also of air, and partly of Fire, which they affirm to be light
Elements, how comes it that it should be so much heavier then Earth of
the same bulk, though to fill up the porosities and other Cavities it
be made up into a mass or paste with Water, which it self they allow
to be a heavy Element. But to returne to our _Spagyrists_, we see that
Chymical Oyles and fixt Salts, though never so exquisitely purify'd
and freed from terrestrial parts, do yet remain ponderous enough. And
Experience has inform'd me, that a pound, for instance, of some of the
heaviest Woods, as _Guajacum_ that will sink in Water, being burnt to
Ashes will yield a much less weight of them (whereof I found but a
small part to be Alcalyzate) then much lighter Vegetables: As also
that the black Charcoal of it will not sink as did the wood, but swim;
which argues that the Differing Gravity of Bodies proceeds chiefly
from their particular Texture, as is manifest in Gold, the closest and
Compactest of Bodies, which is many times heavier then we can possibly
make any parcell of Earth of the same Bulk. I will not examine, what
may be argu'd touching the Gravity or Quality Analagous thereunto, of
even Celestial bodies, from the motion of the spots about the Sun, d
[Errata: and] from the appearing equality of the suppos'd Seas in the
Moon; nor consider how little those _Phæmonea_ [Transcriber's Note:
Phænomena] would agree with what _Sennertus_ presumes concerning
Gravity. But further to invalidate his supposition, I shall demand,
upon what Chymical Principle Fluidity depends? And yet Fluidity is,
two or three perhaps excepted, the most diffused quality of the
universe, and far more General then almost any other of those that are
to be met with in any of the Chymicall Principles, or _Aristotelian_
Elements; since not only the Air, but that vast expansion we call
Heaven, in comparison of which our Terrestrial Globe (supposing it
were all Solid) is but a point; and perhaps to [Errata: too] the Sun
and the fixt Stars are fluid bodies. I demand also, from which of the
Chymical Principles Motion flowes; which yet is an affection of matter
much more General then any that can be deduc'd from any of the three
Chymical Principles. I might ask the like Question concerning Light,
which is not only to be found in the Kindl'd Sulphur of mixt Bodis
[Transcriber's Note: Bodies], but (not to mention those sorts of
rotten Woods, and rotten Fish that shine in the Dark) in the tails of
living Glow-wormes, and in the Vast bodies of the Sun and Stars. I
would gladly also know, in which of the three Principles the Quality,
we call Sound, resides as in its proper Subject; since either Oyl
falling upon Oyle, or Spirit upon Spirit, or Salt upon Salt, in a
great quantity, and from a considerable height, will make a noise, or
if you please, create a sound, and (that the objection may reach the
_Aristotelians_) so will also water upon water, and Earth upon Earth.
And I could name other qualities to be met within divers bodies, of
which I suppose my Adversaries will not in haste assign any Subject,
upon whose Account it must needs be, that the quality belongs to all
the other several bodies.
And, before I proceed any further, I must here invite you to compare
the supposition we are examining, with some other of the Chymical
Tenents. For, first they do in effect teach that more then one quality
may belong to, and be deduc'd from, one Principle. For, they ascribe
to Salt Tasts, and the power of Coagulation; to sulphur, as well
Odours as inflamableness; And some of them ascribe to Mercury,
Colours; as all of them do effumability, as they speak. And on the
other side, it is evident that Volatility belongs in common to all the
three Principles, and to Water too. For 'tis manifest, that Chymical
Oyles are Volatile; That also divers Salts Emerging, upon the Analysis
of many Concretes, are very Volatile, is plain from the figitiveness
[Errata: fugitivenesse] of Salt, of Harts-horne, flesh, &c. ascending
in the Distillation of those bodies. How easily water may be made to
ascend in Vapours, there is scarce any body that has not observ'd. And
as for what they call the Mercuriall Principle of bodies, that is so
apt to be rais'd in the form of Steam, that _Paracelsus_ and others
define it by that aptness to fly up; so that (to draw that inference
by the way) it seems not that Chymists have been accurate in their
Doctrine of qualities, and their respective Principles, since they
both derive several qualities from the same Principle, and must
ascribe the same quality to almost all their Principles and other
bodies besides. And thus much for the first thing taken for granted,
without sufficient proof, by your _Sennertus_: And to add that upon
the Bye (continues _Carneades_) we may hence learn what to judge of
the way of Argumentation, which that fierce Champion of the
_Aristotelians_ against the Chymists, _Anthonius Guntherus
Billichius_[24] employes, where he pretends to prove against
_Beguinus_, that not only the four Elements do immediately concur to
Constitute every mixt body, and are both present in it, and obtainable
from it upon its Dissolution; but that in the _Tria Prima_ themselves,
whereinto Chymists are wont to resolve mixt Bodies, each of them
clearly discovers it self to consist of four Elements. The
Ratiocination it self (pursues _Carneades_) being somewhat unusual, I
did the other Day Transcribe it, and (sayes He, pulling a Paper out of
his Pocket) it is this. _Ordiamur, cum Beguino, a ligno viridi, quod
si concremetur, videbis in sudore Aquam, in fumo Aerem, in flamma &
Prunis Ignem, Terram in cineribus: Quod si Beguino placuerit ex eo
colligere humidum aquosum, cohibere humidum oleaginosum, extrahere ex
cineribus salem; Ego ipsi in unoquoque horum seorsim quatuor Elementa
ad oculum demonstrabo, eodem artificio quo in ligno viridi ea
demonstravi. Humorem aquosum admovebo Igni. Ipse Aquam Ebullire
videbit, in Vapore Aerem conspiciet, Ignem sentiet in æstu, plus minus
Terræ in sedimento apparebit. Humor porro Oleaginosus aquam humiditate
& fluiditate per se, accensus vero Ignem flamma prodit, fumo Aerem,
fuligine, nidore & amurca terram. Salem denique ipse Beguinus siccum
vocat & Terrestrem, qui tamen nec fusus Aquam, nec caustica vi ignem
celare potest; ignis vero Violentia in halitus versus nec ab Aere se
alienum esse demonstrat; Idem de Lacte, de Ovis, de semine Lini, de
Garyophyllis, de Nitro, de sale Marino, denique de Antimonio, quod
fuit de Ligno viridi Judicium; eadem de illorum partibus, quas_
Beguinus _adducit, sententia, quæ de viridis ligni humore aquoso, quæ
de liquore ejusdem oleoso, quæ de sale fuit._
[Footnote 24: _In Thessalo redivivo. Cap. 10. pag. 73. & 74._]
This bold Discourse (resumes _Carneades_, putting up again his Paper,)
I think it were not very difficult to confute, if his Arguments were
as considerable as our time will probably prove short for the
remaining and more necessary Part of my Discourse; wherefore referring
You for an Answer to what was said concerning the Dissipated Parts of
a burnt piece of green Wood, to what I told _Themistius_ on the like
occasion, I might easily shew You, how sleightly and superficially our
_Guntherus_ talks of the dividing the flame of Green Wood into his
four Elements; _When_ he makes that vapour to be air, which being
caught in Glasses and condens'd, presently discovers it self to have
been but an Aggregate of innumerable very minute drops of Liquor; and
_When_ he would prove the Phlegmes being compos'd of Fire by that Heat
which is adventitious to the Liquor, and ceases upon the absence of
what produc'd it (whether that be an Agitation proceeding from the
motion of the External Fire, or the presence of a Multitude of igneous
Atomes pervading the pores of the Vessel, and nimbly permeating the
whole Body of the Water) I might, I say, urge these and divers other
Weaknesses of His Discourse. But I will rather take Notice of what is
more pertinent to the Occasion of this Digression, namely, that Taking
it for Granted, that Fluidity (with which he unwarily seems to
confound Humidity) must proceed from the Element of Water, he makes a
Chymical Oyle to Consist of that Elementary Liquor; and yet in the
very next Words proves, that it consists also of Fire, by its
Inflamability; not remembring that exquisitely pure Spirit of Wine is
both more Fluid then Water it self, and yet will Flame all away
without leaving the Least Aqueous Moisture behind it; and without such
an _Amurca_ and Soot as he would Deduce the presence of Earth from. So
that the same Liquor may according to his Doctrine be concluded by its
great Fluidity to be almost all Water; and by its burning all away to
be all disguised Fire. And by the like way of Probation our Author
would shew that the fixt salt of Wood is compounded of the four
Elements. For (sayes he) being turn'd by the violence of the Fire into
steames, it shews it self to be of kin to Air; whereas I doubt whether
he ever saw a true fixt Salt (which to become so, must have already
endur'd the violence of an Incinerating Fire) brought by the Fire
alone to ascend in the Forme of Exhalations; but I do not doubt that
if he did, and had caught those Exhalations in convenient Vessels, he
would have found them as well as the Steames of common Salt, &c. of a
Saline and not an Aereal Nature. And whereas our Authour takes it also
for Granted, that the Fusibility of Salt must be Deduc'd from Water,
it is indeed so much the Effect of heat variously agitating the Minute
Parts of a Body, without regard to Water, that Gold (which by its
being the heavyest and fixtest of Bodies, should be the most Earthy)
will be brought to Fusion by a strong Fire; which sure is more likely
to drive away then increase its Aqueous Ingredient, if it have any;
and on the other side, for want of a sufficient agitation of its
minute parts, Ice is not Fluid, but Solid; though he presumes also
that the Mordicant Quality of Bodies must proceed from a fiery
ingredient; whereas, not to urge that the Light and inflamable parts,
which are the most likely to belong to the Element of Fire, must
probably be driven away by that time the violence of the Fire has
reduc'd the Body to ashes; Not to urge this, I I [Transcriber's Note:
extra "I" in original] say, nor that Oyle of Vitriol which quenches
Fire, burnes the Tongue and flesh of those that Unwarily tast or apply
it, as a caustick doth, it is precarious to prove the Presence of Fire
in fixt salts from their Caustick power, unlesse it were first shewn,
that all the Qualities ascribed to salts must be deduc'd from those of
the Elements; which, had I Time, I could easily manifest to be no easy
talk. And not to mention that our Authour makes a Body as Homogeneous
as any he can produce for Elementary, belong both to Water and Fire,
Though it be neither Fluid nor Insipid, like Water; nor light and
Volatile, like Fire; he seems to omit in this Anatomy the Element of
Earth, save That he intimates, That the salt may pass for that; But
since a few lines before, he takes Ashes for Earth, I see not how he
will avoid an Inconsistency either betwixt the Parts of his Discourse
or betwixt some of them and his Doctrine. For since There is a
manifest Difference betwixt the Saline and the insipid Parts of Ashes,
I see not how substances That Disagree in such Notable Qualities can
be both said to be Portions of an Element, whose Nature requires that
it be Homogeneous, especially in this case where an _Analysis_ by the
Fire is suppos'd to have separated it from the admixture of other
Elements, which are confess'd by most _Aristotelians_ to be Generally
found in common Earth, and to render it impure. And sure if when we
have consider'd for how little a Disparities sake the Peripateticks
make these Symbolizing Bodies Aire and Fire to be two Distinct
Elements, we shall also consider that the Saline part of Ashes is very
strongly Tasted, and easily soluble in Water; whereas the other part
of the same Ashes is insipid and indissoluble in the same Liquor: Not
to add, that the one substance is Opacous, and the other somewhat
Diaphanous, nor that they differ in Divers other Particulars; If we
consider those things, I say, we shall hardly think that both these
Substances are Elementary Earth; And as to what is sometimes objected,
that their Saline Tast is only an Effect of Incineration and Adustion,
it has been elsewhere fully reply'd to, when propos'd by _Themistius_,
and where it has been prov'd against him, that however insipid Earth
may perhaps by Additaments be turn'd into Salt, yet 'tis not like it
should be so by the Fire alone: For we see that when we refine Gold
and Silver, the violentest Fires We can Employ on them give them not
the least Rellish of Saltness. And I think _Philoponus_ has rightly
observ'd, that the Ashes of some Concretes contain very little salt if
any at all; For Refiners suppose that bone-ashes are free from it, and
therefore make use of them for Tests and Cuppels, which ought to be
Destitute of Salt, lest the Violence of the Fire should bring them to
Vitrification; And having purposely and heedfully tasted a Cuppel made
of only bone-ashes and fair water, which I had caus'd to be expos'd
to a Very Violent Fire, acuated by the Blast of a large pair of Double
Bellows, I could not perceive that the force of the Fire had imparted
to it the least Saltness, or so much as made it less Insipid.
But (sayes _Carneades_) since neither You nor I love Repetitions, I
shall not now make any of what else was urg'd against _Themistius_ but
rather invite You to take notice with me that when our Authour, though
a Learned Man, and one that pretends skill enough in Chymistry to
reforme the whole Art, comes to make good his confident Undertaking,
to give us an occular Demonstration of the immediate Presence of the
four Elements in the resolution of Green Wood, He is fain to say
things that agree very little with one another. For about the
beginning of that passage of His lately recited to you, he makes the
sweat as he calls it of the green Wood to be Water, the smoke Aire,
the shining Matter Fire, and the Ashes Earth; whereas a few lines
after, he will in each of these, nay (as I just now noted) in one
Distinct Part of the Ashes, shew the four Elements. So that either the
former _Analysis_ must be incompetent to prove that Number of
Elements, since by it the burnt Concrete is not reduc'd into
Elementary Bodies, but into such as are yet each of them compounded of
the four Elements; or else these Qualities from which he endeavours to
deduce the presence of all the Elements, in the fixt salt, and each of
the other separated substances, will be but a precarious way of
probation: especially if you consider, that the extracted _Alcali_ of
Wood, being for ought appears at least as similar a Body as any that
the Peripateticks can shew us, if its differing Qualities must argue
the presence of Distinct Elements, it will scarce be possible for them
by any way they know of employing the fire upon a Body, to shew that
any Body is a Portion of a true Element: And this recals to my mind,
that I am now but in an occasional excussion, which aiming only to
shew that the Peripateticks as well as the Chymists take in our
present Controversie something for granted which they ought to prove,
I shall returne to my exceptions, where I ended the first of them, and
further tell you, that neither is that the only precarious thing that
I take notice of in _Sennertus_ his Argumentation; for when he
inferrs, that because the Qualities he Mentions as Colours, Smels, and
the like, belong not to the Elements; they therefore must to the
Chymical Principles, he takes that for granted, which will not in
haste be prov'd; as I might here manifest, but that I may by and by
have a fitter opportunity to take notice of it. And thus much at
present may suffice to have Discours'd against the Supposition, that
almost every Quality must have some [Greek: dektikon prôton], as they
speak, some Native receptacle, wherein as in its proper Subject of
inhesion it peculiarly resides, and on whose account that quality
belongs to the other Bodies, Wherein it is to be met with. Now this
Fundamental supposition being once Destroy'd, whatsoever is built upon
it, must fall to ruine of it self.
But I consider further, that Chymists are (for ought I have found) far
from being able to explicate by any of the _Tria Prima_, those
qualities which they pretend to belong primarily unto it, and in mixt
Bodies to Deduce from it. Tis true indeed, that such qualities are
not explicable by the four Elements; but it will not therefore follow,
that they are so by the three hermetical Principles; and this is it
that seems to have deceiv'd the Chymists, and is indeed a very common
mistake amongst most Disputants, who argue as if there could be but
two Opinions concerning the Difficulty about which they contend; and
consequently they inferr, that if their Adversaries Opinion be
Erroneous, Their's must needs be the Truth; whereas many questions,
and especially in matters Physiological, may admit of so many
Differing _Hypotheses_, that 'twill be very inconsiderate and
fallacious to conclude (except where the Opinions are precisely
Contradictory) the Truth of one from the falsity of another. And in
our particular case 'tis no way necessary, that the Properties of mixt
Bodies must be explicable either by the Hermetical, or the
_Aristotelian Hypothesis_, there being divers other and more plausible
wayes of explaining them, and especially that, which deduces qualities
from the motion, figure, and contrivance of the small parts of Bodies;
as I think might be shewn, if the attempt were as seasonable, as I
fear it would be Tedious.
I will allow then, that the Chymists do not causelessly accuse the
Doctrine of the four elements of incompetency to explain the
Properties of Compound bodies. And for this Rejection of a Vulgar
Error, they ought not to be deny'd what praise men may deserve for
exploding a Doctrine whose Imperfections are so conspicuous, that men
needed but not to shut their Eyes, to discover them. But I am
mistaken, if our Hermetical Philosophers Themselves need not, as well
as the Peripateticks, have Recourse to more Fruitfull and
Comprehensive Principles then the _tria Prima_, to make out the
Properties of the Bodies they converse with. Not to accumulate
Examples to this purpose, (because I hope for a fitter opportunity to
prosecute this Subject) let us at present only point at Colour, that
you may guess by what they say of so obvious and familiar a Quality,
how little Instruction we are to expect from the _Tria Prima_ in those
more abstruse ones, which they with the _Aristotelians_ stile Occult.
For about Colours, neither do they at all agree among themselves, nor
have I met with any one, of which of the three Perswasions soever,
that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymists are wont to
ascribe Colours to Mercury; _Paracelsus_ in divers places attributes
them to Salt; and _Sennertus_,[25] having recited their differing
Opinions, Dissents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sulphur.
But how Colours do, nay, how they may, arise from either of these
Principles, I think you will scarce say that any has yet intelligibly
explicated. And if Mr. _Boyle_ will allow me to shew you the
Experiments which he has collected about Colours, you will, I doubt
not, confess that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of the
Predominancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of their
Texture, and especially the Disposition of their superficial parts,
whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is so modifi'd, as by
differing Impressions variously to affect the Organs of Sight. I might
here take notice of the pleasing variety of Colours exhibited by the
Triangular glass, (as 'tis wont to be call'd) and demand, what
addition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls the
Body of the Glass by being Prismatically figur'd; and yet 'tis known,
that without that shape it would not affor'd those colours as it does.
But because it may be objected, that these are not real, but apparent
Colours; that I may not lose time in examing the Distinction, I will
alledge against the Chymists, a couple of examples of Real and
Permanent Colours Drawn from Metalline Bodies, and represent, that
without the addition of any extraneous body, Quicksilver may by the
Fire alone, and that in glass Vessels, be depriv'd of its silver-like
Colour, and be turn'd into a Red Body; and from this Red Body without
Addition likewise may be obtain'd a Mercury Bright and Specular as it
was before; So that I have here a lasting Colour Generated and
Destroy'd (as I have seen) at pleasure, without adding or taking away
either Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and slender
piece of harden'd steel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at some
little distance short of the point, You shall not have held the Steel
long in the flame, but You shall perceive divers Colours, as Yellow,
Red and Blew, to appear upon the Surface of the metal, and as it were
run along in chase of one another towards the point; So that the same
body, and that in one and the same part, may not only have a new
colour produc'd in it, but exhibite successively divers Colours within
a minute of an hour, or thereabouts, and any of these Colours may by
Removing the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and last many
years. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot reasonably be
suppos'd to proceed from the Accession of any of the three Principles,
to which of them soever Chymists will be pleas'd to ascribe Colours;
especially considering, that if you but suddenly Refrigerate that
Iron, First made Red hot, it will be harden'd and Colourless again;
and not only by the Flame of a Candle, but by any other equivalent
heat Conveniently appli'd, the like Colours will again be made to
appear and succeed one another, as at the First. But I must not any
further prosecute an Occasional Discourse, though that were not so
Difficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chymists to give
a better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, then
they have done of Colours. And your _Sennertus_ Himself (though an
Author I much value) would I fear have been exceedingly puzl'd to
resolve, by the _Tria Prima_, halfe that Catalogue of Problems, which
he challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their four
Elements.[26] And supposing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur were
the Principle to which this or that Quality may be peculiarly
referr'd, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us something
concerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but something. For indeed
he does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable measure satisfie
an inquisitive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know,
that such a quality resides in such a Principle or Element, whilst I
remain altogether ignorant of the Cause of that quality, and the
manner of its production and Operation? How little do I know more then
any Ordinary Man of Gravity, if I know but that the Heaviness of mixt
bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos'd of, if I know
not the reason why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymist
teach the Philosopher of the Nature of Purgatition, if he only tells
him that the Purgative Vertue of Medicines resides in their Salt? For,
besides that this must not be conceded without Limitation, since the
purging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein they
are infus'd, are at most but such compounded Salts, (I mean mingl'd
with Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjects
of the Vegetable Kingdom afford;) And since too that Quicksilver
precipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a powder, is
wont to be strongly enough Cathartical, though the Chymists have not
yet prov'd, that either Gold or Mercury have any Salt at all, much
less any that is Purgative; Besides this, I say, how little is it to
me, to know That 'tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for Instance) that
purges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; since scarce any
Elementary Salt is in small quantity cathartical. And if I know not
how Purgation in general is effected in a Humane Body? In a word, as
'tis one thing to know a mans Lodging, and another, to be acquainted
with him; so it may be one thing to know the subject wherein a Quality
principally resides, and another thing to have a right notion and
knowledg of the quality its self. Now that which I take to be the
reason of this Chymical Deficiency, is the same upon whose account I
think the _Aristotelian_ and divers other Theories incompetent to
explicate the Origen [Errata: origine] of Qualities. For I am apt to
think, that men will never be able to explain the _Phænomena_ of
Nature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Presence and
Proportion of such or such material Ingredients, and consider such
ingredients or Elements as Bodies in a state of rest; whereas indeed
the greatest part of the affections of matter, and consequently of the
_Phænomena_ of nature, seems to depend upon the motion and the
continuance [Errata: contrivance] of the small parts of Bodies. For
'tis by motion that one part of matter acts upon another; and 'tis,
for the most part, the texture of the Body upon which the moving parts
strike, that modifies to motion or Impression, and concurrs with it
to the production of those Effects which make up the chief part of the
Naturalists Theme.
[Footnote 25: _De Cons. & dissen. cap. 11. pag. 186._]
[Footnote 26: _Sennert. de Con. seus. [Transcriber's Note: Consens.] &
Dissens. pag. 165. 166._]
But (sayes _Eleutherius_) me thinks for all this, you have left some
part of what I alledg'd in behalf of the three principles, unanswer'd.
For all that you have said will not keep this from being a useful
Discovery, that since in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur of
another and the Mercury of a third, the Medicinal vertue of it
resides, that Principle ought to be separated from the rest, and there
the desired faculty must be sought for.
I never denyed (Replyes _Carneades_) that the Notion of the _Tria
Prima_ may be of some use, but (continues he laughing) by what you now
alledg for it, it will but appear That it is useful to Apothecaries,
rather than to Philosophers, The being able to make things Operative
being sufficient to those, whereas the Knowledge of Causes is the
Thing looked after by These. And let me Tell You, _Eleutherius_, even
this it self will need to be entertained with some caution.
For first, it will not presently follow, That if the Purgative or
other vertue of a simple may be easily extracted by Water or Spirit of
Wine, it Resides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unlesse
the Body have before been resolved by the Fire, or some Other Powerful
Agent, it will, for the most part, afford in the Liquors I have named,
rather the finer compounded parts of it self, Than the Elementary
ones. As I noted before, That Water will dissolve not only pure Salts,
but Crystals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr'h, and Other Compound
Bodies. As also Spirit of Wine will Dissolve not only the pure Sulphur
of Concretes, but likewise the whole Substance of divers Resinous
Bodies, as Benzoin, the Gummous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, and
Other bodies that are counted perfectly Mixt. And we see that the
Extracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a simple
and Elementary Nature, but Masses consisting of the looser Corpuscles,
and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; since by
Distillation they may be Divided into more Elementary substances.
Next, we may consider That even when there intervenes a Chymical
resolution by he [Transcriber's Note: the] Fire, 'tis seldom in the
Saline or Sulphureous principle, as such, that the desir'd Faculty of
the Concrete Resides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet a
mixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predominant in
it. For, if in Chymical Resolutions the separated Substances were pure
and simple Bodies, and of a perfect Elementary Nature; no one would be
indued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualities
would Differ as Little as do those of Water. And let me add this upon
the bye, That even Eminent Chymists have suffer'd themselves to be
reprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying some of
the things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though such
compleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bodies might perhaps be more
satisfactory to our Understanding; yet others are often more useful to
our Lives, the efficacy of such Chymical Productions depending most
upon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are separated, or gain
by the new associations of the Dissipated among themselves; whereas
if they were meerly Elementary, their uses would be comparatively very
small; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other such Substances of
one denomination, would be the very same.
And by the Way (_Eleutherius_) I am inclin'd upon this ground to
Think, That the artificial resolution of compound bodies by Fire does
not so much enrich mankind, as it divides them into their supposed
Principles; as upon the score of its making new compounds by now
[Transcriber's Note: new] combinations of the dissipated parts of the
resolv'd Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies is
considerably increased. And many of those new productions are indow'd
with useful qualities, divers of which they owe not to the body from
which they were obtein'd, but to Their newly Acquired Texture.
But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that as
there are divers Concretes whose Faculties reside in some one or other
of those differing Substances that Chymists call their Sulphurs,
Salts, and Mercuries, and consequently may be best obtain'd, by
analyzing the Concrete whereby the desired Principles may be had
sever'd or freed from the rest; So there are other wherein the noblest
properties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but depend
immediately upon the form (or if you will) result from the determinate
structure of the Whole Concrete; and consequently they that go about
to extract the Vertues of such bodies, by exposing them to the
Violence of the Fire, do exceedingly mistake, and take the way to
Destroy what they would obtain.
I remmember that _Helmont_ himself somewhere confesses, That as the
Fire betters some things and improves their Vertues, so it spoyles
others and makes them degenerate. And elsewhere he judiciously
affirmes, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a simple, such
as Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire be
separated from it. And lest you should doubt whether he means by the
vertues of things those that are Medical; he has in one place[27] this
ingenuous confession; _Credo_ (sayes he) _simplicia in sua
simplicitate esse sufficientia pro sanatione omnium morborum._ Nag.
[Errata: Nay,] Barthias, even in a Comment upon _Beguinus_,[28]
scruples not to make this acknowledgment; _Valde absurdum est_ (sayes
he) _ex omnibus rebus extracta facere, salia, quintas essentias;
præsertim ex substantiis per se plane vel subtilibus vel homogeneis,
quales sunt uniones, Corallia, Moscus, Ambra, &c._ Consonantly
whereunto he also tells Us (and Vouches the famous _Platerus_, for
having candidly given the same Advertisement to his Auditors,) that
some things have greater vertues, and better suited to our humane
nature, when unprepar'd, than when they have past the Chymists Fire;
as we see, sayes my Author, in Pepper; of which some grains swallowed
perform more towards the relief of a Distempered stomack, than a great
quantity of the Oyle of the same spice.
[Footnote 27: Helmont Pharm. & Dispens. Nov. p. 458.]
[Footnote 28: Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17.]
It has been (pursues _Carneades_) by our Friend here present observ'd
concerning Salt-petre, that none of the substances into which the Fire
is wont to divide it, retaines either the Tast, the cooling vertue, or
some other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of those
Substances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petre
it self. The shining property of the tayls of gloworms does survive
but so short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, that
inquisitive men have not scrupled publickly to deride _Baptista Porta_
and others; who deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises have
ventur'd to prescribe the distillation of a Water from the tayles of
Glowormes, as a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. To
which I shall now add no other example than that afforded us by Amber;
which, whilst it remains an intire body, is endow'd with an Electrical
faculty of drawing to it self fethers, strawes, and such like Bodies;
which I never could observe either in its Salt, its Spirit, its Oyle,
or in the Body I remember I once made by the reunion of its divided
Elements; none of these having such a Texture as the intire Concrete.
And however Chymists boldly deduce such and such properties from this
or that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretes
that abound with this or that Ingredient, 'tis not alwayes so much by
vertue of its presence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify'd
to perform such and such Effects; as upon the account of the
particular texture of that and the other Ingredients, associated after
a determinate Manner into one Concrete (though possibly such a
proportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other for
the constituting of such a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov'd
upon the dyal, the bell is struck, and the other actions belonging to
the engine are perform'd, not because the Wheeles are of brass or
iron, or part of one metal and part of another, or because the weights
are of Lead, but by Vertue of the size, shape, bigness, and
co-aptation of the several parts; which would performe the same things
though the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights of
Stone or Clay; provided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine were
the same: though it be not to be deny'd, that Brasse and Steel are
more convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood.
And to let you see, _Eleutherius_, that 'tis sometimes at least, upon
the Texture of the small parts of a body, and not alwaies upon the
presence, or recesse, or increase, or Decrement of any one of its
Principle, that it may lose some such Qualities, and acquire some
such others as are thought very strongly inherent to the bodies they
Reside in. [Errata: in;] I will add to what may from my past discourse
be refer'd to this purpose, this Notable Example, from my Own
experience; That Lead may without any additament, and only by various
applications of the Fire, lose its colour, and acquire sometimes a
gray, sometimes a yellowish, sometimes a red, sometimes an
_amethihstine_ [Transcriber's Note: amethistine] colour; and after
having past through these, and perhaps divers others, again recover
its leaden colour, and be made a bright body. That also this Lead,
which is so flexible a metal, may be made as brittle as Glasse, and
presently be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. And
besides, that the same lead, which I find by _Microscopes_ to be one
of the most opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a fine
transparent glasse; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Nature
again; and all this, as I said, without the addition of any extraneous
body, and meerly by the manner and Method of exposing it to the Fire.
But (sayes _Carneades_) after having already put you to so prolix a
trouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a promise of putting
speedily a period to it; And to make good that promise, I shall from
all that I have hitherto discoursed with you, deduce but this one
proposition by way of Corollary. [_That it may as yet be doubted,
whether or no there be any determinate Number of Elements; Or, if you
please, whether or no all compound bodies, do consist of the same
number of Elementary ingredients or material Principles._]
This being but an inference from the foregoing Discourse, it will not
be requisite to insist at large on the proofs of it; But only to point
at the chief of Them, and Referr You for Particulars to what has been
already Delivered.
In the First place then, from what has been so largely discours'd, it
may appear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by the
common Peripateticks, or by the vulgar Chymists, to demonstrate that
all mixt bodies are made up precisely either of the four Elements, or
the three Hypostatical Principles, do not evince what they are
alledg'd to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended to
be drawn from Reason in favour of _Aristotelian Hypothesis_ (for the
Chymists are wont to rely almost altogether upon Experiments) they are
Commonly grounded upon such unreasonable or precarious Suppositions,
that 'tis altogether as easie and as just for any man to reject them,
as for those that take them for granted to assert them, being indeed
all of them as indemonstrable as the conclusion to be inferr'd from
them; and some of them so manifestly weak and prooflesse; that he must
be a very courteous adversary, that can be willing to grant them; and
as unskilful a one, that can be compelled to do so.
In the next place, it may be considered, if what those Patriarchs of
the _Spagyrists_, _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_, do on divers occasions
positively deliver, be true; namely that the _Alkahest_ does Resolve
all mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it must be
decided which of the two resolutions (that made by the _Alkahest_, or
that made by the fire) shall determine the number of the Elements,
before we can be certain how many there are.
And in the mean time, we may take notice in the last place, that as
the distinct substances whereinto the _Alkahest_ divides bodies, are
affirm'd to be differing in nature from those whereunto they are wont
to be reduc'd by fire, and to be obtain'd from some bodies more in
Number than from some others; since he tells us, he could totally
reduce all sorts of Stones into Salt only, whereas of a coal he had
two distinct Liquors.[29] So, although we should acquiesce in that
resolution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies are
thereby divided into the same number of Elements and Principles; some
Concretes affordding more of them than others do; Nay and sometimes
this or that Body affording a greater number of Differing substances
by one way of management, than the same yields by another. And they
that out of Gold, or Mercury, or Muscovy-glasse, will draw me as many
distinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juice
of Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall very
Thankfully learn. Nor does it appear more congruous to that variety
that so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that all
elemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then it
would be for a language, that all its words should consist of the same
number of Letters.
[Footnote 29: _Novi saxum & lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo aut
lapidi & æquiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure aut
Mercurio._ Helmont. pag. 409.]
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST
OR,
_A Paradoxical Appendix to the Foregoing Treatise._
_The Sixth Part._
Here _Carneades_ Having Dispach't what he Thought Requisite to oppose
against what the Chymists are wont to alledge for Proof of their three
Principles, Paus'd awhile, and look'd about him, to discover whether
it were Time for him and his Friend to Rejoyne the Rest of the
Company. But _Eleutherius_ perceiving nothing yet to forbid Them to
Prosecute their Discourse a little further, said to his Friend, (who
had likewise taken Notice of the same thing) I halfe expected,
_Carneades_, that after you had so freely declar'd Your doubting,
whether there be any Determinate Number of Elements, You would have
proceeded to question whether there be any Elements at all. And I
confess it will be a Trouble to me if You defeat me of my Expectation;
especially since you see the leasure we have allow'd us may probably
suffice to examine that Paradox; because you have so largly Deduc'd
already many Things pertinent to it, that you need but intimate how
you would have them Apply'd, and what you would inferr from them.
_Carneades_ having in Vain represented that their leasure could be but
very short, that he had already prated very long, that he was
unprepared to maintain so great and so invidious a Paradox, was at
length prevail'd with to tell his Friend; Since, _Eleutherius_, you
will have me Discourse _Ex Tempore_ of the Paradox you mention, I am
content, (though more perhaps to express my Obedience, then my
Opinion) to tell you that (supposing the Truth of _Helmonts_ and
_Paracelsus's_ Alkahestical Experiments, if I may so call them) though
it may seem extravagant, yet it is not absurd to doubt, whether, for
ought has been prov'd, there be a necessity to admit any Elements, or
Hypostatical Principles, at all.
And, as formerly, so now, to avoid the needless trouble of Disputing
severally with the _Aristotelians_ and the Chymists, I will address my
self to oppose them I have last nam'd, Because their Doctrine about
the Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretending highly to
be grounded upon Experience. And, to deal not only fairly but
favourably with them, I will allow them to take in Earth and Water to
their other Principles. Which I consent to, the rather that my
Discourse may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; who
cannot plead for any so probably as for those two Elements; that of
fire above the Air being Generally by Judicious Men exploded as an
Imaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compose Mixt Bodies as
one of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Rather
replenishing, by reason of its Weight and Fluidity, all those Cavities
of bodies here below, whether compounded or not, that are big enough
to admit it, and are not fill'd up with any grosser substance.
And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize You, that I now mean by
Elements, as those Chymists that speak plainest do by their
Principles, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly unmingled
bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another,
are the Ingredients of which all those call'd perfectly mixt Bodies
are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately
resolved: now whether there be any one such body to be constantly met
with in all, and each, of those that are said to be Elemented bodies,
is the thing I now question.
By this State of the controversie you will, I suppose, Guess, that I
need not be so absur'd [Errata: absurd] as to deny that there are such
bodies as Earth, and Water, and Quicksilver, and Sulphur: But I look
upon Earth and Water, as component parts of the Universe, or rather
of the Terrestrial Globe, not of all mixt bodies. And though I will
not peremptorily deny that there may sometimes either a running
Mercury, or a Combustible Substance be obtain'd from a Mineral, or
even a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Element
in the sence above declar'd; as I shall have occasion to shew you by
and by.
To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceed
upon, I must tell you, that in matters of Philosophy, this seems to me
a sufficient reason to doubt of a known and important proposition,
that the Truth of it is not yet by any competent proof made to appear.
And congruously herunto, if I shew that the grounds upon which men are
perswaded that there are Elements are unable to satisfie a considering
man, I suppose my doubts will appear rational.
Now the Considerations that induce men to think that there are
Elements, may be conveniently enough referr'd to two heads. Namely,
the one, that it is necessary that Nature make use of Elements to
constitute the bodies that are reputed Mixt. And the other, That the
Resolution of such bodies manifests that nature had compounded them of
Elementary ones.
In reference to the former of these Considerations, there are two or
three things that I have to Represent.
And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not long
since related to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, and
other vegetables, out of fair water. For by those experiments its
seems evident, that Water may be Transmuted into all the other
Elements; from whence it may be inferr'd, both, That 'tis not every
Thing Chymists will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayes
be a Primordiate and Ingenerable body. And that Nature may contex a
Plant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having all
the Elements previously presented to her to compound it of. And, if
you will allow the relation I mention'd out of _Mounsieur De Rochas_
to be True; then may not only plants, but Animals and Minerals too, be
produced out of Water, And however there is little doubt to be made,
but that the plants my tryals afforded me as they were like in so
many other respects to the rest of the plants of the same
Denomination; so they would, in case I had reduc'd them to
putrefaction, have likewise produc'd Wormes or other insects, as well
as the resembling Vegetables are wont to do; so that Water may, by
Various Seminal Principles, be successively Transmuted into both
plants and Animals. And if we consider that not only Men, but even
sucking Children are, but too often, Tormented with Solid Stones, but
that divers sorts of Beasts themselves, (whatever _Helmont_ against
Experience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavy
stones in their Kidneys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Grass
and other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Disguised Water, it will
not seem improbable that even some Concretes of a mineral Nature, may
Likewise be form'd of Water.
We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nourisht, and
consequently may Consist of Common water; so may both plants and
Animals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Rudiments) consist of
compound Bodies, without having any thing meerly Elementary brought
them by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in divers
men, who whilst they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwards
Live altogether upon Flesh, Fish, wine, and other perfectly mixt
Bodies. It may be seen also in sheep, who on some of our English Downs
or Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the grasse, without scarce
drinking at all. And yet more manifestly in the magots that breed and
grow up to their full bignesse within the pulps of Apples, Pears, or
the like Fruit. We see also, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Salt
give a much more speedy increment to corn and other Vegetables than
Water alone would do: And it hath been assur'd me, by a man
experienc'd in such matters, that sometimes when to bring up roots
very early, the Mould they were planted in was made over-rich, the
very substance of the Plant has tasted of the Dung. And let us also
consider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Tree
of another kind. As for instance, the Ciens of a Pear upon a
White-thorne; for there the ascending Liquor is already alter'd,
either by the root, or in its ascent by the bark, or both wayes, and
becomes a new mixt body: as may appear by the differing qualities to
be met with in the saps of several trees; as particularly, the
medicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have sometimes drunk upon
_Helmonts_ great and not undeserved commendation) Now the graft, being
fasten'd to the stock must necessarily nourish its self, and produce
its Fruit, only out of this compound Juice prepared for it by the
Stock, being unable to come at any other aliment. And if we consider,
how much of the Vegetable he feeds upon may (as we noted above) remain
in an Animal; we may easily suppose, That the blood of that Animal who
Feeds upon this, though it be a Well constituted Liquor, and have all
the differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by one
præsiding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of its
parts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary that
even in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal and
Vegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make her
compositions of.
Having said thus much touching the constitution of Plants and Animals,
I might perhaps be able to say as much touching that of Minerals, and
even Metalls, if it were as easy for us to make experiment in Order to
the production of these, as of those. But the growth or increment of
Minerals being usually a work of excessively long time, and for the
most part perform'd in the bowels of the Earth, where we cannot see
it, I must instead of Experiments make use, on this occasion, of
Observations.
That stones were not all made at once, but that are some of them now
adayes generated, may (though it be deny'd by some) be fully prov'd by
several examples, of which I shall now scarce alledg any other, then
that famous place in _France_ known by the name of _Les Caves
Gentieres_ [Errata: Goutieres], where the Water falling from the upper
Parts of the cave to the ground does presently there condense into
little stones, of such figures as the drops, falling either severally
or upon one another, and coagulating presently into stone, chance to
exhibit. Of these stones some Ingenuous Friends of ours, that went a
while since to visit that place, did me the favour to present me with
some that they brought thence. And I remember that both that sober
Relator of his Voyages, _Van Linschoten_, and another good Author,
inform us that in the Diamond Mines (as they call them) in the
_East-Indies_, when having dig'd the Earth, though to no great depth,
they find Diamonds and take them quite away; Yet in a very few years
they find in the same place new Diamonds produc'd there since. From
both which Relations, especially the first, it seems probable that
Nature does not alwayes stay for divers Elementary Bodies, when she is
to produce stones. And as for Metals themselves, Authors of good note
assure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc'd at once
altogether, but have been observ'd to grow; so that what was not a
Mineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were easie
to alledg many testimonies of professed Chymists. But that they may
have the greater authority, I shall rather present you with a few
borrowed from more unsuspected writers. _Sulphuris Mineram_ (as the
inquisitive _P. Fallopius_ notes) _quæ nutrix est caloris subterranei
fabri seu Archæi fontium & mineralium, Infra terram citissime renasci
testantur Historiæ Metallicæ. Sunt enim loca e quibus si hoc anno
sulphur effossum fuerit; intermissa fossione per quadriennium redeunt
fossores & omnia sulphure, ut autea [Errata: antea], rursus inveniunt
plena._ _Pliny_ Relates, _In Italiæ Insula Ilva, gigni ferri
metallum._ Strabo _multo expressius; effossum ibi metallum semper
regenerari. Nam si effossio spatio centum annorum intermittebatur, &
iterum illuc revertebantur, fossores reperisse maximam copiam ferri
regeneratam._ Which history not only is countenanced by _Fallopius_,
from the Incom which the Iron of that Island yielded the Duke of
_Florence_ in his time; but is mention'd more expressely to our
purpose, by the Learned _Cesalpinus_. _Vena_ (sayes he) _ferri
copiosissima est in Italia; ob eam nobilitata Ilva Tirrheni maris
Insula incredibili copia, etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens: Nam
terra quæ eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venam
convertitur._ Which last clause is therefore very notable, because
from thence we may deduce, that earth, by a Metalline plastick
principle latent in it, may be in processe of time chang'd into a
metal. And even _Agricola_ himself, though the Chymists complain of
him as their adversary, acknowledges thus much and more; by telling us
that at a Town called _Saga_ in _Germany_,[30] they dig up Iron in the
Fields, by sinking ditches two foot deep; And adding, that within the
space of ten years the Ditches are digged again for Iron since
produced, As the same Metal is wont to be obtain'd in _Elva_. Also
concerning Lead, not to mention what even _Galen_ notes, that it will
increase both in bulk and Weight if it be long kept in Vaults or
Sellars, where the Air is gross and thick, as he collects from the
smelling of those pieces of Lead that were imploy'd to fasten together
the parts of old Statues. Not to mention this, I say, _Boccacius
Certaldus_, as I find him Quoted by a Diligent Writer, has this
Passage touching the Growth of Lead. _Fessularum mons_ (sayes he) _in
Hetruria, Florentiæ civitati imminens, lapides plumbarios habet; qui
si excidantur, brevi temporis spatio, novis incrementis instaurantur;
ut_ (annexes my Author) _tradit Boccacius Certaldus, qui id
compotissimum [Errata: compertissimum] esse scribit. Nihil hoc novi
est; sed de eadem Plinius, lib. 34. Hist. Natur. cap. 17. dudum
prodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his solis plumbi metallis, quod derelicta
fertilius reviviscunt. In plumbariis secundo Lapide ab Amberga dictis
ad Asylum recrementa congesta in cumulos, exposita solibus pluviisque
paucis annis, redunt suum metallum cum fenore._ I might Add to these,
continues _Carneades_, many things that I have met with concerning the
Generation of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I shall
mention but two or three Narratives. The First you may find Recorded
by _Gerhardus_ the Physick Professor, in these Words. _In valle_
(sayes he) _Joachimaca [Errata: Joachimica] argentum gramini [Errata:
graminis] modo & more e Lapidibus mineræ velut e radice excrevisse
digiti Longitudine, testis est Dr. Schreterus, qui ejusmodi venas
aspectu jucundas & admirabiles Domi sua aliis sæpe monstravit &
Donavit. Item Aqua cærulea Inventa est Annebergæ, ubi argentum erat
adhuc in primo ente, quæ coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi & boni
argenti._
[Footnote 30: _In Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum,
fossis ad altitudinem bipedaneam actis. Id decennio renatum denuo
foditur non aliter ac Ilvæ ferrum._]
The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, and
yet they are both very memorable in themselves, and as pertinent to
our present purpose.
The first I meet with in the Commentary of _Johannes Valehius_ upon
the _Kleine Baur_, In which that Industrious Chymist Relates, with
many circumstances, that at a Mine-Town (If I may so English the
German _Bergstat_) eight miles or Leagues distant from _Strasburg_
call'd _Mariakirch_, a Workman came to the Overseer, and desired
employment; but he telling him that there was not any of the best sort
at present for him, added that till he could be preferr'd to some
such, he might in the mean time, to avoid idleness, work in a Grove or
Mine-pit thereabouts, which at that time was little esteem'd. This
Workman after some weeks Labour, had by a Crack appearing in the Stone
upon a Stroak given near the wall, an Invitation Given him to Work his
Way through, which as soon as he had done, his Eyes were saluted by a
mighty stone or Lump which stood in the middle of the Cleft (that had
a hollow place behind it) upright, and in shew like an armed-man; but
consisted of pure fine Silver having no Vein or Ore by it, or any
other Additament, but stood there free, having only underfoot
something like a burnt matter; and yet this one Lump held in Weight
above a 1000 marks, which, according to the Dutch, Account [Errata:
Dutch account] makes 500 pound weight of fine silver. From which and
other Circumstances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of the
place, the Noble Metalline Spirits, (Sulphureous and Mercurial) were
carri'd from the neighbouring Galleries or Vaults, through other
smaller Cracks and Clefts, into that Cavity, and there collected as in
a close Chamber or Cellar; whereinto when they were gotten, they did
in process of time settle into the forementioned precious mass of
Metal.
The other Germane Relation is of That great Traveller and Laborious
Chymist _Johannes_ (not _Georgus_) _Agricola_; who in his notes upon
what _Poppius_ has written of Antimony, Relates, that when he was
among the _Hungarian_ Mines in the deep Groves, he observ'd that there
would often arise in them a warm Steam (not of that malignant sort
which the Germains call _Shwadt_, which (sayes he) is a meer poyson,
and often suffocates the Diggers [Errata: diggers)], which fasten'd it
self to the Walls; and that coming again to review it after a couple
of dayes, he discern'd that it was all very fast, and glistering;
whereupon having collected it and Distill'd it _per Retortam_, he
obtain'd from it a fine Spirit, adding, that the Mine-Men inform'd
him, that this Steam or Damp of the English Mine [Errata: damp as the
Englishmen also call it] (retaining the dutch Term) would at last have
become a Metal, as Gold or Silver.
I referr (sayes _Carneades_) to another Occasion, the Use that may be
made of these Narratives towards the explicating the Nature of
Metalls; and that of Fixtness, Malleableness, and some other Qualities
conspicuous in them. And in the mean time, this I may at present
deduce from these Observations, That 'tis not very probable, that,
whensoever a Mineral, or even a Metall, is to be Generated in the
Bowels of the Earth, Nature needs to have at hand both Salt, and
Sulphur, and Mercury to Compound it of; for, not to urge that the two
last Relations seem less to favour the Chymists than _Aristotle_, who
would have Metals Generated of certain _Halitus_ or steams, the
foremention'd Observations together, make it seem more Likely that the
mineral Earths or those Metalline steams (wherewith probably such
Earths are plentifully imbu'd) do contain in them some seminal
Rudiment, or some thing Equivalent thereunto; by whose plastick power
the rest of the matter, though perhaps Terrestrial and heavy, is in
Tract of time fashion'd into this or That metalline Ore; almost as I
formerly noted, that fair water was by the seminal Principle of Mint,
Pompions, and other Vegetables, contriv'd into Bodies answerable to
such Seeds. And that such Alterations of Terrestrial matter are not
impossible, seems evident from that notable Practice of the Boylers of
Salt-Petre, who unanimously observe, as well here in _England_ as in
other Countries; That if an Earth pregnant with Nitre be depriv'd, by
the affusion of water, of all its true and dissoluble Salt, yet the
Earth will after some years yield them Salt-Petre again; For which
reason some of the eminent and skillfullest of them keep it in heaps
as a perpetual Mine of Salt Petre; whence it may appear, that the
Seminal Principle of Nitre latent in the Earth does by degrees
Transforme the neighbouring matter into a Nitrous Body; for though I
deny that some Volatile Nitre may by such Earths be attracted (as they
speak) out of the Air, yet that the innermost parts of such great
heaps that lye so remote from the Air should borrow from it all the
Nitre they abound with, is not probable, for other reasons besides the
remoteness of the Air, though I have not the Leasure to mention them.
And I remember, that a person of Great Credit, and well acquainted
with the wayes of making Vitriol, affirm'd to me, that he had
observ'd, that a kind of mineral which abounds in that Salt, being
kept within Doors and not expos'd (as is usual) to the free Air and
Rains, did of it self in no very long time turn into Vitriol, not only
in the outward or superficial, but even in the internal and most
Central parts.
And I also remember, that I met with a certain kind of Merkasite that
lay together in great Quantities under ground, which did, even in my
chamber, in so few hours begin of it self to turne into Vitriol, that
we need not distrust the newly recited narrative. But to return to
what I was saying of Nitre; as Nature made this Salt-Petre out of the
once almost and inodorous Earth it was bred in, and did not find a
very stinking and corrosive Acid Liquor, and a sharp Alcalyzate Salt
to compound it of, though these be the Bodies into which the Fire
dissolves it; so it were not necessary that Nature should make up all
Metals and other Minerals of Pre-existent Salt, and Sulphur, and
Mercury, though such Bodies might by Fire be obtained from it. Which
one consideration duly weigh'd is very considerable in the present
controversy: And to this agree well the Relations of our two German
Chymists; for besides that it cannot be convincingly prov'd, it is not
so much as likely that so languid and moderate a heat as that within
the Mines, should carry up to so great a heat [Errata: height], though
in the forme of fumes, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury; since we find in our
Distillations, that it requires a considerable Degree of Fire to raise
so much as to the height of one foot not only Salt, but even Mercury
it self, in close Vessels. And if it be objected, that it seems by the
stink that is sometimes observ'd when Lightening falls down here
below, that sulphureous steams may ascend very high without any
extraordinary Degree of heat; It may be answer'd, among other things,
that the Sulphur of Silver is by Chymists said to be a fixt Sulphur,
though not altogether so well Digested as that of Gold.
But, proceeds _Carneades_, If it had not been to afford You some hints
concerning the Origine of Metals, I need not have deduc'd any thing
from these Observations; It not being necessary to the Validity of my
Argument that my Deductions from them should be irrefragable, because
my Adversaries the _Aristotelians_ and Vulgar Chymists do not, I
presume, know any better then I, _a priori_, of what ingredients
Nature compounds Metals and Minerals. For their Argument to prove that
those Bodies are made up of such Principles, is drawn _a posteriori_;
I mean from this, that upon the _Analysis_ of Mineral bodies they are
resolv'd into those differing substances. That we may therefore
examine this Argument, Let us proceed to consider what can be alledg'd
in behalf of the Elements from the Resolutions of Bodies by the fire;
which you remember was the second Tophick [Transcriber's Note: Topick]
whence I told you the Arguments of my Adversaries were desum'd.
And that I may first dispatch what I have to say concerning Minerals,
I will begin the remaining part of my discourse with considering how
the fire divides them.
And first, I have partly noted above, that though Chymists pretend
from some to draw salt, from others running Mercury, and from others a
Sulphur; Yet they have not hitherto taught us by any way in us
[Errata: use] among them to separate any one principle, whether Salt,
Sulphur, or Mercury, from all sorts of Minerals without exception. And
thence I may be allow'd to conclude that there is not any of the
Elements that is an Ingredient of all Bodies, since there are some of
which it is not so.
In the next place, supposing that either Sulphur or Mercury were
obtainable from all sorts of Minerals. Yet still this Sulphur or
Mercury would be but a compounded, not an Elementary body, as I told
you already on another occasion. And certainly he that takes notice of
the wonderful Operations of Quicksilver, whether it be common, or
drawn from Mineral Bodies, can scarce be so inconsiderate as to think
it of the very same nature with that immature and fugitive substance
which in Vegetables and Animals Chymists have been pleas'd to call
their Mercury. So that when Mercury is got by the help of the fire out
of a metal or other Mineral Body, if we will not suppose that it was
not pre-existent in it, but produc'd by the action of the fire upon
the Concrete, we may at least suppose this Quicksilver to have been a
perfect Body of its own kind (though perhaps lesse heterogeneous then
more secundary mixts) which happen'd to be mingl'd _per minima_, and
coagulated with the other substances, whereof the Metal or Mineral
consisted. As may be exemplyfied partly by Native Vermillion wherein
the Quicksilver and Sulphur being exquisitely blended both with one
another, and that other course Mineral stuff (what ever it be) that
harbours them, make up a red body differing enough from both; and yet
from which part of the Quicksilver, and of the Sulphur, may be easily
enough obtain'd; Partly by those Mines wherein nature has so curiously
incorporated Silver with Lead, that 'tis extreamly difficult, and yet
possible, to separate the former out of the Latter. [Errata: latter;]
And partly too by native Vitriol, wherein the Metalline Corpuscles are
by skill and industry separable from the saline ones, though they be
so con-coagulated with them, that the whole Concrete is reckon'd among
Salts.
And here I further observe, that I never could see any Earth or Water,
properly so call'd, separated from either Gold or Silver (to name now
no other Metalline Bodies) and therefore to retort the argument upon
my Adversaries, I may conclude, that since there are some bodies in
which, for ought appears, there is neither Earth nor Water. [Errata:
Water;] I may be allow'd to conclude that neither of those two is an
Universal Ingredient of all those Bodies that are counted perfectly
mixt, which I desire you would remember against Anon.
It may indeed be objected, that the reason why from Gold or Silver we
cannot separate any moisture, is, because that when it is melted out
of the Oare, the vehement Fire requisite to its Fusion forc'd away all
the aqueous and fugitive moisture; and the like fire may do from the
materials of Glass. To which I shall Answer, that I Remember I read
not long since in the Learned _Josephus Acosta_,[31] who relates it
upon his own observation; that in _America_, (where he long lived)
there is a kind of Silver which the _Indians_ call _Papas_, and
sometimes (sayes he) they find pieces very fine and pure like to small
round roots, the which is rare in that metal, but usuall in Gold;
Concerning which metal he tells us, that besides this they find some
which they call Gold in grains, which he tells us are small morsels of
Gold that they find whole without mixture of any other metal, which
hath no need of melting or Refining in the fire.
[Footnote 31: _Acosta_ Natural and Moral history of the Indies, L. 3.
c. 5, p. 212.]
I remember that a very skilful and credible person affirmed to me,
that being in the _Hungarian_ mines he had the good fortune to see a
mineral that was there digg'd up, wherein pieces of Gold of the
length, and also almost of the bigness of a humane Finger, grew in the
Oar, as if they had been parts and Branches of Trees.
And I have my self seen a Lump of whitish Mineral, that was brought as
a Rarity to a Great and knowing Prince, wherein there grew here and
there in the Stone, which looked like a kind of sparr, divers little
Lumps of fine Gold, (for such I was assured that Tryal had manifested
it to be) some of them Seeming to be about the Bigness of pease.
But that is nothing to what our _Acosta_ subjoynes, which is indeed
very memorable, namely, that of the morsels of Native and pure Gold,
which we lately heard him mentioning he had now and then seen some
that weighed many pounds;[32] to which I shall add, that I my self
have seen a Lump of Oar not long since digged up, in whose stony part
there grew, almost like Trees, divers parcels though not of Gold, yet
of (what perhaps Mineralists will more wonder at) another Metal which
seemed to be very pure or unmixt with any Heterogeneous Substances,
and were some of them as big as my Finger, if not bigger. But upon
Observations of this kind, though perhaps I could, yet I must not at
present dwell any longer.
[Footnote 32: See _Acosta_ in the fore-cited Place, and the passage of
_Pliny_ quoted by him.]
To proceed Therefore now (sayes _Carneades_) to the Consideration of
the _Analysis_ of Vegetables, although my Tryals give me no cause to
doubt but that out of most of them five differing Substances may be
obtain'd by the fire, yet I think it will not be so easily
Demonstrated that these deserve to be call'd Elements in the Notion
above explain'd.
And before I descend to particulars, I shall repeat and premise this
General Consideration, that these differing substances that are call'd
Elements or Principles, differ not from each other as Metals, Plants
and Animals, or as such Creatures as are immediately produc'd each by
its peculiar Seed, and Constitutes a distinct propagable sort of
Creatures in the Universe; but these are only Various Schemes of
matter or Substances that differ from each other, but in consistence
(as Running Mercury and the same Metal congeal'd by the Vapor of
Lead) and some very few other accidents, as Tast, or Smel, or
Inflamability, or the want of them. So that by a change of Texture not
impossible to be wrought by the Fire and other Agents that have the
Faculty not only to dissociate the smal parts of Bodies, but
afterwards to connect them after a new manner, the same parcell of
matter may acquire or lose such accidents as may suffice to Denominate
it Salt, or Sulphur, or Earth. If I were fully to clear to you my
apprehensions concerning this matter, I should perhaps be obliged to
acquaint you with divers of the Conjectures (for I must yet call them
no more) I have had Concerning the Principles of things purely
Corporeal: For though because I seem not satisfi'd with the Vulgar
Doctrines, either of the Peripatetick or Paracelsian Schools, many of
those that know me, (and perhaps, among Them, _Eleutherius_ himself)
have thought me wedded to the Epicurean _Hypotheses_, (as others have
mistaken me for an _Helmontian_;) yet if you knew how little
Conversant I have been with _Epicurean_ Authors, and how great a part
of _Lucretius_ himself I never yet had the Curiosity to read, you
would perchance be of another mind; especially if I were to entertain
you at large, I say not, of my present Notions; but of my former
thoughts concerning the Principles of things. But, as I said above,
fully to clear my Apprehensions would require a Longer Discourse than
we can now have.
For, I should tell you that I have sometimes thought it not unfit,
that to the Principles which may be assign'd to things, as the World
is now Constituted, we should, if we consider the Great Mass of matter
as it was whilst the Universe was in making, add another, which may
Conveniently enough be call'd an Architectonick Principle or power; by
which I mean those Various Determinations, and that Skilfull Guidance
of the motions of the small parts of the Universal matter by the most
wise Author of things, which were necessary at the beginning to turn
that confus'd _Chaos_ into this Orderly and beautifull World; and
Especially, to contrive the Bodies of Animals and Plants, and the
Seeds of those things whose kinds were to be propagated. For I confess
I cannot well Conceive, how from matter, Barely put into Motion, and
then left to it self, there could Emerge such Curious Fabricks as the
Bodies of men and perfect Animals, and such yet more admirably
Contriv'd parcels of matter, as the seeds of living Creatures.
I should likewise tell you upon what grounds, and in what sence, I
suspected the Principles of the World, as it now is, to be Three,
_Matter_, _Motion_ and _Rest_. I say, _as the World now is_, because
the present Fabrick of the Universe, and especially the seeds of
things, together with the establisht Course of Nature, is a Requisite
or Condition, upon whose account divers things may be made out by our
three Principles, which otherwise would be very hard, if possible, to
explicate.
I should moreover declare in general (for I pretend not to be able to
do it otherwise) not only why I Conceive that Colours, Odors, Tasts,
Fluidness and Solidity, and those other qualities that Diversifie and
Denominate Bodies may Intelligibly be Deduced from these three; _but
how two of the Three_ Epicurean Principles (which, I need not tell,
you [Transcriber's Note: tell you,] are Magnitude, Figure and Weight)
are Themselves Deducible from Matter and Motion; since the Latter of
these Variously Agitating, and, as it were, Distracting the Former,
must needs disjoyne its parts; which being Actually separated must
Each of them necessarily both be of some Size, and obtain some shape
or other. Nor did I add to our Principles the _Aristotelean
Privation_, partly for other Reasons, which I must not now stay to
insist on; and partly because it seems to be rather an Antecedent, or
a _Terminus a quo_, then a True Principle, as the starting-Post is
none of the Horses Legs or Limbs.
I should also explain why and how I made rest [Errata: Rest] to be,
though not so considerable a Principle of things, as Motion, yet a
Principle of them; partly because it is (for ought we know [Errata:
know)] as Ancient at least as it, and depends not upon Motion, nor any
other quality of matter; and partly, because it may enable the Body in
which it happens to be, both to continue in a State of Rest till some
external force put it out of that state, and to concur to the
production of divers Changes in the bodies that hit against it, by
either quite stopping or lessning their Motion (whilst the body
formerly at Rest Receives all or part of it into it self) or else by
giving a new Byass, or some other Modification, to Motion, that is, To
the Grand and Primary instrument whereby Nature produces all the
Changes and other Qualities that are to be met with in the World.
I should likewise, after all this, explain to you how, although
Matter, Motion and Rest, seem'd to me to be the Catholick Principles
of the Universe, I thought the Principles of Particular bodies might
be Commodiously enough reduc'd to two, namely _Matter_, and (what
Comprehends the two other, and their effects) the result or Aggregate
[Errata: Aggregate or complex] of those Accidents, which are the
Motion or Rest, (for in some Bodies both are not to be found) the
Bigness, Figure, Texture) [Errata: delete )] and the thence resulting
Qualities of the small parts) [Errata: delete )] which are necessary
to intitle the Body whereto they belong to this or that Peculiar
Denomination; and discriminating it from others to appropriate it to a
Determinate Kind of Things, as [Errata: (as] Yellowness, Fixtness,
such a Degree of Weight, and of Ductility, do make the Portion of
matter wherein they Concur, to be reckon'd among perfect metals, and
obtain the name of Gold.) Which [Errata: This] Aggregate or result of
Accidents you may, if You please, call either _Structure_ or Texture.
[Errata: no paragraph break] Though [Errata: (Though] indeed, that do
not so properly Comprehend the motion of the constituent parts
especially in case some of them be Fluid [Errata: Fluid)], or what
other appellation shall appear most Expressive. Or if, retaining the
Vulgar Terme, You will call it the _Forme_ of the thing it
denominates, I shall not much oppose it; Provided the word be
interpreted to mean but what I have express'd, and not a Scholastick
_Substantial Forme_, which so many intelligent men profess to be to
them altogether Un-intelligible.
But, sayes _Carneades_, if you remember that 'tis a Sceptick speaks to
you, and that 'tis not so much my present Talk to make assertions as
to suggest doubts, I hope you will look upon what I have propos'd,
rather as a Narrative of my former conjectures touching the principles
of things, then as a Resolute Declaration of my present opinions of
them; especially since although they cannot but appear Very much to
their Disadvantage, If you Consider Them as they are propos'd without
those Reasons and Explanations by which I could perhaps make them
appear much lesse extravagant; yet I want time to offer you what may
be alledg'd to clear and countenance these notions; my design in
mentioning them unto you at present being, _partly_, to bring some
Light and Confirmation to divers passages of my discourse to you;
_partly_ to shew you, that I do not (as you seem to have suspected)
embrace all _Epicurus_ his principles; but Dissent from him in some
main things, as well as from _Aristotle_ and the Chymists, in others;
& _partly_ also, or rather chiefly, to intimate to you the grounds
upon which I likewise differ from _Helmont_ in this, that whereas he
ascribes almost all things, and even diseases themselves, to their
determinate Seeds; I am of opinion, that besides the peculiar
Fabricks of the Bodies of Plants and Animals (and perhaps also of some
Metals and Minerals) which I take to be the Effects of seminal
principles, there are many other bodies in nature which have and
deserve distinct and Proper names, but yet do but result from such
contextures of the matter they are made of, as may without determinate
seeds be effected by heat, cold, artificial mixtures and compositions,
and divers other causes which sometimes nature imployes of her own
accord; and oftentimes man by his power and skill makes use of to
fashion the matter according to his Intentions. This may be
exemplified both in the productions of Nature, and in those of Art; of
the first sort I might name multitudes; but to shew how sleight a
variation of Textures without addition of new ingredients may procure
a parcel of matter divers names, and make it be Lookt upon as
Different Things;
I shall invite you to observe with me, That Clouds, Rain, Hail, Snow,
Froth, and Ice, may be but water, having its parts varyed as to their
size and distance in respect of each other, and as to motion and
rest. And among Artificial Productions we may take notice (to skip the
Crystals of Tartar) of Glass, Regulus, Martis-Stellatus [Errata:
Regulus Martis Stellatus], and particularly of the Sugar of Lead,
which though made of that insipid Metal and sour salt of Vinager, has
in it a sweetnesse surpassing that of common Sugar, and divers other
qualities, which being not to be found in either of its two
ingredients, must be confess'd to belong to the Concrete it self, upon
the account of its Texture.
This Consideration premis'd, it will be, I hope, the more easie to
perswade you that the Fire may as well produce some new textures in a
parcel of matter, as destroy the old.
Wherefore hoping that you have not forgot the Arguments formerly
imploy'd against the Doctrine of the _Tria prima_; namely that the
Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, into which the Fire seems to resolve
Vegetable and Animal Bodies, are yet compounded, not simple and
Elementary Substances; And that (as appeared by the Experiment of
Pompions) the _Tria prima_ may be made out of Water; hoping I say,
that you remember These and the other Things that I formerly
represented to the same purpose, I shall now add only, that if we
doubt not the Truth of some of _Helmonts_ Relation [Errata:
Relations], We may well doubt whether any of these Heterogeneities be
(I say not pre-existent, so as to convene together, when a plant or
Animal is to be constituted but) so much as in-existent in the
Concrete whence they are obtain'd, when the Chymists [Errata: Chymist]
first goes about to resolve it; For not to insist upon the
un-inflamable Spirit of such Concretes, because that may be pretended
to be but a mixture of Phlegme and Salt; the Oyle or Sulphur of
Vegetables or Animals is, according to him, reducible by the help of
Lixiviate Salts into Sope; as that Sope is by the help of repeated
Distillations from a _Caput Mortuum_ of Chalk into insipid Water. And
as for the saline substance that seems separable from mixt bodies; the
same _Helmonts_ tryals[33] give us cause to think, That it may be a
production of the Fire, which by transporting and otherwise altering
the particles of the matter, does bring it to a Saline nature.
[Footnote 33: _Omne autem Alcali addita pinguedine in aqueum liquorem,
qui tandem mera & simplex aqua fit, reducitur, (ut videre est in
Sapone, Lazurio lapide, &c.) quoties per adjuncta fixa semen
Pinguedinis deponit._ Helmont.]
For I know (sayes he, in the place formerly alledg'd to another
purpose) a way to reduce all stones into a meer Salt of equal weight
with the stone whence it was produc'd, and that without any of the
least either Sulphur or Mercury; which asseveration of my Author would
perhaps seem less incredible to You, if I durst acquaint You with all
I could say upon that subject. And hence by the way you may also
conclude that the Sulphur and Mercury, as they call them, that
Chymists are wont to obtain from compound Bodies by the Fire, may
possibly in many Cases be the productions of it; since if the same
bodies had been wrought upon by the Agents employ'd by _Helmont_, they
would have yielded neither Sulphur nor Mercury; and those portions of
them which the Fire would have presented Us in the forme of
Sulphureous and Mercurial Bodies would have, by _Helmonts_ method,
been exhibited to us in the form of Salt.
But though (sayes _Eleutherius_) You have alledg'd very plausible
Arguments against the _tria Prima_, yet I see not how it will be
possible for you to avoid acknowledging that Earth and Water are
Elementary Ingredients, though not of Mineral Concretes, yet of all
Animal and Vegetable Bodies; Since if any of these of what sort soever
be committed to Distillation, there is regularly and constantly
separated from it a phlegme or aqueous part and a _Caput Mortuum_ or
Earth.
I readily acknowledged (answers _Carneades_) it is not so easy to
reject Water and Earth (and especially the former) as 'tis to reject
the _Tria Prima_, from being the Elements of mixt Bodies; but 'tis not
every difficult thing that is impossible.
I consider then, as to Water, that the chief Qualities which make men
give that name to any visible Substance, are, that it is Fluid or
Liquid, and that it is insipid and inodorous. Now as for the tast of
these qualities, I think you have never seen any of those separated
substances that the Chymists call Phlegme which was perfectly devoyd
both of Tast and Smell: and if you object, that yet it may be
reasonably suppos'd, that since the whole Body is Liquid, the mass is
nothing but Elementary Water faintly imbu'd with some of the Saline or
Sulphureous parts of the same Concrete, which it retain'd with it
upon its Separation from the Other Ingredients. To this I answer, That
this Objection would not appear so stong [Transcriber's Note: strong]
as it is plausible, if Chymists understood the Nature of Fluidity and
Compactnesse; and that, as I formerly observ'd, to a Bodies being
Fluid there is nothing necessary, but that it be divided into parts
small enough; and that these parts be put into such a motion among
themselves as to glide some this way and some that way, along each
others Surfaces. So that, although a Concrete were never so dry, and
had not any Water or other Liquor in-existent in it, yet such a
Comminution of its parts may be made, by the fire or other Agents, as
to turn a great portion of them into Liquor. Of this Truth I will give
an instance, employ'd by our friend here present as one of the most
conducive of his experiments to Illustrate the nature of Salts. If you
Take, then, sea salt and melt it in the Fire to free it from the
aqueous parts, and afterward distill it with a vehement Fire from
burnt Clay, or any other, as dry a _Caput mortuum_ as you please, you
will, as Chymists confess, [Errata: confesse (delete comma)] by
teaching it drive over a good part of the Salt in the form of a
Liquor. And to satisfy some ingenious men, That a great part of this
Liquor was still true sea salt brought by the Operation of the Fire
into Corpuscles so small, and perhaps so advantageously shap'd, as to
be capable of the forme of a Fluid Body, He did in my presence poure
to such spiritual salts a due proportion of the spirit (or salt and
Phlegme) of Urine, whereby having evaporated the superfluous moisture,
he soon obtain'd such another Concrete, both as to tast and smell, and
easie sublimableness as common Salt _Armoniack_, which you know is
made up of grosse and undistill'd sea salt united with the salts of
Urine and of Soot, which two are very neer of kin to each other. And
further, to manifest that the Corpuscles of sea salt and the Saline
ones of Urine retain their several Natures in this Concrete, He mixt
it with a convenient quantity of Salt of Tartar, and committing it to
Distillation soon regain'd his spirit of Urine in a liquid form by its
self, the Sea salt staying behind with the Salt of Tartar. Wherefore
it is very possible that dry Bodies may by the Fire be reduc'd to
Liquors without any separation of Elements, but barely by a certain
kind of Dissipation and Comminution of the matter, whereby its parts
are brought into a new state. And if it be still objected, that the
Phlegme of mixt Bodies must be reputed water, because so weak a tast
needs but a very small proportion of Salt to impart it; It may be
reply'd, that for ought appears, common Salt and divers other bodies,
though they be distill'd never so dry, and in never so close Vessels,
will yield each of them pretty store of a Liquor, wherein though (as I
lately noted) Saline Corpuscles abound, Yet there is besides a large
proportion of Phlegme, as may easily be discovered by coagulating the
Saline Corpuscles with any convenient Body; as I lately told you, our
Friend coagulated part of the Spirit of Salt with Spirit of Urine: and
as I have divers times separated a salt from Oyle of Vitriol it self
(though a very ponderous Liquor and drawn from a saline body) by
boyling it with a just quantity of Mercury, and then washing the newly
coagulated salt from the Precipitate with fair Water. Now to what can
we more probably ascribe this plenty of aqueous Substance afforded us
by the Distillation of such bodies, than unto this, That among the
various operations of the Fire upon the matter of a Concrete, divers
particles of that matter are reduc'd to such a shape and bignesse as
is requisite to compose such a Liquor as Chymists are wont to call
Phlegme or Water. How I conjecture this change may be effected, 'tis
neither necessary for me to tell you, nor possible to do so without a
much longer discourse then were now seasonable. But I desire you would
with me reflect upon what I formerly told you concerning the change of
Quicksilver into Water; For that Water having but a very faint tast,
if any whit more than divers of those liquors that Chymists referr to
Phlegme; By that experiment it seems evident, that even a metalline
body, and therefore much more such as are but Vegetable or Animal, may
by a simple operation of the Fire be turn'd in great part into Water.
And since those I dispute with are not yet able out of Gold, or
Silver, or divers other Concretes to separate any thing like Water; I
hope I may be allow'd to conclude against Them, that water it self is
not an Universal and pre-existent Ingredient of Mixt Bodies.
But as for those Chymists that, Supposing with me the Truth of what
_Helmont_ relates of the _Alkahest's_ wonderful Effects, have a right
to press me with his Authority concerning them, and to alledge that he
could Transmute all reputedly mixt Bodies into insipid and meer Water;
To those I shall represent, That though his Affirmations conclude
strongly against the Vulgar Chymists (against whom I have not
therefore scrupl'd to Employ Them) since they Evince that the Commonly
reputed Principles or Ingredients of Things are not Permanent and
indestructible, since they may be further reduc'd into Insipid Phlegme
differing from them all; Yet till we can be allow'd to examine this
Liquor, I think it not unreasonable to doubt whether it be not
something else then meer Water. For I find not any other reason given
by _Helmont_ of his Pronouncing it so, then that it is insipid. Now
Sapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to our
Tongue, Palate, and other Organs of Tast, it may very possibly be,
that the small Parts of a Body may be of such a Size and Shape, as
either by their extream Littleness, or by their slenderness, or by
their Figure, to be unable to pierce into and make a perceptible
Impression upon the Nerves or Membranous parts of the Organs of Tast,
and what [Errata: yet] may be fit to work otherwise upon divers other
Bodies than meer Water can, and consequently to Disclose it self to be
of a Nature farr enough from Elementary. In Silke dyed Red or of any
other Colour, whilst many Contiguous Threads makes up a skein, the
Colour of the Silke is conspicuous; but if only a very few of them be
lookt upon, the Colour will appear much fainter then before. But if
You take out one simple Thread, you shall not easily be able to
discern any Colour at all; So subtile an Object having not the Force
to make upon the Optick Nerve an Impression great enough to be taken
Notice of. It is also observ'd, that the best sort of Oyl-Olive is
almost tastless, and yet I need not tell you how exceedingly distant
in Nature Oyle is from Water. The Liquor into which I told you, upon
the Relation of _Lully_, and [Errata: an] Eye-witness that Mercury
might be Transmuted, has sometimes but a very Languid, if any Tast,
and yet its Operations even upon some Mineral Bodies are very
peculiar. Quicksilver it self also, though the Corpuscles it consists
of be so very small as to get into the Pores of that Closest and
compactest of Bodies, Gold, is yet (you know) altogether Tastless. And
our _Helmont_ several times tells us, that fair Water wherein a little
Quantity f [Errata: of] Quicksilver has lain for some time, though it
acquire no certain Tast or other sensible Quality from the
Quicksilver; Yet it has a power to destroy wormes in humane Bodies;
which he does much, but not causelessly extoll. And I remember, a
great Lady, that had been Eminent for her Beauty in Divers Courts,
confess'd to me, that this insipid Liquor was of all innocent washes
for the Face the best that she ever met with.
And here let me conclude my Discourse, concerning such waters or
Liquors as I have hitherto been examining, with these two
Considerations. Whereof the first is, That by reason of our being wont
to drink nothing but Wine, Bear, Cyder, or other strongly tasted
Liquors, there may be in several of these Liquors, that are wont to
pass for insipid Phlegme, very peculiar and Distinct, Tasts [Errata:
distinct Tasts] though unheeded (and perhaps not to be perceiv'd) by
Us. For to omit what Naturalists affirm of Apes, (and which probably
may be true of divers other Animals) that they have a more exquisite
palate than Men: among Men themselves, those that are wont to drink
nothing but water may (as I have try'd in my self) Discern very
sensibly a great Difference of Tasts in several waters, which one
un-accustomed to drink water would take to be all alike insipid. And
this is the _first_ of my two Considerations; the _Other_ is, That it
is not impossible that the Corpuscles into which a body is dissipated
by the Fire may by the Operation of the same fire have their figures
so altered, or may be by associations with one another brought into
little Masses of such a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to make
sensible Impressions on the Tongue. And that you may not think such
alterations impossible, be pleased to consider with me, that not only
the sharpest Spirit of Vinager having dissolved as much Corall as it
can, will Coagulate with it into a Substance, which though soluble in
water, like salt, is incomparably less strongly Tasted then the
Vinager was before; but (what is more considerable) though the Acid
salts that are carried up with Quicksilver in the preparation of
common sublimate are so sharp, that being moistened with water it will
Corrode some of the Metals themselves; yet this Corrosive Sublimate
being twice or thrice re-sublim'd with a full proportion of insipid
Quicksilver, Constitutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, which
the Chymists call _Mercurius dulcis_; not because it is sweet, but
because the sharpness of the Corrosive Salts is so taken away by their
Combination with the Mercurial Corpuscles, that the whole mixture when
it is prepar'd is judg'd to be insipid.
And thus (continues _Carneades_) having given you some Reasons why I
refuse to admit Elementary water for a constant Ingredient of Mixt
Bodies, It will be easie for me to give you an Account why I also
reject Earth.
For first, it may well be suspected that many Substances pass among
Chymists under the name of Earth, because, like it, they are Dry, and
Heavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Elementary Nature.
This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what I
formerly told you concerning what Chymists call the Dead Earth of
things, and especially touching the copper to be drawn from the _Caput
Mortuum_ of Vitriol; And if also you allow me to subjoyn a casual but
memorable Experiment made by _Johannes Agricola_ upon the _Terra
Damnata_ of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon
_Popius_ [Transcriber's Note: Poppius],) that in the year 1621 he made
an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining _Fæces_ he reverberated in a
moderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up in
a Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing to
calcine the _Fæces_ to a perfect Whiteness, that he might make
someting [Transcriber's Note: something] else out of them. But coming
to break the pot, he found above but very little _Fæces_, and those
Grey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine Red _Regulus_ which
he first marvell'd at and knew not what to make of, being well assured
that not the least thing, besides the _Fæces_ of the Sulphur, came
into the pot; and that the Sulphur it self had only been dissolv'd in
Linseed Oyle; this _Regulus_ he found heavy and malleable almost as
Lead; having caus'd a Goldsmith to draw him a Wire of it, he found it
to be of the Fairest copper, and so rightly colour'd, that a Jew of
_Prague_ offer'd him a great price for it. And of this Metal he sayes
he had 12 _loth_ (or six ounces) out of one pound of Ashes or _Fæces_.
And this Story may well incline us to suspect that since the _Caput
Mortuum_ of the Sulphur was kept so long in the fire before it was
found to be any thing else then a _Terra damnata_, there may be divers
other Residences of Bodies which are wont to pass only for the
Terrestrial _Fæces_ of things, and therefore to be thrown away as soon
as the Distillation or Calcination of the Body that yielded them is
ended; which yet if they were long and Skilfully examin'd by the fire
would appear to be differing from Elementary Earth. And I have taken
notice of the unwarrantable forwardness of common Chymists to
pronounce things useless _Fæces_, by observing how often they reject
the _Caput Mortuum_ of Verdegrease; which is yet so farr from
deserving that Name, that not only by strong fires and convenient
Additaments it may in some hours be reduc'd into copper, but with a
certain Flux Powder I sometimes make for Recreation, I have in two or
three minutes obtain'd that Metal from it. To which I may add, that
having for tryall sake kept Venetian Taclk [Errata: Talck] in no less
a heat than that of a glass Furnace, I found after all the Brunt of
the fire it had indur'd, the remaining Body though brittle and
discolour'd, had not lost very much of its former Bulke, and seem'd
still to be nearer of kin to Talck than to meer Earth. And I remember
too, that a candid Mineralist, famous for his Skill in trying of Oars,
requesting me one day to procure him a certain _American_ Mineral
Earth of a _Virtuoso_, who he thought would not refuse me; I enquir'd
of him why he seem'd so greedy of it: he confess'd to me that this
Gentleman having brought that Earth to the publick Say-Masters; and
they upon their being unable by any means to bring it to fusion or
make it fly away, he (the Relator) had procur'd a little of it; and
having try'd it with a peculiar Flux separated from it neer a third
part of pure Gold; so great mistakes may be committed in hastily
concluding things to be Uselesse Earth.
Next, it may be suppos'd, That as in the Resolution of Bodies by the
Fire some of the dissipated Parts may, by their various occursion
occasion'd by the heat, be brought to stick together so closely as to
constitute Corpuscles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; the
aggregate of which Corpuscles is wont to be call'd Ashes or Earrh
[Errata: Earth]; So other Agents may resolve the Concrete into Minute
Parts, after so differing a manner as not to produce any _Caput
mortuum_, or dry and heavy Body. As you may remember _Helmont_ above
inform'd us, that with his great Dissolvent he divided a Coal into two
liquid and volatile Bodies, æquiponderant to the Coal, without any dry
or fixt Residence at all.
And indeed, I see not why it should be necessary that all Agents that
resolve Bodies into portions of differingly qualifi'd matter must
work on them the same way, and divide them into just such parts, both
for nature and Number, as the Fire dissipates them into. For since, as
I noted before, the Bulk and shape of the small Parts of bodies,
together with their Fitness and Unfitness to be easily put into
Motion, may make the liquors or other substances such Corpuscles
compose, as much to differ from each other as do some of the Chymical
principles: Why may not something happen in this case, not unlike what
is usuall in the grosser divisions of bodies by Mechanical
Instruments? Where we see that some Tools reduce Wood, for Instance,
into darts [Errata: parts] of several shapes, bignesse, and other
qualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into grosser parts; some
more long and slender, as splinters; and some more thick and
irregular, as chips; but all of considerable bulk; but Files and Saws
makes a Comminution of it into Dust; which, as all the others, is of
the more solid sort of parts; whereas others divide it into long and
broad, but thin and flexible parts, as do _Planes_: And of this kind
of parts it self there is also a variety according to the Difference
of the Tools employ'd to work on the Wood; the shavings made by the
_plane_ being in some things differing from those shives or thin and
flexible pieces of wood that are obtain'd by _Borers_, and these from
some others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examples
applicable to this purpose I have elsewhere given you. To which I may
add, that whereas in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar well
melted and incorporated together, the action of pure spirit of wine
digested on it is to separate the sulphureous from the Alcalizate
Parts, by dissolving the former and leaving the latter, the action of
Wine (probably upon the score of its copious Phlegme) upon the same
mixture is to divide it into Corpuscles consisting of both Alcalizate
and Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is but
a Factitious Concrete; I answer, that however the instance may serve
to illustrate what I propos'd, if not to prove it; and that Nature her
self doth in the bowels of the Earth make Decompounded Bodies, as we
see in Vitriol, Cinnaber, and even in Sulphur it self; I will not urge
that the Fire divides new Milk into five differing Substances; but
Runnet and Acid Liquors divide it into a Coagulated matter and a thin
Whey: And on the other side churning divides it into Butter and
Butter-milk, which may either of them be yet reduc'd to other
substances differing from the former. I will not presse this, I say,
nor other instances of this Nature, because I cannot in few words
answer what may be objected, that these Concretes sequestred without
the help of the Fire may by it be further divided into Hypostatical
Principles. But I will rather represent, That whereas the same spirit
of Wine will dissociare [Transcriber's Note: dissociate] the Parts of
Camphire, and make them one Liquor with it self; _Aqua Fortis_ will
also disjoyn them, and put them into motion; but so as to keep them
together, and yet alter their Texture into the form of an Oyle. I know
also an uncompounded Liquor, that an extraordinary Chymist would not
allow to be so much as Saline, which doth (as I have try'd) from Coral
it self (as fixt as divers judicious writers assert that Concrete to
be) not only obtain a noble Tincture, Without the Intervention of
Nitre or other Salts; but will carry over the Tincture in
Distillation. And if some reasons did not forbid me, I could now tell
you of a _Menstruum_ I make my self, that doth more odly dissociate
the parts of Minerals very fixt in the fire. So that it seems not
incredible, that there may be some Agent or way of Operation found,
whereby this or that Concrete, if not all Firme Bodies, may be
resolv'd into parts so very minute and so unapt to stick close to one
another, that none of them may be fixt enough to stay behind in a
strong Fire, and to be incapable of Distillation; nor consequently to
be look'd upon as Earth. But to return to _Helmont_, the same Authour
somewhere supply's me with another Argument against the Earth's being
such an Element as my Adversaries would have it. For he somewhere
affirms, that he can reduce all the Terrestrial parts of mixt bodies
into insipid water; whence we may argue against the Earths being one
of their Elements, even from that Notion of Elements which you may
remember _Philoponus_ recited out of _Aristotle_ himself, when he
lately disputed for his Chymists against _Themistius_. And here we
may on this occasion consider, that since a Body from which the Fire
hath driven away its looser parts is wont to be look'd upon as Earth,
upon the Account of its being endow'd with both these qualities,
Tastlessenesse and Fixtnesse, (for Salt of Tartar though Fixt passes
not among the Chymists for Earth, because 'tis strongly Tasted) if it
be in the power of Natural Agents to deprive the _Caput Mortuum_ of a
body of either of those two Qualities, or to give them both to a
portion of matter that had them not both before, the Chymists will not
easily define what part of a resolv'd Concrete is earth, and make out,
that that Earth is a primary, simple, and indestructible Body. Now
there are some cases wherein the more skilful of the Vulgar Chymists
themselves pretend to be able, by repeated Cohobations and other fit
Operations, to make the Distilled parts of a Concrete bring its own
_Caput Mortuum_ over the Helme, in the forme of a Liquor; in which
state being both Fluid and Volatile, you will easily believe it would
not be taken for Earth. And indeed by a skilful, but not Vulgar, way
of managing some Concretes, there may be more effected in this kind,
then you perhaps would easily think. And on the other side, that
either Earth may be Generated, or at least Bodies that did not before
appear to be neer Totally Earth, may be so alter'd as to pass for it,
seems very possible, if _Helmont_[34] have done that by Art which he
mentions in several places; especially where He sayes that he knowes
wayes whereby Sulphur once dissolv'd is all of it fix'd into a
Terrestrial Powder; and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn'd
into Earth: Which last he elsewhere sayes is Done by the Odour only of
a certain Sulphureous Fire. And in another place He mentions one way
of doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; because the
Materialls I had prepar'd for Trying it, were by a Servants mistake
unhappily thrown away.
[Footnote 34: _Novi item modos quibus totum Salpetiæ [Errata:
sal-petræ] in terram convertitur, totumque Sulphur semel dissolutum
fixetur in Pulvearem terreum. Helmont in Compl. atque Mist. Elementor.
Sect. 24._]
And these Last Arguments may be confirm'd by the Experiment I have
often had occasion to mention concerning the Mint I produc'd out of
Water. And partly by an Observation of _Rondeletius_ concerning the
Growth of Animals also, Nourish'd but by Water, which I remember'd not
to mention, when I discours'd to you about the Production of things
out of Water. This Diligent Writer then in his instructive book of
fishes,[35] affirmes That his Wife kept a fish in a Glass of water
without any other Food for three years; in which space it was
constantly augmented, till at last it could not come out of the Place
at which it was put in, and at length was too big for the glass it
self though that were of a large capacity. And because there is no
just reason to doubt, that this Fish, if Distill'd, would have yielded
the like differing substances with other Animals: And However, because
the Mint which I had out of water afforded me upon Distillation a good
quantity of Charcoal, I think I may from thence inferr, that Earth it
self may be produc'd out of Water; or if you please, that water may be
transmuted into Earth; and consequently, that though it could be
prov'd that Earth is an Ingredient actually in-existent in the
Vegetable and Animal Bodies whence it may be obtain'd by Fire: yet it
would not necessarily follow, that Earth as a pre-existent Element
Does with other Principles convene to make up those Bodies whence it
seems to have been separated.
[Footnote 35: _Lib. 1. cap. 2._]
After all is said (sayes _Eleutherius_) I have yet something to
Object, that I cannot but think considerable, since _Carneades_
Himself alledg'd it as such; for, (continues _Eleutherius_ smiling) I
must make bold to try whether you can as luckily answer your own
Arguments, as those of your Antagonists, I mean (pursues he) that part
of your Concessions, wherein you cannot but remember that you supply'd
your Adversaries with an Example to prove that there may be Elementary
Bodies, by taking Notice that Gold may be an Ingredient in a multitude
of differing Mixtures, and yet retain its Nature, notwithstanding all
that the Chymists by their Fires and Corrosive Waters are able to do
to Destroy it.
I sufficiently intimated to you at that time (replies _Carneades_)
that I propos'd this Example, chiefly to shew you how Nature may be
Conceived to have made Elements, not to prove that she actually has
made any; And you know, that _a posse ad esse_ the Inference will not
hold. But (continues _Carneades_) to answer more directly to the
Objection drawn from Gold, I must tell You, that though I know very
well that divers of the more sober Chymists have complain'd of the
Vulgar Chymists, as of Mountebanks or Cheats, for pretending so
vainly, as hitherto they have done, to Destroy Gold; Yet I know a
certain _Menstruum_ (which our Friend has made, and intends shortly to
communicate to the Ingenious) of so piercing and powerfull a Quality,
That if notwithstanding much care, and some skill, I did not much
deceive myself, I have with it really destroy'd even refin'd Gold, and
brought it into a Metalline Body of another colour and Nature, as I
found by Tryals purposely made. And if some just Considerations did
not for the present Forbid it, I could Perchance here shew you by
another Experiment or Two of my own Trying, that such _Menstruums_ may
be made as to entice away and retain divers parts, from Bodies, which
even the more Judicious and Experienc'd _Spagyrists_ have pronounc'd
irresoluble by the Fire. Though (which I Desire you would mark) in
neither of these Instances, the Gold or Precious Stones be Analys'd
into any of the _Tria Prima_, but only Reduc'd to new Concretes. And
indeed there is a great Disparity betwixt the Operations of the
several Agents whereby the Parts of a Body come to be Dissipated. As
if (for Instance) you dissolve the purer sort of Vitriol in common
Water, the Liquor will swallow up the Mineral, and so Dissociate its
Corpuscles, that they will seem to make up but one Liquor with those
of the water; and yet each of these Corpuscles retains its Nature and
Texture, and remains a Vitriolate and Compounded Body. But if the same
Vitriol be exposed to a strong Fire, it will then be divided not only,
as before, into smaller parts, but into Heterogeneous Substances, each
of the Vitriolate Corpuscles that remain'd entire in the water, being
it self upon the Destruction of its former Texture dissipated or
divided into new Particles of differing Qualities. But Instances more
fitly applicable to this purpose, I have already given you. Wherefore
to return to what I told you about the Destruction of Gold, that
Experiment Invites me to Represent to you, that Though there were
either Saline, or Sulphureous, or Terrestrial Portions of Matter,
whose parts were so small, so firmly united together, or of a figure
so fit to make them cohere to one another, (as we see that in
quicksilver broken into little Globes, the Parts brought to touch one
another do immediately re-imbody) that neither the Fire, nor the usual
Agents employ'd by Chymists, are pierceing enough to divide their
Parts, so as to destroy the Texture of the single Corpuscles; yet it
would not necessarily follow, That such Permanent Bodies were
Elementary, since tis possible there may be Agents found in Nature,
some of whose parts may be of such a Size and Figure as to take better
Hold of some parts of these seemingly Elementary Corpuscles than these
parts do of the rest, and Consequently may carry away such parts with
them, and so dissolve the Texture of the Corpuscle by pulling its
parts asunder. And if it be said, that at least we may this way
discover the Elementary Ingredients of Things, by observing into what
Substances these Corpuscles that were reputed pure are divided; I
answer, that it is not necessary that such a Discovery should be
practicable. For if the Particles of the Dissolvent do take such firme
hold of those of the Dissolved Body, they must constitute together new
Bodies, as well as Destroy the Old; and the strickt Union, which
according to this _Hypothesis_ may well be suppos'd betwixt the Parts
of the Emergent Body, will make it as Little to be Expected that they
should be pull'd asunder, but by little Parts of matter, that to
Divide them Associate Themselves and stick extreamly close to those of
them which they sever from their Former Adherents. Besides that it is
not impossible, that a Corpuscle suppos'd to be Elementary may have
its Nature changed, without suffering a Divorce of its parts, barely
by a new Texture Effected by some powerfull Agent; as I formerly told
you, the same portion of matter may easily by the Operation of the
Fire be turn'd at pleasure into the form of a Brittle and Transparent,
or an Opacous and Malleable Body.
And indeed, if you consider how farr the bare Change of Texture,
whether made by Art or Nature (or rather by Nature with or without the
assistance of man) can go in producing such New Qualities in the same
parcel of matter, and how many inanimate Bodies (such as are all the
Chymical productions of the Fire) we know are Denominated and
Distinguish'd not so much by any Imaginary Substantial Form, as by the
aggregate of these Qualities. If you consider these Things, I say, and
that the varying of either the figure, or the Size, or the Motion, or
the Situation, or Connexion of the Corpuscles whereof any of these
Bodies is compos'd, may alter the Fabrick of it, you will possibly be
invited to suspect, with me, that there is no great need that Nature
should alwayes have Elements before hand, whereof to make such Bodies
as we call mixts. And that it is not so easie as Chymists and others
have hitherto Imagin'd, to discern, among the many differing
Substances that may without any extraordinary skill be obtain'd from
the same portion of matter, Which ought to be esteemed exclusively to
all the rest, its in-existent Elementary Ingredients; much lesse to
determine what Primogeneal and Simple Bodies convened together to
compose it. To exemplify this, I shall add to what I have already on
several occasions Represented, but this single instance.
You may remember (_Eleutherius_) that I formerly intimated to you,
that besides Mint and Pompions, I produced divers other Vegetables of
very differing Natures out of Water. Wherefore you will not, I
presume, think it incongruous to suppose, that when a slender
Vine-slip is set into the ground, and takes root, there it may
likewise receive its Nutriment from the water attracted out of the
earth by his roots, or impell'd by the warm'th of the sun, or pressure
of the ambient air into the pores of them. And this you will the more
easily believe, if you ever observ'd what a strange quantity of Water
will Drop out of a wound given to the Vine, in a convenient place, at
a seasonable time in the Spring; and how little of Tast or Smell this
_Aqua Vitis_, as Physitians call it, is endow'd with, notwithstanding
what concoction or alteration it may receive in its passage through
the Vine, to discriminate it from common Water. Supposing then this
Liquor, at its first entrance into the roots of the Vine, to be common
Water; Let Us a little consider how many various Substances may be
obtain'd from it; though to do so, I must repeat somewhat that I had a
former occasion to touch upon. And first, this Liquor being Digested
in the plant, and assimilated by the several parts of it, is turn'd
into the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &c. of the Vine; The same Liquor
may be further dry'd, and fashon'd into Vine-buds, and these a while
after are advanced unto sour Grapes, which express'd yield Verjuice, a
Liquor very differing in several qualities both from Wine and other
Liquors obtainable from the Vine: These soure Grapes being by the heat
of the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well tasted Grapes; These
if dry'd in the Sun and Distill'd, afford a fætid Oyle and a piercing
_Empyreumatical_ Spirit, but not a Vinous Spirit; These dry'd Grapes
or Raisins boyl'd in a convenient proportion of Water make a sweet
Liquor, which being betimes distill'd afford an Oyle and Spirit much
like those of the Raisins themselves; If the juice of the Grapes be
squeez'd out and put to Ferment, it first becomes a sweet and turbid
Liquor, then grows lesse sweet and more clear, and then affords in
common Distillations not an Oyle but a Spirit, which, though
inflamable like Oyle, differs much from it, in that it is not fat, and
that it will readily mingle with Water. I have likewise without
Addition obtain'd in processe of time (and by an easie way which I am
ready to teach you) from one of the noblest sorts of Wine, pretty
store of pure and curiously figured Crystals of Salt, together with a
great proportion of a Liquor as sweet almost as Hony; and these I
obtained not from Must, but True and sprightly Wine; besides the
Vinous Liquor, the fermented Juice of Grapes is partly turned into
liquid Dregs or Leeze, and partly into that crust or dry feculancy
that is commonly called Tartar; and this Tartar may by the Fire be
easily divided into five differing substances; four of which are not
Acid, and the other not so manifestly Acid as the Tartar it self; The
same Vinous Juice after some time, especially if it be not carefully
kept, Degenerates into that very sour Liquor called Vinegar; from
which you may obtain by the Fire a Spirit and a Crystalline Salt
differing enough from the Spirit and Lixiviate Salt of Tartar. And if
you pour the Dephlegm'd Spirit of the Vinegar upon the Salt of Tartar,
there will be produc'd such a Conflict or Ebullition as if there were
scarce two more contrary Bodies in Nature; and oftentimes in this
Vinager you may observe part of the matter to be turned into an
innumerable company of swimming Animals, which our Friend having
divers years ago observed, hath in one of his Papers taught us how to
discover clearly without the help of a _Microscope_.
Into all these various Schemes of matter, or differingly Qualifyed
Bodies, besides divers others that I purposely forbear to mention, may
the Water that is imbib'd by the roots of the Vine be brought, partly
by the formative power of the plant, and partly by supervenient Agents
or Causes, without the visible concurrence of any extraneous
Ingredient; but if we be allowed to add to the Productions of this
transmuted Water a few other substances, we may much encrease the
Variety of such Bodies; although in this second sort of Productions,
the Vinous parts seem scarce to retain any thing of the much more
fix'd Bodies wherewith they were mingl'd; but only to have by their
Mixture with them acquir'd such a Disposition, that in their recess
occasion'd by the Fire they came to be alter'd as to shape, or
Bigness, or both, and associated after a New manner. Thus, as I
formerly told you, I did by the Addition of a _Caput Mortuum_ of
Antimony, and some other Bodies unfit for Distillation, obtain from
crude Tartar, store of a very Volatile and Crystalline Salt, differing
very much in smell and other Qualities from the usuall salts of
Tartar.
But (sayes _Eleutherius_, interrupting him at these Words) if you have
no restraint upon you, I would very gladly before you go any further,
be more particularly inform'd, how you make this Volatile Salt,
because (you know) that such Multitudes of Chymists have by a scarce
imaginable Variety of wayes, attempted in Vain the Volatilization of
the Salt of Tartar, that divers learned _Spagyrists_ speak as if it
were impossible, to make any thing out of Tartar, that shall be
Volatile in a Saline Forme, or as some of them express it, _in forma
sicca_. I am very farr from thinking (answers _Carneades_) that the
Salt I have mention'd is that which _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_ mean
when they speak of _Sal Tartari Volatile_, and ascribe such great
things to it. For the Salt I speak of falls extreamly short of those
Virtues, not seeming in its Tast, Smel, and other Obvious Qualities,
to differ very much (though something it do differ) from Salt of
Harts-horn, and other Volatile Salts drawn from the Distill'd Parts of
Animals. Nor have I yet made Tryals enough to be sure, that it is a
pure Salt of Tartar without participating any thing at all of the
Nitre, or Antimony. But because it seems more likely to proceed from
the Tartar, than from any of the other Ingredients, and because the
Experiment is in it self not Ignoble, and Luciferous enough (as
shewing a new way to produce a Volatile Salt contrary to Acid Salts
from Bodies that otherwise are Observ'd to yield no such Liquor, but
either only, or chiefly, Acid ones,) I shall, to satisfie you,
acquaint you before any of my other Friends with the way I now use
(for I have formerly us'd some others) to make it.
Take then of good Antimony, Salt-Petre and Tartar, of each an equal
weight, and of Quicklime Halfe the Weight of any one of them; let
these be powder'd and well mingl'd; this done, you must have in
readiness a long neck or Retort of Earth, which must be plac'd in a
Furnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of a
convenient Bigness, at which you may cast in the Mixture, and
presently stop it up again; this Vessel being fitted with a large
Receiver must have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the sides be
red hot, and then you must cast in the above prepar'd Mixture, by
about halfe a spoonfull (more or less) at a time, at the hole made for
that purpose; which being nimbly stopt, the Fumes will pass into the
Receiver and condense there into a Liquor, that being rectifi'd will
be of a pure golden Colour, and carry up that colour to a great
height; this Spirit abounds in the Salt I told you of, part of which
may easily enough be separated by the way I use in such cases, which
is, to put the Liquor into a glass Egg, or bolthead with a long and
narrow Neck. For if this be plac'd a little inclining in hot sand,
there will sublime up a fine Salt, which, as I told you, I find to be
much of kin to the Volatile Salts of Animals: For like them it has a
Saltish, not an Acid Salt; it hisses upon the Affusion of Spirit of
Nitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Dissolv'd in Spirit
of Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; it
presently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whiteness;
and in summ, has divers Operations like those that I have observ'd in
that sort of Salts to which I have resembled it: and is so Volatile,
that for Distinction sake, I call it _Tartari Fugitivus_ [Errata: Sal
Tartari Fugitivus]. What virtues it may have in Physick I have not yet
had the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not be
despicable. And besides that a very Ingenious Friend of mine tells me
he hath done great matters against the stone, with a Preparation not
very much Differing from ours, a very Experienc'd Germane Chymist
finding that I was unacquainted with the wayes of making this salt,
told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymist prizes it
so highly, that he had a while since procur'd a Priviledge from the
Magistrates, that none but He, or by his Licence, should vent a Spirit
made almost after the same Way with mine, save that he leaves out one
of the Ingredients, namely the Quick-lime. But, continues _Carneades_,
to resume my Former Discourse where your Curiosity interrupted it;
Tis also a common practice in _France_ to bury thin Plates of Copper
in the Marc (as the French call it) or Husks of Grapes, whence the
Juice has been squeez'd out in the Wine-press, and by this means the
more saline parts of those Husks working by little and little upon the
Copper, Coagulate Themselves with it into that Blewish Green Substance
we in English call Verdigrease. Of which I therefore take Notice,
because having Distill'd it in a Naked Fire, I found as I expected,
that by the Association of the Saline with the Metalline parts, the
former were so alter'd, that the Distill'd Liquor, even without
Rectification, seem'd by smell and Tast, strong almost like _Aqua
Fortis_, and very much surpassed the purest and most Rectifi'd Spirit
of Vinager that ever I made. And this Spirit I therefore ascribe to
the salt of the Husks alter'd by their Co-Mixture with the copper
(though the Fire afterwards Divorce and Transmute them) because I
found this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of a
_Crocus_ or redish powder: And because Copper is of too sluggish a
Nature to be forc'd over in close Vessels by no stronger a heat. And
that which is also somewhat Remarkable in the Destillation of good
Verdigrease, (or at least of that sort that I us'd) is this, that I
Never could observe that it yielded me any oyl, (unless a little black
slime which was separated in Rectification may pass for Oyle) though
both Tartar and Vinager, (especially the former) will by Destillation
yield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewise you pour Spirit of
Vinager upon Calcin'd Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by its
Commixture with the Metalline parts, though Insipid, acquire in a few
hours a more than Saccharine sweetness; and these Saline parts being
by a strong Fire Destill'd from the Lead wherewith they were imbody'd,
will, as I formerly also noted to a Different purpose, leave the Metal
behind them alter'd in some qualities from what it was, and will
themselves ascend, partly in the Forme of an unctuous Body or Oyle,
partly in that of Phlegme; but for the greatest part in the Forme of a
subtile Spirit, indow'd, besides divers new Qualities which I am not
now willing to take notice of, with a strong smell very much other
than that of Vinager, and a piercing tast quite differing both from
the Sowerness of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetness of the Sugar
of Lead.
To be short, As the difference of Bodies may depend meerly upon that
of the schemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the seeds of
Things, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minute
parts of a Body (either by breaking them into smaller ones of
differing shapes, or by Uniting together these Fragments with the
unbroken Corpuscles, or such Corpuscles among Themselves) and the same
Agents partly by Altering the shape or bigness of the Constituent
Corpuscles of a Body, partly by driving away some of them, partly by
blending others with them, and partly by some new manner of connecting
them, may give the whole portion of matter a new Texture of its minute
parts; and thereby make it deserve a new and Distinct name. So that
according as the small parts of matter recede from each other, or work
upon each other, or are connected together after this or that
determinate manner, a Body of this or that denomination is produced,
as some other Body happens thereby to be alter'd or destroy'd.
Since then those things which Chymists produce by the help of the Fire
are but inanimate Bodies; since such fruits of the Chymists skill
differ from one another but in so few qualities that we see plainly
that by fire and other Agents we can employ, we can easily enough work
as great alterations upon matter, as those that are requisite to
change one of these Chymical Productions into another; Since the same
portion of matter may without being Compounded with any extraneous
Body, or at least Element, be made to put on such a variety of
formes, and consequently to be (successively) turn'd into so many
differing Bodies. And since the matter cloath'd with so many differing
formes was originally but water, and that in its passage thorow so
many transformations, it was never reduc'd into any of those
substances which are reputed to be the Principles or Elements of mixt
Bodies, except by the violence of the fire, which it self divides not
Bodies into perfectly simple or Elementary substances, but into new
Compounds; Since, I say, these things are so, I see not why we must
needs believe that there are any Primogeneal and simple Bodies, of
which as of Pre-exsistent Elements Nature is obliged to compound all
others. Nor do I see why we may not conceive that she may produce the
Bodies accounted mixt out of one another by Variously altering and
contriving their minute parts, without resolving the matter into any
such simple or Homogeneous substances as are pretended. Neither, to
dispatch, do I see why it should be counted absur'd [Transcriber's
Note: absurd] to think, that when a Body is resolv'd by the Fire into
its suppos'd simple Ingredients, those substances are not true and
proper Elements, but rather were, as it were, Accidentally produc'd by
the fire, which by Dissipating a Body into minute Parts does, if those
parts be shut up in Close Vessels, for the most part necessarily bring
them to Associate Themselves after another manner than before, and so
bring Them into Bodies of such Different Consistences as the Former
Texture of the Body, and Concurrent Circumstances make such disbanded
particles apt to Constitute; as experience shews us (and I have both
noted it, and prov'd it already) that as there are some Concretes
whose parts when dissipated by fire are fitted to be put into such
Schemes of matter as we call Oyle, and Salt, and Spirit; So there are
others, such as are especially the greatest part of Minerals, whose
Corpuscles being of another Size or figure, or perhaps contriv'd
another Way, will not in the Fire yield Bodies of the like
Consistences, but rather others of differing Textures; Not to mention,
that from Gold and some other Bodies, we see not that the Fire
separates any Distinct Substances at all; nor That even those Similar
Parts of Bodies which the Chymists Obtain by the Fire, are the
Elements whose names they bear, but Compound Bodies, upon which, for
their resemblance to them in consistence, or some other obvious
Quality, Chymists have been pleas'd to bestow such Appellations.
THE CONCLUSION.
These last Words of _Carneades_ being soon after follow'd by a noise
which seem'd to come from the place where the rest of the Company was,
he took it for a warning, that it was time for him to conclude or
break off his Discourse; and told his Friend; By this time I hope you
see, _Eleutherius_, that if _Helmonts_ Experiments be true, it is no
absurdity to question whether that Doctrine be one, that doth not
assert Any Elements in the sence before explain'd. But because that,
as divers of my Arguments suppose the marvellous power of the
_Alkahest_ in the Analyzing of Bodies, so the Effects ascrib'd to that
power are so unparallell'd and stupendious, that though I am not sure
but that there _may be_ such an Agent, yet little less than [Greek:
autopsia] seems requisite to make a man sure there _is_. And
consequently I leave it to you to judge, how farre those of my
Arguments that are built upon _Alkahestical_ Operations are weakned by
that Liquors being Matchless; and shall therefore desire you not to
think that I propose this Paradox that rejects all Elements, as an
Opinion equally probable with the former part of my discourse. For by
that, I hope, you are satisfied, that the Arguments wont to be brought
by Chymists, to prove That all Bodies consist of either Three
Principles, or Five, are far from being so strong as those that I have
employ'd to prove, that there is not any certain and Determinate
number of such Principles or Elements to be met with Universally in
all mixt Bodies. And I suppose I need not tell you, that these
_Anti-Chymical_ Paradoxes might have been manag'd more to their
Advantage; but that having not confin'd my Curiosity to Chymical
Experiments, I who am but a young Man, and younger Chymist, can yet be
but slenderly furnished with them, in reference to so great and
difficult a Task as you impos'd upon me; Besides that, to tell you the
Truth, I durst not employ some even of the best Experiments I am
acquainted with, because I must not yet disclose them; but however, I
think I may presume that what I have hitherto Discoursed will induce
you to think, that Chymists have been much more happy in finding
Experiments than the Causes of them; or in assigning the Principles by
which they may best be explain'd. And indeed, when in the writings of
_Paracelsus_ I meet with such Phantastick and Un-intelligible
Discourses as that Writer often puzzels and tyres his Reader with,
father'd upon such excellent Experiments, as though he seldom clearly
teaches, I often find he knew; me thinks the Chymists, in their
searches after truth, are not unlike the Navigators of _Solomons
Tarshish_ Fleet, who brought home from their long and tedious Voyages,
not only Gold, and Silver, and Ivory, but Apes and Peacocks too; For
so the Writings of several (for I say not, all) of your Hermetick
Philosophers present us, together with divers Substantial and noble
Experiments, Theories, which either like Peacocks feathers make a
great shew, but are neither solid nor useful; or else like Apes, if
they have some appearance of being rational, are blemish'd with some
absurdity or other, that when they are _Attentively_ consider'd, makes
them appear Ridiculous.
_Carneades_ having thus finish'd his Discourse against the received
Doctrines of the _Elements_; _Eleutherius_ judging he should not have
time to say much to him before their separation, made some haste to
tell him; I confess, _Carneades_, that you have said more in favour of
your Paradoxes then I expected. For though divers of the Experiments
you have mention'd are no secrets, and were not unknown to me, yet
besides that you have added many of your own unto them, you have laid
them together in such a way, and apply'd them to such purposes, and
made such Deductions From them, as I have not Hitherto met with.
But though I be therefore inclin'd to think, that _Philoponus_, had he
heard you, would scarce have been able in all points to defend the
Chymical _Hypothesis_ against the arguments wherewith you have oppos'd
it; yet me thinks that however your Objections seem to evince a great
part of what they pretend to, yet they evince it not all; and the
numerous tryals of those you call the vulgar Chymists, may be allow'd
to prove something too.
Wherefore, if it be granted you that you have made it probable,
First, that the differing substances into which mixt Bodies are wont
to be resolved by the Fire are not of a pure and an Elementary nature,
especially for this Reason, that they yet retain so much of the nature
of the Concrete that afforded them, as to appear to be yet somewhat
compounded, and oftentimes to differ in one Concrete from Principles
of the same denomination in another:
Next, that as to the number of these differing substances, neither is
it precisely three, because in most Vegetable and Animal bodies Earth
and Phlegme are also to be found among their Ingredients; nor is there
any one determinate number into which the Fire (as it is wont to be
employ'd) does precisely and universally resolve all compound Bodies
whatsoever, as well Minerals as others that are reputed perfectly
mixt.
Lastly, that there are divers Qualities which cannot well be refer'd
to any of these Substances, as if they primarily resided in it and
belong'd to it; and some other qualities, which though they seem to
have their chief and most ordinary residence in some one of these
Principles or Elements of mixt Bodies, are not yet so deducible from
it, but that also some more general Principles must be taken in to
explicate them.
If, I say, the Chymists (continues _Eleutherius_) be so Liberall as to
make you these three Concessions, I hope you will, on your part, be so
civil and Equitable as to grant them these three other propositions,
namely;
First, that divers Mineral Bodies, and therefore probably all the
rest, may be resolv'd into a Saline, a Sulphureous, and a Mercurial
part; And that almost all Vegetable and Animal Concretes may, if not
by the Fire alone, yet, by a skilfull Artist Employing the Fire as
his chief Instrument, be divided into five differing Substances, Salt,
Spirit, Oyle, Phlegme and Earth; of which the three former by reason
of their being so much more Operative than the Two Later, deserve to
be Lookt upon as the Three active Principles, and by way of Eminence
to be call'd the three principles of mixt bodies.
Next, that these Principles, Though they be not perfectly Devoid of
all Mixture, yet may without inconvenience be stil'd the Elements of
Compounded bodies, and bear the Names of those Substances which they
most Resemble, and which are manifestly predominant in them; and that
especially for this reason, that none of these Elements is Divisible
by the Fire into Four or Five differing substances, like the Concrete
whence it was separated.
Lastly, That Divers of the Qualities of a mixt Body, and especially
the Medical Virtues, do for the most part lodge in some One or Other
of its principles, and may Therefore usefully be sought for in That
Principle sever'd from the others.
And in this also (pursues _Eleutherius_) methinks both you and the
Chymists may easily agree, that the surest way is to Learn by
particular Experiments, what differing parts particular Bodies do
consist of, and by what wayes (either Actual or potential fire) they
may best and most Conveniently be Separated, as without relying too
much upon the Fire alone, for the resolving of Bodies, so without
fruitlessly contending to force them into more Elements than Nature
made Them up of, or strip the sever'd Principles so naked, as by
making Them Exquisitely Elementary to make them almost useless,
These things (subjoynes _Eleu._) I propose, without despairing to see
them granted by you; not only because I know that you so much preferr
the Reputation of _Candor_ before that of subtility, that your having
once suppos'd a truth would not hinder you from imbracing it when
clearly made out to you; but because, upon the present occasion, it
will be no disparagement to you to recede from some of your Paradoxes,
since the nature and occasion of your past Discourse did not oblige
you to declare your own opinions, but only to personate an Antagonist
of the Chymists. So that (concludes he, with a smile) you may now by
granting what I propose, add the Reputation of Loving the truth
sincerely to that of having been able to oppose it subtilly.
_Carneades's_ haste forbidding him to answer this crafty piece of
flattery; Till I shal (sayes he) have an opportunity to acquaint you
with my own Opinions about the controversies I have been discoursing
of, you will not, I hope, expect I should declare my own sence of the
Arguments I have employ'd. Wherefore I shall only tell you thus much
at present; that though not only an acute Naturalist, but even I my
self could take plausible Exceptions at some of them; yet divers of
them too are such as will not perhaps be readily answer'd, and will
Reduce my Adversaries, at least, to alter and Reform their
_Hypothesis_. I perceive I need not minde you that the Objections I
made against the Quaternary of Elements and Ternary of Principles
needed not to be oppos'd so much against the Doctrines Themselves
(either of which, especially the latter, may be much more probably
maintain'd than hitherto it seems to have been, by those Writers for
it I have met with) as against the unaccurateness and the
unconcludingness of the _Analytical_ Experiments vulgarly Relyed On to
Demonstrate them.
And therefore, if either of the two examin'd Opinions, or any other
Theory of Elements, shall upon rational and Experimental grounds be
clearly made out to me; 'Tis Obliging, but not irrational, in you to
Expect, that I shall not be so farr in Love with my Disquieting
Doubts, as not to be content to change them for undoubted truths. And
(concludes _Carneades_ smiling) it were no great disparagement for a
Sceptick to confesse to you, that as unsatisfy'd as the past discourse
may have made you think me with the Doctrines of the Peripateticks,
and the Chymists, about the Elements and Principles, I can yet so
little discover what to acquiesce in, that perchance the Enquiries of
others have scarce been more unsatisfactory to me, than my own have
been to my self.
_FINIS._
* * * * *
The Authors constant Absence from the Presse, whilst the former
Treatise was Printing, and the Nature of the Subject it self,
wherewith ordinary Composers are not wont to be at all acquainted,
will, 'tis hop'd, procure the Readers Excuse, till the next Edition,
if the _Errata_ be somewhat numerous, and if among them there want not
some grosser mistakes, which yet are not the only Blemishes these
lines must take notice of and acknowledg; For the Author now perceives
that through the fault of those to whom he had committed the former
Treatise in loose Sheets, some Papers that belonged to it, have
altogether miscarryed. And though it have luckily enough happen'd, for
the most part, that the Omission of them does not marr the Cohærence
of the rest; yet till the next design'd Edition afford an
_opportunity_ of inserting them, it is thought fit that the Printer
give notice of one Omission at the End of the first Dialogue; and that
to these _Errata_ there be annex'd the ensuing sheet of Paper, that
was casually lost, or forgotten by him that should have put it into
the Presse; where it ought to have been inserted, in the 187. printed
Page, at the break, betwixt the words, [_Nature_] in the 13th. line,
and [_But_] in the next line after. Though it is to be noted here,
that by the mistake of the Printer, in some Books, the number of 187
is placed at the top of two somewhat distant pages; and in such copies
the following addition ought to be inserted in the latter of the two,
as followeth.
And on this occasion I cannot but take notice, that whereas
the great Argument which the Chymists are wont to employ to
vilify Earth and Water, and make them be look'd upon as
useless and unworthy to be reckon'd among the Principles of
Mixt Bodies, is, that they are not endow'd with Specifick
Properties, but only with Elementary qualities; of which
they use to speak very sleightingly, as of qualities
contemptible and unactive: I see no sufficient Reason for
this Practice of the Chymists: For 'tis confess'd that Heat
is an Elementary Quality, and yet that an almost innumerable
company of considerable Things are perform'd by Heat, is
manifest to them that duly consider the various _Phænomena_
wherein it intervenes as a principall Actor; and none ought
less to ignore or distrust this Truth then a Chymist. Since
almost all the operations and Productions of his Art are
performed chiefly by the means of Heat. And as for Cold it
self, upon whose account they so despise the Earth and
Water, if they please to read in the Voyages of our English
and Dutch Navigators in _Nova Zembla_ and other Northern
Regions what stupendious Things may be effected by Cold,
they would not perhaps think it so despicable. And not to
repeat what I lately recited to You out of _Paracelsus_
himself, who by the help of an intense Cold teaches to
separate the Quintessence of Wine; I will only now observe
to You, that the Conservation of the Texture of many Bodies
both animate and inanimate do's so much depend upon the
convenient motion both of their own Fluid and Looser Parts,
and of the ambient Bodies, whether Air, Water, &c. that not
only in humane Bodies we see that the immoderate or
unseasonable coldness of the Air (especially when it finds
such Bodies overheated) do's very frequently discompose the
_Oeconomie_ of them, and occasion variety of Diseases; but
in the solid and durable Body of Iron it self, in which one
would not expect that suddain Cold should produce any
notable change, it may have so great an operation, that if
you take a Wire, or other slender piece of steel, and having
brought it in the fire to a white heat, You suffer it
afterwards to cool leasurely in the Air, it will when it is
cold be much of the same hardnesse it was of before: Whereas
if as soon as You remove it from the fire, you plunge it
into cold water, it will upon the sudden Refrigeration
acquire a very much greater hardness then it had before;
Nay, and will become manifestly brittle. And that you may
not impute this to any peculiar Quality in the Water, or
other Liquor, or Unctuous matter, wherein such heated steel
is wont to be quenched that it may be temper'd; I know a
very skillful Tradesman, that divers times hardens steel by
suddenly cooling it in a Body that is neither a liquor, nor
so much as moist. A tryal of that Nature I remember I have
seen made. And however by the operation that Water has upon
steel quenched in it, whether upon the Account of its
coldness and moisture, or upon that of any other of its
qualities, it appears, that water is not alwaies so
inefficacious and contemptible a Body, as our Chymists would
have it passe for. And what I have said of the Efficacy of
Cold and Heat, might perhaps be easily enough carried
further by other considerations and experiments; were it not
that having been mention'd only upon the Bye, I must not
insist on it, but proceed to another Subject.
_ERRATA._
Pag. 5. line. 6. read _so qualify'd_, 15. 19. _Ratiocinations_, 25.
15. _for a_, 33. 17. in a parenth. (_that is no more_), 51. 24.
_besides another Caput_, 79. 10. _employ_, 86. 13. _structure_, 97.
13. _Sack_, ibid. 22. _Sack_, 104. 29. instead of _appear it, will_,
leg. _appear, it will_, 118. 20. _leasure_, ibid. _principal_, 126.
20. _and till it suffer_, 129. 3. leg. in parenth. (_notwithstanding,
&c._ 131. 15. _so_, 144. 15. [Greek: Synchysis], 151. 5. _nor have
been resolved_, 180. 25. _Magistram_, 185. 15. _lately_, 188. 15.
_tunned_, 200. 1. _intolerable_, ibid. 2. _in_, 209. 21. _tegularum_,
210. 7. _distill'd from_, 215. 25. dele _the_, 220. 1. _bodies_, 228.
11. [Transcriber's Note: 21.] _fugitive_, 231. 17. instead of _all_
lege _a pound_, 237. 6. _Chymist_, 248. 18. _Ashes off_, 251. 23.
_Deopilative)_, 259. 6. _it self_, 269. 10. [Greek: ousia analogos],
_ibid._ [Greek: astrôn stoicheiô], 276. 25. make a parenth. at the
words, _by the_, and shut it after the words in the 27. line _at all_,
280. 11. _Corals_, 288. 6. _ascribes_, 294. 22. _porosity_, ibid. 28.
_noted_, 296. 1. _Bodies_, 305. 8. _(attended_, 307. 12. dele _to_,
308. 12. _devisers_, 312. 14. _and_, 313. 3. _too_, 314. 24.
_fugitivenesse_, 333. 13. _origine_, ibid. 24. _contrivance of_, 339.
1. _Nay, Barthias_, 142. [Transcriber's Note: 342.] 3. _in; I will_,
350. 26. _absurd_, 356. 11. [Transcriber's Note: 21.] _Goutieres_,
358. 6. _antea_, 360. 1. _compertissimum_, ibid. 18. _Joachimica_,
ibid. 19 _graminis_, ibid. 23. _sua_ [Transcriber's Note: this appears
to be correct on the original page 360], 362. 6. _Dutch account_, 363.
2. _diggers)_, ibid. 11. and 12. lin. read _damp as the Englishmen
also call it_, 366. 25. _a height_, 368. 19. _in use_, 370. 9.
_latter; And_, ibid. 24. _Water; I_, 377. 22. _Rest_, ibid. 25.
_know)_, 378. 23. after _Aggregate_ insert _or complex_, ibid. 27.
dele ), ibid. 28. dele ), 379. 4. before _as_ begin a parenth. which
ends lin. 9. at _Gold_, ibid. instead of _Which_, put _This_, ibid.
12. with the word _Texture_ should be connected the next line,
_Though_, and this word _Though_ is to have put before it a
parenthesis, which is to end at the word _Fluid_ in the 16th. line,
383. 3. _Regulus Martis Stellatus_, 382. 3. _Relations_, ibid. 9.
_Chymist_, 386. 29. _confesse by teaching it_, 391. 8. _and yet may_,
392. 1. _an_, ibid. 12. _of_, 393. [Transcriber's Note: line 5]
_distinct Tasts_, 397. 13. _Talck_, 398. 18. _Earth_, 399. 18.
_parts_, 404. 8. _sal-petræ_, 419. 20. after _it_ put in _Sal_.
* * * * *
_The Publisher doth advertise the Redaer [Transcriber's Note: Reader],
that seeing there are divers Experiments related in this Treatise,
which the Author is not unwilling to submit to the consideration also
of Forraign Philosophers, he believes this piece will be very soon
translated into Latin._
END.
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