The Sceptical Chymist Part 6

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 a.s.sert 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-gla.s.se, will draw me as many distinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juice of Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall very Thankfully learn. Nor does it appear more congruous to that variety that so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that all elemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then it would be for a language, that all its words should consist of the same number of Letters.

[Footnote 29: _Novi saxum & lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo aut lapidi & aequiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure aut Mercurio._ Helmont. pag. 409.]

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST

OR,

_A Paradoxical Appendix to the Foregoing Treatise._

_The Sixth Part._

Here _Carneades_ Having Dis.p.a.ch'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 const.i.tute 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 Trans.m.u.ted 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 Trans.m.u.ted 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 Gra.s.s 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 gra.s.se, 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 a.s.sur'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 const.i.tuted Liquor, and have all the differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by one praesiding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of its parts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary that even in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal and Vegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make her compositions of.

Having said thus much touching the const.i.tution 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 a.s.sure us, that even they were not in the beginning produc'd at once altogether, but have been observ'd to grow; so that what was not a Mineral or Metal before became one afterwards. Of this it were easie to alledg many testimonies of professed Chymists. But that they may have the greater authority, I shall rather present you with a few borrowed from more unsuspected writers. _Sulphuris Mineram_ (as the inquisitive _P. Fallopius_ notes) _quae nutrix est caloris subterranei fabri seu Archaei fontium & mineralium, Infra terram citissime renasci testantur Historiae Metallicae. Sunt enim loca e quibus si hoc anno sulphur effossum fuerit; intermissa fossione per quadriennium redeunt fossores & omnia sulphure, ut autea [Errata: antea], rursus inveniunt plena._ _Pliny_ Relates, _In Italiae Insula Ilva, gigni ferri metallum._ Strabo _multo expressius; effossum ibi metallum semper regenerari. Nam si effossio spatio centum annorum intermittebatur, & iterum illuc revertebantur, fossores reperisse maximam copiam ferri regeneratam._ Which history not only is countenanced by _Fallopius_, from the Incom which the Iron of that Island yielded the Duke of _Florence_ in his time; but is mention'd more expressely to our purpose, by the Learned _Cesalpinus_. _Vena_ (sayes he) _ferri copiosissima est in Italia; ob eam n.o.bilitata Ilva Tirrheni maris Insula incredibili copia, etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens: Nam terra quae eruitur dum vena effoditur tota, procedente tempore in venam convert.i.tur._ 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 s.p.a.ce 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 Pa.s.sage touching the Growth of Lead. _Fessularum mons_ (sayes he) _in Hetruria, Florentiae civitati imminens, lapides plumbarios habet; qui si excidantur, brevi temporis spatio, novis incrementis instaurantur; ut_ (annexes my Author) _tradit Boccacius Certaldus, qui id compotissimum [Errata: compertissimum] esse scribit. Nihil hoc novi est; sed de eadem Plinius, lib. 34. Hist. Natur. cap. 17. dudum prodidit, Inquiens, mirum in his solis plumbi metallis, quod derelicta fertilius revivisc.u.n.t. In plumbariis secundo Lapide ab Amberga dictis ad Asylum recrementa congesta in c.u.mulos, exposita solibus pluviisque paucis annis, redunt suum metallum c.u.m fenore._ I might Add to these, continues _Carneades_, many things that I have met with concerning the Generation of Gold and Silver. But, for fear of wanting time, I shall mention but two or three Narratives. The First you may find Recorded by _Gerhardus_ the Physick Professor, in these Words. _In valle_ (sayes he) _Joachimaca [Errata: Joachimica] argentum gramini [Errata: graminis] modo & more e Lapidibus minerae velut e radice excrevisse digiti Longitudine, testis est Dr. Schreterus, qui ejusmodi venas aspectu jucundas & admirabiles Domi sua aliis saepe monstravit & Donavit. Item Aqua caerulea Inventa est Annebergae, ubi argentum erat adhuc in primo ente, quae coagulata redacta est in calcem fixi & boni argenti._

[Footnote 30: _In Lygiis, ad Sagam opidum; in pratis eruitur ferrum, fossis ad alt.i.tudinem bipedaneam actis. Id decennio renatum denuo foditur non aliter ac Ilvae ferrum._]

The other two Relations I have not met with in Latine Authours, and yet they are both very memorable in themselves, and as pertinent to our present purpose.

The first I meet with in the Commentary of _Johannes Valehius_ upon the _Kleine Baur_, In which that Industrious Chymist Relates, with many circ.u.mstances, 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 Circ.u.mstances my Author gathers; That by the warmth of the place, the n.o.ble 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 ma.s.s 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 Quant.i.ties 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 _a.n.a.lysis_ 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 Gla.s.s. 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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sage of _Pliny_ quoted by him.]

To proceed Therefore now (sayes _Carneades_) to the Consideration of the _a.n.a.lysis_ 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 Const.i.tutes 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 a.s.sign'd to things, as the World is now Const.i.tuted, we should, if we consider the Great Ma.s.s 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 Bya.s.s, 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 int.i.tle 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.