The Sceptical Chymist Part 7

[Errata: no paragraph break] Though [Errata: (Though] indeed, that do not so properly Comprehend the motion of the const.i.tuent 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 a.s.sertions 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 pa.s.sages 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 mult.i.tudes; 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 Gla.s.s, 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 surpa.s.sing 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 const.i.tuted 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 s.e.m.e.n 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 a.s.severation 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 ma.s.s 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 Ill.u.s.trate 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 quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty 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 Trans.m.u.te 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 p.r.o.nouncing 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 Trans.m.u.ted, 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 Quant.i.ty 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 pa.s.s 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 a.s.sociations with one another brought into little Ma.s.ses 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, Const.i.tutes (as you know) that Fact.i.tious 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 pa.s.s 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 d.a.m.nata_ of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon _Popius_ [Transcriber's Note: Poppius],) that in the year 1621 he made an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining _Faeces_ he reverberated in a moderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up in a Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing to calcine the _Faeces_ to a perfect Whiteness, that he might make someting [Transcriber's Note: something] else out of them. But coming to break the pot, he found above but very little _Faeces_, and those Grey and not White; but beneath there lay a fine Red _Regulus_ which he first marvell'd at and knew not what to make of, being well a.s.sured that not the least thing, besides the _Faeces_ of the Sulphur, came into the pot; and that the Sulphur it self had only been dissolv'd in Linseed Oyle; this _Regulus_ he found heavy and malleable almost as Lead; having caus'd a Goldsmith to draw him a Wire of it, he found it to be of the Fairest copper, and so rightly colour'd, that a Jew of _Prague_ offer'd him a great price for it. And of this Metal he sayes he had 12 _loth_ (or six ounces) out of one pound of Ashes or _Faeces_.

And this Story may well incline us to suspect that since the _Caput Mortuum_ of the Sulphur was kept so long in the fire before it was found to be any thing else then a _Terra d.a.m.nata_, there may be divers other Residences of Bodies which are wont to pa.s.s only for the Terrestrial _Faeces_ of things, and therefore to be thrown away as soon as the Distillation or Calcination of the Body that yielded them is ended; which yet if they were long and Skilfully examin'd by the fire would appear to be differing from Elementary Earth. And I have taken notice of the unwarrantable forwardness of common Chymists to p.r.o.nounce things useless _Faeces_, by observing how often they reject the _Caput Mortuum_ of Verdegrease; which is yet so farr from deserving that Name, that not only by strong fires and convenient Additaments it may in some hours be reduc'd into copper, but with a certain Flux Powder I sometimes make for Recreation, I have in two or three minutes obtain'd that Metal from it. To which I may add, that having for tryall sake kept Venetian Taclk [Errata: Talck] in no less a heat than that of a gla.s.s 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 const.i.tute Corpuscles too heavy for the Fire to carry away; the aggregate of which Corpuscles is wont to be call'd Ashes or Earrh [Errata: Earth]; So other Agents may resolve the Concrete into Minute Parts, after so differing a manner as not to produce any _Caput mortuum_, or dry and heavy Body. As you may remember _Helmont_ above inform'd us, that with his great Dissolvent he divided a Coal into two liquid and volatile Bodies, aequiponderant to the Coal, without any dry or fixt Residence at all.

And indeed, I see not why it should be necessary that all Agents that resolve Bodies into portions of differingly qualifi'd matter must work on them the same way, and divide them into just such parts, both for nature and Number, as the Fire dissipates them into. For since, as I noted before, the Bulk and shape of the small Parts of bodies, together with their Fitness and Unfitness to be easily put into Motion, may make the liquors or other substances such Corpuscles compose, as much to differ from each other as do some of the Chymical principles: Why may not something happen in this case, not unlike what is usuall in the grosser divisions of bodies by Mechanical Instruments? Where we see that some Tools reduce Wood, for Instance, into darts [Errata: parts] of several shapes, bignesse, and other qualities, as Hatchets and Wedges divide it into grosser parts; some more long and slender, as splinters; and some more thick and irregular, as chips; but all of considerable bulk; but Files and Saws makes a Comminution of it into Dust; which, as all the others, is of the more solid sort of parts; whereas others divide it into long and broad, but thin and flexible parts, as do _Planes_: And of this kind of parts it self there is also a variety according to the Difference of the Tools employ'd to work on the Wood; the shavings made by the _plane_ being in some things differing from those shives or thin and flexible pieces of wood that are obtain'd by _Borers_, and these from some others obtainable by other Tools. Some Chymical Examples applicable to this purpose I have elsewhere given you. To which I may add, that whereas in a mixture of Sulphur and Salt of Tartar well melted and incorporated together, the action of pure spirit of wine digested on it is to separate the sulphureous from the Alcalizate Parts, by dissolving the former and leaving the latter, the action of Wine (probably upon the score of its copious Phlegme) upon the same mixture is to divide it into Corpuscles consisting of both Alcalizate and Sulphureous Parts united. And if it be objected, that this is but a Fact.i.tious Concrete; I answer, that however the instance may serve to ill.u.s.trate 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 b.u.t.ter and b.u.t.ter-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 a.s.sert that Concrete to be) not only obtain a n.o.ble 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 pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.s for it, seems very possible, if _Helmont_[34] have done that by Art which he mentions in several places; especially where He sayes that he knowes wayes whereby Sulphur once dissolv'd is all of it fix'd into a Terrestrial Powder; and the whole Bodie of Salt-Petre may be turn'd into Earth: Which last he elsewhere sayes is Done by the Odour only of a certain Sulphureous Fire. And in another place He mentions one way of doing this, which I cannot give you an Account of; because the Materialls I had prepar'd for Trying it, were by a Servants mistake unhappily thrown away.

[Footnote 34: _Novi item modos quibus totum Salpetiae [Errata: sal-petrae] in terram convert.i.tur, 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 Gla.s.s of water without any other Food for three years; in which s.p.a.ce 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 gla.s.s 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 quant.i.ty 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 trans.m.u.ted 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 mult.i.tude 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. .h.i.therto 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 p.r.o.nounc'd irresoluble by the Fire. Though (which I Desire you would mark) in neither of these Instances, the Gold or Precious Stones be a.n.a.lys'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 const.i.tute 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 a.s.sociate 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 a.s.sistance 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 quant.i.ty 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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.similated by the several parts of it, is turn'd into the Wood, Bark, Pith, Leaves, &c. of the Vine; The same Liquor may be further dry'd, and fashon'd into Vine-buds, and these a while after are advanced unto sour Grapes, which express'd yield Verjuice, a Liquor very differing in several qualities both from Wine and other Liquors obtainable from the Vine: These soure Grapes being by the heat of the Sun concocted and ripened, turne to well tasted Grapes; These if dry'd in the Sun and Distill'd, afford a faetid Oyle and a piercing _Empyreumatical_ Spirit, but not a Vinous Spirit; These dry'd Grapes or Raisins boyl'd in a convenient proportion of Water make a sweet Liquor, which being betimes distill'd afford an Oyle and Spirit much like those of the Raisins themselves; If the juice of the Grapes be squeez'd out and put to Ferment, it first becomes a sweet and turbid Liquor, then grows lesse sweet and more clear, and then affords in common Distillations not an Oyle but a Spirit, which, though inflamable like Oyle, differs much from it, in that it is not fat, and that it will readily mingle with Water. I have likewise without Addition obtain'd in processe of time (and by an easie way which I am ready to teach you) from one of the n.o.blest 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 trans.m.u.ted 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 a.s.sociated 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 Mult.i.tudes 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 partic.i.p.ating 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 Ign.o.ble, 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 pa.s.s 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 gla.s.s 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 a.s.sociation 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 surpa.s.sed 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 Trans.m.u.te 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 pa.s.s 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 Const.i.tuent 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 pa.s.sage 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 h.o.m.ogeneous 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 a.s.sociate 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 Circ.u.mstances make such disbanded particles apt to Const.i.tute; 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 a.s.sert 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 a.n.a.lyzing 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 a.s.signing 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 Peac.o.c.ks too; For so the Writings of several (for I say not, all) of your Hermetick Philosophers present us, together with divers Substantial and n.o.ble Experiments, Theories, which either like Peac.o.c.ks 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 _a.n.a.lytical_ 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.