Part 5

First, That Many of the Instances I Propos'd in the Preceding Discourse are Such, that the Objection we are Considering will not at all Reach Them. For Fire can no more with the Assistance of Water than without it Separate any of the Three Principles, either from Gold, Silver, Mercury, or some Others of the Concretes named Above.

Hence We may Inferre, That Fire is not an Universal Analyzer of all Mixt Bodies, since of Metals and Minerals, wherein Chymists have most Exercis'd Themselves, there Appear scarce Any which they are able to Analyze by Fire, Nay, from which they can Unquestionably Separate so much as any One of their Hypostatical Principles; Which may well Appear no small Disparagement as well to their Hypothesis as to their Pretensions.

It will also remain True, notwithstanding the Objection, That there may be Other Wayes than the wonted Analysis by Fire, to Separate from a Compound Body Substances as Homogeneneous [Transcriber's Note: Homogeneous] as those that Chymists Scruple not to Reckon among their Tria Prima (as some of them, for Brevity Sake, call their Three Principles.)

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

And Lastly, I must Represent, That since it appears too that the Fire is but One of the Instruments that must be Employ'd in the Resolution of Bodies, We may Reasonably Challenge the Liberty of doing Two Things. For when ever any Menstruum or other Additament is Employ'd, together with the Fire to Obtain a Sulphur or a Salt from a Body, We may well take the Freedom to Examine, whether or no That Menstruum do barely Help to Separate the Principle Obtain'd by It, or whether there Intervene not a Coalition of the Parts of the Body Wrought upon with Those of the Menstruum, whereby the Produc'd Concrete may be Judg'd to Result from the Union of Both. And it will be farther Allowable for Us to Consider, how far any Substance, Separated by the Help of such Additaments, Ought to pass for one of the Tria Prima; since by One Way of Handling the same Mixt Body it may according to the Nature of the Additaments, and the Method of Working upon it, be made to Afford differing Substances from those Obtainable from it by other Additaments, and another Method, nay and (as may appear by what I Formerly told You about Tartar) Differing from any of the Substances into which a Concrete is Divisible by the Fire without Additaments, though perhaps those Additaments do not, as Ingredients, enter the Composition of the Obtained Body, but only Diversify the Operation of the Fire upon the Concrete; and though that Concrete by the Fire alone may be Divided into a Number of Differing Substances, as Great as any of the Chymists that I have met with teach us that of the Elements to be. And having said thus much (sayes Carneades) to the Objection likely to be Propos'd by some Chymists, I am now to Examine that which I Foresee will be Confidently press'd by Divers Peripateticks, who, to Prove Fire to be the true Analyzer of Bodies, will Plead, That it is the very Definition of Heat given by Aristotle, and Generally Received, Congregare Homogenea, & Heterogenea Segregare, to Assemble Things of a Resembling, and Disjoyn those of a Differing Nature. To this I answer, That this Effect is far from being so Essential to Heat, as 'tis Generally Imagin'd; for it rather Seems, that the True and Genuine Property of Heat is, to set a Moving, and thereby to Dissociate the parts of Bodies, and Subdivide them into Minute Particles, without regard to their being Homogeneous or Heterogeneous, as is apparent in the Boyling of Water, the Distillation of Quicksilver, or the Exposing of Bodies to the action of the Fire, whose Parts either Are not (at least in that Degree of Heat Appear not) Dissimilar, where all that the Fire can do, is to Divide the Body into very Minute Parts which are of the same Nature with one another, and with their Totum, as their Reduction by Condensation Evinces. And even when the Fire seems most so Congregare Homogenea, & Segregare Heterogenea, it Produces that Effect but by Accident; For the Fire does but Dissolve the Cement, or rather Shatter the Frame, or [tructure [Errata: structure] that kept the Heterogeneous Parts of Bodies together, under one Common Form; upon which Dissolution the Component Particles of the Mixt, being Freed and set at Liberty, do Naturally, and oftentimes without any Operation of the Fire, Associate themselves each with its Like, or rather do take those places which their Several Degrees of Gravity and Levity, Fixedness or Volatility (either Natural, or Adventitious from the Impression of the Fire) Assigne them. Thus in the Distillation (for Instance) of Man's Blood, the Fire do's First begin to Dissolve the Nexus or Cement of the Body; and then the Water, being the most Volatile, and Easy to be Extracted, is either by the Igneous Atomes, or the Agitation they are put into by the Fire, first carried up, till Forsaken by what carried it up, its Weight sinks it down into the Receiver: but all this while the other Principles of the Concrete Remain Unsever'd, and Require a stronger Degree of Heat to make a Separation of its more Fixt Elements; and therefore the Fire must be Increas'd which Carries over the Volatile Salt and the Spirit, they being, though Beleev'd to be Differing Principles, and though Really of Different Consistency, yet of an almost Equal Volatility. After them, as less Fugitive, comes over the Oyl, and leaves behinde the Earth and the Alcali, which being of an Equal Fixednesse, the Fire Severs them not, for all the Definition of the Schools. And if into a Red-hot Earthen or Iron Retort you cast the Matter to be Distill'd, You may Observe, as I have often done, that the Predominant Fire will Carry up all the Volatile Elements Confusedly in one Fume, which will afterwards take their Places in the Receiver, either according to the Degree of their Gravity, or according to the Exigency of their respective Textures; the Salt Adhering, for the most part, to the Sides and Top, and the Phlegme Fastening it self there too in great Drops, the Oyle and Spirit placing themselves Under, or Above one another, according as their Ponderousness makes them Swim or Sink. For 'tis Observable, that though Oyl or Liquid Sulphur be one of the Elements Separated by this Fiery Analysis, yet the Heat which Accidentally Unites the Particles of the other Volatile Principles, has not alwayes the same Operation on this, there being divers Bodies which Yield Two Oyls, whereof the One sinks to the Bottom of that Spirit on which the other Swims; as I can shew You in some Oyls of the same Deers Blood, which are yet by Me: Nay I can shew you Two Oyls carefully made of the same Parcel of Humane Blood, which not only Differ extreamly in Colour, but Swim upon one another without Mixture, and if by Agitation Confounded will of themselves Divorce again.

And that the Fire doth oftentimes divide Bodies, upon the account that some of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how far soever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature is Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which the Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter of these is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth and Salt; but the Former being condens'd into that Soot which adheres to our Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, and Spirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all almost, Equally Volatile to that Degree of Fire which Forces them up, (the more Volatile Parts Helping perhaps, as well as the Urgency of the Fire, to carry up the more Fixt ones, as I have often Try'd in Dulcify'd Colcothar, Sublim'd by Sal Armoniack Blended with it) are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other Degrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity of their Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing Bodies United into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no Parts Volatile enough to be Expell'd or carried up, makes no Separation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver and Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever'd by Aqua Fortis, or Aqua Regis (according to the Predominancy of the Silver or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain unsever'd, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles (whose Littlenesse may be argu'd from their Fluidity) in which either the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokes upon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without any Sequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimes does not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature; provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in the Figure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the making of many Plaisters, Oyntments, &c. And in such Metalline Mixtures as that made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one of pure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curious Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works) as I have sometimes taken great Pleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire are Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are so combin'd by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarce afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instance is afforded us by the Common Preparation of Mercurius Dulcis, where the Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre, Employ'd to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with the Mercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then to Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together in many successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And sometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements of a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does very seldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meeting with some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead of making a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, is unable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alcalizate Salt and the Terrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course or greenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire, which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to Divorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flow down from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos'd for a good while, with Silver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in the Fusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a Crucible into Glass is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember, I have Observ'd too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of the Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm that Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigious Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by great Wheels turn'd about by Water) part of the Materials Expos'd to it was, instead of being Analyz'd, Colliquated, and turn'd into a Dark, Solid and very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quantity, that in some places I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mended with Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. And I have also Observ'd, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, having been employ'd in Furnaces wherein it was expos'd to very strong and lasting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts so Wrought on by the Fire, as to be Perfectly Vitrifi'd, which I have try'd by Forcing from it Pretty large Pieces of Perfect and Transparent Glass. And lest You might think, Eleutherius, that the Question'd Definition of Heat may be Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given and Acquiesc'd in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taught to be tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare; Give me leave to represent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; for not to Mention the Exceptions, which a Logician, as such, may Take at it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is Suppos'd to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform'd by every Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer'd a while to stand, the Cold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, which Subsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if the Urinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole Liquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood, Straw, Dust, Water, &c. are Suppos'd to be United into one Lump of Ice, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may so Speak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the Liquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in that Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if we Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes, or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute of Aqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold, we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much as Compacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselves we find Phaenomena which Induce us to Question the Definition which we are examining. If Paracelsus his Authority were to be look't upon as a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insist on that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Wine may be Sever'd from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance of Congelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process, not only by Paracelsians, but other Writers, some of whom seem not to have perus'd it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage in the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of his Archidoxis, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it sounds thus. De Vino sciendum est, faecem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, & Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auri in auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam ponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum vetustissimum & optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque ad placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat, & sigillo Hermetis occlusum in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, & in continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum frigus & gelu maxime saeviunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur. Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protrudit in vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc in Pelicanum positum in arenae digestione non adeo calida per aliquod tempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quo locuti sumus.

But I dare not Eleu. lay much Weight upon this Process, because I have found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable in this Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hath been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied with lasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure to Freeze a thin Vial full of Sack; and even with Snow and Salt I could Freeze little more then the Surface of it; and I suppose Eleu. that tis not every Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to make such an Analysis (if I may so call it) of them by Separating their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though not often, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not Observe the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc'd to Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call'd Nova Zembla, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was a Separation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle of November, yet of the Freezing of their Back [Errata: Sack] in December following they give but this Account: Yea and our Sack, which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Man to have his part, we were forc'd to melt it in the Fire; which we shar'd every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we were forc'd to sustain our selves. In which words they imply not, that their Back [Errata: Sack] was divided by the Frost into differing Substances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All which notwithstanding, Eleu. suppose that it may be made to appear, that even Cold sometimes may Congregare Homogenea, & Heterogenea Segregare: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once, purposely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with Sulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos'd the Decoction to a keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ'd, that the more Aqueous Parts of it were turn'd by the next Morning into Ice, towards the innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I then conjectur'd, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be their Environing Enemy, they had there preserv'd themselves unfrozen in the Form of a high colour'd Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts having been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in the Decoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold as would not have been able to have Divorc'd the Parts of Urine or Wine, which by Fermentation or Digestion are wont, as Tryal has inform'd me, to be more intimately associated each with other. But I have already intimated, Eleutherius, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment, not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have been mistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that much more full and eminent Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream Cold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention'd Dutch men that Winter'd in Nova Zembla; the Relation of whose Voyage being a very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorable part of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus'd the Passage to be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.

"Gerard de Veer, John Cornelyson and Others, sent out of Amsterdam, Anno Dom. 1596. being forc'd by unseasonable Weather to Winter in Nova Zembla, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of October, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to our House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great a Storm and Cold, that we were forc'd to go into the Ship again, because we were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer into the Ship again, but were forc'd to let it stand without upon the Sled: the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of Beer standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yet by reason of the great Cold, the Beer that purg'd out froze as hard upon the Side of the Barrel, as if it had been glu'd thereon: and in that sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, and drank it up; but first we were forc'd to melt the Beer, for there was scarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest that was unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strong to drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and being melted we Mix'd one with the other, and so drank it; but it had neither Strength nor Taste."

And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very Sharp Winter purposely try'd to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beer moderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ'd, that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, it seems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I found turn'd into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour and consistence seem'd mafestly [Transcriber's Note: manifestly] enough to be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail'd, because I did not either discerne by the Taste, or find by Enquiry, that the Beer was at all too New to be very fit to be Drank. I might confirm the Dutchmens Relation, by what happen'd a while since to a neere Friend of mine, who complained to me, that having Brew'd some Beer or Ale for his own drinking in Holland (where he then dwelt) the Keenness of the late bitter Winter froze the Drink so as to reduce it into Ice, and a small Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I must not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely because you may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does not directly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have already enlarg'd my self too much upon the first Consideration I propos'd, though it appears so much a Paradox, that it seem'd to Require that I should say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance; yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption of our Chymists and Aristotelians appear Questionable, I hope I have so Perform'd that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following Considerations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on the First.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

The Second Part.

The Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This, That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and Aristotelians are wont to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in it as a Principle or Element of it.

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

And I suppose You will easily Believe That I do not mean that any thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create; which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the Epicureans and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their Gods themselves.

Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things Obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before they be Expos'd to the Fire afford us several Documents of their abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve the present Turn, if it appear that diverse things Obtain'd from a Mixt Body expos'd to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for if this be made to appear it, will [Errata: appear, it will] be Rationall enough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others, in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till some other Argument then that drawn from the Analysis be Brought to resolve the Doubt.

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

Having thus Explain'd my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do two things, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that such Substances as Chymists call Principles May be produc'd De novo (as they speak.) And the other is to make it probable that by the Fire we may Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were not in the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.

To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be as true as 'tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another but in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion, and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall to conceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may by Various Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name, somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous Body. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr. Boyle has promis'd us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme I now willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquired into. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I have lately Deliver'd shall be Deduc'd from Experiments made Divers Years since. The first of which would have been much more considerable, but that by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the best time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design'd; it being about he [Transcriber's Note: the] middle of May before I was able to begin an Experiment which should have then been two moneths old; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to Give You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention'd, I caus'd My Gardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder'd from being present myself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry it well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost level with the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed he had before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is an Indian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him to Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasions permitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew, though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder'd it from attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, as big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up; Which about the Middle of October was carefully Done by the same Gardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it; I have Weighed the Pompion with the Stalk and Leaves, all which Weighed three pound wanting a quarter; Then I took the Earth, baked it as formerly, and found it just as much as I did at First, which made me think I had not dry'd it Sufficiently: then I put it into the Oven twice More, after the Bread was Drawn, and Weighed it the Second time, but found it Shrink little or nothing.

But to deal Candidly with You, Eleutherius, I must not conceal from You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this present Summer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as may appear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner, in these Words. To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have Gain'd two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and a Halfe, the Branches with the Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak'd it in several small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, I found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was formerly; yet I was not satisfi'd, doubting the Earth was not dry: I put it into an Oven the Second Time, (after the Bread was drawn) and after I had taken it out and weighed it, I found it to be the Same Weight: So I Suppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I think that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by the Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and the like) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You should send for them.) But yet in this Tryal, Eleutherius, it appears that though some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour'd in it, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of Transmuted Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus'd the formerly mentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with so good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it did not only much surpass any that I made before, but seem'd strangely to conclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappily lost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the Circumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may be as conveniently try'd with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth is hasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Grow well in Earth undung'd, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it; for 'tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes as high as a Tall Man; and I have had leaves of it in my Garden neer a Foot and a Halfe broad. But the next time I Try this Experiment, it shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more Expeditions [Transcriber's Note: Expeditious] Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint, about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water, so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves, and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and Leaves, and these very strong and fragrant of the Odour of the Mint: but the Heat of my Chamber, as I suppose, kill'd the Plant when it was grown to have a pretty thick Stalk, which with the various and ramified Roots, which it shot into the Water as if it had been Earth, presented in its Transparent Flower-pot a Spectacle not unpleasant to behold. The like I try'd with sweet Marjoram, and I found the Experiment succeed also, though somewhat more slowly, with Balme and Peniroyal, to name now no other Plants. And one of these Vegetables, cherish'd only by Water, having obtain'd a competent Growth, I did, for Tryals sake, cause to be Distill'd in a small Retort, and thereby obtain'd some Phlegme, a little Empyreumaticall Spirit, a small Quantity of adust Oyl, and a Caput mortuum; which appearing to be a Coal concluded it to consist of Salt and Earth: but the Quantity of it was so small that I forbore to Calcine it. The Water I us'd to nourish this Plant was not shifted nor renewed; and I chose Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more discernably a kinde of [Greek: panspermia], which, though it be granted to be freed from grosser Mixtures, seems yet to Contain in it, besides the Steams of several Bodies wandering in the Air, which may be suppos'd to impregnate it, a certain Spirituous Substance, which may be Extracted out of it, and is by some mistaken for the Spirit of the World Corporify'd, upon what Grounds, and with what Probability, I may elsewhere perchance, but must not now, Discourse to you.

But perhaps I might have sav'd a great part of my Labour. For I finde that Helmont (an Author more considerable for his Experiments than many Learned men are pleas'd to think him) having had an Opportunity to prosecute an Experiment much of the same nature with those I have been now speaking of, for five Years together, obtain'd at the end of that time so notable a Quantity of Transmuted Water, that I should scarce Think it fit to have his Experiment, and Mine Mention'd together, were it not that the Length of Time Requisite to this may deterr the Curiosity of some, and exceed the leasure of Others; and partly, that so Paradoxical a Truth as that which these Experiments seem to hold forth, needs to be Confirm'd by more Witnesses then one, especially since the Extravagancies and Untruths to be met with in Helmonts Treatise of the Magnetick Cure of Wounds, have made his Testimonies suspected in his other Writings, though as to some of the Unlikely matters of Fact he delivers in them, I might safely undertake to be his Compurgator. But that Experiment of his which I was mentioning to You, he sayes, was this. He took 200 pound of Earth dry'd in an Oven, and having put it into an Earthen Vessel and moisten'd it with Raine water he planted in it the Trunk of a Willow tree of five pound Weight; this he Water'd, as need required, with Rain or with Distill'd Water; and to keep the Neighbouring Earth from getting into the Vessell, he employ'd a plate of Iron tinn'd over and perforated with many holes. Five years being efflux'd, he took out the Tree and weighed it, and (with computing the leaves that fell during four Autumnes) he found it to weigh 169 pound, and about three Ounces. And Having again Dry'd the Earth it grew in, he found it want of its Former Weight of 200 Pound, about a couple only of Ounces; so that 164 pound of the Roots, Wood, and Bark, which Constituted the Tree, seem to have Sprung from the Water. And though it appears not that Helmont had the Curiosity to make any Analysis of this Plant, yet what I lately told You I did to One of the Vegetables I nourish'd with Water only, will I suppose keep You from Doubting that if he had Distill'd this Tree, it would have afforded him the like Distinct Substances as another Vegetable of the same kind. I need not Subjoyne that I had it also in my thoughts to try how Experiments to the same purpose with those I related to You would succeed in other Bodies then Vegetables, because importunate Avocations having hitherto hinder'd me from putting my Design in Practise, I can yet speak but Confecturally [Transcriber's Note: Conjecturally] of the Success: but the best is, that the Experiments already made and mention'd to you need not the Assistance of new Ones, to Verifie as much as my present task makes it concern me to prove by Experiments of this Nature.

One would suspect (sayes Eleutherius after his long silence) by what You have been discoursing, that You are not far from Helmonts Opinion about the Origination of Compound Bodies, and perhaps too dislike not the Arguments which he imployes to prove it.

What Helmontian Opinion, and what Arguments do you mean (askes Carneades.)

What You have been Newly Discoursing (replies Eleutherius) tells us, that You cannot but know that this bold and Acute Spagyrist scruples not to Assert that all mixt Bodies spring from one Element; and that Vegetables, Animals, Marchasites, Stones, Metalls, &c. are Materially but simple Water disguis'd into these Various Formes, by the plastick or Formative Virtue of their seeds. And as for his Reasons you may find divers of them scatter'd up and down his writings; the considerabl'st of which seem to be these three; The Ultimate Reduction of mixt Bodies into Insipid Water, the Vicissitude of the supposed Elements, and the production of perfectly mixt Bodies out of simple Water. And first he affirmes that the Sal circulatus Paracelsi, or his Liquor Alkahest, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, and Mineralls into one Liquor or more, according to their several internall Disparities of Parts (without Caput Mortuum, or the Destruction of their seminal Virtues;) and that the Alkahest being abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and Virtue wherewith it Dissolv'd them, the Liquors may by frequent Cohobations from chalke or some other idoneous matter, be Totally depriv'd of their seminal Endowments, and return at last to their first matter, Insipid Water; some other wayes he proposes here and there, to divest some particular Bodies of their borrow'd shapes, and make them remigrate to their first Simplicity. The second Topick whence Helmont drawes his Arguments, to prove Water to be the Material cause of Mixt Bodies, I told You was this, that the other suppos'd Elements may be transmuted into one another. But the Experiments by him here and there produc'd on this Occasion, are so uneasie to be made and to be judg'd of, that I shall not insist on them; not to mention, that if they were granted to be true, his Inference from them is somewhat disputable; and therefore I shall pass on to tell You, That as, in his First Argument, our Paradoxical Author endeavours to prove Water the Sole Element of Mixt Bodies, by their Ultimate Resolution, when by his Alkahest, or some other conquering Agent, the Seeds have been Destroy'd, which Disguis'd them, or when by time those seeds are Weari'd or Exantlated or unable to Act their Parts upon the Stage of the Universe any Longer: So in His Third Argument he Endeavours to evince the same Conclusion, by the constitution of Bodies which he asserts to be nothing but Water Subdu'd by Seminal Virtues. Of this he gives here and there in his Writings several Instances, as to Plants and Animals; but divers of them being Difficult either to be try'd or to be Understood, and others of them being not altogether Unobnoxious to Exceptions, I think you have singl'd out the Principal and less Questionable Experiment when you lately mention'd that of the Willow Tree. And having thus, Continues Eleutherius, to Answer your Question, given you a Summary Account of what I am Confident You know better then I do, I shall be very glad to receive Your Sence of it, if the giving it me will not too much Divert You from the Prosecution of your Discourse.

That If (replies Carneades) was not needlessly annex'd: for thorowly to examine such an Hypothesis and such Arguments would require so many Considerations, and Consequently so much time, that I should not now have the Liesure [Errata: leasure] to perfect such a Digression, and much less to finish my Principle [Errata: principal] Discourse. Yet thus much I shall tell You at present, that you need not fear my rejecting this Opinion for its Novelty; since, however the Helmontians may in complement to their Master pretend it to be a new Discovery, Yet though the Arguments be for the most part his, the Opinion it self is very Antient: For Diogenes Laertius and divers other Authors speak of Thales, as the first among the Graecians that made disquisitions upon nature. And of this Thales, I Remember, Tully informes us, that he taught all things were at first made of Water. And it seems by Plutarch and Justin Martyr, that the Opinion was Ancienter then he: For they tell us that he us'd to defend his Tenet by the Testimony of Homer. And a Greek Author, (the Scholiast of Apollonius) upon these Words

The Earth of Slime was made,

Affirms (out of Zeno) that the Chaos, whereof all things were made, was, according to Hesiod, Water; which, settling first, became Slime, and then condens'd into solid Earth. And the same Opinion about the Generation of Slime seems to have been entertain'd by Orpheus, out of whom one of the Antients cites this Testimony,

Of Water Slime was made.